Dear President Barack Obama

Mr. President my name is Richard Levy. I am an honorably discharged Lance Corporal of the United States Marine Corps. I voted for you in both 2008 and 2012. Partially because of the way you speak to and connect to people and the other part is you were the lesser of two evils. Lets face it you and every other politician in the world could care less about me and people like me. You don’t care about our problems, troubles and how our everyday lives play out. This letter is to you even though you will never hear of or read this letter; however, this letter is meant for everyone that wants to serve in any level of government. One of the biggest problems I see with you and others is that you forget as soon as you are elected that you work for us. At this point I can not name a single politician that cares about us and cares about anything beyond their legacy. The only way for us to improve our country and our world is if we take our power back. Not through force but through the power we have to make you, and all other politicians, unemployed. Unfortunately that means that people have to rise up together and forget their party lines, forget their fears of retribution or retaliation and all work together to fix the messes that our politicians have created. Nixon removing the gold standard. Reagan removing the laws that governed the way banks were allowed to lend. Clinton’s 3 strikes law needs to be adjusted to violent crimes. Stop saving companies with blank checks. That money has to be paid back. Even though I can’t think of a government that runs a balanced budget but we need to stop throwing money away.

First I have to say that I don’t hate you like many people do. The biggest reason is because I try to look at both sides of the coin before I judge its condition. So if you look at the numbers we are, as a country, in a better place  than we were since Bush left office. I said it before the 2008 elections that only an idiot would want the job after the disaster he left in his wake. I receive VA health care, unfortunately, so I know how important health care and health insurance is. How do you find it beneficial or fair to those with low income that they are penalized as harshly as your bill calls for if they do not have coverage? There are a lot of people who make just a little too much for aid and not enough for insurance premiums. If you ran it like auto insurance and they get penalized if they need it and don’t have it. Another thing with health insurance is there are loads of people out there that work their butts off for companies that refuse to offer health care and schedule these employees for just under the minimum requirements so that they don’t have to offer those benefits. How is that fair, just or right to the people you say you are working for Mr. President? By the way, while on the subject, the Department of Veterans Affairs is completely broken and you have done little to nothing to fix it.

Since I brought up the VA lets make this a new thought. First how is it okay for the VA to decide whether a person is competent based on the word of the examiner. Not only can they take your money and give it to someone else on little or no facts but by doing so they take your gun rights at the same time. I understand that mental illness at times plays a part in homicides, mass shootings and terrorist attacks; however, that does not include all of them. There have been more attacks planned and carried out by people you would call sane. I have some major upper GI issues. I have been to the emergency room 3 times in the last 1 and a half and I have even called my Congressman. Not so he could tell the VA to fix it but so that someone in the VA might take accountability. The reason for that is the Roseburg VA is telling me it is the Portland VA’s responsibility and Portland says it is not there problem. I went to the patient advocate in Roseburg who sent e-mails to department heads and such I still have not been contacted by anyone to try and resolve this problem. The issues I am having is causing a lot of pain and because I have a 3 year old and a 9 month old taking it easy until it’s fixed, if it ever is. The VA also makes it next to impossible to get care if you are traveling or move until they can get you in with a new doctor 1 to 4 months after you register for care. I have been inpatient before, voluntarily, for rapid medication adjustments. The Salt Lake City VA hospital has an amazing psychiatric ward. I went into the hospital in Portland to force the VA to give me a psychiatrist, that was in December I moved to Oregon in August, the hospital in Portland and what I hear in Roseburg are absolutely worthless. Lastly for the VA. The Veterans Crisis Line is so wonderful that when you call and they say someone will call you the next day you probably wont hear from anybody. I called in October and I am currently still waiting for a call.

As for ISIS I feel like they are bullies who can’t get their way except by force. I wrote a post saying that letting Syrian refugees in would just add to problems that we currently have that you and other politicians are ignoring. I agree that most will be harmless but some will not be. The ones that scare me are those that are here legally or are radicalized through social media. By the way your snappy strike at Republicans about being afraid of widows and orphans is wrong. ISIS and other groups today are looking for women that are willing to join because most people does not look at a woman walking down the street and go “wow that woman looks like she wants to kill me.” So the few women and children that would become radicalized are the most dangerous attackers. By the way the use of the phrase radical Islam is correct. The reason it is correct is the same reason the Fundamental Latter Day Saints are tagged that way. The people in charge of the sections of that specific religion have perverted their doctrine to say to its followers what they want it to. How do you think cults are formed? The leader finds those that are lost, angry, weak and disenfranchised about current life situations. They take religious doctrine and make it say what they want it to, because religious text is easy to change to say what you want it to. After that it is all sales and choosing the right people to become followers.

