A National Disgrace!

“We support our troops.”

When it comes to military matters, regardless of one’s political persuasion, the one area that we all seem to agree on is that “we support our troops.” 

You can debate an administration’s policies on foreign affairs.  You can disagree with the rationale for going to war.  You can second guess military tactics.  But no matter what side of the debate you stand you always, always end by saying:  “…but we support our troops.  We support the young men and women who put themselves in harm’s way in defense of our country.”

The problem is we don’t.  In fact we have let them down in extraordinary fashion.

Veterans returning home from combat have to wait up to 600 days to have their applications for benefits reviewed by the Veterans Affairs Administration.  There are cases where Purple Heart recipients have waited over 1,000 days to receive medical benefits.  Over 600,000 new claims for injury or illness received during active duty service have been pending for more than 125 days.     

Many veterans are unable to work due to their disabilities.  So while the VA backlog sucks their application into a deep black hole, bills go unpaid, bankruptcies and foreclosures occur and an already stressful situation becomes exponentially more stressful.

Why is this happening?

The VA is the poster child for big government bureaucracy.  It is a governmental behemoth of 270,000 employees charged with administering benefits to over 4 million veterans.  It suffers from bureaucratic gridlock, poor management and antiquated systems.

97% of all veterans’ claim files are paper files.  Not digital…paper.  You can only imagine the train wreck of lost documents and miss -filed correspondence that is rampant when trying to keep track of over 40 million pieces of paper.   The VA is currently converting these files over to the Veterans Benefits Management System.  VA Secretary Eric Shinseki expects the transfer to digital files to be completed “sometime in 2015.”  Budget cuts mandated by sequestration compound the problem.  Meanwhile over 1 million new claims pour in each year.

This is a travesty that is not going away anytime soon.  As modern science reveals never before known affects of combat, more and more veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam are joining our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in seeking benefits.

The president has been virtually silent on this issue.  He needs to spend some of his political capital to point the glare of the national spotlight this relatively quiet scandal.

“We support our troops!”

No, we do not.

This is a national disgrace!

Do We Really Live In A Democracy?

The dysfunctional occupants of the United States Senate are at it again.

Yesterday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined thirteen other Senate Republicans in proclaiming that they would filibuster any attempt to bring gun control legislation to the floor for a vote.

You may not be aware of this but Party Leaders do not join filibusters.  They leave it to the backbenchers of the party to do the dirty work.  But Mitch McConnell is in danger of losing his seat and his powerful position.  And Mitch McConnell is not a dummy.  He understands how weak he is in his own state.  So McConnell has calculated that he needs to curry favor with the far right to avoid a primary challenge come 2014. He believes that joining this filibuster is the way to do it.  Never mind that 92% of the nation favors stricter laws on gun ownership.  What’s important to McConnell is not the will of the people but the will of the far right special interest groups that fill his re-election coffers.

Senate Majority Leader is no better.  Reid went to the Senate floor and chastised his Republican colleagues for refusing to allow a vote on gun control legislation.  Senator Reid would like us to forget that it is as a result of his incompetence that Republicans have the opportunity to play these obstructionist games.

You see ever since Barak Obama became president the Republicans have used the filibuster to block his agenda.  They have used the filibuster hundreds of times more than any previous party in our history.  They have basically changed the rules.  Whereas the framers wrote that a simple majority vote should rule in terms of passing new laws; the Republicans, through use of the filibuster have altered the rules so that it now requires 60 votes to pass anything.

During the past election season Senator Reid vowed that if Democrats were returned to the majority he would exercise his power to change the Senate rules in such a manner as to reduce the power of the filibuster and return Senate procedures to the way the founders intended.  But when the time came Harry backed down.  He agreed on a handshake deal under which Republicans “promised” to only use the filibuster on important matters.  Harry agreed on this casual, watered down agreement because he feared that one day his Democrat Party might be in the minority and might want to abuse the power of the filibuster themselves.  Forget about the framers and the voters; it’s all about the Party and preserving one’s cash cow.

This whole thing is ludicrous! 

Who in his or her right mind filibusters an issue that is favored by 92% of the American people?  The answer of course is those who know that they will lose he debate.  Republicans don’t want an open debate and up or down vote on gun control because they know that they will lose.

Vice President  Joe Biden will participate in a round table debate on gun control this Thursday on MSNBC’s popular “Morning Joe.”  The host of the show, former Republican congressman and unabashed conservative Joe Scarborough invited the NRA to participate.  They declined saying that they were “too busy.” 

The NRA has railed against Biden’s efforts to pass stricter gun control laws.  They have accused Biden of “shredding the Constitution” in violation of their Second Amendment rights.  Yet when offered the opportunity to make their case before a national audience by debating the #1 proponent of gun control laws…they are too busy.  The fact is they don’t want to debate the issue because they know that they will lose.

The United States Senate is often referred to as “The world’s greatest deliberative body.”  Others have called the Senate “one of the most powerful political bodies in the world.”

