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Show A2 DAILY Customer Service Newsroom Ton free 801-344-25- 375-510- 3 David Espo THE 40 President Bush and the Street address: 1555 N. Freedom Blvd., Provo, UT Send mail to: P.O. Box 717, Provo, UT 846030717 NEWS TIPS: On nights and weekends, call 344-255At other times, contact an editor above. CORRECTIONS: The Herald corrects errors of fact appearing in Its news and opinion columns. If you have a correction, 344-258- Home Delivery ADVERTISING 3 Delivery by 6 a.m. Mon-Fr- 7 a.m. Sat-Su- n i For missing papers, call by 9:30 a.m. New subscriptions, restarts, delivery or 3 weekbilling information, call days from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMS Daily Thur. & Sunday Sat, Sun Fri. & CLASSIFIED 3736450 RETAIL 344-294- 6 ADVERTISING FAX 356-301- The Daily Herald (ISSN 0891-277USPS 143-06is published morn- SUBSCRIPTIONS Holidays Thursday Only t Sunday Only Thur. Sun & Holidays 'Holiday delivery includes delivery the weeks of Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day. Pioneer Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. ings, Sunday through Saturday, by Lee Publications, a division of Lee Enterprises, Inc., 1555 N. Freedom Blvd., Provo, Utah 84604. Periodicals postage paid at Provo, Utah. Postmaster Send address changes to The Daily Herald, P.O. Box 717. Provo, Utah 84603-0717- . MEMBER, AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS AD contents Copyright O 2007, Daily Herald. Any reproduction or other use is strictly prohibited without written permission. House acts to improve care for wounded vets Jim Abrams THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ReactWASHINGTON ing to shabby treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the House on Wednesday created a coterie of case manag- goals were commendable, the . legislation is premature. It suggested that Congress wait for a report from a presidential commission and a task force on the created after the exposure of poor outpatient living conditions and treatment at Walter ers, advocates and counselors Reed. Those findings are exfor injured troops returning pected by the end of July. from Iraq and Afghanistan. But lawmakers from both The "Wounded Warrior parties, intent to show supAssistance Act," approved port for troops regardless of 42&0, also establishes a hotline divisions over the war in Iraq, for medical patients to report were in no mood to wait. More can be done later, problems with treatment and demands an end to the red said Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, tape that has frustrated disabled service members as they but the legislation move from Pentagon to Veteris "needed now to provide ans Affairs Department care. immediate support for our The bill would affect some wounded warriors." of the more than 25,000 U.S. The bill requires Senate service members wounded in action before it goes to the hostile action since military president. The White House also oboperations began in Iraq and Afghanistan. jected to a provision imposing "We cannot allow those a one-yemoratorium on a who have fought our foreign program letting private comenemies in the defense of panies compete with public freedom to come home and agencies for military hospital fight the federal bureaucracy work contracts. The admin., ar to get the health care they need," said Rep. Candice Mill- a member of the er, Armed Services Committee. The White House, in a statement, said that while those mm MiL r xtfkM&L .MMfe. hmmm Democra- istration said the program, criticized for contributing to substandard conditions and staffinadequate ing at Walter Reed, is generating billions in savings. Severe Back Pain or Herniated Disc? UTAH - It appears that a technology exists that may show hope for people suffering from herniated, Congress lurched toward a veto showdown over Iraq on Wednesday, the commander in chief demanding a replenishment of war funding with no strings and Speaker Nancy Pelosi counseling him, "Calm down with the threats." Bush said imposition of a "specific and random date of withdrawal would be disastrous" for U.S. troops in Iraq and he predicted that lawmakers would take the blame if the money ran short. "The clock is ticking for our troops in the field," he said. "If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the American people will know who to hold responsible." Bush spoke as the Senate moved toward passage of legislation that would require the beginning of a troop withdrawal within 120 days, and would set a goal of March 31, 2008, for its completion. The House approved a more sweeping measure last week, including a mandatory withdrawal