The last thing I want to say before my conclusion is that repealing every child, wait I mean no child left behind, has long been due to be repealed. Our education system needs to be revamped and funded better so that the good teachers we do have want to stay at work. The teachers that are the best are those that are able to engage their students and have them be active in class. On the other hand it does not matter how good our teachers are if children are allowed to play for hours on their gaming stations, phones, tablets and lap tops. The parents have to take accountability for their kids and to know what is happening at school. I would say the kids have to be accountable but until they are older that is nor incredibly reasonable to ask of them.

In conclusion with terrorism, broken education, veterans being mistreated, the VA, global recessions or depressions, the national debt, poverty, hunger, the homeless (last 3 worldwide) and Hillary Clinton. If you actually feel the biggest concern to us as humans today is global warming or climate change then I have two things to say. One, your priorities are wrong. Have we created problems with the environment that have changed everyday life. Yes I will agree that we have. I will agree something needs to be done. The problem with saying it is the most pressing issue facing us today is that it indicates that it can be fixed immediately. This is a problem that has taken more than 100 years to create and if there really is a deadline of 2024 to fix it or we all die then you should prepare an obituary for us now. The second thing I have to say is that with all the other problems that need immediate attention and you want to focus mainly on this issue I have to question your sanity.

How Can A Religion Punish Children for the Parents (The LDS Church)

I was baptised Mormon when I was 17. I no longer accept that label. The reasons don’t need to be discussed at this point. My wife is Mormon and although she does not go to church every weekend she has been in the church her entire life. Many of her family members are fairly strict Mormons. So I hear some of what the church is doing and what is happening around the church. There are many reasons that I disagree with the topic of this post. The story was first aired in Utah and I was hoping that it was incorrect. Unfortunately it was not. If a religion wants to punish someone for being homosexual I can understand that. I don’t agree with it but that is up to the religion to decide and up to the individual to decide to go down that road. The Mormon leadership has admitted that in most cases being homosexual is something that you are born with and not something you choose. Which the Bible says that everyone is created in Gods likeness, therefore, if you are born with the urges and desires everyone has but for the same sex wouldn’t the bible say that you were born that way for a reason. No one knows why people are born the way they are. No one but God himself. So if religions want to ostrasize homosexuals so be it. It is the religions loss. I served as a United States Marine and some of the best Marines I served with were homosexual.

The LDS leadership says it is against the LDS laws and faith. There are many things against the Mormons laws and every other religions laws. Pre-marital sex is one of the biggest issues against religions laws. My oldest daughter was born out of wedlock and we have not been excommunicated, our daughter was blessed in a Mormon church and can be baptised at the age of 8 just like any other child if she so desires.

Several years ago a woman was excommunicated because she was trying to get the church to allow women in the bishopric. This is something that should be allowed and would be a great advance. Instead the church got rid of her. Joseph Smith allowed blacks in the church, priesthood and they had temple rights. Brigham Young followed this until the end of his tenure when he decided that blacks would not keep those rights. Then the church decided that such people as Pacific Islanders, Australian Aborigonies and other blacks were allowed these rights it was just african descent blacks that were not allowed. In the 1970’s the Mormon church opened temples in Brazil and South Africa. These were 2 very open and diverse locations. The church then realized they had to do something. The Quarum of 12 stayed in the upper floor of the Salt Lake Temple until they came out and decided that it was now time and it was okay to allow African descent blacks into the church. Former President Hinkley said he recalls that God said it was okay now. In 2013 the church came out and said that they actually do not think that brown skinned people are not evil as they had earlier said in the Book of Mormon.

This all leads to the issue of this post. The leadership has now come out and showed their true colors. They have passed a new law in the Mormon church that children that live in a same sex houshold will no longer be blessed with a name, baptised or allowed Temple rights until they are 18 years of age. This is absolute crap. Just about every Mormon I know says that children are innocent. The elder that did the interview said they are doing this out of compassion and because this is not something that is copasthetic and okay around the other children and in primary and so forth. My question is why punish the child? Did these children go to there parents and say hey I really want you to be gay and I can’t be truly happy until you make that change? Is the church trying to make these couples break up and act like they enjoy the opposite sex so that their children can receive the blessings, baptisms and temple rights? Or is this telling everyone, Mormons and non-Mormons alike, that they are going to flip-flop on issues and make decisions on their own personal biases, prejudice and false beliefs?

