Letter to the Editor: John McCain’s years sacrificed as a POW

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People were incensed when (presidential candidate) Donald Trump slandered John McCain’s war record as a POW. Even the Republicans said that was too much.

But, with all their outrage the Republicans failed to mention that it was their Republican’s Party that blocked a $24 billion bill in Congress to build 27 new VA hospitals and give an increase to VA pensions, claiming it was too expensive and wasn’t paid for by other cuts – while just having approved $269 billion in tax cuts for mega-corporations and the ultra-rich.

If you are a working person voting Republican, you are just not paying attention.

William Gilliland
Farmington

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12 Comments

  1. Remove the taxes from the system that corporations and the ‘ultra rich’ pay and see how that works for your welfare state William.

  2. Anybody with common sense would end the VA as we know it and give our vets a card letting them go for treatment at any hospital they see fit.

    Blaming republicans really is not a solution, the thing with militant wing of the Democratic party (aka the Socialists) is they would rather cast blame and create problems rather then solve them.

    Donald trump is scarring members of the political establishment on both sides, because people are tired of the sterilized politically correct politicians that lie to your face to get elected, see the current presidents statements.

  3. Hutch is right. Having a duplicate system of clerks , charts, furnaces, Xr ay machines etc, and having just a few places vets can go to at large distances from their homes is a waste .We can take care of more people, and do it better, if we stop having duplicate systems- and systems that do not even talk to each other.

  4. I am a veteran with 22 years service. I must say that the VA has always been there for me when I needed them. It is a socialized medical system but the care has been good and it is a one stop shop for all necessary medical needs.

    The VA has been underfunded and under staffed for years mainly due to the endless war of the Bush administration that beefed up the military and resulted in increased military combat injuries without increasing the VA to meet those needs.

    The VA has recently issued a Veterans Choice Card which allows vets that can not be immediately served by the VA to go to a civilian doctor – the bill picked up by the VA.

    The problem with removing the VA would be that the for profit companies task to replace veteran medical care would result in cost shares and some non-veteran group deciding what services could be paid and what would not be covered.

    As a vet I prefer dealing with vets and with the Veterans Administration.

    The problem is not the VA but a government willing to put unlimited resources into war and military power on the front end but too focused on cost cutting when it comes to veterans on the back end.

    Gilliland

  5. Gilliland,

    you act like the democrats have never controlled the budget in the United States and never have set the agenda. In fact they have.

    by the way thank a republican.

    maybe you should take a better look as Trump as your candidate. Lets take care of Americans first. instead of taking in 1/5th of the population of a country, like El Salvador, and giving them 120 million in 2016, up from 27 million in 2015, in foreign aid, maybe we should rethink, who we give money too (my choice would be nobody) and should we really have an open border policy.

  6. Slander is telling a lie. Donald Trump did not lie. But that wasn’t the point of your letter as the title suggests, was it?

  7. Fortunately for us Republicans, the POTUS had pretty much assured a Republican victory with his behavior over the last several months.

  8. Mr Gilliand, sir I am glad to hear the VA has helped you. Good. It helps many . The situation at the VA is quite complex;it is still a duplicate system and therefore wasteful.That a vet should be required to show up once a year to retain benefits, to get inexpensive meds, when they may be getting most of their care in the community but must see a VA provider who is paid extremely well- I worked there, jeepers I was paid well,- is a terrible waste. Many vets necessarily have two sets of doctors and that is not only wasteful it c an be dangerous . In addition I cannot help responding that the Veteran choice program is a bureaucratic nightmare. I trust you have not used it? Or maybe it went well for you As a physician it is one more mess of third parties and paper work that I have not felt helpful to my patients and that has wasted a lot of my time We waste alot of money in this country yet health care is still unaffordable- for me too!-and inaccessible We can do better.That is alI am after:)

  9. Donald Trump is a candidate for POTUS. How absurd.

    Donald Trump is currently the number 1 candidate in the polls for GOP POTUS. Totally absurd.

    A Republican victory in 2016? Highly unlikely.
    Because of the way President Obama has ‘behaved’ over the last several months? Beyond absurd.

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