Socialist AOC states the VA already has top notch healthcare.

[dianaiad]

No it isn't. The UK is both a representative democracy and a constitutional monarchy.

Calling representative democracies democracies doesn't really confuse anyone, it just annoys a handful of Americans who don't want to accept the fact that standard English isn't governed by centuries old, and highly contextualised discussions of some founding fathers.

English changes. Language changes. When the language changes, we need to be careful that the new 'language' doesn't change the concepts. I have seen that most people, when they say 'democracy,' are thinking 'direct democracy.' Witness all those who want to get rid of the electoral college. They are livid because the college seems to be anti-democracy.

Well, it is...but it is not at all anti-republic.

 

[Ellen Brown]

Our nation is not a democracy. It never was a democracy, It wasn't intended or designed to be a democracy. It is a republic. There is a difference.

We do not want a straight democracy. When one does that, one gets...Greece. Modern day Greece.

Our nation is not a democracy. It never was a democracy, It wasn't intended or designed to be a democracy. It is a republic. There is a difference.

We do not want a straight democracy. When one does that, one gets...Greece. Modern day Greece.

I grew up in Or eee gone, and we were programmed with "Democracy", and I did not recognize what it really was until much later. Now we have a misogynist twit in charge... Maybe I should be happy we do not have Putin... Though he is much more handsome.

 

[Augustus]

English changes. Language changes. When the language changes, we need to be careful that the new 'language' doesn't change the concepts. I have seen that most people, when they say 'democracy,' are thinking 'direct democracy.' Witness all those who want to get rid of the electoral college. They are livid because the college seems to be anti-democracy.

Well, it is...but it is not at all anti-republic.

Without the EC it would still be a representative democracy.

I'm not even sure how much the general meaning of democracy has changed since the 18th C, it's just the founding fathers' use was within a very specific context of favouring a Roman model over Athenian as a starting point.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Doesn't the VA rate highly in quality of care? Don't the patients themselves rate it highly?
But if you flood the system with huge numbers of new patients without any funding for expansion, you're going to get long wait times.

In 2013 it was favorable. Since then it notably declined starting in 2014 , the very next year.


Veterans Administration critics include the soldiers who served in post-9/11 wars

 

[Subduction Zone]

I'm glad you are being taken care of well, Ellen, and that the VA is nice to you and doesn't discriminate against you. I don't think many complain about those issues. The problems the VA healthcare system has are quite different. Incredibly long wait times in order to be seen, problems with bureaucracy in getting treatments authorized, problems with being able to GET to a care center, funding...

Put it this way, since you have given us an anecdote, here's another. My father is a WWII vet. He's 93. He had shrapnel in his back that destroyed a kidney and weakened his spine. It took him, quite literally, 65 years to get the VA to A: admit that his problems were war related and B; to get care for them. If it weren't for the fact that he's a 'rocket scientist' (yeah, really, he is) and worked for NASA, he would still be waiting, and still being denied. He finally called his congress rep, who finally pulled strings. Even THEN it took a year.

And the process for getting benefits is labyrinthine to say the least. One veteran likened the process to the "Chutes and Ladders" game, where landing on the wrong space (or goofing up one piece of paperwork) will send you back to the beginning, or get you kicked out of the game entirely. My niece's husband has been attempting to get VA benefits for the last five years, and keeps being routed elsewhere...and HIS injuries were the result of an IED in the middle east, so well documented that they have videos of the original incident, and all the medical records from that instant.

It's not that they turn him down, mind you. It's that they keep putting him in some queue or other, and he waits. Many veterans have died while waiting.

THOSE are the complaints.

The VA has improved over the years. My Dad was a marine in Korea. His unit commander made sure to document every least little incident. My father had more than one memento of his time there. He got two Purple Hearts, one that he laughs at. A ricochet put a bullet shard into his lower lip. He went to the aid station got quickly patched and went back to the fight. He does not think too much of that one. His other was a bit more serious. He got shot through the thigh. That took him out of a nice little battle:

Battle of Chosin Reservoir - Wikipedia

It was so cold, down to -30 F at times, that he was afraid to fall asleep as they traveled for three days in the back of a truck. That battle and the Battle of the Bulge led to doctors learning about the long term effects of frost bite. Even after he recovered his body would shut down blood to his extremities after that and whenever he went out during the winter he could shock almost anyone by putting his hands on their neck or face after he came back in from a winter's day. And since he loved to cross country ski we got zapped quite often by his cold hands. He was constantly rerated over the years until he hit what the VA called %100 disabled. That meant that they took care of all of his medical care. But he was still very active. His experience appears to be much better than your grandfather's but that is largely due to the record keeping done by the Marines

 

[Valjean]

Without the EC it would still be a representative democracy.

