Posted on 12/23/2013 12:47:25 PM PST by SkyPilot
America’s veterans, those of us who were willing to give that last full measure of devotion, have been betrayed by the United States Congress, the Senate and the president. They have left us behind.
Members of Congress and the president are home with their loved ones after telling current military retirees, medically retired service-members, and future retirees that they must sacrifice their benefits as part of a lousy budget deal.
Today I received an email from my dear friend Dr. Dale Comstock, retired U.S. Army Paratrooper, Ranger and Special Forces soldier who served in combat operations from Grenada to Iraq to Afghanistan.
Dale emailed me from Hong Kong. “Now with the specter of increased Tricare costs and the loss of COLA, and the impact on disability (I am legitimately a 30% disabled vet) looming around the corner, I am wondering how far can we sink before we can’t get back to the surface? I think it is shameful that the military and retirees should burden more of the responsibility for budget cuts while illegal immigrants and other entitlement programs remain unscathed.
“Our government and the American people who tolerate this kind of behavior are, in my mind, traitors to this nation. In fact, I don’t think they are better than the terrorists that we must kill on their behalf. The only difference is that terrorists kill with weapons and the others kill with lies, deceit, and stealing money from those that work the hardest and sacrifice the most for all of us.”
Military retirees will have their cost of living adjustment (COLA) cut by one percent until they reach the age of 62 — in total a $6 billion cut.
(Excerpt) Read more at communities.washingtontimes.com ...
Amen. Allen West lays down the truth. Shame on Paul Ryan.
A real American.
I don't know what this thing below is.
Maybe the brave men & women in Congress can cut their own pensions and save billions of dollars. I know...not a chance of that happening.
Ryan knew but figured no big deal we will promise to fix it later.
Yea, just as the vets were promised in the first place.
Then he tries to defend his KNOWN back stabbing.
It appears that there was no place within the bloated government that funds could be found.
Ryan must be enrolled in the mac daddy school of lying and then justifying with another lie
If elected oficals were unable to lie they would have nothing to say.
Co. Allen West on Ryan Budget Deal
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Yep. Been giving my Congresscritter, Doug Collins, allegedly a Tea Partier, hell for voting for this. I knew he was going to be on the wrong side of a lot of stuff when he voted for Boehner for Speaker.
To be fair he has done some good stuff, too. If he stays staunch against Amnesty, I’ll still vote for him.
Then it would be safe to say he isn't going to run for the Senate?
I’m not siding on one side or the other but I find it interesting that people rail against union pensions but somehow this is hallowed ground. It’s just as unsustainable. Just saying. I know I’m going to get a ration of crap for this but you don’t know if I’m a vet or not or if I have family that are vets or not.
So you are equated a union employee in Detroit with a veteran who was injured in War?
Perhaps it might be time for Washington DC to witness a similar gathering in the Mall in protest. In any case, I think Lt col west’s letter speaks for many of us.
Thank you!!
Ther is a way to cut the expenses of paying for Veteran pensions and to compensate for their disabilities. That would be to stop fighting wars that have nothing to do with making the US stronger or safer, quite the opposite.
Divide and conquer. The newest strategy in dealing with military. Setting different penalties for ages, disable, etc. they are hoping we don’t care about each other. This was done to Texas School teachers by dividing retired from active, putting off-sets for this and time teaching in one school before retiring. It took awhile but the State and federal government finally screwed most of them.
Active Duty/Retiree ping.
“Yep. Been giving my Congresscritter, Doug Collins, allegedly a Tea Partier, hell for voting for this.”
His stance or Ryan’s should not surprise folks. The hardcore Tea Party types are FISCAL CONSERVATIVES only. Nothing short of a left wing liberal is more scary and dangerous than a poll that is only FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE. With that crowd, the military is just another group “sucking up federal monies.” The military retirees are considered TOTAL LEECHES by this crowd....they take and don’t contribute...what they did in the past is irrelevant to this crowd.
A great many that back Tea Party candidates do not realize they are NOT voting for “BALANCED” conservatives....like President Reagan. They are, in many (not all) cases, voting for a totally heartless individual that only cares about getting taxes down...regardless of who it hurts....they don’t see serving military and especially retirees as deserving of a break.
Many on this forum continuously complain how they don’t think those in government (to include military retirees, serving military, or anyone drawing a paycheck from the fed gov) should EVER get automatic COLAs. At the end of the day, they don’t give a RIP about military retirees. The ONLY care about the FISCAL BOTTOM LINE.
It is a foolish thing to paint a broad stroke, but a great many using the title of “Tea Party Conservatives” are just persons that care only about cutting taxes and debt...but not really how it is done. IF they cannot get it through reasonably cuts, like illegals, they will gladly take it out of the pockets of those that served.
I won’t support a Tea Party backed candidate unless I can determine they are NOT hard line fiscal conservatives, and they realize the importance of National Defense and Social Conservatism. The liberal Democrats are TOO loose with the taxpayers money, but the hard line Fiscal Conservatives are TOO niggardly. A bunch of Ebenezer Scrooges.
SV: you need to remember the start of the TEA Party (caps important here) was about “Taxed Enough Already” (TEA) and the term has now been conflated with “conservative” in an attempt to be all-encompassing enough to create a bloc that leads to getting/staying elected. What you are decrying is simple politics played with another wrinkle in the rules, sometimes applied as a local ground rule for a given demographic. Expecting the return of Reagan with the advent of every fresh face on the conservative political horizon is not a realistic approach, IMO.
I’m not suggesting what was done to retirees or disabled vets was right in any moral sense. Unfortunately, the political calculus says it has the smallest downside for those wearing fiscal hawk glasses.
That is exactly what happened.
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