Is America's Veterans Administration a Nationwide Scandal or an isolated problem A Veteran Users Perspective,

I have written this blog for a few years, and it usually deals with Constitutional matters, however the recent problems at the Veterans Administration deals with the very hero's that support and defend this doccument therefore I find this topic appropriate for this Blog. The current accusations that the Veterans Administration is, "Killing Veterans", and "Nationwide VA Care is subpar, and downright abysmal", All the news channels are abuzz with allegations that this is a precursor to Obamacare! I have to say that since late 2008 I have received all of my medical care with the exception of Spinal Cord Surgery and my Cardiologist at the Louisville VA Medical Center named for a World War II Veteran that volunteered at the hospital until he was 102 years old now known as The Robley Rex Veterans Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Am I a heavy user? Yes, I am a very heavy user of the VA. Shortly after I became a patient I was Catagorized as a Category  4 catastrophically disabled veteran. Although my disability was not documented to have happened on active duty, I am working to change that as it occurred during my recall from the Individual Ready Reserve in Support of Operation Desert Shield and later Desert Storm. My health began it's rapid decline in 2000 about 10 years after I had served in Desert Storm. Many Soldiers who served during that time suffered illnesses that could not be explained which all started between one and ten years after the Gulf war, and I am no different. Gulf War Syndrome has taken a serious toll on my body. I had attacks launched on my body from something within me on my immune system causing Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Psoriasis, and Psoriatic Arthritis. The later became a major threat after an emergency surgery to repair a ruptured disk in my spine at L5-S1 shortly thereafter I developed Psoriatic Arthritis of the Spinal Cord, followed by Ankylosing Spondylitis, which in simple terms causes my spine to self fuse at multiple levels then break and repeat over and over again. The pain is enormous and only partially controllable, and looks like this:

You can see how on my spine there appear to be white bumps down both the right and left side of my spine (the area pointed out by the presence of the pen is the spinal cord stimulator which was implanted to control pain) which seem to link all of the disks together (fusing) and make my spine appear to look like a shoot of bamboo! Actually this disease is often called bamboo spine. Why am I sharing all of this with a bunch of strangers? To defend the care I get from the VA! This condition is chronic, requires a host of visits, medication in the private care world of over $4000.00 per month and eventually I will succumb to this disease and die. My Primary Care Doctor at the VA...........the Head of the Spinal Cord Clinic. In addition to the problems I have with my spinal cord, I've also developed the condition known as psoriatic arthritis, which has infected all of my joints but most severely, my shoulders, Spinal Cord, Hips, Knees, Ankles, and individual Toe Joints. The spinal cord injury alone has forced me into a wheelchair, and due to the psoriatic arthritis, which infects most of my joints including my shoulder joints I am no longer able to self propel a manual wheelchair. Therefore, the VA provided me with electric wheelchair. In addition to the electric wheelchair, I have to be able to get that wheelchair around from appointment to appointment. Therefore, the Veterans Administration has also purchased an electronic wheelchair lift for me that's fitted to the back of my vehicle. All of this equipment has been at no cost to me, none these things required any longer than two weeks worth of wait time.

I think it's a wonderful thing that America as a whole has stood behind the veterans of The United States Military. It wasn't always that way. Remember after Vietnam, the returning troops from Vietnam, came home to a terrible Veterans Administration Hospital System that was in dire need of an overhaul. The hospitals were poorly staffed, poorly run, and overflowing with wounded veterans from that war. Today's veterans came home to a Veterans Administration Hospital System that had some of the most technologically advanced equipment that veterans have ever seen from any war. However, as in any war, when hundreds of thousands of troops are called to active duty to fight in theater and then they begin to trickle out of the military due to injuries sustained during combat Veterans Administration Hospitals overflow with patients. Attempting to gear up and prepare for an unknown number of patients is a difficult thing to do, if not impossible, but our Veterans Administration is manned by 40% of its employees being veterans themselves.Is the system perfect? Not hardly! . However, witnessing the care every day that I see at my local VA Hospital, both as a patient and a volunteer has made me believe that this system is as close to perfect as we're ever going to get for our Veterans. This is not to say that the system is perfect, merely that the single-payer system run by the federal government, is bound to be problematic. In order to monitor and correct the problems that the Veterans Administration is bound to experience, we must have an advisory board made up of Veterans and Outside Healthcare Providers to police the activities of the Veterans Administration, to ensure that scams that are designed to pay bonuses are never perpetrated on the very people that fought for the freedoms our country enjoys.

