First of all, I would like to say hi to Booman, Clammyc, and all the rest of this community. Clammyc is how I found out about this place. Thanks buddy! The piece I have chosen to do as my first diary entry here is something that everyone should be in a rage over. But I have not seen much on it. So where are the “fight them over there” “stay the course” “new way forward” “support our troops” “you hate america” knuckle dragging neanderthals when it comes to having our veterans thrown out with the garbage once again?
Angry? You bet I am! There is no reason in the world for this type of abuse to occur more than once. The only fitting thing to do is to fire the incompetents! Secretary Nicholson must go! Please resign or someone has to fire him at the earliest possible time. Secretary Nicholson, you sir are a cad, a hack, and a sorry excuse for conception. In short, YOU SUCK!
So on with the post:
Secretary Jim Nicholson, this sir is unacceptable! Once again sir, the VA has not only failed to do their jobs, but has put some veterans at risk of identity theft. The fact that this is not the first time just underscores how inept the data security at the VA really is. The last time this happened, I received that Dear Veteran letter from the VA. This is what you had to say then Mr. Secretary.
The men and women of the VA take our obligation to honor and serve America’s veterans very seriously and we are commited to ensuring that this never happens again.
I called for your resignation then, and I now repeat that call. This is not to be taken lightly. Talking points will not protect the Veterans that have served this country. Competent people in positions responsible for our best interest is what will protect the very people that you have failed again.
So please understand that this headline, like the last time, should never have happened!
VA, FBI Investigate Missing Hard Drive in Birmingham, Ala.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced last week that an employee reported a government-owned, portable hard drive used by the employee at a department facility in Birmingham, Ala. – and potentially containing personal information about some veterans – is missing and may have been stolen.
“I am concerned about this report,” said Jim Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “VA’s Office of Inspector General and the FBI are conducting a thorough investigation into this incident. VA’s Office of Information and Technology is conducting a separate review. We intend to get to the bottom of this, and we will take aggressive steps to protect and assist anyone whose information may have been involved.”
—snip—
“VA is unwavering in our resolve to be the leader in protecting personal information, and training and educating our employees in best practices in cyber and information security,” said Nicholson. “We have made considerable progress, but establishing a culture that always puts the safekeeping of veterans’ personal information first is no easy task. I have committed VA to achieving such reform – and we will. This unfortunate incident will not deter our efforts, but it underscores the complexity of the task we have undertaken.”
Nothing less than the resignation of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should be acceptable after another potential risk to our Veterans. Fire the incompetents!
First, welcome to Booman Tribune!!!!! Be sure and stop in at the cafe when you need a break and say hello.
I am stunned that these idiots are being so careless with such sensitive information. You think they would have learned from the last episode. I agree with you we need a new secretary of veterans affairs but would anyone Shrub nominated be any better? Look at his choices for any job so far.
Thanks Refinish69,
I hope to put up many more diaries here. Those lunatics on the right have gone too far now. All this and the incident with the missing voting files in CO that time. This madness has to stop. His choices are scary to say the least! But this moron has had more than one problem with this sort of thing. We veterans deserve better than this.
I’ve never been convinced this is really theft or accidental. A database of veterans is just too tempting–a repository for election information at the least. Several of the previously “stolen” laptops were soon returned.
Agreed, this stinks to high heaven!
First: welcome, welcome, welcome!
Second: This is a MIGHTY fine diary. HIGHLY recommended. I can’t stand how the VA is underfunded…you just can’t DO that to vets! It’s insane…someone carries a gun for this country, and the best the vet can expect is the rough equivalent of a “God Bless America” magnet and a pat on the head?!?! And Nicholson? Please. He is just sorry. All of these missing databases? And how about the billion dollar budget “shortfall” after Nicholson said that the VA had adequate funding?
Which leads me to third:Secretary Nicholson, you sir are a cad, a hack, and a sorry excuse for conception. Damn straight!
Thanks you for that big welcome! Nicholson is the George Bush of the VA! That moron has to go.
Well done. Well done indeed.
Fire the fools for sure and do it today. By the time all the incompetents in public office are fired we will have little or no government left. That might not be such a bad thing at the rate the current crop of idiots are destroying the country.
Maybe we then could really start to rebuild this nation. We’re talking major destruction here!
Yes, but at least we’d have a chance to get it right this time. Sometimes rebuilding after a natural disaster leads to improvement.
I want to know about your handle – what do you mean by Katrinacrat? Are you a bureaucrat in New Orleans?? 😀 I’m sure your explanation is better than my guess!
The moniker was first coined at The Democratic Daily. I was a republican (believe it or not) and was having problems with the way that the party was headed. I was starting to see something that did not sit well with me. As things progressed, I became more uneasy with them. Then the fateful summer of 2005 came and things took a 180 degree turn for me. Katrina ripped my state apart and those madmen pretty much told us to go to hell. After I finally got power restored several days later, I watched as things went to hell in a handbasket. I saw my local authorities going to New Orleans to rescue people as the MSM blabbered on about how it was closed off and the Bush clowns gave it no thought.
The fact was that is was with access. My people from 50 or 60 miles away went after something that resembled sanity was restored around here. Evacuees were taken here and put up and taken care of. Our brethren were treated with the respect they deserved. Even with being this close to New Orleans, some of them had never heard of this town or knew very little about it. This whole time, I watched on TV as the claim kept being used about how access to New Orleans was cut off. That was a lie of epic proportions!
So I was doing what I could to help people contact relatives since phones were only working local. It was a mess. So using the local paper’s online forum, people were giving info on missing relatives. Many of us were working over time to contact these people. Remember, no calls were coming in or out of the area code. So what it amounted to was that computers became a way to relay what was really going on down here. I actually relayed contact info to a mayor of a small community that has many Native Americans and then emailed the friend with what was said.
So while doing this, I accidently came across a liberal blog that welcomed me with open arms and offered to let me pass on the truth of what was happening down here. This from a liberal blog when I was a confessed republican! During the process, I started to learn more and more. I started the transformation. Then Hurricane Rita came and zapped any hope the republicans ever had of keeping me in the fold. I watched as the promise to do better this time was an outright LIE!! My parish is the second largest in the state. Half ended up under water and days later, Bush had once again failed to respond and declare the area a disaster area. With what already happened with Katrina, we were once again hit in a bad way. People could not seek help with the red cross because it had not been declared yet.
That is when I snapped and denounced the party and claimed the Democratic party as my own. It was mentioned at The Democratic Daily about how many more would be Katrina Democrats. It eventually got shortened to Katrinacrat. It stuck! So this former Marine and republican under Reagan became The Katrinacrat under Bush. That is part of his real legacy, he managed to turn one of his own against him. Well there it is, a little long, but I did try to keep it shorter and not give all the details. Now I’m off to read a mail from Sen. Harry Reid that just came in. This should be good!
Wow – what an interesting and sad, but hopeful, story. I’m glad you are here to continue to give us the truth, as the media seems to have forgotten all those still displaced.
I hope there are many more “Katrinacrats” in the days ahead!
Recommended! This is disgusting–I still have that letter too. The repubs have fooled so many military for a long time, but I think it’s over. My VA co-pays have gone up twice when they took over Congress.
All they pay the troops are lip service.