Civil War Veterans, Fourth of July or Decoration Day

Ortonville, Minnesota

1880

 

Majority of judges behind wave of gay marriage rulings were Democrat-appointed

State-approved bans on same-sex marriage have been falling at a rapid clip since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act last year. 
The changes -- gay couples can now wed in 19 states and the District of Columbia -- reflect shifting social and political attitudes toward same-sex marriage. But they also reflect, in several cases, the opinions of Democrat-appointed judges who single-handedly struck down state-approved bans.   
In a testament to the influence of judicial appointments, most of the judges responsible for the decisions over the past year were appointed by either President Obama or, two decades ago, Bill Clinton. 
Among the justices to recently effect a major state change was U.S. District Judge Michael McShane in Oregon. 
He threw out the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban on Monday. 
McShane was nominated by Obama in January 2013 and was confirmed several months later. He was in a position to effectively enact gay marriage from the bench, as state officials earlier refused to defend Oregon's ban and said they wouldn't appeal. 
The National Organization for Marriage sought to intervene, but both McShane and a federal appeals court rejected its attempts to argue in favor of the ban. 
The next day, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III overturned a 1996 Pennsylvania law barring recognition of gay marriage, calling it unconstitutional. 
The National Organization for Marriage protested again, calling the ruling an "end-run around the democratic process" that "places the capricious will of one man above the desires of millions of citizens." 
But Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, on Wednesday decided to end his court fight because "the case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal." The governor's decision means that same-sex marriage will remain legal in Pennsylvania, without the threat that a higher court will reinstate the ban. 
In Pennsylvania's case, the judge who threw out the ban was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush. 
Only one other judge -- of the eight who have ruled against gay marriage bans since the DOMA decision -- is Republican-appointed. The other is Bernard Friedman, a U.S. District Court judge in Michigan who struck down that state's gay marriage ban in March, though the decision is being appealed. Friedman was appointed by Ronald Reagan. 
Three of the judges -- in Oregon, Virginia and Utah -- were appointed by Obama in the last few years. Two were appointed by Clinton. One, in Idaho, was appointed by regional judges. 
Several of these cases are still being litigated. In 29 states, judges are being asked whether gays should have the right to marry. 
Advocates see a clear trend where gay marriage will increasingly be legalized. 
After the Pennsylvania decision, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Director Rea Carey said: "The momentum for same-sex marriage across the entire nation is unstoppable." 
But opposition in some places remains strong. A spokesman for Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said he will vigorously defend the state's constitutional ban against the lawsuit brought by four gay couples. 
In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert said at a news conference Thursday he also is committed to defending his state's ban, and he blasted decisions against doing so by leaders in other states. 
"For elected officials, governors or attorney generals, to pick and choose what laws (they) will enforce I think is a tragedy, and is the next step to anarchy," Herbert said. "We have an obligation as a state to defend those laws." 
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

VA

'Why didn't they prepare?' Hundreds of VA vacancies, as returning vets strain system

WASHINGTON –  Despite rampant allegations of veterans stuck in limbo waiting for care, hundreds of jobs remain unfilled at the Department of Veterans Affairs -- including at some of the very locations where doctors supposedly were too short-staffed to see patients. 
A search by FoxNews.com on Friday of the USA Jobs federal employment website showed more than 1,080 current vacancies in health-related fields at the VA. 
A search of the words “VA” and “physician” yielded 167 jobs openings with top-range salaries of roughly $295,000 a year. There are 18 openings alone in the Phoenix VA Health Care System – the same one facing allegations that up to 40 people died while waiting for treatment.
One full-time position is for the chief of medicine. The vacancy, posted April 15 and open until June 13, comes with an annual salary up to $235,000.  
The VA pitches the job as a don't-miss opportunity. The ad boasts that “as a VA physician, your opportunities are endless” -- the agency offers "generous paid time off and a variety of predictable and flexible scheduling opportunities.”
So why the vacancies, at such a critical time? 
In recent weeks, whistleblowers have come forward to criticize how the agency is handling its massive caseload. The allegations generally accuse local VA facilities of pushing off patients and then manipulating their own records to make it seem like they’re receiving care in a timely fashion.
Officials, in explaining the overburdened system, have pointed to the influx of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the long-term care of aging vets from Vietnam.
“We go into Afghanistan, leave Afghanistan for Iraq with unfinished business in Afghanistan,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday, suggesting these problems were years in the making. “Ten years later, we have all of these additional veterans -- in the past five years, two million more veterans needing benefits from the VA. That's a huge, huge increase.” 
But the hundreds of vacancies show that the VA, with the influx of veterans a well-known factor, is not even operating at full capacity now. 
Pete Hegseth, CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, questioned why the department didn't better prepare for the returning veterans by staffing up. 
“These are self-inflicted wounds. This isn’t a money issue. This is a prioritization issue,” he said. "They knew there were going to be more veterans who needed care. Why didn't they prepare?" 
Hegseth, a Fox News contributor, said he’s not surprised that lawmakers are trying to shift the blame. “It’s cover your ass time,” he said. 
The inspector general at the VA says 26 facilities are now being investigated nationwide, including the one in Phoenix.
Some have accused administrators of cooking the books and creating an environment that encouraged VA staff to manipulate wait times of veterans who need medical or mental health care. Others, though, have called the scandal political theater and say for the most part, the VA medical system works.
In a letter to veterans Friday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki vowed to do better and promised to investigate every allegation brought to the department’s attention.
“As we approach our observance of Memorial Day and its special significance to our nation, VA is re-doubling its efforts, with integrity and compassion, to earn your trust,” he wrote. 
On Wednesday, President Obama broke his silence on the issue, vowing to “fix whatever is wrong” but stopping short of calling for Shinseki’s resignation.
As the scandal plays out in D.C., the VA continues its march to fill the hundreds of vacancies for health care officials at its clinics and hospitals across the country.
Among those is also a position in Kansas City, Mo., for a full-time radiologist, with a pay range of $98,967 to $295,000.
There are also openings at the VA teaching hospital in Danville, Ill., for urologists, pulmonologists and dental laboratory technicians. The facility also has an opening for an outpatient pharmacist, tasked with dispensing “appropriate medications and counseling patients on proper medication administration and storage.” The salary range is between $101,580 and $123,776.
Calls to the VA for comment were not returned.

