Jane Dyer, Democratic candidate running for SC-3 - U.S. Congress, shares her thoughts on contracting out with our military. The seat is held currently by U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, who wants to be S.C.'s governor in 2010. Please help Dyer any way you can.
(Hot topic in the First District. Bumped into Monday. - promoted by Jennifer Read)
Dear Mr. Sanderson:
Thank you for contacting me about the Department of Defense's (DoD) policy of allowing homosexuals who keep their sex lives private, or "don't ask, don't tell." As a staunch advocate for our nation's military, I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this matter.
In 1993, Congress passed a law that the House, Senate and President Clinton thought would be a compromise between the Pentagon's stated policy of homosexuality's "incompatibility" with military service and allowing openly homosexual persons to serve. Instead of completely reversing the ban on service in the military by homosexuals, "don't ask, don't tell" dictates that the Armed Forces will no longer ask recruits about their sexual orientation, but that service members who engage in homosexual acts or who publicly announce their homosexuality will face discharge.
Since then, this principle has been the current practice in all branches of our nation's Armed Forces. However, many feel that this policy either didn't go far enough by not completely repealing the ban, or was contradictory because it both affirmed that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service" and tacitly allowed homosexuals to serve if they kept their sexual practices private.
President Barack Obama said during his campaign that he would make repealing this policy a goal, but has yet to take any action. In the 111th Congress, legislation entitled the Military Readiness Enhancement Act has been introduced that would repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and also end the military's ban of homosexuals. This legislation has yet to be considered by the House Armed Forces Committee. While we continue to monitor this issue, please know that I will keep your thought in mind as we work during the 111th Congress.
The only thing more "out there" than Joe Wilson's disrespectful display during the President's speech to Congress on Health Care is Representative Wilson's all over the place take on two of the largest government-run health systems there are - the ones that benefit our troops and veterans.
Wilson has railed against health care reform, warning that offering more choice to people amounts to a government takeover of health insurance. To him, it's an evil that has to be defeated.
Yet, at the same time, Wilson hasn't said whether he's opted into TRICARE for Life. The completely government-run health insurance system for certain military retirees is available to Wilson, as he's a 31-year Guard and Reserve veteran (though he joined after getting out of Vietnam). If he's not, of course, then he's taking insurance from the government-run pool offered to Congressmen. Then, there's all of our active duty service members who are on TRICARE - stuck in an evil government system that must have turned them into Communists by now.
Wilson has saved them and gotten them out of TRICARE, right?
Right?
"TRICARE provides world class health care," said Wilson in a press release. "I believe TRICARE is one part of our health care system that's working."
What?! Joe Wilson is all for this horrible fascist system of government care?
Since my last blog rant on the subject, some positive signs have appeared and I want to offer that information up to you and provide my own perspective on the issue. Links are below, rant starts here: This is a retarded law that does far more harm than good to our military specifically, and our society in general. Our president should get off his ass, fulfill his campaign pledge and stop the bleeding of talented, able-bodied, ready-and-willing volunteers who want to serve our country's armed forces. It's just that simple. Let the Democratic Party, supposedly the party of equality, sort out the details in Congress
That may seem to be a harsh title, but it is true! Just as Popeye would say "I've stands all I can stands and I can't stands no more!" You would think that Republicans would be on board, especially since they claim to stand for small business, for the debate on Health Care Reform. But once again we see no real effort put forward by the Republicans other than to derail the entire process.
Frankly, I am sick and tired of this and action needs to go forward. We can send billions of dollars to the quagmire called Iraq and Afghanistan but we can't take care of our own people. So let's go at the lies one by one..
No public option/Single Payer!-Well I would imagine then since the Republicans believe America should not have a public option or single payer, then they will be submitting legislation to end Medicare, Medicaid, V.A. system, military hospitals (especially seeing even Republican members of Congress enjoy use of Walter Reed and Betheseda Naval Hospitals), and any State sponsored plans, ie Wisconsin Badger Care and others. Even the Republicans in Congress would not be that suicidal!! Wake up everyone you already have a public option that is utilized by millions in Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and Military hospitals. If it is good enough for our disabled, seniors, and military why isn't that option good enough for all Americans?
Death Panels-This one is beyond belief that Republicans would say this and Americans would believe this, but then seeing Republicans including Senator Demint compare the Democrats and President Obama to Nazis what would we expect. The provision in the bill, which ironically a Republican Congressman had introduced originally, would allow Medicare for the first time to cover patient-doctor consultations about end-of-life planning, including discussions about drawing up a living will or planning hospice treatment. Patients would, of course, seek out such advice on their ownbut they would not be required to. The provision would limit Medicare coverage to one consultation every five years. This isn't a "death panel", but something many people need to do rather than not have a plan when an end of life issue arrises.
Medicare Will be Cut-Another bold face lie by the Republicans. What the President is going to do is cut the 10-year cost of $177 billion in subsidies paid to insurance companies to allow them to participate in Medicare Advantage. This is wasteful spending that can be eliminated to help Medicare.
Americans Don't Want a Government Ran Healthcare Plan-This is another lie. In a poll conducted by New York Times and CBS,
66% of Americans polled would like to see a government ran option similar to Medicare.
Rationing of Health Care-Another lie plus if you think our health care is not already rationed think again. Every day insurance companies deny coverage for a myriad of reasons. So how could it be any worse, maybe the pre-existing condition removal alone would help us all, and considering a public plan would not be able to cover all procedures, private insurance plans do not either.
Single Payer System Would Give Us Worse Healthcare-If the single payer system is so bad then why do we give to our military veterans and yet members of Congress call the VA system the best care for our veterans. A U.S. newspaper wrote that under the British system Steven Hawking would be allowed to die due to his deteriating condition, but Hawking said, "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS."