No matter how you take it, whether you agree or disagree with this policy I will tell you this is wrong. Most religions whether they are christian or not all believe in a few core items. First, YOU must have faith in the God and desiples of that religion. Second is love. Many of the ten commandments exist for this core belief. God for all intensive purposes is love for all of his children and whether you like it or notit’s the same for Allah, Buda and many of the other Gods or Goddesses that people all over the world happen to believe in. Third is charity. I don’t take this as you have to give money to anyone. I don’t believe that is what God means by charity. What he means is if someone needs help and you are able to give that help freely and willingly then you should. It shouldn’t ever be this tick for tack junk that so many people feel is neccasary. The last core issue in my opinion is compassion. If the house next door burns down you don’t go “well good I never liked them anyways.” You don’t wish bad things on people because you disagree with or you don’t like them. If you think about it that makes you as bad as they are. The difference would be that they are willing to show their true colors. None of these core areas are met in anyway, shape or form by punishing children because their parents like the same sex. If the Mormons want to punish someone for being homosexual they need to punish the right people and that is those who are gay. If your gay then this probably shows you that finding a religion that makes sense and will accept you, all of you, for who you are is a really good idea.

Last thing and this is almost as stupid as the law the LDS leadership just passed. My wife read a post that was in favor of this law. Their base premise is that Jesus Christ was not accepting of everyone. Which in the LDS faith says that God is not accepting of all of his chrildren. This is absolutely ludicrous. I would like to see where in the Bible that it says Jesus turned away people that believed in him and had faith. God and Jesus by the writings in the Bible will accept and love anyone with true faith and belief in them not just the ones they like. On top of that, being a homosexual is not like being a murder. These men and women don’t wake in the morning and decide I have always liked other men or women I want to start having sex with them. It’s not even spur of the moment at the bar and a woman walks over to another woman and says have you ever made love to a woman?

Woman 2: No I have not I like men.

Woman 1: Well do you want to try and move in with me?

Woman 2: Yeah lets go.

As soon as that is the case and it is not a trait that they are born with maybe this law makes more sense. In all honesty God preaches love so lets start practicing that love and stop with all the pety judgments, bias, predjiduce and racism. Blessed Be

Recent Infant Deaths

     Today I had to go to the Social Security office in Coos Bay, Oregon. I finally got there and found a place to park. I got out of my car and saw something move in the vehicle next to me. I thought it was an animal of some sort so I looked to see what kind it was. Low and behold it was probably a 5 or 6 year old little boy. Without making it too obvious, as I didn’t want to scare the child, I looked to see if there was anyone in the vehicle with him. There was not! As discretely as I child I write on a small piece of paper the licence plate number, the name and model of the vehicle and the color. I figured they owners of the vehicle and hopefully the child were inside. I also assumed that when I give the security guard the piece of paper that he would actually care. When I went in he she’d me the standard do you have any weapons or intent to wipe out everyone here? I told him no to both and tried to hand him the paper discreetly so he could do his job, I’m sure the welfare of the people on that property falls in his job description somewhere. He acted like I was trying to punch him. He asked “what is this?” I told him there is a kid by himself in a vehicle in the parking lot. He proceeded to throw the piece of paper away and do nothing. Bravo sir! It was a cool day out luckily. My problem is what if someone hit the car since he wasn’t buckled in. What if he had a medical issue or, God forbid, someone decided they wanted him. Who would have been there to help?
     What’s this all lead to? My wife has find several stories recently that I want to share because they explain why it bothered me thus kids patents abandoned him to go in the Social Security office. The first involves an 8 year old boy and his 19 month old sister. This young boys mom devised she wanted to go out clubbing that night. The next part is bothersome and honestly there had to be signs that this boy might not be a great caregiver. So mom left for the club abs upon returning the house was quiet so she went to bed. When she woke in the morning and went to check on her daughter she was dead. Turns out she wouldn’t stop crying so her brother beat her and she did of the injuries. If you think that is bad the next one is worse.
     This lady lives with her boyfriend and 5 children all under the age of 5. She and her beau decided they needed a pizza for dinner and had to refill a prescription. So they decide they won’t be gone very long so the kids would be fine watching a movie. I guess the kids decided they weren’t waiting for food and they are hungry now. When the mom, and I use that term loosely, returned home the youngest had been put in the oven by the other children. She attempted CPR to no avail. The kicker of this story is that Grandma lives in the same apartment complex.
     I do not know whether these adults were charged with a crime because honestly it makes me do angry at the blatant disrespect of parenthood and the abuse of children that it would infuriate me even further if these mom’s weren’t charged with negligent homicide or something similar. I have 2 daughters. One is the and a half and the other is 9 months. I understand the importance of alone time for my wife and I. Unfortunately for us I am not willing to leave my kids at home without some descent supervision. This for my wife and I means a rare date night out, we run errands and such as a family or we run them separately with one or both kids. Is it a pain in the ass at time? Yes. We understood when we became parents that the nerds of our children had to come before our own because they have little experience to go on in order to make his decisive especially in tough situations. If you aren’t willing to put your kids first and make sure they ate safe before you go out please find someone who will give your kids the attention and love they deserve until you grow up enough to realize life is no longer all about you.

