ANOTHER RELIGIOUS NUT BUSH APPOINTEE RESIGNS IN DISGRACE-- NO, NOT THE PLAGIARIST, ANOTHER ONE

March started off with a bang for the Bush Regime. One of their religious-nut operatives, Tim Goeglein, got caught plagiarizing and, on being exposed by an alert blogger, resigned. The Regime said his actions -- multiple plagiarism (dozens of instances)-- was "unacceptable." OK, fine. But ... um, no one resigned over outing a CIA agent or lying us into war with Iraq. No one resigned for botching the reconstruction of New Orleans or for the lack of oversight and the loss of billions of dollars to corrupt defense contractors. Something's out of sync.

Goeglein worked for Bush for 7 years "as a liaison to social and religious conservatives, an important component of the president’s political base. Mr. Goeglein was influential in decisions on a range of questions important to that constituency, including stem cell research, abortion and faith-based initiatives." He was a flack for Pat Robertson before going to work for Rove and then Bush.

So that was Friday and it was all over the newspapers and on TV. But a day before another religionist-right loon working for Bush also resigned. And this one seems much more off the deep end. Meet Daniel Cooper, Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits. Problem with Cooper is that the veterans weren't getting their benefits... lots of them. He wasn't plagiarizing; he was proselytizing... for his evangelical cult.

Cooper has been under fire for using his office to proselytize for evangelical Christianity ever since he appeared in a 2004 fundraising video for Christian Embassy, which carries out missionary work among the Washington elite as part of the Campus Crusade for Christ.
 
In the video, Cooper says of his Bible study, "It's not really about carving out time, it really is a matter of saying what is important. And since that's more important than doing the job-- the job's going to be there, whether I'm there or not."
 
Cooper's declaration inflamed veterans who saw the number of veterans waiting for the Veterans Administration (VA) to decide their disability claims balloon to 400,000 on his watch, with the average veteran waiting six months for a decision from the government.

You want more of this? Vote for John McCain. He has one John Hagee he wants you to get to know. No doubt Hagee would be filling lots of posts for a McCain Regime were he, God forbid, to be elected in November.

Veterans groups were celebrating Cooper's long overdue departure. "He was clearly a fundamentalist Christian first and essentially a government paid missionary for his particular world view of the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Mike Weinstein, who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. "The fact that he's gone obviously is good."

"Cooper was in charge of and responsible for massive injustice for hundreds of thousands of veterans who slipped through the cracks waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for disability benefits," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of the group Veterans for Common Sense.
 
"He was fully aware that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were putting a burden on VA in 2004 and he did nothing," Sullivan added. "In 2005, he was told again. He did nothing. In 2006, he was told again. He did nothing. In 2007, when the Walter Reed scandal broke, all Cooper could do was say that he would make some marginal changes."

...More than 263,000 veterans have received treatment from the VA after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Close to 250,000 have filed disability claims. A new book released this week co-authored by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates that 700,000 U.S. war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan will eventually file for disability.
 
"They need to have this income," Cary said. "If it's a disabled veteran, then the spouse needs to stay home and take care of that veteran and the faster that they can move this process along, the easier it will be for that spouse to be able to go to work and provide additional income for their family."
 
Pentagon studies show about 20 percent of returning veterans (320,000 people) suffer from physical brain damage called traumatic brain injury. Government studies also show that as many 50 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans (800,000 people) suffer from the psychological injury post-traumatic stress disorder.

Congressman John Hall (D-NY), a Blue America endorsee, represents the district that is home to West Point. He was the first person who ever told me about traumatic brain injury. He told me that treating our returning vets with it is likely to increase the cost of the war by unimaginable numbers. Many members of the military whose wounds once killed them now survive but with traumatic brain injury, often caused by concussion blasts. This week Washington's state Department of Social and Health Services and the Washington Traumatic Brain Injury Strategic Partnership Advisory Council are launching a campaign to raise awareness and provide a way for people to get information about available resources. And if McCain ever becomes president with his 100 more years in Iraq and his plans for more wars in the future, his alliance with the looniest of the Christocrats, and, no doubt, a military draft, Washington will serve as a model for every state in the Union.


UPDATE: McCAIN-HAGEE SCANDAL RAGES ON

Catholics United is not satisfied with Jon McCain's non-answer about his relationship with arch-bigot and hate-monger John Hagee. They're not even asking McCain about how many jobs he'll be able to place his followers in if McCain wins in November. They just want him to publicly reject the hate-spewing Hagee's endorsement (the way Obama did with Farrakhan). McCain refuses. Catholics United has over 20,000 dues-paying members, many of whom are Republicans. Why are they so upset with McCain?

Hagee, an evangelical minister known for incendiary rhetoric, has referred to the Catholic Church as "the Great Whore," and blamed Adolf Hitler's Catholic education for his subsequent acts of genocide. Sen. McCain, who in the 2000 presidential campaign condemned "the agents of intolerance," actively sought Hagee's endorsement, and flew to San Antonio for a press event with the preacher.

Despite mounting public pressure and grave concerns raised by Catholics United and the Catholic League, Senator McCain has failed to denounce Hagee's remarks.

"John McCain's refusal to rebuke John Hagee calls into serious question his claims to straight-talk and principle," said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. "Until he clearly rejects these offensive comments, Sen. McCain risks alienating millions of Catholics and the vast majority of Americans." Catholics comprise 21% of the electorate in Texas and 26% of the electorate in Ohio.