Apr 4, 2017

"Disability Isn't So Easy Even For The Desperate"

     Lynda Waddington of The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa explains why Disability Isn't So Easy Even For The Desperate.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

A reporter from the Cedar Rapids Gazette gets it much better than a reporters from the Washington Post, 60 Minutes and NPR.

Anonymous said...

So she couldn't engage in after school activities? There a re people without enough food to eat on the table each night. Further, although the politicians knew years ago about the increase in SSA filings, why did Obama cut the SS tax a penny? What the heck was he thinking??

Anonymous said...

Excellent article and response to the Washing Post.

Hope it is forwarded to them.

Anonymous said...

The article really did little, a few bits from SSA and rehashing the fact the Baby Boomers have screwed America, but other than that, it was a little long on fluff and short on substance. It is a disability program, not a rural, high unemployment program. It is a disability program not an urban low education high poverty income program. It is a disability program, not a cure for all that ails areas of low opportunity and high desperation.

Want to cure the other areas, fine, design a rural low employment payment program, an urban job dessert payment system. Don't expect a disability program to cure all those woes.

Anonymous said...

@9:24

Your remarks sound unnecessarily mean spirited, especially the one asserting , "Baby Boomers have screwed America." Such a statement is misguided and simple minded. The societal factors at issue are much more complex than you portray them to be.

Anonymous said...

Did you read the article 10:00 or just come to comment on comments?

Anonymous said...

"Did you read the article 10:00 or just come to comment on comments?"

Um, the comments are completely separate from the underlying blog and any articles associated with it. I think you know this.

This is the place where we gather around the campfire to hear the Ballad of Ollie Garmon.

I think he is the only living ALJ to have a daily serial blog comment section dedicated to his successes and failures over the years, as well as his heartache and pain.

Anonymous said...

So here is a good one for the Judge Garmon blog. Judge Garmon has breathlessly asserted that any decently trained judge can hear 50 cases a month regardless of staff or file size. This is the same "judge" that hadn't heard a case in 15 years.

Well as it turns out, Judge Garmon will have to attend new ALJ training with the may training class. Looks like the agency is forcing him to hear cases once again.

Anonymous said...

@ 12:45

that's funny and awesome if true. I get the feeling he was supposed to have retired by now and that the OCALJ made up job he was "promoted" (this was clearly the "we are removing you because you f'd up really badly but we'll let you save face and make it look like a promotion) was supposed to be really short term. Now that he's hanging on (isn't he like 80 now??), I guess they're over keeping him in a made up post and are making him actually go be a judge again. I'm tickled pink.

Anonymous said...

@10:19 and 11:39:

10:00AM here. Yes, I did read everything! My comment was in direct response to 9:24's. I did not say anything about Garmon, allude to any other remarks which have been made about him on this blog, or anything else which would cause reasonable, intelligent persons to respond in the manner you did.

That being said, I appreciate you brought up Garmon all on your own because they instigated the comments made below at 12:45 and 2:10, which have provided extensive humor to many of the regular readers of this blog who have been LMAO!

Garmon go into to ALJ training in May; Garmon has not heard a case in 15 years, but is responsible for the punitive quota for ALJ's to schedule 50 hearings per month, or be subject to ridicule and punishment; and that his recent promotion was supposed to be, "Because you f'd up really badly, we'll let you save face ... was supposed to be short term ... but now he is hanging on ...," is consistent with what I have been saying all along!

The real shocker for Senior Management now is not only will they have to justify all the sweat deals they recently gave Garmon, after disciplining him by removing him from his ROCALJ position, because you know, there is no better way to discipline someone than keep and promote them to even higher levels of management; relocate an entire Hearings Office near the persons home, which is a horrible location, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars; place a person who has been a perpetual labor management violator as a top executive with OLMER, the proverbial fox in the hen house; and then promote the person further up the food chain to Associate Chief ALJ to an even greater salary on which to retire, but they will also have to substantiate why they are allowing him to hang on, and save face from the utter embarrassment and ridicule they will undoubtedly face when confronted by Congress, or Kurshner's new Gov't Innovation office in the White House.

Anonymous said...

Duncan!

Anonymous said...