ISIS. Who are they? They are cowards and fear mongers

ISIS has spawned a lot of talk and fear as of late which isn’t entirely unwarranted. This is something I have avoided because I feel that there is honestly no right answer. Do they need to be dealt with? Hell yes they do. How it is done is the problem. We don’t know who a lot of them are so it is hard to draw a target. You can’t say we’ll they are all Muslims because I assure you that would be a horrible assumption to make, I will get back to the religion portion in a minute, besides the only thing ever to come out of Hilary Clintons’ mouth that I do agree with its most Muslims are very peaceful. Notice I did NOT say all! I don’t see how we can  consciously level areas threes idiots are in because I don’t know what am acceptable civilian body count would be. That all being said these less than human, can’t get their way through peaceful methods and diplomacy sp they go on a mission to kill anyone in there way. Don’t they remind you of the idiot kid at school that if his brains were dynamite he couldn’t blow his nose so he beats everyone up to exert his supposed authority? Granted these bullies won’t go away so easily. I am a compassionate person and realize there are a lot of people in this region that are suffering or being slaughtered. I know for a fact most of the people that would come here as refugees would be peaceful law abiding citizens. The problem is that I can guarantee that there will be some that are not. They will come here and play nice until the State Department stops tracking them after three months, which they will use to prepare, to hurt our country. I also have to say that the President and everyone else who says we are feeding into these fools by being afraid to let in refugees. We aren’t strengthening them by wanting to protect our own. We already have enough of our own without letting in these refugees which is guaranteed some want to kill us. Unfortunately they will find their way here whether they turn some of our angry, depressed and disenfranchised citizens into their weapons through social media or they sneak in.
     Back to the religion issue. Spirituality and religion to me ate incredibly different things. The only good that has ever come out of religion is the fact that you typically are able to build a social network in which the people around you have similar beliefs. The problem with religion is it was created and is still used to control the population. In the beginning Catholics killed countless Pagans and destroyed their temples and places of worship. The Crusades, Native Americans and millions of others that did not agree with their beliefs were tortured, jailed or killed because of it. The Christians, especially Catholics, have killed more people supposedly in the name of God or their religion than anybody else in history. This is in direct contradiction to what God teaches though. God in any religion teaches faith, love, compassion and charity. On top of that why would God require you to be part of a religion that is going to tell you how to think, act, worship, spend your money, who you should like and who you should hate. In defense of religion today they have tried to become better at being there for its congregations more so than in the past. My last statement is that ANYONE who justifies murder, rape, theft or any crime in the name of their God would fall among the bottom of the barrel in the human face of they even qualify as human. There are many verses and chapters in every religious text that can be perverted into whatever you may want it to say including killing, theft and many other sins. That is one of the unfortunate catch 22’s of human beings having freedom of will and freedom of mind instead of Lucifers plan where life is perfect and you have no deviations and no right to your own decision. That catch 22 is people will take those writings and tell you how to interpret those writings. Those that are angry, depressed, lost, tired, confused and weak willed can often be led astray by those that pervert their beliefs and religion texts to say what they want and that leafs is to the here and now. Although I think prayer is a great thing when done in earnest and fir the right reasons if you think prayer and God are going to ace us or rectify this mess we have gotten ourselves in guys what your wrong. It is up to us to stand fast in our convictions, or beliefs and to be vigilant in our stance against the inhumane, the unjust and the flat out insane people in this world both home and abroad. By the way if you think ISIS is the worst of the bunch in India and China have murdered well over 100 million baby girls because of their beliefs that girls aren’t worth what a boy is. Even before the Marine Corps I can tell you right now that women can do everything a man can and oft times better.

