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May 31, 2014

The VA Has Myriad Problems but Funding Ain't One [Y-not]

Over at The Federalist, Sean Davis shows why the VA's problems are not about money.

...VA funding has more than kept up with both medical inflation and increased patient loads. An analysis of budget and cost data, as well as data on the total number of VA patients and the number of acute inpatients treated, shows that the VA’s budget has grown much faster than its workload. Even when you take medical inflation into account, the VA budget still grew faster than its patient base since 2000.

Here's the situation illustrated in a handy chart:

Obviously the Administration and their media enablers will be pushing funding as the excuse for the VA's criminal neglect of veterans. I gather the President already has blamed old computers.

Can the Republicans counter this messaging or not?

Will this scandal finally damage Obama beyond repair?

**OK, this is funny. Tangonine corrected my usage of myriad in the title, so I've changed it. But I was curious and it turns out, it's fine to use it as a noun:

Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective. As the entries here show, however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it.

Just a tidbit for our grammar buffs. **

Open thread for politics.

posted by Open Blogger at 04:55 PM

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Even when you take medical inflation into account, the VA budget still grew faster than its patient base since 2000. Here's the situation illustrated in a handy chart: Obviously the Administration and their media enablers will be pushing funding as the excuse for the VA's criminal neglect of veterans. I gather the President already has blamed old computers. Can the Republicans counter this messaging or not? Will this scandal finally damage Obama beyond repair? **OK, this is funny. Tangonine corrected my usage of myriad in the title, so I've changed it. But I was curious and it turns out, it's fine to use it as a noun: Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective. As the entries here show, however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English. There is no reason to avoid it. Just a tidbit for our grammar buffs. ** Open thread for politics. posted by Open Blogger at 04:55 PM \| Access Comments <script language="javascript" src="http://adserver.adtechus.com/addyn/3.0/5235/1131537/0/170/ADTECH;loc=700;cookie=info;target=_blank;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;grp=[group]"></script><noscript><a href="http://adserver.adtechus.com/adlink/3.0/5235/1131537/0/170/ADTECH;loc=300;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;grp=[group]" target="_blank"><img src="http://adserver.adtechus.com/adserv/3.0/5235/1131537/0/170/ADTECH;loc=300;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;grp=[group]" border="0" width="300" height="250"></a></noscript>	Recent Comments Angzarr the Cromulent: "The final arbiter of the constitutionality of a la ..." Throw gp That Whammy: "137 "... to Controversies to which the United Stat ..." 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