Dear 10:00

"The societal factors at issue are much more complex than you portray them to be," we are NOT talking about societal factors, save that for community building meetings, we are talking about the ability to perform tasks that will allow you to earn $1170/month, or a little more than 161 hours of work at minimum wage of $7.25. Nowhere in the program does it say we have to adjust for "societal factors" nor should the program reflect that. SSDI is a program designed to replace some, not all, of the income a person would earn from work they can no longer perform due to a medical condition that has lasted 12 month or is expected to end in death.

Simple minded is thinking that you change the disability program to make up for all the lacking services, opportunities and other issues brought up in the article. Simple minded is thinking the program should be "fair." Simple minded is thinking that you should get disability because you apply. That isn't how it is designed to work and it never has been designed to do that.

Anonymous said...

10:00 and 2:57 here.

No, SA-27. You know, the Summa Cum Laude graduate who earned a JD Degree; has a license to practice law, (which you do not); successfully worked 27+ years as a Senior Attorney for ODAR, (which you do not understand because you never successfully worked at anything in your life); was informed by the FBI when they hired me before SSA came along that I had one of the highest scores ever on their written exam; and who has been correct about everything I have said all along about Garmon, Colvin, and what was really going on, despite all the distractors and naysayers like you who have been throwing out fake news in an effort to discredit me. Guess who is laughing now! SA-27.

Anonymous said...

@3:03

Your remarks make absolutely no sense in response to what I said in response to 9:24. Clearly, you have a reading comprehension problem. You have to wear big boy or girl pants if you are going to attack me, and you are no where near my level. Bye.

Anonymous said...

3:23 must be Duncan.

Anonymous said...


Never in my wildest dreams did I ever envision Charlie Hall's blog chat becoming Internet Performance Art.

The most I ever envisioned was the appearance of random Ayn Rand cranks who would get bored quickly.

Based on the Ollie updates here, I now have "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" running through my head...



Anonymous said...

Help me out here...what's a "Duncan"?

It's hard for me to keep up with these comments without a field guide.

Anonymous said...

he he ha ha or just ha ha?

Anonymous said...


No, seriously. I can't figure out the "Duncan" reference.

Maybe we need a wiki.

Anonymous said...

The commenter who keeps mentioning, "Duncan," is SA-27's ex she divorced decades ago. He is both a psychopath and a sociopath, among other things. IGNORE HIM.

Anonymous said...

Duncan, #1 I yo-yos!!!!

Tim said...

As a Patriot fan for 40+ years, I admit it looked pretty bleak after the pick 6. At half-time, I thought about praying for a comeback, but realized I reaaly needed to win my ssdi case. So, I prayed, "Lord, as much as I would love the Patriots to win, I NEED your help in getting disability. Please, help me, Lord!" The patriots won, I was denied.

While part of me sees this as the punchline of a sick joke (not by God), I have hope that the Patriots plight is a parallel to my own, and that, in the end, I'll be victorious.

Anonymous said...

@3:34

Seems there is a person who keeps retelling the same story over and over about her gripe with SSA management regardless of its relevance to the posted topic, and there are some people who have become exasperated at the mindless repetition and mock her for it.

Anonymous said...

"@3:34

Seems there is a person who keeps retelling the same story over and over about her gripe with SSA management regardless of its relevance to the posted topic, and there are some people who have become exasperated at the mindless repetition and mock her for it."

No, I figured out that part, since I periodically read the comments.

I was trying to figure out how "Duncan" fit into it. I figured that it was sort of mocking, I just wasn't following the mocking since I couldn't make sense of what "Duncan" was supposed to be.

I suppose I could read through the comments and figure out when and how "Duncan" started, but I'm thinking that experience would be very similar to reading and analyzing a 2,000 page VA medical record file. And I am not doing something like that without the normal financial incentive.

Anonymous said...

I believe Duncan is a reference to Duncan Yo-Yos, yo-yo being an older reference to someone that is, shall we say, a bubble off of plumb. It is an older gentler way, like calling someone a spoon, because they cannot be trusted at the table with a knife and fork. It would appear that someone has grown weary of the JD, Summa Cum Laude, FBI super agent and is expressing that frustration without using any of the Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say On Television.

