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View Full Version : Obama takes on the military industrial complex and deficit.




klamath
09-29-2009, 08:23 PM
We can spend 700 billion on bailouts 700 billion on stimulus packages trillions on wars, trillions on health care trillions on global warming but God forbid restoring a military pension to 26 inuit veterans that have to be in their middle to late 80s.
Gotta keep that spending down:rolleyes:

WASHINGTON -- In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining its priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration today said it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.

The Guardsmen are among those assigned to protect Alaska from the Japanese during World War II.

The Army decided this year to no longer count service in the Guard in calculating the military's 20-year minimum for retirement pay, although it still counts for military benefits. As a result, their pensions were decreased in January.

An estimated 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit formed in 1942 to protect Alaska, then a territory, from attack. The 26 men have enough other military service to reach the 20-year minimum for retirement pay but would lose it if the Territorial Guard service doesn't count.

A Senate military spending bill up for a vote in the Senate allows the former Guard members count their service as part of active military duty, and it reinstates the payments.

State lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year to fill the pay gap until Congress made a permanent fix, but the White House said Friday it didn't think it was "appropriate to establish a precedent of treating service performed by a state employee as active duty for purposes of the computation of retired pay."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who along with Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, sponsored the fix, called the administration move "deeply disappointing, bordering on insensitive." The legislation honors 26 elderly Native people who are the few remaining survivors of a military unit that served the country with valor, Murkowski said.

"The administration's justification, which is that the legislation will set the precedent of treating service as a state employee as federal service, defies logic and history," she said in a statement. "Sixty-two years after the Territorial Guard was disbanded, the Obama administration minimizes the contribution of this gallant unit to America's success in World War II by calling its service 'state service.' "http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/76088.html?storylink=omni_popular

coyote_sprit
09-29-2009, 08:27 PM
He really cares about the troops.

torchbearer
09-29-2009, 08:27 PM
wtf?

klamath
09-29-2009, 08:32 PM
As was pointed out in the comments, Alaska was not a state at that time. The governor was paid by the federal government.
What burns me is these Inuit guards have been treated like shit for years and now this??

lbadragan
09-29-2009, 08:34 PM
Yep, the democrats are for the little guy. :rolleyes:

Perium
09-29-2009, 11:19 PM
If alaska was t a state at the time then why should the fed government pay, it's up to the state to foot the bill. Or am I missing something?

John E
09-29-2009, 11:51 PM
I think the key point is that the Federal Govt took those years of service into consideration and paid these troops a retirement based on it. I don't think its right to change it all around at this point.

Whether the Federal Govt should be paying in the first place is a different matter, one I am sure was (probably not, but should have been) discussed in detail when Alaska became a state.

NYgs23
09-30-2009, 02:16 AM
Penny wise and pound foolish to the nth degree.

ChooseLiberty
09-30-2009, 04:16 AM
Ask yourself why make this pointless effort to take a pension away from these folks.

They won't be around much longer.

Trillions for the banks tho.

klamath
09-30-2009, 07:00 AM
If alaska was t a state at the time then why should the fed government pay, it's up to the state to foot the bill. Or am I missing something?

Because it was a US property without statehood. The government of Alaska was apointed by the federal government. These native inuits stood up and defended American soil during WWII. This service has been counted as years of service for military retirement for over a half a century. Take pay from 26 guys in their 80's that withstood some real servere service so we can have trillions in bailouts:rolleyes:

Icymudpuppy
09-30-2009, 08:44 AM
Copied, pasted, and sent to everyone in my address book.

pcosmar
09-30-2009, 08:54 AM
Sad story.
But the title was a bit misleading. This has nothing to do with the Military Industrial Complex.
This is just about screwing a few old guys that were promised something for their service.

You want to see old people getting screwed, just wait for the HealthCare to pass. :mad:

Warrior_of_Freedom
09-30-2009, 09:46 AM
lol they take money away from people who served our country, and then give it to people who haven't worked a day in their lives.

silverhawks
09-30-2009, 09:49 AM
This very much reminds me of the treatment of Gurkas by the British government.

klamath
09-30-2009, 10:07 AM
Sad story.
But the title was a bit misleading. This has nothing to do with the Military Industrial Complex.
This is just about screwing a few old guys that were promised something for their service.

You want to see old people getting screwed, just wait for the HealthCare to pass. :mad:

It was in utmost sarcasm;)

pcosmar
09-30-2009, 10:09 AM
It was in utmost sarcasm;)

Ah, That explains. ;)

YumYum
09-30-2009, 10:42 AM
lol they take money away from people who served our country, and then give it to people who haven't worked a day in their lives.

Israel's universal health care is not as cheap as it used to be.

Live_Free_Or_Die
09-30-2009, 10:49 AM
nt