C-SPAM - Government at Work!

I think it's fair to say, that most of us, don't think we will get screwed by our own government, until it happens! And, when it happens, it's a lonely and helpless feeling of desperation, and a battle you probably will not win! You complain to your Congress person, and all you get for your troubles is a nice letter and tokenism to get your vote, etc.

The bone I have to pick with the VA Medical Center here is Albuquerque, New Mexico (where I live), and it involves three issues. I put a booklet together of 60+ pages for an attorney and for those in the need to know, and so for the purpose of this article, I will have to summarize the material in this matter.

1) Hate crime:

FIVE job lay-offs for me in a decade or so, and I had finally had it, and I couldn't pay the rent after the fifth job loss, etc. I was evicted from my apartment and was homeless for the first time in my life! Being a veteran, I learned about a work program at the VA Medical Center, which helps veterans get back on their feet, so I enrolled in the program and I lived on the VA grounds during a four month period. During that time, I saved my pennies, got my own apartment, and moved from the VA Medical Center. I continued my search for a permanent job in the community.

I was given a three month extension in the work program, by my vocational counselor at the VA, which I was very pleased about. But, it wasn't to be! The following week, and for some unknown reason, I was slashed from my job in an evil and hostile way, by my own vocational counselor, and thrown out of the work program! With perfect attendance in six months, everything I had built in the past six months was lost! The reason for my termination was never given, and I could only guess that it was racially motivated...a hate crime! This is the worst thing that has happened to me in my entire life-time!

When I arrived at the VA four months earlier, I was already in a depressed state because of all my job lay-offs, and I was taking anti-depressants to help me cope. At 60 years of age, I could not find a job in the community over the next four months...I couldn't pay the rent, and again I was evicted from my apartment, and became homeless for the second time in a year! Calls, letters sent to the VA pleading my case fell on deaf ears! I never got a response from anyone at the VA. I ran out of money, will and time, and I faced the same judge for the second time, and I knew I would not make it!

A suicide attempt, brought me back to the VA Medical Center (ambulance), and I would now spend the next three months in a lock-down psychiatric ward. I was not able to make arrangements to get my possessions out of my apartment, and I suffered my "Katrina," as I lost everything!

2) Experimentation/guinea-pigging?

All of us have to place enormous trust in our doctors and medical people who take care of us while we're in the hospital. One of our biggest fears is that of "experimentation" and/or research with the medications given to us. For the last 6 weeks of my hospitalization, I was sick as a dog with nausea! I suffered nausea from 2-8 hours a day, and I think it was from something they were giving me. There were days, when I didn't even get out of bed until late afternoon, missing breakfast and lunch! During the six week period, I lost 16 pounds, and I pleaded with the staff, to let me go to the G.I. Clinic to find out what was wrong with me, and I was denied all requests!

When I was discharged, I requested a referral to the G.I. Clinic and was denied. I went across the patio to check into the emergency room to get the care I didn't get in the Ward. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Because of so much stress, anxiety and depression in my life, I had heart failure in 2006, and a pace-maker was implanted in June, 2006. Because of this, all of these matters were placed on the back-burner in my life, as several of my worst enemies are stress, anxiety and depression. Throughout the fall and by the end of 2006, I did not have the inspiration and/or motivation to fight back...to make a terrible wrong...a right! The months slipped by, and I thought I could never get a hold of that emergency room document I needed to fight back.

In January, 2007, I learned I could get my own medical record, and I got it, and it was about 750 pages and I would be looking for a needle in a hay stack! Amazingly, I found the document in the first 20 pages of my search! My discharge papers would show I was discharged on 9-16-05 and the date I entered the ER was the same date...9-16-05. There has to be a good reason for this, and now I had something to work with. I had to be believable...credible...and this document would help! I was on Cloud 9 at the time!

I knew at the time, that any suspicion of "experimentation" while I was at the VA hospital, would result in sending the information to the F.B.I. and to the members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation, and after my booklet (60 pages) was finished, that's exactly where this information went. When I sent the VA Director and the VA Chief of Staff a copy of my booklet, and they saw that I had sent this information to the F.B.I., you would not believe the speed in which they called me from the VA to set up an appointment to come. It happened in less than 24 hours! For two years, all I got was stone-walling and side-stepping from the VA...everything fell on deaf ears! And, now they wanted to talk...this is the difference the ER document made! I had something of substance now!

3) Tampering with the mail?

All of us rely on our mail everyday whether it be by snail-mail or email or a combination of the two. Receiving our mail is one of the top priorities in our lives, etc. When I moved from the VA grounds in November, 2004, I went to the post office, like most people would do, and filled out the transfer of mail information to my new place. About a month went by, and I received no mail. When I lived at the VA a got mail on a regular basis...bills and responses from potential employers answering my resumes and job applications, etc.

I submitted a written complaint to the VA Patient Relations office, with copies of the complaint to the work director and the social worker in the program. NOTHING! I got no mail. About a month later, I submitted another written complaint to the Patient Relations office, with copies to the work director, and I checked with the post office, and transferred the mail again. NOTHING...everything fell on deaf ears!

The Postal Inspector's office told me that they didn't deal with the VA...that the VA handles their own mail. There may have been a job opportunity in the mail...if I had received the mail. Over several months, I tried everything I could to get my mail...and all failed. NOTHING!

