rigorousintuition.ca

Forwarded from a very pissed-off 'Nam vet buddy of ours. --MaryK<br><br>This letter of mine was printed in todays paper (07Oct05) For some reason, <br>they edited out the last sentence of the original which I have added to the end <br>of this posting.<br>Jim Ret<br><br>Letters to the Editor: Cuts targeting vets <br>Web Posted: 10/07/2005 12:00 AM CDT <br><br>San Antonio Express-News <br>Cuts targeting vets <br>Would the legislative branch of a "grateful nation" cut benefit programs to <br>veterans, military retirees, their widows and children while saving their own? <br>Well, a bill has been introduced in the House that has the potential of doing <br>that. <br>It is HR 2290. The full bill and its cosponsors can be found at <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/">thomas.loc.gov/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> and it is certainly interesting reading. The purported purpose of <br>the bill is to require automatic cuts in selected programs if total entitlement <br>spending exceeds certain guidelines. <br>Certain major programs are being exempted. They include Social Security, <br>Medicare Part A and — are you ready for this? — the Federal Employee Retirement <br>System and Civil Service Retirement System. The latter happens to be available <br>to members of Congress and their staffs. They sure took care of themselves. <br>But let's see what is not exempt. Would you believe the military retirement <br>income, military survivors' benefits and veterans' benefits? Also on the <br>chopping block are the lifeline for health care for military retirees, Tricare for <br>Life and Medicare Part B. <br>Yep, the discriminatory parts of this bill are leveled at those who laid <br>their lives on the line for the country, as well as their widows and children. <br>This would affect not just the old-timers, but almost 2,000 widows from Iraq and <br>Afghanistan. <br>James Ret <br><br>NOTE: Edited out was my last sentence which indicated that the bill had 89 <br>cosponsors at the time I wrote the letter (5 Oct 05). Of the 89, eighty eight <br>(8<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 8) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> were Republicans. Don't know why they edited that out since the paper is <br>not that friendly to the current administration. <br>Keep those cards and letters going. <br>Jim <br>MRGRG-TX<br> <p></p><i></i>