because you make big money. you make a lot more than the rest of us made. how many officers and above are in here? one officer, two officers. well, the rest of us are enlisted and we don't make that money. even if you get paid by the va you are not making that kind of money but they wouldn't put up with that kind of care and we have to. wrong. zero kind one of the gentleman that died out about 40, he was on the va bowling league, he and his son.

they took an old vietnam veteran man, put a pacemaker in his heart in this hospital and sent him home. they didn't keep him overnight for observation. his son found him the next morning dead and i am sure he would have been saved if they would have kept him overnight. the commercial that's on tv now with the ladies talking about the guy, her brother or somebody who committed suicide because this emergency rooms that ocoee don't have any beds for you. golay home -- home and lay down and come back when you feel better. look up that hallway, there's a ton of beds and i have always been there. at one point and this is from people of your staff, those beds were moved because karen didn't want them there but now that she's gone they are back. i heard that the day before yesterday. they are back. they hide them for their purposes and when they don't need them hidden anymore they bring them out.

that's not a storeroom. that's a hallway. that's a hallway out that door. >> i went to the wrong room. they are in there. >> there are samore down that hallway to go straight up. they were there an hour ago, two hours ago see you found another spot they are hiding them. excellent. so gentlemen. >> gentleman what are we going to do about this? we can say all they want about stand together. we don't have the money to fight it. most people don't have the energy to even stand up here. i spent to fridays helping to different sets of sets and their families and it's not the first time i've done it but these are the most recent and they can't get help by anybody in this facility.

>> fellow veterans, everyone in this room here is a veteran or a veterans advocate. mr. cortie, cortie excuse me i have been involved with this hospital since 1973 when i was released from walter reed army hospital after 14 months. they were treating battle woun wounds, artificial arteries and my person. i'm a three tour combat medic, minor search in trieste specialist. i work and airborne units, ranger recon units for 13 years of my military career and five years in the national guard. i'm from the state of new hampshire. when i first came here because i have one long gone, they did not want me to be in the manchester

veterans hospital because i was going to be dying of pneumonia because of the altitude. they sent me to a low altitude state which is arizona which i dearly love read when i first came here there were members in this room right now who will vouch that we had to actually fight the va system to get the post-traumatic stress clinic in. not only that, we have people dying with 90-day meds in their pockets committing suicide by overdosing. we finally got that squared aw away. i became the state commander of the amvets. i'm also the international commander of the proud eagles which are native american and nonnative american brothers called the wounded warriors. since november of last year, and

i might add this, i personally as commander have released hundreds of thousands of dollars for this hospital because we gave things for over 15 years. we are amvets. [applause] we still do the same thing now with all the paternal clubs. we had no parade in this town for us. we erected and put $12 in the bank with one member right now who in the final 37 cents. if you are my lion, raise your hand. >> we had 12 bucks. we got ahold of judy liddy. i happen to be the executive director for the veterans service commissioner which was countrymen. we came in and we asked them on

the legislative committee that we would like to have a memorial built. guess what? not only do they get the vietnam veterans memorial built we commissioned -- we put on the biggest parade this town has served in. we had everybody including our own commanders who stood up there in line and said those were in my man right there. it was with general westmoreland and caspar weinberger. a hospital at that time was under rayborn. he works diligently to get us establish in this hospital. we did not let him down. we came back and did the things that were needed to raise the funds for certain programs that weren't allocated by federal budgets. there's one thing -- 1.5 million of my complied raise. we want the logos, the seal of

this country and the eagle is guardian being used as doormats outside of this hospital is a. >> right now. we have sent a letter to the president and the video explaining to him that we would like to have those placed in a disgusting manner and placed in proper areas. i noticed yesterday, i looked at some of the guys nice to gee quiz we are in their left press pocket he they never did before and they are all wearing them now. all these patches you see on my chest here i have earned every single one of them just like this gentleman did here in his -- and there are 50 years between us. and 74 years old. i am dying of agent orange liver cancer caused by lead transfusions by the va.

i'm on a special and native diet and for the first time in two years they told me we couldn't find you ron, we thought you had died. i now have a good doctor and for the first time in two years i've got an appointment that said ron we have to put you on some 2000-dollar a day drugs or you are going to die. i can't even receive that until i go through an extensive program of antibiotics because kidney shutdown, livers shut down. i've only got partial use of one lung. i have artificial stents in my right leg, severed fingers and hands, 13-inch scars down my chest from bayonet lens while i was out working on a veteran patient. i want to make this very clear,

before i pass on to the great reward their amendments from that know me very well. the concepts are running this day since 19844. we are not a bunch of rabble-rousers. we don't take people off the street. i am a member of the american legion and the amvets. i'm a state commander, and the regional commander and we would like to see before you leave to go back to washington glenn, i met you an elevator a month ago. i would like you to try to get those doormats taken off. we are at war with isis right now gentlemen and we need to protect that eagle and that flag which we have all blood for and that's the reason we are in this room right this moment. i'm simply asking everyone here to stand and be counted to focus

the removal of those signs you put on the walls. i have nothing more to say say and isolate you from the hard work you are doing and i see some changes already in medical personnel. that speaks what i wear and that medical badge. thank you very much. god bless you and i'd belong to these gentlemen right over here. they are doing their very best to help you guys too and some of these things these people have been saying are absolutely right on the money. i am a federal investigative news reporter and if i heard some of the stories and took them down they would be considered verbatim information. [applause] in order to sexily -- successfully implement the

person before your position called me a disgruntled set and i asked her why can't we get these maps taken off and placed into propers positions where they should be and not on the floor? people are walking over them. once you hit the door you are on top of them. we fought for them. they don't be used as doormats. they are the american eagle and that one right there should be on the other side of you. i salute to the right. i never salute to the left. we want our independence. we want our flags removed to the proper positions. thank you very much. >> thank you. [applause] >> why is sharon homan receiving six figures on paid leave? isn't it time to stop the clock? >> stop the clock.

>> stop the clock. >> hello my name is lisa united states navy. let's see i probably wouldn't be in this position as i am today if i could have got an appointment in a prompt manner. i was told back in 2012 that i would have to wait nine months to a here before i could get an appointment with a primary provider. in the interim, i went ahead and went to utah. i also have property in utah. that was my biggest mistake. i got in there, the first day they said are you quote homicidal? i said no. first they asked are you suicidal and i said no. are you homicidal?

i said if you don't speak with me i will be. that's not a threat and they did it in a joking manner but i was told by the va that i was considered obstructive as well as disruptive as well as quote accused of threatening va staff which is an absolute lie. doctors, counselors, what a crock of number one. i used to work for the department of corrections so that was part of my problem right there. my house had been monitored and that's no imagination. medical records will actually verify that where that information was only in my home. not over the telephone. i've had the communication

company messing around for the last three and a half years playing little head games. now i realize that's part of the discrediting aspect to will just say you're. it's a lot easier. on march 26 when i know longer had any legal action that i use for the doctors that mistreated me back in 2011 or the hospital i could go after, the va injected me and they said are you sure you were exposed to hepatitis c? i said i only know what i was told. i said i did treatment. and before i could say -- when they asked me that, i said are you sure?

i said i only and dan i was given an injection. it was supposed to be a tetanus shot. it was supposed to be a whooping cough combination. no, it was a major megadose of hepatitis c and along with hepatitis c i was being exposed to hepatitis b1 with this position. but i realized the department of corrections have to do what they called damage control. at that point i said hey that's how i acquired it. but i don't appreciate the nonsense, the allies. i dealt with the advocates. they had already seen my recor records -- stolen my records from my home.

they wanted me to say sexual trauma. you know i you know i don't know if e-mail in the united states military that hasn't been sexually harassed. [applause] but it's not like we are all jumping on the bandwagon. i'm a little west. i'm breaking down. that's all i think about. what a bunch of. these people are looking for a free ride. they are using people that works those that do need help and basically jumping on the bandwagon trying to get a free ride, trying to get disability. i did like her comment with regards to classification of women because i had the exact same thing. when i was in the military it was the same thing. either you are a or you are a. i really don't like that word

either and i did mention that to her. i would take definite offense to that. even though i am i'm happy, i used to be happy until i had to deal with quote the va. march 26, 2013, salt lake high school. the funny thing about it is everything is running in the basement. when i was escorted out by the va police up in salt lake they asked me, oh was there a wired cellular phone company? come on, obviously they do this on a regular basis. they are stealing our identity and selling it off. canadians are polish or russia russians. the individual who wanted my identity was 5 feet 7 inches because that is where they

change my medical records to be. i was 5 feet 9.5 inches before treatment. after treatment i am now 5 feet 8.5 and a half inches. when i was forced into an incident because it was no accident. it was an insurance scam. they do it on a regular basis. the department of corrections take their officers out. they end up in the hospital. they were on that bill up the ying yang. it's all a medical scam. of blew the whistle, 380 some thousand dollars. that's not a little ride in the park. and they are doing this on a regular basis. and as far as the judicial background, what they were doing at the department of corrections was falsifying records, training

records for people applying for paea, the people i dealt with at salt lake also paea. security along with fergie and. they worked for the va. they go from quote sitting at a desk at the va office and turn around and end up working in communications. i'm tired of being messed with and now this stage my vascular system has shut down. my feet have abscesses to the bone. the strange thing about it, when i talk to a psychologist, they want to say you're.

i say you know what would happen to the individual? she said who quote leave it with me comma. that's right, university hospital. i went across the street. check this out, 1900 some odd dollars to go a quarter of a mile across the street. tell me she was scamming, who is scheming. the fact is i was paying $593 a month, regular insurance and get on get screwed by the va. you know i dealt with individuals that supposedly were doctors. i said i haven't seen a doctor since i've been in this dump. how is that? i got a nurse practitioner, i got a pda. i said oh that's right,

dermatologist. i finally get to see an actual doctor. when my feet were quote infected i could barely walk. i have abscesses on my feet down to the bone and thank you so very much. my partner of 30 years said don't come here. they will just throw you in the not word. i laughed and i said let them try. i said i have taken bigger boys on than what i have seen around here lately. that was the last little game that i dealt with up in salt lake, harrisville actually. i call it damage control. initially i was brought in in a

white sheet, pink sheet, suicidal. and the va would pay for it. i said but i'm not suicidal. i realize it's all an insurance scam. while i was paying $593 per month through united health care it wasn't going to united health care. it was going to an individual's pockets and the va was supposed to be picking up the bill. i don't like that. i don't like how our judicial system is so corrupt. i don't care where you go. they are doing background checks. i go to the bank. who does the background checks on those banks?

they stole $56,000 out of my bank account, every penny that i had my 401(k). i had received. i put in $37,000 some odd cents, i got a receipt for $50,000. basically the department of correction gave them a 50,000-dollar ticket, you deal with this problem. you get rid of the problem. i'm at a stage in my life that i don't give a rats hind end about what people think. i have always pronounced if i was from quote back east. why is that, back east? they said because you're outspoken. i said well, if i were in utah you are correct that would be considered back east. i laughed but those women that they are key they keep them medicated. they won't speak out because

they are afraid. the system is definitely broken. the va hospital, i asked for an out, outsourcing his first medical. i was laughed at so gently and told they don't treat hepatitis b. i said do you know what? is considered chronic. i said you have given me such a megadose, my body is collapsing. hepatitis c thanks so very much rate i said i don't appreciate it but i will deal with it. what they did and this is what i refer to as quote engineered, engineered. they do this on a regular basis up in utah.