Allen West: Obama administration's response to jailed Marine's plight 'very embarrassing'

Former Florida congressman Allen West told Fox News’ Andrea Tantaros Friday the Obama administration's reaction to the plight of the Marine jailed in Mexico on gun charges is “very embarrassing."
Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who grew up in Southern Florida, was arrested March 31 after he says inadvertently crossed into Mexico with weapons in his truck.
West noted that Secretary of State Kerry was in Mexico this week, but did not demand the Mexican government release Tahmooressi.
“So right now what we have are these very neutered, pajama boy leaders, faux leaders in Obama and in Kerry and it’s very embarrassing,” West said. “It is a sad state of affairs that a Marine is being detained, a combat veteran, who could possibly be suffering from PTSD, who is guilty of nothing.”
West also said he believes the Mexican government is attempting to make money from holding the Marine.
“It’s extortion,” he said, later adding, “this is absolutely heinous, it is appalling and it’s unconscionable.”

Judge allows long-time Dem Rep. Conyers on primary ballot

A federal judge put Michigan Rep. John Conyers, one of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress, on the primary ballot Friday hours after state election officials declared him ineligible.
Earlier Friday, Conyers lost his appeal to get on the August primary ballot after state officials found problems with his nominating petitions.
But hours later, Detroit federal Judge Matthew Leitman issued an injunction ordering that Conyers' name be placed on the ballot.
Conyers needed 1,000 petition signatures to get a spot in the Democratic primary. But many petitions were thrown out because the people who gathered names weren't registered voters or listed a wrong registration address. That left him more than 400 short.
But Leitman's injunction said a Michigan law that puts strict requirements on petition circulators is similar to an Ohio law that was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court in 2008.
Leitman said the free speech rights of Conyers and the circulators were harmed, an argument pressed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
There's evidence that the failure to comply with the law was a "result of good-faith mistakes and that (circulators) believed they were in compliance with the statute," the judge said.
Conyers, 85, told WXYZ-TV,"I'm trying not to smile openly much but this is very good news, and it's also good news for the process."
The first decision, from the Secretary of State's office, determined that Detroit-area officials were correct in keeping Conyers off the ballot, since he "failed to submit" a minimum of 1,000 signatures to qualify.
Wayne County officials had said there were problems with some people who collected signatures -- the circulators weren't registered to vote or had listed a wrong registration address.
Under Michigan law, that can spoil petitions.
Killing Conyers' career in such a way would be "pretty outrageous," his lawyer, John Pirich, said this week.
But an attorney for a Democratic challenger, the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, said Conyers for decades had no problem following the law.
"In essence, they played the game, lost and then complained that the rules were unfair," Eric Doster said, quoting a Virginia judge.
Conyers has spent 50 years in Congress and is the second most-senior member of the House, only to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who is already retiring.

Issa: White House warned YouTube over anti-Islam video during Benghazi attack

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa claimed that an email he’s reviewed shows the White House decided to reach out to YouTube within hours of the Benghazi terror attack, to warn the website about the consequences of posting an anti-Islam video.
The email would suggest the White House was connecting the attack to the video almost from the outset -- though their initial claim that the attack sprung out of protests over the film would later be proven false.
According to Issa, who discussed excerpts from the otherwise classified emails on Wednesday, the email was sent at 9:11 p.m. ET on Sept. 11 to the Diplomatic Security Command Center.
According to Issa, the email said: “White House is reaching out to UTube to advise ramifications of the posting of the Pastor Jon Video.”
Issa said this email is “troubling” because it “contradicts” White House claims that the faulty storyline on the video was drawn from the intelligence community’s talking points.
The congressman also said “the email shows the White House had hurried to settle on a false narrative -- one at odds with the conclusions reached by those on the ground -- before Americans were even out of harm’s way or the intelligence community had made an impartial examination of available evidence.”
Issa, who wants the administration to declassify the email, discussed its contents as a House select committee prepares to launch its investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attacks and their aftermath. Ahead of that committee’s work, Issa has subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry to appear before his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next week.
Issa has questions about this email, as well as a previously released email showing the White House held a “prep call” after the attack with then-U.N. ambassador Susan Rice in which it pushed the video storyline. The White House has claimed that call pertained to protests elsewhere in the region.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Issa’s Democratic counterpart on the oversight committee and a newly chosen member of the select committee, blasted Issa for discussing the YouTube-related email.
“This latest document leak makes the strongest case yet for Democrats seeking procedures to protect against these kinds of abuses,” he said in a statement. “In what has become an irresponsible pattern, Chairman Issa unilaterally released a cherry-picked document excerpt – claiming it means one thing when in fact it means the opposite.”
A White House official also told ABC News that the email only “proves” what the administration has said – that they were concerned about the video given the protests in the region.

Whistleblower says crimes covered up at Miami VA hospital

A VA police officer says administrators at the hospital in Miami where he works are covering up crimes occurring at the facility, including evidence of physical abuse of patients and drug dealing.
Thomas Fiore, who still works at the facility, told Fox News’ Eric Bolling on “Hannity” that drug dealing among patients at the hospital is a “regular occurrence,” and he felt he had to come forward because attempts he made to investigate or report wrongdoing fell on deaf ears.
"I actually prepared a written plan, if you will, pertaining to an undercover operation so that we can at least identify who our targets are for the drug sales," he said. "And I presented that in an email and I'm still waiting on a response. I submitted it about two years ago." 
Fiore earlier told the Miami Herald that the breaking point for him was a March 2013 report on the facility’s residential drug rehab program, which charged the program failed to adequately monitor patients or stop illicit drug use.
The report highlighted Nicholas Todd Cutter, a 27-year-old Iraq war veteran who overdosed on drugs shortly before he was set to graduate the program. Fiore told the Herald Cutter’s death “could have been prevented.”
"There are just so many things that have occurred that are just an absolute disgrace," he said. 
Fiore told the newspaper that when he tried to report drug dealing among patients, patient abuse or missing drugs from the pharmacy he was either ignored or his attempts to investigate the incidents were thwarted.
“I was told that the police reports were to stop,’’ he said, “and they would notify me if something important came up.’’
Fiore told the Herald he was eventually reassigned to a clerical position.
“I was reassigned because I continued to bring things up to the director, and he continued to ignore it,’’ he said. “They just needed to get rid of me.”
Miami VA Healthcare System spokesman Shane Suzuki told the Herald Fiore’s claims have no evidence to back them up.
“Miami VA leadership has every intent of holding employees who mistreat our veterans accountable for their actions,’’ Suzuki said in a written statement. “We will fully investigate any allegations that we do anything less than treat our veterans with the respect and honor they have earned.’’
The allegations in Miami are only one example of a storm of controversies plaguing the VA.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General's Office said Tuesday that 26 facilities are now being investigated nationwide over allegations of manipulated waiting times and other issues.

Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo treated better than our vets

President Obama finally addressed the nation Wednesday about the growing scandal at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After meeting with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki he pledged to hold folks accountable.
Thanks, Mr. President.
By now most American have heard about the VA’s infamous patient “secret wait lists” which reportedly contributed to the deaths of up to 40 veterans in the Phoenix area alone. Those patriots were American heroes who served our country proudly. Yet they were left to die waiting to see a doctor.   

