Uppity Wisconsin
Making Wisconsin Progressive Again
Vietnam, McNamara and Veterans
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 7:43am | mal contends
Update: From Veterans Today, VA Police Hack Medical Files of Wisconsin Vet, Seek Prison for More PTSD Vets
Bob Herbert writes today in After the War Was Over that "Robert McNamara realized early on that Vietnam was a lost cause, but he kept that crucial information close to his chest. How did he ever look at himself in a mirror? ... The obscenity of war is lost on most Americans, and that drains the death of Robert McNamara of any real significance."
The obscenity continues to this day, destroying the lives of our veterans.
No matter what the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Dr. Sally Satel say from their plush offices, veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly suffer for the rest of their lives.
But the U.S.
The obscenity continues to this day, destroying the lives of our veterans.
No matter what the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Dr. Sally Satel say from their plush offices, veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly suffer for the rest of their lives.
But the U.S.
The GOP War Against Veterans
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 6:22am | mal contends
Gordon Duff at Veterans Today has a piece on the GOP hostility to veterans.
Duff is a Marine combat veteran and a writer on political and social issues who apparently has had enough.
Wisconsin's jailed veteran, Keith Roberts, get a prominent mention.
Writes Duff:
Duff is a Marine combat veteran and a writer on political and social issues who apparently has had enough.
Wisconsin's jailed veteran, Keith Roberts, get a prominent mention.
Writes Duff:
‘Conservative’ means ‘saving money’ and ‘keeping soldiers as slaves onto death.’ Whether we are talking John McCain or Burr or Graham or two dozen others, these patriotic heroes have done nothing over the years but receive continual support from our favorite veterans groups for gutting military and veterans benefits.
With a series of ‘think tanks’ selling pseudo science, most of them got their feet wet with decades of ‘smoking and lung cancer denial,’ or similar idiocy, the American Enterprise Institute stands out as the lead in the war against American heroes.
Even more maniacal and radical than the Heritiage Foundation, private ‘rubber stamp’ for the schemes of Amway/Blackwater, Coors extremism and Richard Mellon Scaife, private funder for the failed Clinton impeachment, the AEI focuses on destroying veterans.
Their primary tool is a Doctor Sally Satel.
Rare Hearing for Jailed Wisconsin Veteran
Mon, 06/01/2009 - 2:45pm | mal contends
Cautious optimism defines the feeling among supporters of jailed veteran Keith Roberts.
Optimism because Keith Roberts—an innocent Vietnam-era veteran wrongfully jailed through a Bush DOJ prosecution—has been granted a rare en banc hearing before seven members of the national veterans court, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), for the appeal of his 12-years-long claim.
Anxiety because Roberts, who was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after seeing his friend, Gary Holland, crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft, and his family were relentlessly pursued by the Bush Department of Justice and Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) for Roberts’ “tenaciously pursuing a claim for benefits” and Roberts' whistle-blowing accusations that the VA was fraudulently altering his C-file, records containing documents related to his VA claims.
U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic's office had convinced a jury that Roberts and a deceased Navy airman (Gary Holland) were not friends.
Optimism because Keith Roberts—an innocent Vietnam-era veteran wrongfully jailed through a Bush DOJ prosecution—has been granted a rare en banc hearing before seven members of the national veterans court, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), for the appeal of his 12-years-long claim.
Anxiety because Roberts, who was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after seeing his friend, Gary Holland, crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft, and his family were relentlessly pursued by the Bush Department of Justice and Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) for Roberts’ “tenaciously pursuing a claim for benefits” and Roberts' whistle-blowing accusations that the VA was fraudulently altering his C-file, records containing documents related to his VA claims.
U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic's office had convinced a jury that Roberts and a deceased Navy airman (Gary Holland) were not friends.
Shafting Vets Makes the News
Thu, 01/08/2009 - 2:04pm | mal contends
Not news among veterans’ advocates, but three pieces paint a sordid picture of what our country intentionally inflicts upon our veterans when it makes war.
War tends to produce results dysfunctional to future war-making so veterans and serving military personnel who point to any evidence of this truism risk a hostile government machinery.
Consider what happens when death gives a veteran a problem and the VA can’t make a fraud charge stick when a solider is diagnosed with the resulting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), here’s an alternative tactic: Ruin a soilder’s career while he’s still in the service and take away as many benefits as possible.