the first thing you feel is a pain in the knees and hips. gee quiz, now who replaces those knees and hips? that's right, doctors. doctors on the scam. while i was dealing with being in the hospital and went from the hospital to a nursing home and this doctor goes to my house. as part of the game. there are a lot of quote investors. they hate certain groups and they use a lot of youngsters as well. they intimidate people to move out of their neighborhoods. they sell their house and they're getting harassed. i was called in utah by my neighbors in the said oh do you have your camera on? i said nell. they broke into my house. so you don't know who you were living next door to.

i dealt with one individual across the street. i guess his specialty is quote insurance as one would say. va related. yes, c. a. related. the one that told me to go ahead because i was the in the navy and i was about to go ahead and applied. the corruption runs deep as one would say. i think the va hospital, when i came to the va hospital here wasn't so bad. i admit that although i know a scam because they said there was nothing wrong when i left. that long has collapsed back in 2011 when i was forced off the road. i have looked around. but i honestly say was i going

to work? bates told me in the hospital i was going to work. they said i never arrived on friday night. i did arrive on friday night. it was saturday morning and i was sent home an hour early. i should've been escorted home. but what i say was i going to work? i have no idea because i was basically comatose, induced for more than two and a half weeks while they my insurance dry. they rearranged my face and when i say rearranged, one doctor 48 screws and plates. next time i get my medical record because they were stolen from my home -- was that by the

va? ivan nova was by the va or who. records were stolen. next time i had -- screws and only six plates. i can tell you this much, i don't have anything under my face, under my eyes. totally numb. my nose, it certainly isn't my nose. it looks exactly like quote an individual that i dealt with was now a parole officer who is a thief. her mother has my aunt sewing machine in her house. is called steps by advancing. that's how you advance. that's the department of corrections.

[applause] >> i was in the navy. i was a corpsman. i joined the military because -- i'm sorry. i joined the military because i wanted to serve this great country of ours and i would have died for my country. i just didn't think it would be one of the va said i'd have to do that. 18 months ago i was noticing some swelling in my feet. i called my primary care and i got his nurse. that was a time we could get the telephone.

they kept telling me that doctor is not here in blah blah blah. they made me get a copy of my medical records and it said that doctor wanted me to come in on an emergency appointment. so they put a message back to the doctor that said patient trying to tell her to come in for an emergency appointment with the doctor. she refused and said she can't find childcare for poor children. and then he tried to back it up when i confronted him with it. he said you told me you couldn't find childcare for your four children so that shows you right there, dumber and oh my god. finally after about nine months they finally -- the message was

getting to my doctor, which i have the best primary care doctor. oh yeah i went to john mccain's office and that somehow opened up the doors. they did an mri and they found that i had a torn tendon which is an bigger toad that goes all the way up to your ankle and you have it on both sides. all that stuff we had to do in the military just took a toll. they set up for me to have surgery. i was so excited. january 8 i get a phonecall from the surgeon. he's wanting to know could've rescheduled because he had to go to the airport to pick up his family members. i never heard that doctor calling and asking something like that. i said i really don't want to do that so he said, it was the 15th.

in the meantime i had a heart attack and what was really funny, i had gotten out of the hospital already and when he came -- called back to reschedule it again. i go, did you know we have -- i had a heart attack clinics we can't do it at all. i had five cancellations to when i was ready to have it done in the third one, the fifth one was two and a half or three weeks ago. i was on the table ready to go and they stop the surgery because my blood sugar, which i did the preop on the 18th predispose the 29th and i did the preop on may 18. they knew all my blood work. nobody called me and that blood work would not come up. i don't know if it was because of the preop but i never got it.

of course you can't call these clinics. if you talk to someone who speaks some other language that you don't understand. they didn't call me so everything must be okay. my blood sugar was high than a nobody called me to let me know. there was enough time to do th that. so they stopped the surgery. for the preop i had gone in and i don't understand this, how these nurse practitioners are these rns. it wasn't actually a nurse practitioner, it was an r.n.. he was saying i want you off if your plavix and i want you off of this, this than this. i said is that doctor know about this? i'm not done anything to sustain me. i can't take aspirin. oh no this is regular protocol.

you don't need to talk to the doctor. they took me off of plavix and i was supposed to have surgery the 29th. i ended up at chandler regional with a heart attack again because when they took the plavix away for five days for a blood clot one of the stands that i had gotten in january, basically i was 100% occluded. i would have died in my sleep that night if i would have gotten a severe pain that i had. they did another stand and i tried to call clinic and they didn't want anything to do with me. you call less than a year and we will talk to you. i didn't join the military because i knew that 20 years later i would need to have medical care. i joined the military because i felt proud of this country. i wanted to be part of this country.

[applause] no matter what you sign the check all the way up to including your death. but we are not getting that back. we are getting people that are giving us a bunch of baloney. talking out of both sides of their mouth and i get that every time. i'm in your quite a bit, at least three times a month. i'm just getting sick and tired of it. i'm sick and tired of seeing these little nonveteran kids talking to these older veterans like they are dogs. believe me if i am here and i hear it i stand up and let me tell you they don't get away with it, not on my time. [applause] these people that are up on the front lines when they check u.n. and all of that.

i went to nursing school, paramedic school. i have done all these things. these people have no medical training at all. they stand up and tell you go home and we will call you. that's not the way it works. if you were in a civilian hospital or her regular doctor's office and the patient came in and said i'm having chest pain and they'd say go home will call you, that's termination right there. these people are allowed to turn people away. i was -- a 17 or 1818-year-old had just gotten out and she's timid and she comes up and she goes i'm really having a bad time. i feel like i'm going to hurt myself. i'm like oh my god. the girl said we don't have any pure paperwork so you need to go home and we will call you. this poor child walking out of there.