Peyton Manning

     Is Peyton Manning a good quarterback? Yes, you won’t get an argument from me on that even though I have never been as enamored by him as a lot of people have. Is he the best QB in the league at running a no huddle offense and sniffing out defenses? I would agree with that at least until recently. Is he the only QB since Johnny Unitas to actually call his own plays for the most part? Again I will concede on that point. Should he have retired after the last Super Bowl that he lost? I will tell you he should have there are several reasons that I will present and back up as best I can.
     Peyton Manning holds many records when it comes to throwing the ball; however, he reminds me much of John Elway. They are both absolutely amazing in the regular season. Once post season comes around both of them have troubles. The main difference is Peyton Manning decided to keep playing after the last Super Bowl which they lost. John Elway soared in 6 super bowls and with Terrell Davis finally won two and retired. Peyton Manning hasn’t now or has he ever had a ruining back of quite that caliber and I am including Edgerrin James. Manning has still one out of the three opportunities her has had. Manning has appeared in the playoffs 14 times in all but four of those appearances he lost in the first round. To back up the fact that he struggles in the postseason. His winning percentage in the regular season is 69% in the postseason his winning percentage drops to 46%.
     In the regular season Peyton Mannings’ average completion percentage is 65.48% during the playoffs his completion percentage drops a little over 4% to 61.43%. In the regular season Manning averages 2.05 touchdowns per game one of only two QB’s that can boast about that record in NFL history. In the postseason that drops dramatically to 1.58. His INT’s per game vary a little from .90 a game on the regular season to 1.0 in the postseason.
     Peyton Manning deserves and will get into the Hall of Fame, likely in the first class after he retires. I feel that by keep playing with the injury he sustained that he has tarnished his Hall of Fame career because he has kept playing without really proving anything or improving in the postseason. Last week against Kansas City he had the absolute worst game of his career when he completed a total of 5 passes and threw 4 INT’s. There are many players that I really like in the league and Manning is one of them; however, nobody can play forever. Ask Favre, Smith,  Sanders, Bettis, Elway, Young, Lewis, Marino, Polamalu and any of the active players. Especially since any given Sunday could be game, season or career ending. 
    

I’ve been out a while, but I’m back

I moved in the beginning of October. With that in mind I have been packing, cleaning, loading and unloading, unpacking and organizing. Still doing some of that but I finally have the time to get back to it. I have several things I want to cover from religion to politics to sports. I am not sure where to start partially because everything is so freaking depressing nowadays. I will have something done tonight for your reading delight. If there is something you want me to cover something leave a comment or email me and let me know.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Part IV (Finding You Incompetent)

     As I said at the end of the last piece I wrote this will cover the VA’s process to find someone incompetent compared to a states required procedures. I think there is something very wrong with the differences. I believe most people out there will agree with me.
     When you go through compensation and pension for any reason the evaluator can find you incompetent to handle your benefits. He reports that up with the rest of his findings and the manager in your area will go from their with appointing someone to take control of your benefits. They sometimes will do a supervised direct pay which means you get paid but have to prove what you paid and why. N now first of what is the definition of an incompetent person. It is “a person that because of injury or mental illness is nit capable of handling their own business or affairs.”
     Through the VA rating agencies have sole authority to declare a veteran incompetent. They are required for due process to send you a letter giving you the opportunity to schedule a hearing and challenge those findings. If for whatever reason you do not receive this letter they will proceed however they see fit to take control of your benefits. Challenging their findings and trying to regain control of your benefits at that point becomes incredibly difficult. By the way if you check yourself into a hospital even if it is to adjust or correct your medications (psychiatric) that can be a basis to find you incompetent. Also if you go to rehab for help they can find you incompetent for that as well. Before I cover why this is incredibly unfair to a lot of people that ask for that type of help to keep functioning properly let us go over the states requirements before finding someone incompetent.
     This is accurate in most states.
          Step one: a petition for guardianship must be filed with the probate court that has jurisdiction. This is required whether it is the state, care giver or family member that is trying to have someone found incompetent.
          Step two: consult an attorney familiar with guardianship issues in that state.
          Step three: there has to be a psychiatric evaluation scheduled for the individual that is believed to be incompetent. If this person refuses to go to the appointment or dies not cooperate to the best of their ability at this appointment then the court may be petitioned for a compulsory evaluation as part of your guardianship petition. A compulsory evaluation is they force you to undergo an evaluation, often as inpatient, and is much less likely to favor the person. This is not the same as a 72 hour hold for your own welfare.
          Step four: you must have a copy of the evaluation turned in to the court attached to their forms. I will try to attach one such form from Ohio. If that doesn’t work there is a link to this firm at
http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2013/09/legal-how-to-declaring-someone-incompetent.html
          Step five: the psychological expert for the courts will go over the evaluation and turn in his opinion to the judge as evidence.
         Step six: you have to go to a hearing with all of your evidence and supporting documents. This is on top of  everything else. At this point you should be able to get a ruling from the court of the action they find most fitting.
          Side note most states require if the person you are trying to have found incompetent is an adult them adult protective services has to be informed to run an investigation of their own.

