Free Republic

Veterans groups are growing increasingly frustrated that Congress has not made any headway toward reversing a $6 billion cut to military pensions. The groups are determined to reverse the cut because they fear it is a first step toward larger cuts in military compensation and benefits. More than a dozen bills have been introduced in both chambers to repeal the cut, which reduces the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) by 1 percentage point below inflation for retirees younger than 62. The change would take effect in December 2015. While more than a third of lawmakers have backed one or more of...

Why trimming military pensions irks this deficit-hawk veteran. With a $1.1 trillion budget wending its way through Congress and likely headed for President Obama’s desk, officials in Washington are no doubt patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Here’s who won’t be cheering the news: American veterans and military retirees and their families. Tucked away in this massive spending package is a provision that chops away at the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) raises for military retirees and family survivors, in order to save an estimated $6 billion over the next ten years. You could argue that I,...

Congress has rushed to protect the medically retired and survivor benefit recipients from the cap on annual cost-of-living adjustments it approved only a few weeks ago for all “working age” military retirees. The quick “COLA fix,” part of a massive “omnibus” funding bill for 12 federal departments, still leaves most military retirees under age 62 with future COLAs trimmed by one percent below the annual inflation rate, an erosion of retirement value set to begin in January 2016. The fix also creates a disparity in COLA protection between separate groups of disabled retirees, critics contend. It won’t affect retirees with...

The feedback continues, with a bunch of military veterans and family members asking me how I could defend the callous COLA cuts to military pensions by way of explaining why Congress is trying to undo them. Another reader email: I strenuously object to being asked to sacrifice any more! I risked my life in two deployments to war zones, sacrificed my health (I'm also a disabled veteran), and jeopardized my relationship with my family for my country. I find Congress' latest demand a kick in the gut. We veterans and retirees have sacrificed enough without having to endure the...

It seems that not even Beyonce or new, lower-calorie options can convince Americans to drink more soda. Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. all sold less soda in the second quarter in North America, dashing hopes for the moment that splashy new marketing and different sweetener mixes could get drinkers back. Coca-Cola Co. said it sold 4 percent less soda in North America, while PepsiCo Inc. simply said its decline for the region was in the "mid-single digits." Dr Pepper sold 3 percent less of the fizzy drinks...

The drinks giant has launched Coca Cola Life, which is sweetened with sugar and the naturally occurring, no-calorie sweetener stevia. The new product features a striking green label and is packaged in the award-winning PlantBottle. This is made with 30% plant material and is fully recyclable. Coca Cola says the bottle “looks functions and recycles just like traditional PET plastic, but does so with a lighter footprint on the planet and its scarce resources”. The new drink has 108 calories in a 600 millilitre bottle - between classic Coke with 250 calories and the zero-calorie Diet Coke. “Coca-Cola Life is...

Beachgoers in South America can have a cold Coke and a smile, but unlike other consumers of the world's most popular soft drink, they can drink it directly from a bottle made entirely of ice. The Atlanta-based company says the “cold to the last drop” bottles "continue to make quite a splash in Colombia and throughout the advertising world." Indeed, the cool marketing ploy, began this year, has won Coca-Cola several awards. How does it work?

A New York judge isn’t the only one taking aim at New York City’s ban on large, sugary drinks. In a move to prevent such regulations from taking hold elsewhere, Mississippi legislators have passed an “anti-Bloomberg bill” that bars counties from passing and enacting laws that require calorie counts to be posted or caps the size of beverages or foods. You can read it here. The legislation is now on Gov. Phil Bryant’s desk and NPR reports that he is expected to sign it. Mississippi, it’s worth noting here, already has the highest obesity rate in the country. …

When a New Zealand woman died in February 2010, her family swiftly pointed fingers at her 2.2 gallon a day Coke habit. Not the white powdery stuff, the drinkable, cola-y stuff. And although it’s taken three years, a coroner has found that the beverage was a major factor in her death. Coca-Cola had pointed out last year that too much water is bad for you as well, so it’s not surprising that the company disagrees with the ruling. The 30-year-old mother of eight guzzled a whole lot of Coke for years before her death, and the coroner said a bunch...

