Feinstein's $4 Billion Beverly Hills Earmark
By Kimberley Strassel
Move over Bridge to Nowhere. Congress is back in town, and clearly back to business even uglier than usual.
It takes hard work to come up with an earmark more egregious than that infamous Alaskan bridge, but California's Dianne Feinstein is an industrious gal. Her latest pork--let's call it Rambo's View--deserves to be the poster child for everything wrong with today's greedy earmark process.
The senator's $4 billion handout (yes, you read that right) to wealthy West L.A. (yes, you read that right, too) is the ultimate example of how powerful members use earmarks to put their own parochial interests above national ones--in this case the needs of veterans. It's a case study in how Congress uses the appropriations process to substitute its petty wants for the considered judgments of agency professionals. And it's just the latest proof that, no matter how much outrage the American public might display over these deals--and no matter how often Congress promises to clean up its act--the elected have no intention of reforming the process.
The pork here revolves around the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, though this is no average veterans' facility. Donated to the government in 1888, the center is 387 sprawling, prime real-estate acres in the middle of tony West L.A. More than twice the size of the National Mall, it is surrounded by the mansions and playgrounds of the city's elite, including the Bel Air Country Club and the Beverly Hills estates of Sylvester Stallone, Barry Bonds and Tim McGraw (to name a few). Entire Article
What is clear is that if this pork stands, no senator should again be allowed to bemoan a lack of veterans' funds without having this week's vote waved in his face.
Bush Surprise Visit to IraqBush last night made a surprise detour to Iraq on his way to Australia as part of a strategy to seize the initiative in the country before the US Congress possibly changes the course of the war.
Bush received a "hoorah" when he said he would not base his deployment decision on "nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media."
"When we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure. To do so otherwise would embolden our enemies and make it more likely that they would attack us at home," Bush said.
The temperature topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit as Bush stepped off Air Force One. The president stopped at a small building where a Marine Cobra pilot briefed him about the positives and negatives of current troop rotations.
"Morale?" asked Bush. "How's morale?"
"Very high, sir," the pilot, Capt. Lee Hemming, said.
All Veterans are Potentially Eligible
Eligibility for most veterans’ health care benefits is based solely on active military service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard (or Merchant Marines during WW II), and discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.
VA Health Care Eligibility & Enrollment
VA operates the nation’s largest integrated health care system with more than 1,400 sites of care, including hospitals, community clinics, nursing homes, domiciliaries, readjustment counseling centers, and other facilities.
Enrollment For most veterans, entry into the VA health care system begins by applying for enrollment. To apply, complete VA Form 10-10EZ, Application for Health Benefits, which may be obtained from any VA health care facility or regional benefits office, on line at http://www.va.gov/1010ez.htm <- Scroll to bottom to Start Application for Enrollment Benefits or by calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387). Once enrolled, veterans can receive health care at VA health care facilities anywhere in the country.
My HealtheVet (MHV)
is the gateway to veteran health benefits and services. It provides access to:
In the future, MHV registrants will be able to view appointments, copay balances, and key portions of their VA medical records online, and much more! My HealtheVet is a powerful tool to help you better understand and manage your health.
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