This week was Veterans Day, ‘07. The Viet Nam vet finally got some recognition a few years ago. The Golden Corral restaurant chain, in hand with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) has been giving free dinners to our vets, on Veterans’ Day, as a way of saying “Thank you”. That was a long time coming and is well done. However many of us are unaware of the level of dis-appriciation that the veterans have to live with [or die with].

I was at the VA hospital at Oklahoma City when there was a veteran trying to get his life saving medication straitened out. The pharmacist said, rather loudly, “You don’t have any business asking for medication. We gave you a million dollar organ transplant”. The veteran responded somewhat louder “You did not give me anything. We earned our healthcare”. The pharmacy was crowded and some people clapped while others agreed with him. Someone said ‘you’re goddamn rite”. It is right. That medical care was paid for with blood.

At that point the lady gave him a paper and told him to circle the meds that he needed. He did that but he did not get the meds without going back there and, again, asking for the immune-suppressants that he asked for to begin with. Those medicines are part of the transplant. No veteran should have to ask twice for his medications.

In every VA hospital and on their publications is this motto “Serving America’s Heroes”. Most of the staff and volunteers work toward that end. Still many of them do not know how those words ring hollow in congress. The Graham-Rudman Act of 1985 illuminates that problem. ‘Know what that is? It is a law that was designed, in part, to slowly remove the benefits that were promised to the Viet Nam veterans. Further cuts were created in 1997 with the Emergency Deficit Control Act (known as Graham, Rudman, Hollings).


Why do they do that? How come Congress is doing it so slowly? Why did they not just close the veterans’ facilities and go on to something else? Well I can think of one reason for doing that; It seems to me that congress is being sneaky. If they remove those benefits all at once the public would notice. The public would say, “Wait a minuet Uncle Sam. You can’t do that to our veterans” .

I remember a while back our federal government was sued for that problem. A federal judge said the government does not have to keep their word. Does that piss you off? It pisses me way off. It’s immoral and it is illegal. Here is why; we do not pay our leaders to cheat us.

The government often trims the VA budget and the GI benefits. I remember one year Congress failed to take care of the vets. They said they could not find money for veterans’ health care. But, in that same session they found money to vote themselves a health club. Are you pissed off? It puts a big twist in my drawers. If the VA health care is good enough for the veterans then it is good enough for congress.

The congress has way too much control over our money. They will take money from fine Americans and give it to giant corporations and countries. They vote themselves thousands of dollars in pay raises every year. But they leave the veterans and our old people without enough to live well enough to stay healthy. Doesn’t that piss you off?

Congress’ pay increases ought to be directly tied to veterans’ health care and pensions. If they can find cash to pay themselves and to give to Iraq and Israel then they can find it for our own people.

Write some letters to our representatives and senators and tell them we are pissed off. Tell them to restore the veterans’ benefits to pre Graham-Ruddman levels. Tell them to take care of our own people first then they can have a pay raise.