Let’s be clear: I will relate personal experiences with the VA in El Paso. However, this is not limited to the El Paso VA Health clinic. I have had the same problem at the Phoenix VAMC, the Albuquerque VAMC, Wyoming, Montana, Maine, Ohio, and Utah, among several others. One other cogent point is necessary to lay the proper groundwork for this article: as an I/O Psychologist, having studied the VA for over a decade, and having worked for the VA at the Albuquerque VAMC, I know how to fix the problems I am discussing here.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was told (legislatively, signed by the President) to open more community care appointments to speed up veteran care. The VA then wrote policies, designed procedures, and copied processes to comply with the legislated mandate. However, the VA intentionally designed incompetence into these policies, processes, and procedures to comply, but not really.
Consider from the patient’s perspective the following:
Your primary care provider (PCP), as part of a patient-aligned care team (PACT), sends orders to Community Care for the veteran to be seen in the community for XX complaints/issues. The Community Care department then calls the veteran to ask about their provider preferences and contracts with a local provider. The provider accepts the community care request, and records are sent to the community provider for the upcoming appointment. This is how this process is supposed to work.
Except, it does not work this way. The provider does not get the proper records, or no records at all, the patient shows up to an appointment, and the provider is left wondering how to provide care. The patient is then sent to a staff member who requests the records the provider needs, and the patient goes home to wait for the provider to call them for another appointment. However, the provider will get the runaround and call the patient to help clear obstacles to obtaining records. The patient will get the runaround through bureaucratic inertia while trying to get the proper process to get the correct records to the community provider, generally necessitating multiple trips to the local VA clinic/medical center, not obtaining the correct records, requiring a shampoo result (Wash, Rinse, Repeat) ad nauseam ad infinitum. Imagine for a moment the costs this inanity creates for the veteran and the provider, which generally cannot be recouped. Then people wonder why their taxes are so high and medical costs keep skyrocketing.
The flip side of the records debacle is getting the VA to receive and record the treatment notes, medical reports, and imaging and imaging reports, as well as having these records available for the PCP/PACT to use to further the care the veteran is seeking. From 2012 through 2016, Phoenix VAMC community care records were submitted religiously every month, and at every second month’s appointment with the PCP, they said they still had not gotten the records from community care providers. I would go to the Records Release/Submission door to submit the community provider’s records, and they would lose those documents. Community Care representatives report that the PCP should be seeing these documents. Moreover, I have sat with the PCP, using my knowledge of the EHR, and the PCP still cannot access the records where Community Care said they put the records. See the problem: the community care department acts independently of the local hospital/clinic bureaucracy, and the patient experiences nothing but fraud, waste, and abuse.
What does this mean?
This means that the VA intentionally designed policies and procedures to commit fraud, waste, and abuse against the veterans and community providers it contracted. What is the VA doing instead of fixing the problems with its policies and procedures?
The VA improperly awarded $10.8 Million to a contractor to hire executives. They then admitted to the following (more designed incompetence) as stated in the VA-OIG report:
- Insufficient transparency from VHA regarding the scope and costs of its CSI plans for VACO senior executives
- Excessive deference by VA’s Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness leaders to undersecretaries and other senior leaders, despite concerns that they or their staff had about the incentives
- Missed opportunities by the Office of General Counsel to detect legal issues with the CSIs before payment
- Failure to leverage VA’s existing governance processes to ensure proper risk management of the new CSI authority
What else has the VA done instead of fixing its policy, process, and procedure problems? The Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) has been busy!
Long has this author reported that the “new and improved” Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) systems for Compensation and Pension (Comp & Pen) medical decisions were a circus in designed incompetence. The VA-OIG report is much nicer than I am and reports that the VBA needs “Better oversight of accessibility, safety, and cleanliness at contract facilities offering VA disability exams.” I reported that these Comp & Pen contractors are not reporting correctly or forcing providers to lie to the VBA about their diagnoses, having discussed this with multiple providers in the El Paso and Phoenix areas. Meaning that even the supposed controls to obtain data to decide at the VBA on a veteran’s claim are flawed and full of designed incompetence, fraud, waste, and abuse.
In Las Cruces, my first Comp & Pen exam occurred in a filthy and poorly lit medical office, and the provider blamed the problem on the building’s owner. The provider’s desk was a folding card table. The provider had a laptop and a cell phone and tried to convince me they had been practicing medicine for 20+ years. During the first Comp and Pen exam in El Paso, the provider was in the basement of a poorly lit building; the floors permeated the air with a sharp urine smell when the smell of vomit was not overpowering the urine. The building has since undergone a significant remodel, but it has taken two years of comp and pen exams to improve. Nevertheless, the VBA insists that this program of farming out these exams is in the veteran’s best interest and helps speed up the comp and pen decisioning process.
