Eric K. Shinseki Faces His Responsibility

Years ago, on this very blog, I stated multiple times that the Veterans Administration hospitals did not deliver what they were supposed to. I sited my father's problems with the VA, as well as the problems two of my friends had.

I was summarily accosted by my liberal readers as citing only anecdotal information that did not represent any systemic problems. The VA, they said, did a good job and was a wonderful example of how the government could administer programs well.

When Eric K. Shinseki to the reigns of the VA, he led everyone to believe that the bureaucracy was functioning well and that he was going to make it even better. Its administration would be honest and open. Our veterans would be served well. Most of all, the VA would rise above the "depths" to which it had sunk under (who else?) George W. Bush. 

Eric K. Shinseki resigned Friday as secretary of veterans affairs, taking responsibility for a scandal in the VA health-care system over excessive waiting times and coverups of what he called “systemic” problems.

Let's assume that Shinseki did inherit a mess. We were told by President BO (the amateur president) that he would start us on the path to a better, more efficient, leaner, more streamlined VA. 

In order to make it better, Shinseki allowed waiting lists to be hidden, so that the appointment/treatment ratio would look better than it was (corrupt). He also refused to allow the states to reach out to VA hospitals to help them conform to state medical services standards.

In Florida, Governor Rick Scott has sued the federal government and the VA because not a single Florida VA hospital would allow the appropriate state personnel to offer assistance in meeting Florida standards. They would not allow inspectors to verify that the VA hospitals were meeting Florida standards. Every VA hospital in Florida refused to open their doors for either state inspection or state help.

Did Eric K. Shinseki simply not know that there were hidden waiting lists? Did he meet regularly with his administrators to determine that they were carrying out the duties with which they were charged?

He did not. But don't worry, everything was just fine. If you didn't believe it, just ask him.

Did Eric K. Shinseki know about the short-comings and just overlook them? If so, he was at best an inept administrator and at worst a lying thief of low character, accepting tax payer money and not doing his job.

Turns out that the difficulties at the VA were much deeper than anybody knew. And, as the risk of once again being ridiculed by my stupid liberal commenters, they obviously go deeper still.

In the end, the VA has shown more light on the inability or refusal of Obama to know what is going on in his administration.  Like Shinseki, he does not regularly meet with his administrators (the cabinet), does not involve himself with the presiding over the laws of the United States of America like he is supposed to. He did not preside well over Benghazi, over the U.S. Postal Service, over the NSA, over the IRS, over the Justice Department (think: Fast and Furious) or over ANY OTHER agency of government he is supposed to be leading. For good measure, brought us the largest number of unemployed job-needers in the history of the country and the largest number to ever drop out of the job seeking category. 

That he was elected in the first place (with zero experience at holding a job, let alone acting as a governmental leader) and was re-elected by the liberal voters of America is a testament to the rank stupidity of liberalism and the low information status of the average citizen.

You gave us the government you deserve, but not the one America needed.

Oh Yeah! The Carney resigned, too.

President Obama announced Friday that Jay Carney will step down as White House press secretary after more than three years and be replaced by his deputy Josh Earnest, who worked on the Obama campaign in 2008. Earnest Started out as Obama’s Iowa communications director in 2007. Earnest joined then-Sen. Obama’s campaign in March 2007 as communications director for Iowa.

Carney, the man who never learned to give a direct answer to a question, who lied constantly, who made illogical statements, who ridiculed press members who did not accept his warped agenda is gone.  

Not a moment too soon.

Does it look like the administration is completing its fall?

Liberal thinking explained by Evan Sayet at Unite IE 5-17-2014

These Are Really Sweet People, Aren't They?

Disobeying an arranged marriage and marrying ‘for love’ is viewed as a sin in Pakistan. But that didn’t stop Farzana Parveen, 25, from marrying Mohammad Iqbal, a man she had been engaged to for years, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

Parveen’s father had filed an abduction case against her and, according to her lawyer, they were fighting it in court.

Around 20 members of Parveen’s family waited on her in front the high court in Lahore, reported the Belfast Telegraph, and when she arrived they fired shots in the air tried to take her away from her husband.

When she resisted her father, brothers, and other family members stoned and beat her to death with bricks from a nearby construction site.

Her husband explained that he was in love with Farzana:

Mr Iqbal, 45, said he started seeing Ms Parveen after the death of his first wife, with whom he had five children.