Going back to the current scandal, is it a national problem affecting every single Veterans Administration Hospital? Absolutely not. I believe that once all of the investigating and probing and all of the hearings on Capitol Hill are through they'll come to the same conclusion. That these were isolated incidents perpetrated mainly throughout the southwestern portion of the United States that are heavy traffic areas for soldiers exiting the military. It is important to note that the problems that exist within the Veterans Administration as far as wait times are concerned all pertain to the approval of initial benefits. When active duty military member's leave military service through an Honorable Discharge, they then become eligible for medical benefits at the Veterans Administration Medical Center's throughout the country. Herein lies the problem. In many cases, the Veterans Administration Medical Centers in various cities are not able to instantly verify the discharged soldiers records immediately. Hence the waiting times. Aditionally in some VA "Markets" there are heavier than usual outprocessing amounts of Veterans which in turn lead to a shortage of the very Doctors necessary to care for these Veterans.

No one likes see veterans suffering politicized. However, this is exactly what is happening in this instance, while the Republicans scream disgrace and corruption about the Veterans Administration . They are unknowingly or unwittingly scaring patients away from what may be their only form of healthcare. This is where the politicizing comes in, and God help them if they scare one single Veteran away from his/her only healthcare and one of these Veterans should die as a result! Conservatives immediately began to call for the resignation of General Eric Shinseki. The Obama administration as well as a majority of Democrats were not ready to pass judgment immediately on a man with an impeccable military record of over 30 years service. An American service man who rose to command being the first Asian-American to reach the rank of Four-Star General. An American servicemen who served two tours in Vietnam who left a part of himself on the battlefield.

Gen. Shinseki, to be sure, is an American hero. The general commanded NATO forces, and was the secretary of the Army. Gen. Shinseki was well-liked and was a holdover from the Bush administration. He is most well known for being a student and believer in Gen. Colin Powell's belief that if America had to go in  theater for war. It should be with a large footprint and large contingency of soldiers. However, this caused him to run afoul of then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who believe that America's technological advancements made it possible for smaller footprints and smaller contingencies of soldiers during full-scale operations in theater. This disagreement caused general shinseki to resign in 2008. He was then appointed secretary of the Veterans Administration in 2009 by President. Barack Hussein Obama. The Conservatives were successful on May 30, 2014 when President Obama accepted General Shinseki's resignation, keeping it fairly quiet it was dumped into Friday's news dump, although by this point many Democrats were calling for General Shinseki's resignation as well. Now comes the tricky part, tieing this into the politicizing part of veteran suffering. When all is said and done, and all the examinations hearings investigations and finger-pointing is through, I believe they will find out this was in fact an isolated incident, mainly contained to the Southwest.

 Dr. Samuel Foote, who originally made the allegations after his resignation in 2013 from the Phoenix VA Medical Center that there were some 80 veterans that had died while awaiting medical care, has seen his original number declined from 80 to 47, all the way down to 16 in the Senate hearings late Wednesday night. Of those 16 patients remaining 12 died due to terminal cancer, while in the care of a medical professional. The remaining four patients are the focus of the investigation.

