Posted on 06/17/2004 7:36:26 PM PDT by Kackikat
Love him or loath him, he nailed this one right on the head.............
By Rush Limbaugh:
I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving the country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.
Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.
We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?
However, our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month, and most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.
If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harm's way receive a pension of $15,000 per month.
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.
"When do we finally do something about this?" If this doesn't seem fair to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.If your interested there is more........................
This must be a campaign issue in 2004. Keep it going. SOCIAL SECURITY: Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congressmen do not pay into Social Security. Many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan. In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. For all practical purposes their plan works like this:
When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000 - that's Seven Million, Eight Hundred Thousand), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives.
This is calculated on an average life span for each. Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. These little perks they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan.
The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Fund--our tax dollars at work! From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into -- every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) --we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!
Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. And that change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us and then watch how fast they would fix it.
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will can be made.. WE, each one of us... can make a difference.
(Excerpt) Read more at rushlimbaugh.com ...
Today I got a Kerry request for funds. Being the mean SOB that I am, I returned the request, which was pre-stamped by
Kerry. I sent the SOB about 35 pennies, scotch taped to the return form and super glued together in bunches of five. I
figure the mailing weight alone of my "donation" will costs the DNC at least $1.20, if not more.
Yes! I am proud of myself and look forward to the next effort.
Term Limits
I am all in favor of starting another "term limits" crusade. Career politicians, of either party, are destroying our country.
Great job Joe, that cracks me up...Keep up the good work.
Ooooh -- I really like that!!!! I am tempted to re-register as a Dimoncrat and let them throw $$ at me while I do stuff like what you said.
Good catch!
Thanks for Urban Legend update, as I had not seen that before and hopefully all will read this excerpt from that website:
It was true prior to 1984 that Congressmen did not pay into the Social Security fund because they participated in a separate program for civil servants (the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS), but that program was closed to government employees hired after 1983:
In 1983, Public Law 98-21 required Social Security coverage for federal civilian employees first hired after 1983 and closed the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to new federal employees and Members of Congress. All incumbent Members of Congress were required to be covered by Social Security, regardless of when they entered Congress. Members who had participated in CSRS before 1984 could elect to stay in that plan in addition to being covered by Social Security or elect coverage under an 'offset plan' that integrates CSRS and Social Security. Under the CSRS Offset Plan, an individual's contributions to CSRS and their pension benefits from that plan are reduced ('offset') by the amount of their contributions to, and benefits from, Social Security.
It is not true that Congressmen "continue to draw their same pay, until they die." The size of their pensions is determined by a number of factors (primarily length of service, but also factors such as when they joined Congress, their age at retirement, their salary, and the pension options they chose when they enrolled in the retirement system) and by law cannot exceed 80% of their salary at the time of their retirement.
I used to volunteer for Newt- we would receive a box of junk with our envelope taped to the outside!
MY APOLOGIES TO ALL WHO HAVE READ THIS ARTICLE, I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS URBAN LEGEND, BUT HAVE POSTED AN EXCERPT FROM Urban website article in answer to one who made me aware of it. THANKS...
HOWEVER since this is going around by email again, the ones who have never seen it before (like me) will know it is not true.
This "unfactual urban legend" raises some questions as to what do they really get. It says up to 80% of their salary on that website, what would that amount to???? Is there facts on this somewhere, since we are concerned about it?
I have one question, it says in Urban Legend explanation that 'anyone hired after certain date"...so do ones serving prior to that fall under the old agreement...someone like Ted Kennedy, how long has he been serving? It seems like forever.
Feds frown on case donations flowing into their campaign coffers.
Reminds them pre Watergate.
~"Someone like Ted Kennedy, how long has he been serving? It seems like forever."~
I think it's been about a hundred and twenty years, give or take a few.
I want to tell you that I don't think that these numbers have changed much since I was a kid. My father died in Dec. 1963, and I think that the death benefit was something around 1100. Remember, I was only 15 and not really responsible, but my mother asked me to do the federal income tax return that year, and that is what I remember.
Today I got a Kerry request for funds. Being the mean SOB that I am, I returned the request, which was pre-stamped by
Kerry. I sent the SOB about 35 pennies, scotch taped to the return form and super glued together in bunches of five. I
figure the mailing weight alone of my "donation" will costs the DNC at least $1.20, if not more.
OUTSTANDING !!!!
~"Someone like Ted Kennedy, how long has he been serving? It seems like forever."~
I think it's been about a hundred and twenty years, give or take a few.
Teddy started serving when booze was invented.
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