See Army General Improperly Kicks Out Iraq War Soldier Diagnosed with PTSD (Veterans for Common Sense).
War tends to produce results dysfunctional to future war-making so veterans and serving military personnel who point to any evidence of this truism risk a hostile government machinery.
Consider what happens when death gives a veteran a problem and the VA can’t make a fraud charge stick when a solider is diagnosed with the resulting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), here’s an alternative tactic: Ruin a soilder’s career while he’s still in the service and take away as many benefits as possible.
See Army General Improperly Kicks Out Iraq War Soldier Diagnosed with PTSD (Veterans for Common Sense).
Pardon Jailed Wisconsin Veteran
Wed, 12/17/2008 - 6:53pm | mal contends
President-elect Barack Obama has tremendously more on his plate than reinventing government and restoring some semblance of accountability to Americans.
Ensuring that the world does not enter into a second depression, halting a war or two, saving the environment, formulating an industrial policy on alternative energy, one can go on; all are problems of a massive scale.
But readers of Uppity Wisconsin may notice a comment from a veteran posted this week about another veteran who is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison.
Ensuring that the world does not enter into a second depression, halting a war or two, saving the environment, formulating an industrial policy on alternative energy, one can go on; all are problems of a massive scale.
But readers of Uppity Wisconsin may notice a comment from a veteran posted this week about another veteran who is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison.
Vets Get New Hearing with Obama
Mon, 11/10/2008 - 11:27am | mal contends
Tuesday, November 11 is Veterans Day. But the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA), charged with providing patient care and delivering veterans' benefits, has become a malfunctioning governmental agency.
On Extraordinary Awards, Or, Wounded Troops, Wounded Again
Thu, 07/24/2008 - 2:45pm | fake consultant
We come together today to discuss one of the more disturbing things that the Administration has done recently…and for a President who claims he “supports the troops”, this story is even more disturbing than usual.
It has his fingerprints all over it, however: laws ignored, rules rendered irrelevant, secrets kept from those who need to know—and ultimately, the cost of his bad decisions are being borne by those who have already paid about a high a price as could be possible in the service of this Nation.
Follow along, my friends, and I will treat you to a magic trick: one in which “Support The Wounded Troops” magically becomes “Screw The Wounded Troops” right before your very eyes…and while you probably won’t feel like applauding at the end, it’s nonetheless a trick you don’t want to miss.
Jailed Wisconsin Vet Loses Appeal, VA Claim Still Pending
Sun, 07/13/2008 - 8:35am | mal contends
via mal contends
In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Wisconsin Navy veteran, Keith Roberts.
In a unanimous opinion (07-1546) a three-member panel for the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the controversial conviction on fraud of Wisconsin Navy veteran, Keith Roberts.
The Roberts family is planning on filing a motion for an en banc hearing, a hearing before the full appellate court.
U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic's office had convinced a jury that Roberts and a deceased Navy airman (Gary Holland) did not have a friendship, and Roberts who was on line duty at a Naval base in Naples, Italy on February 5, 1969 at the time that Holland was crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft, exaggerated his efforts to save Holland, which constituted fraud for which he was convicted in November 2006 by a jury in northern Wisconsin.
Weak grounds for a federal prosecution? These are the grounds on which the government successfully pursued a prosecution against this honorably discharged Navy veteran who served during a combat era.
Death of 1960s Navy Airman Focus of Jailed Vet's Plight
Sun, 06/15/2008 - 9:23am | mal contends
via mal contends - The death of Airman Gary Holland on February 5, 1969 continues today to cause hardship and despair.
Holland was crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft at a Naval base in Naples, Italy.
Holland's death causes despair today because former VA General Counsel attorney and VA national Director of Compensation and Pension Services, Renee L. Szybala, helped engineer the prosecution of Gary Holland's fellow airman, Keith Roberts, by US Atty Stephen Biskupic.
The crime?
The crime?
Jailed Wisconsin Veteran Awaits Court Decision, in Fed Prison for Claiming PTSD Benefits
Mon, 06/02/2008 - 10:01am | mal contends
via mal contends -
Madison, Wisconsin - Keith Roberts awaits the decision of his appeal before a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as he sits in a federal prison in Minnesota because the United States government said he did not tell the truth about his service in the Navy.
