To be fair, most people don't know
that both the House and Senate
Veterans Affairs Committees works
from the same agenda each and every
year, regardless of who the party
majority is who is controlling the
Chairmans seat. I can now say this
with certainty because we have
worked this system now for enough
years to see the same exact mode
of agendas and operations coming
out of both, year in and year out
with very little deviation.

What this means to the rest of you
is, that if mistakes were done in
the past, or if a single issue
dominated the agenda in the past,
then here it comes back again
this year, and the next and the
next with no adjustment or correction
inside the legislative planning.
This is Parrot-Head gone amuck.

For this chat entry, I am only
talking about the Senate Committee
which brings me to the target of
Chairman Senator Daniel Akaka.

Having seen ole Daniel boy in action
in person, I can tell you this is
one of the nicest guys in all of
Washington. He is naturally that
way, and perhaps this stems from
his Hawaiian culture where nice
goes far while all other matters
are secondary.

The problem with all of this "nice"
is that it also leads him down
the road of DISCONNECT while
in the face of the brokeness of the
VA.

Senator Akaka is apparently lacking
the brain power, first and foremost
to figure out that he has effectively
wasted and sabotaged nearly the
entire first half of the legislative
season with 2 issues, and only 2 issues
and not much else beyond 2 issues:
PTSDand veterans
suicides as it relates to PTSD,
neither one which occupies really any
large population within our national
constituency.

Yes it's PTSD, PTSD, more PTSD, PTSD
again, and Oh Geez, Look Out -- Here
comes PTSD again!!! Daniel Akaka
is starting to look like an all out
Maniac on PTSD and just can't seem
to bring himself to get off it for
as long as he can milk headlines from
it and get his name in the Associated
Press every other single day in the
name of PTSD.

The truth is PTSD is just not all that
serious. Far more veterans live with it
and recover from it than those who
don't, and science is neither moving
or changing enough times to really
merit all of the crushing LOAD of
Senate hearings that Daniel Akaka is
bestowing on the subject.

The entire PTSD population amounts to
only half of the entire population
of backlogged VA disability claims,
and pales in comparison to the total
accumulated population of the
chemical and hazardous exposure
veterans who sit largely ignored
and unspoken to by the Senate on
any given day.

But the problem here with Akaka is
more darker than just that.

As these relentless, and largely
boring hearings go on and create
a backlog of more urgent issues
which need to be heard and are
not tied to the war itself, Akaka's
DISCONNECT into this oblivion is
starting to take on a life of it's own.

He is starting to emerge as the
Fool Extraordinairre as the VA
comes in, one hearing after another,
first saying one thing, then another,
then another, then another, and then
Oh Geez, here it comes, it's back
to the First story again ---- and
so on. Akaka doesn't seem to know
the meaning of Jerk-Off and Story-Factory
for delay purposes.

Here Senator Akaka sits at the top
seat of one of the most powerful
Committee's in all of the House,
and yet he cannot seem to get up
off it long enough to issue subpoena's,
perjury orders, and governmental
obstruction orders to the VA. Nor
does he ever call in the joint
jurisdictions of other Committees
such as the Committee on Government
Reform to send the VA a wakeup
call in the form of an agency kick
in the pants, to get this Ship Of
Fools at the VA up and running and
working again as it should.

Also, Senator Akaka does not seem
to comprehend the meaning of the
words "medical malpractice", or
"patient abuse" or "patient neglect"
or "human torture" even though all
of those very meanings are staring
him right in the face right at the
very moment that any one of his boring
and repetitive meetings on PTSD
are going on. The VA very much
holds these inferred meanings buried
within their glib and yawned
out answers to Senator Akaka's probing
questions time and time again.

At what point does Senator Daniel
Akaka get a clue, that the VA is
jerking them around on the topics
of PTSD and could care less about
the small details of the subject
to really even bother to track,
manage, supervise, or effectively
deliver on the services related
thereof in this vast pool of
Veterans-victimology which they
continue to operate with impunity
on any given day.

Ho Hum --- another day of going to
a PTSD hearing with Senator Daniel
Akaka: this is how the VA agency
wakes up in the morning and it
hardly ever changes from one year
to the next, and from one political
majority to the next. It's all one
big BLUR and there is too little
of a "command threat" by the Senate
Committee itself to even rock the
world of the VA as it snores through
it's daily grind while all the rest
of the Veterans population and it's
related "other" issues sits trapped,
backlogged, unheard, unlegislated,
and unrecognized by the powers who
hold the key to universal RESCUE.

To that end, I give to you Senator
Daniel Akaka's latest "maniac release"
below on his newest COMA process with
the VA on PTSD. This is all we get
from him folks, misfires, snooze,
schmooze, suck up, and Geez, let's
all do this again TOMORROW as the
VA forges ahead with yet another
webcast of TV episodes from the Senate
titled: As The Stomach Turns.

You can call it DUMB or you can call
it FAME MONKEY, but what you CAN'T call it
is "effective".


_______________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kawika Riley (Veterans’ Affairs)

June 4, 2008 (202) 224-9126


VA MUST REGAIN THE CONFIDENCE OF VETERANS AND ENSURE APPROPRIATE DIAGNOSIS OF INVISIBLE WOUNDS, SAYS AKAKA


Akaka holds hearing on systemic indifference to invisible wounds

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, held a hearing today on the state of mental health care within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Today’s hearing follows recent findings that VA’s top mental health official attempted to suppress suicide data, while a psychologist at the Temple Veterans Affairs Medical Center suggested that her coworkers avoid diagnosing veterans with PTSD, in order to save time and resources. Akaka called both individuals, along with other high-ranking VA officials, to testify before Congress.

“Recent incidents indicate a possible trend of system-wide or systemic indifference to the invisible wounds of war. It is shameful, because veterans deserve better, and because it tarnishes the good work of the many VA mental health professionals who help veterans battle PTSD, depression, and other psychological wounds,” said Akaka. “Whatever the reasoning behind the mistakes that were made, VA must work to regain the confidence of veterans who now question whether VA is a friend or enemy.”

In their testimony, witnesses denied any systemic or deliberate efforts within VA to deny veterans care or compensation for psychological wounds. While Dr. Norma Perez, the psychologist from Texas , argued that there is little difference between adjustment disorder and PTSD, VA’s chief mental health official Dr. Ira Katz respectfully disagreed.

Chairman Akaka held today’s hearing as a part of the Committee’s broader effort to investigate the veterans’ mental health system, especially care for PTSD and suicide prevention. Last month, Akaka requested additional data on veteran suicide and quality control at VA health care facilities. Following the disclosure of the Temple VA email, Akaka and other Committee members requested an Inspector General investigation of the incident and facility.

For Chairman Akaka’s opening statement, click here. (www.senate.gov)

For a full witness list, click here.
(www.senate.gov) -END-


________________________________________
End of Akaka Release



I rest my case.