I'm not even sure how much the general meaning of democracy has changed since the 18th C, it's just the founding fathers' use was within a very specific context of favouring a Roman model over Athenian as a starting point.

Those on the right say it's a republic, those on the left, a democracy. In theory, its a constitutionally limited, representative, democratic republic. These days, though, it's become more a practical oligarchy.

 

[dianaiad]

The VA has improved over the years. My Dad was a marine in Korea. His unit commander made sure to document every least little incident. My father had more than one memento of his time there. He got two Purple Hearts, one that he laughs at. A ricochet put a bullet shard into his lower lip. He went to the aid station got quickly patched and went back to the fight. He does not think too much of that one. His other was a bit more serious. He got shot through the thigh. That took him out of a nice little battle:

Battle of Chosin Reservoir - Wikipedia

It was so cold, down to -30 F at times, that he was afraid to fall asleep as they traveled for three days in the back of a truck. That battle and the Battle of the Bulge led to doctors learning about the long term effects of frost bite. Even after he recovered his body would shut down blood to his extremities after that and whenever he went out during the winter he could shock almost anyone by putting his hands on their neck or face after he came back in from a winter's day. And since he loved to cross country ski we got zapped quite often by his cold hands. He was constantly rerated over the years until he hit what the VA called %100 disabled. That meant that they took care of all of his medical care. But he was still very active. His experience appears to be much better than your grandfather's but that is largely due to the record keeping done by the Marines

It could also be due to the 'macho' attitude of the sailors and soldiers of WWII. My dad tells me that when he was serving, if you accepted a Purple Heart, you'd better be missing a limb. A mere kidney, or broken ankles, or shrapnel in the back and spine that did not keep you from going back to duty in a month or two, didn't count. If you couldn't SEE the damage, it didn't count. Those who accepted purple hearts for 'lesser' injuries were laughed at...and not promoted, either. At least, that was Dad's experience. So he did not accept a purple heart for any of his injuries. That caused a little bit of bureaucratic defugleties, even with solid medical records.

 

[Subduction Zone]

It could also be due to the 'macho' attitude of the sailors and soldiers of WWII. My dad tells me that when he was serving, if you accepted a Purple Heart, you'd better be missing a limb. A mere kidney, or broken ankles, or shrapnel in the back and spine that did not keep you from going back to duty in a month or two, didn't count. If you couldn't SEE the damage, it didn't count. Those who accepted purple hearts for 'lesser' injuries were laughed at...and not promoted, either. At least, that was Dad's experience. So he did not accept a purple heart for any of his injuries. That caused a little bit of bureaucratic defugleties, even with solid medical records.

That could be. My Dad's CO made sure that every incident was recorded. That helped him later in life because he had a slip on a mountain side, not a battle situation, but he injured his shoulder a bit. When he got older and needed a replacement the records of the injury that caused it were still there. I think that the brass learned from WWII. As I said my Dad would only claim one purple heart, though he got two.

 

[Ellen Brown]

It could also be due to the 'macho' attitude of the sailors and soldiers of WWII. My dad tells me that when he was serving, if you accepted a Purple Heart, you'd better be missing a limb. A mere kidney, or broken ankles, or shrapnel in the back and spine that did not keep you from going back to duty in a month or two, didn't count. If you couldn't SEE the damage, it didn't count. Those who accepted purple hearts for 'lesser' injuries were laughed at...and not promoted, either. At least, that was Dad's experience. So he did not accept a purple heart for any of his injuries. That caused a little bit of bureaucratic defugleties, even with solid medical records.

Yes, you know my history. From my own point of view lots of things are better because women have "Intruded" into the mix. In construction when I was doing it, if you could not pick up 100 lbs and carry it over your head, they laughed. Nowadays, at sites where there are women, they seem to have altered the culture for the better. Safety is a big deal and you can be terminated for violating the rules.

Apparently women are now in Combat roles with men. In one case that I know about, in Afghanistan the women would talk to a female soldier but not to a man. The Israeli Military uses women right alongside of men. Apparently due to their low population most young people serve, though I do not have the numbers exactly.

 

[Shad]

The Israeli Military uses women right alongside of men. Apparently due to their low population most young people serve, though I do not have the numbers exactly.

Most women in the IDF are in combat support roles. Only about 4% are in combat roles ranging from infantry to pilot to tank crews. Also many of those units are not mixed. Women were removed from combat tank crews this year. The IDF has leadership which has been removing women from combat roles due to increased risk factors and decreases in effectiveness. Mixed units have had to remove equipment as women are not capable of carrying those weapons for longer periods of time. For example the FN MAG was removed from mixed units due to women being unable to carry the weapon long term. (think M240)

IDF service is mandatory with only a few exemptions one can use.