trying to tell her about the opal clinic. people in primary care didn't even know where it was. where is that? it's right around the corner. if you get up off your and go around. i don't get it. turn this little girl away. the whole night that's all i worried about was this poor girl who had gone out, death by -- death by whatever all because you don't have the time to take the time. that's not right. if it weren't for the veterans before, after and now there wouldn't be a job for these civilians to have two treat people that way. they need to understand that. [applause] we are not here for them. they are here for us and we are going to do it. if i have my way about it and

don't ever say anything bad to a veteran because i will clock you can take your name and number. i have someone else with me that will do the same thing only she hits harder. patient advocate, that's an oxymoron. how can you have somebody help somebody who works for the va? they are complaining about the va and they are helping them for the va. i had a bad experience with them. i heard. into the room and tell the doctor what you want us to do and that made me mad and i let her know about it. that is not right. that's all i've got to say. [applause] >> all right, thank you. >> hello. i am dave. a bit overwhelmed, kind of tir tired. more importantly, besides the

session which i might have a couple about, we need the va staff to be at these meetings instead of collecting their easy money and things go in one ear and out the other. more importantly with all the money they are putting into the va and stuff this is phoenix. we are a huge city. veterans made arizona what it is and at this time there is no doubt in my military mind that there should be two shifts. instead of everyone living in luxury as life and going home at 4:00. secondly, patient advocate that we have discussed a few times

should have a patient advocate that can keep -- you can communicate with as they team player that we were taught so much when we were in the military, someone again that can help you with your treatment plan. i'm trying to keep it as short as i can. i have got third stage lung disease, yada, yada, yada. what is happening to -- happening to all these people? sheron helmand, she still collecting money? dr. bloom was my pulmonologist and just like the rest of the va, retired. they conveniently do this and that. i'm a licensed aircraft mechan

mechanic, a light licensed electrician mechanic, united airlines since 1990. been seeing these pieces of ship for two and a half years. i was finally terminated with united airlines may 31 of this year and i'm blackballed. again, police officers not the last four times with previous to that have always again, messed with me. the whole thing is a big joke. it's a big joke. it's basically, it's like a walnut shell game were hot potato. there are so many people here that no one is accountable. they just pass the buck to another person. if we are going to keep having these town meetings, we need the

va staff in here. we can complain all we want, whatever. [applause] >> i don't know if anybody knows that its international -- day today. >> how perfect. >> how perfect. i'm honored as the mother of a veteran who served in desert storm to speak to all of you. what he would say, he died last october, what he would say to me through the eight years that he was on the waiting list and died in october 25th. i was with a personal advocate here at the hospital when he

died. a the phonecall came. he would save mom, don't do it for me. do it for the other veterans and that's why i'm here. i'm appalled to hear all what's going on here. i want to tell you my medical experience. 10 years old i was changing diapers of a baby that was born with his bladder out into his on the side. at 16 i was my mother's and my father's nurse because my mother would not assist him. so i changed his trach, i cleaned it, i showed in the mirror after he had four places in his jaw broken. two broken ribs and a broken l leg. he's an irishman from illinois and i'm proud to say i'm a farmer's daughter and i want you

all to know the crisis in medical care that we are in. i visited five or six people and hospice who died. so we are all here for temporary reasons. what we do with that short span of time that we are here, a assist everybody. be an advocate for civil rights. learn the gettysburg address. get out there in your community and establish help. go get a degree in the medical profession. you know we are overloaded. everybody knows we are overloaded. the va knows we are. we are all overloaded. everybody is overworked. do you get it? do you get it? everybody should get it. do your part.

do your part to assist. i know, i understand, i know there are mistakes and i know there are people that didn't hear my son when he had a tumor in his face and he had to get on the waiting list. so he proceeded to go to the state hospital and say i'm nuts, i know i am, help me three times at the state hospital. no help, nothing. value options. go to value options. they will give you a good drug. oh no they went out of business. they had to change the name to magellan. my father worked at the state hospital. i spent six years visiting my son and i got to watch him die.

i got to watch the doctors over drugged him and give him bladder cancer and when i requested the records i was told that i had to pay 50 cents a page. can you imagine, six years of medical records from a state hospital? i requested from the governor, from the department of health, from the state hospital, from the va. everybody that i could could come and can we please have his records? the birth records are supposed to be free from the va but guess what he knew there was no assistance at that time. he entered at peacetime as a mine man. does anybody know what a mine man is? who knows what a mine man is? nobody. they don't tell you what a mine man is. a mine man hauls explosives and

bombs. he delivers bombs. it was peacetime. i married his chicago cubs father because president kennedy said he got married he didn't have to go to war. where are we now? thank you. [applause] >> my name is staff sergeant richard harris, retired, 23 years army national guard, army reserve afghanistan 2002, iraq 06 and 07. i stand here pretty able-bodied. i'm 40% disabled. i've got all of my lambs thankfully.

i just want to say i filed my claims after i retired because there's a stigma. they don't want any broken soldiers. i was a mid-level nco. i had soldiers reporting to me and i was counseling them and encouraging and mentoring. still in the reserves after afghanistan and iraq for another two years before he retired after 23 years. going through the pt test in everything and you go in the locker room afterwards and people are cleaning up. it looks like the pharmaceutical convention because you have half the unit on psychotropics trying to deal with the stress. i was a triathlete.

now i get winded after 45 minutes of my workout. i used to be able to work out eight hours a day and longer, okay? i was just solid. now my wife complains that i'm fatigued all the time. i do want to complain. i want to solve the problem. i haven't been to the va except for today because i registered with the gulf war registry. something i wasn't told about in 2010 when i first filed my claims, i filed mine claims. two were approved, two were denied, five were forgotten, okay? i overcame another four of those and two were declined or natural peptic means out of my own pocket. thank god i am employed and

thank god i do have insurance outside of the va. i even changed my whole career to go into psychology and everything to help vets to deal with this stuff. i'm working on applying for my masters. i helps volunteer for encouraging fats and different things like that. i want to say your system is broke. if i can help i will. if there's anybody who needs somebody to talk to, some other medical advice i have saved myself from surgeries through natural peptic means and i have overcome a few things. it's funny the two things or one of the things that was approved

with ibs. it's kind of fitting because the army and the va has been a pain in the after%. that's about it. i do like this. you are asking for some suggestions what's going good and what's going bad. i will say kind of real quick that gulf war registry, it's a study. it's not necessarily their to help with your claims although it will help the long-term. i think it's kind of misguided. if you do your research, less chemical exposure in afghanistan before. i know if i read my history right there russians when they left bagram airfield they sprayed commercial pesticides

killing tens of thousands of people. i've seen the graveyards. i was there early. they were kicking around in this dust that was a foot thick, breathing it. that was one of my first concerns when i left. eyes have suffered from different things ever sense. i'm here to help with that stu study. i have volunteered for a lot of different things that the whole system is broke. thanks. [applause] >> hi. i'm an army veteran. i had a whole bunch of things that i wanted to go over but it seems like everybody has hired a hit on everything.