Why can't a rational discussion of healtcare reform occur without being called a communists, socialists, or Nazis. Even the Heritage Foundation has called on Congress to create a system similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) for Americans which all members of Congress enjoy. However, the health insurance industry is and will do anything to derail any option that will be a benefit to the consumer and affect their bottom line.
Most small business would love to provide health insurance to their employees, but simply can't or the ones who do have very expensive plans with limited coverages. I know this first hand because I am a small business owner. The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world on both a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP, yet fails to provide Universal coverage.
A study published in 2008 in Annals of Internal Medicine, a leading medical journal, showed 59 percent of physicians “support government legislation to establish national health insurance,” while 32 percent oppose it and 9 percent are neutral.
Here is the proposal from Physicians for a National Health Program key features:
"Key Features of Single-Payer
Universal, Comprehensive Coverage Only such coverage ensures access, avoids a two-class system, and minimizes expense
No out-of-pocket payments Co-payments and deductibles are barriers to access, administratively unwieldy, and unnecessary for cost containment
A single insurance plan in each region, administered by a public or quasi-public agency A fragmentary payment system that entrusts private firms with administration ensures the waste of billions of dollars on useless paper pushing and profits. Private insurance duplicating public coverage fosters two-class care and drives up costs; such duplication should be prohibited
Global operating budgets for hospitals, nursing homes, allowed group and staff model HMOs and other providers with separate allocation of capital funds Billing on a per-patient basis creates unnecessary administrative complexity and expense. A budget separate from operating expenses will be allowed for capital improvements
Free Choice of Providers Patients should be free to seek care from any licensed health care provider, without financial incentives or penalties
Public Accountability, Not Corporate Dictates The public has an absolute right to democratically set overall health policies and priorities, but medical decisions must be made by patients and providers rather than dictated from afar. Market mechanisms principally empower employers and insurance bureaucrats pursuing narrow financial interests
Ban on For-Profit Health Care Providers Profit seeking inevitably distorts care and diverts resources from patients to investors
Protection of the rights of health care and insurance workers A single-payer national health program would eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people who currently perform billing, advertising, eligibility determination, and other superfluous tasks. These workers must be guaranteed retraining and placement in meaningful jobs.
from the American Journal of Public Health January 2003, Vol 93, No.1"
(Unfortunately I had this down on my calendar for tomorrow night so I didn't put up a "heads up" post, but hopefully there will be a chance for you to catch it again)
"Ask Not", a documentary about the military's 15-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy restricting homosexuals from serving openly in the military, aired tonight on PBS' Independent Lens.
The documentary offers a retrospective of DADT and looks at both views of the issue, including glimpses of lives directly affected by the policy, from veterans who opt to leave the military to active duty servicemembers living in the closet. Two former Columbia residents, Jarrod Chlapowski and Alex Nicholson, are featured in the film, including an interview with WVOC's Kevin Cohen during their "Right to Serve" tour educating people about the policy.
South Carolina plans to cut aid to the VFW, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans in the next budget. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently outlined a "doomsday" budget that would close all four of the state's veterans' homes if an income tax increase is not passed, leaving more than 1,000 veterans without care. [...]
Funding for veterans' service organizations, or VSOs, is a fraction of multibillion-dollar state budgets that support schools, prisons and health care for the poor. But a $27,000 reduction means the South Carolina VFW will not be able to pay its lone service officer when she returns from medical leave.
The public is most familiar with veterans' groups for their baseball tournaments, bingo nights and participation in parades. But veterans and widows of veterans rely on service organizations for help with benefits, especially in states that give money to the groups instead of hiring their own employees to help file claims. [...]
President Barack Obama is moving to remove combat troops from Iraq in 2010, and they will return with physical and psychological problems. Fort Jackson already has an outfit full of injured soldiers recuperating from combat, training injuries or other illnesses, says Albert Landsperger, senior vice commander/adjutant for the South Carolina VFW.
"They're all going to need assistance putting in claims with the VA," he said. "We're going to need more service officers than we've got now."
This AP article is the first mention I've seen of any potential cuts to state funding, but considering the circus that was our statehouse this session, I'm not surprised. While our politcians play games, people on the ground are suffering.
While that seems to be the status quo around here, I'm attempting to contact my legislators as well as the governor's office to get some answers about these cuts. I hope you'll do the same.
Last week I told you about a disappearing post at The Palmetto Scoop. TPS "editor" Adam Fogle has a long history of making shit up and having to retract posts, but this time he not only erased a post, he wrote a new, shiny, I'm-sorry-and-I-promise-it'll-never-happen-again post. Now hopefully the majority of computer users are smart enough to see through TPS' obvious biases, but just in case you missed out, let there be no doubt that Adam Fogle has no interest in "reinventing and redefining the Palmetto State’s political scene" except in those rare cases in which it suits his political masters.
The sad part is that this kid came across some information that could actually be useful to the general public, if its true, and he was obviously forced to back down in the face of pressure. Instead of showing a pair of testicles, TPS showed its true color: yellow. Perhaps a more mainstream media member could take Fogle's fumble and run with it. Or maybe the original post was nothing but bull shit. It wouldn't be the first time for the Quinn family pet.
I actually intended to link to a Palmetto Scoop post this week, but a funny thing happened on the way to the Reader. Fogle's post accusing Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's Senior Shield program of "ripping off seniors, taxpayers" disappeared. Luckily, Google Reader has a good memory. See and read the original post here
Posts and articles that came across my desktop this week...
The DoD Inspector General continues to find problems with Marine Corps procurement. This might sound like a bunch of minor bean and bullet counter issues, but they've been adding up over the last few years and sometimes it means the difference between life and death for our warriors. Hopefully we'll see some reform efforts from our new administration
This report is equal parts ironic and sad, less than a week after 
