VA announcement met with skepticism
That is the title of a piece in the Finger Lakes Times on the recent decision to keep the VA hospital in Canandaigua where it is. It’s worth noting that there is no guarantee of continued funding for hospital services, only of funding for construction that will save the hospital’s “historic core” (it was built in the 1930s).
The timing is suspicious to say the least. The Fighting 29th predicted some time ago that this would be the “October surprise” that would help Kuhl in November. He’s not the only one saying this. The article notes that
[Sue] Kaszynski (a disabled Marine military police officer and former clinical social worker at the hospital) said she also believes that the announcement was politically motivated, because Kuhl was set to appear at a forum with Eric Massa, his Democratic challenger, last night.
Other veterans’ advocates they spoke to seemed unimpressed with the idea of spending money on construction as opposed to services. Here’s Korean War vet Ralph Calabrese:
“You can have the Taj Mahal and not enough money to take care of veterans, or you can have a lean-to that provides all the services they need,” he said, adding that he’d prefer the latter.
Well said.
Well, I guess my post from this morning is rather timely. Sort of difficult to support 20% of the IRAQ/AFGAN vets who are coming back disabled by not guaranteeing funding for the hospital.
Remember - When the Republicans drown the government in the bathtub they are drowning us.
http://rochesterturning.com/2006/10/12/supporting-the-troops/
To say nothing of what they do to the pages in the bathtub.
Is there a politically savvy way to say “ewww”?
My Grandfather died in that hospital, and I felt that the staff and facilities gave exceptional care to all of the elderly vets (WWII/Korea era) there… Now that we have a whole new generation of wounded vets, it doesn’t make any sense to even consider closing VAs. I hope Kuhl gets crushed in the debates for attempting to use this non-partisan issue to his political advantage.