“We were in love,” he told the Associated Press. He alleged that the woman’s family wanted to fleece money from him before marrying her off.

“I simply took her to court and registered a marriage,” infuriating the family, he said.

The father, who surrendered himself to police, called it an honor killing.

Bona Fide members of the religion of peace.  We need this kind of thing in America, don't you think?

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Lest we forget.

Which One Was Telling the Truth?

No. He never said that those who oppose ObamaCare are racists.

HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN PBO (tap) IS TELLING THE TRUTH?

Speaking at a fundraising event for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Los Angeles, President BO (the amateur president) asserted that Republicans filibustered 500 pieces of legislation.

Here’s what he said:

“Here’s what’s more disconcerting; their willingness to say no to everything — the fact that since 2007, they have filibustered about 500 pieces of legislation that would help the middle class just gives you a sense of how opposed they are to any progress — has actually led to an increase in cynicism and discouragement among the people who were counting on us to fight for them,”

TheWashington Post recognized the error of this statement. They wrote: 

“On just about every level, this claim is ridiculous. We realize that Senate rules are complex and difficult to understand, but the president did serve in the Senate and should be familiar with its terms and procedures. Looking at the numbers, he might have been able to make a case that Republicans have blocked about 50 bills that he had wanted passed, such as an increase in the minimum wage. But instead he inflated the numbers to such an extent that he even included votes in which he, as senator, supported a filibuster.”

The Post said that in reality, “there have just been 133 successful filibusters...since 2007.”

Now he claims that he only learned of the VA wait-list scandal on TV.

Does that have a familiar ring to it? It should.

He said the same thing about Operation Fast and Furious, the IRS's targeting of tea parties and a DOJ seizure of two months of Associated Press phone records.

NOTE: The following video was added to this post Thursday evening at 10:15. 

Why does the man in charge not know what is going on in his administration? Doesn’t he learn about them from his cabinet meetings?

Wait! President BO (the amateur president) doesn't even HOLD cabinet meetings (except when forced to do so).

If he did not know about them, then he is a very poor leader.

If he DID know about them, then he is a bald faced liar.

He has pretended ire in each case, gone before the public and revealed how angry he is about each and how he was going to fix each. After the fact, of course.

If he had been at the helm, he would have known about them from the start and would have been able to take care of them forthwith.

I think he knew, don’t you?

The Heart of a Democrat-Check Out :50-:60

I do NOT think it was a Freudian slip. I think it is at the heart of the Democrat Party.

MORE THAT NOBODY HAD ANY WAY OF PREDICTING IN ADVANCE

More than 1 million Americans may be getting health insurance subsidies that are too high or to low. The government does know whether or which, and there is no “app” that can tell. The government, therefore, is unable to fix the problem.

This was a totally unpredictable, unintended consequence of ObamaCare. Nobody could have possibly seen it coming. When subsidy payments were made a part of ObamaCare, it could not have been foreseen that there would be a problem verifying the claims of the applicant. There just was no way any person, living or dead, could have predicted that the federal government would not be able to verify an applicant’s income.

One might ask, “Didn’t House Republicans warn about this very problem in July of 2013?” The answer would be, “Well, yes, they did, but they’re Republicans. They are stupid, back-wood, red-necks who can’t tell their olfactory organs from their posteriors.” Just because they predicted it, that’s no reason to point out that they predicted it.

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) predicted the problem last year. She was right. The government is unable to verify people's incomes for the purpose of determining ObamaCare subsidies. But that doesn’t mean it could have been predicted.

The House tried to fix the problem by passing legislation, but that died in the Senate. I forget. Which Party controls the Senate?

Don’t worry. Be happy! The IRS (to whom we all report our incomes) can just shoot the information over to the governing agency, so they’ll know what to do. Oh, wait! The IRS IS the agency that administers ObamaCare. Turns out they don’t have the ability to verify income levels!

Who would have thunk it?

“We knew that paying out subsidies without first confirming that someone was eligible would become a nightmare for American taxpayers, and these reports confirm our concerns. Not only are taxpayers potentially on the hook for billions of dollars in fraudulent subsidy claims, but honest Americans who merely make a mistake filling out Obamacare forms might now he hounded years later for back taxes,” said Rep. Black.

Democrats just can’t predict the results of what they do.

I LIKE DOING MATH THE "NEW" WAY, DON'T YOU?

Thank you, Common Core!

(What in the world does that "new" way even mean?)