Tim said...

Based upon how fast the "Duncan sightings" are posted after her posts (a minute or two, sometimes three), I would suggest the poster is stalking her, not merely "exasperated" with her posts. By the way, there is nothing requiring anyone to read her posts.

Anonymous said...

lol @ replying to her comments on a message board is stalking. SAA 27+ and her fans (I am still 99% all the folks who chime in to support her are just her--the language is way too similar) are deluded.

Anonymous said...

I am SA-27, and I am NOT making the "Duncan" comments. I previously indicated it is my ex, whom I divorced decades ago, and who is both a psychopath and sociopath. IGNORE HIM. He is also a stalker.

As for you naysayers, everything I have said about Garmon, Colvin, et. al., on this blog over the past few years is proving to be true. You can throw all the alternative facts, fake news, and everything else against the wall you believe may stick in an effort to discredit and denigrate me, but you will never win because I am brighter than you, have 27+ years of Agency experience, and the truth on my side. But, keep it throwing everything you think will stick up, because each and every time you do so, you make an utter ass of yourself, and reveal your ignorance for the world to see.

I will not stop until SSA/ODAR appropriately addresses the Garmon situation. This form of organizational discrimination, hypocrisy, waste, fraud, and abuse at the cost of millions in taxpayer dollars solely to placate an old ROCALJ who royally f'kd up big time, did so for many years, and destroyed numerous employees lives and careers simply cannot be tolerated!

Each and every time you throw everything that you believe may stick in an effort to denigrate me, all you are doing is enabling Garmon. Who do you think is responsible for the extreme punitive management measures of late, the ridiculous quotas and numbers, etc., well known to be counter productive? The answer: Garmon. So, keep on enabling him if you believe this form of management is effective, good for employee morale, and the hypocrisy by which he has been treated and complete lack of accountability for years and years of wrongdoing pleases you just fine.

Anonymous said...

You could try supporting her and the truth, rather than trying to destroy her. You can mock me all you wish, but I will not stop until the Garmon hypocrisy, organizational discrimination, waste, fraud, and abuse of millions in taxpayer money, and complete lack of being held accountable for wrongdoing is appropriately addressed by SSA/ODAR.

FYI, virtually all of my remarks are in response to comments like yours, which repeatedly mention the issue, rather than the articles themselves.

Anonymous said...

@9:00

Or, you could read my comment @3:38, which specifically informs you who "Duncan" is. Gee whizz. Are you really this dense?

Anonymous said...

Duncan sighting!!!

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Once again, I really appreciate your support. Thank you. Also, my ex is a stalker and has perfected the use of stalking by proxy for decades now in an all out effort to destroy me in any and every way imaginable.

Anonymous said...

@2:40

SA-27's ex = TROLL.

Anonymous said...

@1:27

SA-27 here. I have described the stalking and unspeakable harassment I have been subjected to on this blog over the past few years. Comments on this blog are the least of my concerns. But, yes, the denigrating comments about me are part of the whole stalking and stalking by proxy to which I have been subjected. Make no mistake, these comments are nothing in contrast to the unspeakable harassment to which I have been subjected to for years now.

Anonymous said...

Duncan, it could be Garmon! or Even Putin! OMG!!!!

Anonymous said...

This is the recently former Binder&Binder NAR here again (and now California state judicial branch analyst, which I can confirm is infinitely better than working at Binder, especially in the Trump era). I normally reserve my random comments for the incredible-conservatives but this entire thread is too hilarious and bizarre not to leave my 2 cents. (Spend 'em how you will!)

1) SA-27 toots their credentials and stalking ex just a little too loudly to be believed. (Shakespeare anyone?) As a rule, I don't trust people who say they're exceptionally over-qualified, experienced, awesome, etc., while simultaneously that they're being stalked by an uber-evil-ex who seems to find them no matter no anonymously they comments without some kind of receipts to back it up. Unfortunately, in this venue that's a little difficult.

Side-note: SA-27, can I ask you directly: wouldn't it be EASIER to avoid your stalker ex if you stopped identifying yourself in every comment on this site since you're commenting mostly-anonymously anyways? Not saying the burden is on your to do so, but as a matter of practicality it was just a thought.

