The Obama War on Elderly Seniors & Military Retirees

By now most of America should know the Obama Administration looks for the easiest targets when it plans to redistribute the taxpayer bounty of America. This has been proven time and time again by administration’s actions. It hates fossil fuels, so the plans are for higher taxes on “Big Oil” and more tax funded subsidies and bailouts for alternative energy. It has several programs to bail out those so-called delinquent “under water” mortgage holders, while nothing is done to ease the burdens of those millions of homeowners who still manage to pay their high mortgages on time.

If you buy an electric car that offers nothing but poor performance at an inflated and subsidized cost, you can get a $7,000 tax break and the President wants to change that to a $10,000 freebee. Those subsidies and tax incentives come at the expense of every non-electric car driving American.

Moving into the wonderful world of health care we have the colossus of political backroom con jobs…Obamacare. With this new law in place, the Obama constituency sees 30 million more dependent people on Medicaid and fantastic number of cross over or new Democrat voters. How do we pay for all this new care? It started off with $500 billion cut from Medicare to help pay for the bill. That is a huge amount to take away from the program that provides needed healthcare to senior Americans over the age of 65. It means there will be major reductions in services and in many cases there will be doctors who will accept no new Medicare patients. In his latest “cost reduction” plan, the President wants to cut an additional $300 to $500 billion from Medicare and Medicaid, supposedly though streamlining and eliminating waste and fraud. Again, the majority of those targeted are senior citizens.

Another target of the Obama Administration is retired military personnel and their dependents over the age of 65. To really appreciate how deplorable this action is one needs a quick history concerning these senior military personnel. All of this age group entered military service at a time when the government promised them and their families free medical care for life, if they would spend a career of between 20 and 30 years or longer on active duty.

They answered the nation’s call and gave of their youth and middle age to long hardship tours away from family, service in remote and hostile countries, plus a collection of wars and conflicts where life and limb were always at risk. Then as they entered retirement it was found that promises made by the government they served were meaningless. There was no free medical care.

The military retirees filed a class action lawsuit against the government that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The finding of that court was yes, for decades the government did promise free health care to its career service personnel. It also found the government had no right to make such promises because Congress had never passed a law authorizing such services. Those retirees past the age of 65 were forced into continue paying Medicare premiums for any healthcare they received.

Congress was shamed by the decision of the Supreme Court, particularly faulting that body for the false promises of the nation. As a face saving gesture, Congress passed into law Tricare for Life, which is a supplemental coverage for those senior retired military personnel to pay those costs Medicare does not cover.

This brings us to the latest Democrat Administration plan to take more away from Defense and military budgets. At this time military retirees over the age of 65 pay an average of $4796 a year per family (considered as husband and wife) for Part B. Medicare coverage. They also pay an additional estimated $1,512 for prescription fees. There is no enrollment fee for Tricare for Life. Under the Obama plan, starting next year these same military retiree families will pay $4988 for Part B of Medicare, $300 for enrollment in Tricare for Life and $2856 for the prescription services. This means an $1836 per family in increased medical costs for a program that by the time these additional costs go into effect could be cut by close to One Trillion dollars. In four years, those new costs are planned to escalate to an additional $5,000 a year for each senior retired military family. It should also be noted that no current administration plans call for increases in the medical care provided to union workers, who have also been given the option of opting out of Obamacare.

The Obama campaign sees little to worry about relative to these planned actions. They see very those senior citizens impacted by Medicare cuts will do little damage. Those impacted they see as few in number and any negative votes being overcome by the new dependent society they are creating. As for the senior military retirees, with only about a million people involved, why not break another government promise.

The Real One Percent

 
Harlingen, Texas, March 3, 2011:  The malcontents, riffraff and anarchists who make up the “Occupy” movement remain busy attacking those they call the “One Percent”, or the 3 million Americans who provide most of the funding that run the great American engine. It might be more fitting for the same body of individuals to take a few moments out of lives which are, for the most part self serving, and think about the real 1% of Americans who have always “paid it forward” for their country.

 
It should be obvious we are referring to the Armed Forces of the United States of America, known to many as members of the Warrior Clan.  They are made up of slightly more than one million men and women now on active duty and the approximately 2 million who are standing ready to serve again on the military retired roles of the nation.  It is only because of this small one percent of Americans that others in our country can protest against what they perceive as everything wrong in America. 

 
This is the one percent that gave of their lives, their blood, their bodies and their youth so almost half of the citizens in the country can pay no income tax.  They fought, thus allowing others to demand greater union benefits, higher paying jobs, nicer automobiles, quality welfare care, increased government funded medical support, extended unemployment benefits, subsidized housing and mortgages, and a liberal leaning educational system.

 
The real one percent didn’t spend nights in various forms of debauchery or destroying the property of other citizens.  Instead they spent their time marked by years away from those they loved, attempting to sleep in mud, sand and bug infested conditions, or staring into the darkness waiting for a faceless enemy to strike.  They endured freezing cold, jungle swelter, and mind burning  tempatures for weeks and months on end.

Perhaps the “Occupy” group would like to know how it historically came to be that they are free to spend their days and nights making slums of various neighborhoods around the country.  It is possible because 625,000 of this proud One Percent died for them during the Civil War.  Another 116,000 gave up  their final breaths for us in World War I.   405,000 of the One Percent making up the Warrior Clan died during World War II to protect the freedoms we all enjoy.  Another 58,151 sacrificed themselves for you, the “Occupiers” and me during the Korean conflict.  At this moment,  in what the politicians call “The War on Terror”,  another 6,300 Americans have given of their lives in combat, and we are still counting. If we could ever get an honest count out of the government we would find somewhere in the range of 45,000 more military personnel have been wounded in action during this more than ten years of conflict..

 
People might be interested in knowing that half of those in uniform have now served more than one year in combat.  More than 30% have been in either Iraq or Afghanistan for longer than two years.  This leaves nearly 20% of our Warriors who have served their nation three, four and even five years in combat.  For those who would like to compare, that is more time under direct threat of death than the total length of the Civil War or World War II.

 
With that bit of history, lets take a quick look at how our “ungrateful nation” rewards these gallant brothers and sisters.  The Obama Administration thinks they are over paid and have far too many benefits.  He thinks they should pay for part of their medical care, even though politicians sending them into combat brought about most of their medical requirements.  The President thinks he can save a lot of money and benefit more of his needy constituency by removing hazardous duty pay.  His new budget makes major cuts in military expenditures, including health care for active duty and retired personnel.

 
Where a monthly stipend while serving in a combat zone has been the law of the land for decades, the Obama Administration believes that is far to generous for the troops.  He would have them receive a daily sum of money totaling $7.50, but it would only be paid for those days when the enemy was actually shooting directly at our servicemen and women.

 
This administration also wants to force our military into his nationalized “Obamacare” program by more than tripling the fees military personnel, retire personnel and their dependents will be required to pay for services.  Added to these drastic demands is the $500 billion taken from Medicare to pay for his new medical entitlement programs.  Because senior retires past age 65 have been moved into Medicare the cuts also impact them.  At the same time none of these changes will be passed on to anyone receiving healthcare under the President Obama Union favoritism program.

 
By the way Mr. President, unions ar not very high on the people’s favorite organizations fan list.  The military…or the Real One Percent ranks right at the top.  You might remember that come election day.
 
 
 

The Wounded Warrior Maze

Harlingen, Texas, February 28, 2012:  It is rare these days when a person can spend more than an hour looking at television without seeing some highly polished pitch seeking financial support for wounded military service personnel.  Many of these groups seeking donations are worthy organizations.  The problem is…it is next to impossible for a person to determine just who some of these charities support or their legitimacy.

Wanting to clarify the situation is even more complex. Using the various information search engines on the Internet will only leave one more confused.  A recent quick count of these information sources showed more than two dozen “wounded warrior” related groups all seeking support.

One of the best known and highly promoted of these organizations is The Wounded Warrior Project, which has chapters across the United States.  It has proven itself to be worthy of public support and has done some notably good work providing “health and comfort” backpacks to hospitalized military personnel and aid to both the service members and their families following hospitalization. 

Available records show 83% of donated funds are funneled directly into aid for those who have been wounded or their families.  This is far better than the national average for charities.  Most of the top organizations report about 75% of their revenue supports the charitable mission.

The only objection to Wounded Warrior Project voiced by some people who may have withheld their support, are concerns about the monies expended for senior executive salaries.  Though published for all to see, there are still more than a dozen people filling the senior executive ranks of The Wounded Warrior Project who are receiving very high six figure salaries.  The organization also employs more than 300 people.

According to the Military Family Support Guide, in addition to The Wounded Warrior Project, other highly recommended charities to support wounded service members include ReMind.org, Veterans Airlift Command, Cause, Disabled Sports – USA, America’s Vet Dogs, B.I.T.S. (Back in the Saddle), Fisher House Foundation and Intrepid Fallen Heroes

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Other top choices for military related charities are Army Emergency Relief, Air Force Aid Society, and Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Armed Forces YMCA, and the National Military Family Association.  All of these organizations have been given either an “A+” or an “A” rating.

Charities that did not make the recommended list include American Ex-Prisoners of War Foundation, American Veterans Relief Foundation, AMVETS National Service Foundation, Freedom Alliance, Help Hospitalized Veterans or Salute America’s Heroes, Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Veterans Service Fund, National Defense Foundation, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.  These groups have been given an “F” rating.

In traveling the Wounded Warrior maze, this is just the start of the journey.  For example, there is no report nor is there any explanation that can be found to answer the questions such as… How much medical treatment do our wounded personnel receive from the military service hospitals?  When are these men and women passed off to the VA and its questionable medical care operation?  How many men and women have been seriously wounded?  Most importantly, why do we need to call upon private civilian donations to help care for our wounded?  These are all questions where obtaining the correct answer is the equivalent to trying to catch smoke in a net.

For example, one year ago the government reported there were 36,904 service members wounded in action during the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan?  Just last October our government told us those 14,342 military personnel had received wounds in those wars.  It is a number listing 22,500 fewer people wounded than was reported the previous year.  While the government spin machine keeps spewing out propaganda to anyone and everyone who will buy into those fairy tales, the Department of Veterans Affairs claims it has provided medical treatment to 508,152 people who were wounded in both wars.  What????  You can do the math!

Will We Heed The Warnings Of Our Founders?

Harlingen, Texas, January 30, 2012:  Those of you in America who still think any politician gives a fat pig’s whistle about your problems and anxieties must have arrived here on the last bus from La La Land.  There are only two things in this world the political elite cares about and that is the power they gain by winning their next election and the political party they serve.

As a constitutional conservative I have spent almost uncountable words trying to convince my fellow citizens that today’s two-party political system is as far removed from the Founding Father’s beliefs in meaningful governance as polar bears are from potato pancakes.

It is understood that our government controlled public schools and higher education system has done everything possible to dumb down America and make sure only a limited number of people have any meaningful understanding of a republican form of government.  Toward that objective they have been very successful and today we have the most politically ignorant society in more than two centuries of America.  With less than a full year of government being taught in twelve years of public education, not much is absorbed by young student brains.

Our Founding Fathers had complete distain for any political party or faction.  It was their feeling that once such factions were formed, citizen loyalty would shift to the political party, to the detriment of the country as a whole.  Under a republican (that is republican with a small “r”) form of government, all politics is supposed to be rational, collaborative and beneficial to all.  The Founders strongly believed that any political process should be about identifying the common good in a process where both politicians and voters calmly sorted out what best served the entire community or country.  The forming of factions within such a body of individuals was seen as not only disruptive, but detrimental to the establishment of good governance.

If there was ever a time in our country when the Founding Fathers were proven to be right on target, that time is now.  There is not a single candidate on any side of the political spectrum who can display an unbiased approach to governing the nation.  From the distortions voiced by Barack Obama to the whining complaints of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich we can clearly see prime examples of everything that is wrong with our political system.

Among the many statements Thomas Jefferson made on government, there are two we should always remember, “The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.” He also said “The democracy will cease when you take away from those who are willing to work and give it to those who would not.” Do those words sound as if the man who wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence was out of tune with today’s America?

Benjamin in Franklin, our first Ambassador to France, who also helped draft the Declaration of Independence warned, “The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.  You have to catch up with it yourself.” He also chided “Those who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.”

Alexander Hamilton was a Major General in the Army and the primary contributor to the Federalist Papers.  He strongly felt, “In framing a government which is administered by men over men the great difficultly lies in this:  You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next oblige it to control itself.” He is also known for his famous quote used to support Second Amendment rights, “A well regulated militia, composed of a body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.”

In the words of John Adams, our second President, “”Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.  Power always thinks…that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.”

The man who served on our first committee to detect and defeat conspiracies was John Jay.  He could well have been thinking of something such as Obamacare when he wrote, “No power on earth has the right to take our property without our consent.” The author of our Bill of Rights, James Madison warned, “The truth is…that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”

All of the Founders saw danger in political factions.  They knew that once these bands of like minds joined together they would be almost impossible to dislodge.  They knew that once parties formed the desire to protect and defend the country would fall into second place in men’s hearts.  And right they were.  Before George Washington finished his time in office as our firth President, political parties started forming.  He saw this happening and warned the nation…”Government is not reason.  It is not eloquent, it is force, and it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” If we don’t act with wisdom, that fearful master Washington warned us about will take hold and be next to impossible to dislodge.