ADDENDUM: OK. Some commenters (who shall remain nameless, but whose intitals are XO), want a link. They don't trust me. How could that be?

OK...let's try THIS.

SUNDAY RESPITE-Lord of Eternity-Fernando Ortega

WHENEVER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED

Libs Will Defend This to the Hilt

Liberals will come up with diversions, they will link to irrelevant sites, they will say, "They did it, too (as though two wrongs really DO make a right), they'll castigate Fox News for reporting this (what they'll call) "non-event" and they will tell us they're happy to spend their tax dollars on this kind of thing.

Just like they will defend the spending of tons of taxpayer money for solar panels on the White House for the sake of "efficiency" when those panels will light 40 100 watt light bulbs for 20 days (or is it 20 100 watt light bulbs for 40 days?).

Liberals, you are a disease.

Stevens' Death Was Really Just A Side Effect

REALLY?

I MEAN: REALLY?

Come to think of it, that's the smartest thing I've ever heard any liberal ever say...and even it was dead wrong (pun intended).

This Could NOT Have Been Foreseen...right?

There is no way anybody could have predicted this, is there?

No possibility exists that the smartest person on earth could have expected anything like this would ever happen, right?

Only some kind of radical, ESPer could have seen this coming, right?

Nobody would have EVER, EVER thought this possible, right?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An American Airlines Group Inc aircraft almost collided with a drone above Florida earlier this year...

Jim Williams, manager of the Federal Aviation Administrations's Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Office, said, The airplane pilot said that the UAS was so close to his jet that he was sure he had collided with it..."

Just A Few Comments from Champions of Equality

"Slavery among the whites was an improvement over independence in Africa. The very progress that the blacks have made, when--and only when--brought into contact with the whites, ought to be a sufficient argument in support of white supremacy--it ought to be sufficient to convince even the blacks themselves."

--William Jennings Bryan, 1923
Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, 1896, 1900 and 1908
Appointed Secretary of State by Woodrow Wilson in 1913
His statue stands in the U.S. Capitol.

"Mr. President, the crime of lynching . . . is not of sufficient importance to justify this legislation."

--Sen. Claude Pepper (D., Fla.), 1938
Spoken while engaged in a six-hour speech against the antilynching bill

"President Truman's civil rights program "is a farce and a sham--an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I have voted against the so-called poll tax repeal bill. . .. I have voted against the so-called anti-lynching bill."

--Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson (D., Texas), 1948
U.S. Senator, 1949-61
Senate Majority Leader, 1955-61
President, 1963-69

"These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."

--Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D., Texas), 1957

"I did not lie awake at night worrying about the problems of Negroes."

--Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, 1961
Kennedy later authorized wiretapping the phones and bugging the hotel rooms of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I'll have those n*ggers voting Democrat for the next 200 years."

                                                                                             - LBJ on the 1964 Civil Rights Act"I'm not going to use the federal government's authority deliberately to circumvent the natural inclination of people to live in ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods. . . . I have nothing against a community that's made up of people who are Polish or Czechoslovakian or French-Canadian or blacks who are trying to maintain the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods."

--Jimmy Carter, 1976
President, 1977-81
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2002

"Everybody likes to go to Geneva. I used to do it for the Law of the Sea conferences and you'd find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva."

--Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D., S.C.) 1993
Chairman, Commerce Committee, 1987-95 and 2001-03
Candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, 1984

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African American [Barack Obama] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy."

"There's less than 1% of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4% or 5% that is, are minorities. What is it in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you're dealing with." Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., (D., Del.), 2006-07

(Referring to Barack Obama as a) "light-skinned" African-American who lacked a "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." -- Senator Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader

(Referring to Barack Obama in discussion with Ted Kennedy) "A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee."

"The only reason you are endorsing him is because he's black. Let's just be clear." -- Former President Bill Clinton

"You know, get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun. If there's ever a great video, it's you standing in the middle of the New York State Thruway saying, you know, 'Read my lips -- the law of the land is this, and we're going to enforce the law.'" - New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in response to Governor David A. Paterson's request for guidance on how to deal with the sensitive issue of the sale of tax-free cigarettes on sovereign Indian lands within New York State

Referring to Barack Obama: "“Listen he’s a nice person, he’s very articulate,” this is what’s been used against him, “but he couldn't sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.” -- Dan Rather

How many "D"s did you count?

IS THIS OR IS THIS NOT TYPICAL OF THE ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION?