The VBA still cannot use the tools they designed to get work appropriately accomplished, e.g., deciding veteran claims for compensation for service-connected disabilities. The VA-OIG reports, “Delays occurred in some (10,000+) veterans’ benefits claims while awaiting a decision.” Feel free to read the entire linked report; what the VBA is getting away with regarding fraud, waste, and abuse is incredible. Quoted from the report, we find this gem:
“The (VA-OIG Inspector) team identified 10,541 claims aged 365 days or older that, on August 1, 2022, was at the (National Work Queue) NWQ division awaiting decision and were not distributed to a regional office. Most of these claims had been at the NWQ division for at least six months, and over 99 percent required routing to specialized teams that process special mission herbicide-related claims. Office of Field Operations (OFO) leaders limited staffing for these teams to control quality for these complex claims and balance workloads, and they generally expected delays. However, the VA-OIG team reviewed VBA’s oldest pending claims and identified instances in which the NWQ division’s ranking rules unintentionally contributed to delays.”
Did you notice that they are backlogged, they expected delays, and their ranking rules “unintentionally” worsened the problem? Here is the rub: “unintentional” is designed incompetence being hidden by bureaucrats and accepted by the VA-OIG inspection team as valid excuses. Intentionally creating systems, policies, processes, and procedures that worsen problems in completing the task you were hired to accomplish is fraud, waste, and continues to abuse the customer (veterans).
What else is the VA-OIG finding in the community care system intentionally designed to worsen care (abuse) for patients and allow the VBA to commit fraud and waste? The following VA-OIG report exemplifies perfectly what is happening in El Paso but originates with the Martinsburg, VA VAMC:
“The VA-OIG determined that community care scheduling delays occurred because of (1) ineffective processes used to manage community care consults, (2) shortages of specialty care providers, such as in otolaryngology, gastroenterology, radiology, orthopedics, and cardiology, and (3) a lack of controls to ensure manager accountability for consult timeliness.”
Lack of controls, managerial accountability, and timeliness are the central problems in the VA; generally, the VBA represents explicitly some of the most often cited issues by the VA-OIG in their inspections of VA medical centers, VBA regional offices, and every other policy, process, and procedure inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. How many times will these specific issues arise before the US House and Senate demand personal accountability, arm the VA-OIG with the power to FIRE people, and clean the VA house of those who intentionally create problems (abuse) veterans? The Fraud, Waste, and Abuse inside the VA are astounding and only ever worsen; this makes it a leadership failure, and as long as the VA only hires and promotes from within, these problems will only continue to dog and humiliate the VA!
In yet another stunningly bad VA-OIG report on community care problems, the VA-OIG reported the following:
“Despite adequate staffing levels in the community care department, the system did not meet VHA expectations for the timely processing of consults and scheduling appointments for care in the community. While there was an increase in patients receiving primary care in the community and delays in processing and scheduling community care consults, the OIG did not identify patients who experienced poor outcomes.”
Did you catch that last sentence? How hard did the VA-OIG look for patients or providers adversely affected by the incompetence of the community care representatives staffed at the Loma Linda VAMC? Does this mean I am questioning the accuracy and verity of the VA-OIG? The simple answer: YES!
As an employee of the VA at the Raymond G. Murphy VAMC, Albuquerque, NM, I regularly saw patients who reported adverse issues with community care and the VA but would not speak up for fear of retribution by the VA. I was in the ER when an angry family complained that their father (veteran) had been sitting in a treatment room for almost 10 hours; the treatment room was for urgent cases that could be resolved quickly, and this was on top of a four-hour wait in the waiting room. The experienced nurses and physician assistants gossiped loudly during shift change; the patient had not been checked on in six hours, and they were vociferously leaving the ER! As the MSA at the front desk, I was the listening ear for this episode; I reported to the leadership, I encouraged the family to report it to the patient advocate, and the family related that the last time they complained, several appointments mysteriously were canceled and had to be rescheduled for 6-10 months into the future.
Other patients reported similar treatment when they complained, or even if they asked questions about verity in a process, they were being asked to undertake. Other veterans and their families reported abuse at the hands of providers who reported to the hotlines for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, and then medications did not show up; PCPs were mysteriously and suddenly changed, and clinics were shifted. Time was wasted trying to get new appointments, get providers up to speed, and set new scheduled specialty appointments. Do you remember the wait list scandal in Phoenix, where veterans died on waiting lists for life-saving appointments? Guess who was the first to be “waitlisted,” the veterans asking questions. If you missed an appointment, you were automatically waitlisted, even if your provider canceled the appointment. I lived and was seen in Phoenix during this veteran killing scandal; veterans would whisper about what was happening but were so scared they did not tell anyone else but other veterans.
What else has the VA-OIG found recently that the VA has been doing instead of correcting problems? How about the long-standing issue of reusable medical equipment being improperly cleaned between patients? The VA-OIG report noted, “Deficiencies in documentation of reusable medical device reprocessing and failures in VISN 22 oversight of sterile processing service at the Raymond G. Murphy VAMC in Albuquerque, New Mexico.” Within the last four years, the failures of the VHA to properly clean, document, and process reusable medical equipment have ballooned, putting patients at risk, injuring some, and killing at least two. Why the VA-OIG found, again, is horrifying and similar to what it keeps finding, which means that lack of controls, managerial accountability, and timeliness continue to dog this program and represent fraud, waste, and abuse (including murder) of veterans!
