Oh, the bitter tears President Lincoln must weep…
One of the most troubling issues facing many organizations is exemplified perfectly by the VA, specifically the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Previously I worked for an online university in a position where I saw GI-Bill problems affecting students on active duty, reserve, guard, and veterans, all being treated in wildly different manners. The school GI-Bill office was expected to be subject matter experts on all things GI-Bill, but they regularly made decisions that harmed the students. By interpreting the regulations and operating procedures differently from student to student. Yet, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is just as confused as the universities trying to bill GI-Bill charges for students.
From a recent VA Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) report, we find the following:
“The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) did not always accurately process enrollments. An estimated 2,500 of 10,000 enrollments from August 1, 2020, through April 1, 2021. About 790 of the estimated errors involved officials either not reporting or underreporting vacation breaks. VBA claims examiners often mishandled enrollments even when the correct information was submitted. The VA-OIG estimated claims examiners incorrectly processed accurately reported vacation breaks for about 1,700 of 2,500 enrollments with errors.”
Why are these enrollments not processed correctly:
“Insufficient training and guidance meant school certifying officials frequently made mistakes.” The VA takes legislation and writes the processes, procedures, and training materials for universities to use for operations and enrollment of military and veteran students. Front office workers interact with students, back office workers interact with internal employees, the VA keeps the records current, and the VA forms the universities’ oversight resembling the blind leading the blind. Yet, the VA cannot write effective training materials, processes, and procedures, conduct training, and support those who support students.
Per the VA-OIG report, the VBA is looking to implement an automated system to prevent these oversight issues from continuing. I do not expect any automated system created by the VBA to work efficiently because of a simple principle, GIGO. The garbage the VBA will put into the system will ALWAYS result in garbage coming out, creating more problems, costing too much money, and still creating issues for students and student-facing employees at universities and colleges across the country. Somehow, the VA-OIG continues to buy these excuses and pipe dreams and reports the same to Congress, which is also purchasing these excuses and poor performances.
Before someone tries to claim this is isolated to the GI-Bill program, and the GI-Bill program has always been confusing. Using this logic, the health complications at birth can be blamed on the father alone, and the mother’s behaviors do not influence the baby’s health. Here the VA-OIG is reporting on another program governing VA employees, overseen by the OMB, and is incredibly useless as this is a repeated complaint between 2020 and 2022.
“Identity, credential, and access management (ICAM) is a set of tools, policies, and systems used to ensure the right individual has access to the right resource, at the right time, for the right reason in support of federal business objectives. In February 2021, the VA Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) received a hotline complaint claiming the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness and the Office of Information and Technology have not agreed since 2016 on roles and responsibilities for VA’s ICAM program. Failures of ICAM contribute to the VA’s inability to effectively comply with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy. The VA-OIG reviewed to determine whether VA effectively governs its ICAM program as required.”
What did the VA-OIG find?
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- The VA did not effectively manage and coordinate its ICAM program, not meeting three of the four OMB governance requirements.
- The VA did not effectively assign roles and responsibilities, implement a single comprehensive ICAM policy, or meet its technology solutions roadmap goals for fiscal years 2020 and 2021.
- The VA failed to implement updated digital identity risk management requirements.
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Why can’t the VA obey OM oversight?
“These issues occurred primarily because leaders of the different offices performing VA’s ICAM functions have not agreed on how it should be governed. VA risks restricting information from users who need it to perform their job functions without proper governance and leaving information vulnerable to improper use” [emphasis mine].
In this report, the OMB sits as oversight of the VA. The employees are the frontline, and the leaders continue to fail to provide tools, policies, and resources to employees conducting the VA business. What is still an incredibly terrible idea allowing the VA to remain self-governing. Why isn’t the OMB more interested in demanding compliance? Where is Congress scrutinizing how the executive branch agencies are failing and monitoring to improve conduct?
The VBA cannot still properly and timely adjudicate claims. Again, the VA-OIG lambasted the VBA for improperly adjudicating claims, even with “Special-Focused Reviews.” Essentially the quality assurance (QA) process in claim adjudication continues to fail to help improve claim processing accuracy. From the report:
“The Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) reviewed VBA’s design and implementation of its special-focused review process, including applying Government Accountability Office (GAO) standards. The VA-OIG team assessed ten special-focused reviews completed from January 2019 through April 2021 and identified weaknesses in all five of GAO’s internal control components. The VA-OIG also found the VBA Compensation Service’s standard operating procedure related to these special-focused reviews does not provide sufficient guidance to support disability claims-processing improvement fully.”
When I worked in QA, root causation was required to prevent future problems. The VA-OIG found that the QA Special-Focused Reviews do not include root causes or explanations for why the claims were readjudicated, stopped, or delayed in VBA processing. Do not repeated issues reflect the need to restrict self-governance until compliance can be observed?
Why should the VA have its self-governance restricted or prohibited? The following VA-OIG makes clear that the VA cannot govern itself and correct the problems leadership continues to create. Follow the timeline here, quoted directly from the VA-OIG report:
“The VA Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) conducted this review to determine whether the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) accurately adjusted compensation and pension benefit payments for fugitive felons as mandated by law. If VBA does not adjust payments, veterans who are fugitive felons will continue to receive benefits during periods of ineligibility.
In April 2012, VBA instructed regional offices to postpone making decisions on fugitive felon cases while it prepared new guidance. During 2012 and 2013, VBA did not process fugitive felon cases. In June 2014, VBA updated its definition of a fugitive felon to include only referrals indicating escape, flight, or violation of probation or parole conditions. Although VBA then resumed adjusting payments, it did not review the unprocessed 2012 and 2013 cases.