     There is a world of difference in these methodologies to finding a person incompetent. The way the states do this, although harder to get out of if found incompetent, is leaps and bounds better than having one individual interview you and make that declaration. As there are many people like me that have mental illness that use the hospitals to help get our medications back on track. That is not saying we can’t handle our own benefits. Are all of us great with money or could we be Warren Buffet types? No. Are we capable of far more than some of these evaluators give us credit for? Hell yes. Should there be a more lengthy or in depth process to follow before this type of tag is stuck on us? I think there has to be. Since I have been deemed supposedly incompetent, and I have been rated competent recently, I am not even supposed to own firearms. I have never been charged or arrested fir any reason let alone violent offenses. I want to hunt as a way to stock the house with meat. I love venison, rabbit and elk. As a United States Marine I love shooting rifles whether it be at cans or shooting ranges. What happened to our rights as veterans that are being labeled and tagged as incompetent because we sought help or went to a compensation and pension exam and answered the evaluators questions?  On top of this idiots way of declaring someone incompetent when you have issues with a fiduciary that the VA may assign you the VA will do absolutely nothing to rectify the situation. On top of that, these fiduciaries who don’t want to play by the rules, the VA allows these companies to take 4% of your pay. The VA says if there is a family member able to do it that is the preference of the VA. I don’t believe that for a minute. The next post is going to go over field examiners, the fiduciary hub and how if your in a bad situation with your fiduciary the only way to get out.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Part III (Hospital and Inpatient Inconsistency)

     So many people have had experience with VA medical care and will tell you, if they have been to different VA facilities, that some VAs are better than others. Unfortunately, no matter how good a doctor is on paper does not mean they are any good in practical application.
      First, the primary care physicians (PCP) I have had aren’t bad when you can actually get in to see them. Maybe I have been lucky. Usually my PCPs have been willing to listen and will try many options to help with any problems. I have even had several of them ask what option to start with. One thing I have noticed is that when your PCP is in a clinic you usually have a much better chance to get in more quickly.
     I have been inpatient in several hospitals and states. From while I was in service to now. Most of my inpatient stays, although none have been enjoyable, have worked and helped me get my meds working and my head straight. The Salt Lake City VA; however, has been far above and beyond the services and benefits of any other hospital. When I was a patient there I was able to see my doctor and the entire team most days to report how I was feeling, if I felt my meds were working better and any concerns that I may have. There were also groups every day. Yes some were the same old bogus medication education groups and symptom tracking. Also some of the other classes that are typically taught. For the people who haven’t been through them they can be beneficial. If you have been through them many times they can still be helpful if the class is taught somewhat unconditionally. They also had peer groups everyday. These were great because people were allowed to vent and bring up problems. Other patients in the group, the teacher and the residents he had could all come up with different ways to face the problem or problems that you may have never thought of. Oh, one of the things that can be annoying at first is the morning and evening meetings. In these meetings everyone gathers in the meeting room, nurses and patients even some doctors join the group. Everybody goes around and introduces themselves, why they are in and a goal for the day. At the end of the day it’s the same thing but they vote for a new president, if the current one is leaving, those who are leaving the next day tell how their stay has helped. Then the rest day their goodbyes if they want and whether they accomplished their goal.
     I went to the Portland VA inpatient unit and it was a terrible experience. They did next to nothing to help fix my meds and there were very few groups and the ones I did attend were not worth the time they lasted. The one group that seemed to happen everyday was bowling on the WII. In the end I could have left against medical advice (AMA) but did not want the anyone messing with my benefits because I did so. I was in an extended program in a northern mountain state. I won’t say which one as to the sensitivity of the situation. I said in an earlier post that if someone wants to commit suicide they will find a way. I had a roommate that locked himself in our bathroom and stabbed himself in an artery in his arm with a needle he somehow obtained. I found him about 30-45 minutes later. Then had to help restrain him because there weren’t enough nurses to do so. This happened on what was supposed to be a locked or secured unit.
     The VA has to set these units up to one standard. I have refused to go to the VA hospital in Portland because of how bad it was even though I could have used the services. I can’t be the only one who feels that way. The citizens of this country, the politicians, the government and the VA all say they are horrified by the veterans suicide rate and want to slow it. This is a huge area that they could work on to do just that.
     Oh, I almost forgot about the suicide hotline. This will be really short because they have been next to worthless. Many people preach that if you are having issues to contact them. The last time I called them they listened gave no real ideas of any kind then said someone would call me the next day. I am still waiting for that call. The next issue is how the VA compensation and pension evaluators or doctors decide whether or not you need a fiduciary, someone to handle your money, and the lack of any actual requirements to decide this. For example how a state would go about the same type of process. I will also cover the VA fiduciary hubs and parts of title 38 and the pension and fiduciary handbook. These are the laws the VA had placed and the fiduciaries are supposed to follow. I found out first hand that just because they are supposed to does not mean they do or that the fiduciary hubs will do anything to make them follow the rules when they aren’t. This may take two parts.

