Sunday, November 23, 2008

Another one of THOSE Emails = Grist for my Mill


Minorities

We need to show more sympathy for these people.

* They travel miles in the heat.
* They risk their lives crossing a border.
* They don't get paid enough wages.
* They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.
* They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language.
* They rarely see their families,and they face adversity all day ~ every day.
I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans ~ I'm talking about our troops!

Doesn't it seem strange that many Democrats and Republicans are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops!!

Please pass this on; this is worth the short time it takes to read it.

My reply:

Your letter was entitled 'Minorities'. Minorities are not necessarily 'illegal'. So we'll put aside the issues about minorities for the moment (after we remember that a disproportionate number of our troops and veterans ARE from minority families), and we'll focus on Veteran's Benefits. Read them all, but especially the last one.

http://www.kintera.org/AccountTempFiles/cf/%7BE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7D/bushtroops.htm

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0328-11.htm


http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/veterans_benefits_1.php

And this last one is from veteran Bob Geiger: I include a quote: (Link Below Quote)

"Here's John Cornyn (R-TX), who also voted against the measure, on the Senate floor in May arguing that point:
quote:
"I know it is not his intention, but Senator Webb's bill actually would encourage people not to reenlist by providing a perverse incentive to leave early in order to obtain the benefits they would receive after 3 years of service. We need to make sure we encourage continuation of service, retention in the military in the best interests of our All-Volunteer military force."
"A perverse incentive." Amazing.

But what can you really expect from a Republican Chickenhawk like Cornyn who never served in the military himself but who loves war and considers it a "perverse incentive" to give combat Veterans an opportunity to go to college.

http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/409192893/m/6990002602001

So, here I am, passing it around, as requested.

-Maggie


3 comments:

Cameron said...

Love the post Maggie. I have friends who send out these stupid things all the time. I've strained several relationships by pointing out the factual errors and logical fallacies in email forwards, so I get fewer of them now. I also have fewer friends, it seems. I guess the thing that offends me the most about these creations is that someone believes I would enjoy them. I hope that is not the kind of image I present to the world.

Cherry Bomb said...

Having a personel interest in this particular subject ( I have a son who is serving his second hitch in the Marines, deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan (sp?).) I feel sickened by the by the attitude of the congress who feel our troops deserve less than the very best we can give them. If some of those who voted against the bill thought about it they'd see that there's plenty of money to go around since we don't have to provide these perks to all of the men and women who have given their lives in the service of their country. See? Hey! Washington! We've killed enough of our troops to supply a full GI bill to the ones left over!
To the families of the deceased soldiers and Marines who are forced to subsist on the pitiful stipend the government pays, the majority of Americans owe more than we can say and apologize for our government's pretense of support.
I still say FIRE THEM ALL down there in DC where obviously it doesn't count to be fair and square.

TiaHermanaMaggie said...

Just to clarify things a little, the Webb/Hagel GI Bill sailed through the House because of the Democratic majority. (I didn't count up precise numbers there because I have bronchitis and 435 members is too many for me to keep track of.) But twenty four of the Senate Republicans either opposed the bill or abstained from voting. That's MORE THAN HALF the Republicans in the Senate. Not one Democrat opposed it and the only one who abstained was in an operating room having his skull cracked open. I don't think Congress did a bad job on this. I think the.....This is bullshit. I'm looking it up.

On May 15th the House of Representatives passed HR 2642 as follows: Democrats voting 'Yea': 224. Republicans voting 'Yea': 7!!!! Democrats voting 'Nay': 32. Republicans voting 'Nay': 159!!!! There were 12 who abstained. Four were Democrats, eight were Republicans. (I know that only adds up to 434. Someone must have died.)

So, it's not Congress who tried to screw the troops; it's the REPUBLICANS in Congress who wanted to screw the troops. Luckily, at the time of the vote, Congress had (and has) a Democratic majority.

- Maggie