Tea Party Tom Explains Opposition To $ 17B VA "Fix"

The Senate has passed the bill to give the Department of Veterans Affairs $17 billion, with an almost unanimous vote, following House approval earlier this week.  Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is one of the few who voted no.  Why?  Because he said the problem isn't a lack of funds; it's management, accountability, and culture within the VA.  In other words, throwing money at the problem isn't going to fix it.

That is exactly what Tom Zawistowski, Executive Director of the Portage County Tea Party said in our interview earlier this week.  The interview was recorded before the votes to approve the bill were taken in Congress.

The VFW Fights For Our Nation's Veterans

Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the VFW helped establish the Veterans Administration and has been fighting for the rights of our nation's veterans since the Spanish American War.  Joe Davis, Public Affairs Director for the National VFW, explains the many functions of the VFW, and discusses the scandal now embroiling the VA, and ways in which the VFW thinks the system should be fixed.

Vietnam Veterans are Not "Condemned Property"

The reported mistreatment of our nation's veterans at VA hospitals across the country makes Dusty Trimmer's book more vital for the tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans who seek medical help through the Veteran's Administration.  He tells of his own experience at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center at Wade Park in Cleveland, and of the experiences of some of his Vietnam brothers in this interview.

Dusty Trimmer's book is titled Condemned Property? and subtitled Our Most Unpopular War Continues for Americans Who Fought in Vietnam...Why?  It was featured, along with a picture of the author, on the front page of a recent edition of The Plain Dealer.