The acting deputy U.S. attorney general (David O'Neil) in charge of overseeing 'public integrity' prosecutions testified Friday that he doesn't know who's in charge of the criminal investigation of Lois Lerner.

I must not have understood. What I think I heard  was  that the person IN  CHARGE of overseeing 'PUBLIC INTEGRITY' prosecutions does not know who's in charge of the CRIMINAL investigation of Lois Lerner. Is that what I heard? Really? The man in charge of all of those in charge does not know who's in charge?

And we're supposed to believe that? Is he just an incompetent IN CHARGER, or is he trying not to answer a question?

Does it take more than 7 requests to get an answer to a question? Is that justifiable in the minds of liberals?

So, let's see if you can clear the air based on O'Neil's testimony. Is he involved in the investigating of the targeting of conservative groups? Is he? What did he say? (Hint: Finally, yes).

Is it OK to continue to pretend that you don't know the answer that you really know the answer to?

SUNDAY RESPITE-This One's with Me-Newsong

WHY DOES ANYBODY LISTEN TO THIS GUY?

Is this really representative of the left, blacks, talk show "hosts" or anything above street level?

My Plan for Genuine Healthcare Reform

1.  Give healthcare back to companies and get the government out of it.

2.  Open the borders and let the companies do business accross state lines.

3.  Set up a fund that insurance companies can pay into and can access that can be used for the sacred "pre-existing condition." This would function the same way property insurance pools funtion for hurricanes, mud slides, sink holes, etc. This fund would be administered by a private organization.

4.  Establish a private, separate and independent arbitration system to determine whether a declined "pre-existing condition" should be covered after all.

5.  Provide the insured with jump drive or other electronic device on which to maintain his/her personal medical records which could be accessed only with the insured's permission. Prohibit any federal entity from accessing those records unless a court determines that they impact national security.

6.  Remove any barriers that would make it difficult for qualified doctors (doctors who have passed their respective state's medical board exam) to set up and maintain a thriving practice.

7.  Set a cap on malpractice pay-outs. The caps would be administered in proportion to the medical proceedure in question. They would be categorized by the severity of the condition/disease and the degree to which a person's life might be impacted by the result of the malpractice. Said caps could be over-ridden by a private, independent arbitration system that would determine whether a court needed to determine a larger pay-out.

8.  Prohibit the federal government from being involved in the health care process unless it can be proven in a court of law that national security is at stake in a particular case.

There might be one or two things more to add, but these would represent the correct start to maintaining the finest healthcare system in the known universe.

SUNDAY RESPITE-King of the Nations-Graham Kendrick

Note what the Email says about itself. See bullet 2

 

Normally I do not add an addendum this long after posting, but I thought

this might help clear up a few things, SOOOO

 

ADDENDUM:

 

I was going to cut and paste the relevant portions of the “smoking gun” Emails concerning the attacks at Benghazi and Susan Rice’s instructions to go on TV and say the unrest was caused by a third rate, nti-Islamic video.

However, the site at Judicial Watch does not allow cut and paste. So, here is the link to the entire set of Emails.

In the email, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, says Rice should “underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy." “These protests” might be understood to refer to more than just Benghazi, but they certainly included Benghazi. The clear intent was to lead people to believe one thing about the protests, when something else was KNOWN to be true.

Richard Nixon was forced to resign the presidency over one, single, solitary lie concerning a two-bit break-in at the Watergate. One lie! Just one.

President BO (the amateur president) has lied and lied and lied without consequence. What a travesty!

As Fredd points out, This president has lied about so much now, it is expected of him. He lied about taking public matching campaign funds in 2007. He lied about being the most transparent administration ever. He lied about reducing the deficit by half in four years. He lied about closing Guantanamo Bay. He lied about Fast and Furious. He lied about the IRS scandal (not a smidgen of evidence, he says), and he lied about nearly everything that matters to the American public.

Then he lied about the major selling point on the hated Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare): 'if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. Period.'

So, why do so many liberals think he told the truth about Benghazi? Why do they think he should still be the president?

I Know You Love Honesty and Answers to the Questions Asked (Unless You'r A Liberal)

 So now the Email about Benghazi is NOT about Benghazi. Come on, people, how stupid do you think people are?

(I guess if you are a liberal you cannot imagine HOW a "normal" person can discern when you are lying.)

Are you smart enough to recognize that Carney is squirming?