While the Gitmo ratio is 1.5 to 1, for America’s 9 million veterans receiving VA health care and 267,930 VA employees, the ratio is 35 to 1.

Here’s another secret the White House doesn’t want you to know about the VA. Al Qaeda detainees get better medical treatment than our veterans.
Say what?
Yes, it’s true. I know because I served as a Pentagon spokesman from 2005-2009 and visited Guantanamo Bay Naval Base over 30 times during those years.
Despite the fact that Al Qaeda terrorists carried out the Sept. 11 terror attacks, killing 3,000 people in America, the admitted co-conspirators and their roughly 150 fellow jihadists at Gitmo have approximately 100 doctors, nurses and health care personnel assigned to them.
Doctors and medical personnel are at their beck and call.  Got a cold, a fever, a toothache, a tumor, chest or back pain, mental health issues, PTSD?  No problem, come right on in. Military doctors are waiting to see you.
The VA and Gitmo eligible patient-to-health care provider ratios speak volumes.
While the Gitmo ratio is 1.5 to 1, for America’s 9 million veterans receiving VA health care and 267,930 VA employees, the ratio is 35 to 1.
But beyond the Gitmo numbers, the situation at the VA is also a bright, shining example of misguided priorities and terrible mismanagement.
In late 2008, when Obama was  president-elect, he and his staff were warned not to trust the wait times reported by VA health care facilities. But instead of fixing the problem, their focus was closing Guantanamo and improving the comfort of detainees. Even though they already lived under some of the best prison conditions ever seen.
While some who see “2008” may reflexively say, “blame Bush, not Obama” the fact is that the VA’s health system has been fatally flawed for years, regardless of who has been the president.
The VA is a classic example of big government gone wild. It is America’s second largest cabinet agency after the Defense Department. Since civil service promotions are traditionally based more on seniority than performance, and it’s near impossible to fire anyone, there’s a punch-the-clock mentality that’s pervasive. Not surprisingly, there's little to no sense of urgency. So to instill incentives, the VA shells out high salaries and bonuses, deserved or not.
According to a Fox News report, Phoenix VA hospital paid staff up to $357,000 for doctor executives and $147,000 for nursing staff.  On average, doctors and nurses in Phoenix make just over half those figures.
Meanwhile, the gardening budget at Phoenix VA hospital was over $180,000 in 2013. The facility also spent $211,000 on interior design over the past three years.
If any government entity ever needed a complete overhaul, it’s the VA.  If it were in the private sector, it would have been shuttered long ago.
Today’s VA has near zero accountability, while labor unions fight to protect employees who aren't doing their jobs. Shinseki and his senior staff should be the first to go.
 President Obama needs to refocus his priorities. There must be less time, effort and energy caring for Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at Gitmo and much more attention put on caring for America's veterans. 
Our veterans have served the nation proudly. In many cases they were gravely wounded during their service and now will require a lifetime of medical support. Every one of them deserves better.
J.D. Gordon is a retired Navy Commander who served as a Pentagon spokesman in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2005-09. He serves as senior adviser to several Washington-based think tanks.

NSA

Committee OKs end to door-slot mail for millions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans would no longer get mail delivered to their door but would have to go to communal or curbside boxes instead under a proposal advancing through Congress.

The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on an 18-13 party-line vote, approved a bill Wednesday to direct the U.S. Postal Service to convert 15 million addresses over the next decade to the less costly, but also less convenient delivery method.

Democrats objected to the plan, and efforts in recent years to win its adoption have failed.

"I think it's a lousy idea," Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said. Other lawmakers said it wouldn't work in urban areas where there's no place on city streets to put banks of "cluster boxes" with separate compartments for each address. People with disabilities who have difficulty leaving their homes could get waivers, and people who still want delivery to their door could pay extra for it — something Lynch derided as "a delivery tax."

The measure falls far short of a comprehensive overhaul most officials agree is needed to solve the postal service's financial problems. The committee's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., acknowledged that at the outset but said it "provides an interim opportunity to achieve some significant cost savings."

Converting to communal or curbside delivery would save $2 billion annually, Issa said, quoting from estimates that door delivery costs $380 annually per address compared with $240 for curbside and $170 for centralized methods. He said less than 1 percent of all addresses nationwide would undergo a delivery change annually and that communal boxes offer a safe, locked location for packages, doing away with the need for carriers to leave packages on porches and subject to theft and bad weather.

The Postal Service reported a $1.9 billion loss for the first three months this year despite continued cost-cutting, a 2.3 percent rise in operating revenue and increased employee productivity. Package business has risen but the service struggles with inflationary cost increases and a continued decline in first-class mailing as people move to the Internet for letter writing and bill paying.

Postal officials have asked repeatedly for comprehensive legislation giving them more control over personnel and benefit costs and more flexibility in pricing and products. Though various legislative proposals have been advanced, Congress has not been able to agree on a bill with broad changes.

"Lawmakers should fix what they broke, not break what's working," National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando said, referring to a 2006 law that requires the Postal Service to prefund its retiree health benefits. Meeting that requirement accounts for the bulk of the postal service's red ink. He said the Oversight Committee's bill is "irresponsible ... bad for the American public, bad for businesses, bad for the economy and bad for the U.S. Postal Service."

The Postal Service has been moving to more centralized delivery for some new addresses but hasn't done much to convert existing addresses, Issa said.

Marine jailed in Mexico receives order to report to USMC superiors

Sgt. Maj. M.E. Sprague (Idiot)

Sgt. Tahmooressi & Mother Jill

             It might be the first order U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi doesn't obey.
The mother of the reservist, who is being held in a Mexican jail after mistakenly crossing the border with registered guns, told FoxNews.com her son just got an "Order to Muster" letter from the Marines telling Tahmooressi to report to the 4th Civil Affairs Group in Hialeah, Fla., on June 14. Although a Marine spokeswoman later told FoxNews.com that the corps is aware of Tahmooressi's current circumstances and does not expect him to report, failure typically can result in "other than honorable discharge" and affect Veterans Administration benefits.