deadline for nearly all combat troops of Sept. 1, 2008. Both bills would provide more than $90 billion to sustain military efforts in Iraq and Af- ghanistan. After passage, the next step would be a House-Senat- e compromise measure almost certain to include conditions that Bush has said he finds objectionable, and the president's remarks seemed designed to lay the political groundwork for a veto showdown with the new Democratic majority later this spring. Confidently predicting his veto would be sustained in Congress, he said, "Funding for our forces in Iraq will begin to run out in Members of Congress need to stop making political statemid-Apr- il ments, and start providing vital funds for our troops. They need to get that bill to my desk so I can sign it into law." One key Democrat with longtime ties to the Pentagon, said Rep. John Murtha, Bush was exaggerating, and he estimated the real deadline for a fresh infusion of funds D-P- L Gordon Adams, a former Clinton adrninistration official specializing in defense issues, said the Pentagon has authority to transfer existing funds between accounts. "So into June, while it's painful, it's possible for the military to maintain operations, he said. Democratic leaders, determined to force Bush to change course in Iraq, also disputed his contention that Congress would be to blame for any funding difficulties in a war tic-controlled www.heraldextra.ccmi 375-510- was June ASSOCIATED PRESS 800380-807- 5 FAX 801735489 call . they have vowed to end "Why doesn't he get real with what's going on with the world?" said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, DNev. "We're not holding up funding in Iraq and he knows that. Why doesn't he deal with the real issues facing the American people?" Pelosi responded to Bush with a blend of conciliation and challenge. "On this very important ter, I would extend a hand friendship to the president, to say to him, 'Calm down losi, Whatever the outcome, the confrontation bore similarities to a veto fight of a dozen years ago. At the time, a new, Congress promised steep spending cutbacks to balance the budget, and a politically weakened president of the other party refused to go along. A pair of government shutdowns ensued including one that lasted 21 days and Republicans bore the brunt of the public's unhappiness. In . the end, the new GOP majority surrendered, and Bill Clinton exploited the episode to help rehabilitate his standing with Wt .,:. v .'.fv ("it . I M f) I K .......... K t PABLO MARTINEZ Bush points to blogs&rs in Baghdad as proof of progress in Iraq Ben Feller THE ASSOCIATED PRESS To back up his point that pulling out of Iraq would be a disaster, President Bush has quoted opinions from the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top U.S. general in Iraq and now, two bloggers from Baghdad. Bush made a surprising e reference to the during a spirited defense of his war strategy on Wednesday. The mention seemed even more unusual because the president didn't identify whom he was quoting, so he seemed to be leaning on anonyblogo-spher- mous commentary. "They have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we've got here," Bush told the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Then he began to quote: "Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to Hope Yen business joint venture based in Texas, for computer service work aimed at fending off WASHINGTON Veterans computer hackers. Affairs officials wasted mil Saying the VA needed a cullions on a $100 million com ture change, Maureen Regan, counselor to the VA inspector puter security contract that became a virtual "open check general, said in an interview book because of poor overWednesday that the departsight and sloppy management, ment faced serious "managean internal review says. ment challenges" in addressing The audit by the VA inspechow it handles contracts and tor general brings renewed seeks to protect sensitive data. attention to problems of data Only after last May's data security and contract manage- theft did the VA begin to cenment after the department tralize its information technolfaced blistering criticism for ogy systems to improve overits loss last May of personal sight. The data in that case was information about nearly 26.5 eventually recovered. million veterans. Now the department is going It found that the VA put through extensive training to out multiple and inconsistent inform staff of the proper prochanges to the contract award- tocols in encrypting data and ed in 2002 to VAST, a small taking sensitive information THE ASSOCIATED PRESS see this effort succeed." His point was that Iraqi people are seeing signs of