Michael Wilken reports:
02 March 2010
Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn spoke at the American Legion Commander, Clarence Hill’s Call in Washington DC. Pentagon
Temporary Closures Significantly Cut Post-9/11 GI Bill Pending Inventory
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced that the Education Call Center, closed on Thursdays and Fridays over the past two months, is again operating five days a week.
“I am pleased by the progress these call center employees made in significantly cutting our pending inventory of education claims,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “As a result of their efforts, 30,000 additional student Veterans received their checks, bought books, paid the rent, and stayed in school.”
By temporarily reassigning call center employees on Thursdays and Fridays to process Post-9/11 GI Bill claims, VA was able to complete a significant number of education claims from mid-December through mid-February. VA’s goal was always to return call center employees to their permanent duties.
The decision to supplement claims processing staff by the call center employees was a key factor in meeting VA’s aggressive processing goal of Post-9/11 GI Bill claims. As of mid-February 2010, VA’s capacity to process Post-9/11 GI bill claims jumped from an average of 2,000 a day in August 2009 to 7,000 a day.
Since inception of this historic new program, VA has issued nearly $1.9 billion in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit payments and opened the door to higher education to 209,490 people.
As of Feb. 12, VA received spring semester Post-9/11 GI Bill enrollments from approximately 180,000 student Veterans and already paid nearly 90 percent of them. All Post-9/11 GI Bill participants whose spring enrollments were received by Jan. 18 have been paid.
Because VA is now processing spring enrollments timely, advance payments are no longer available at VA regional offices or through the online advance payment Web site.
In December when the decision was made to redirect phone agents to claims processing, the number of pending claims was almost 80,000 and timeliness measures were extremely high. The inventory of education claims was driving call volume at the call center to an all time high of 1.26 million call attempts during November.
That is why in mid-December 2009 VA temporarily reassigned employees at the VA Education Call Center on Thursdays and Fridays, the lowest call volume days, to help process education benefit claims.
Since that time, the call center demand dropped by 42 percent as student Veterans received their payments. The call center received 769,637 call attempts on Monday thru Wednesday during the first two weeks in December 2009. By comparison, the call center received 446,328 call attempts on Monday thru Wednesday through the first two weeks in February 2010.
Information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, as well as VA’s other educational benefit programs, is available at VA’s Web site, www.gibill.va.gov, or by calling 1-888-GIBILL-1 (or 1-888-442-4551).
PHILADELPHIA, PA -November 5, 2009 –DIVERSE NEWS / – In what appears to be an obvious case of racism within the military, major news outlets are not identifying the suspect of the Fort Hood shootings as a ‘racist’. It is not confirmed if it is some sort of news blackout, political-correctness (censorship) or because Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was not of European decent.
This sure does say much about the psychiatric profession. With many institutions using psychiatry to make decisions about people’s lives inasmuch as psychiatry is basically ‘guess work’ itself.
This campaign, regardless of its excuses, have caused terror. Sure, the apparent reasoning seems isolated but this elaborate, well thought-out plot, could be the future of terror as to keep the blame off of groups.
It is not yet known if the shootings have been orchestrated by some sort of sleeper-cell and no group has claimed responsibility yet.
One thing for sure, we must recognize ethnicity in all we do, just as we have been taught to be multicultural.
-JT
The United States Navy is being bulked up with four new ships. The USS New York has already set sail and is to be commissioned in NYC on November 7th. The USS Freedom is on its way, ahead of schedule. There are also two more ships, the USS Arlington and USS Somerset on the docks, begging for deployment.
-Josh Truman
Who, that grew up during the cold war, would ever think of such a time when the Soviet Union would be inspecting the U.S.’s nuclear facilities? Scary ain’t it?
In a somewhat rare show of media isolation, Fox News appears to be the only news service covering this Dana Lewis and AP contributed story (by way of google search).
Clinton said the U.S. would be as transparent as possible.
“We want to ensure that every question that the Russian military or Russian government asks is answered,” she said, calling missile defense “another area for deep cooperation between our countries.”
On another critical issue, Lavrov declared that it would be counterproductive to threaten Iran with more sanctions over its nuclear program — as he resisted efforts by Clinton to win agreement for tougher measures should Iran fail to prove its program is peaceful.
This may be a prelude to a joint U.S. / Russian Iran inspection.
-Josh Truman
1. Los Angeles: 100 Linked to Computer Hacking Ring Charged by U.S. and Egypt in Operation Phish Phry
One hundred defendants were indicted as a result of Operation Phish Phry, a multinational cyber crime investigation conducted in the United States and Egypt that uncovered a sophisticated phishing operation. The defendants fraudulently collected personal information from thousands of victims, using it to defraud American banks. Operation Phish Phry marks the first joint cyber investigation between Egyptian law enforcement authorities and United States officials. Full Story
2. Denver: Mohammed Zazi Indicted for False Statement Involving International and Domestic Terrorism
Mohammed Zazi was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver for making a false statement in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism. Zazi was first arrested by the FBI based on a criminal complaint filed on September 19, 2009. Full Story
3. Dallas: Federal Grand Jury Indicts Man for Attempting to Bomb Dallas Skyscraper
A federal grand jury in Dallas has charged Hosam Maher Husein Smadi with offenses stemming from his attempt to bomb a skyscraper in downtown Dallas. It is expected that Smadi will make his initial appearance on these charges before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Dallas next week. Full Story
4.Springfield: Grand Jury Indicts Man Previously Charged with Attempt to Bomb Courthouse and Murder Federal Employees
A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Michael C. Finton, as previously charged in a criminal complaint, with attempted murder of a federal officer or employee and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction (explosives) against property owned by the United States. Finton was arrested on September 23, 2009, in connection with an alleged plot to detonate a vehicle bomb at the federal courthouse in Springfield. Full Story
5. New York: Bonanno Organized Crime Family Members and Associates Indicted
A 33-count indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn federal court charging members and associates of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra with racketeering-related charges, firearms violations, bank fraud, illegal gambling, extortion, extortion conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Full Story Read More »