"You are among the elite citizens of our nation who, if needed, are ready to answer the call to defend our freedom.,"- Letter from USMC to Marine jailed in Mexico

"You are among the elite citizens of our nation who, if needed, are ready to answer the call to defend our freedom," reads the May 9 order written by Sgt. Maj. M.E. Sprague, which also reminds the recipient that, "Once a Marine, always a Marine."
Jill Tahmooressi said the letter was the latest painful reminder of her son's plight despite service to his country that includes two tours of duty in Afghanistan resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder. Tahmooressi was arrested March 31, after accidentally driving into Mexico with three legally purchased weapons in his truck.
A Marine Corps spokesman told FoxNews.com reservists on Individual Ready Reserve, as Tahmooressi is, are contractually required to attend the one-day session to have their physical readiness evaluated should they be recalled to active duty. The letter does not represent a call-up to active duty.
Jill Tahmooressi, who has been able to speak to her son by telephone, said she did not know if the Marines sent the letter mistakenly, or did not know of his situation.
"I haven't called the Marines about this," she said.
Maj. Tamarra Jones, a Marine Force Reserves spokeswoman, said the corps is fully aware of Tahmooressi's situation and has been following it closely.
"This is an exceptional circumstance and Sgt. Tahmooressi won't be penalized for not attending this meeting," Jones told FoxNews.com.
Tahmooressi, who joined the military in 2008, was a .50 caliber gunner in the top position of a Humvee, according to his mother. His bravery in combat earned him a battlefield promotion to sergeant.
The fearful mom hopes her son's training and bravery will sustain him through his current ordeal. Tahmooressi attempted an escape from a notorious state-run jail in Tijuana shortly after his arrest. He has since been transferred to a federal penitentiary in Tecate, Mexico. 
His first court hearing is scheduled for May 28, but will likely not result in any decision. The arresting Mexican border officials are slated to make a statement to the judge, who holds Tahmooressi's fate in his hands alone. There are no jury trials in Mexico.
Meanwhile, a petition drive has been launched to spur President Obama's intervention in the case. In order for the White House to automatically look into the case, 100,000 signatures must be gathered by May 31. As of Tuesday, there are about 30,000 signatures attached to the petition.

Cartoon

In-laws Bill and Hillary Clinton can't swing Pennsylvania House race for Margolies

Bill and Hillary Clinton can fundraise and stump for old friends like few others, but their political touch was not enough Tuesday to help an in-law win back her old House seat. 
Marjorie Margolies, whose son Marc Mezvinsky is married to Clinton daughter Chelsea, lost the Democratic primary for an open House seat in Pennsylvania representing eastern Philadelphia and its more affluent Montgomery County suburb. 
Early returns showed state Rep. Brendan Boyle winning the race, according to The Associated Press, virtually assuring him of becoming the successor to Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz. Boyle was the only one of the four candidates in the race from Philadelphia.
Former President Clinton headlined an April fundraiser in Philadelphia for Margolies that reportedly raised roughly $200,000. And the former first lady, who is eyeing a potential 2016 presidential run, appeared at a May 15 fundraiser for her in New York.
The fundraiser was at the New York City home of Lynn Forester de Rothschild with tickets costing $1,000 to $5,000 a person.
Though the families are connected through their children’s July 2010 marriage, the Clinton-Margolies political relationship dates back to 1993. That's when Margolies cast a deciding vote on a Clinton budget that included a tax increase on upper-income Americans, including many in the congresswoman’s then-Republican-leaning 13th congressional district.
Margolies lost in her bid for a second term in the 1994 GOP wave election, which prompted some people to say the Clintons owe her one.
“I want to get one thing out of the way; I would be here if her son was not my son-in-law,” the former president said at the April fundraiser, according to The New York Times.
He also donated the maximum $2,600 and was featured in a video ad for Margolies.
Margolies' son could not directly participate in the campaign because he runs a hedge fund and her daughter-in-law was not allowed to because she is a special correspondent for NBC News.
Margolies, 71, also lost a 1998 bid for lieutenant governor and dropped out of her 2000 Senate campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

VA health care inquiry expands as House prepares bill to enhance secretary's authority

The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General's Office said late Tuesday that 26 facilities were being investigated nationwide over allegations of manipulated waiting times and other issues. 
The disclosure comes as the House of Representatives prepares to vote Wednesday on a bill that would give VA Secretary Eric Shinseki greater authority to fire or demote senior executives. 
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, sponsored the measure, saying VA officials who have presided over mismanagement or negligence are more likely to receive bonuses or glowing performance reviews than any sort of punishment.
The VA's "widespread and systemic lack of accountability is exacerbating all of its most pressing problems," including revelations that the department maintained secret waiting lists to cover up long delays in patient appointments and a mounting toll of preventable deaths of veterans, Miller said.
Miller accused the VA of a "well-documented reluctance to ensure its leaders are held accountable for mistakes" and said Congress has an obligation to "give the VA secretary the authority he needs to fix things. That's what my bill would do."
Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said the White House shares the goals of the House bill — to ensure accountability at the VA — but was concerned about some of the details.
Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation this week to ensure that internal probes by the VA's Office of Medical Inspector are released to Congress and the public "so the full scope of the VA's dysfunction cannot be disguised."
Moran noted that a VA nurse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was put on leave this month for allegedly telling employees to falsify appointment records. The action came after an email about possible wait-list manipulation at the Cheyenne hospital was leaked to the media.
But Moran said the Cheyenne center was already the subject of a December 2013 report by Office of the Medical Inspector. That report apparently substantiated claims of improper scheduling practices, but it's unclear if action taken at the Cheyenne center was based on the medical inspector's findings, Moran said.
"Because OMI reports are not available to the public and have not been previously released to Congress, it is impossible to know whether the VA has taken action to implement the OMI's recommendations for improvement in each case," Moran said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors is scheduled to travel to Phoenix Thursday to meet with staff at the VA office where the crisis began after allegations of delayed care that may have led to patient deaths and a cover-up by top administrators.
A former clinic director said that as many as 40 veterans may have died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix hospital and that staff, at the instruction of administrators, kept a secret list of patients waiting for appointments to hide delays in care.
Investigators probing the claims say they have so far not linked any patient deaths in Phoenix to delayed care.
The current director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, Sharon Helman, has been placed on leave indefinitely while the VA's inspector general investigates the claims raised by several former VA employees.
Shinseki and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to discuss how the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments can improve interactions between their health records systems. The two Cabinet members said in a joint statement that the meeting was productive and said both men share the same goal: to improve health outcomes of active-duty military, veterans and beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, two Republican senators introduced legislation to prohibit payment of bonuses to employees at the Veterans Health Administration through next year. Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Deb Fischer of Nebraska said the VA should focus its spending on fixing problems at the agency, "not rewarding employees entrenched in a failing bureaucracy." Burr is the senior Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and Fischer is on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The House passed a bill in February that would eliminate performance bonuses for the department's senior executive staff through 2018.
Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, also called on Obama to back off plans to nominate Jeffrey Murawsky to replace the VA's undersecretary for health care, Robert Petzel, who has stepped down. Murawsky, a career VA administrator, directly supervised Helman from 2010 to 2012.
The White House has said Obama remains confident in Shinseki's leadership and is standing behind Murawsky's nomination.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