For the record, the Raymond G. Murphy VAMC was inspected and FAILED horribly in 2022 and was reinspected in 2023, finding the same problems as the first inspection. The leaders KNEW what was wrong and did NOTHING to change or correct the issues. Regarding reusable medical equipment, if you cannot prove it was sterilized properly with documentation that forms a chain of evidence, you should NOT be using it in a procedure on a patient. Nevertheless, the Raymond G. Murphy VAMC IS doing precisely this, and the VA-OIG can only issue more recommendations and reinspect in a year.
The Raymond G. Murphy VAMC leaders never hesitate to lie, cheat, steal, and fabricate records to avoid accountability. I have seen this personally happen hundreds of times, and the VA-OIG “inspects,” offers recommendations, tells the victims they could not verify the truth of the report, and the leaders dance away without ever being held accountable. Unfortunately, this is the SAME pattern happening in Phoenix and El Paso, so the problems of these VAMCs are not isolated but endemic to the entire VHA leadership teams in every clinic, hospital, VISN, and Federal leadership level!
Fear of VA retribution is a real and serious issue at the VA, VHA, and VBA. Why do I report these problems with the issue of fear so prevalent at the VA? Because the VA cannot “Skeer” me! Lt. General Nathanial Bedford Forrest (CSA) is quoted as saying, “Get ’em skeered and keep the skeer on ’em.” If you cannot put the “skeer” on someone, you will never keep the“skeer” on them. Does this mean I have escaped VA retribution? NOPE, but the VA cannot “skeer” me or dissuade me from reporting the problems and offering help to fix the issues at the VA!
The Department of Veterans Affairs is abusing its presidential appointment to:
“… Care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan.”
They deliberately create policies, processes, and procedures that allow them to escape the consequences of their bad decisions and poor leadership. The VA has created an atmosphere of incompetence and corruption where those who participate are elevated, and those who do not are punished, be they employees, contractors, veterans, widows, or orphans. I am dedicated to seeing this bureaucratic disaster end forthwith. Join me?
© Copyright 2024 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein; the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the pictures.
All rights reserved. For copies, reprints, or sharing, please contact through LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesalisbury/
Uwe Poerksen wrote the book from which this title originates and will weigh heavily in this conversation. If you can find the book, the title is: “Plastic Words: The Tyranny of Modular Language.” It is important to note that when this book was written, it was heavily criticized, castigated, hated, derided, and demeaned. Yet, the truth of this book continues to ring across all nations, and modern society needs to understand tyrants are manipulating them.
The media knows the definitions and legal parameters of a riot and a protest but intentionally chooses to call riots “peaceful protests,” mostly peaceful protests,” and more. Looking abstractly, we must ask, “
The question has puzzled me for a long time, and Ewe Poerksen answered this while discussing slogans, catchphrases, and clichés. Moreover, these abbreviated empty phrases cloud something important, “Information is far more than a lightweight and short-lived cliché. [Information] is anchored in the structure of our world to be heavyweight, not lightweight.” Yet, what do we see minute-to-minute; we see heavy topics boiled down to 140-character sound bites.
Have you ever asked yourself why Pelosi and Sharpton (among many others) always boil their topics down to race? They have nothing else to discuss; they gained power by race hustling, and they will not give up the power gained. Meaning they must keep inventing new enemies to be fought against that would represent racism. Their power base comprises those who want to carry on the faux battle through the tyranny of language.
When discussing clichés, we must also discuss catchphrases, as they always contain action. Historically, “Remember the Maine, To HELL with Spain” was very popular and abbreviated to “Remember the Maine.” It referred to the USS Maine lost in Havana Harbor, possibly “to a spontaneous explosion.” Still, the phrase was catchy, and a war was fought. The Spanish-American war resulted, and “Remember the Maine” was employed to emotionally tie people together with an idea and kill other people. What if the Spanish-American War was a big mistake? Who benefitted?
Who benefits? Tyrants who do not want people to read, learn, and decide for themselves. John Dewey forced upon America, and then to the world, whole word methodologies for learning to read, forcing out phonics, and we name schools after this tyrant. He, among several others, is most notable in teaching children how not to read. He removed tools like phonics, rhyming, and others, replacing them with whole-word instruction, making reading problematic and deleterious. These principles have morphed into the modern society where there are no attention spans.
Fighting tyranny is a daily, minute-by-minute activity, and the following steps are provided to help you start on the path; they are not complete solutions, as each tyrant fought will be different.
It will not be easy to take America back and remove the tyrants. Believe it is possible. Hope for a better day. Prepare your minds. Then, stand confident and capable and watch the tyrants run for cover.
On a recent project, a manager was asked, “Who are the customers so customer service could be provided?” The answer shocked and dismayed, reflecting a lack of understanding of business principles. Hence, this article aims to clarify how to identify the customer. I write simply so understanding can be promulgated to any audience.
In thinking this was an anomaly, I began asking my customers, assigned geographically disparate leaders of teams, if they knew who their primary customer was and if they could identify primary, secondary, tertiary, quandary, and external customers. The answers are why this topic is so critical. The confusion about who the customer is and identifying the proper customer classifications is endemic in business organizations currently, and billions of dollars are at stake. Before you can claim “World-Class Customer Service,” you need to identify your customers.
A recent VA-OIG report claims that the VHA needs more written guidelines to improve management of the VHA. Of all the blatantly obvious things to conclude, writing things down to improve managerial practices takes the cake. Having worked in the VHA, I can attest to two things: writing things down is imperative, and getting employees to obey the written guidelines is the other half of the same coin.
Speaking of glaring holes, the VA-OIG report carries no reason why this policy is not currently drafted and available for VHA facilities. In the decade or so covering the VA-OIG reports, never did the VA-OIG reports cover why something happened. The VHA never has to justify operating and abusing patients; it merely agrees there is a problem and agrees with the VA-OIG that they will rectify the situation. There is never any accountability from the people hired to lead the VA, VHA, VBA, or the National Cemetery. Congressional hearings do not lead to firing, VA-OIG reports do not lead to negative annual reviews, and even being convicted of a crime does not guarantee that punishment will happen.
What did an 
Organizational design (OD) hinges upon a caveat posed by Myron Tribus, “what does the business organization [leaders] desire?” Business organizations can be designed in a myriad of way
What is needed?
Returning to the decision posed by Tribus, regardless of whether to be a money tap or a community-building organization, embracing a new model for the role of the trainer will prove beneficial. Reducing mid-level managers will produce direct bottom-line cost reduction. Increasing the freedom of front-line employees while also training them to generate customer-centric solutions will open new lines of business and new opportunities. There are no downside consequences to adopting these changes earlier than your competition and proving the concept. As a business leader, are you brave enough to embrace these truths, or will you watch what you have built be destroyed by those who are? The choice, as always, is yours, and if you would like help, please feel free to reach out.
Oh, the bitter tears President Lincoln must weep…
In another 
Often writing about the Department of Veterans Affairs leaves my mind dark and argumentative. My solution is to write something more uplifting, taking a mental break from the drudgery of bureaucrats abusing people. Thus, this article was born from a desire to uplift, guide, and offer hope during a confusing, chaotic, and calamitous time.
Samuel Johnson, speaking about hope, said:
Honest question. I surpassed my ultimate threshold in waiting for the VA to improve in 2010 and stopped accepting the excuses, the platitudes, and the whiny discourse from the VA. Elected officials charged with scrutinizing the US Government, when has patience been surpassed, and you will cease allowing this nefarious Kabuki? The veterans are waiting, the taxpayers are fed up, and you need to make a decision and act.
The VA’s mission statement is “to fulfill President Lincoln’s promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans.” The statement is meant to echo the reverence given to the men and women who serve in the American military with honor. Reflecting that this body (the Department of Veterans Affairs) is tasked with serving them respectfully, similar to how they served their nation. One final question is, “Does killing, abusing, and harming veterans equate to honoring the VA mission statement?”
Value is a term many think they understand and, more often, barely grasp. Ralph Barton Perry is the seminal author on all things related to value. As value is an aspect of functioning society and contributes to the wickedness of government, it is only fitting to delve into this concept with a discussion on value, using more examples from the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG).
Consider the role of the master builder in building a major building. Each specialized task, drywall, foundations, painting, plumbing, electrical, etc., must all be done on a schedule and the master builder is ultimately responsible for the entire building once complete. The building is completed promptly and efficiently through exchange and cooperation. But is the master builder responsible for the actions of those specialists; as it pertains to the functionality of the building, the answer is yes! Thus, if a plumber is stealing, an electrician is cheating, or a painter is not using the approved paints, the master builder is responsible to the owner for failing to monitor and closely supervise the subordinate contractors exchanging their skills for political and financial gain.
We conclude with an insight from Perry (p.515):
Do you want to see how corrupt the government is, specifically how abusive the VA is? Feel free to check out the following 
Returning to where we began, “A ruler needs legitimacy before all else, and legitimacy, in the end, must have its base in the consent of the governed.” Whether a ruler is a hereditary monarch, an elected representative, or a despotic tyrant, legitimacy and consent remain principles upon which power is derived. Absent either legitimacy or consent, the ruler has no power to govern; lacking power, that rule is either quickly deposed or will shortly be destroyed by those being abused in the name of governance. History is replete with examples of citizens who have rejected their consent after actions were taken that delegitimized the ruler’s power.
Last week, feel free to look it up on YouTube, Officer Tatum was discussing a Drag Queen show where children are present, and the Drag Queen is exposing their underwear regularly to the horror of the children attending. Now, take a minute and put your critical thinking hat on. If a man or woman exposes their drawers to a child anywhere, that person is arrested for exposure and investigated for child endangerment and other potential crimes. Yet, if the person claims to be a cross-dressing member of the LGBTQ+ community, the law somehow doesn’t apply. Tell me why!
Generally, I am against banning books, but I am all in for age appropriateness in materials offered for reading. Tell me, should kindergarten-aged children be learning about masturbation? Their young minds and bodies are not developed sufficiently, yet what do we find in kindergarten required reading, how to masturbate? It was inappropriate to have harlequin romances in a junior high school library. What I needed was to learn about love, not sex. Not knowing there was a difference cost me a lot of time and relationships. What is the exposure to gay sexual details doing to the children’s minds right now? Why are these materials not only allowed but promoted to children?