a couple of things that i really wanted to touch on. those papers you were passing out having people fill those o out. they have had these suggestion boxes all over the va that people never did anything with. as a matter fact some of them are still up. who's going to be following up on these? >> as we go through them i have to figure out a way to communicate with all of you because i don't really have an easier way of doing it. with my employees i will e-mail them this actual cards and we provide updates on what's happening with the various suggestions. i'm going to try to figure what to do that may be at a subsequent meeting, and maybe be able to tie in some things from tonight trying to fi fix it and moving forward with new comments from folks. >> another question i have is why isn't somebody taking

minutes on what's going on here? >> we have got lots of staff. >> is this going to be -- are we going to be able to have access to at? >> look at my director over there. think there's a request from c-span and c-span is recording it and i don't know what they are going to safor but they asked if they could come and record it. c-span is going to show this and you can watch it on tv. >> okay. now as far as my health goes i have been coming here since 19 1974. i would have to say on a scale of one to 10 it's always been a seven or an eight. my biggest issue is with some of these employees. an example of that is something

that happened to me just wednesday. i was called. i had an appointment for thursday you know before you go for an operation, what's it called? a preop appointment for thursday. they called me tuesday night and asked me if they could change it to wednesday or friday. i said i have an appointment wednesday at 10:30. she said we need you in here early so i said okay what early? she said 8:30 or earlier. she said if you come in earlier we will get to you so you don't miss her 10:30 appointment. this was my first experience with these people. i also have my hands operated on. i am left-handed. i leave my house at 6:30 from mesa and i get here about

7:30 and by 7:40 i was signed in. i asked the person, there were only two people behind the counter helping me and another person sitting in the waiting room. the person says i will see that she gets it right away. i sit down, it is a clock no action, 8:30 still no action, a 45:00 or 8:50 i hear a lady calling my name from behind the counter. she said what are you doing here? i didn't know you were here. i walked up to her and this guy that i signed in with was there and she standing behind him. i looked at him a little funny. she said something to me and i said you guys are going to have to feed me after this. by that i meant getting a meal ticket. i'm also diabetic.

and bipolar. anyway this guy gives me a funny look. this lady is talking. i can't give you a meal ticket. we don't do that anymore. she's trying to hand me this paper. you have to go down the hall. i took the paper and i handed it back to her and i walked out. calling my name and saying you are not going to be operated on. i'm thinking to myself i'm going to let these people operate on me and they can't even get me and they are right? i was a little afraid. i started leaving and i thought you know i'm going to find out who this person was and who that person was before i walk out of here. so i walked back upstairs. i go to the counter and asked this guy for my sign in sheet.

what time did i sign in? he started getting smart with me. talking about him being an ex-rent-a-cop. i don't know what he was trying to do, intimidate me, i don't know. i said can i speak to your supervisor? what do you want me to do, give you a copy or get my supervisor? i'm thinking can't you do both? what do you want first? this is for real happening. i'm not kidding, this happened. i said you're right there at the computer, give me the copy. meanwhile this guy comes up to me and he says what's the problem here? i think to myself who are you now? he says i'm the supervisor. i didn't say that, i thought if i didn't say it. he said on the supervisor.

how do i know you are the supervisor? because i'm telling you on the supervisor. i said okay get me your supervisor. i don't like the way this is going. he said i will handle this right now. he calls the police. wait a minute, and i said you're calling the police? he said yeah. i said you know what, screw it. i don't need this. i started to walk away and obvious sign of a if there were three cops were running up the steps. tonight i'm sitting down in the lobby and one of these police officers walks by me, looks me dead in the eyes. excuse me i don't mean to be swearing but he looks me dead in the eyes and doesn't say a word.

he walks back to the police station and he comes back with two other police officers. i had two witnesses sitting there with me at the clinic. he gets sneaky and comes up to me and says we have to talk to you. i said what's up? you're going to come with us. i said what the? this was tonight. ..

>> >> had in i was afraid to go up there. i am serious. so i said to myself you go

in there in a wheelchair they will wheel you around. of i have the disability which is a mental health disorder. what if somebody comes and asks you to lock them up there and be that escort? i will respect the person that is with me so they told me it was the employee think so they could baguette the files. that should be change. i will tell you quickly i have of friend of mine that was with me 20 years ago her name was michelle and she was killed one month ago by a police officer who does

not know how to take a fucking out of her hand. the same thing could happen here. it could happen. think you for listening. [applause] >> my phone is going off by started off tonight i had to come back after hearing everybody. my family has been a family of analyst for many years some of that has rubbed off on me although it never get paid for it. what we're talking about there is gross incompetence gross incompetence the

doctor always asks these questions are you suicidal do you have any weapons? what kind would you like it? so i told my doctor i am getting that way. can we save up an appointment for psychiatric care? i said let's go do that so the day came i got down to the clinic and a woman came in to say a year for medication? i said william. is the. why are you here? i am looking for in site how to deal with the v.a. hospital now this brings me

