yesthattom | Name it and it sticks

The Republicans know that if something doesn’t get “a name” it doesn’t “stick”. There was 6 months of Clinton-did-something-murmurs but once they all started calling it “MonicaGate”, then it got traction. Creating the name “Snowflake Babies” turned the entire “Republicans want to stop America from curing diseases and force all the good biotech jobs to other countries” into photo ops for newborns that people I wouldn’t trust with a beanie-baby were claiming had been born from embryos that would otherwise have been destroyed.

The liberals (and I say liberals... as in the word with the same root as “liberation”) need to name things better. Here are some things that need names:

The 100,000 people that are arm-less, leg-less, or hand-less or otherwise have body parts blown up during the Iraq war. Half of them won’t talk to the media because they are afraid of losing their VA benefits. However the other half are ineligible for VA benefits because National Guard troops can’t use the VA (when Dems proposed it, it was voted down by the Republicans for being “too expensive”). That “other half” should be willing to talk to the media.
A name of vets from the Iraq war that get no VA benefits because they were National Guard members.
A name for the miscounting of the number of dead Americans in the Iraq war. We just surpassed 3,000 dead, right? Well, it turns out that number doesn’t count the people that die on the airplane to the military hospital in Germany (or while at that hospital). In other words, they under counted by getting wounded onto the airplane as soon as possible. Some estimate there are 5,000 people dead by that standard.
Unemployment statistics count people getting unemployment benefits, but those run out after 6 months. Therefore the “low unemployment rate” means that very few people have lost their job recently. If you lost your job 6 months and a day, you are out of the statistics. The real unemployment story is much different (and a smart president could use this fact to sustain a long period of many-people-without-jobs as long as they all lost them early in his administration; and then just stayed unemployed for years)
The people that have jobs without insurance, especially the ones that use expensive emergency room visits for normal treatment... which you and me pay for in taxes. (It would be cheaper to give them insurance and get them primary care)

Can you name more under-counted categories that should be named and/or suggest names for these groups of people?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

yesthattom.livejournal.com

So these people with 3 legs shot off but can't use the VA are in this situation because they got hit on day 1 thru 179?

From:

domiobrien.livejournal.com

No-- those who are wounded/mulilated on Federal active duty, including whether after 180 days or before that, are supposed to be kept in the service, receiving medical services at military medical facilities, until either well enough to return to active duty, or until given a disability percentage rating and a monthly disability pension (at which point, they are entitled to use VA hospitals and receive other veterans benefits) and an official status of medical honorable discharge on the DD214. The widows/widowers/orphans of those killed on active duty are entitled to monthly Dependents Indemnity and Compensation, military medical care, commissary and PX privileges, etc. on top of the insurance/death benefits. But for people who simply don't serve at least 180 days Federal active, who return home safely, there are no vets benefits. The concern, of course, that some wounded Guards simply want to go home, to areas where there is no VA hospital near than, and without official resolution of their status. Due to Federal budget-cutting, there are fewer VA hospitals than there once were, and they are open fewer hours in some cases, with fewer staff. So while those with service-connected medical issues are priority, the services they need may not be available in their home area.

From:

redsonja.livejournal.com

During my USAF technical training, I had a roommmate who fell while doing her mile and a quarter PT run and broke her wrist. The TI didn't believe her and forced her to do pushups on it. Her AFSC was computer operator, and the injury made her unfit for both her job description and any sort of military duty beyond guarding facilities. She should have been medically discharged.

Instead they made her wait over nine months while trying to decide what to do with her. A civilian would have been able to take any other employer to court over this. They relegated this extremely intelligent young lady to guard duty for nine months while they tried to find a way out of paying her disability. They wanted to get their investment back and they were going to get it, even if it was setting her at guard duty for months; literally adding insult to injury. And this is how they treated someone active duty in peacetime (1986). If I had known then what I know now, I would have told her to get in touch with her Congressman pronto.

On two occasions, at two different bases, I came down with bronchial pneumonia. At Keesler, I was openly accused of malingering, but at least given the medicine I needed. At Ramstein, I was made to wait three hours in the waiting room, shivering in my field jacket until the fever broke, then handed a prescription for ASPIRIN (!!!!) and again accused of malingering. I had to go back a second time when a different doctor was on duty to get the antibiotics necessary.