Where are the rights of parents? On YouTube, a discussion was held that a mother and father had no legal say in what their child was taught in his second-grade classroom. Really, where did the rights of parents go? In 6th -12th grade, I freely admit I forged parental signatures on permission forms. Yet, my parents were still afforded their right to say no and tell the school board. More, when my mother became vociferous sufficiently to make a nuisance, she was jailed for contempt regarding teacher overreach in what was being taught to my younger brothers.
You have no claims upon my personal liberty, and I want my rights back!
Please note that while the following begins with truths found in the Bible, this is not a religious discussion. Galatians 6:5-10 reminds us that what we reap, we will sow. Some have called this the “Principle of the Harvest,” others try to frame this discussion as Isaiah proclaimed (Isaiah 10:15) “Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.” Each iteration proclaims the same truth, where you invest, you shall gather the interest thereof.
As a kid, I read a lot of Greek and Roman Mythology. I learned some great lessons from the fates, the fabled battles, and the historical interweaving with the fictional. One of the lessons keeps recircling, “Those whom the gods would destroy first they make proud.” Except, the gods/God do not make men proud; men choose pride, then comes vanity, all feeding ego, until that penultimate moment when “Hubris Ante Nemesis” occurs and the bottom is pulled out from under you.
How expensive is the government because those who claim to be public servants practice hubris with our tax dollars? How complicated a process does a government become when government becomes a jobs program instead of a government? How big does a government become when hubris is practiced against the citizens?
Is the future really as bright as our faith; YES! What we choose to believe in, how we choose to exercise belief, and the need for freedom of religion to keep men on equal grounds, are all pillars to helping man live life without extremes. Extremes breed death; living without extremes creates life; can we at least learn this lesson? I hope so.
The Department of Veterans Affairs – Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) regularly crows about 
Unfortunately, the VA-OIG reports discussed are not even the tip of the iceberg of what is happening. My apologies, dear readers; I have been remiss in my reporting duties. Why have I been remiss, because my health went sideways since April when I had a medical procedure completed that was advised but not appropriate. The VHA and VBA are sick organizations and desperately need scrutiny and standards, new leadership, and written organizational policies. Help me force these nefarious characters into the sunshine for a good dose of sunshine disinfectant, and let’s change the world for the better.
What connects all three of these criminals; the failures of VA leadership to scrutinize their employees. Does this remind you of additional leaders, maybe those in Congress who continue to refuse to scrutinize the executive branch? The US Constitution established three co-equal branches, the judicial protects the Constitution, the Executive operates the government, and the Legislative has two jobs write laws for the executive branch to operate and scrutinize the executive branch as it operates. Each branch answers to the other, and all branches must operate inside the US Constitution. America needs the legislative branch to begin doing its job, and we, the voters, are the only way to begin demanding the change we need!
Thus, gratitude, excellence, and gratitude are mere pieces of courteous behavior. Interestingly, I find the best lessons on courteous behavior have arrived from the most disgustingly discourteous people. In the US Army, I was called out by an incredibly courteous person for my language. In the US Navy, I learned why courteous language was required through observing the consequences of the discourteous around me. Several department members used horrific language, acted in manners revealing their lack of self-respect, and then cursed the gods for their predicament with women and money.
Bear with me for a moment. I speak for myself. I do not speak for all homo sapiens; I do not speak for anyone else but me — I research law, science, history, anthropology, psychology, and much more to form my opinions. Agree or disagree, your choice. Feel free to express your opinion, just understand I might disagree with your opinion, but I love to discuss topics with people. Do not bring emotional hyperbole and try to pass it off as fact! As I have told my wife, I do not care how you feel.
There is no excuse for behaving like the VA’s bureaucratic legions behave. Bureaucrats, from the city government (including the school board) to the Federal Government, you hold a sacred trust to act better than you are currently performing. I refuse you any leeway for acting like pompous overlords when you are paid through forced taxation! You have trespassed upon my patience and kindness long enough, and the day of reckoning has arrived. You work for me; you work for every taxpayer and citizen in this country, and you have violated our trust, charged us too much and too often, and if you do not begin to show yourself worthy of the sacred trust, we will force you from your cushy jobs and hold you liable for the monies you have squandered! The law is on our side; you need to begin showing you honor our trust and investment forthwith!
Government laws, rules, regulations, and the tyrannical thumb of bureaucrats upon the scale of justice mean citizens lose, not gain, freedoms. Consider the oppression created by the European Union to “protect” wine industries but, in so doing, eradicated competition and locked-in prices to which the government takes through taxes, tariffs, and trade. The cost, though, is to stop the majority of innovation, the role of technology, and the promotion of class warfare.
As a teenager, I worked on a dairy farm in Morrill, Maine, and later as a hired hand on a sheep ranch in Bluebell, Utah. Often growing up, my family had chickens, ducks, geese, goats, pigs, cats, and dogs. There are several lessons I feel we could learn from the animals. In discussing the animals, you are left to choose whether the lesson applies to you or not. I am not here to convince anyone, I merely relate what I have observed and the lessons I learned. If you can use the lesson to improve your life, I have achieved my goal. If you choose not to like the lesson for any reason, happily know you are not the audience intended, and move on smartly.
