This subject will no doubt

be opening up a can of worms. What about military disability payments? I see these young guys that come back from Iraq disfigured and crippled for life. I am not talking about them, they should get a get a disability and definitely earned it. The ones I am talking about are people such as two of my uncles that received pensions since WWII and never left the states and neither of them had any signs of any kind of disability. My father was in the South Pacific in WWII and had bouts of Malaria for years after the war, never got a penny. Another Uncle received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star and never received a penny. My father and my Uncle worked their butts off all their lives and died with little to show for it. The one uncle worked as a part time school janitor and a bus driver, golfed, water skied, drank like a fish and always had a late model car, a ski boat and a very nice home. The other was a teacher and he is still living and is quite wealthy now. One of my neighbors was shot by friendly fire in Vietnam, his leg is scared up some but other wise is in excellent health. He has drawn a military pension for 40 years and was able to work over 30 years in a coal mine where he is also drawing a disability pension from now. He is also a Republican and is constantly bitching about Obama being a socialist and he is also a teabagger. I remember another one of my co-workers after coming home from Vietnam telling us about trying to get payments for Agent Orange, he would laugh about the stories he would tell the doctor at the VA. He ended up also getting a disability and has been physically fit enough to work in a steel mill for nearly 40 years.

I grew up in anthracite country, and when Pennsylvania started paying disability for Black Lung disease, I knew the guy who had the set of x-rays that he rented out to guys who were applying for the pension. He charged something like twenty-five bucks, and everyone used them. My girlfriend's father - a barber - got the pension. A man on our street, a bookkeeper in a dress factory, got it.

People who'd never set foot in a mine got the Black Lung pension.

The system always has the cheats. Seems to be human nature. But it does far more good for the people who deserve it, so we just have to keep going .................

and applied for asbestos disease. I went for x-rays 3 times and never got a dime. I would say at least 80% of the people that have received asbestos payments were cigarette smokers. Another group is union officers they miraculously all have asbestos and some hadn't been inside the mill for decades.

All the office workers got the x-rays and then got the pension.

Listen, I'm glad your x-rays are clean, and I want you to be perfectly healthy for a long, long time..........

pension and yet had absolutely no signs of any disability? I work in a steel mill and know plenty of people that work a hard physical job for years and also received a pension from the military. I went to high school with a guy that went into the highway patrol he retired from the patrol and draws a pension and now works as a maintenance man at the patrol office and when he is 65 will be eligible for a second state pension. I know another that worked for thirty years in the school bus garage garage, he took his pension then after 6 months was able to go back to his former job and still collect a pension. He will also get a second pension at 65. The mind boggling thing about it just about all of them are Republicans and bitch about other people getting welfare or food stamps. Anyway I have never heard any politician Republican or Democrat that will touch this subject with a ten foot poll.

Much as I revere Dr. Frist, I would be hesitant to make a ruling without personally examining them. I suspect they won't agree to that as I'm not a doctor, but you can ask them.

If you suspect fraud, you can call and report it, but this doesn't seem like the proper procedure.

To report fraud: You can contact the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hotline at (800) 488-8244, between 8:30 am - 4:00 pm EST, Monday through Friday–excluding Federal holidays. Write the VA hotline at: VA Inspector General Hotline (53E), P.O. Box 50410, Washington, DC 20091-0410. Or contact them by email: vaoighotline@va.gov

... in any system. What kind of system do you have in mind that won't allow either to happen? Be aware that in trying to take care of everyone who needs it, you will end up serving some who don't. And in trying to set up a system that can't be abused, you will end up excluding a lot of those who desperately need the help.

Your Republican neighbor put his life on the line -- and although he didn't lose his life and he didn't end up limbless like Max Cleland, he did actually put his life on the line on behalf of this country. His subsequent politics should have no bearing on services owed to him by the VA -- though you might point out to him that every single vet is owed the same and isn't getting it, so maybe he should put some energy into seeing that they do.

Hekate

If someone gets a disability pension isn't he supposed to be disabled. How in the hell can you be disabled and work 30 plus years in a coal mine? Then to top that off get Black Lung payments a military pension and a SS disability pension for a bad back and own and work on your feet all day in a drive through store? What about my uncle that has received a pension for 60 years for a trick knee he supposedly got in basic training? My neighbor considers anyone else that games the system a freeloader.