Another Reason Donald Trump Isn’t Right For America

     You know for one of the richest men in the world Donald Trump is a complete idiot. After a speech he gave with his normal narsasistic ramblings and what’s horrible about everyone and everything else. Trump decided to do something most politicians are smart enough not to do. He decided to take questions from the audience instead of the press. This ended up proving another reason why we as Americans should leave him to business. One of the questions was when can we get rid of the Muslims? The audience member then asserted that President Obama is Muslim. Donald Trump should have done what every other person that wants to get elected to a high office would have done. He should have defended the first amendment rights to freedom of religion. I don’t care if he stands up to the crowd protecting Obama from

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Muslim jibe

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as he calls it. I honestly don’t care if he agrees with the person who asked the question although I really hope that’s not the case. As President of the United States he is supposed to be one of the first defenders of the Constitution. Yet he can’t take 5 seconds to say it is not my concern as to the Presidents religion. I belive as we have written in the Constitution and done or best to practice for hundreds of years that each person has the right to make their own choices in that matter. What next is he going to banish everyone who isn’t white with blue eyes? None of us agree on everything and we never will. On the other hand how many times dies Donald Trump need to shove both feet up to his knees in his mouth before these right wingers and other people that are stuck in fantasy land figure out that Trump is wrong for us and anyone he may have to deal with if he’s elected. As the right wingers like to say Obama ants like a king. How do you feel about a dictator coming in with only their interests in mind? Someone who can care even less about you and me than most politicians already do.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Part II (Scheduling and Specialty Clinics)