and what better! progress example of their unbridled expression than btogs. It turns out, the White House made clear hours later, that he was quoting two brothers, Mohammed and Omar Fadhfl. They e write an blog from Baghdad called IraqTheModeLcom. Both of them got to meet Bush English-languag- ' , in the Oval Office in 2004. In his speech, Bush was pulling select lines from an d that the brothers wrote. It appeared in The Wall Street Journal on March 5. Blogs are Web sites that tend to be narrow in focus and directed at a niche audience. Most operate without editors and give instant reaction to the news. Their freewheeling, open nature makes them popular but also ripe for unverified ' - t v op-e- , ,', ' statements. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino defended the appearance of blog commentary in a . '. presidential speech. out of the office, Regan said. But the department has yet to fully implement any of the inspector general's recommendations on data security from reports dating back to 2001. On another front, the VA continues to struggle with growing backlogs in its disability claims, with added strains in the coming months and years as thousands of troops return home from Iraq and Af- ghanistan. "There's a lot of work to be done," Regan said In the report, the VA generally agreed with the findings. It said it has created contract review boards to help improve oversight and will seek to recoup lost or unaccounted for payments. "VA is committed to being a good fiscal steward of taxpayer dollars in carrying out ' our important mission of serving veterans," spokesman Matt Burns said According to the findings, theVA: I Spent more than $35 million for equipment and supplies under the contract that it cannot account for. Hastily increased the scope of the contract several times, bringing the total value of the contract from $102.8 million to $250 million with little thought . , or oversight. "This made the, contract an open checkbook ... with little assurance of price reasonableness and no planned , background investigations on, year contract was allowed o expire prematurely in 2005. In recent weeks, VA offi--" rials have faced a fresh round of bipartisan criticism over data security, with auditors. telling Congress that gaping ! holes persist and that most VA data remains unencrypted. - 1 The IG report was public '.' released Feb. 26 and first nqted! Tuesday by McOatchy news, , papers. ,i: Onthe Net Copy of the report: l" t ., , .' www.va.govoig52 reports2007VAOIG-04- 03100-90.p- 5v '1 (Toll-fre- e 24 Hour recorded message) or go to: www.91lbackpaininfo. com Fi-Cv- O COLLEGE "IM founds i w i i i i t Lar 120 No. University Ave. Provo . ! the contract employees. . In addition, because the de-- , . partment spent money onthe contract so quickly, it was lpff temporarily without a defense" ', against hackers after the id Light Her Fire.;: l ' funding." " I Did not ensure that the joint venture, VAST, met requirements to qualify as a .' . "' . small business. I Made overpayments onthe contract as high as $8.5 million.' Did not conduct required 1 de- signed to treat severe low back, buttock and leg pain along with herniated and slipped discs. So if you are wondering if there is anything else at all that can be done even though every treatment you've tried may have failed then you should order the free guide entitled "The Severe Back, Sciatica, And Disc Pain Guide". Discover why your back treatments have failed and a technology relatively new to Provo that may provide a solution. For your Joel Templeton, D.C MONSIVAISASSOCiated Press Audit: VA wasted millions on security contract free copy, call in ; ' i the voters. surgery. Now there is a back pain guide that your doctor may not even know about that you can receive for free entitled, "The Severe Back, Sciatica, And Disc Pain Guide" that reveals a relatively new surgery free, non technology of IXMf. degenerative back conditions, and 'cases that may be on their way to elective invasive mat- just with " the threats,' she said "There's a new Congress in town. We accept your constitutional role. We want you to accept ours." Democrats took control of Congress in January after elections framed by voter dissatisfaction over a war that has now claimed the lives of more than 3,200 U.S. troops and cost more than $350 billion. "This war must end The American people have tost faith in the president's conduct of the war. Let's see how we can work together," added Pe- bulging and slipped discs, cases with arthritis and sir (oji Thunday,Mardi29,20Q7 Pelosi tells Bush to 'calm dowi A Lee Newspaper Established in 1873 HERALD : 375-522- 0 www.goldsmitrijewelers.cora |
