Shameful, shameful, shameful
"I think that our representatives of government deserve a pay raise consistent with the work that we've produced." -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn)
"At a time when our country is facing record annual deficits, this automatic, stealth, pay raise system is absolutely wrong. The financial markets have been rocked, wiping out a large portion of the life savings and retirement accounts of many families. Thousands of workers who were laid off have not returned to work, and families face increasing financial pressures. How can Congress give itself a $3,400 pay raise while nearly 9 million people are unemployed, and 2 million have been out of work for more than half a year?" -- Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis)
The U.S. Senate has given itself yet another pay raise. Here's a trivia question for you: are all 100 of them millionaires? Are more than half of them?
Our next shameful item is this nation's abysmal treatment of its wounded American war heroes.
And speaking of wounded American war heroes, U.S. Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, shot in both legs while she was a prisoner of war in Iraq, has been notified she will receive a 30 percent disability benefit. Meanwhile, famed Private Jessica Lynch will receive an 80 percent benefit for her injuries. Lynch is white; Johnson isn't. The Urban League has called for an inquiry, and rightly so.
So apparently we all need a refresher course on what it means to
Support our troops
Supporting our troops doesn't mean buying a bunch of made-in-China flags and waving them around. It doesn't mean giving citizen-soldiers injured in service to their country second-class status for treatment of those injuries. It doesn't mean that if they lose a leg or an arm, we should look them over and say, "There appears to be about 60 percent of you left, therefore you get a 40 percent disability." It doesn't mean giving them a choice between those disability benefits and the retirement pay they earned from their service before they were injured. It doesn't mean promising them health care for life when they're recruits and then cutting back on that when they need it most.
Shameful, shameful, shameful.
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:53 PM
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24.10.03 |
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