to another thing i have to direct that to you. in to those and have decent jobs you know, what i about to say is true or called me a liar. i had a friend he was a volunteer here this hospital for many years and helped a lot of people get to where they needed to go not just clinically but see this person they can help you do this. i had another friend rick who retired recently he would tell the can you put that it different way? so that is not confrontational? he taught me a lot but that

point is the v.a. if you are employed you have to go to their class is. that's true. >> [inaudible] [inaudible] >> more than that but in opening came open for my friend bob and people said put him through this job it is the nice paying job. you work there as a volunteer. they turned him down because they told him you know, too much the way we teach people how to turn everybody down. because this paper was not filled out exactly right or

something was omitted for any reason whatsoever. mia case so far? >> that sounds like the benefit side i have no control. >> no, no, no. in order to work here they would not hire bob because he helped to many people have taken the gold they tried to work for whether a doctor or recently they did a lung biopsy on me and that was a nightmare. but guess what they ruptured a blood vessel i started to

fill with blood. it scared me and the doctor. so after many hours they sent me home and said if you have trouble breathing or chest pains were bleeding come back. the next day i started to have all kinds of trouble. i was coughing up blood clots i told my wife take me to the hospital i am getting bad. the emergency room somebody said it was a joke. totally incompetent i sat there seven hours could not breathe with chest pains excuse was he says i am sorry but i don't know what to do for you.

i have to pass you to the pulmonary department it is four-o'clock give the warning. a nurse comes and says i have to ask questions but they give me a shot at several. thank god. after seven hours in the lobby. then they give me a sears store room and said i have to ask you questions. do you have any weapons? yap. right now live with like to have borne. comeback noon tomorrow. at 4:00 in the morning and i am sedated.

i do have good news in a minute. if you don't care it is totally absent in this hospital and one who cares enough about that if you do get one they're only here until they get a good job they don't want to pay anybody. so to make this so bad recently i had to go to i want to take care of business after the biopsy.

but i got there i had to be admitted to the v.a. hospital for five days. guess what? v.a. is have been here compared to des moines, iowa. i had a liquid diet. the fifth day they let me eat. at the end of the fifth day the woman says the want to do a report to question you about how good your food was. are you kidding me? how can you mess up a grilled cheese sandwich?

it tastes like it went through 55 years. -- five fires.bú the tomato soup tastes like somebody did not take out the dishrag. so there are some good things here. but it is certainly not the doctors. thank you. [applause] >>. >> we will do to more then wrap it up. what happened to me happened to other people.

and then i bring her to the emergency. with an open sore down to the bone. then we go back. and then they put her in a bet. then we were kind the escorted out. end coming here on a saturday.

with a bad prostate problem. and then told me to come back monday. when i got back monday they said you have to make an appointment to wait one month.n but then i looked upm but then i went out. a whit to the hospital.

but here at the v.a. instead of service they have the police escort you about. in if you don't agree with them. if you get on your knees the first thing they do is say they will send you down to call the police. that is what happened to me here. but my case has been on appeal. nobody tells me nothing about it and i have the paper.

if they could do anything for me. and all of these cases. thank you. >> think you for your patience. and. >> [inaudible] from arizona state university post graduation.

clemenceau a disabled vet. i have seen a lot of changes. but it is a large portion of what goes on here. i have been patient for a long time.z9 over there is the only guy that this year with a smile.

the other officer in plane stalls -- close have skills on their face. but then i had my own encounters with the v.a. police. i of them thrown against the wall and questionedy with the overwhelming presence. they all hang around that a cup chopped -- cop shop. why do we have to have town meetings like this? why not patient representatives?

but i am disabled totally and permanently. but to have a desk in the front lobby. for what they paid. but there was a guy who needed help the first with just paints. but it is not equipped to handle.

you walked into see folks in the emergency room. but the use level one or level two. they go to st. joe's or to county. because they don't have the medical training i have worked of back-office i have had their own problems.

>> joy and does he spend a conversation. like the sun facebook for follow us on twitter. hispanic the virginia n. tenth congressional district that representative is retiring after 34 years in congress and with that race

they debated last night. >> the transportation plan was hailed by some as once in a generation infusion of money for transportation where problems are1÷ significant that you referenced as the game change your why did you go against the bill and would do do so well again? >> i would knows something bipartisan -- my partner did not i know this was the difficult issue we did work together civilly and in the business community i did meet and discuss but i was concerned about the disproportionate tax in northern virginia. there was also additional taxes put out so i know it was the tough call but that was the call i made it now

that that has passed what we do in virginia mike washington is stop the name-calling but immediately came together how will we make that bill work? the important part was to focus on congestion relief to make sure it goes to congestion relief not the fault a that is already getting tens of millions of dollars i was told that will never happen now you see it going forwardm,so now we need to prioritize that with all state and local colleagues to make sure it does not go to things like that. we are getting shortchanged and i will fight with you every day that is why the business groups you did support the transportation bill still supported me because they know i am the person who works to get things done.

>>. foust: the transportation bill is a game change your it is for northern virginia but now it is apparently is voting against it that somehow she makes it work. but i will tell you before she showed up for the ribbon cutting she did not support that. this is what you have to look for are you willing to be there to take on the challenge or just willing touche shut -- to show up after the fact? that is unacceptable. the it is too important to play political games3%.