Later while tending sheep, another interesting lesson was learned regarding gender. Ewes, female sheep, who had lost their lambs, knew somehow if a misgendered animal was placed before them and drove that animal away. That ewe knew she had birthed a male or female lamb, and any orphan trying to feed would not do; only orphans of the same gender, wearing the skins of their original lamb, were allowed to become a stepchild and be accepted if the ewe permitted them.
Consider with me a process all herd managers perform, the castration process. A bull castrated does not grow the female reproductive organs and becomes a cow. A castrated lamb does not change gender after castration; even if that lamb is provided hormones from female animals, that lamb is male. A neutered cat does not regrow new reproductive organs or change genders; from birth to death, the gender of that animal is cast, they do not change, and their instincts remain embedded in that animal.
On a side topic, VA-OIG, how do you define a “significant complaint” and separate it from other types of complaints? Honest question, the information was, to quote my PCP, “remarkably” missing from your investigation report! Would the VA-OIG like to know why so many veterans’ complaints have risen to a “serious” level? You reported the exact problem:
On the topic of China, why is 
The US Constitution, in the 10th Amendment, provides all the authority any citizen needs to demand the watchers scrutinize the government and, if required, replace the watchers.
Employers throughout the world, including Disney, American Express, Wells Fargo, and thousands more, have begun to battle their employees. Unionized shops, the battle has been waged for 50 years and shows no sign of relenting. Only recently have other employers joined the fray, not to help employees but to rid themselves of employees. These businesses are fighting employees against their employees for the company’s culture and soul. Couched in many a buzzword, political stance, and archaic practices, the employers want to rid their workforces of those they despise, and the battle is legal!
Distichia Moralia provides with keen wisdom the following, “Speech is given to many; intelligence to few.” After the European trip of US President Joe Biden, intelligence is in short supply in the White House, the staff, and of course, the US Media! Would someone please tell me how so many can say so much, yo-yo’ing from one point to another, and still make no sense? Honest question, the other day someone told me the patients were running the asylum, and I countered no, the clowns took over the circus. Both sentiments are accurate, but I detest clowns, and mental patients can occasionally do something brilliant.
Why was I speaking in this incident; I was not going to be pushed or bullied by what I considered at the time a pompous moron. I needed to change how I perceived Mr. Moro as a person. I graduated high school, Mr. Moro never became a friend, but we did learn how to get along with each other. Yes, I ate some crow and had to chip away at my ego. After graduating and traveling to Advanced Individual Training for the US Army, I got a nice letter from Mr. Moro. One of the reasons we speak is we feel put upon and do not know how to extricate ourselves, or in my case, extricate my foot from my mouth.
Three people from different periods of human history, all messaging a truth, thoughts do become things, and often the things our thoughts become are not what we wanted or desired. More specifically, the thoughts became things because we expressed the thoughts that should have stayed silent in words. In learning to control the post-traumatic stress disorder I suffer, the words of Peter McWilliams became the answer I needed and the balm in Gilead I sought. I had to stop fighting my thoughts to be able to control the pernicious and repeated images, feelings, and constant reminiscing over a terrible incident from my service in the US Navy. Every day remains a challenge to acknowledge the thoughts and let them go. Every day it becomes easier to achieve. There is hope!
The title is Latin for “Life is short, but trouble makes it longer.” Recently I was reminded of the power and blessing of adversity. One of the comments that struck me was, “You will all experience your own Gethsemane’s.” Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives and became famous in the New Testament for the place where Jesus went to pray and, according to the New Testament, completed the atonement. Gethsemane remains a symbol of hope for people experiencing trouble, difficulty, or adversity. However, the thought of us experiencing our own Gethsemane individually intrigues me as a concept.
It’s no secret to those who have known me that I did not like serving in the US Navy and the pressure cooker of the USS Barry (DDG 52) from 2000-2004. I have often cursed and shook my fist at the sky over the experiences during the US Navy. Yet, even now, the experiences in the US Navy are felt as a small moment, and time does help heal wounds. Better still, time tends to soften the edges, and one of the other things I have found is that how we choose changes how we remember. I loved being “haze grey and underway” in the navy. Many things were better while sailing that worsened to the point of breaking while in port. More to the point, being “haze grey and underway” was always an adventure, fun, and never dull, even while pulling five and dime watch standing, doing maintenance on a pitching deck, or even climbing the mast while underway to fix something broke.
Major Winchester leaving M*A*S*H in a garbage truck reminds me of my time in the US Navy, very appropriate. As soon as Major Winchester came to M*A*S*H 4077, I watched to see what pranks could be done to Major Charles Emerson Winchester the third. I loved watching Charles become the butt of a joke. Yet, even as I type, I cannot help but wonder, was a garbage truck appropriate; is it disrespectful of the potter to see another person struggle and heap more scorn upon them? Charles’ life changed dramatically and horribly; his ways of thinking, the path of his life, and even his belief in his own self-worth were constantly challenged and scrutinized. I can understand Charles’ experiences more now than at any time previously.
PSA: Please note, this article can be reviewed just for the writing, or for the humor, or both. You decide. If you know a good joke, leave it in the comments. I am always looking for new materials.