     As in part one I will cover the topic as best as I can without going overboard. In this part I am going to cover the VA’s scheduling, speciality clinics and some ways these area can be vastly improved.
     If you actually survive the VA’s screening system and are rated to a point the VA is willing to provide you medical care you have to be assigned a primary care physician (PCP).  Most of the time this point is not a huge issue. The issue that we run into far more oft than not is that these doctors are so overloaded that it can literally take months to get in. There have been several times that I was really sick and needed antibiotics. When I called to get an appointment with my PCP I was told directly to go to the emergency room because they were unable to get an appointment for me. What really sucked about that is I’m already sick then have to go spend half the day sitting in the waiting room and the other half in a room waiting for the doctor. I often waited until 1 or 2 in the morning just so it would go faster.
     The VA also had many specialty clinics, i.e. dermatology, radiology, podiatrist and so on. Some of these clinics are outstanding. Others are absolutely horrible. They aren’t necessarily horrible because the doctors, residents and nurses are bad. It is more that it is next to impossible to get scheduled. I will give three examples. One good and the other two are absolutely ridiculous.
     Example number one. I had an EGD done in April 2014, that is a procedure where they shove a Canberra down your throat to see what is going on. This procedure takes about 20 minutes plus sedation and recovery. I was supposed to have a follow up EGD at the end of September because they didn’t like what they saw. Once I moved to Oregon in August I went to schedule the procedure and the doctors here decided it did not need to be done. About a month later I was in the emergency rim twice in 5 days because of severe abdominal pain. It took the VA another month to get me in to have the EGD done, then they didn’t sedate me well enough so I had a hard time and they did the procedure. Then they had to redo it.
     The VA is not all bad this story doesn’t reveal that however. I am Bi-Polar type 1, along with some other tags that psychiatrists have tagged me with over the years. I have been hospitalized, voluntarily, more times than I like to admit over the years. Without the VA hospitalization and my meds would be a nice thought; however, very unrealistic. You would think, since I have been in the VA system forover a decade now, that when I moved to Oregon I would be able to get refillson my medications until they found me a psychiatrist. When I went to the VA hospital in Portland to be assigned a psychiatrist and get a refill on my meds I was told that because I am new to the Oregon VA system that I would have to have my meds refilled and shipped from Salt Lake City Utah. That is absolutely ludicrous. The VA is a government agency so why aren’t they all on the same page. In November I admitted myself into the Portland VA’S psychiatric ward because I was nearly out of meds. I had no refills left. I also still did not have a psychiatrist. VA rules state after a hospital stay they have to get you an appointment with a psychiatrist within 30 days. Why on earth would this be the route I have to take to get the help I needed and asked for months before. The VA, the Secretary of the VA and President Obama all said they are hiring a bunch of new doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists to help lower the veteran suicide rates. When is this going to happen, 2055? Unfortunatelythis measure may help but it won’t fix anything. Whether you like this statement or not if someone wants to kill themselves they ARE GOING to do it. Anything sort of putting them in a straight jacket, an institution or both they will find a way. Oh and the suicide prevention hotline and the Portland VA psychiatric inpatient unit are a kin to a bad joke. I will cover that in the next part.
     The one good story I have, and given what is entailed in it, makes the other two stories look even worse. On the way back to Salt Lake City from Cedar City (southern Utah) I broke my ankle. They put me in a boot and on cruces then set me up with podiatry. I broke the same ankle again a few weeks later. After it finally healed they took x-rays and discovered that a lot of my ankle problems were a lot because of genetics. They said they could fix it by song a complete ankle reconstruction. What they did was cut the heel bone in half reposition it and put screws and pins in to hold it there. They also made and repaired some ligaments and tendons. They did this procedure to both ankles. I have to say it had made things much better especially since I love to be active and have kids. This whole experience with podiatry to fix this was fast, well explained and executed without a ton of hick ups or excuses why they couldn’t do it.
     The VA has some major problems that need immediate attention. On of the biggest problems I have is the fact that the various VA hospitals in this country are not on the same page it seems anywhere. For those patients that have medications that they have to take daily they need to be able to get those medications. Granted not all veterans move to different states; however, when I went to get my refills they have me a hard time about even getting a 10 or 14 day supply. One of my medications they didn’t even want to refill. So if a veteran goes out of state on vacation and forgets, looses or doesn’t have enough of their meds what do they do? With the specialty clinics the VA has got to provide an option to be seen outside the VA to ease some of the pressure off of the VA clinics. I had to have x-rays and a cat scan. I live almost four hours from the Portland VA hospital. They do not have a contract with anyone local so to get those images done I had to drive to Portland. My current psychiatrist abs psychologist are 105 miles from me. The VA developed the veterans choice program to help veterans that don’t have a clinic within 40 miles of them. You would think that my need for psychiatric care would qualify me to use this option. 105>40. They said I can’t use this profitable for my psychiatric care because the clinic that my primary care physician is at is only 15 miles away but offers no psychiatric services. Some sites have an option of meeting with your psychiatric doctors over Web cam at clinics. I am one who wants to have face to face conversation. Psychiatric care, one, is more comfortable and easier when you can deal with the topics you discuss in person especially with psychologists. Two, typically in person it is easier to know what is happening in the office and it is far easier to build the trust you have to have with your doctori n person. President Obama had an idea in the beginning of his presidency. He wanted to basically give veterans private insurance in lieu of the VA. I think the VA needs a lot of help. I believe, even with all the problems, the VA is a good organization and does benefit most of the veterans it serves. I also believe that I was wrong about President Obama’s idea of some kind of privatized insurance program for veterans to use when they have an issue that needs attention and the VA is telling them it will be a month, 3 months, 6 months or further away before the veteran can get help. More to come. Next up is the VA’s inconsistency in their inpatient care and the suicide prevention hotline.