We prefer “the most dysfunctional, out of touch self promoting social club ever assembled.”

If fourteen Senators can prevent the will of 92% of the people from even coming up for a vote then the question must be asked...do we really live in a democracy?               

Congress To Tackle Gun Control...Maybe!

Congress returns from recess today and we are told that that the various components of gun control are on this week’s to-do list.

The President will take his gun control message to Connecticut where he will be joined by some of the parents whose children were slaughtered in the Sandy Hook shootings.

Last night many of those same parents were interviewed on “60 Minutes.”  The interview is certainly   worth watching.  Not for the raw emotion displayed by those who have lost their young innocents.  But for the clear headed, rational, chilling oratory of what our society faces with absolute certainty if we don’t do something about gun violence in this country.

Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and a few other misguided Senators believe that stricter gun control laws are the first steps toward having they government take away all their guns.  They have proclaimed that they will filibuster any attempt to bring stricter gun control laws to the floor for a vote; laws which are now supported by over 92% of the voters. 

Senator Paul and his cohorts should be forced to watch this interview.  They should be forced to see what happens when radical conspiracy theory ideology meets the realities of life.

It is hard for us to fathom how anyone watching this could come away unconvinced that we have a serious gun problem in this country. It is even harder to fathom how lawmakers could be so insensitive to the will of 92% of the people that they would block the issue from even coming to a vote. 

We cannot help but wonder what the conversation in Washington would be like if one of their own were sitting among those parents, grieving over the loss of a child.  Our guess is that the conversation on the Hill would be very, very different.     

The Sandy Hook victims, their families, their friends and millions of other Americans who a have suffered as the result of gun violence deserve a vote.

        

Finally!

President Obama will release his budget proposal next Wednesday.  In a move that is certain to anger his base, the President will formally offer to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits; an offer designed to reach a deficit reduction compromise with his Republican opponents. 

The President’s proposal will tie any reduction in entitlement benefits to an increase in revenues by way of closing tax loopholes that favor the wealthy.

The administration says the President’s budget will cut the deficit by an additional $1.8 trillion over the next decade.  Together with the  $2.5 trillion in spending cuts that the White House and Congress already agreed to, the deal would bring the total deficit reduction to $4.3 trillion over the next ten years.

Finally!

We have been waiting for the President to have the political courage to formally address the real cause of our long term financial woes…entitlements.  Yes, the president has nibbled around the edges before.  He has mentioned in vague terms his willingness to address entitlements on several occasions.  He even included some aspects of entitlement reform in the “Grand Bargain” that John Boehner turned his back on.  But this is the first time that this President has sent Congress a specific, detailed proposal that takes this very politically charged issue head on. 

It’s amazing how clear headed politicians can become when not facing re-election.

Will the President receive some blowback from this proposal?  Absolutely!  Republicans will rip apart his request for additional revenues.  They will say that he got his tax increases when Congress agreed to keep the Bush tax cuts in place for all but the wealthiest Americans.  Democrats will criticize him for even mentioning cuts to the heretofore sacrosanct entitlement programs.

But the President has been politically savvy with this approach.  His budget falls somewhere in the middle of the right wing austerity measures in Paul Ryan’s budget and the tax and spend freewheeling of the budget proposal offered by the Democrat led Senate.  Obama comes across here as the moderate adult in the room.  He is betting that he can pull members from both sides toward a middle of the road compromise.

The important thing here is that the President of the United States will formerly offer a budget that puts country over party.

That is leadership.  That is what the people want.

Connecticut Lawmakers Step Up

Connecticut lawmakers, responding to the people’s call to address gun violence, have passed the most comprehensive gun legislation in our nation’s history.  Governor Dan Malloy is expected to sign the bill into law today.

The bill adds more than 100 types of guns to the state’s list of banned assault weapons.  It limits the capacity of magazine clips to 10 rounds.  It bans the sale of amour piercing bullets and requires background checks for all gun sales.  It establishes safety standards for schools, allows mental health training for teachers and expands mental research within the state.  It creates the nation’s first registry for people convicted of crimes involving the use or threat of use of dangerous weapons.

Connecticut joins Colorado and New York as the only states to pass tough gun control laws.  Maryland is expected to follow suit in the near future.

Meanwhile, over the past year ten states have passed laws that actually weaken the gun laws currently on their books.

And in Washington six Senators have taken the coward’s way out, saying that they will filibuster any attempt to being any bill to the floor that restricts the use of firearms.

61% of Americans want more stringent gun control laws.  90% of Americans favor universal background checks for all gun purchases.  We applaud the Connecticut state legislature for responding to the will of the people.

But Washington D.C. is another matter.  Politicians in Washington don’t listen to the people.  They only listen to the constituents who fund their election campaigns.

Kudos to the Connecticut legislators for doing the right thing!  They have exhibited a sense of responsibility and political understanding that is foreign to the members of Congress.

