From The Washington Post, 1/9/06:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010800851.html?referrer=emailarticle
VA Phones Dispense Questionable Answers
A veteran who turns to the Department of Veterans Affairs for
information about benefits might want a second opinion.
According to VA data, people who call the department's regional
offices for help and advice are more likely to receive completely
wrong answers than completely right ones.
To see how well department employees answer typical questions from the
public, VA benefits experts in 2004 called each of the 57 regional
offices, which process disability claims.
The mystery callers, saying they were relatives or friends of veterans
inquiring about possible benefits, made 1,089 calls.
Almost half the time they got answers that the department said were
either completely incorrect or minimally correct.
According to an internal memo on the mystery-caller program that is
buried deep in the VA Web site, 22 percent of the answers the callers
got were "completely incorrect," 23 percent were "minimally correct"
and 20 percent were "partially correct."
Nineteen percent of the answers were "completely correct," and 16
percent "mostly correct."
The program also found that some VA workers were dismissive of some
callers and unhelpful or rude to others.
One caller, for example, said:
"My father served in Vietnam in 1961 and 1962. Is there a way he can
find out if he was exposed to Agent Orange?"
The VA response, according to the memo:
"He should know if they were spreading that chemical out then. He
would be the only one to know. OK (hung up laughing)."
The memo said the response was "completely incorrect" because it gave
no information -- and also was "rude and unprofessional."
______________________________________________________
You say you were a expecting a 'what' from the Bush Crime Family? A
straight answer? Fuggedaboutit.
Harry
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