VA – Electoral Sinker

Quoting Hesiod´s Theogony, or not- one could say that following the last elections: “In the beginning there was chaos”, so a bad timing for requests. Then, amid disorder and confusion some questions arose:   ”Does the Prez know?”, and “Does he even want to know?”

Well, I hope he´ll want to look into some urgent matters, because when Veterans stop asking questions the leaders are shrouded in the worst kind of silence: the one expressed with a shrug of a shoulder as in “more of the same”. If you read Mr. Wilkie´s “thoughts on department progress”(Military Times, November 7,2019),you know he is a very optimistic visionary: ”Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie has a bold prediction for the 2020 election: His department´s programs are going to come out a winner”. I dare say: Nope. And not only because it´s a déjà vu of ex VA Secretary McDonald´s https://www.va.gov/opa/speeches/2016/4_10_2016.asp  “customer satisfaction feedback” gathered by a  fishy “kiosk-based-software”  : ”90 percent of Veterans are either completely satisfied, or satisfied getting appointment when they wanted”.

See, Veterans or Veteran Rights Advocates- this ain´t our first rodeo and we won´t be there with our bells on. Or maybe I know all the “wrong” Veterans…  Well, we have never rubbed shoulders with “a strictly non-partisan service organization” https://www.legion.org/pressrelease/233825/presidential-candidates-address-american-legion-national-convention  that invited both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to its convention. While members of such clubs applauded Obama, https://www.legion.org/pressrelease/222416/american-legion-responds-obama-press-conference “my kinds of Veterans” were fired, harassed or dragged to courtroom on ridiculous charges. When  Obama praised “impactful partnerships “with VSOs https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/26/fact-sheet-president-obama-announces-new-executive-actions-fulfill-our-p  and Veterans in matching hats met in Washington´s lavish hotels, we were grieving for  heroes who fought for others until the last moment of their tortured, homeless lives. While some Blue Falcons cheered and whistled for VA, we were the whistle-blowers on corruption and cronyism.To great shock and disbelief of Intel and military community, to this day our most experienced strategists haven´t been asked to work with the present administration. We see the left-over bureaucrats and military careerists climbing higher. VA is a good example. What´s up?

 Robert Wilkie definitely continues the most disgraceful of VA´s strategies https://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/veterans-groups-urge-trump-to-intervene-on-agent-orange-decision-1.618237  against our Agent Orange affected Veterans: “Lie, delay and deny until they die”. Secretary Wilkie has unveiled the portrait of McDonald https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/11/so_much_for_things_improving_at_the_veterans_administration.html in more ways than one.

President Trump, you know what ghosting and harassment are –so do we.  Do you know that your administration doesn´t bother to respond to cancer stricken heroes who fight for Veteran community? Do you want to know about real collusions that ruined Veterans´ lives? Do you care about those who risked their lives to expose them?

Someone should tell all kinds of “committees” to stop sending fund rising letters until Veterans get some justice and some respect. Right now the most common answers to “Donate!” are: “I donated my leg”, “how much was my kidney “, or: “Was my cancer enough?”

The elections are like drift fishing: your boat moves toward fish concentration, and the drift depends on the wind and the current. In this kind of technique, sinker’s weight is crucial.VA is definitely an electoral sinker –when too heavy it sinks straight to the bottom of the swamp.

Joanna Rosamond