Tammy Duckworth

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Hero.

[Rick V]

If she wants to run for Prez she has my vote. I love the set him up and knock him over mentality.

[Jim Richards]

Wow. Tammy Duckworth rocks!

[mreid]

Outstanding!

[Baz]

Thanks for posting this, Shaun. We need better oversight with our support programs - I hope Ms. Duckworth's efforts will make a difference....but am not holding my breath.

FYI: here are the notes that go along with the video:

Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost both legs and damaged her arm while serving in Iraq with the National Guard, offered a blistering denunciation of a contractor who used his friendship with an IRS official to win contracts reserved for the businesses of service-disabled veterans.

Strong Castle's Braulio Castillo received the service-disabled designation because he injured his ankle while attending a military prep school before going to college.

"I'm so glad that you would be willing to play football in prep school again 'to protect this great country,'" Duckworth told Castillo today during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. "Shame on you, Mr. Castillo. Shame on you. You may not have broken any laws, we're not sure yet ... but you certainly broke the trust of this nation. You broke the trust of veterans. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans right now are waiting an average of 237 days for an initial disability rating and it is because [of] people like you who are gaming the system are adding to that backlog so that young men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress, who are missing limbs, cannot get the compensation and the help that they need."

Duckworth asked Castillo if he believes that his disability rating of 30 percent is accurate. "Yes, ma'am, I do," he replied. And then she explained that he had effectively said he made more a sacrifice through his military service than she did.

"You know, my right arm was essentially blown off and re-attached," Duckworth told him. "I spent a year in limb salvage with over a dozen surgeries over that time period and, in fact, we thought we would lose my arm and I'm still in danger of possibly losing my arm. I can't feel it. I can't feel my three fingers. My disability rating for that arm is 20 percent."

Duckworth sarcastically imagined Castillo "play[ing] through the pain" of his disability when he left military prep school, did not join the military, and instead played football at the University of San Diego.

"I recovered with a young man, a Navy corpsman, who — while he was running through an ambush where his Marines were hurt — had his leg knocked off with an RPG," she said. "He put a tourniquet on himself and crawled forward. He is [the one] who played through the pain, Mr. Castillo, you did not. You took advantage of the system. You described this status just today, [saying] that other companies were using these special statuses as 'competitive weapons' against you — you, who never took up a weapon in defense of this great nation very cynically took advantage of this system. You broke the faith with this nation. You broke the faith with the men and women who lie in hospitals right now at Walter Reed in Bethesda, at Brook Army Medical Center in [San Antonio], you broke the faith with them."

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Hero.

Yes indeed.

[bkreigsr]

Shaun, nice find, and thanks for posting.
If every Vet saw that footage, she would have no problem in the next election.
Bill K

[Por_sha911]

If you want to hit that low life leech where it hurts, then organize a boycott of his business.
Where is the PC crowd when you need them?

[cairns]

Affirmative Action. As written and administrated by the Federal Government. While I applaud Ms. Duckworth Congress wrote the laws.

If you're an Aleut Indian, a historical black college or university, a woman, a Black, an Asian, a Latino, set your business up in a designated "hub zone" area, are a veteran or a disabled veteran or fall into a few other categories I can't remember you get a pass and can easily be awarded millions in Federal contracts. The guy may be a moral scumbag but it's not certain that he actually broke the law.

This is a multi billion dollar industry coupled with a huge Washington bureaucracy that is riddled with fraud, waste and abuse. "Pass through" contracts (where the company that does the work bids through the front "disadvantaged" business) are an everyday occurrence, passing the company to relatives in order to stay in the program can be done for decades and the supposedly "disadvantaged" members of society who ostensibly benefit from the program never see a dime. What you see Ms. Duckworth lamenting is just the small tip of a very large iceberg. Establish an 8(a) company, buy a new Benz for you and your wife and charge it to the Federal government. Happens every day in DC. I actually worked for a company that did just that.

Those of you who applaud affirmative action and big government should be tickled pink.

[wdfifteen]

Except for #9, I agree with the above statements. However, Duckworth admitted that what the leech did may not be illegal. She did state that he violated the trust of our nation.
We have a common, if not pervasive, attitude in this country that honoring this trust is foolish and manipulating government programs in unintended ways for our advantage is acceptable. Right here on PPOT in the estate planning thread we have a member describing, with approval, how someone with wealth can hide assets in order to take advantage of programs designed for the poor.