China summons US envoy, warns that cyberspying charges could harm ties

China has warned the U.S. that it is jeopardizing its military ties with Beijing and demanded that Washington withdraw an indictment brought by the Justice Department against five Chinese military officials accused of hacking into U.S. companies to steal trade secrets. 
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Max Baucus on Monday night to make a formal complaint about the charges. 
A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry Monday night said the charges were based on "fabricated facts" and would jeopardize China-U.S. "cooperation and mutual trust."
"China is steadfast in upholding cybersecurity," said the statement, which was read again Tuesday on state television's midday news broadcast. "The Chinese government, the Chinese military and their relevant personnel have never engaged or participated in cyber-theft of trade secrets. The U.S. accusation against Chinese personnel is purely ungrounded and absurd."
"The Chinese government and Chinese military as well as relevant personnel have never engaged and never participated in so-called cyber theft of trade secrets," said a foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, at a news briefing Tuesday. "What the United States should do now is withdraw its indictment."
In its statement, the Defense Ministry repeated the charges, but added that the U.S. accusations would send a chill through gradually warming relations between their two militaries.
"Up to now, relations between the China-U.S. militaries had been development well overall," the ministry said. "The U.S., by this action, betrays its commitment to building healthy, stable, reliable military-to-military relations and causes serious damage to mutual trust between the sides."
The charges are the biggest challenge to relations since a meeting last summer between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Sunnylands, California.
Ties already were under strain due to conflicts over what Washington says are provocative Chinese moves to assert claims over disputed areas of the East and South China Seas. Beijing complains the Obama administration's effort to shift foreign policy emphasis toward Asia and expand its military presence in the region is emboldening Japan and other neighbors and fueling tension.
China's response marks an escalation in a dispute over U.S. claims that the Chinese military is illegally helping the country's massive state industries.
China has already strongly denounced the charges and says it is suspending cooperation with the U.S. in a joint cybersecurity working group. The group was formed last year in the wake of allegations of Chinese military involvement in online commercial espionage. China has denied those allegations as well. 
The case against the defendants, who have never set foot in the United States, was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder Monday in Washington. When asked whether there was any hope the Chinese government would hand over the officials, Holder said only the "intention" is for the defendants to face the charges in a U.S. court, and he hopes to have Chinese government cooperation.
But the Chinese government immediately signaled it would not cooperate, claiming the accusations were made up and warning the case would damage U.S.-China relations.
According to Reuters, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang urged "immediate rectification."
The highly touted indictment appears to serve more to shed light on the growing problem of cyber-espionage than to guarantee any of the defendants will have their day in a Pittsburgh, Pa., federal court, where the case is being brought.
U.S. prosecutors described the alleged crimes as "21st century burglary."
The indictment accused the Chinese officials of targeting the U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar products industries. The alleged victims include major U.S. firms like Alcoa World Alumina, Westinghouse Electric and U.S. Steel Corp.
Holder said the hackers were targeting a total of six American companies, stealing information deemed useful to companies in China, including state-owned firms. He stressed that the alleged hacking is far different than the type of intelligence gathering conducted by governments around the world, in that this involved cyber-espionage for the sheer purpose of gaining the commercial upper hand against U.S. businesses.
"This is a tactic that the United States government categorically denounces," Holder said. "This case should serve as a wake-up call to the seriousness of the ongoing cyberthreat."
The charges were described as the first such case brought against state actors. The specific charges relate to cyber-espionage and theft of trade secrets.
John Carlin, recently installed as head of the Justice's National Security Division, had identified the prosecution of state-sponsored cyberthreats as a goal for the Obama administration.
"For the first time, we are exposing the faces and names behind the keyboards in Shanghai used to steal from American businesses," he said Monday, accusing the Chinese officials of "stealing the fruits of our labor."
The other victims listed include Allegheny Technologies, United Steelworkers Union, and SolarWorld.
U.S. officials have accused China's army and China-based hackers of launching attacks on American industrial and military targets, often to steal secrets or intellectual property. China has said that it faces a major threat from hackers, and the country's military is believed to be among the biggest targets of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command.
Last September, President Obama discussed cybersecurity issues on the sidelines of a summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
White House spokesman Ben Rhodes said at the time that Obama had addressed concerns about cyber threats emanating from China. He said Obama told Xi the U.S. sees it not through the prism of security, but out of concern over theft of trade secrets.
In late March, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed that the Pentagon planned to more than triple its cybersecurity staff in the next few years to defend against Internet attacks that threaten national security.
Hagel's comments at the National Security Agency headquarters in suburban Washington came as he prepared to visit China.
"Our nation's reliance on cyberspace outpaces our cybersecurity," Hagel said at the time. "Our nation confronts the proliferation of destructive malware and a new reality of steady, ongoing and aggressive efforts to probe, access or disrupt public and private networks, and the industrial control systems that manage our water, and our energy and our food supplies."

Secretive Soros-backed group looking to spend nearly $40M in 2014

A secretive dark money group backed by George Soros and other liberal mega-donors is looking to steer nearly $40 million to left-wing groups in 2014 to support high-profile political and policy efforts, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. 
The documents reveal for the first time the Democracy Alliance's full portfolio of supported organizations, a large network of powerful liberal groups looking to win key electoral and legislative victories. 
The Democracy Alliance connects major Democratic donors with some of the largest and most influential liberal activist groups in the country. Previous beneficiaries, such as the Center for American Progress and Media Matters for America, are set to get millions more in 2014. 
The list also reveals DA support for newer organizations, such as Organizing for Action, the advocacy group that succeeded President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. That group has received official sanction from the White House, and operates websites and social media accounts branded with the president's name. 
In all, the document reveals, the Democracy Alliance hopes to provide $39.3 million to 20 organizations this year. If it meets those fundraising targets, it will likely be responsible for one out of every five dollars in those groups' 2014 budgets. 
Alliance-supported organizations will spend more than $175 million in 2014, according to budget projections contained in the document. 
The Democracy Alliance is highly secretive in all of its operations. The donors it solicits and the organization to which it directs their financial support are prohibited from speaking publicly about its operations. 
Security was tight at its recent conference in Chicago where reporters from the Free Beacon and Politico were rebuffed by attendees who would not answer questions about their involvement with the group. 
The Free Beacon obtained and recently published a list of new Alliance "partners" -- individuals and organizations that must pay $30,000 in dues and contribute at least $200,000 to DA-aligned groups each year -- providing previously unreported details on its financial backing. 
Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.

