01/05/2015 - 2015 promises to be a big year -- especially if President Obama and former Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki make good on their promise to end homelessness among veterans by December 31.If you listen to the pabulum spewed by countless politicians and their millions of constituents, the United States is a nation that loves its veterans and shares high-grade moral outrage when anyone disrespects them.
Skeptical? Don't be. There are scores of websites on the World Wide Web that will tell you just where you can find discounts if you're active military, retired, or just served a little while. Heck, 16 fast food joints give the men and women of the armed forces a sweet deal on food that's no good for them, often made by their brothers and sisters in arms who can't find a better post-service job.
That's right, if politicians really wanted to help veterans they could increase the incomes of 1.1 million of them just by raising the minimum wage. Where do minimum wage earning veterans live? Well, understandably, quite a few of them are homeless. That gives the president and his new Congress 11 months to raise the incomes for all homeless, minimum wage-earning veterans.
snip I've worked with the homeless and reported on poverty for decades, but this week I had a conversation that took my breath away.
I called a landlord with an advertised rental unit. The one-bedroom, first-floor unit was perfect for the 70-year-old homeless veteran for whom I placed the call. It was the second thing I'd tried to do for the old gray-haired fella this week. Earlier I'd gotten him socks to keep his feet warm and leant him my copies of Under the Dome, he's a bit of a Stephen King fan.
The landlord was eager to show me the place. I explained that it wasn't for me. I explained that it was for an elderly veteran who is currently sleeping on the floor of a church along with six other veterans and 48 other people ranging in age from 14 months to 73 years.
The landlord informed me that he wanted nothing to do with him. And asked that I never call him again with such a request. I pleaded for him to just meet the old patriot who'd gone to war for him. The landlord hung up on me. Don't tell me to call a lawyer. It's perfectly legal for this landlord to be discriminate against this veteran. read more>>>
Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!
Neither the long term results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, Veterans issues from!
As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded for decades and the wars from now, VA budget is still borrowed, with interest, thus added problem creating costs, with representative who control the purse strings blaming the mostly dedicated VA personal within, that shouldn't exist!
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