[cairns]

Truth hurts, huh?

We have a common, if not pervasive, attitude in this country that honoring this trust is foolish and manipulating government programs in unintended ways for our advantage is acceptable

Yes. And we have elected representatives, well established bureaucracies and whole industries who do just that. It's pervasive in most of the programs that have been established to help the "disadvantaged" (and many others as well). Whether you believe it or not doesn't really matter.

[VINMAN]

I'm in love...

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by cairns

Yes. And we have elected representatives, well established bureaucracies and whole industries who do just that. It's pervasive in most of the programs that have been established to help the "disadvantaged" (and many others as well). Whether you believe it or not doesn't really matter.

Are you saying it's acceptable or what? Would you just tell Duckworth to STFU because everybody's doing it?

[Baz]

The point is --- at least "someone" is calling attention to the failed system we have put into place.

"WE" btw includes "YOU" --- because "YOU" (the voters) are the ones who continue to vote these people into office.

Debate policy all you want but voting for "CHANGE" is even better.

("CHANGE" btw means voting OUT the incumbents until you are happy we have a proper system in place - that's the only message they understand - re-election!)

[cairns]

Are you saying it's acceptable or what? Would you just tell Duckworth to STFU because everybody's doing it?

Of course not. I applaud her for laying the guy out. But it is what is- the program is corrupt and is long past it's sell by. That guy is simple proof and he's only one of thousands.

But try dissolving it. Like a lot of other programs in DC it's untouchable. It's entrenched and it grows larger and larger every year. Keeping people separate and unequal is a growth industry in our nation's capitol. And those of us who pay taxes are funding it.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by cairns

Of course not. I applaud her for laying the guy out. But it is what is- the program is corrupt and is long past it's sell by. That guy is simple proof and he's only one of thousands.

The guy is proof that we need more people like Duckworth who are incensed at the actions of people like Castillo and fewer who blame the system instead Castillo and the people who take advantage of it.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

The guy is proof that we need more people like Duckworth who are incensed at the actions of people like Castillo and fewer who blame the system instead Castillo and the people who take advantage of it.

IMHO.....

In a perfect world we have both - folks like Ms. Duckworth who are in the public eye and represent our best interests and are not afraid to speak up and attack where necessary....PLUS voters who do their duty as patriots and vote OUT those who put into place legislation that allows for such abuse of the system in a legal manner.

[Seahawk]

As an Army aviator, she is a hero. As a Congressperson, not so much.

Castillo was a useful dunce, the fact that he was there is preposterous. Tammy used that man...the rules he took advantage of were created and supported by her colleagues. She should spend her considerable talent going after them.

Change the rules and law, Tammy, don't mau-mau the stupid.

Edit: BTW, the Veterans Administration, who adjudicates military related disabilities, is the tip of the ACA...welcome to the jungle of bureaucratic healthcare and management.

[Rick Lee]

There is an entire cottage industry out there that uses a person's status as a disabled vet to get federal contracts. Some of these companies have absolutely nothing to do with the actual scope of work, but are simply 51% owned by someone who can claim disabled vet status. They then lend their name (for a fee) to the contractor bidding on the job. Entire cottage industry. Nothing illegal about it and it's purely a result of the fed. gov't. creating special classes of people and businesses for consideration in federal contracting. Believe you me, it has nothing to do with saving money for the taxpayer.

I've been told in more than one job interview that the business gets federal contracts by using one of these "pass-throughs." Perhaps Duckworth's chewing this guy out will bring more attention to getting this law changed, but I highly doubt it. For the kind of money that guy was getting, a good chewing out on tv that no one will remember in two weeks is a small price to pay.

[Chocaholic]

Don't like it, but probably not right to berate a guy for "gaming" a system that's designed and intended for "gaming". The fact that its not illegal reinforces this.

You really expect a level of ethics here? The example provided by our elected officials every day would dictate otherwise.

I see it as hypocritical at best. And voting out some and voting in others will not change a "machine" that rewards thievery at every turn. The problem is much deeper than that.