VA inspector general's office was reportedly told of wait lists months before scandal broke

The office of the Veterans Administration's Inspector General had launched an investigation into claims that the VA's Albuquerque hospital was hiding the length of time patients were made to wait for treatment months before a similar scandal was made public at the VA's Phoenix facility, according to a published report. 
The Albuquerque Journal reported Friday that the Inspector General's office had started an inquiry after receiving complaints from employees that wait times were being falsified by officials. However, the paper said that the status of the investigation was unclear. 
On Sunday, The Daily Beast, citing an unnamed doctor at the Albuquerque VA hospital, reported that patients faced an eight-month wait to get ultrasounds of their hearts, and a four-month wait to see a cardiologist, with some dying before they could receive the results of their examinations. 
The report said that there was no proof that veterans had actually died waiting for treatment, as was allegedly the case at the hospital in Phoenix where lists were also kept. However, the doctor told the website that officials are trying to hide any evidence of a waiting list's existence. The steps being taken reportedly include removing or renaming databases.
"When everyone found out the [inspector general] was doing the audit, the word I heard was 'make sure nothing is left out in the open,'" the VA doctor told The Daily Beast. "And that ranged from make sure there's no food out to make sure there’s no information out in the open."
The reports of secret waiting lists have led to an investigation by the VA's inspector general and the resignation Friday of Dr. Robert Petzel, the VA's undersecretary for health. However, critics have said that the Obama administration's response has not been strong enough, due in part to the fact that Petzel was already planning to retire.

Plan to name Lake Tahoe cove after Mark Twain scrapped after tribe complains

RENO, Nev. –  A state panel has effectively killed a bid to name a Lake Tahoe cove for Mark Twain, citing opposition from a tribe that says he held racist views on Native Americans.
The Nevada State Board on Geographic Names this week voted to indefinitely table the request after hearing opposition from the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, whose ancestral homeland includes Lake Tahoe.
Supporters had sought to name a scenic cove on the lake's northeast shore for Samuel Clemens, Twain's real name.
But Darrel Cruz, head of the tribe's cultural resource department, said Twain was undeserving of the honor because of derogatory comments about the Washoe and other tribes in his writings.
Among other things, he cited Twain's opposition to the naming of the lake as Tahoe, which is derived from the Washoe word "da ow" for lake.
Cruz also objected to a Twain quote about Lake Tahoe: "People say that Tahoe means 'Silver Lake' — 'Limpid Water' — 'Falling Leaf.' Bosh! It means grasshopper soup, the favorite dish of the digger tribe — and of the Pi-utes as well."
Cruz said Washoes dislike being referred to as the "digger tribe," a derogatory term applied to some tribes in the West who dug roots for food. Other tribes ate grasshoppers.
"Samuel Clemens had racist views on the native people of this country and has captured those views in his literature," Cruz wrote in a letter to the board. "Therefore, we cannot support the notion of giving a place name in Lake Tahoe to Samuel Clemens."
But James Hulse, history professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Reno, said it's irrelevant whether Twain's writings were insulting to Native Americans.
The cove should be named for Twain because he praised Tahoe's beauty while visiting the lake in 1861-1862, and he became one of America's most beloved authors after assuming his pen name as a Nevada newspaper reporter around the same time, Hulse said.
"In his early days, (Twain's) ironic-comic mode was insulting to everyone, including governors, legislators, mine bosses and journalistic colleagues," he told the board. "He learned and overcame his prejudices far better than most of his contemporaries and successors."
Thomas Quirk, an English professor emeritus at the University of Missouri and leading Twain scholar, said the author eventually overcame his racism against blacks. But Quirk said he has found no evidence that he significantly changed his views on American Indians.
Twain did not embrace the idea of idolizing what he called the "noble red man," Quirk said, and poked fun at writer James Fenimore Cooper for doing so.
"When it comes to African Americans, he was ahead of his time substantially," he said. "When it comes to Native Americans, his record is not very good. If he were alive today, he would sing a different tune."
Board member Robert Stewart, who initiated the plan to name the cove for Clemens, said it's unlikely it would resurface.
He said he dropped his support of it, even though he learned about a later letter Twain wrote objecting to the treatment of tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.
"I have a great deal of respect for the Washoe Tribe. And if their cultural committee is unhappy with naming the cove for Mark Twain, I'm not going to fight them," Stewart said. "We need to show sensitivity to the tribe."
Stewart said he still believes the cove near Incline Village is where Twain camped and accidentally started a wildfire while preparing to cook dinner in September 1861. But David Antonucci, a civil engineer from Homewood, California, maintains Twain camped on the California side of the lake.
It's the second time the bid to name the cove for Twain failed. In 2011, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names rejected the request after the U.S. Forest Service said Twain's influence on the Sierra Nevada lake was minimal and other historical figures were more deserving of the honor.
Supporters sought to honor him because there is no geographic feature in the state named for Twain, whose book "Roughing It" put Nevada on the map.

How Harry Reid Carpet-Bombed the South

When the latest round of polls in key states showed vulnerable Democratic senators holding their own and the GOP’s dream candidate, Rep. Tom Cotton, an Iraq veteran and Harvard grad, down 10 points in his race against Arkansas Senator David Pryor, Republicans blamed the Senate Majority PAC as the chief culprit in shifting the landscape and upending the numbers.

Formed in 2011 and staffed by former aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, it has been spending heavily and early in races that will determine which party controls the Senate after November, and of course whether Reid keeps his job as leader.

Uncontrolled Immigration is like having a tree with too many apples.

 America Before

America After

Climategate II? Scientific community accused of muzzling dissent on global warming

Some are calling it the new "Climategate."
A paper by Lennart Bengtsson, a respected research fellow and climatologist at Britain's University of Reading, was rejected last February by a leading academic journal after a reviewer found it "harmful" to the climate change agenda. The incident is prompting new charges that the scientific community is muzzling dissent when it comes to global warming.
"[Bengtsson] has been a very prolific publisher and was considered one of the top scientists in the mainstream climate community," said Marc Morano, of the website ClimateDepot.com, which is devoted to questioning global warming.
Bengtsson had grown increasingly skeptical of the scientific consensus, often cited by President Obama, that urgent action is needed to curb carbon emissions before climate change exacts an irreversible toll on the planet with extreme drought, storms and rising seas levels.
The president repeatedly has rejected naysayers in the climate debate -- most recently, when he spoke May 9 in Mountainview, Calif. "We've still got some climate deniers who shout loud, but they're wasting everybody's time on a settled debate,” he said.
The administration recently released a comprehensive climate report that critics worry will be used to justify additional environmental regulations.
Bengtsson's paper, submitted to the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that greenhouse gas emissions might be less harmful and cause less warming than computer models project. For that, Morano said, Bengtssonpaid a steep price.
"They've threatened him. They've bullied him. They've pulled his papers. They're now going through everything they can to smear his reputation. And the ‘they’ I'm referring to is the global warming establishment," Morano said.
The Times of London reported that Bengtsson resigned from the advisory board of a think tank after being subjected to “McCarthy-style pressure” from other academics. Pressure even reportedly came from one U.S. government scientist.
Bengsston told the Times of London this week: "It is an indication of how science is gradually being influenced by political views. The reality hasn't been keeping up with computer models."
He added, "If people are proposing to do major changes to the world's economic system we must have much more solid information."
His view helps to illustrate the cavernous divide in this debate. Climate scientists who question the consensus often say they're demonized -- unable to publish, unable to find research funding. The scientific establishment presses on -- frustrated with anyone who, in their view,would impede saving the planet.
The debate raises a question about whether consensus in science is even relevant. As the novelist and global warming skeptic Michael Crichton argued,"The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with consensus."
The Bengtsson allegations recall a similar controversy in 2009, dubbed “Climategate,” when hundreds of emails were leaked, several of which raised questions about whether scientists were overstating the climate change case.