In addition, due to inadequate monitoring, VBA did not process about 46 percent of cases referred by the VA-OIG in 2019 and 2020. Finally, the team found VBA’s notification letters to veterans providing notice of the proposed action and right to a hearing did not always provide the required information. Most commonly, VBA failed to include the reason for the issuance of the arrest warrant.”
The VA has been informed by the VA-OIG multiple times during the decade this problem has been surviving, and 46% of the cases the VA-OIG told the VA to fix still weren’t fixed in 2022. How can any oversight agency still permit the VA to govern itself? The leaders of the VA cannot self-govern, correct course, and make changes timely enough not to create additional expensive problems for veterans. Each of these cases represents either an overpayment, where the VA is clawing funds back, or an underpayment, where the veteran has been shortchanged and is owed money.
When the VA claws money back from making a mistake that overpaid a veteran, dependent, spouse, or other entity, the VA-OIG has found that even here, the VBA cannot act per their policies, follow procedures, or notify veterans in a timely manner. A veteran I got to know who served in Vietnam and caught a round in the heart that blew away a large chunk of his heart. For 50 years or so, this was sufficient to have a 100% disability. On the day he turned 69, his disability rating dropped to 80%, with a coinciding reduction in monthly benefits. The VBA investigated this claim decision and found they had made a mistake, but their mistake would not significantly change the rating, so the veteran was stuck with an 80% rating and was told to go back to work.
To the best of my knowledge, the claim remains stuck in claims appeal hell, awaiting the judgment of the dark and benighted realms to act. The veteran, who cannot hold a job due to weakness from lacking a significant part of his heart muscles, is driven into bankruptcy. His heart will not regrow, but because his age has met the age when heart problems are actuarially known, the decision was made. The decision was made without notification to the veteran, and the veteran only became aware of the situation when he had monies clawed back by the VA. From the time the decision was made to the date he knew, 18 months had transpired, and the veteran was automatically sent to collections. While this was never allowed to become a VA-OIG investigation, I have spoken to family members and the veteran while volunteering to help disabled people find employment.
To add the bitter cherry to this crap sundae, this is not the worst abuse I heard in my volunteer efforts. Worse, this is not the worst story I have had related while talking to veterans in my travels across the continental 48 United States. Veterans sit forever in claim hell; they cannot afford to go forward, they are abused when seeking medical help, and every interaction with VA medical providers runs the risk of being the victim of an “adverse medical event.”
To this point, the VA and the VBA have been central to proving that the VA cannot self-govern, oversight is failing, and the back office administrators are hindering the front office operations. Surely the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), where people’s lives are at risk, would not have a similar problem. Unfortunately, you would be wrong, and here is one VHA example, of many, to support this conclusion:
“A VA Medical Center (VAMC) community living center (CLC) staff delayed life-sustaining treatment for a patient (Patient A) who experienced cardiac arrest and died. The VA-OIG also reviewed an allegation regarding a second patient (Patient B) who had resuscitation initiated, despite a do not resuscitate (DNR) order in the electronic health record (EHR).”
Why did one patient die without resuscitation and another get resuscitation without wanting it? The policies and procedures were complicated, and the use of armbands confused the providers. The providers (doctors and nurses) overseeing care had a person in the medical records of these patients and still could not properly act for patient care. The patients had armbands and proper medical documents on file, and the providers still got confused and provided poor care, at best, to the patients involved.
In another long-term care facility under VA operation, the following occurred:
“The VA-OIG found that the day charge nurse’s assessment was delayed and incomplete, and the day charge nurse failed to properly document the resident’s reassessments, treatments, and interventions. The VA-OIG substantiated that nursing staff failed to document and carry out a telephone order to transfer the resident to the Emergency Department but could not determine if this impacted the patient’s outcome.”
Let’s take a moment to allow this to sink in fully. Failure to follow a doctor’s orders might have been part of the problem the patient DIED! Yet, the chain of events is sufficiently blurry to mystify the investigators – this I find HIGHLY SUSPECT! But, as the Home Shopping Network reports, “There’s more!”
“The VA-OIG determined that following the resident’s death, facility staff failed to conduct a comprehensive review of events leading up to and contributing to the resident’s death and, due to a lack of coordination of care at the time of discharge from the inpatient unit, the resident did not have the needed equipment upon admission to the CLC.”
I accept that a nurse’s role is stressful, the VA policies do not make their jobs less stressful, and the healthcare leadership (overall) is abysmal on the best days. However, killing a patient is still a BAD thing! Yet, here we have another dead veteran at the hands of the medical care providers, and the best the VA-OIG can do is make ten (10) recommendations for change. Does anyone believe the VA can continue to self-govern under its current misguided leadership and convoluted organizational structure?
Ask yourself, would the abuse of the veterans mean more if this was your uncle, brother, father, mother, sister, or aunt? They are your family members for the problems which they face; we all face in our constitutional republic. Where is Congress scrutinizing the government? Please become interested, active, and engaged, or we will lose this constitutional republic to the tyranny of the power-hungry despots.
© Copyright 2023 – 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 images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
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:
We begin with a firm understanding of what hope is. Hope is a desire coupled with an expectation the desire will be delivered. For example, in the dark of the night, we hope for sunrise. We expect sunrise to arrive eventually, and when it does arrive, we feel something as we witness a new day dawn — expectation coupled with desire, including a feeling upon delivery.
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):
In the book “Common Sense” Thomas Paine stated:
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.
