Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Quick and Dirty
What's the quickest way to address the massive backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs?
One former employee says the solution in his office was to destroy the records.
Former marine Oliver Mitchell worked in the Los Angeles VA office.
He tells the Daily Caller his co-workers were getting 3,000 medical exam requests from vets every month but had time only to process 800 of them creating a long waiting list.
That's when -- Mitchell says -- a department head came up with the policy of canceling old requests and destroying veterans' medical files so no evidence of the backlog would exist.
The Daily Caller obtained audio of a meeting at the Los Angeles VA in 2008.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still canceling orders from 2001.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anything over a year old should be canceled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should be canceled, or scheduled?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Canceled. Because they were...to a mass purge. So it's just a matter of getting in there and canceling them ourselves.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
The U.S. office of special counsel says orders over six months old that were no longer needed were supposed to be purged.
But Mitchell says, records from patients who were still waiting were also destroyed.
Just a few minutes ago, the VA released a statement to us disputing Mitchell's claims that files for those still needing care were purged.
Quote -- "It is not possible to destroy a patient's personal medical record from VA's electronic health record system."
Hard Lesson
An honor roll student in Tennessee has been suspended and is facing weapons charges because he drove his dad's car to school not knowing there was a fishing knife inside.
David Duren-Sanner told a Nashville TV station he agreed to a random search last week.
His father -- a commercial fisherman -- had forgotten the knife in the car.
After his 10 day suspension, he must attend alternative school for 90 days.
That means no prom; no attending graduation ceremonies.
His family is now appealing.
School officials are not able to comment on student cases but tell Fox News students are responsible for the contents of cars driven on school property.
Divine Intervention
And finally, a little divine intervention for a bus driver who really needed it.
The Dayton Daily News reports Rickey Waggoner was fixing his bus yesterday, when he was shot twice in the chest and once in the leg -- possibly as part of a gang initiation.
Those bullets to the chest were stopped by a bible that he had in his pocket.
Police say there is no way he could have survived without that book. A good book.
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