Interesting Information

In the past 6 months since Rich's death, I have found that the VA is a entity unto it's self. It answers only to it's self. The VA is a fiefdom controlled by
James Benjamin Peake who was appointed by George W. Bush. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration has no jurisdiction in Veteran's Administration Hospitals. They are owned and operated by the federal government. The Agency does not license or certify them as it does "civilian" hospitals.
Wikipedia defines "fiefdom" as:
"Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord, generally to a vassal, in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. However anything of value could be held in fief, such as an office, a right of exploitation (e.g., hunting, fishing) or any other type of revenue, rather than the land it comes from.

In contemporary usage, fiefdomism can refer to behavior of bureaucrats or small time politicians when information or programs are isolated and jealously guarded from other bureaucrats or small time politicians in order to preserve their power at the expense of making government worse."

A recent article on Peake in a blog on the St. Petersburg Times website stated
August 21, 2008
VA boss: Get rid of "older-age guys"
Maybe Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake misspoke. Peake said in an interview that he was happy when younger workers handled benefit claims because they had more computer skills that their older counterparts. Then this quote: "Getting rid of some of those older-age guys in the work force is not that bad. It gives you the opportunity to move forward,” Peake said Thursday. Those comments came at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Defense Writers Group to talk about veterans’ issues. Peake said reducing a backlog of disability and benefits claims will depend on embracing technology. We wonder what some of those "older-age guys" think of that.
Posted by William R. Levesque

It makes me wonder what Peake really thinks of the "older-age vets" ! Send them to a VA hospital and kill them off to eliminate benefits and medical cost?

Bilirakis for Congress

    Bilirakis met with the VA and the VA pacified him with a song and dance. Bilirakis NEVER questioned them on the inconsistencies in the letter that I showed him. Bilirakis in turn pacified me with the same crap they fed him. I had hoped that MY Congressman had more backbone to stand up to them. After all, he IS on the House Committee of Veteran Affairs. I did not think that he would be swayed by out of state relatives looking to make a buck off Rich's death and not help his constituents and veterans of his district and state.
    All I see on his website is what good things he has done under Top Stories. There is NO story on how the VA killed my Rich or the vet they killed in the Bronx and NO story on what Bilirakis has done to STOP the killing of our vets and other atrocities committed by the ones that should be protecting them. Not mis diagnosing them or turning them away!
    What you do find if you Google Bilirakis is this! http://www.adeleremembered.info/ and this http://www.thetruthaboutbilirakis.com.
I am shocked, saddened and hurt that I put my trust in this elected official to help Rich and I.
    I can not believe this man has been re elected!!!!
         The only good thing that I have managed to accomplish so far is that the James A. Haley VA Hospital has replaced the "clerk" in the ER with a "qualified" person. I'll see how long that last. Now I just have to tackle the 114 other VA hospitals with the same asinine "clerk" in their Er's and the 35 states with the same archaic laws that prevent a companion from suing the VA for malpractice and causing the death and killing our companions.

I have patience and as I told Haley's attorney, "I'm NOT going away".

                                                                                                   Tony Orlando
      August 9th my son Ed and I went to a "Support Our Veterans" event in Tarpon Springs and met with Tony Orlando. I must say that Mr. Orlando is the nicest, most sincere man I have ever met outside of my Rich.
    Ed and I sat in the auditorium waiting through politicians speak, local talent perform and then when they announced Mr. Orlando he got up from his seat in the audience , walked up on stage and talked about why he supported our vets , what they mean to him and different veterans he has met over the years. He had no entourage with him, just one friend. He sang "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" and another song. Afterward he signed autographs, hugged, kissed and talked with everyone that was there for over an hour, never rushing anyone.
    When he left Mr. Orlando took the time to walk out to the parking lot where there where some Coast Guardsmen with their helicopter and chatted with them for a while.
    He knew about Rich and we talked about it . He was very sincere, much more so then our local Congressman and the VA people were.
Mr. Orlando does his veteran entertainment at his own cost, air fare, travel and hotels.   Too bad Mr. Orlando doesn't have political ambition.
    He would really help our vets I think and do it because he truly cares, not just for more votes.

Click Hunter to email Mary.