Watching the attack on the Veterans Administration from the sidelines is like watching a NASCAR race, both political parties have been racing around the track trying to point the finger at each other and trying to deny at the same time. I find the timing of this scandal to be particularly interesting, in that, should we find that there was no nationwide scandal at all, that this was in fact tied to just a few Veterans Administration locations in the Southwest. This revelation could come just in time to save the Democrats from a miserable midterm loss by pointing a finger at conservatives and accusing them of making up a false scandal for the purpose of politicizing the suffering of America's Brave Heroic Veterans. Could it be possible that this was some masterminded preplanned program to rescue the Democrats from a sure fire loss on midterm day? Will Batman and Robin ever catch the Joker in the act? Is iron man really made of iron? For all you older folks...... only the shadow knows! In a perfect world, our heroes would be honored for their service, provided a lifetime of immaculate medical treatment, and given a send off to heaven befitting a hero. No one would be left behind. No one would be forgotten. You and I know that this is not a perfect world though, we have political parties and in today's day and age there is no civility between the parties. My heart harkens back to the days when President Ronald Reagan would fight with Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill Monday through Friday. Then come Friday afternoon Speaker of the House O'Neill would be at the White House having a beer with President Reagan for the work week was over and friendship could then resume. It may seem crazy to even think that this whole scandal could be a drummed up political event, but that's what this country has become! The current administration's approval rating is so low that there is no trust. For the first time in many, many years, Americans are unsure if the America we grew up in will survive. the progressive liberals that elected Barack Hussein Obama, President of United States of America are now disenfranchised with their great leader. However, the Grand Old Party has done very little to unite itself with the tea parties and thus a fractured conservative movement exists, leading to further confusion from everyone from centrists to far right.Who do the disenfranchised follow now?

I cannot speak for the level of care at all of the nations Veterans Administration Hospitals, but only that of my own. The Robley Rex Veterans Administration Medical Center here in Louisville, Kentucky.  What I can say about my home VAMC. I am almost always seen within 15 minutes of checking in.I am always treated with dignity and respect and believe it or not you can get tired of being thanked for your service even though it is said with a true air of honesty! I often times compare it to the private sector medical care I use to receive before my body decided to fail on me. I never ever have to leave work telling my assistant I have an appointment at one O'clock knowing that I will sit in the waiting room for two hours then the exam room for another thirty minutes waiting on my Doctor because he makes more money triple booking patients, I like being seen in fifteen minutes.
I like the fact that if I need a brace or crutches or even a wheelchair I simply visit prosthetics with the order entered by my doctor and pick them up. Additionally the VA has implemented a new website the www.myhealth.va.gov site where once your account is set up you can be on vacation, experience a medical situation that is non emergency in nature and simply log into the site's secure messaging portion and send a message to yourt medical care team and receive a message back sometimes the same hour! Try that Aetna!

Many people say that the ills of the Veterans Administration are only a precursor to what will come with Obama care, or are inevitable with a single pay system, such as the VA. I will say this. If the news media will conduct interviews of veterans nationwide and asked them how they felt about the VA and the care they receive. I believe the approval rating would be close to 70%. Conversely, if you asked that same question of the private sector medical care I think that number would be 50% or lower. It's not that the Veterans Administration's government run, it's that the Veterans Administration is modeled off military healthcare. The Veterans Administration medical centers are run by a set of rules that are very reminiscent of the military. Many veterans joke about the hurry up and wait, which is nothing more than doctors rushing you down to get an x-ray only to wait in line for the other people that are ahead of you. What a good problem to have. I suppose it's no surprise to see that a veteran who's getting the kind of care that I'm receiving is happy with my service. I simply hope and pray that this current investigation into the VA medical centers in the Southwest and other areas of the country reveal only minor repairs that are necessary to restore the faith in the medical system for our nation's heroes.

However, if we find that this is been nothing more than politicizing our veterans and heroes difficulties, then we should not blame the Veterans Administration, but rather go after the politicians that tried to use this for their own personal gain.I hope and pray that that is not the case. Additionally I pray for all of those people that say they lost a love one due to failure to see a Doctor. I feel bad for them because every single veteran waiting for approval of benefits or even once approved and waiting for the initial Drs visit is given a personalized book that tells them what to do in case an emergency like this arises, they all state that until the first appointment used for assesment of the Veterans health is completed they are to use the Emergency Room at the local VAMC ( Veterans Administration Medical Center ) why did these 1700 people who supposedly died not simply follow those directions and go to the Emergency Room as a volunteer at my local VAMC I know from the moment the Veterans information is entered into the computer even before verification they are told they can now use the ER for emergencies and if asked for their VA ID card, they are told to tell Hospital staff they are in the computer but have not received their card yet. No One Had to Die! May God Bless each and every one of our Veterans, particularly those that lost love ones. May God bless the Doctors at the VAMC's and help them to provide the best care they can. Lastly May God Bless the United States of America and help us as a nation to find our civility to reach across party lines, stop the progressive liberal nonsense that is killing the country I grew up in and heal our wounds. I ask a special prayer for my Friend MH battleing Breast Cancer that God be with this friend every step of the way and help my friend battle to a victory.

