Crisis in Veterans' Healthcare

DeJa-Vu Vietnam Era All Over Again!!

For an Arrogant, Apathedic, Wealthy country, that loves it's Conflicts and Occupations, we truely show our colors with our short term memories.

This all went on before, We Didn't Learn.

Now this time we have the cute little phrase, with magnetic car ribbons {though they must weight abit too much, don't see them anymore especially on the gas guzzling SUV's, save gas you know, get rid of excess weight.}, "Support The Troops", but like all the past times the reality of the feel good phrases quickly disappears when they return, "Forget The Veterans!"!

So the 'Troops', fresh from the battles and occupations we send them to, this time after Multiple Tours some now of their fifth, have to face the reality of the new battles, with little help, against the country that sent them but Refuses to Pony Up The Monies Needed to Care for them, funny how they Ignore the Costs of waging the Occupations and Destruction of Others, and the War Profitteers who reap from those monies!

Class-action suit against Veterans Affairs opens
E-mails noting high rate of veteran suicide are shown, but agency says it is doing its best to provide healthcare.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs may paint a rosy picture of improving healthcare for veterans, but the agency has systematically denied benefits to sick veterans and delayed claims so long that many of them commit suicide, a lawyer for two advocacy groups argued in federal court Monday.

VA stalling on care, judge told at S.F. trial

More than 120 veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq commit suicide every week while the government stalls in granting returning troops the mental health treatment and benefits to which they are entitled, veterans advocates told a federal judge Monday in San Francisco.

This afternoon, for those able to tune in online:

On Tuesday, April 22nd, KPFA/ Pacifica Radio will broadcast a three-hour live national special delving into the crisis in the VA health care system. The special broadcast will include live updates from the San Francisco Federal Courthouse, interviews with veterans’ attorney Gordon Erspamer, advocates from Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for America, as well as interviews with veterans and their families, including Joyce and Kevin Lucey who are suing the VA claiming their son Jeffrey committed suicide after being turned away from the VA.


KPFA host and former Army medic Aimee Allison and award-winning journalist Aaron Glantz will anchor the broadcast and take calls from listeners. Listeners can also participate in a blog on KPFA’s interactive warcomeshome.org website, which highlights the human costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations for those in the United States. The special airs on KPFA from 10am PDT (1pm EDT) to 1pm PDT (4pm EDT) on 94.1 FM in Northern California and online at kpfa.org and warcomeshome.org, as well as on Pacifica stations and affiliates around the country.

( Click here to visit KPFA to listen live }

The broadcast comes on the heels of KPFA/ Pacifica’s broadcast of the Winter Soldier hearings last month in Silver Springs, Maryland, where scores of US veterans spoke out about war crimes perpetrated by the US government in Iraq and Afghanistan, including crimes they had witnessed or participated in.

Watch

Veterans Families Speak Out
"Only On The Web": Chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian speaks to the families of five soldiers who, allegedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, took their own lives.