One of the truths about humor is embedded in the 
“Don’t you know that everyone wants to laugh?” There is much truth in this line, but laughing is a choice. We choose what to laugh at, decide when to laugh, and choose, with the resulting consequences, what is found humorous. The first time I saw the movie “Singing in the Rain,” from whence the song “Make ‘em laugh” originated, I thought this song was ridiculous. Recently I saw the movie again, and this song was hilariously funny and laughed so hard I cried. What changed; certainly wasn’t the movie which was made in 1952; the acting had not changed, the actors are dead; I changed. The first time I saw this movie, I was exhausted after prepping for a holiday meal, I was strung out from too much work, and nothing was funny. This last time, I had changed mentally and physically, which made all the difference.
I like to laugh. I need to laugh, or the depression and anxiety become too great and I am angry. This last week has been no picnic with the continuing crush from the VA-OIG, add the IRS and several state departments of revenue, and I needed to find humor. Combined with the ongoing dissertation pains and the need for a good chuckle was mandatory! Without further ado, here are things that leave me laughing in the aisles. If repeats are found from previous posts, you have my apologies!
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
What a unique creation the woman is. Paradoxical in all things, a woman is soft and strong, inflexible and flexile, independent, and a great team member. What family is complete without a woman and a man? One of the great truths in life is that man and woman were created separate and dependent, and gender is an eternal construct. Each person is born male and female, with their creator’s traits, personalities, and intelligence. Yet what do we see in all modern societies; the continued blurring of lines, roles, and dehumanization of the grandeur of man and woman, but of the two woman, has been taking the worst hits.
Estrogen and testosterone, hormones, and chemicals would not need to be supplemented, and the mental processes separating a man and a woman would not need to be fought so assiduously by those having their sex surgically or chemically altered. Again, supporting the fact that it is psychology and not biology, establishing the difference between biological men and women, and the sum of their sexual parts is a non-issue.
Under the role of woman, there is a title worthy of acknowledgment, and the title is lady. Like gender, being a lady is a choice, a lifestyle, and contains social obligations, societal expectations, and requires significant effort on the part of the woman to obtain the title lady. For example, Nancy Reagan was a lady, Hilary Clinton is merely a woman. What separates these two women is class, respect, dignity, and more, not politics, not personality, and definitely not lifestyles and social circles. Being a lady requires sacrifice, making choices over long periods of time, and it demands total commitment to achieve. Females become women through growth, females become ladies by choice and sacrifice, and are granted this title by others.
I made the mistake of ranking the various government agencies on how intractable, unintelligent, and irresponsible they are. I ranked the IRS based upon previous experience more competent than the VA. That is a mistake I will not repeat any time soon, as the VA and the IRS are in a neck and neck race to the bottom! Consider how the IRS sends you paper mail notifications; if you have questions, you are referred to a website for answers and provided several customer service numbers. Except, when the website fails, you call the notifications’ numbers and are told that you need to visit the website for faster service. The website refers you back to customer service, whose phone queues are always so full you are automatically disconnected after being reminded to use the website for faster service.
Again, I implore you, the voters, to scrutinize your elected officials for their continued employment. Yes, start today. I know the elections are months away, but it requires time to evaluate performance, become knowledgeable, and prepare to act on election day. You deserve a better government, and those in office deserve to be unemployed!
It is time we end this charade and money pit call the Department of Veterans Affairs, and every other agency of the Federal government bloat! The government should be leading, not lagging, where operational efficiency and fiscal sanity are concerned. I repeat, only for emphasis, are you fed UP yet?
Frank Crane begins our discussion with an absolute flash of brilliance from the Eternal Semaphore:
When the law is described, Leo J. Muir provides five words that are inseparably connected to describing what law is:
Think of the great questions in modern society where truth and justice would solidly end speculation. JFK’s murder, Epstein’s “suicide,” TWA Flight 800, Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, etc. Yet, for all the world, the truth remains missing, and questions rightly remain. What is the power of law; the ability to publish the truth. Consider the wise words of Rousseau:
Consider a well-known truth that never appears to be fully understood, does a man sow thistles and reap strawberries? Leo J. Muir’s book, “Flashes from the Eternal Semaphore,” lists this as the fifth semaphore, and of the six semaphores, this one is probably my favorite to discuss. Not because I am sowing rocks and reaping corn and beans, but because I often sow rancid vegetables and reap garbage, then wonder why I cannot improve my harvest. As the writings on flash four stated, “Thy speech betrayeth thee,” I am a slow learned and generally only really grasp things after experiencing some consequences that would kill others. As we discuss the Law of the Harvest, please note I am not here to convince or convert, merely to help myself. If you find value in this topic, join me, teach me, that we may both then learn more perfectly.
Long before I read Leo J. Muir’s book, “Flashes from the Eternal Semaphore,” I knew I wanted to find joy. But, I was stuck; what is joy and how do I identify joy were my first two obstacles. Yet, from many sources comes the following, in many different forms:
My granddaughter, a toddler at the time, and I took a walk. She found a wildflower in the midst of thousands of other flowers on this walk which was important to her. Upon our walk concluding, we pressed that flower into a book. The time spent with her remains a cherished memory for me, and when I see wildflowers, the memories of this walk and flower pressing come back readily. Truly, joy is found in the ordinary!
