en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/744460 Comments by Goban http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfsep10/nf090810-3.htm#IDComment97746070 While everyone's attention is focused on these gizmos and HIV infections, which is what the VA and VAOIG want you to do, on October 1, 2010, the first federal healthcare center in the USA will open for business. The James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare Center, previously called the North Chicago VAMC, will open its doors to both veterans and active duty members and their families. A very scary thought for us, who have long enjoyed the excellent service from the Navy hospital in Great Lakes, will now be forced to go to this rebadged VA hospital. The mysterious death of a veteran there last December makes me really nervous. Did the IG ever investigate that incident? How come the VA is so quiet about this grand opening? Is it ready to receive civilian family members? Are they going to infect any member of my family? What if I go there for a routine exam and end up in the VA's fiduciary program, being declared incompetent to care for myself? Too many questions, and too little believable answers from the VA! Help me out here my fellow veterans! Fire up some articles Larry! Who was the VA doctor involved in the veterans death? I need to know who to avoid. Why? Why? Why is the VA keeping this supposedly momentous event so so quiet??? Thu, 9 Sep 2010 03:55:04 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfsep10/nf090810-3.htm#IDComment97746070 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfaug10/nf081610-1.htm#IDComment93751261 The money will never be found; they have shredded all the evidence a long time ago. This is a classic VA MO - don't leave anything behind that will incriminate the executives and the very same politicians who cover up the corruption. Somehow in the intricate route the funds took before it forever vanished, the politicians got their share in the form of campaign contributions. Corporations are citizens too, you know, according to the Supremes. They give to both parties. Don't you see? This mess of an agency is the result of bipartisan quid pro quo - no matter who is in charge, the corruption will never be cleaned up because everyone is benefitting from it. Very easy money so why kill the system? The politicians appropriate the funds and you can bet your life they do get some of that back. It will be interesting to watch Sen. Burr and Congressman Miller if they will really follow through with an investigation. If I were Dr. Boven, I won't be holding my breath. Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:17:25 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfaug10/nf081610-1.htm#IDComment93751261 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfaug10/nf081110-4.htm#IDComment92678881 It's the new normal, the new standard - good enough for the poor veterans who were mostly enlisteds, with no other options. The officers like the Most Honorable General Shinseki go to Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic. Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:48:04 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfaug10/nf081110-4.htm#IDComment92678881 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf072810-3.htm#IDComment89285374 What we need is a collective voice, not individual defensive actions. Let's march, preferably before the election. It doesn't have to be in DC and it doesn't have to be big right away. Let's start with 10 or 100 veterans, families, friends, or other concerned Americans - we'll add more zeros until we get our voices heard. Please respond if you are as pissed as I am; we can work out the details later. Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:34:10 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf072810-3.htm#IDComment89285374 http://vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf072010-5.htm#IDComment87989321 How about this for a test of the VA's "Open Government Plan": Write, email, call, or talk to your Congressmen and Senators, especially those in VA committees and have them ask for copies of VAOIG reports on Hotline Cases 2009-03119-HL-0817 and 2010-00804-HL-0182. These were two out of several cases I brought to the VAOIG concerning the multi-million dollar fraud, waste, and abuse in VA construction procurement. The VAOIG closed the cases early this year and told me that I did not have any "appeal rights" and I will have to submit a FOIA request to obtain a copy of their reports, and even then, they might provide me copies but only on a "case by case basis". So I called my own congressman to get a copy for me and bugged his office almost on a weekly basis. I still do not have a copy to this day. Maybe some of you will have a better luck with your Representatives. Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:30:21 +0000 http://vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf072010-5.htm#IDComment87989321 http://vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf072010-5.htm#IDComment87791055 Hey Broncovet, how about "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, his widow, and his orphans..."? The VA and its bi-partisan sponsors have turned this sincere mission statement from Pres. Lincoln into one big lie. Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:54:48 +0000 http://vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf072010-5.htm#IDComment87791055 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070810-3.htm#IDComment85454810 Nothing is going to change, in fact it is going to get worse. Shinseki and Obama (yes, I voted for this fraud) do not like whistleblowers. Wait till Akaka gets his whistleblower bill (S.372) passed and there will be no more "bad news" coming out of the VA because all whistleblowers will be too scared to speak up. And Obama and Shinseki will finally get their "best healthcare system in the world." Every veteran should write his or her senator to prevent this bill from becoming law. Go to whistleblower.org and support the movement to defeat S.372. Please Larry, get a discussion link on Akaka's bill and expose it for what it is - an anti-veteran or anti-American piece of legislation. Hawaii veterans, vote this traitor out of office! Thu, 8 Jul 2010 04:54:05 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070810-3.htm#IDComment85454810 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070110-3.htm#IDComment84123811 Will Gunn says VA lawyers are most ethical, yet they let VA managers fire employees who find the courage to speak the truth. Shinseki speaks of VA hospitals as the best healthcare centers in the world, yet patients are getting dead or infected with deadly diseases. The head of VA procurement says small businesses, particularly veteran-owned are getting more contracts, yet they only get what's little left by the large contractors. Someone is lying here. But the most amazing thing is how this oversight committee can't see through the lies, that behind all the polished chrome is an expensive machine that won't run. Fri, 2 Jul 2010 08:23:19 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070110-3.htm#IDComment84123811 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070210-4.htm#IDComment84082483 VA PROMISES "INDEPENDENT" PROBE OF ST. LOUIS HOSPITAL'S CONTAMINATED EQUIPMENT. Let's take a look at this here statement. VA PROMISES = they're (Vietnam Vets) still alive? ; INDEPENDENT = the doctor from Marion, IL VA Hospital; PROBE = of course, the unsterilized kind; ST. LOUIS = pray for us, poor veterans!; HOSPITAL = in real ones, they treat the sick, not infect them; CONTAMINATED EQUIPMENT = VA's Green and Energy Saving Initiative, or Federal Telework Program. Fri, 2 Jul 2010 05:52:25 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070210-4.htm#IDComment84082483 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070210-1.htm#IDComment84070707 Secretary Shinseki said it's systemic, that it is going to happen again and again and again... And of course he's right. Don't expect anything to change, not in this lifetime, not until the corruption in VA procurement is exposed. But who's going to expose it? Not the VAOIG; they're too busy exposing the dirt on those unsterilized equipment, the systemic issue that no one cares to fix. So let's take our eyes off those colonoscopes for a moment and let's find out who is lobbying whom, who is giving campaign money to whom. Go online and get all the campaign donations and all the information you can find about those people whose picture appear on the top of this website and their cohorts in the committees, then post them here, then we'll see how fast these politicians clean up this agency. Hey Watchdog, how about a little dedicated section in your website for all the dirt, pardon the pun, that we will be digging up? I would like to suggest the name "Pile-a-Caca Section". A great variation would be spelled with "k" instead of "c". Fri, 2 Jul 2010 05:05:56 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjul10/nf070210-1.htm#IDComment84070707 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjun10/nf062610-1.htm#IDComment84046074 Estimated cost to build: $1.5Billion, 5 years to build, and 1 day for Hurricane Katrina2 to put the ground floor under water, another $1.5Billion to rebuild...and job security for all those incompetent VA project managers! Why don't they just send the veterans to private hospitals where we know the equipment get sterilized? Fri, 2 Jul 2010 03:28:30 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjun10/nf062610-1.htm#IDComment84046074 http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva121609-2.htm#IDComment49541839 I am a VA Contracting Officer and have been waiting for a long time for someone to actually do something about the VA's procurement system. Not only is the system bad, it is criminal! But based on the testimony of those who are supposed to be looking out for the best interest of the veterans and the taxpayers, especially the VAOIG, GAO, and the VA's procurement chief himself, I am certain that meaningful reforms will not be coming anytime soon. Not in my lifetime anyway. It makes me feel like throwing up everytime I turn on my computer at work and read about how the VA is hard at work "serving those who shall have borne the battle, their widows, and their orphans..." What better license to mismanage, abuse, waste, and defraud than to do it all in the name of the veterans? If Congressman Mitchell wants to reform VA procurement, I would recommend that he should first send in the FBI - not the GAO or the VAOIG but the FBI. They'll know where to find me if they need my help. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:30:01 +0000 http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva121609-2.htm#IDComment49541839