| | |  Vallarta Living | Veteran Affairs | October 2008 
American Financial Fumbling
 David Lord - PVNN
With the U.S. Presidential Candidates immersed in heated rhetoric, we watch their personal divides deepen, but we see that there is not a nickel's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans holding positions in Congress.
These Parties are two sides of the same political coin, they passed the enormous, so called rescue package, to bail out Wall Street and therefore Main Street, we are told. The Congressional solution for the toxic credit defaults is throwing tax dollars in the path of a monster financial storm.
The Bureaucrats voted to spend $700 billion in a Porky rescue bill for the fat cats and kitties of Wall Street, and they will soon to be lapping up billions of dollars from the tax payer's trough. The long fall is being cushioned by a paper dollar parachute which may slow the bone crushing fall of the Market; but only temporarily.
My prediction is it will be without any of the confidence building needed for saving Main Street or supporting the Veterans that shed their blood for Main Street. Not since Pearl Harbor, have we been torpedoed like this and it is impossible to guess what we will face with the decline of value in the dollar when we are in the hands of a Bureaucrats.
Speaking of the Ultimate Bureaucrats, the V.A. just got slapped down hard.
Disability for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma ordered settled for Bluewater Sailors after the V.A. refused a Court Ordered Adjudication 14 years ago!
VA regulations at 38 CFR § 3.313 specify that service in Vietnam, including the offshore waters of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era, together with the development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma manifested subsequent to such service, is sufficient to establish service connection for that disease.
This regulation does not require herbicide exposure as the basis for a presumptive grant of service connection, as is the case with the presumptive diseases listed at 38 CFR § 3.309(e). A veteran's service in Vietnam, including service in the offshore waters of Vietnam, is the sole basis for presumptive service connection when non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is diagnosed following service.
In the pending court case of Haas v. Nicholson, which concerns the definition of service in Vietnam and presumptive herbicide exposure, a stay was granted which placed a hold on development of all claims based on herbicide exposure where the veteran did not serve on the ground in Vietnam or on its inland waterways.
The majority of claims affected by this stay are from veterans who served in the offshore waters of Vietnam. These veterans are often referred to as "blue water" Navy veterans.
VA Regional Offices (ROs) must be aware that any claim for service connection of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from a veteran who served in the offshore blue waters of Vietnam is not to be placed under the Haas stay. These claims fall under 38 CFR § 3.313, not § 3.309, and the veteran is not required to provide evidence of herbicide exposure. These claims must be adjudicated as soon as possible when they are received. I have many Veterans that should contact either myself or their service organization immediately for service related compensation.
I have the opportunity to travel regularly by car to the US. I am beginning a package delivery and return service for those items that need special attention or protection. I will also be able to do specialty shopping for those items that are not easily entered into Puerto Vallarta, personnel medications and the like that can be picked up at my mail box for delivery here. You may contact me at david.lord(at)yahoo.com - and you do not have to be a Veteran.
 David Lord has been a National Veterans Service Officer doing veteran's benefits in Mexico for over a decade. David is a combat veteran, wounded by gunshot in Viet Nam 1968 and is a retired Marine. The Veterans Administration has played a critical role in his life, by his having both medical and compensation benefits. He uses his personal experience in the claims process along with having legal and credentialed Accreditation by the Department of Veterans Affairs. His use of Congressional approved Veterans Organizations, to steer veterans and dependants through the maze of regulations and entitlements due them from military service is outstanding. For more information, email him at david.lord(at)yahoo.com.
Click HERE for more Veteran Affairs with David Lord »»» |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us