From working with the Department of Labor. It is the same.

lining.

a very good point.

and trying to claim that he has not been consistent in his defense of secret courts, secret laws, mass surveillance, and targeting of whistleblowers and journalists?

Trying to create an image of him as a "prisoner," as though he had nothing to do with the consistent, proactive, and aggressive behavior of his administration on these issues?

That kind of hyperbole?

....I just don't see how Shinseki is not responsible. The culture of an organization always starts at the top and filters down.

Much of the VA was mired in ineffectiveness long before Shinseki took over.

I lived in Bristol, TN, for eight years in the 1990's and sought treatment at the Johnson City, TN, VA Center -- was VERY dissatisfied and went with private physician . . . it's a long story.

Later, I learned that most of the staff at the Center -- excluding the physicians -- were all part of the same extended family, all relatives of the director of human resources at the Center. Basically, the guy had, over the years, filled the hospital with his relatives who did things as they wanted to. Their goal was to (1) keep their jobs and (2) hire more of their relatives -- caring for vets and following the rules were far down their list of priorities.

And I absolutely believe you. But still, if he cared about vets and heard the stories about them not getting care---I mean we all heard about it for years---shouldn't he have been more pro-active, more angry, more investigative?

I know the military is an ironclad bureaucracy, but he had the bully pulpit and supposedly, has some leadership courage. He should have been more of a whistle blower. I just can't give him a pass. Even if the VA has been like that since Viet Nam--which I think is the case.

Until these latest stories came out about how widespread and severe it was, I was sort of a Shinseki apologist. But it's just too much. He didn't do his job.

in this way. They forget they are there to serve their clients and they start serving the interests of their executives or vendors instead. I work for a huge public health entity. I tried to suggest that a new policy might place doctors in the position of having to choose between following the law and following institution policy. My job position was canceled and rewritten and filled by someone else. While I was not told that it was because of my complaint, the timing is very suspicious, and the message is clear. No one, not even doctors, are to question administration, otherwise they will get sacked.

I am sure that the VA is exactly the same. Plenty of doctors probably wanted to say something. But they knew if they did, they would be fired, and then they would not be able to take care of their own patients. So, they keep their mouths shut, figuring that at least that way they can do a little bit of good in a corrupt system.

If nothing else, those who got bonuses based on faked numbers should have been fired as soon as it was discovered. This has been going on for months and STILL no one's fired. They'll probably all get to retire early or some such bullshit.
And Shinseki doesnt count; he wasnt the one doing all the dirty work.

"an agency may need for fire a specific employee because of poor performance. Poor performance must be properly documented in formal performance reviews and employees must be provided with the opportunity to correct their behavior. If an employee does not correct his or her behavior, then an agency may follow proper procedures to terminate employment. Those procedures include providing written notice to the employee."

Dont tell me that they have to be allowed to NOT lie and falsify records? And if so, then no wonder so many people think so poorly of govt employees.

the bad behavior by crappy employees.
It's those same employees who roar "I'm going to the UNION" the minute any attempt is made to bring attention to their antics. The manager must must have a back bone and keep a paper trail of ALL disciplinary measures and corrective plans offered to the employee.
Most don't and the crappy workers and the union take advantage of that.
One of my co workers was written up and was thisclose to being fired..then the union advised him to call in sick for 2 days because there was some kind of deadline that existed in the process. Deadline came and went when he was "out sick" and he could not be fired. Something about the paperwork "set on someone's desk too long".
Common sense says the frontline manager should have enough documentation to where the union can't even defend the poor and sometimes dangerous behavior but the VA system isn't run that way.
There is too much cronyism, retaliation, and targeting. Bad employees flock together so when ONE of them is exposed, they send out a mayday call to their cronies who then get together and target the person who exposed the bad behavior.

New guy transfers in. Had already been in 4 other areas (this is a military base with a large civilian workforce). Did nothing but complain and file grievances. Did they fire him? Nope, just moved him to our area. So my boss tried to work with him but he just had an attitude and wouldnt accept help. Complained because he got no overtime (he couldnt complete his work during the day, so the boss wouldnt allow him on the OT list). After more and more, my boss puts in to have him fired and wouldnt back down. But the upper managers just transferred the guy AGAIN because they didnt want a prolonged fight with the union.
And after that, everyone in our shop who belonged to the union, quit it. Far as I know, the guy is STILL out there in his 7th office group.

government part seems to generate outrage in the corporate media and in those overly influenced.

Nearly impossible in government. Inefficient management in the private sector will lead to the death of the company. Inefficient management in government leads to, well, nothing. It just continues. So, yes, there is a great deal of difference.

I never understand those people. We have a lot of them. In our case, they do NO charting during their 8 or 12 hour shift...start their charting 15 minutes before quitting time, and literally stay for at least an hour after their scheduled shift to claim OT. When they do that 3 to 4 times a week it adds up to 8 hrs of OT per paycheck. And because there are shared computers on our floor, when you come into follow these people, you don't have access to a computer to start your work because they linger on the computer to get the OT.
It was not til very recently immediate management starting cracking down on this. I never understood these fools that did this. I have a LIFE and WANT to get out of work on time so I bust my ass to make sure I do get out....
The other federal worker OT problem: they can call in sick on one of their scheduled days and still get OT pay if they work an "extra" day. Example: someone is scheduled to work 40 hrs Monday thru Friday but they call in sick on Friday. But they have signed up for an OT shift on Saturday and show up for it. They still get their OT pay. Even though they didn't work 40 hrs that week. So they get regular pay for the 4 days they showed up, sick pay for the day they called in, and OT pay for their not-really-OT-day.

And, yes, we shuffle the problem children around and around. Once they show back up on our ward we know it must be our turn in the rotation. So we start the process of getting them moved away from us all over again...

I'm not holding my breath for the suits in DC to fix the VA system care...the problems are soooo deeply rooted they'd have to come thru and crack down on all levels of the food chain. All they are gonna do is address whatever the media is focused on..and even then it will be a look good on paper fix.

Because to point out the bad apples means you're a right winger! Try it with disability fraud, welfare fraud or any other kind of fraud and you'll get called every name in the book. Because if you advocate cleaning up the system, that must mean you want to do away with it all together!

The administrators cry they are helpless to get rid of bad employees while they are the very ones hiring the employees they decry, while the administrators refuse to follow the rules laid out in civil law or union contracts that are clearly and easily followed if they wanted to actually get rid of bad employees.

The real problem is not the employees, but the incredibly bad management practices that prevent employees from doing their jobs well and be successful at their jobs. The VA is further burdened by the GOP austerity fever that wants desperately to sell off all the VA facilities to their corporate owners. This current "scandal" at the VA is another example of the "Shock Doctrine".

could have told them that 40 years ago!

It is a function of funding. Our vets are getting about as much care as Congress wants them to have.

The finger-pointing is a horrid joke. If we want a system that checks itself and cares for individuals, we must buy, build and maintain it.

Looks like little has changed twenty plus years. And it's up to Obama to clean up the mess.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/article-99-1992

their funding has increased by 10% has a lot to do with the problems.

It's another casualty of the unfunded wars.