March 14th is National Pie Day! I celebrate a lot of life with food. We begin the second flash with Plato, “The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.” In looking around, the worst things we see originate in failing to accept responsibility and refusing to conquer oneself. Consider the alcoholic or the smoker; nobody had to pressure them into their vices, nobody poured drinks or cigarette smoke into their bodies, but psychologists declare alcoholism is a disease, and smoking is the fault of cigarette manufacturers. Really, or are these addictions merely failure to conquer the enemy within.
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What is weakening every oppressive regime around the globe; is a failure to honor the rule of law. The leaders pursuing easy things become weak, and their choices inevitably lead them into problems with the law. Think back a couple of years to the Chinese baby food or dog food scandals. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) blamed mid-level leaders for their roles in the scandals, but were these people really to blame or merely useful tools to help deflect blame from the flagrant and profligate rule-breaking of someone higher?
By now, the entire world knows the who, as in the central characters in the farrago and cheap Kabuki Theater that has been our lives since 2020. The list of nefarious and detestable characters leads only to politicization, chaos, and right now, the names of these characters need no further introduction. I will not name these repugnant rapscallions any longer.
Want to really be freaked out, scared into mental distress; read what the 
Truth is like that. It does not care about how many others’ truths you know. A single truth brings light, and in bearing that truth, light is shared, just like a lighthouse. That truth lights up where you stand, and others are drawn to your light of truth. Your truth could be as simple as knowing an electric light will come on when you flip a switch. Or it could be as simple as knowing tomorrow will be better than today.
Once we know the truth, we open ourselves to learning more truth by telling others. This is a pattern described in scriptures many times. Moreover, by sharing what we know of that truth (teaching), we are open to learning more perfectly the truth we know and other truths. Consider how cool this pattern of learning and teaching is; we do not see how bright our light is shining, nor should we care. We are here to learn the truth through which we share it and learn more truth. Together, these truths combine to add light in a dark place, where people in darkness are drawn to the lights we share.
If equals are added to equals, then the wholes are equal. Consider with me the societies inside the LGBTQIA+ society. We have lesbians who are not equal to Queers, and trans who are militant against everyone, and more. This means there is a fundamental problem in the LGBTQIA+ society; not everyone is equal, and the whole is not equal. We see similar problems in major political parties in America, Britain, Australia, Israel, etc. These societies (LGBTQIA+, Republicans, Democrats, etc.) are made of individuals who choose to refuse to be equal with like-minded people; thus, the whole of that society is not equal and cannot live the second notion as they failed the first.
If equals are subtracted from equals, then the remainders are equal. Change happens, and changing personnel, especially apparent on professional sports teams, happens frequently. Consider your favorite team, when players changed did the teams performance improve, stay the same, or drop? In a team where all are (supposed to be) equal, one would expect a gradual trend towards improvement over time. Yet, herein lies the applicability of Euclid’s third notion in application too many teams’ performance drops precipitously when personnel are changed around. Why, because they are not equals to each other first, thus when subtractions or additions happen, the remainders are not equal and accordingly performance suffers for a while.
The whole is greater than the part. As an axiom, this notion is well-known, yet being more well-known, it is often misleading. The opportunity certainly exists for the individuals making a whole to be greater than the individual parts. No doubt. An engine missing a timing gear isn’t much of an engine, but the timing gear itself isn’t much without an engine. Moreover, the timing gear must be properly mounted to work at peak performance, bringing to the engine, as a collection of individual parts, the ability to work together for the purpose of the engine.
In the US Navy, I learned the principles of Euclid’s notions while working on gas turbine engines. The models of these engines were the same, but each engine had parts specific to that engine and parts that could be interchanged. The same was true for the three low-pressure air compressors and the two high-pressure air compressors. Moreover, a sailor out there confused low and high air pressure and was injured by high-pressure air when he tried to blow the dust off himself with high-pressure air. But the why, the principles of equality, were missing despite the apparent results.
Introduction
Why did you select that particular rock? You can point to specific colors, shapes, striations, and other elements in the rock to justify that specific rock. However, even if you can define the why, you will be hard-pressed to answer this question. Why? Because you do not know yourself. That rock identifies with you; your identity is embodied in that rock you selected.
Any choice, every choice, comes with consequences. Remember, both sides of the equation must be “same and same.” The choice cannot be separated from the consequences. You cannot drink 18 shots of Vodka without biological results occurring, including drunkenness, dehydration, impaired decision-making, and so forth. You cannot take drugs (legal and illicit) and not have mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual repercussions. You cannot eat a three-layer, 10-inch chocolate cake in a single setting and escape the physical discomfort and other symptoms.
Identity is like collecting rocks and being betrayed at the end when you discover you did not need to collect, carry, and nurture those identifying facets. You built a life of decisions, actions, suffering, or enjoying consequences, and in the end, you’re still a rock. How traumatic will that realization be? How emotionally draining and mentally exhausting will your sacrifice for “Your Identity” become when you find out you did not have to collect the rocks, that your identity creation was, in fact, a millstone, and that millstone crushed out your potential?
DNC-Consulting 