Lastly as my friend Wayne Kyle's son, CPO, Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle use to say, "every single soldier who wore the uniform wrote a blank check for up to and including the value of his/her life so help a veteran, mow his lawn do something kind for them" we miss you Chris!


"I would rather be exposed to the inconvieniences attending too much Liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it"

Thomas Jefferson

The Best Cup A Joe in Louisville...........drumroll...............

After a year of riding around in Marilynn our family fun machine Penelope and I have a winner!

going from one gin joint to another er ahhh Coffee House to another, my daughter and I have decided that first off we have had some amazing cups of Joe. From the cup at Vint that we made the unfortunate choice of sitting outside under a tree with a cup that was uncovered that ended up with some extra better spice....thanks little birdie, to the short lived coffee house in the Shelbyville Road Plaza that had the motto thanks for your money now go home, (by the way, the best way to get people to come back is to serve a good product smile, ohh and keep the heat in the restaurant under 100 blinking degrees!) I can tell you that this decission has not been an easy one, some weekend days and several after school days I forced my daughter to go from Coffee House to Coffee House trying things like a salty turtle caramel late, to a pumpkin spice late! To the bird dropping coffee special of the day. Well, who is the winner? it is a tie it comes down to Heine Brothers, and Breadworks, and specific locations as well. For Breadworks its the one on Brownsboro next to Chenoweth Elementary School and the old Dolls Market, why? Well the owner is a very special nice lady who is not pretentious, most days you wouldn't even know she is the owner. She enjoys being there, you can tell from her bouncy happy personality to her almost freakish memorization of how you like your coffee. the extra's like the breads, muffins, bear claws, chocolate croissants, and hot cross buns are of course awesome as all get out. Their Coffee is very good, not great, but very good. What makes a Coffee Shop an awesome place is ambiance, the ability to go in relax engage in chit chat or not and for the owners and or employee's to know the difference. Breadworks to use an old phrase that will date me, well they got it going on! Let me also say that Breadworks has been engaging in fair trade practices in the coffee trade since before it was fashionable and Penelope and I were always smiling at each other when we would see another Coffee Shop had put up a fair trade brochure. This is my Coffee Cohort in crime my little girl Penelope :-) sitting in Marilynn, on our way to a coffee shop!

Then there is Heine Brothers Coffee, the location I have always gone to is on Chenoweth Lane Off Shelbyville Road in the heart of St. Matthews. Great Coffee, great staff, but always busy almost too busy, but here is where I get very excited, you see a couple of months ago they opened a new location at the end of my road!!!!!!!! Does life get any better than that? They have staffed this location with some greats. The Coffee is Awesome the ambiance is pretty good, the service is first rate, the variety of drinks available is pretty extensive but here is the whopper,do you just want a great cup of coffee? I don't mean a mocha latte fruity bag a nutty whip the frothed girly drink in the cup to go on the way to Pilates. I mean a cup of coffee, that's all just a great cup of coffee? They do it just as awesome as the aforementioned girly drinks. The first time we went in they asked how we like our coffee, do we like sugar do we like cream do we like our cream stirred into the coffee. Guess what? They remember it too. I think the best part of the great coffee hunt for the best cup a Joe and the best coffee house in Louisville was that I got to do it with my little girl, who will always be my little girl, but who is growing so fast that she is about to be a freshman in high school, she really isn't a little girl, she isn't yet fully grown and she still kisses me goodbye and hello in front of her friends. I hope that we continue the coffee shop weekends and most of all the talks over the cup of Joe and yes just sometimes sitting there reading books while we sit in silence over the perfect cup of coffee. It has been the best part of the whole near year long process, I highly recommend it to other Dads. To my father in law Jim, I know that you are looking down from heaven, you were right, find something to do with her and listen more than I talk......you were right, and I miss you friend.

Kevin M. Jankoski

I know this Blog post has veered way off of the trac of normal for me, but I needed a feel good fluff piece to restore my love of the human race lol seriously, I wanted to share a little bit about how wonderful my little girl is and a great idea for spending time with her and getting to know her better.

Reviewing Louisville's best Local Coffee Houses

Coming soon, the travels of my daughter and I as we have cruised Louisville in search of the most wonderful Coffee House locally owned cause hey, everyone can go to fourbucks I mean er ahh Starbucks, but the locally owned best kept Coffee house in Louisville is............well you will just have to wait until Marilyn (my '64 Cadillac, Penelope, and I finish our reviews one cup at a time so far we have been to:

Breadworks,
Heine Brothers
Vint

Keep checking back for our right to life liberty and the persuit of a GREAT cup a joe!!!!!!!!

Engaging the Couch Potato's of American Politics

Engaging the Couch Potato's of American Politics

Can Romney Engage the Unengaged

Here I am writing about the US Presidential Election slated for just four months from now and neither candidate is rallying their troops, yes the presumptive Republican nominee for President former Governor of my former home state Mitt Romney seems to have the electorals locked up to gain the nomination, but how will this less then energetic speaker rally the couch potato's of politics to get off off their backsides put down the bag of chips and that oh so refreshing cold beer and head to the ballot box. I mean I like the guy, and he has my vote but really? Mitt I like you I really do and  I try to support you the best I can, but you need to melt the plastic shell that seems to encase you.

                                        This Photo embodies "Plastic Man" No Offense Intended

Mr. Governor loosen up and be who you are, I was a money manager for 20 years until a spinal cord injury took me out of the game. To do the job you did at Bain Capital you had to have balls big enough to come in a dump truck. Be you, be the guy you were in the trenches, people will flock to you. Stop trying to be all things to all people and get your "game on" campaign going, you can do it.

 President Obama is as no one can argue a terribly effective speaker albeit a bit to mesmerizing, reminiscent of the body snatchers to me. He has that way of making people do as he wishes even though they may not fully understand, yet they follow, not just sipping the Kool Aide but chugging it like it is the last cold drink they will see. President Obama has made so many promises to so many people that he must stay up at night wondering what he promised and to whom. I urge all of my readers to frequent fact check dot org all throughout the election cycle. I look at the type of campaign President Obama will run, and I wonder why Mitt Romney seems to be running a campaign of lets offend no one and I worry that in the end he will be finding out what the loosing end of the biggest election of your life feels like. Mr. Governor with all due respect get out there and throw some punches attack the body over and over and over until your opponent is too sore to raise his arms to throw punches back and you will have people chanting your name from coast to coast. Please at every rally and train stop talk about the couch potato's who don't show up to vote make the crowds feel like President Reagan made them feel, that everyone's vote really did matter and that the problems of our great country are solved by those that show up, so get off the couch and show up. Quote the percentage of registered voters that actually vote and then get indignant about it make sure your message is VOTE it is not only our civic duty but the only way we can help bring about positive change.

Obama care the greatest lie perpetrated on a country since Watergate and Viet Nam, if you were to ask President George H.W. Bush why he lost to Clinton he would go back to one famous line that we all know now, "read my lips...no new taxes" however President Obama on 60 minutes being interviewed about the possibility of Obama care causing the need for, or creating a new tax was emphatic that there would be absolutely no new tax due to Obama care. If today's liberal far left leaning media would just cover everything that a candidate says then check it against B roll the American Election process would be so much easier on all of us. It would come down to who has the most integrity, who has lied less and who is in this for the gig and who is in this for the job to help. President Obama served part of one term as a US Senator and then was Elected President, the lies he has told have made lying an art form for the President, Clearly he is in it for the gig the Money the Greenbacks. Governor Romney has a net worth or some 250 million, he clearly isn't in this for the money and he has a fantastic track record of working to make things happen in a state that is historically a democratic state. I was raised with a tremendous patriotism, my grandfather would ensure during the National Anthem at the Red Sox baseball games that not only did I put my hand over my heart and face the flag, but that I learn the words and sing along. Our President of the United States of America cant be bothered with such trivial things as respect for the Country he manages. As demonstrated by the photo below.

I may be old fashioned or maybe its my military service, but this picture I find to be so offensive it literally gives me a migraine every time I look at it for I have no love loss for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, nor for Governor Bill Richardson, but they both show the respect for our National Anthem and the US Flag. As I have told my readers time and time again I have to show respect for the Office of the President of the United States, not the man, and Obama the man isn't qualified to be the birth certificate registrar for the State of Hawaii, let alone Commander in Chief.

America, we need a leader that specializes in fixing broken businesses. (Insert Mitt Romney here) It was Gordon Gekko in the original movie Wall Street that made the statement greed would also fix that other malfunctioning corporation, the United States of America. Well greed is not good it does not cut through and clarify, it forces politicians to sell out their offices and oaths for a few bucks thrown into their reelection campaigns, it forces politicians to go to the United States Supreme Court to get Corporations recognized as people too, entitled to unlimited donations and the formations of super pacs.Ask yourself where the F.E.C's ethics have gone?

Lastly in closing I want all of America that is registered to vote to turn out and vote as the NRA has said, we need to be all in. 67% of Americans want Obama care repealed. This needs to be a focal point of Governor Romney's campaign, he needs to get aggressive, bring the fight to the president hammer him on his no new tax for Obama care promise and show the television interview in his ads over and over and over. Show the American people that this President has made lying to the American People a Zen like thing, its wrong and we can have and deserve to have change. We can have real change. Romney for President may not have countrywide appeal but if it has 51% that's all we need for a win.I beg all of us out there on sofa's watching elections at the city, state , and federal levels to get off the couch and get to the polls, please for our grandchildren who each now have $63,000 dollars of debt on them as first graders. Please VOTE, Please get involved, maybe work on a campaign. however if you do nothing else, please read the United States Constitution. Please at least know of the awesome things our forefathers wanted for us, the rights that they envisioned for each and every one of us. Find out what the politicians have done to the Constitution completely disregarding it when it suited them. Did you know that the US Constitution Prohibits a Federal Police Force? What then is the FBI, Homeland Security, US Secret Service etc.......we need a President that will bring our country back to a place where the law of the land is the US Constitution. As I always end my blog.......I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.


Col. Kevin M. Jankoski

Merry Christmas America

Merry Christmas America! Momma in her kerchief and I in my cap had just settled in for a long winters nap when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a bumbling house, senate, and executive branch that were delivering fear!

Fear in the dollar and a zero interest rate, fear in our economy but there would be no debate. For the men and women sent to DC to do the bidding for you and for me had become so selfish and vested in me, the me that would get me reelected, the me that got me on TV, the me that benifitted from my fat cat friends you know the ones who rented my votes. They rented the "me" votes by paying my way on corporate jets that looked better than a sleigh, they send me on trips, and give me good gifts how can I say no when they rented my "me".

I shake all the hands and I kiss all the babies, I tell my constituents a big fat maybe knowing damn well there's no way I will help because all my fat cats would cry and would yelp. America she is the greatest of all, but she has been napping since 2008's fall. When a man was elected who told everyone yes, he couldn't even say no to the press, he needed them all so he told them what they wanted to hear, so they heard what they'd like to get himself into that house. You know the one,the one we pay for ourselves. We pay for the butlers,the massive staff the protection details and the hoopla and hash, it's a good gig don't go getting me wrong heck I stole this job for the price of a song.

The fear I have now is that someone will see the one that's under the facade of the me, the one who did nothing but say yes to all, the one who was really the cause of America's fall. I force fed them healthcare I weakened our men I went to the enemy and telegraphed the end, I spent and I spent cause it's all I knew after all the only experience I had was in school. I fear the end of my kingdom in near, because America has never put up with fear she'll flex her muscles and make the right change because we forget sometimes that the people hold the reigns. We go into a both pull a lever that's all and then America will get up from her fall. We'll get back on our feet put our people to work we'll eventually forget all the me's and the jerks the ones who forgot what our forefathers taught that America is here to be a shining light on a hill, the shine just because of the people's will. Live free or die is not just a states slogan it's the principal under which our constitution was chosen.

It's high time I tell you that the people be heard that the damn politicians get the word. We all must speak clearly with one solid voice that it's not about a party us against them it's about doing right for the young ones to come. So let's all think about the choices we make let's elect our leaders based on what it takes. Let's not pick our leaders from catchy sound bites, nor exclude qualified leaders based on what they do in their night, let's look for a leader who has a plan to stand up miss liberty straight and tall so she can once again be a beacon to all.


So as I looked out at the bumbling fool's on my lawn I screamed my displeasure down to them with a familiar hand sign, told them to leave the land that was mine, I turned and went back to bed with a yawn to dream that my vision was soon to be, so goodnight to you I say an a merry Christmas to all and to all a good fright.

Sincerely,

Kevin M Jankoski
US Army Veteran
American Citizen
Sick and Tired of the spin

America in debt a crisis of our own making

This may not be my usual blog type that points the finger at someone else for the problems created. I am not blaming the Democratic party or the Republican party or the Tea Baggers, or the Independents, rather I am screaming at the readers of this blog, YES YOU. Wait don't turn tail and run stay and get the tongue lashing that you so much deserve. The national debt is now somewhere around 1.5 trillion with a  capital T and its your fault, actually all of our faults. Why is it our faults? It has something to do with responsibility, you see we vote for the people who make our laws, we then sit back and here about new bills before congress and we do nothing about it, we don't read the proposed bills we don't call our congressmen we don't put our foot down and say NO!

Has anyone ever read a bill that was about to become law? Has anyone ever paid attention to the amendments that get tacked on to bills before the vote? Here is one that is a true story, a recent bill came out of committee and an amendment was tacked on requiring that 1.5 million dollars be granted to a toy company that produced toy arrows made of wood purchased from a logging company in Wisconsin. Yes you guessed it the bill was voted on it became law and a toy company that should have gone out of business years ago ( toy arrows?) was rescued by the US Congress. Actually it was rescued by you and I and our tax dollars. Pork barrel spending is what it is called, but you would be surprised how many people I have talked to that do not even know what it means. Now that I have explained it, we all have a responsibility not just to vote but be involved in the process and to oversee the people that we hire in to office.

Why? It's because its what our forefathers wanted us to do. Our Forefathers and the founders of our country didn't expect us to just sit back and entrust people. They wanted us to be involved in the process. We were to be part of the checks and balances process. We have failed, and we have failed miserably. We dropped the ball, we fumbled we turned our back on our responsibilities. It's time to pick up the ball and become responsible members of our countries political process. We don't have to run for office, we just need to be involved, we need to track and read proposed bills. How? Go here:  

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html 

this site publishes all proposed bills from the 103rd congress forward so you can read old bills from the Clinton era all the way through the 112th congress and check up on President NoBama, excuse me Obama. President Obama's pork barrel spending is even worse than President Carter's whom many think  just rubber stamped everything that crossed his office unless it was for defense spending when he then summarily vetoed those bills.

We the people in order to form a more perfect union. These words reach out to us from over 200 years ago, We the people, not just the fat gas bag old men who run things now, but we the people. Our forefathers had it in mind that we would be involved and every time we are forced to increase the federal debt ceiling the noise you hear is not just protesting but our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.

What would happen if every person in America decided to run our checkbooks for one month the way the federal government runs theirs? The answer every single bank in America would fail, and the economy would be set back 100 years. you see in mathematical terms the US runs a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit in its checking account, or in simple terms they are overdrawn by 1.5 trillion dollars.

If everyone in America over drafted their bank account by just $1000.00 the result would be $230 Billion dollars in deficit spending (overdrawn accounts) roughly calculated by the number of Americans reduced by a guesstimate for people under 18 with no checking account and the homeless but you get the idea.

