Disabled workers on way out at Veterans Administration Medical Center
By PAT GROSSMITH
New Hampshire Union Leader
August 19. 2012
MANCHESTER — Sixteen disabled workers employed in the mail room and on the switchboard at the Veterans Administration Medical Center soon will be out of work, their jobs filled by eight full-time federal employees.
“What we are doing is converting to federal positions,” said VAMC spokesman Stella Lareau. The conversion will be completed after a contract with Goodwill Northern New England Employment Services, which employs the disabled workers, expires on Sept. 30.
Michelle Smith, communications manager for Goodwill based in Portland, Maine, said the VA has not told her agency who will fill the jobs.
“I imagine it may be veterans,” she said.
Peter Gerrard, one of the disabled employees who works the switchboard, said employees only learned they would be laid off when someone saw their jobs posted on the U.S. government jobs website.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Disabled workers in VA losing jobs
If it is a choice between veterans working for the VA or civilians, I'll side with the veterans everyday. After all, this is the Veterans Administration. It should hire veterans first. I also think the VA and Goodwill should do everything possible to find other jobs for these disabled individuals. Why weren't these jobs Federal jobs in the first place?
Issa demands answers from VA on 'Patton' parody
Watchdog: Issa demands answers from VA on 'Patton' parody
August 20, 2012
Mark Flatten
Reporter
The Washington Examiner
Gen. George Patton probably would not be pleased with a parody video paid for with tax dollars by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But there is no doubt about where U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa stands on it.
Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wants detailed documents from the VA on its spending on two conferences in Orlando last year that cost a combined $5 million.
Particularly irksome to Issa is the $52,000 allegedly spent by the VA to pay a professional actor and production company for an 18-minute video satirizing the opening scene of the 1970 film for which George C. Scott won an Academy Award. (See the original scene from the film in the embedded video player below.)
Issa wants a copy of the satire and an explanation. In a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, Issa called allegations about the Orlando conferences "eerily similar" to those involving the scandalous 2010 General Services Administration (GSA) conference in Las Vegas.
That gathering became infamous after the GSA Inspector General (IG) revealed in April that top administrators wasted taxpayer money on private parties, unnecessary pre-conference travel and gimmicks like a $75,000 bicycle building exercise.
In the letter sent last week to Shinseki, Issa noted that even before the GSA scandal, President Obama warned federal officials that "you cannot take a trip to Las Vegas or go to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
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August 20, 2012
Mark Flatten
Reporter
The Washington Examiner
Gen. George Patton probably would not be pleased with a parody video paid for with tax dollars by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But there is no doubt about where U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa stands on it.
Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wants detailed documents from the VA on its spending on two conferences in Orlando last year that cost a combined $5 million.
Particularly irksome to Issa is the $52,000 allegedly spent by the VA to pay a professional actor and production company for an 18-minute video satirizing the opening scene of the 1970 film for which George C. Scott won an Academy Award. (See the original scene from the film in the embedded video player below.)
Issa wants a copy of the satire and an explanation. In a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, Issa called allegations about the Orlando conferences "eerily similar" to those involving the scandalous 2010 General Services Administration (GSA) conference in Las Vegas.
That gathering became infamous after the GSA Inspector General (IG) revealed in April that top administrators wasted taxpayer money on private parties, unnecessary pre-conference travel and gimmicks like a $75,000 bicycle building exercise.
In the letter sent last week to Shinseki, Issa noted that even before the GSA scandal, President Obama warned federal officials that "you cannot take a trip to Las Vegas or go to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime."
read more here
VA Overturns Decision on Navy SEAL Denied Contracts
Veterans Agency Overturns Decision on Navy SEAL Denied Contracts
Bloomberg News
By Kathleen Miller
August 20, 2012
The Department of Veterans Affairs has overturned its decision rejecting a retired Navy SEAL from a contracting program designed to help veteran-owned businesses.
The agency told 23-year veteran Mark Lilly that Syncon LLC, his Chesapeake, Virginia-based construction company, is now allowed to compete for the contracts, according to a VA letter sent to him today. Lilly, 47, was shot in Afghanistan and has a Purple Heart, Silver Star and five Bronze Stars.