Veterans are assumed under the Veterans Judicial Review Act of 1989 to be (as they often are) in an diminished capacity to tell the full truth of the circumstances they encountered that contributed to their suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The many stressors that would lead to the granting of disability benefit payments need to be rigorously documented to the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs' (VA) satisfaction, thus the VA claims process propagated under administrative rules is non-adversarial and paternalistic for the veterans.
Madison, Wisconsin - Keith Roberts awaits the decision of his appeal before a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit as he sits in a federal prison in Minnesota because the United States government said he did not tell the truth about his service in the Navy.
Veterans are assumed under the Veterans Judicial Review Act of 1989 to be (as they often are) in an diminished capacity to tell the full truth of the circumstances they encountered that contributed to their suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The many stressors that would lead to the granting of disability benefit payments need to be rigorously documented to the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs' (VA) satisfaction, thus the VA claims process propagated under administrative rules is non-adversarial and paternalistic for the veterans.
VA Directive Barring Staff from Diagnosing Troops with PTSD to Cut Costs, Exposed by CREW and VoteVets.org
Thu, 05/15/2008 - 4:22pm | mal contends
Nice. From CREW's site:
This is an outrage.
CREW and VoteVets.org released an e-mail (May 1, 2008) obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Weakening US Criminal Case, VA Turns Down Jailed Wisc Vet’s PTSD Claim
Tue, 05/13/2008 - 4:41pm | mal contends
by Michael Leon (via mal contends)
Madison, Wisconsin —Vietnam-era Navy veteran Keith Roberts (1968-71) is an honorably discharged Navy airman who feels betrayed by his government, specifically the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Dept of Justice, for its self-conscious and successful efforts to financially ruin and imprison him.
VA Outrages
Tue, 05/06/2008 - 6:59am | mal contends
Update: On a related note, see the NYT's Herbert's column on the new proposed GI Bill: "Politicians tend to talk very, very big about supporting our men and women in uniform. But time and again — whether it’s about providing armor for their safety or an education for their future — we find that talk to be very, very cheap."
via mal contends
The U.S. Dept of Veterans of Affairs (VA) has gone down the toilet.
This is what happens when the VA adopts the American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) Dr. Sally Satel ethos that veterans need to just get over it, and not be enabled in a 'culture of trauma'.
From South Carolina, Paul Alongi reports:
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Tags: Bush Administration, American Enterprise Institute, Carl Diekman, Grover Cleveland Chapman, Keith Roberts, neglect of veterans, PTSD, sally satel, U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA), US Department of Justice, VA, veterans, veterans for common sense, Wisconsin veterans
Kentucky Paper Runs Piece on Jailed Wisconsin Veteran
Wed, 04/23/2008 - 5:29pm | mal contends
The Kentucky News-Enterprise has a piece this week on jailed Wisconsin veteran, Keith Roberts.
Sister takes up brother’s fight for freedom
By JOSHUA COFFMAN
RADCLIFF —Sally Harrod is crunching numbers that stretch beyond her job as an accountant. She oversees a legal fund for her brother in two legal cases regarding benefits he sought as a Navy veteran.
Keith Roberts, 60, is in a Minnesota federal prison, convicted of fraudulently receiving electronic funds from the department of Veterans Affairs. ...
Harrod, her family members and other veterans’ advocates ... fear the VA sought retribution against Roberts for seeking decades of back pay for post-traumatic stress disorder and criticizing the agency’s slow response to approve or deny his medical claims. ...
And, once it is all settled, she hopes her family can help veterans in similar situations.
“It’s unbelievable to all of them,” she said. “If they can do it to my brother, they can do it to anyone at any time.”
Jailed Wisc Vet out of Solitary, Elderly Parents Pray for Visit with Son Before Their Death
Sun, 04/13/2008 - 10:02am | mal contends
Today is the innocent and jailed Wisconsin Navy veteran Keith Roberts' birthday.
And Roberts (1968-71) is celebrating it back in the general population in a federal prison in Minnesota, as his wife reports that he has been released from solitary confinement, and is working on a supplemental brief, ordered to be filed with the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, while Roberts' parents, who are in their 80s and unable to travel to Minnesota, hope to see their son before they die.
Writes Mrs. Roberts in an e-mail: