Free Republic

Public sector unions are out of control. They are extracting wealth from the productive economy and playing taxpayers for chumps. Simple as that. Whether the it’s the teachers unions, the municipal unions, the SEIU, the workers at the myriad of of alphabet soup agencies, the assumption is that somehow taxpayers work for government employees, for the low level cronies. Our money is supposed to fund their pensions and above market salaries. We owe it to them. The average federal worker makes over $120,000 in total compensation. A comparable private sector worker? About $50,000. This should not be. To some degree...

The Taliban’s release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl dominated the Sunday talk shows, pushing Friday’s resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki from the headlines. The Sunday shows were packed with Republicans launching into political attacks against President Obama and the administration for transferring five Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar in exchange for the release of Bergdahl, the 28-year-old whom the Taliban released on Saturday, and administration officials defending the decision. "Disturbing," was how Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) put it on ABC's "This Week." "Dangerous," echoed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) on CNN's "State of The Union."...

The former chief of prosthetics at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Muskogee pleaded guilty in federal court to having fence and driveway work done on his home paid for by a medical supply company, according to the US Attorney's Office in Muskogee. Jeffrey Fisher, 37, of Broken Arrow pleaded guilty Tuesday to being a public official who received a gratuity. The US Attorney's Office said the charge arose from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of the Inspector General. In a news release, the government said that beginning in April 2009 and continuing through March...

A new VA internal audit found wait-list fraud at almost two-thirds of all VA facilities, and that 13% of schedulers had been trained to commit fraud as part of their work. This new audit, which is separate from the Inspector General probe of the Phoenix facility, provided the final straw that forced VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to offer his resignation yesterday: AppointmentsÂ’ wait times were manipulated at more than 60 percent of the Department of Veterans Affairs health facilities investigated as part of a new internal audit. The White House-ordered audit found that schedulers faced pressure to manipulate the system...

First of all, the contention that the Veterans Administration used secret waiting lists to conceal lengthy delays in treatments is disproved by the fact that everyone knows about them,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) argued. “To say it’s a secret when there are hundreds of stories in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio is just more of the same old Republican dirty tricks.” “Then to say that somehow President Obama is at fault is simply unfair,” Pelosi continued. “As anyone who has seen his recent press conference knows he only found out about it from media reports just like the...

On Thursday, the day before a double resignation at the White House, ABC's Jon Karl grilled Jay Carney over Barack Obama's confidence in Eric Shinseki. Less than 24 hours later, the press secretary and Veterans Administration head had both quit. During the back-and-forth, Karl pressed, "But does the President right now have confidence in Sec. Shinseki, yes or no? It's a very simple yes or no question. You told us last week he did have confidence, does he have confidence now?" [See video below.] Carney dodged and responded, "Jon, the President addressed this question from the podium." The journalist pointed...

The U.S. senator from Illinois said as commander-in-chief he would “keep you safe. I will not hesitate to strike against those who would do us harm.” He said the U.S. military should also be treated properly “when they come home. No more homeless veterans, begging for disability payments, no more waiting in line at the VA [Veterans Administration]. “It also means using our military wisely. The war in Iraq was unwise. That is why I opposed it in 2002 and that is why I will bring it to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home,”...

Jay Carney is stepping down as White House Press Secretary over ´strain´ on his family life, he announced today. But the decision to leave the Obama administration came weeks ago, multiple sources including one in the West Wing told MailOnline. ´He first started talking about it in late April,´ the White House insider said Friday after the decision was made final. [Snip] ´To be honest, the move was more about how to deflect attention away from Eric Shinseki´s resignation, and less about giving Jay a thoughtful send-off,´ the White House official said. And a in insider close to Carney confirmed

In an increasingly high-profile morass, the Veterans Affairs Department's tech troubles are only growing worse. Most recently, several key leaders have stepped down while the integrated health record effort stalls and a massive claims backlog remains unresolved. ...Combined, the information reveals dysfunction at the highest echelons of the VA OIT: botched and duplicative IT projects burning through billions of dollars, significant turnover among senior IT executives, a lack of official accountability, and a serious disconnect between rank-and-file employees and OIT leaders....

I may have figured out why the Department of Veterans Affairs had such difficulty finding time to treat patients. It’s because it was working overtime to give its chapels a religiously neutral makeover. But as VA officials in Iron Mountain, Mich., learned, one man’s renovation is another man’s desecration. Some folks in Iron Mountain became infuriated earlier this month when they discovered that statues of Jesus and Mary, along with a cross and altar, were hidden behind a curtain in the chapel of the VA hospital there. The chapel still has stained glass windows, though for how long is unclear....

Republican Representative Jackie Walorski of Indiana almost drove a witness to tears during a meeting of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

We know with certainty that there is at least one person the Department of Veterans Affairs is serving well. That would be the president of local lodge 1798 of the National Federation of Federal Employees. The Federal Labor Relations Authority, the agency that mediates federal labor disputes, earlier this month ruled in favor of this union president, in a dispute over whether she need bother to show up at her workplace—the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va. According to FLRA documents, this particular VA employee is 100% "official time"—D.C. parlance for federal employees who work every hour of every...

President Barack Obama today accepted the resignation of embattled VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. It was an unfortunate end to a remarkable career of public service that lasted roughly half a century. Shinseki’s departure comes amid widespread charges of corruption and ineptitude at VA hospitals across the country. And it leaves a glaring question — who is next to lead the VA? There’s no doubt the VA needs help, so who could take the reigns from Shinseki and provide the organization with the leadership it needs to serve the nation’s veterans? We compiled a shortlist: 1. Jim Webb The Marine and...

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned Friday, after more than a month of battling criticism about access to care and tampering with official wait lists at VA health centers. At a meeting with President Barack Obama, during which Mr. Shinseki presented the VA's internal findings of improper scheduling procedures and long wait times across the VA health system, the retired general offered to resign to give a new VA leader the chance to fix the systemic problems at the department. His resignation marks his second departure from public service since his career began in the military in the...

As the scandal over falsified waiting lists continues to engulf the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Sec. Eric Shinseki is facing mounting calls for his resignation from even members of President Barack Obama’s party. On MSNBC on Friday, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blamed veterans groups and the Koch brothers for the increasing pressure leading Democrats to join Republicans in calling for Shinseki to step down. MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing asked Sanders if the pressure on Shinseki to resign from lawmakers and veterans’ groups had become overwhelming. “Some veterans’ groups and some veterans’...

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Here’s a not-so-bold prediction: After the press loses interest in the Veterans Affairs scandal, after the investigations have been completed and one or two officials have resigned . . . nothing will change. Is this cynicism? Not really. It comes down to one’s view of how much government can achieve by bureaucratic, top-down management. The progressive project has limitless faith in the capacity of wise managers to run complex systems for the benefit of all. Untainted by the profit motive, bureaucrats can deliver services equitably and efficiently. Every leftist/progressive program has the effect of taking decision-making away from individuals,...

Big Labor's VA Choke Hold How Democrats put their union allies before the well-being of veterans. By Kimberley A. Strassel May 29, 2014 We know with certainty that there is at least one person the Department of Veterans Affairs is serving well. That would be the president of local lodge 1798 of the National Federation of Federal Employees. The Federal Labor Relations Authority, the agency that mediates federal labor disputes, earlier this month ruled in favor of this union president, in a dispute over whether she need bother to show up at her workplace—the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg,...

Criticism of President Barack Obama came from an unlikely source on Thursday. During MSNBC’s “Hardball,” host Chris Matthews hammered President Barack Obama in a segment that included Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE).