On Promises Kept, Rank Our Government Unsatisfactory

Harlingen, Texas, June 26, 2008:  I really have a great amount of pity for those millions of poor souls who have such undying faith in the promises made by any politician, particularly those who hold national offices.  Those who swallow this “Alice in Wonderland” rhetoric will suffer the deepest cuts of all when they step back through the looking glass and view reality for the first time.

Perhaps the best available example of the “Promises Made-Promises Kept” lie can be found when viewing the health care provided for career military retirees.  Those who enlisted in the armed forces from World War II through the Korean War and well up until 1958, who elected to make the military a career were all promised health care for themselves and their dependents for life.  Recruiting literature and every reenlistment councilor promoted this free health care option continuously during all of those years.  But, the end result was not as promised.  There is limited care.  It is not free.  And the program is so stingy that a vast number of doctors and medical organizations will not even accept those who must use the program our government provides.

After 1958 the government started to weasel its way out of that “free care” obligation with changes in various regulations that called for medical services to be offered on a “space available” basis at military facilities. They also started to close many of the facilities that offered such services.  There was CHAMPUS, a program that offered limited services with co-pay to the individual service member or retiree. Those past age 65 were directed to enroll in Medicare, effectively removing them from the Department of Defense obligation to cover their medical treatment. 

When the CHAMPUS method of payment became too expensive TRICARE was created. It quickly morphed into a hodge-podge or different plans, each worse than the other.  Members of Congress have also noted for the record that “A significant share of the Nation’s health care providers refuse to accept new TRICARE patients because TRICARE pays them significantly less than commercial insurance programs and imposes unique and extensive administrative requirements.”

Furthermore, TRICARE remains under the Department of Defense umbrella.  Everyone in uniform knows that DOD views retirees as an extra burden hung around its neck.  The agency feels retirees drain dollars away from the beans and bullets it needs for the active duty mission. Thus, when DOD was charged with constraining the cost of TRICARE, a major part of the department’s cost reduction effort has been to shift a larger share of those cost burdens to retired service members.

In the findings and sense of Congress section of H.R. 579 it remarks, “The beneficiary cost increases proposed by the Department of Defense fail to recognize adequately that career service members paid enormous in-kind premiums through their extended service and sacrifice.” But, even with such a rebuking review DOD still continues attempts to circumvent existing law and congressional guidelines. 

The most unacceptable TRICARE discrimination still exists for many military retirees depending upon what services they need and where on this globe they have elected to make their retirement homes.  This is particularly evident to those in the retired community who now make their homes in the Philippines.

Chief Petty Officer David Smith, United States Navy (Ret), is among the thousands of military retirees living in the Philippines who will be impacted by a bureaucratic move designed to circumvent the law as it pertains to TRICARE administration.  Department of Defense supervision, congressional oversight and the legislation that requires balanced and equal TRICARE coverage for all military personnel are completely ignored by the DOD Tricare Management Activity with a major change to its Reimbursement Manual, which will become effective on October 1, 2008.  According to Chief Smith, those retirees living in the Philippines will be relegated to a severely reduced payment status when the new instruction is implemented this fall.

TRICARE provides military retirees with a 75% government paid benefit and 25% co-pay by the patient.  It also establishes an annual $3,000 cap on what any retiree must pay out-of-pocket.  The changes inserted into the Reimbursement Manual single out those living in the Philippines for a greatly reduced benefit.  These retirees will receive less than a 50% paid benefit and the annual $3,000 catastrophic costs cap on medical payments has been totally disallowed.

Chief Robert Smith subjected his life to the many riggers of service to his nation.  His time in uniform spanned more than 20 years of his adult life, many of them hazardous.  He and many like him are now facing that time of life when heart attacks, cancer and other life threatening maladies are commonplace. So, at a time when the government he served should be keeping its promises and protecting his health, it is doing everything possible to assure he receives a bare minimum of tax supported assistance.

Smith says, that what the country seems to be telling him is, “OK, if you are very sick then move back to the USA and get care.  But, many retirees married foreign nationals and because of that, elected to stay in the Philippines.  After all, the U.S. Government sent them here, they have made it their residence, costs are low and TRICARE is here.  All are here because of economic circumstances.  The bottom line is they are no more and no less eligible for health care benefits than a retiree living in the United States.  But, TRICARE has singled out the retiree living in the Philippines and will not provide the same benefits as given to a retiree in the USA.”

Another retiree writing about unfair health care treatment is Lieutenant Colonel Paul F. Kelly, United States Army (Ret).  He has made his home in the Republic of the Philippines and is a volunteer teacher at Don Bosco College in Cebu.  He asks the question, “Is my service any less honorable because I choose to come here?  Is my service any less deserving of my retirement benefit?  Why does TMA (Tricare Management Authority) choose to limit me to less than 50% or 23% or even 5% of what a retiree living in the States gets to save his life?

“I like all the rest of my comrades under arms accepted substandard pay and sometimes substandard conditions and still remained for a life time of service.  Part of the reason I was able to choose a service career was the knowledge I would receive free for life, complete medical benefits.  It was the military’s promise to me and others like me.  They said, ‘we take care of our own.’ Well, it seems times have changed and again they have conveniently forgotten their promises.”

Sadly, the harsh TRICARE restrictions about to be leveled against LtCol Kelly, CPO Smith and all military retirees now residing in the Philippines is not a new innovation for the paper shuffling battalion in Washington.  The Department of Defense and its lackeys have a long history of attacking the funding and support for career military retirees.  In fact it would be difficult to find any evidence of that cabinet agency doing anything of a favorable nature for those who served with honor, but no longer wear a uniform.

A solution to such repeated attempts to deny promised benefits seems to be very easy to implement.  All Congress would need to do is pass legislation that would reduce appropriations to the DOD for an amount equal to what they cheated on funding any retiree, reserve, or veteran program.  The same method of reduced dollar punishment could be used on any agency that attempted any back-door method of denying what was already promised to those who served.

The irony of the Philippine situation and many others of a similar nature is, without the military retirees, reservists and veterans of this nation there would be no country for the DOD to worry about defending.  But, the mindset of most political hacks is to attack those least able to marshal any defense.  Those who fought under the Stars and Stripes, who are now old, many sick and without a formal organization to support their rights are among that body our “Promises Make – Promises Kept” politicos deem unworthy.

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Maybe We Should Have A Fatherless Day

Harlingen, Texas, June 13, 2008:  On Sunday, June 15, 2008 fathers across America will awaken to the laughs and smiles of their children, some with breakfast in bed, others with a bombardment of packaged gifts ranging from wildly colored ties to a collection of fishing hooks. It will be a day of Dad’s favorite activities and will be filed away in our respective memory banks as one of those very special family events.  That is…with the exception of those 24 million-plus children in America that remain fatherless.

The negative impact of life’s forces on children in fatherless homes is staggering.  Though studies of these problems span the past ten years, nothing much has changed for the better in these young lives.  With family separations increasing though divorce or abandonment, more children are added to the fatherless list with every passing day.

As a nation we have documented many disturbing realities of the fatherless home.  Children, with only a mother to supervise their development are prone to poor educational performance, at greater risk for drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, mental illness, suicide, and criminal activity.

There is greater sexual activity and at younger ages among this segment of our youth population.  Boys, in particular have trouble establishing appropriate sex roles and gender identity in homes where a father is no longer present.  Girls in fatherless homes tend to be more withdrawn, internalize problems and display greater anxiety.  Most children in this group have greater levels of aggression than their counterparts residing in two parent homes.  They are also more likely to have been suspended or expelled from school due to anti-social behaviors.

There is a relationship between the fatherless child and crime that cannot be ignored.  More than seventy percent of youth offenders have been found to be from single parent households that were headed by only the mother.

In cases where the divorced mother has never remarried, children tend to be less cooperative and score lower in intelligence tests than those who are raised in the two parent families.  These same children are also more prone to emotional problems.

Even in the traditional two parent family, the amount of personal one-on-one time a father spends with his child is minimal.  National studies have shown it averages 10 minutes a day.  Still the example of that male father figure as a head of household is so powerful that just having such a presence in the home serves as a strong glue of security and direction for children to use as a positive example in their lives.

We started down the road to establish the degradation of our children when we abandoned all pretense at morality in public life, started to glorify victim hood, insisted on “no-fault” divorce, accepted homosexual lifestyles as part of everyday society, and tossed God out of our lives with the scraps of last night’s dinner.  The sad losers are the millions of children we have forced into a lifestyle that is almost an impossible challenge for these young minds.

So, perhaps we need a national day to remind us of our greatest failure…. the failure to protect all the children.  Maybe “Fatherless Day” could serve as such a reminder.

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A Story of Oil and a Do Nothing Congress

Harlingen, Texas, June 9, 2008:  Back in 1972 we had the first Arab Oil Embargo.  Gasoline was 36 cents a gallon and the United States was importing almost one third of its oil from abroad.  We had gas rationing, long lines at the pumps and a public that demanded governmental action.  Congress did nothing to solve the problem.

By the year 2000, gasoline had jumped in price to $1.44 per gallon.  America was angry but the Democrat obstructionists in Congress along with a few left of center Republicans managed to keep any meaningful energy bill stalled and oil exploration almost at a standstill.

Throughout the administration of President George W. Bush, until the “no confidence” vote that took his Republican Party back to minority status, gasoline took a bumpy ride up and down to a national average of $2.10 a gallon, or a 66 cent a gallon increase over eight years.  During all of those years Congress did nothing to give us an increased oil supply or an energy policy that would lead toward independence from foreign oil.

On January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assumed office.  The Democrats were in control of Congress.  That $2.10 a gallon gasoline started climbing to $3.00, $3.50 and now a national average above the $4.00 a gallon mark, in just 18 months.  But, Congress did nothing about the problem except blame “Big Oil”.

Now more than 80% of the population is demanding that we drill now and drill at home to obtain more oil and reduce our dependence on foreign imports. The Democratic Party has become so dependent upon the environmentalists and the far left that it refuses to go against these groups and respond to the demands of the public.  Again, Congress has done nothing.

If we accept those political buzzwords as fact, the world has become addicted to oil.  It is the fuel that makes most worthwhile things in our lives happen.  We are at record highs in consumption and the demand for more oil grows daily.  It has been estimated that within the next eight years our world will be consuming about 50,000 gallons of oil a second. 

This means real trouble.  Right now for every nine barrels of oil we utilize, we are discovering only one barrel to replace the amount already used.  This massive utilization of oil has placed us in a position where we can no longer expect to meet our projected demand.

The Democrat position is we will have a major push to develop renewable energy sources.  These alternative supplies are desperately needed right now.  But, even the energy that could be supplied by nuclear, solar, wind, hydro or other power alternatives are so heavily encumbered by governmental regulations that they can only advance at a snail’s pace. Even if all these alternative sources of energy were available at this very minute, we would still need more oil.

The only positive answer most logical people can bring to the table is for the men and women of Congress to act now…in all energy areas…or we should make sure they get chased out of town.  As my old First Sergeant used to say, “When you have a tough situation, you have only three choices.  You can lead, you can follow, or you can get the hell out of the way.”

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For Those Who Want The Next Election "Right"

Harlingen, Texas, June 9, 2008:  If you are not a socialist or a person tilted precariously to the left of the political spectrum, there will be very little support for your view of America in the upcoming national election.  With the exception of talk radio and Fox News, little attention will be taken of any conservative position.  Our mainstream media will spend the majority of its time and energy addressing issues that pander to the consolidation of power being promoted in the Democratic Party Play Book.  These are facts and observations that have prompted many who stand on the right side of the political stage to ask, “What can I do to have our message heard?”

Those with a conservative approach to governance will find very little support for their national political ideas and worldview in the traditional press or electronic media.  Most of these have already declared their liberal bias.  The remainder can be branded with the sin of omission, as they will just ignore most political positions that fail to fit their pre-determined template.

So how do you reach out and let your feelings be known?  Thousands upon thousands of your fellow conservatives have found there is an ever-expanding audience for their messages on the Internet.  There are literally thousands of ezines and blogs all eager to fill an always word hungry computer screen.  The right side of political thought no longer is forced into silence.  Added to these publications are the web sites, chat rooms, emails and text messages of our new electronic communication age.  They are all tools, which can be used to great advantage by anyone with a strong desire to have his or her voice heard about the issues of the day.

For example, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich has American Solutions www.americansolutions.com It contains his suggested Platform for the American People. It even includes the “Drill Now, Drill Here, Pay Less” petition that is bombarding Congress. There are also other petitions to sign, newsletters to order, a list of actions people can take on their own to help advance their conservative political views.

A variety of conservative ezines and newsletters will accept letters to the editor and well-written commentary.  Those same letters to the editor can be sent to local newspapers.  However, many people report that if the topic is not liberal in nature, their print media does not publish the letter.

Just about everyone in elected office now has a web site, an email address, or both.  These tools should be used regularly to make your views on governance known.  This is particularly important if your senator or congressional representative is of a different political persuasion.
If enough people express their unhappiness with an issue, from time to time minds are changed.

The important thing is not to withdraw from the political debate.  Many Republicans and most conservatives are very disillusioned with the Washington elite.  They feel betrayed by their own party and outnumbered by the opposition.  These, however, are not solid reasons for declining to participate.  For those who want to make sure the next election is “right”, vigorous action is required now and until the last vote is made in November.

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The Lady Who Welcomes Home Heroes

Harlingen, Texas June 7, 2008:  It started with a short note from a Marine friend asking me for a bit of help.  The lady he was championing is Sharon Hyland-Kyser.  The name didn’t trigger any pings in my memory bank, so I went to my all-knowing writing assistant…Google.  According to that trusted search engine, the name Sharon Hyland-Kyser was contained in more than 3,500 Internet entries.  She is the lady who welcomes home heroes.

Her story has been told with far better words than I can place in print.  Briefly, Sharon was asking herself a searching question after the great national tragedy of 9-11.  She was asking what she could do to help keep her country strong and safe.  This thought remained in her mind as she completed college and entered the business world.  As the business agent for a large construction company, Sharon was well on her way to success in a very lucrative position. 

Being the wife of a paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne Brigade and coming from a family where father, grandfather and great grandfather were all Marines, Sharon was well aware of how poorly some of our young warriors have been treated by their own countrymen.

It was in the Philadelphia Airport that she noticed some of the soldiers returning home were walking past almost anonymous.  No greetings, no cheers, no welcoming reception.  This, she decided was wrong, and a situation that had to be corrected.

A giant move in that direction took place last July when Sharon Hyland-Kyser quit her big six-figure a year job, rolled up her sleeves, and started an organization called “A Hero’s Welcome”.  It was all based on her belief that nobody wearing the uniform of the United States of America should return from war without a strong welcome home. 

She started out small, turning out groups of people with signs and flags to greet any service man or woman they learned was returning home.  “A Hero’s Welcome” caught fire.  Its efforts started being coordinated with other patriotic organizations such as Gathering of Eagles, Warriors Watch and the Patriot Guard Riders.  People started contacting Sharon about helping out in other areas of the country. There were stories in local newspapers and on home-town television. Glenn Beck interviewed her on his national television show.  In less than one year, “A Hero’s Welcome” grew to more than 30 chapters across the United States.  The result has been…more than 1,500 American Heroes have been welcomed home from combat and the number gets larger as the pages of our calendar turn.

But, the story doesn’t end here.  At this hour Sharon’s paratrooper husband finds himself and his fellow soldiers in combat.  The 173rd Airborne Brigade has been committed to the conflict in Afghanistan.  Sharon could have remained a Blue Star Wife, supported her husband and continued her welcoming home efforts.  But, none of this was enough.  This past weekend, she raised her hand and took the oath as a United States Marine.  She is no longer just the founder of “A Hero’s Welcome”… she is Candidate Hyland-Kyser, Sharon 2671, Officer Candidate School, C Company, 1 Platoon, 2189 Elrod Ave., Quantico, VA 22134-5033.  Why don’t you drop her a note and give this lady a hero’s welcome.

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