2) Judge Garmon doing hearings again is probably a sign that the end is nigh -- and by nigh I mean for his time as an ALJ. No way he'll stick around to do actual work in a critically under-staffed, over-worked, labyrinth in its practices agency. Especially with the current Trump Administration. I predict a sudden "retirement" is in the offing.

3) Can we name the uber-evil stalker ex something other than Duncan out of respect for august Florida Senator Duncan Upshaw Fletcher. Perhaps we could call the ex Darth Brad? Or Steven Seagal's lesser-known understudy? Just some helpful suggestions.

4) Back to the point of the original post: the article was great! A previous comment noted it was high on "fluff" and light on "substance." Of course, we know that the "fluff" portion was just the horrendous circumstances of those people's lives. I wonder what then the "substance" would be? Because, I'm fairly certain that we either as Reps or as Agency staff know the "substance" behind the "fluff." It's only that Congress has this obsessive-compulsion to screw over their constituents' social safety net for the low-low price of kickbacks, golden-parachutes to the private sector, and other graft.

Anyhoo, keep up the humor please!

Anonymous said...

Many of the comments above accurately portray and provide unique insight into how workplace mobbing, bullying, abuse, harassment, and hostile work environment play out in the real world, and unfortunately, far too often and frequently in many SSA and ODAR offices across the country based on information which has already been made public. You can see how the whole concept takes on a life of its own, and draws more and more who do not even know the target to jump on the bandwagon, lest they be shunned and become the next target, to abuse, harass, denigrate, ridicule the target even more.

SSA, specifically ODAR, unfortunately, does nothing to address this escalating form of workplace abuse and harassment. To the contrary, the punitive management, ridiculous quotas and numbers, etc., revealed as of late, set a fertile ground for this very type of workplace abuse and harassment to occur because morale is low, employees are distressed by the constant pressure of numbers, excessive micromanagement, and browbeating they are subjected.

@3:19: Anyone who worked at Binder & Binder gets no respect or acknowledgement from me, SA-27. The face you were associated with Binder & Binder speaks for itself. Good riddance!

Anonymous said...

Fired SAs are even better riddance!

Anonymous said...

hey SAA 27, what if...what if it wasn't what is starting to seem like most everyone else and it was...it was you? You seem pretty annoying.

Anonymous said...

SA-27, I don't know if your complaints against SSA management are meritorious. What I do know is, you need professional help and I hope you are getting it.

Anonymous said...

@9:19, 9:36, and 1:05:

Thank you for making the very case I made at 7:30AM above. You can denigrate and bash me all you wish, but I will not stop, as I have truth on my side.

@1:05 specifically, "Crazy Making Abuse," in reference to your remark, "You need professional help," almost always occurs in workplace mobbing, bullying, harassment, and hostile work environment cases. Thus, your "Crazy Making Abuse," arguments are dead on arrival in the courts and legal system.

When one reads comments like the three of you made, I take pride in knowing I come off sounding the most level headed, intelligent, respectable, intelligent individual. Thank you again for making me look so good! Your idiotic remarks only elevate my creditability and me further!

Anonymous said...

Says you, sa-27. With your lack of self awareness I could see how you'd be bullied in an office environment and seriously, I feel sad for you.

Anonymous said...

@7:54 stated, "...And seriously, I feel sad for you."

Oh please, that's the LAST thing you feel for me. You are a liar and a troll. Reasonable, intelligent people see right through you.

Anonymous said...

Last Word

Anonymous said...

Any sane SSA employee who believes that there is no rampant discrimination, harassment and workplace bullying is insane and needs help himself or herself! It is one of the worst federal agencies when it comes to dealing with equality and justice for the little guys/gals in the field. Not surprisingly, their token OCREO offices do most of the dirty clean up work by threats and intimidation against those who filed complaints?????????????????????

Anonymous said...

Yawn

Anonymous said...

Another lazy sleepy SSA employee or just another useless incompetent government bureaucrat?

Anonymous said...

Fat happy civilian bored by the amounts of stupidity spewed forth from the mouths of the so called educated. And you?