Military medical care can be heinous on the best of occasions. I have no illusions about that.

The concern, of course, that some wounded Guards simply want to go home, to areas where there is no VA hospital near than, and without official resolution of their status. Due to Federal budget-cutting, there are fewer VA hospitals than there once were, and they are open fewer hours in some cases, with fewer staff. So while those with service-connected medical issues are priority, the services they need may not be available in their home area.

One of the things the newly Democratic Congress should look at is allowing vets to use their military benefits from whatever medical facilities are nearest them. Whether they are guard, reserve or active duty, you don't see anyone military saying "Well this isn't MY little backwater, why should *I* bother putting my life on the line for it?" The military protects the entire nation, why should it be that only PARTS of the nation are made available to them when they need medical attention for injuries sustained in that service?

From:

domiobrien.livejournal.com

My father was career Air Force; my ex put in a full Army career (AGR, active guard & reserves). I've dealt with military medical facilies, the CHAMPUS program, etc all my life. The military medical system is just like civilian HMOs-- some good people, some bad ones, some trying to give the patient an aspirin, an antibiotic, or a tranquilizer and get them out of there, some willing to run the tests, make the referrals, do it right. During the three years my father was stationed at Hahn AFB in Germany, the clinic was so bad on base that after a few months run-arounds my parents finally made the decision that all of us-- including my active-duty officer father-- would see the local German doctor and pay him cash, with no reimbursement. (Herr Doktor Doktor Doerr identified my mother's long-term medical issues, referred her to a specialist, and followed up her treatment-- including by correspondence after we returned to the States, and shipping her medication not available in the US). I've had very good experiences with military medical, however, at Kelly AFB, Langley, and Sand Point Naval Station. Ft. Bragg was another story entirely. Those military personnel who are on retirement pay or disability pension can use the closest VA hospital, or designated civilian facilities at government expense if there is no VA hospital in the area. Some civilian facilities, however, don't like dealing with the military medical insurance process. They finally did get a law through Congress that if a doctor or medical facility accepts Medicare or Medicaid, they must also accept CHAMPUS/TRICARE coverage.

From:

redsonja.livejournal.com

It says a lot that your family got treated that way at Hahn and you were officer dependents. I was at the MAJCOM HQ (10 minutes away from Landstuhl), but it wasn't much better there, and I was enlisted. Yes, that unfortunately makes a difference - and I seriously doubt an enlisted paycheck could even begin to cover what a German doctor would ask for in payment.

Anything in CONUS that is high profile - DC and the Baltiwash area, Texas, Denver, etc - is going to get better facilities and treatment because there are enough people who know to go to their Congressperson if things start hitting the fan. A lot of stuff can be hidden from the general American public by keeping it overseas.

From:

domiobrien.livejournal.com

One of the problems here is that the National Guard are NOT supposed to be serving outside of the US, nor are they supposed to be under the Commander in Chief, though Bush and company insists this is legit. The National Guard units are, effectively, the original Homeland Security forces. They are legally under the command and control of the Governor of their state, NOT the US military/Commander in Chief, unlike active duty forces and the Reserves. They are supposed to be mobilized to handle issues in their own state; a Governor may "loan" troops on request to the Governor of another state in case of invasion, natural disaster, or civil unrest. If active duty troops aren't enough for an international situation, it's supposed to be the Reserves who get mobilized for active duty; the Guard are supposed to stay home, protecting the US. Now they are being Federalized (which happened to a much lesser extent also during VietNam) so if they meet the same criteria, they get the same benefits. But they should not be serving abroad, and no one in Congress seems willing to say it, or address the Federal power-grab. (Governor Lynch here in NH has spoken out, as have a few other Governors, but most are strangely silent.)

From:

redsonja.livejournal.com

One of the problems here is that the National Guard are NOT supposed to be serving outside of the US, nor are they supposed to be under the Commander in Chief, though Bush and company insists this is legit.

Oh, bring THAT insignificant, paltry, meaningless detail up why don't you. *chuckle*

It will be very interesting to see what Spitzer (who just unseated Pataki in NY) does with that particular hot potato. He's his own little wave making machine right now as it is. Every 2 hours a buzzer goes off at the NY Times and all the little Democrats come running out in their bathing suits yelling "WOOHOO!!!" :D