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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Wednesday, October 26, 2005 They just don't know how to do the job Both the blogosphere and the main stream media have been focused recently on Plamegate, and while that's vitally important, it's likely to have less effect on the country as a whole than the sheer incompetence of the Bush administration. Americans finally began to wake up to that after Katrina, but it has been going on a for a long time. Here's another example.When speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in late August, Mr. Bush boasted that in his first four years as president he had increased VA spending by twice as much as Mr. Clinton had in eight years. What he didn't mention was that the White House had to rush to fill an almost $3 billion VA funding shortfall that emerged over the summer.Part of the gap came from undercounting the number of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The bigger, more-telling budget error dealt with nursing-home care of veterans who served long before Mr. Bush's presidency.The White House boasted in February that it could save $496 million in 2006 by enforcing tighter eligibility standards to reduce VA's long-term care costs after Oct. 1. That represented a 13% reduction from projected costs for 2006; though thousands of patients would no longer qualify for care, administration witnesses told Congress that any veteran with a bed would be protected.At a time when nursing-home costs are eating a hole in Medicaid budgets, it seemed too easy to be true -- and it was. The savings assumed a turnover rate among beds in VA nursing homes that proved wildly inaccurate. State veterans' homes in Mr. Bush's Texas said the tighter eligibility rules would be ruinous, because they could force facilities below a financially feasible occupancy level. Eventually, the administration asked Congress for an extra $826 million -- almost twice the predicted savings -- to meet the shortfall in 2005 and 2006.Republican budget analysts in Congress, and some VA officials, say the assumptions behind the administration's long-term care budget savings were so faulty that they appeared to have been tailored to meet a predetermined spending target.White House officials deny this. "Assertions that any errors were deliberate are flat wrong," says budget office spokesman Scott Milburn.That's an interesting way to put it. If they weren't deliberate errors, what were they? Mistakes? Screw-ups? Just didn't know how to do the job? That's like Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron, claiming he didn't know his company was engaging in illegal practices. When you're operating at that level, you're supposed to know.And when you're running the federal government, you're supposed to know what you're doing too. posted by Liz @ 10:32 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Both the blogosphere and the main stream media have been focused recently on Plamegate, and while that's vitally important, it's likely to have less effect on the country as a whole than the sheer incompetence of the Bush administration. Americans finally began to wake up to that after Katrina, but it has been going on a for a long time. Here's another example.When speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in late August, Mr. Bush boasted that in his first four years as president he had increased VA spending by twice as much as Mr. Clinton had in eight years. What he didn't mention was that the White House had to rush to fill an almost $3 billion VA funding shortfall that emerged over the summer.Part of the gap came from undercounting the number of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The bigger, more-telling budget error dealt with nursing-home care of veterans who served long before Mr. Bush's presidency.The White House boasted in February that it could save $496 million in 2006 by enforcing tighter eligibility standards to reduce VA's long-term care costs after Oct. 1. That represented a 13% reduction from projected costs for 2006; though thousands of patients would no longer qualify for care, administration witnesses told Congress that any veteran with a bed would be protected.At a time when nursing-home costs are eating a hole in Medicaid budgets, it seemed too easy to be true -- and it was. The savings assumed a turnover rate among beds in VA nursing homes that proved wildly inaccurate. State veterans' homes in Mr. Bush's Texas said the tighter eligibility rules would be ruinous, because they could force facilities below a financially feasible occupancy level. Eventually, the administration asked Congress for an extra $826 million -- almost twice the predicted savings -- to meet the shortfall in 2005 and 2006.Republican budget analysts in Congress, and some VA officials, say the assumptions behind the administration's long-term care budget savings were so faulty that they appeared to have been tailored to meet a predetermined spending target.White House officials deny this. "Assertions that any errors were deliberate are flat wrong," says budget office spokesman Scott Milburn.That's an interesting way to put it. If they weren't deliberate errors, what were they? Mistakes? Screw-ups? Just didn't know how to do the job? That's like Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron, claiming he didn't know his company was engaging in illegal practices. When you're operating at that level, you're supposed to know.And when you're running the federal government, you're supposed to know what you're doing too.
When speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in late August, Mr. Bush boasted that in his first four years as president he had increased VA spending by twice as much as Mr. Clinton had in eight years. What he didn't mention was that the White House had to rush to fill an almost $3 billion VA funding shortfall that emerged over the summer.Part of the gap came from undercounting the number of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The bigger, more-telling budget error dealt with nursing-home care of veterans who served long before Mr. Bush's presidency.The White House boasted in February that it could save $496 million in 2006 by enforcing tighter eligibility standards to reduce VA's long-term care costs after Oct. 1. That represented a 13% reduction from projected costs for 2006; though thousands of patients would no longer qualify for care, administration witnesses told Congress that any veteran with a bed would be protected.At a time when nursing-home costs are eating a hole in Medicaid budgets, it seemed too easy to be true -- and it was. The savings assumed a turnover rate among beds in VA nursing homes that proved wildly inaccurate. State veterans' homes in Mr. Bush's Texas said the tighter eligibility rules would be ruinous, because they could force facilities below a financially feasible occupancy level. Eventually, the administration asked Congress for an extra $826 million -- almost twice the predicted savings -- to meet the shortfall in 2005 and 2006.Republican budget analysts in Congress, and some VA officials, say the assumptions behind the administration's long-term care budget savings were so faulty that they appeared to have been tailored to meet a predetermined spending target.White House officials deny this. "Assertions that any errors were deliberate are flat wrong," says budget office spokesman Scott Milburn.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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