 

[Ellen Brown]

Most women in the IDF are in combat support roles. Only about 4% are in combat roles ranging from infantry to pilot to tank crews. Also many of those units are not mixed. Women were removed from combat tank crews this year. The IDF has leadership which has been removing women from combat roles due to increased risk factors and decreases in effectiveness. Mixed units have had to remove equipment as women are not capable of carrying those weapons for longer periods of time. For example the FN MAG was removed from mixed units due to women being unable to carry the weapon long term. (think M240)

IDF service is mandatory with only a few exemptions one can use.

From an Anthropological point of view, I am mildly surprised that 'modern' women are incapable of filling the role alongside men. I'd sort of been convinced that this weakness of women was purely a cultural construct. Women were absolutely lethal in WWII in Russia, according to history. Odd.

 

[Subduction Zone]

From an Anthropological point of view, I am mildly surprised that 'modern' women are incapable of filling the role alongside men. I'd sort of been convinced that this weakness of women was purely a cultural construct. Women were absolutely lethal in WWII in Russia, according to history. Odd.

That is not true. There are noted physical differences between men and women. But one thing that trans in sports has shown is the role of sex hormones in the strength of an individual. In many sports trans-women can compete if they have been on hormone replacement therapy for at least two years. For trans-women that means taking testosterone blockers at least. For trans-men it means taking testosterone at least. I am fairly sure that estrogen levels have to be adjusted too. But the average woman will not want to take the therapy that would enable her to do the same tasks that men can do in the military. That is why in some combat duty, but not all, segregation is still a very real thing.

The differences are not just cultural, but if someone wants to cross the biological barriers it is possible today.

 

[Shad]

From an Anthropological point of view, I am mildly surprised that 'modern' women are incapable of filling the role alongside men .

There are biological factors which are always ignored by the view you put forward above. Women on average are weaker than men. They are more prone to stress injuries such as in the hips than men. The top women in the military only get to the 50th percentile of men.

I'd sort of been convinced that this weakness of women was purely a cultural construct.

No it is biological. Go look at sports records. Women's worlds records in most sports do not even come close to those of men.

Women were absolutely lethal in WWII in Russia, according to history. Odd.

As snipers not infantry which is combat support not line combat. Heck one of the reasons the Soviets placed women into sniper units was to avoid women having to be in line combat and close-quarters. Take a wild guess as to why. The 586th was an anti-bomber wing which never saw dog fighting. It's total kill counts, as a whole wing, is well below the top 50 (and higher) aces as individuals. The 125th and 588th were bomber wing thus their lethality is in the plane not the person.

 

[Ellen Brown]

There are biological factors which are always ignored by the view you put forward above. Women on average are weaker than men. They are more prone to stress injuries such as in the hips than men. The top women in the military only get to the 50th percentile of men.



No it is biological. Go look at sports records. Women's worlds records in most sports do not even come close to those of men.



As snipers not infantry which is combat support not line combat. Heck one of the reasons the Soviets placed women into sniper units was to avoid women having to be in line combat and close-quarters. Take a wild guess as to why. The 586th was an anti-bomber wing which never saw dog fighting. It's total kill counts, as a whole wing, is well below the top 50 (and higher) aces as individuals. The 125th and 588th were bomber wing thus their lethality is in the plane not the person.

LOL, there was a unit of women, that used low, slow biplanes to attack the Germans. I do not know much more about them, or their losses.

 

[Shad]

LOL, there was a unit of women, that used low, slow biplanes to attack the Germans. I do not know much more about them, or their losses.

Only one unit which was 558th. It didn't dog fight. It was a night bomber unit which means lower resistance

 

[Ellen Brown]

Only one unit which was 558th. It didn't dog fight. It was a night bomber unit which means lower resistance

Since you seem to be UP on the Russians, some of them made a Sci Fi Movie, loosely translated as "Attraction". It was a great surprise to me to find it on YouTube. The first time I saw it was all in Russian but I still Got IT. I did find a version in English. I hope that they do more movies.

 

[Salvador]

But she's an evil socialist and can't be correct according to the right wing. But I am enjoying the obsession she's generating. It's helping prepare her for running for and winning the Presidential election in the future.

....

 

[Subduction Zone]

Socialism, amirite?

No one will work. Everyone will be smoking weed. And the front lawn won't get mowed!!

 

[Salvador]

No one will work. Everyone will be smoking weed. And the front lawn won't get mowed!!

I like grass, and still manage to mow my yard.....

 

[Subduction Zone]

I like grass, and still manage to mow my yard.....

Dude! You're not supposed to smoke your lawn clippings. That is not what they mean by weed or grass