The VA has rejected the firm’s veteran-owned status three times this year. In June, it questioned whether Lilly, who has a Virginia contractor’s license, was in charge of the company’s daily operations as required by the department’s rules.
The VA concluded in the letter that Lilly “has adequate experience to manage and operate the business.” In its decision, the agency took note of his general contractor’s license and the updated resumes provided by Lilly and his non- veteran minority partner.
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Bloomberg News
By Kathleen Miller
August 20, 2012
The Department of Veterans Affairs has overturned its decision rejecting a retired Navy SEAL from a contracting program designed to help veteran-owned businesses.
The agency told 23-year veteran Mark Lilly that Syncon LLC, his Chesapeake, Virginia-based construction company, is now allowed to compete for the contracts, according to a VA letter sent to him today. Lilly, 47, was shot in Afghanistan and has a Purple Heart, Silver Star and five Bronze Stars.
The VA has rejected the firm’s veteran-owned status three times this year. In June, it questioned whether Lilly, who has a Virginia contractor’s license, was in charge of the company’s daily operations as required by the department’s rules.
The VA concluded in the letter that Lilly “has adequate experience to manage and operate the business.” In its decision, the agency took note of his general contractor’s license and the updated resumes provided by Lilly and his non- veteran minority partner.
read more here
Retired, wounded Navy SEAL's 5 Bronze Stars and Silver Star not good enough for VA?
Monday, August 20, 2012
Melbourne soldier dies in Afghanistan Black Hawk crash
Melbourne soldier dies in Afghanistan Black Hawk crash
August 20, 2012
The Associated Press
HONOLULU— U.S. Army officials say four soldiers based at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii were killed last week when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan.
The Taliban claimed they gunned down the Black Hawk, leading to the crash on Thursday.
Army officials said Monday that among the seven Americans and four Afghans killed were: Chief Warrant Officer Brian Hornsby, 37, of Melbourne, Florida; Chief Warrant Officer Suresh Krause, 29 of Cathedral City, California; Sgt. Luis Galbreath, 41, of San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Sgt. Richard Essex, 23, of Kelseyville, California.
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August 20, 2012
The Associated Press
HONOLULU— U.S. Army officials say four soldiers based at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii were killed last week when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan.
The Taliban claimed they gunned down the Black Hawk, leading to the crash on Thursday.
Army officials said Monday that among the seven Americans and four Afghans killed were: Chief Warrant Officer Brian Hornsby, 37, of Melbourne, Florida; Chief Warrant Officer Suresh Krause, 29 of Cathedral City, California; Sgt. Luis Galbreath, 41, of San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Sgt. Richard Essex, 23, of Kelseyville, California.
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Convicted soldier urges Supreme Court to hear military appeals
Convicted soldier urges Supreme Court to hear military appeals
By MICHAEL DOYLE
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: August 20, 2012
WASHINGTON - A military court convicted Army Master Sgt. John E. Hatley of murder in wartime. Unfortunately for the defrocked combat infantryman, military law keeps him from appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, against all odds, the native of Decatur, Texas, is going where others have failed and Congress has hesitated. Representing himself from his Fort Leavenworth prison cell, Hatley has asked the high court to grant soldiers the same appeal rights as civilians.
"I've been in the military for 20 years and endured many hardships," Hatley said, responding to a reporter's emailed questions conveyed through a friend. "I accepted that as part of the career I had chosen. What you don't know and are never told is that your rights are less than every other citizen in this country has."
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By MICHAEL DOYLE
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: August 20, 2012
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WASHINGTON - A military court convicted Army Master Sgt. John E. Hatley of murder in wartime. Unfortunately for the defrocked combat infantryman, military law keeps him from appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, against all odds, the native of Decatur, Texas, is going where others have failed and Congress has hesitated. Representing himself from his Fort Leavenworth prison cell, Hatley has asked the high court to grant soldiers the same appeal rights as civilians.
"I've been in the military for 20 years and endured many hardships," Hatley said, responding to a reporter's emailed questions conveyed through a friend. "I accepted that as part of the career I had chosen. What you don't know and are never told is that your rights are less than every other citizen in this country has."
read more here
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