Blame it on Disabled Veterans

[formercia]

The soldier in a wheel chair with combat boots on is a smarmy touch. :rofl:

http://www.rd.com/content/crippled-vets-are-not-getting-benefits-they-deserve/1/

Insult to Injury
Photo-Illustration by Lou Beach
It's a no-brainer: Disability checks should go to the disabled.


Vets crippled in combat are getting stiffed while Uncle Sam cuts checks for hemorrhoid sufferers.
From Reader's Digest
September 2007

Not the Cause
Thousands of vets are collecting cash for common ailments like arthritis and hypertension, as well as minor scars, hysterectomies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as herpes and gonorrhea -- conditions that have nothing to do with combat or the places the vets were stationed. In some cases, they ask for benefits years, even decades, after their service. According to a 2003 Congressional Budget Office report, almost 300,000 veterans get disability payments for conditions that are "generally neither caused nor aggravated by military service." The annual price tag for these cases is $970 million.

--snip--




I normally don't read this right-wing rag but my in-laws subscribe to it and there just happened to be a copy of last month's issue handy by the toilet.

I read it since it makes lousy toilet paper.

Instead of accepting responsibility for their own shortcomings when dealing with injured veterans, the Administration is trying to use disabled veterans as the straw man.

[REP]

1. It's a No-Brainer for me:

Is the person requesting benefits an eligible veteran? If Yes, pay up. Period.

The least this country can do - and I do mean the least - is to take care of its soldiers and veterans. I'm not a fan of war, and I don't hold the military services in high regard, but something is owed to people who either volunteered or were forced to be bullet-catchers.

[jody]

2. I have two friends who served in the Korean War and subsequently became multimillionaires. They brag

that they are able to get their prescriptions filled at a VA hospital.

While I agree that eligible vets should receive health care from VA, I also believe it's in very poor taste for vets who are multimillionaires to accept such benefits.

[formercia]

3. We could say the same thing about wealthy people collecting SS.

If they paid into the system when they worked, they should be allowed to collect.


Penalizing someone because their status doesn't meet some ethereal criteria is wrong.

Benefits are paid based on criteria set in the regulations.

If you want the regulations changed then write your Congressperson. Don't blame the Veteran.

If they weren't eligible, they wouldn't have been allowed benefits.

[jody]

4. You missed my point, those whom circumstance has blessed should share with the less fortunate. n/t

[formercia]

5. I agree with your point.

Just because someone is eligible to collect doesn't always make it the right thing to do.

That's the problem with corporate ethics. The corporatist believes in maximizing profit, regardless of right or wrong.

"The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power"

--Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Fascist Dictator of Italy

[formercia]

6. The American Dream

Many people joined the military or became corporate lackeys because they believed the lie about the 'American Dream.'

Like any pyramid scheme, those who got in early made out ok because if the boys had given away their hand, this charade would have ended long ago. So, they paid up to the early birds and let us work our asses off to build up corporate wealth. The boys got their stock options and all we got was promises.

Now it's the end game. The house of cards is about to collapse because the 'insiders' cashed out, raided the pension funds to prop up the facade, and now all we have to look forward to is a black hole.

It's the same with the veterans. We were made promises and now, all bets are off. We worked 24/7 for pennies on the dollar, so the corporations could rape the Planet and fill their coffers, all along thinking they would take care of us in our old age.

Not if Junior and his masters will have their way.

They screwed us.