The Bush administration wants military retirees to pay more for health care. This idea has been rejected before. So why bring it up again? It's part of the shell game that the neocon's play.
The idea is to steer military retiree's away from TRICARE (military healthcare) and toward health plans their current employers sponser. That would take the burden off the Pentagon.
At the same time, state and local gornernments, as well as private employer's, are asking these same individuals to use TRICARE so as to avoid having to pay insurance premiums for them. Sound like a kind of shell game to you?
The Chairman of the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee, questions the projections given by the Pentagon of a $14.8 billion savings over five years. He says their projections assume that all of those retiree's will move to the private employer's insurance during that five year plan. Of course, like all of the other projections made by this Administration, one needs to be highly skeptical at best.
Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, that great humanitarian, has said that he'd be willing to pay a little more once he retires from the Air Force Reserves. Well just fuckin goody for you Senator. A retired officer's pension, plus a Senator's pension, you should just about be able to make it you goddamn idiot. It isn't about the officer corps asshat. It's about the enlisted members who do the real work in the military and suffer the greatest loss for the the least pay and are continually shit on by dick's like you.
For Graham to say to Rumsfeld that "You're having to choose beween health care premiums, guns, bullets, airplanes and ships" is absolutely ridiculous. Not that that would stop him from saying it. Maybe get the fuck out of Iraq? How about a few dollars savings there?
So what are we talking about in dollars? The current amount payed for health care for a family, under TRICARE is $460. Under the new plan, depending upon rank at the time of retirement, it would jump to between $650 and $1,400.
Again, it is not about the officer corps. It is about retired E-6's who are working as taxi driver's and just trying to make it from month to month. This is another example of Supporting the Troops folks.
It's 2006. Time for this country to correct it's downward spiral. And stop playing these shell games.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Monday, March 06, 2006
Another Bush Legacy
President Bush left a helluva healthcare legacy for his adopted state of Texas. The ex-cheerleader from Yale made a real issue during his initial campaign about how much he had done for the poor children of the state. Well here is the bottom line on that. A full 21% of the children of the state of Texas lack health coverage.
Giving billions of the taxpayers money to overblown corporations like Halliburton and Exxon is great for him and his pals, but those who really need the help...fuck'um. It is possible we're gonna do the deal with the government of Dubai for the port handling, that should make a bunch of rich people very happy. But food stamps for the most vulnerable among us? Not on your life.
This guy really seems to believe he's going to have a great legacy as one of the US's great leaders. Let's see, the neocon's got him to start a war in Iraq, there's the little Katrina thing, and then there's the Abramoff deal. And, who can forget the outing of CIA Agent Valerie Plame. Yup, this guy is gonna have one shiny legacy. Everything he touchs turns to shit. Problem is, his daddy and friends can usually bail him out. This time the whole world is at risk because of this idiot puppet of the neo-conservatives.
Giving billions of the taxpayers money to overblown corporations like Halliburton and Exxon is great for him and his pals, but those who really need the help...fuck'um. It is possible we're gonna do the deal with the government of Dubai for the port handling, that should make a bunch of rich people very happy. But food stamps for the most vulnerable among us? Not on your life.
This guy really seems to believe he's going to have a great legacy as one of the US's great leaders. Let's see, the neocon's got him to start a war in Iraq, there's the little Katrina thing, and then there's the Abramoff deal. And, who can forget the outing of CIA Agent Valerie Plame. Yup, this guy is gonna have one shiny legacy. Everything he touchs turns to shit. Problem is, his daddy and friends can usually bail him out. This time the whole world is at risk because of this idiot puppet of the neo-conservatives.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Bird Flu
Last week a case of Bird Flu (Avian H5N1) was detected in a cat in Germany. This the latest case of the flu passing from one species to another. Rather than run down the street screaming that the flu is coming, it seems to me that it should be an idicator to stay focused on this problem.
As we saw with the Katrina affair in New Orleans, the government is smugly telling us that everything is being done and to "trust them" that they will protect us. That, my friends, is Bushit. They have begun stockpiling Tamiflu in case there is a pandemic. Tamiflu has been shown not to have much affect on the H5N1 strain of Avian flu. There now. Don't you feel better?
In fact, we are not safe at all. In fact, we don't even know how it is being spread. Some believe it is the migratory birds, and there is certainly some evidence to indicate that it is. However, there is also the possibility that the danger is being spread by chickens in the free market. People who are taking their chickens to market in the next town, or further afield, and spreading the disease that way.
All of the people who have contracted the disease thus far have been farmers who handle chickens. That would mean that only those who come into contact, and it would at this moment seem constant contact, would be vulnerable. However, we also know that the virus, being opportunistic, will mutate and may at sometime in the near future become spreadable from human to human.
Something else about this virus, so far. The seemingly strong, mid teens to mid thirties, have been attacked at a much higher rate than would be expected. In fact, the very young (0-12) and the very old are usually the ones to be most affected by influenza. But that may simply mean that those so far taken by the virus are the ones closest to it and may not tell us anything about how it will work if and when it makes the jump.
Man, do I feel safe. And, with the good job they've done so far, how could I not feel safe?
As we saw with the Katrina affair in New Orleans, the government is smugly telling us that everything is being done and to "trust them" that they will protect us. That, my friends, is Bushit. They have begun stockpiling Tamiflu in case there is a pandemic. Tamiflu has been shown not to have much affect on the H5N1 strain of Avian flu. There now. Don't you feel better?
In fact, we are not safe at all. In fact, we don't even know how it is being spread. Some believe it is the migratory birds, and there is certainly some evidence to indicate that it is. However, there is also the possibility that the danger is being spread by chickens in the free market. People who are taking their chickens to market in the next town, or further afield, and spreading the disease that way.
All of the people who have contracted the disease thus far have been farmers who handle chickens. That would mean that only those who come into contact, and it would at this moment seem constant contact, would be vulnerable. However, we also know that the virus, being opportunistic, will mutate and may at sometime in the near future become spreadable from human to human.
Something else about this virus, so far. The seemingly strong, mid teens to mid thirties, have been attacked at a much higher rate than would be expected. In fact, the very young (0-12) and the very old are usually the ones to be most affected by influenza. But that may simply mean that those so far taken by the virus are the ones closest to it and may not tell us anything about how it will work if and when it makes the jump.
Man, do I feel safe. And, with the good job they've done so far, how could I not feel safe?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)