"I have certain rules I live by. My first rule: I don't believe anything my government tells me." The late, great comedian George Carlin
- With Benghazi finally getting the attention it deserves (it's been trending on Twitter for days), it brings to mind an important question: How is a nation to respond to lying by the political class that leads to Americans dying? And Benghazi is just one example. The new revelations regarding the VA is another of many, but I'll get to that in a moment.
- With the new email revelations regarding Benghazi, it now appears the administration---along with its complicit media---shifted the focus from its failed foreign policy to blame the attack on an inconspicuous video. And it also appears that was done to ensure Pres. Obama was re-elected (by the way, if you want a good summary of what we knew about the attack and what we now know, feel free to visit my 9/23/13 post on it).
- But if that wasn't enough, it got much worse. In addition to the apparent cover-up and stone-walling by the administration, then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, told the families of the fallen the same false story: that their death was the result of an obscure anti-Muslim video. In other words, they told them a lie regarding the circumstances of their deaths because the administration already knew the truth (that is wasn't).
- And the depictions of betrayal and deceit did not end with Benghazi. We now also know the first impulse of this administration has been to lie. We've seen this unconscionable behavior from Benghazi to Obamacare to the IRS and even to our foreign policy.
- But now we're also seeing it manifested by the Veteran's Administration. Last month, a retired VA doctor blew the whistle on the VA in Phoenix, Arizona. He charged that the medical center purposely evaded legal requirements that veterans be seen in a timely fashion (In the late 1990's, Congress passed legislation requiring veterans be seen within 30 days of needing an appointment. The General Accounting Office reported that the waiting period has been a problem since the legislation was enacted. (I have to mention my own experience with a particular VA has generally been good with few exceptions including long waits in the waiting rooms and the fact that I've seldom been seen by a physician. More often than not, it's been a nurse practitioner. However, I have to admit, she's good and gives me a lot of personal attention and time).
- Charges have now arisen that at least 40 veterans died at the Phoenix VA largely due to the secret waiting list exposed by the former VA physician. And it's not been the first time. In their piece, "Hospital Delays Are Killing America's War Vets" CNN reported similar problems at VA medical centers in Augusta, GA and Columbia, SC. Last year, in my Dedicated To Heroes blog, I reported about the back-log of VA disability claims. At the time, the back-log was about 600,000. The VA reports it's now down to under 400,000 but critics---including veteran organizations---are charging the decrease in numbers is the result of the VA denying more applications for disability.
- So I ask again. With these new revelations: How is a nation to respond to a political class whose first impulse is to lie---even as Americans die as a direct or indirect result of those lies?
Postscript:
Since this was posted, we have two more Americans murdered by Islamist homicidal maniacs. In addition, the Obama administration decided to import Ebola into the country.