By the end of 2005, I had given up all hope in ever seeing my mail again. All of 2006...no mail. FINALLY...in March, 2007....28 MONTHS after I transferred the mail from the VA, I received a piece of mail with my name and address at the VA on it. There was no date stamped on the envelope and somebody from the VA placed a label and blocked out part of the address. I was on Cloud 9 when I received this letter, and now I had TWO documents to help my cause, and now my story would be more credible, etc.

This is what I was looking for in my battle against the VA. In a three page letter, along with my booklet, I sent it all to the F.B.I office, where I think it belonged. Remember, the Postal Inspector didn't do business with the VA. Over this long period of time, Senator Pete Domenici; Senator Jeff Bingaman and Congresswoman Heather Wilson have all been involved in this matter in one way or another, and I sent them all copies of the information I had received including my booklet. The same packet went to Governor Bill Richardson, who is one of the eight candidates who is running for President of the United States. I received a letter from him on April 28, 2007 informing me that he had assigned somebody on his staff to the case.

Before I got those two documents...that is...the ER document and the letter...I only had a sob story to tell and nothing more! I had not heard from Senator Bingaman in a long time, and after I sent him the information I had, he told me to keep him informed about what's going on. My VA disability was terminated in 2006, and Congresswoman Heather Wilson has been helping me get it back and helping with other Social Security issues.

1) Hate crime; 2) Possibility of "experimentation"; 3) Tampering with the mail

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This story will not be complete, unless I tell the reader about a couple of other stories of government intrusion in our lives, etc.

Here, in Albuquerque, the fireman and the police department have been putting on a boxing match, to raise money for under privileged children. The police vs. the firemen in the ring. Last year, the event raised over $75,000 for the children. Well...well...well...here comes the Mayor of Albuquerque, who doesn't like what's going on with this event. He says it has a bad image on the city and is not good for kids and young people, etc.

The Mayor threatened the police and firemen with job losses unless the event was stopped, and who stepped in as the referee in the matter...the ACLU! The government cannot tell any of us what we can do with our off-duty time, as long it is not illegal, etc. With egg on his face...the Mayor stepped back and allowed the boxing event to continue. I'm not a boxing fan, but boxing is legal in this country, and like it or not, the government cannot tell us what to do with out personal time. By the way, the boxing event raised $75,000 more dollars for the children! (pooh-pooh on the Mayor)

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Another big stink in New Mexico in April, 2007, has been uncovered in the U.S. Army National Guard unit that had been deployed to the Middle East. The Guard unit is mostly comprised of Hispanic soldiers. During their tour in the Middle East, the solders were ordered by the Army to strip down, and the Army was looking for some kind of gang tatoos or markings on the soldiers! Appalling! Nothing was found, and the Army did this while the unit was overseas! This is clearly profiling and racism on the part of the Army! This is 2007, and things like this are still going on, which is repulsive!

The governor, the Congressional delegation of New Mexico, and Hispanic organizations have all been critical of this incident by the Army, and there is plenty of hate mail in the Letters to the Editor by outraged citizens. Hispanic soldiers do their part for the American Flag, and fight side by side with everyone else, and there was no reason for this profiling by the Army!

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Many of you may remember, during hurricane Katrina, the news people showed people running for their lives in New Orleans, as the water was rising, and many people tried to cross a bridge into a little town near New Orleans to safety. But, they couldn't cross the bridge, because the police from the little town, would not let them into the town. This is a clear violation of these people's civil rights, and the police were breaking the law by blocking the bridge! Another case of government wrong-doing!

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As I write this piece in May, 2007, I am 62 years young, and I have lived through the rebellion and protest years of the 1960's and 70's. America is a better place because of the protest years of the 1960's! The 60's were not just about Viet Nam. It was a time of change in America...change for the better. It was a time of too much intrusion by the government at all levels, etc. The government of the United States does not belong to the White House; or the Congress; or the Republicans or the Democrats...In a democracy, the government of the United States belongs to the PEOPLE of the United States! And, during the 1960's, ownership of the United States government was slipping away from its rightful owners...the PEOPLE! As it stood, constitutional rights were being violated by the government all the time, and this had to stop!

In order to keep this from happening, Americans all across the country had to protest, and they did it in different ways. Many marched on Washington, D.C. and on the Congress; others wrote letters to government officials; others carried signs and marched in various cities and towns, and others threw gasoline bombs and cities burned year after year, in what was known as the "long hot summers" in the 60's! Tens of thousands of American's were injured during the rebellion and many lost their lives as well.

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In the year 2007, I am still trying to get justice in my case at the VA (aka GODZILLA), but now I have a few heavy-weights helping me and the two documents I spoke of. In September of 2006, I joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and I was amazed in their newsletter, as to how much the government interferes in all of our lives. (I sent all my complaints to this organization)

Having lived through the 60's and 70's,,,in the year 2007, I think American's are too complacent and apathetic and do not protest the government enough. As I said earlier, there are many ways to protest, and I think I've done all of them over the years. I've been in the humor business for over 50 years, and another way to protest, is to spoof someone or something, and that's why I created my C-SPAM Government at Work page on my website. (See Resource Box)

DING...DING...DING...LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE...

The firemen and police have now cleared the boxing ring, and it's now time for the main event...

David vs. the VA (GODZILLA)

I'll keep this article updated in the future and let the reader know how the fight between me and the VA aka GODZILLA is going. Wish me luck...I'll need it!