When cars had metallic bumpers, sodas were used to polish them, and popular acidic soft drinks has also been known to be a good toilet-bowl cleaner. Now, Greek gastroentrologists headed by Dr. Spiros Ladas at Athens University Medical School and Laikon Hospital have published a study proving that drinking Coca-Cola (the brand name provided in the article) can open up clogs in people with overly convoluted gastrointestinal systems caused by the ingestion of digested fruits and vegetables. They published their findings on Monday in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Pepsi seeks lead in the cola wars with new ‘fat-blocking’ sodaBy: Danielle Tworek November 12, 2012 In the endless battle to shake their growing reputation as a key trigger point in America’s obesity epidemic, the major soda manufacturer, Pepsi, has a new invention for the soda market: Pepsi Special, the “fat-blocking” cola. On November 13, consumers in Japan will believe they can say yes to the fries and even add a little bacon on that burger as they head through the drive-thru, as long as they include a large Pepsi Special with their meal deal. At least that’s the concept...

The picture below shows $15 trillion dollars worth of $100 bills on $10 million dollar pallets stacked on top of each other over an area that is one third larger than a regulation football field. An electronics van is parked between the stack and the Statue of Liberty. A single $100 million dollar pallet rests in front of the truck’s cab. See it?Recently, I reported that the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) secretly gave ten trillion dollars of interest-free loans to over a dozen European banks to shore up the Euro and keep them financially solvent. I later found out that...

Activist investor Ralph Whitworth says his firm has taken a $600 million stake in PepsiCo Inc., a move that could ramp up pressure on the company to make changes.

Could an ingredient found in the dye that provides cola with its traditional brown shade cause cancer? A controversial report released by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says yes. According to CBS News, the consumer interest group, CSPI, published a report, which linked Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and Diet Pepsi, as well as some other brown-hued sodas to a cancer-causing chemical. The chemical, 4-methylimidazole, more commonly referred to as 4-MI or 4-MEI, has been proven to cause cancer in lab rats and mice. The CSPI has petitioned the FDA to enforce a labeling system that would...

In a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the consumer watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest called on officials to ban the use of caramel coloring in popular soft drinks, citing a possible cancer risk. This isn’t the first time that CSPI has targeted the food additive that gives colas, including Coke and Pepsi, their familiar brown color. But the far bigger worry for soda drinkers remains high-fructose corn syrup and other sugars used in soft drinks. "Soda drinkers are much more likely than non-soda drinkers to develop weight gain, obesity, diabetes and other health...

Social Security recipients will get a raise in January — their first increase in benefits since 2009. It's expected to be about 3.5 percent. Some 55 million beneficiaries will find out for sure Wednesday when a government inflation measure that determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment is released. Congress adopted the measure in the 1970s, and since then it has resulted in annual benefit increases averaging 4.2 percent. But there was no COLA in 2010 or 2011 because inflation was too low. That was small comfort to the millions of retirees and disabled people who have seen retirement accounts dwindle and...

High-strength marijuana plants have been found just yards from the mansion of slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden who was killed by US commandos deep inside Pakistan on Sunday. CNN reported from close to the 9/11 mastermind's mansion in the military garrison town of Abbottabad today that the marijuana plants were growing alongside other crops including cabbages and potatoes. Despite being a short walk from a military training academy dubbed 'Pakistan's Sandhurst'--800 yards away-- the illegal crop had remained undiscovered, it said

The ingredients of the drink, founded by John Pemberton, a medicinal pharmacist in 1886, have always been a mystery. However, Thisamericanlife.org claims to have discovered a list in a photograph in a newspaper article giving the ingredients and exact quantities to make the drink.

Another day, another all time record high in commodity prices as the CCI (Continuous Commodity Index) did it yet again. Corn, wheat and soybeans all put in 30 month highs with wheat now having effectively doubled in price since June of last year. Brent crude is now trading above $102/barrel and is now back to levels last seen in September 2008. Ditto for Unleaded gasoline. Coffee is at another 13 year high, sugar hit an astonishing $0.36/pound while copper added on more to its record high from yesterday. Cotton is near 140 year highs, last seen during the era following...

...My fear mentioned above is that in addition to consumers soon to get walloped with sticker shock at the grocery stores within the space of a few months as the price rise works its way through the distribution channels, they were also going to get hit with rising gasoline and energy costs, a double whammy for their pocketbooks at the time that many can ill afford it. There are so many struggling families dealing with lost incomes and underemployment for those fortunate enough to have found work, that any further price pressures on the energy front would act to take...