>>. >> good morning the vice president government's studies from the brookings institution i'd like to welcome you today to our forum on the future of the internet and trade in the digital era and we do have the twitter feat set up #

techcti. the internet has thrived as a platform across national boundaries. communication has grown through diverse areas to connect with by another but in recent years there is a number of challenges that have run the risk to vulcanize the internet to undermine trade.:b this includes sentiments with challenges and threats among other types of things. the results is a crisis of confidence in the digital economy as though whole. to help us understand we have a panel of distinguished experts. ambassador is the assistant deputy secretary in the u.s. state department and coordinate's international

communication and information policy prior to that serving as the senior adviser to massachusetts and also a senior adviser to senator john kerry. the ambassador just told me last week he has a new sun that was born so if peons from time to retire please understand. [laughter] >> the assistant u.s. trade representative for services and investments for the u.s. trade of representatives and overseas bilateral services and the lead negotiator in the dead buteo service negotiations and also will -- worked as chief counsel for monitoring and we have the senior vice president of the cge corporation and chief executive officer who has

been with the firm two years and was previously on the board for the san diego world trade center. we have the director of law enforcement information security and in that position he oversees the worldwide law enforcement and security efforts and work to a security for yahoo! and also served as a federal prosecutor. vice president of intelligence division of the defense group also serves as director for center of intelligence's research and analysis is the expert on the of suspects of cyberissues and intelligence gathering and would like to start with daniel - - daniel what is the current challenges to international trade? >> thanks very much gaea thanks for having us and to

my fellow panelists. to c.s. work together when we worked together. in terms of the challengese6 to international trade the biggest challenge is the concerns people have about implementing their particular laws that takes place and information housed in other places. so what we do the solution is bilateral to make sure we have a good working relationship just the office of justice, and others working with their counterparts on whatever issues. i hold bilaterals on a regular basis but onç the

first day we have industry from their country and my colleagues to challenge each other to conduct on of fair basis across borders to see if there are ways to resolve the obscene issues. the other issue is the vision of the internet by some countries as something that disproportionately benefits the united states that consumers are not participants in the market. and in that case, the situation there is you have a traditional dependency they will force investment to create a digital market toward internet economy. the problem with that is

that technology and communication in general is not a platform but is a force it is up the bank. that that information is essentialto keep it open as possible as benefits that spread across health care agriculture to all sectors to have greater efficiency and productivity. we make two points. to recognizing and let's work on the efforts to use the infrastructure within

the market's. that is happening. with innovative products and services with different parts of the world to serve markets in a way that the use is the platform from here so all in all the biggest challenges is that we preserve what works the voluntary nature and to ensure we are including to become exclusive to the decision making how information works and our deliberation what otherskí expect from the network. >> what are the challenges you are seeing? >> thanks for the invitation. we appreciate the

opportunity to be here. this is a very central part of the trade agenda and we start from the premise that digital trade the information flows are a more important source of gdp and overall business productivity for innovation. from that point in terms of challenges specifically the number one challenge i think most specifically is in the form of local requirements.

in it is extremely obvious. it could deter companies to go into a sq(r#ic market and then having to store data locally within the country is also a costly barrier. and with that security or privacy and ways around that. the attic and the cost involved in those are two of the most pernicious.

that they see this in some instances as an opportunity to encourage said growth of their own industry. but we absolutely agree that that turns out to be counterproductive because of the high cost and ends up to undermine the services provided. and the transfer and dissemination of technology that comes through open is particularly true for small and medium enterprises. this is an area of particular interest. and ebay did a study that showed those sellers that sold through ebay participated in exporting at a 90% level compared to this

small and medium sellers that did not participate with online sales exporting at a rate of 25%. so there are real gains to be made across the globe and that localization requirements. another aspect with china in particular and it is indigenous with the technologies and standards. that could be a serious barrier and one in which we have thought to try to discourage. and then briefly aside from then mobilization issued touche try to dismantle, and

with those privacy regimes in that regard the highlight and attention and that meadow good work that goes on between the united states and the of the you. censorship is one that we have to confront. for certain instances but at the same time with countries like china and be a non it is of serious barrier to increased trade and investment. then finally the is market access barriers, first of all, restrictions on investment and some instances there is no investment at all with internet related sectors. second, there can be restrictions on related

services like distribution. to carry out a service of a particular sector. there is trade barriers that we seek to attach as well. i willñv not spend time on them but certainly i p.r. infringement is a significant barrier. and i would add to the list balak of clarity with customs requirements. something else that has created a barrier for companies. said is a long laundry list but it gives you an idea of the scope and spectrum of the kinds of trade barriers we are seeking to deal with your trade rules and

>> thanks for putting the panel together i am honored to be here. and with that blue cross border the rate was reduced as probably you know, zte was founded in 1985 to provide affordable communication. zte actually benefit from free information flow and free trade. now we are 160 countries and we are working with almost every single one in the world.

we are also starting investing in the u.s. now we have extra smart phone provider in the united states. zte success is coming really from couple of things. number one, partnership. because of this flow of information, we're able to extend partnership with american companies for example intel, com.comm, broad, we're able to integrate the innovation and products into our product with engineering in china and supply to sale worldwide. that's acw basis model for us. another important thing is really the trust. so it's very important for technology companies when we deliver products, we should have high integrity and also inner security. we need to earn trust between us and partners, customers and

worldwide. we have to do whatever we can to make sure that those trust are not jeopardized. another thing that's very important for success being a global company, you have to global strategy but also very important that you act locally. it's our goal we always cocomply with local regulations and local laws. with internet and challenge of flow, it put a challenge to us as i mentioned early, how we going to further grow with that. one step forward is for government to jointly agree on certain things. first of all, should not judge a company of product or services for origin.

because today is a global economy. we produced in china but running google operating system with cpu brand. i think then we sell globally. we need to overcome that. rather we charge the company of products based on its own mirror. also the comment globally, they have to come together to agree on standardization and code of conduct. then we can make sure the internet, this kind of prosperity bring to the world and productivity improvement further prosperity the economy and also help us to manage the overall challenge in front of us even for the environment issue and those kind of issues.

so then we can move forward. the next generation of internet, potential of fully utilized, then we can enjoy more growth for the world economy, prosperity, and also creating more jobs. >> thank you. so richard, what are the challenges you're focused on? >> thank you. good morning. thanks for having me. i'm honored to be sitting here among such experts. i think it's somewhat telling that somebody who has a job that i have is speaking on a panel about trade issues. my job is really around come -- compelled data from google, and dealing with the issues of countries around the world seeking information about google users. i work on information security issues protecting data. it's all one big umbrella.