Rural New Mexico county fights feds over water rights

WEED, N.M. –  The latest dispute over federal control of land and water in the West has erupted along the banks of the Agua Chiquita, a small spring-fed stream in the mountains of southern New Mexico where the federal government has installed metal fences and locked gates to keep cattle out.
The move has enraged one rural county, where the sheriff has been ordered by the county commission to cut the locks. The U.S. attorney for the district of New Mexico hoped a meeting Friday would ease tensions enough to avoid an escalation like the armed standoff last month over grazing rights in Nevada.
The discussion resulted only in more frustration and disappointment.
Otero County Commissioner Ronny Rardin said after the meeting that the dispute was far from over.
"Ultimately, it is incumbent upon the commission, the sheriff and the citizens of Otero County to stand up for our constitutional rights," he said.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico said no resolution was reached during the meeting and that the office will continue to monitor the situation "to ensure that public safety is preserved" in Otero County.
"To that end, the U.S. Attorney's Office will make every effort to facilitate a dialogue between county officials and the Forest Service," the office said.
Decades in the making, the dispute in Otero County centers on whether the Forest Service has the authority to keep ranchers from accessing Agua Chiquita, which means Little Water in Spanish. In wet years, the spring can run for miles through thick conifer forest. This summer, much of the stream bed is dry.
The Forest Service says the enclosures are meant to protect what's left of the wetland habitat. Forest Supervisor Travis Moseley said the metal fences and gates simply replaced strands of barbed wire that had been wrecked over the years by herds of elk.
The Otero County Commission passed a resolution earlier this week declaring that the Forest Service doesn't have a right to control the water. Ranchers say they believe the move is an effort by the federal government to push them from the land.
"If we let them take over our water rights, that's the first step. Then we would have nothing left here," said Gary Stone, head of the Otero County Cattleman's Association.
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said what's happening in Otero County is another example of overreach by the federal government.
"These disputes could be easily avoided if federal bureaucrats would stick to their constitutional oath and respect property rights," he said.
With no resolution in sight, Sheriff Benny House said Friday he plans to continue investigating whether forest employees are breaking state law by fencing off the water. The commission is also seeking a congressional hearing on the matter.
Rancher Ed Eldridge is next in line to see a fence erected around the water on his allotment.
"I don't think any foreign power could take us over, but we might lose our country from within our borders if we lose our constitutional rights," Eldridge said.
Still, Eldridge, Stone and other residents said they aren't looking for an armed standoff with the federal government. They just want their water and property rights recognized and respected, they said.
Attorney Blair Dunn, who is representing the county, said he's worried that transparency and a media spotlight could be the only things that prevent the dispute from reaching a dangerous boiling point.
"Generally, cooler heads prevail when we're able to sit everybody down and figure out something that works," Dunn said.
Moseley of the Forest Service said he's not surprised by the conflict, given the pressure the agency is under to manage the land for different uses.
"I can't speak to a broader spectrum of federal regulations and how they affect private businesses and lives, but I don't believe there is a conspiracy per se," he said when asked about ranchers' claims of being pushed from the land.
County Commissioner Tommie Herrell disagreed. Describing the agency's actions as tyranny, he said the Forest Service is unwilling to temporarily open the gates while the parties search for long-term solutions.

More than 1 million Americans may be receiving wrong ObamaCare subsidies

Hundreds of thousands of Americans signed up for coverage under ObamaCare may be receiving incorrect subsidy payments -- some bigger than they actually deserve -- from the federal government, The Washington Post reported.
The government has identified the errors, which are the result of discrepancies in income listings on insurance applications and those on file with the Internal Revenue Service, but has been unable to fix the problem, according to the report.
Since income information is used to determine subsidy eligibility under the law, the federal government may be paying insurance subsidies that are too generous or not enough for more than 1 million Americans with income discrepancies. 
Only a fraction of consumers notified about the discrepancies have responded to federal health officials' requests to submit pay stubs or other proof of their income. Officials told The Washington Post they do not yet know the percentages of overpayments or underpayments.
According to internal documents obtained by the newspaper, income discrepancies exist on 1.1 million to 1.5 million out of nearly 4 million applications containing inconsistencies. About 650,000 pieces of evidence for income verification have reportedly been submitted by consumers.
Because technology does not exist to match income "proof" with applications, officials plan to start the work of sorting out inaccurate incomes and subsidies by hand starting this summer, Obama administration officials told The Post. 
Americans receiving excess subsidies are currently required to return any unwarranted payments next year, according to the report.
Julie Bataille, communications director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said that despite the inaccurate subsidies, the federal health insurance marketplace has processed tens of millions of pieces of data successfully.
"While most data matched up right away during the application process, we take seriously the cases that require more work and have a system in place to expeditiously resolve these data inconsistencies," Bataille told The Post.
She added that federal health officials are "working every day to make sure individuals and families get the tax credits they deserve and that no one is receiving a tax credit they shouldn’t."
During last year's budget negotiations, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius vowed to vet income information that people submitted as part of their health insurance applications after Republican lawmakers voiced concerns about the potential for fraud. 
Consumer advocates told The Post they are concerned about the consequences of inaccurate income information for ObamaCare enrollees. 
"I have this sick feeling that there are these people out there who have made unintentional errors, and in a few years will be subject to massive tax bills," Jessica Waltman, senior vice president for government affairs at the National Association of Health Underwriters, told the newspaper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More whistleblowers detail VA abuses, suffer retaliation

