Second of two parts
Re “Vietnam War Veterans Have Found the Enemy”
VA Secretary Robert McDonald has proven to be untrustworthy. Those who have agreed to meet with him are a friend of the enemy as well as an enemy of disabled homeless Veterans.
In the ACLU lawsuit that generated the federal judgment, Vietnam Veterans of America was one of the entrusted plaintiffs. Secretary McDonald became a mistrusted defendant. As might be expected considering the history of this self-serving imposter, he conveniently vacated both the judgment and lawsuit to remove his own name by manipulating a mockery settlement that protects him and his wealthy friends at the expense of disabled, destitute homeless Veterans.
Even worse, Steve Mackey the entrusted representative and spokesperson for plaintiff Vietnam Veterans of America, sided with Secretary McDonald’s settlement charade. Incredulously, he called it a “good deal.”
We now know what Mr. Mackey meant. It is indeed a very good deal for Secretary McDonald’s wealthy friends, a bad deal for homeless Vietnam War Veterans
In a manifest act of reckless disregard for the plaintiff’s greater good, Mr. Mackey didn’t even request to read Secretary McDonald’s secret deal. He approved it over the phone. And we wonder how illegal land-heists happen. Los Angeles is our nation’s capital for homeless Veterans when feckless Veteran representatives like Mr. Mackey are on the side of the enemy.
With friends like this, who needs enemies? It was Mr. Mackey’s alliance with the enemy that compelled me to cancel my membership with Vietnam Veterans of America, even though I have the utmost respect for the vast majority of members and many of the leaders.
For the record, the nine illegal occupants remain on VA property that was deeded exclusively in 1888 as a National Home for war-injured and impoverished Veterans, while thousands of disabled homeless Veterans have been exiled, dispossessed and are living in inhumane conditions on skid row and back-alley squalor.
For the record, we are talking about all this happening in the United States of America, not some ruthless iron-fisted Communist country.
A Winning Team
Enter genuine American leadership.
Dick Southern has shown exemplary guidance for Vietnam Veterans of America by refusing to back down from his written request for emergency housing and care on the Los Angeles VA property. The Old Veterans Guard has been a staunch ally offering to coordinate a “Search and Rescue” crusade going into the neighborhoods to find our homeless Veterans and bring them Home.
Nearly a month before Secretary McDonald came into town and conspired to give aid and comfort to the biggest land-fraud scandal in American history while offering no immediate housing for homeless Veterans, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition had already done the true American thing. They passed a motion with a unanimous 96-council member vote declaring Los Angeles to be in a state of emergency for homeless Veterans. They called for the city of Los Angeles to unify with the Los Angeles VA to provide crisis housing and care on the VA grounds.
This motion was preceded with an eloquent speech delivered by Rafer Johnson, America’s legendary Olympic champion, who declared: “Why aren’t we using the nearly 400 acres of land at the West L.A, Veterans’ property to immediately provide temporary and or permanent housing for our homeless veterans? There is a state of emergency here in Los Angles and the time to act is now!”
Los Angeles community leaders Terrence Gomes and Jay Handal continue to offer the unparalleled service and volunteerism of L.A.’s neighborhood community councils at-large to assist in providing emergency housing and care at the Los Angeles VA.
Los Angeles homeless expert Ted Hayes has repeatedly offered to help with his successful Dome Village concept of establishing immediate temporary and transitional housing with pre-fab geodesic dome structures.
Jeff Hall, publisher/editor of the Brentwood News, has offered to unify and work with the aforementioned to help organize emergency housing and care on the Grand Lawn of the Los Angeles VA.
The overwhelming consensus continues to grow with the same fervor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement when he emphasized the “fierce urgency of now” by underscoring it with “tomorrow is today!”
A Losing Team
Unfortunately, tomorrow is the enemy’s ally as Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, VA Secretary McDonald and his homeless expert Vince Kane, refuse to agree with an overwhelming consensus that Los Angeles is in a state of emergency for homeless Veterans.
Instead, these imposters shamefully declare that crisis shelte- like tents and pre-fab geodesic domes are unfit for homeless Veteran habitation, while preferring they continue living homeless and hungry behind a dumpster in filth and danger until they eventually find them with no responsible solution except to offer a welfare rent voucher to live in tenement slum housing.
This is not only immoral, it is criminal.
The foregoing notwithstanding, you can bet the family farm that the VA will send its “homeless experts” to Vietnam Veterans of America’s upcoming national convention hyping its one-size-fits-all vouchers-first program to warehouse homeless Veterans in ramshackle apartments in seedy neighborhoods far away from the VA and run by sleazy slumlords to supposedly “end Veteran homelessness” — not at the end of 2014 as originally promised by former VA Secretary Shinseki – or the end of 2015 as promised by Garcetti, McDonald and Kane — but in 2016 as now promised by this haphazard trio.
How can these public civil servants of American government possibly face “We the People,” never mind disabled homeless Veterans?
We Have Found the Enemy
In sum, Vietnam’s Communism now appears to be a better solution than whatever kind of government America has today. So maybe President Obama’s meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong will at least inspire human rights at their level, because even the worst-of-worst governments never would treat their military veterans the way America’s government treats our war-injured and homeless Veterans.
Vietnam War Veterans have found the enemy. It is the U.S. government.
God Bless America and the Veterans Revolution
Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at rrosebrock1@aol.com