Lords of Death Forums Lords of Death Forums LoD General Discussion Fact or crap??

What do you think? There were a couple of paragraphs that I didn't paste that indicate to me that this is chain mail crap...
Love him or loathe him, he nailed this one right on the head..........
By Rush Limbaugh:
I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the
entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.
Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.
Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.
We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.
You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?
However, our own U.S. Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.
If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harm's way receives a pension of $15,000 per month
I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

NT

first off, i love rush, he's 99% of the time, completely dead accurate. and i agree that the military doesnt get paid nearly enough. (ya im a bit biased) and i agree that the victims families of sept 11 shouldnt get that much money because like he said the relatives were "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
the entitlements of families of soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines who are KIA are for the most part accurate. but the retirement of a 20 year E-7 is about 2300 a month, which is 1/2 of their monthly income, unless they took their 10 year 30K which knocks their pension to 40%. which would be about 1700 a month. which technically is more than what rush said, but i dont think is enough considering the work we do.
but ya, mega dittos as usual. i'm gonna be putting pictures of Iraq up when i get home, should be pretty interesting. im gonna tag a bomb w/ some LoD graffiti. should be pretty good.
it's kinda funny... im in the cradle of civilization, and it's a total shithole.

I don't always like Rush, but he is dead on on this. Coincidently, we had an article similiar to this in our school newspaper today, by a guy who served. It wasn't so much about 9/11, but the fact that our soldiers are getting the shaft, both financially and in duration of their tours.

I really don't like Rush, But this is one of the few things I agree on. It's almost criminal how we treat our soliders.

Yeah, he's dead on with that.

But making a comparison between the victims of 9/11 and military personnel is a bit idiotic. The people who died in 9/11 certainly didn't sign up to be placed in a high risk situation where they were in danger of dying in an exploding building. People who sign up for the military know full well what they're getting themselves into and know (or should know) that death is a very real risk.
The US government has a solemn responsibility to protect its citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic. On September 11, 2001, our government failed us miserably in that respect. Hence, the large restitution amounts given to surviving families. Don't get me wrong, there's definately some media clamoring going on here with the $$ amounts; but for the most part, I think the numbers are justified. Also, consider if the government DIDN'T give these kind of restitutions. Victims of 9/11 all across the board would be suing the US Gov for negligence and a whole slew of other things. They would win. The US public would lose tremendously.
True, the military is probably underpaid for what we do (general estimates say that personnel get paid around 15% less than for analgous civilian positions); however, upon signing the contract, we are made fully aware of our compensation (and those made in death). Besides this, there's a lot more than money going on in the decision to join the military.
Furthermore, Limbaugh is comparing the salaries and bonuses of a congressman compared to a non-college educated, no civilian experience having enlisted person. OBVIOUSLY, a person in congress will be paid more and receive higher bonuses than the average serviceman. Look at the resumes of most congressmen: they have college education from prestigious schools; they have years and years of public experience; and they undoubtedly have created hundreds if not thousands of connections in the business and public sector throughout their tenure. In short, most of the people have resumes we would kill for.
Many of us in LoD have higher education (a lot of us have advanced degrees) and we've worked our butts off in corporate America as white collar workers to earn the money we have. Wouldn't you be a bit pissed to find out that some blue collar laborer with 1/10th the business acumen you possessed somehow had managed to earn as much money as you?
I don't want to belittle the sacrifices servicemen are making for our country today (hell, you're talking to an enlisted marine here), but if money is really something you're after, you wouldn't be joining the military in the first place. There are other things we think about when we sign on the dotted line: honor; sacrifice to serve country; and let's not forgot the ability to blow shit up. You can't put a dollar sign on those things. And I'd prefer if a blowhard such as Limbaugh wouldn't either.

Rush Limbaugh (if he actually said this) is way behind the curve on this injustice. Liberal radio personalities such as Randi Rhodes and Al Franken have been all over the fact that our soliders have been shafted by this administration for years. They have had combat pay restrictions, crappy death benefits, backdoor draft etc. Franken and Rhodes constnantly have members from opTruth www.optruth.com on their shows to share the plight of the American soldier and how they do not get the support they need for success in Iraq.
In case you weren't aware boith Democrats and Republicans in the house voted unanimously to increase the death benefit to $12,000 almost two years ago, which from what I can tell for some reason has not been made into a law. Clearly if the President cared about the troops he would do something about it. Maybe he was too busy cutting VA funding and closing VA hosptials.
Check out this article about how much that Japanese value their solidiers lives. If we only valued the sacrifice that our brave men and women made by a 10th we would increase their death benefit by 10X.
http://www.bodybagcatholic.com/archives/cd11-19-03.htm
Guys like Rush and Hannity say they support the troops, and then hang em out to dry with the Abu Garib torture scandal in order to protect that POS Rumsfeld.
Rush is a hypocritical lying drug addled piece of shit who uses our troops sacrifices to promote a self-serving republican agenda.
Scum bag of the worst kind .

Sorry, but that's not just this administration, just about every administration pal.

I would say they are getting shafted more so now, because more are getting killed due to the war. I do say the soldiers have been getting shafted for a long time, but i would say that it is happening worse now.