Screwing over the wounded soldiers-- the GOP way

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

I read this article, made me sick:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors

Summary-- US soldiers grievously wounded in Iraq, with neurological damage, are discharged from the Army with the utter BS diagnosis of a "preexisting personality disorder," which denies them disability benefits and further medical care. It's an idiotically transparent, blatant attempt to save billions of dollars in care for wounded soldiers who've given everything to fight in Iraq. What's shocking is how arrogant it is, anybody can see through this and realize just how cockamaimie the mis-designation is.

It just shocks me sometimes, how much the USA-- companies, the military, public sector in general-- screws over its most dedicated, hard-working and productive people. The Nation article reminds me of how it's become a common practice for US companies and institutions these days to fire their employees for trumped-up reasons, just days before they're able to qualify for e.g. raises and benefits, thereby milking the maximum amount of labor out of them while refusing to pay them what they've earned.

If you're a professional especially, the USA is becoming probably the worst place to work-- sadly, seems like even Australia, the UK and Canada are following our lead in that regard. One of my best friends from college suffered from that stunt in Toronto, working 80 hours a week before being laid off as a result of outsourcing, just before he was to qualify for seniority benefits.

I guess this is why so many people I know these days are learning French or Portuguese or German and emigrating from the US to Europe or South America or East Asia (though hopefully keeping themselves registered for absentee ballots in the USA), nobody wants to get screwed like this. Looks like we can add our soldiers to the list of "The Expendables" in the eyes of the GOP and their corrupt cronies.

[TOhioLiberal]

1. I just blogged about this...

it's sickening. This just makes my blood boil...

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

2. Yeah, "blood-boiling" is a good description

My response in reading this article was, "You have GOT to be kidding me, the US military and VA can't be THIS egregious in screwing over wounded veterans who've given so much." But I guess they can be.

What appalled me even more than the BS from the military commanders like that dude Col. Knorr trying to save a few bucks in the VA system, is the collusion of the VA psychologists, psychiatrists and other doctors in this disgusting fraud against the veterans. Shame on them!

Then mention this guy Mark Wexler and this "Col." Ana Parodi who apparently tossing out this BS "personality disorder" like hotcakes, to soldiers who clearly had horrible head injuries and brain trauma, clear PTSD, debilitating injuries when they clearly had no personality disorder before. And they're collaborating with this racket, all to save the VA and the military a few extra bucks that they OWE the soldiers who risked their lives fighting in Bush's wars?!!!

Could these "psychologists" be any more unprofessional? I know this sort of abuse (and these BS labels) happen from time to time, it's the systematic nature of it that's revolting here.

Again, I don't see why anybody in the US would volunteer to join the military like this, when the military turns around and "repays" them for their service with stays in decrepit, rat- and mold-infested "step down facilities" in Walter Reed, and then also attempts to screw them out of disability benefits entirely. Just like I'm wondering why any professional with some foreign language ability would want to stay in the US anymore, the way "screw over the expendable employee" has become a mantra these days. It's as though the United States has just jettisoned even a pretense of the idea of fair play.

The really screwed-up part about this, I have about a dozen old friends and acquaintances who've done business in the past 3 years in mainland China, supposedly a hive of authoritarianism and corruption. And yet every single one of them, to a man and woman, has said that the Chinese were much more rigorously honest than their US counterparts had been, much more determined to ensure that workers were paid and advanced fairly for a good job, and never went around breaching contracts with legalistic fine-print bullshit or misrepresented others with whom they did business or were employed there. Other than the occasional palm-greasing with a bribe, which does happen, it was a very upright place and much fairer than the crap pulled by US companies and institutions. And Continental Europe? Like paradise in comparison to North America and Australia these days, where that otherwise antiquated idea-- that you should be fairly compensated and advanced for good work, and given a helping hand when you fall on hard times-- seems to be out of fashion.