A real eye opener......

[Bryan Duncan]

Here are some corrections to this topic...

Not exactly true, Rush did speak on it but somebody has embellised it with false hoods.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/military.htm

BS part, Members of Congress receive lavish pensions but are not required to contribute to the Social Security fund.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/pensions.asp


[This message has been edited by Bryan Duncan (edited 07-08-2004).]

[Bryan Duncan]

Love him or loath him, he nailed this one right on the ZZZhead.............
By Rush Limbaugh:
I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving the 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 just 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 d irect 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 yo u? 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 just voted themselves a raise, and 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 also 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, you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harm's way receive 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.
"When do we finally do something about this?" If this doesn't seem fair to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.If your interested there is more.......................
This must be a campaign issue in 2004. Keep it going.
SOCIAL SECURITY: (This is worth the read. It's short
and to the point.)
Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congressmen do not pay into Social Security. Many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan. In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. For all practical purposes their plan works like this:
When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, former Senator Byrd and Congre ssman White and their
wives may expect to draw $7,800,000 - that's Seven Million, Eight Hundred Thousand), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives.
This is calculated on an average life span for each.
Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. These little perks they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan.
The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Fund--our tax dollars at work! From our own Social
Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into -- every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) --we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one month to
equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!
Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. And that change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us and then watch how
fast they would fix it.
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of
awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve. WE, each one of us... can make a difference..
How many people can YOU send this to

[BLACK KNIGHT]

Snopes or not, the gist is correct. Even though our fighting men and women "signed up for it", there is something fundamentally wrong in "rewarding" families of innocent victims of 9/11 in the wrong place at the wrong time millions of $, while our fighting men's families receive so little compensation for their deaths on our behalfs.
What about NYPD and Fire that "signed up for it?" Why is one level of service "compensated" far above the other?
And what's most galling is when the 9/11 families whine that it's not enough.
And what about the other victims of terrorism- Oklahoma City, hijackings, etc?
The 9/11 Fund was a way for Americans to fill their innate desire to "do something" after the tragedy, but I think the precedent
was not such a good thing.
I don't pretend to hold the answer- I just know it strikes me as wrong.

[Grady]

I don't agree with paying the 9-11 families either. But it is interesting that the ones who accepted the money are precluded from suing any of the airlines involved in the attack.

[The Ole Man]

Yep--the 9/11 comp was to preclude thousands of lawsuits against the air lines and the gov due to their liability for failing to screen out the terrorists at the airports. This prevented air line bankruptcy, loss of 100,000+ air line jobs, and years of legal morass. Not an entitlement program or a feel good gesture. Agreement not to sue is the deal -in exchange for the comp payment. Those that don't accept the comp payment can still sue and take their chances in court. Comp amounts are calculated on victim age, no. of dependents, education, job level, potential lifetime earnings,etc--and if a victim was heavily insured or already had considerable wealth, those things reduce their comp amounts.

[Tom]

Congress certainly has a good retirement plan and, why not, they make the rules! I believe, however, they come under the Social Security system, since 1984. They have other good deals but not quite as cushy as Rush would have his listeners believe.
I certainly agree with those opposed to the huge settlement for victims in the WTC attack . Military killed in combat, serving their country, surely deserve more than what they get.

[BLACK KNIGHT]

Good points about the fund "saving the airlines". I had not considered that point. I just wish there were a better way to do it.
My goodness- what's it gonna cost if an attack yielded mass casualties in the tens or hundreds of thousands range, God forbid?

I still can't believe how few casualties 9/11 yielded. When it happened, and the hospitals were eerily quiet as trauma teams waited for patients that weren't coming, I told my wife, "My God, there's gonna be at least 20-30,000 dead." Inwardly, I thought that number conservative.

Random thoughts of a madman.