November 10, 2011
Gen. Eric K. Shinseki (U.S. Army, Retired)
Secretary, Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Secretary:
You no doubt heard about the disgraceful exit that collegiate football icon Joe Paterno was dealt at Penn State University.
The man was a legend, respected by not only his players, but other coaches and their players as well. Yet when he was told about a heinous crime being committed at the university by one of his assistants, he did not take full responsibility to expose the crime and the physical and psychological harm brought upon young, innocent boys.
You, sir, have a legendary military career as a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. You were privileged to sit at the feet of the legendary Gen. Douglas MacArthur when he delivered his revered “Duty, Honor, Country” speech.
You have been respected not only by your fellow U.S. Army soldiers, but by men and women of the other four branches of our armed forces as well.
You undertook the job of Secretary of the VA, a bloated bureaucracy, seriously and sadly broken when you took over. Fellow Veterans had great confidence that you were “The Man” for the job and would change all that was bad and make it good.
On the very day that you took office, fellow Veterans forewarned you of the crime and corruption at the Los Angeles National Veterans Home, aka, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.
We informed you that the Los Angeles VA, the largest VA in the nation under your stewardship, is the most corrupt system in all of federal government. You ignored us.
We openly protested this mismanagement, malfeasance and misappropriation of Veterans’ property and the abuse of our disabled and disadvantaged Veterans.
The ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit against Donna Beiter, your Los Angeles VA Executive Director, and Ronald Mathis, the Chief of Police, for viewpoint discrimination, i.e., censorship of my First Amendment and Constitutional right when we publicly exposed the truth about the lives of our fellow Veterans and their sacred property that were in extreme danger.
On May 26, 2011, Judge S. James Otero of the United States District Court rendered his decision, ruling in my favor: “Plaintiff’s First Amendment right was violated as a matter of law when Defendants committed impermissible viewpoint discrimination.” …. “Therefore, Defendants' selective enforcement was an effort to suppress the Plaintiff's activity due to disagreement with his view.”
In sum, the defendants, your assistants, censored my free speech and violated my Constitutional right under the First Amendment. This is a federal crime: “Federal Statute18 USC Section 242 makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to willfully deprive or cause to be deprived from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S.”
The foregoing notwithstanding, both defendants remain under your supervision. They are in full employment, operating under the color of law in their official capacities at the largest VA in the nation.
In addition to the aforementioned federal crimes, your assistants also violated their own federal Oath of office by failing to uphold the Constitution of the United States — the very document that all men and women who wear the Uniform risk their lives to protect and defend.
Both of your assistants committed a federal crime to cover up the land-fraud crimes of Veterans’ property that was exclusively deeded to be permanently maintained as a National Home for Disabled Veterans.
We continued to forewarn you about this. You continued to ignore us.
Now you are a defendant in a major ACLU lawsuit that includes some of our nation’s most formidable attorneys, law firms/universities. The federal government continues to admit no wrongdoing as Veterans’ sacred land is leased for a public dog park, public recreation park, public theaters, public golf course, public botanical gardens, private school playground and athletic field, collegiate baseball stadium, used car storage rental and other uses.
Meanwhile, 20,000 Veterans have been exiled, forced to live homeless and hungry in back-alley squalor.
Some of these men and women served under your top level command when you were Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
Nearly half of today's homeless Veterans served with you during the Vietnam War.
These noble warriors not only suffer physically and psychologically from their war injuries, but from being further abused and mistreated as human beings and fellow citizens of the United States.
Joe Paterno was disgracefully fired last night for not taking action when he was forewarned about one young boy being physically and psychologically injured by one of his assistant coaches, his best friend.
You, sir, have been forewarned repeatedly that there are 20,000 of America's military Veterans who have been dispossessed, abused, mistreated, and psychogically and physically harmed by your assistants at the largest VA in the nation. You've known this for nearly three years. You refuse to take responsibility and take appropriate action. These are crimes against humanity.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day. Just as we have done over the past three years, we are respectfully requesting, nay, demanding (as we have in the past as well) that you honor your fellow Veterans on this noble day by immediately terminating Donna Beiter, Ralph Tillman, Bill Daniels, Ronald Mathis, Jenelle Happy — all top-level bureaucrats at the Los Angeles VA.
We once again demand that you cancel the illegal public park “sharing agreement” with Sue Young's homeowner group, along with all the other leases, agreements and arrangements of those who occupy this sacred land in violation of the Deed and Charitable Trust of 1888.
We are requesting your support of the Veterans Grand Plan that calls for the demolition of all the old, dysfunctional buildings and begin construction of a new, modern Grand Home and Gardens.
Our updated Plan calls for replacing the originally proposed quad of high-rise towers with a low-rise Home that is contiguous in design to unify all Veterans under one roof.
We request that you honor and implement the Veterans’ “Declaration of Enforcement” to protect, preserve and defend the Deed and National Home.
We also request that you appropriate a $5 million grant to Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council, so they can begin to build immediate temporary shelter on the Grand Lawn with a Stand Down so that we can Bring Our Homeless Veterans Home.
For the sake of your own military career and out of respect of your fellow Veterans, do the right thing. Give America's military Veterans, particularly our disabled, disadvantaged and homeless Veterans, something to be proud of tomorrow in return for their service to our country.
It's time to bring closure to one of America's biggest land fraud scams and some of the most heinous crimes against humanity on American soil, perpetrated against thousands of the very men and women who have selflessly protected America's soil for the benefit of all others.
Did I mention Joe Paterno was disgracefully fired from a distinguished career for not taking proper action when he was forewarned about one of his assistants committing heinous crimes against innocent boys?
God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution.
Mr. Rosebrock, Director, Old Veterans Guard and Director, Veterans Revolution, www.VeteransRevolution.com, may be contacted at RRosebrock1@aol.com
