K
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
Guest
Not content with stealing elections by tampering with votes, voters,
and voting machines in predominantly Democratic districts, Republicans
now are preventing wounded veterans from voting.
In the eyes of Republicans, wounded vets are the same as convicted
felons.
At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken
former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate
Veterans' Day.
But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after
the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.
A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James
Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help
injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.
"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant
to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would
divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in
an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-
MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.
Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to
engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.
What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals
who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will
effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved
must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots
in order to participate in the presidential and other elections.
Peake defends the decision by saying that a court recently ruled the
VA's limits on "partisan political activities" "does not on its face
violate [veterans'] First Amendment' rights," Rosenfeld notes, without
articulating how registering veterans is a partisan activity.
Peake added, "VA shares your commitment to assisting veterans in
exercising their Constitutional right to vote."
The court ruling he's appears to be referring to is Patrick Griffin v.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in which a Federal Circuit of Appeals
court upheld the VA's rules governing the conduct of those who
practice "free speech" -- or protest -- in government graveyards.
Among other things, the VA prohibits "partisan activities, i.e., those
involving commentary or actions in support of, or in opposition to, or
attempting to influence, any current policy of the Government of the
United States, or any private group, association, or enterprise."
Sens. Kerry and Feinstein fired off a letter in reply.
"The Department of Veterans Affairs should provide voter materials to
veterans," Feinstein wrote, according to Rosenfeld's report. "I
believe the cost of providing these voter materials is minimal. It's a
small price to pay for the sacrifice these men and women have made in
fighting for our nation's freedom. I am disappointed."
"You'd think that when so many people give speeches about keeping
faith with our veterans, the least the government would do is protect
their right to vote, after they volunteered to go thousands of miles
from home to fight and give that right to others," Kerry said. "And
yet we've seen the government itself block veterans from registering
to vote in VA facilities, without any legal basis or rational
explanation."
Veterans' Affairs other scandals
It isn't the first time the Bush Administration's Department of
Veterans' Affairs has been accused of slighting the nations thousands
of Iraq vets. In 2005, Salon.com's Mark Benajamin revealed that
military naval hospitals were delivering grossly subpar treatment to
vets.
Before he hanged himself with his bathrobe sash in the psychiatric
ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Spc. Alexis Soto-Ramirez
complained to friends about his medical treatment. Soto-Ramirez, 43,
had been flown out of Iraq five months before then because of chronic
back pain that became excruciating during the war. But doctors were
really worried about his mind. They thought he suffered from post-
traumatic stress disorder after serving with the 544th Military Police
Company, a unit of the Puerto Rico National Guard, the kind of unit
that saw dirty, face-to-face combat in Iraq.
A copy of Soto-Ramirez's medical records, reviewed by Salon, show that
a doctor who treated him in Puerto Rico upon his return from Iraq
believed his mental problems were probably caused by the war and that
his future was in the Army's hands. "Clearly, the psychiatric symptoms
are combat related," a clinical psychologist at Roosevelt Roads Naval
Hospital wrote on Nov. 24, 2003. The entry says, "Outcome will depend
on adequacy and appropriateness of treatment." Doctors in Puerto Rico
sent Soto-Ramirez to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., to get the best
care the Army had to offer. There, he was put in Ward 54, Walter
Reed's "lockdown," or inpatient psychiatric ward, where the most
troubled patients are supposed to have constant supervision.
At that time, Walter Reed officials wouldn't discuss Salon's findings:
"We are satisfied that there is a very high level of patient
satisfaction with their treatment."
The Washington Post's Dana Priest delivered a stunning series on the
failures at the hospital in her series, "The Other Walter Reed," for
which she and her newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize.
"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall
is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold," Priest
wrote. "When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and
looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted
hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often
smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse
droppings, belly-up ****roaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses."
Veterans' advocates are incensed about the VA's decision not to allow
registration at military hospitals.
"During a time of war, our Nation has a special and sacred duty to
assist our fellow citizens who have defended our Constitution with
their lives - our military veterans -- with registering to vote and
with voting," Paul Sullivan, Veterans for Common Sense executive
director, told Rosenfeld. "We encourage VA to allow non-partisan voter
registration drives at VA facilities so that as many veterans as
possible can actively participate in our democracy -- we owe our
veterans no less for standing between a bullet and our Constitution."
and voting machines in predominantly Democratic districts, Republicans
now are preventing wounded veterans from voting.