Banks get the money they use day to day not just from deposits but from the federal Reserve Bank on what is know as the overnight repo rate or the rate at which the Federal Reserve Bank loans money overnight to the banks to keep them running. If everyone in America over drafted their account by $1000.00 the Federal Reserve would panic because they wouldn't have enough money to keep all the banks running, and it would cause a mass calamity the likes of which would make the recent mortgage crisis look like child's play. What does this have to do with the Federal Deficit? Everything!

You see We the People are allowing the fat old gasbag men to run our national bank account on an overdrawn  basis that allows them to throw in PORK BARREL SPENDING like 1.5 million dollars in bailout dollars to toy arrow manufacturers and so many more that if I printed them there would be a breakout of the stomach flue or at the least the symptoms of it like mass vomiting. The gist of it is that we are allowing it by not overseeing the job of the people that we hire. We need to be calling our Senators and Congressmen every time we read a proposed bill that contains Pork Barrel spending. We will hear the reasons like  hey its the only way we are going to get the bill to pass. The Republicans wont let it go through without it or the Democrats tacked it on to stop the bill dead so we are passing it despite them. We the People.............ENOUGH is ENOUGH is ENOUGH get involved call your Senator, call your Congressmen read the Bill's congress are proposing then get on the phone and call, say enough is enough tell them to balance the budget, tell them to stop accepting amendments to bills when they dont make sense and we cant afford them. Tell them to stop allowing Senators from Wisconsin to rescue friends toy businesses that we don't care about. All I can say is WE THE PEOPLE. Please America, WE THE PEOPLE get involved clearly we have all been negligent in the duties our forefathers asked of us. Lets all make up for it now.

WE THE PEOPLE

Kevin M. Jankoski

New Democracies and Freedom for all

To my readers, I have been absent for a while as I was healing from a recent surgery, however I have watched with baited breath the developments in Egypt with the most confounded thoughts of WHY HASN'T the OBAMA Administration demanded Mubarak to step down from the very beginning? I was recently a guest on the air of POTUS on Sirius radio channel 110 with Pete Dominick and I made the comment that the only thing I could think of is that the Egyptian government (read Mubarak) has been a great help to the US in helping us to fight the war on terror, and been one of the leaders in the middle east that has helped to keep the other Arab countries from seeking war with Israel. I don't know but maybe it's oil, maybe it is the Devil you know being better than the Devil you don't mentality. Pete fired back with a very correct comment that although Mubarak may have been a leader that has kept peace visibly in Egypt and kept war with Israel off the minds of the people, but he did it by denying the personal rights of the people of Egypt, as a true Dictator, stealing billions from the people and jailing his political opponents. That there has been some horrific treatment of the Egyptian people, Pete you rightfully corrected me and as always I thank you for providing a forum for everyday people to discuss this and other politico subjects!

I don't pretend to know what is in the minds of our President sometimes I wonder if he knows what his thoughts are. That being said at least Mubarak knew what his thoughts were and they were gee whiz, I need to take my stolen 70 Billion dollars and get the heck out of Dodge.

I am making this Blog  post a short and to the point blog, we should all pray for Egypt, that the people have been heard and the Dictator of over thirty years has stepped down is not enough, we need to pray that they keep it peaceful and that they "shoot" for a peaceful democracy that they can see freedom reign for a long time to come, and feel what it is like to have freedom of speech, true woman's rights, safety and prosperity for all.We need to pray that and demand that the US provide the Egyptians the help they need. They will need probably to rewrite the Egyptian Constitution to modernize it for the times we are in. There is a lot of work to be done and I can only hope that the United States and her people will reach out and help our Egyptian brothers and sisters. To at the least give them our advice for a view of a free society.


I for one spent my time in conversation to my GOD asking him to be with my brothers and sisters in Egypt and to help them celebrate their freedom, but to avoid a vacuum that could bring about civil unrest and fighting, as well as ethnic cleansing as Egypt has a tremendous dichotomy of religions factions and beliefs. I pray for unity peace and useful conversations at the highest level to make sure the change of power in Egypt results in a true change that reflects the various wills of all the people.

K