The allegations of wait times, delayed care for veterans and cooked books began in Phoenix, but new revelations by two more Veterans Affairs whistleblowers in two different states suggest the VA problems are endemic.
“What really bothered me was that this delay was a direct result of this extremely low sense of caring for the patient,” said Dr. Jose Mathews, the chief psychiatrist for the VA Medical Center in St. Louis starting in Nov 2012.
Mathews and another whistleblower in Texas detailed their concerns to Fox News.
According to Mathews, he noticed that the doctors he oversaw who were responsible for seeing veterans with post-traumatic stress and other acute mental health issues were working just a few hours a day. They were seeing about half the patients they could, Mathews alleged in a federal whistleblower complaint filed last year. Meanwhile, there were mounting suicides among veterans being treated at his facility -- and officially, the St. Louis VA was reporting to its headquarters in Washington that its productivity was among the highest in the nation.
“They all got bonuses -- that's the sad part. Because in reality we were not really doing a good job, but it shows up on paper as if we are,” Mathews told Fox News.
When Mathews complained, he was removed from his job, assigned to an isolated office to oversee pensions and compensation. He was told not to contact the other doctors or patients.
“I think they have some form of moral blindness or something. They're not able to see that this is not right, what they're doing is not right,” said Mathews, a soft-spoken psychiatrist who says the veterans would have to wait a month or more for mental health treatment.
Spokesman Paul Sherbo, of the St. Louis VAMC, said in a written statement: “The St. Louis VA Medical Center leadership is aware of and is addressing the alleged issues. VA is committed to providing the best quality of care that all our nation's Veterans need and deserve."
A second whistleblower -- from Harlingen, Texas – Dr. Richard Krugman accused the VA facility he oversaw in southeast Texas of delaying life-saving colonoscopies in order to cut costs. He provided a memo from his boss from 2011 outlining the shift in policy. He, too, was fired.
“I was treated like an animal. I was treated like a leper. I was treated like, how dare you attack me, or how dare you say what you're saying,” said Krugman, a former associate chief of staff at the Veterans Affairs health care system.
He argued that his boss told them to require three successive fecal occult blood tests before sending the patient for a colonoscopy, a delay that could cause potential colon cancer to go from a treatable stage 1 to a deadly stage 4, if unaddressed.
His boss -- now a VA director in Texas -- pushed back, issuing the following response:
"Allegations such as the [VA] stopped sending patients for colonoscopies because the agency could not afford non-VA care and instead utilized a fecal occult blood test instead of colonoscopies was not substantiated" by the independent Office of Special Counsel that investigated Krugman’s charges and closed the case last November, according to the statement provided by Jeff Milligan, former director of VA Texas Valley health network. Krugman disputed the claim.
The Office of Special Counsel found none of Krugman's claims to be substantiated. But when it closed the case, it admitted in a report and letter written to President Obama last November that it was forced to rely on an internal investigation carried out by the VA itself. It did not have the ability to independently investigate Krugman’s claims. The investigative panel assigned to get to the bottom of Krugman’s allegations was appointed by VA Under Secretary of Health Robert Petzel, who resigned Friday.
As first reported by Fox News last September, Petzel told congressional oversight committee members he had “no regrets” about awarding $63,000 in bonuses to hospital administrators in Pittsburgh after more than five veterans died of preventable Legionnaire’s disease contracted at a VA facility. 
“What I really got upset about was, over the last couple of weeks, everybody is now saying, ‘Oh, I never knew that. Oh, I didn't see that,” Krugman said in an interview with Fox News. “The reports have been there since 2010, 2011, and each article, or each new material that I received, I purposely sent to those different gentlemen, with a backup copy, just so that they can't say, ‘Oh, I never knew this, or I never knew that because every time that they say, ‘I don't know this or I don't know that,’ somebody else dies.”
Veterans' groups met in Washington this week to call for secure hotlines so that more whistleblowers feel they can come forward and not face retaliation.
Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security correspondent for FOX News Channel . She joined FNC in October 1999 as a Jerusalem-based correspondent.

Who got $$ from Brunei's Islamic law government? The Clinton Foundation

As Hollywood hotshots protest the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel over its ownership by Brunei's sultan -- and his recent full-fledged embrace of Islamic law -- it turns out the Brunei government has financial connections to another American institution: The Clinton Foundation. 
The nonprofit foundation lists Brunei alongside Kuwait, Oman and Qatar as donors that gave between $1 million and $5 million through last year. The foundation confirmed the donation from Brunei was made in 2002, in connection with the construction of the Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas. 
"The Clinton Foundation's impact would not be possible without the generous support of our donors," the foundation's website reads. "Their contributions have made a difference in the lives of tens of millions across the world."
The contribution could prove an uncomfortable detail in the foundation's financial records, particularly as Hillary Clinton weighs a possible presidential run. Though The Clinton Foundation has thus far avoided any major controversy over the matter, a Brunei connection has caused headaches for the Beverly Hills Hotel on the other side of the country.
Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has come under heavy criticism since the ultra-wealthy leader, who has been in power for decades, embraced a harsh Islamic penal code for his southeast Asian nation of roughly 408,000 residents. The change would make adultery, abortion and same-sex relationships offenses punishable by ancient methods -- flogging, or even stoning. 
The development led Beverly Hills’ city council to unanimously pass a resolution calling for Brunei to change its laws or divest its ownership of the iconic hotel property, which opened in 1912 and has since been designated a historic landmark. Affectionately known as the “Pink Palace,” the hotel boasts 208 rooms over 12 acres, including a presidential suite for $20,000 nightly and a seven-day minimum stay. 
A growing number of Hollywood groups and luminaries have since relocated events typically held at the hotel in protest, including the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Barbara Davis Carousel of Hope. Celebrities including Jay Leno and Ellen DeGeneres have also called for boycotts of the hotel.
“This is 2014, not 1814,” Leno, the former “Tonight Show” host, told dozens of protesters earlier this month.
Leno told The Los Angeles Times that local residents had been too absorbed by the controversy surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his remarks on race to properly pay attention to the Brunei developments. 
“I mean, we get so upset when a team owner says something inappropriate,” Leno told the newspaper. “Here are people being killed, stoned to death. ... It's just a matter of priorities, that's what it is.”
It's unclear whether the Clinton Foundation would consider returning its own Brunei donation, but a statement from the foundation said it does not anticipate any more. 
"The Foundation received a one-time donation from the government of Brunei in 2002. We have not received any additional donations from them since, and we do not expect any in the future," the statement said. 
In total, the Clinton Foundation has received at least $492 million since its inception in 1997 through 2007. Other notable names or entities within the high-donation bracket include filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the Boeing Company and The Walmart Foundation.
Meanwhile, the Beverly Hills Hotel reportedly tapped a former Clinton aide to perform damage control in the growing saga. Mark Fabiani, known for his aggressive style during the Clinton administration, was hired last week to oversee crisis management, Politico reported.
In 2008, the Clinton Foundation disclosed the names of its 205,000 donors, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money. Some 12,000 donors gave $10 or less, while at least $46 million was received from Saudi Arabia (which also imposes strict Islamic law), Norway and other foreign governments. 
The New York Times reported recently on alleged financial issues at the foundation, and said Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton were readying for a $250 million fundraising push.