In the eyes of Republicans, wounded vets are the same as convicted
felons.
At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken
former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate
Veterans' Day.
But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after
the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.
A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James
Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help
injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.
"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant
to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would
divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in
an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-
MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.
Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to
engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.
What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals
who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will
effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved
must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots
in order to participate in the presidential and other elections.
Peake defends the decision by saying that a court recently ruled the
VA's limits on "partisan political activities" "does not on its face
violate [veterans'] First Amendment' rights," Rosenfeld notes, without
articulating how registering veterans is a partisan activity.
Peake added, "VA shares your commitment to assisting veterans in
exercising their Constitutional right to vote."
The court ruling he's appears to be referring to is Patrick Griffin v.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in which a Federal Circuit of Appeals
court upheld the VA's rules governing the conduct of those who
practice "free speech" -- or protest -- in government graveyards.
Among other things, the VA prohibits "partisan activities, i.e., those
involving commentary or actions in support of, or in opposition to, or
attempting to influence, any current policy of the Government of the
United States, or any private group, association, or enterprise."
Sens. Kerry and Feinstein fired off a letter in reply.
"The Department of Veterans Affairs should provide voter materials to
veterans," Feinstein wrote, according to Rosenfeld's report. "I
believe the cost of providing these voter materials is minimal. It's a
small price to pay for the sacrifice these men and women have made in
fighting for our nation's freedom. I am disappointed."
"You'd think that when so many people give speeches about keeping
faith with our veterans, the least the government would do is protect
their right to vote, after they volunteered to go thousands of miles
from home to fight and give that right to others," Kerry said. "And
yet we've seen the government itself block veterans from registering
to vote in VA facilities, without any legal basis or rational
explanation."
Veterans' Affairs other scandals
It isn't the first time the Bush Administration's Department of
Veterans' Affairs has been accused of slighting the nations thousands
of Iraq vets. In 2005, Salon.com's Mark Benajamin revealed that
military naval hospitals were delivering grossly subpar treatment to
vets.
Before he hanged himself with his bathrobe sash in the psychiatric
ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Spc. Alexis Soto-Ramirez
complained to friends about his medical treatment. Soto-Ramirez, 43,
had been flown out of Iraq five months before then because of chronic
back pain that became excruciating during the war. But doctors were
really worried about his mind. They thought he suffered from post-
traumatic stress disorder after serving with the 544th Military Police
Company, a unit of the Puerto Rico National Guard, the kind of unit
that saw dirty, face-to-face combat in Iraq.
A copy of Soto-Ramirez's medical records, reviewed by Salon, show that
a doctor who treated him in Puerto Rico upon his return from Iraq
believed his mental problems were probably caused by the war and that
his future was in the Army's hands. "Clearly, the psychiatric symptoms
are combat related," a clinical psychologist at Roosevelt Roads Naval
Hospital wrote on Nov. 24, 2003. The entry says, "Outcome will depend
on adequacy and appropriateness of treatment." Doctors in Puerto Rico
sent Soto-Ramirez to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., to get the best
care the Army had to offer. There, he was put in Ward 54, Walter
Reed's "lockdown," or inpatient psychiatric ward, where the most
troubled patients are supposed to have constant supervision.
At that time, Walter Reed officials wouldn't discuss Salon's findings:
"We are satisfied that there is a very high level of patient
satisfaction with their treatment."
The Washington Post's Dana Priest delivered a stunning series on the
failures at the hospital in her series, "The Other Walter Reed," for
which she and her newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize.
"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall
is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold," Priest
wrote. "When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and
looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted
hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often
smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse
droppings, belly-up ****roaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses."
Veterans' advocates are incensed about the VA's decision not to allow
registration at military hospitals.
"During a time of war, our Nation has a special and sacred duty to
assist our fellow citizens who have defended our Constitution with
their lives - our military veterans -- with registering to vote and
with voting," Paul Sullivan, Veterans for Common Sense executive
director, told Rosenfeld. "We encourage VA to allow non-partisan voter
registration drives at VA facilities so that as many veterans as
possible can actively participate in our democracy -- we owe our
veterans no less for standing between a bullet and our Constitution."