what's interesting about this is the world of surveillance and world of trade has now collided or combined in absolutely undeniable way now. for my purposes and i think this is probably been the truth for some time now, my observation was of course after we saw some revelations about some of the nsa programs, we saw other jurisdictions concerned about what they perceived as expansive surveillance authority by the u.s. government to hunker down and try to figure out how with can we protect ourselves and our users from nsa, u.s. government surveillance. one of the natural reactions to that i think, even if very misguided is consider data localization laws. under the misimpression that's a good step and reasonable step to take. so from a cross border trade issue, that presents very

significant problems for a company like google and for users. we heard the other panelists talk a i little about this. a country says you've got to have a data in our jurisdiction and got to put some class of user data in that data center. it presents as others have noted here tremendous inefficiencies. the value of a cloud as we think about it is lost when you break it up into little pieces. you have lots of sub clouds. the official sayefficiencies are -- the efficiencies are gone. you have to re-replicate a debt everywhere. -- data everywhere. it's very expensive. you have security issues presented when data can't be dispersed in a secure way among data centers that wouldn't share the same catastrophic fate as one might if there was a

tremendous storm or other accident. you have network outages, data loss as a result of this. the natural ecosystem that would develop if you didn't have to put data in jurisdiction because of legal requirements, all that is lost with data localization. there's an irony as well. there's a presumption that data localization laws would be good for the local country that's imposing them. partially perhaps it would give incumbent countries an ability to take advantage, be able to compete. of course what it overlooks is the fact that local businesses of all types actually take advantage of services offered by cloud providers. an awful lot of companies use google, amazon and sales force, lots of other countries to run their businesses. they take advantage of the efficiencies offered by the

cloud. really what happens if a country imposes data implications, it harms countries that would otherwise take advantage. there's also i think security issues that are presented when you do this. i kind of mentioned the idea that a good, secure data a storage scheme is going to have data not just in one place where it's susceptible to a attack or susceptible to some outage or act of god that knocks a data center out. a smart distribution will allow you to stay up, keep uptime at a maximum, allow traffic to route around damage areas of the network. if you impose artificial rules on what the architecture is supposed to look like, you start losing benefits and start exposing data to security threats that otherwise we would easily be able to engineer.

in the long run, data localization requirements i think are really very bad. not just for the companies that are taking advantage of the cloud network. i think another aspect of this with the snowden revelations about nsa surveillance come in the form of countries that may be tempted to be build their own surveillance infrastructure to match what they view as being what the capabilities of the nsa. so what we're starting to see now are jurisdictions considering aggressive surveillance laws that would have extraterritorial reach. they would report to require companies that aren't in their jurisdiction to engage in surveillance for them. maybe an entirely legitimate investigation. may be the need for

investigation is undisputed and entirely appropriate by most of our standards that an investigation could continue. these laws are being imposed upon the providers to comply with them. yet they are extraterritorial. in fact, maybe imposing on those providers obligations to do things that are in violation of other laws that are applicable to those companies. the result is a rather chaotic situation of conflicting surveillance laws and privacy laws which are really meant to protect sovereign interests of the different countries but aimed at an entity that has no way to resolve all of that. that is the private sector companies. the real answer to this is not layer upon layer of conflicting national laws aimed at providers but i think as the ambassador and christine mentioned,

bilateral, multilateral diplomatic arrangements between governments to be able to sort out come peting equities in privacy and surveillance. in short term and long term few churks that's one of the larger threats we're seeing. >> thank you. so james, i know you have a lot of expertise on security issues. what are the problems you see? >> you're right darrel. i'm not a trade person. i'll go at this from a different angle. for me the greatest current challenge is shaping the structural evolution of the internet particularly the regime that sets on top of that. there's obviously structural causes of the fracturing we're talking about. we sort of jumped in to how to to fix it without really beginning by saying why is the internet fracturing in significant ways? i think it's both the economic stakes which are so great and the enormous percentage of the global economy that relies on these networks as well as the decline and security we feel on

those networks and the real concerns that we have. given those two trends, it's natural that people look to the governance model and ways legal structures are set up as a way of ameliorating those concerns. it's led to interesting false means that this idea i can as a cat's paw as the u.s. commerce department. if anyone who's ever knownester dyson or backstrom or tang ent, it's ridiculous i am is at the commerce department's bidding. that's led to the opposite pendulum, which is that somehow the intelligence union under the u.n. that doesn't have the expertise to deal with this and really the wrong venue that we should move to a state centered monthed el. it's because the idea between two competing camps, somehow on the one happened internet is

global common. that has cyber punk libertarian origins of the network versus those that now say because of the economic stakes on the internet, we need to impose sovereignty model on the internet. now i'm here to say my personal opinion is there's no global comments in cyber space even though my name is on the report called global commons in cyber. i was in respectful decent. -- dissent. the reason is the actual structural internet, every node of the network resides within the sovereign boundaries of a nation state governed by laws. data travel over submarines -- there's no parts that don't fall into the west sovereignty order.

so yet people say even all that is true, i still want to live in virtual space as an avatar and enjoy the freedom, benefit even though this absolutely falls in sovereignty and legal structure. this is a big philosophical battle we're fighting now. china, russia and code of conduct mentioned in others, look at the structural aspects of architecture and it relates to sovereignty. they say naturally we have a right to not only protect the network but police the network. this is a huge philosophical battle when mixed also with the battle over whether internet standards and other i.t. standards can be used as trade weapons that we're fighting now

that will really determine five, ten, 15, 20 years out what the nature of the network looks like. i wanted to step back for a minute and look from 30,000 feet and talk about cause and effects. i think we can then go back down and talk about specific remedies and ways we can understand where all of this problem actually comes from. >> my next question, the entire several mentioned the questions we can see the tensions that developed across countries as across sectors. so the question is, how can we rebuild trust in international trade and the digital economy? are there particular steps you think we should take that would improve trade and cross border data flows? of