What will it take to bring Washington to its senses?  Will another Adam Lanza need to roam the halls of Congress before our spineless leaders stand up to the NRA and the right wing conspiracy theorists?

Make no mistake…there are many more Adam Lanza’s out there. 

If Congress does nothing…it is only a matter time before we hear from them.

    

   

      

Failing The Children

If you pay any attention to the national news you are no doubt familiar with the ongoing debates over gun control, debt reduction, spending cuts and entitlement reform.  Washington insiders and the national media are constantly reminding us about the fiscal and political ramifications of these weighty topics…how long it will take Paul Ryan’s budget to proposal to actually balance the budget or how Senator So and So’s re-election prospects will be affected by his stance on gun control.  But there seems to be very little discussion about how decisions coming out of Washington specifically affect the lives of every day Americans.

So we’d like to take just a few moments to dig into the weeds of how Washington’s decisions on gun control and the sequestration spending cuts affect the most defenseless of our citizenry…the children.

According to recent polls 61% of Americans favor stricter gun control laws.  Over 90% favor universal background checks on all gun purchases.  In spite of these overwhelming numbers gun advocates led by the NRA have succeeded in removing a ban on assault weapons and extended capacity magazines from the discussion.  Although background checks are still being considered there is little chance that any watered down proposal that gets through Senate will make it through the House. 

The NRA says that background checks would be “inconvenient and a paperwork nightmare for legal gun owners.”  They say that background checks will lead to a national registry of guns and gun owners; a violation of our right to privacy.  They say the only purpose for a gun registry: “is to tax them to take them.”

The NRA has proposed their own gun safety legislation which includes allowing all citizens to carry their firearms with them at all times, arming teachers in schools and providing for armed security guards at every school in the country.

So in the real world according to the NRA, John Q. Citizen could sell one of his guns to a friend without a background check.  This is called a “casual sale.”  That friend, who may or may not be mentally stable, would be allowed to carry his/her firearm into a school.  Mary Math Teacher, who might be having a very bad day, would be allowed to carry her firearm into her classroom.  And is there any guarantee that the security guard hired to protect the children could not just as easily turn into their worst nightmare.

The sequestration cuts recently passed into law by congress focus on slashing discretionary spending.  Government programs like food stamps, unemployment benefits, aid to dependent children, education and a host of others are being cut because congress does not have the will to tackle entitlement reform and defense spending…the true drivers of our fiscal woes. While discretionary spending only represents 8-12% of our national budget it represents 100% of the programs that millions of everyday Americans need to survive.

 According to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration: “Head Start provides federal grants to local public and private non-profit and for profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families with a special focus on helping preschoolers develop the early reading and math skills they need to be successful in school.”  The Head Start program in Indiana is being cut due to the passage of the sequestration cuts in Washington. 

Yesterday parents in the small town of Columbus, Indiana gathered in a local school auditorium to see if their child would be among those who would receive Head Start benefits.  A lottery was conducted with the names of the lucky children pulled out of a hat.  Thirty six sets of parents wept upon learning that their child was not one of the chosen.  The long term ramifications for their child are incalculable...not to mention the economic impact on their families as they cope with time off work and finding alternative child care.

The US spends more per capita on education than any other country in the world.  Yet our children continue to rank in the middle of all industrial countries in terms of math, reading and science proficiency.

The sequestration cuts will also scale back food stamps.  16,000,000 children in this country are living in poverty.  22% of all children reside in families living below the poverty level. One in four children lives on food stamps.

We like to say that the United States of America is the greatest country in the world.  But if we cannot keep our children safe from violence…if we cannot find the means to educate them…if we cannot even feed them properly…

…then one must question how “great” a nation we really are.

The decisions that are made in Washington have very serious day-to-day consequences. 

Just ask the children.

            

...and yet Congress does nothing.

If you are a gun control advocate who felt that the Sandy Hook shootings would spur the country and the Congress to do something about the rampant gun violence in this country…it appears that you are in for a major disappointment.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid outlined a bill last week that does not include a ban on assault weapons or high capacity magazines; although Reid promised to hold a vote on that proposal as an amendment to his bill.

What Reid is proposing is a bill that expands background checks and ramps up penalties for gun trafficking.  He intends to bring to the floor when the Senate from Easter recess.

Unfortunately for Senator Reid, and the country, it appears that his efforts will be in vain.

Senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have sent a letter to Reid informing him that they will filibuster ANY attempts to change the existing gun laws.  And a number of other Republican Senators have spoken out against strengthening gun laws, even those that would keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill.

Over twenty five hundred US citizens have been shot to death since Adam Lanza took twenty six lives 107 days ago.  Two days ago the Kaufman County Texas District Attorney and his wife were found shot to death in their home, barely two months after one of the same county’s assistant district attorneys was gunned down in broad daylight on the steps of the county courthouse.

Innocent children are being massacred…criminal justice officials are being assassinated…and yet Congress does nothing.