<div id="RTEContent">Suddenly, Wal-Mart's health plan of only 30 cents a day for any employee who wants it, and 30 cents a day for each child, doesn't seem so bad.<br> <br> Perhaps if the military offered the same benefits as Wal-Mart it would have 25,000 applicants per 500 openings just like them, versus getting only one applicant for every two positions.<br> <br> Take Care,<br> <br> _DJA<br><br><b><i>Tom Hansen <thansen@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="country-region"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> <!--[if !mso]> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} span.EmailStyle17 {mso-style-type:personal-compose; font-family:Arial; color:windowtext;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> </o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType></o:SmartTagType><div class="Section1"> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">From the Army Times (<a
href="http://www.armytimes.com/">www.armytimes.com</a>) –<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">As President Bush requests Congress to permanently maintain tax breaks for corporate <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the wealthy, the lost revenue must come from somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So, why not take it from veteran health care?<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><!
span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">F**K BUSH !<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Pentagon proposes steep hikes in Tricare costs for retirees<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <!
div
class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">By Rick Maze<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Times staff writer<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A Pentagon proposal that could triple some Tricare insurance costs for military retirees and their families is drawing sharp criticism from military advocacy groups and members of Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size:!
10pt;
font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The plan, being considered as part of the 2007 budget request to be unveiled Feb. 6, would increase Tricare fees for retirees under age 65 beginning Oct. 1.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Increases would be substantial — as much as $1,200 more a year by 2009 — with no end in sight because the plan calls for annual rate hikes in 2010 and beyond that would match inflation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNorm!
al"><font
face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Details on the proposal were provided by the Military Officers Association of America, one of many military-related grups mobilizing to fight the proposal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Defense Department officials confirmed that Tricare fees were being considered as part of the 2007 budget, but would not discuss any details until the White House releases the federal budget plan.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;!
">Senior
Pentagon leaders, both military and civilian, know their plan will meet with stiff opposition and are trying to prepare a united front, defense sources said. The Joint Chiefs are considering sending a rare joint letter to Congress explaining why the fee increases are important because they do not see how the military can afford needed weapons programs if soaring health care costs remain unchecked, sources said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A key element of the proposal is to discourage retirees from using the military medical system if they have other options, such as insurance through a post-service employer, because this would generate savings far greater than any money raised through higher enrollment
fees.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“This is wrong on so many levels,” said Steve Strobridge, government relations director for the Military Officers Association of America. <o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“In the middle of a war, with troops and families vastly overstressed, recruiting already in the toilet, and retention at risk, the Defense Department wants to pay for weapons by cutting manpower and trying to cut career military benefits by $1,000 a year or more? That’s just fl!
at
unconscionable. Not only is it grossly unfair to the people, but it poses terrible risks for long-term retention and readiness.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Strobridge acknowledged that health care costs are rising, but said he can’t see why defense officials are willing to accept massive increases in the cost of weapons but not in personnel.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“If DoD is willing to accept 400 percent to 500 percent cost growth in weapons systems, then people are no !
less
important,” he said, noting that the cost of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer has increased 392 percent since 1985, while the cost of an F-22 Raptor has jumped by 526 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“The Pentagon needs to acknowledge its own management responsibility for rising weapons costs rather than trying to stick military retirees with the bill.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A blow to expectations<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="!
Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Active-duty members would not be directly affected by the fee increases, but representatives of major military associations said there is an impact on morale.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“For anyone well along in their career who is thinking about retirement, this is a blow to their expectations about what the government is going to do for them,” said Jim Lokovic of the Air Force Sergeants Association, who has been traveling to military bases to discuss changes in pay and benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div
class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“Many of the people I have been talking with have 10 or more years of service, and remember when they were told by recruiters and career counselors that if they just stayed around, the government was going to provide them with free health care in retirement,” Lokovic said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“Well, we learned years ago it wasn’t free, and now we are learning that it isn’t cheap either,” he said. “I think those who are well along toward retirement in their career are going to s!
tay … but
those who are at the decision point are going to see this as an erosion of retirement benefits. I promise you some are going to get out because of it.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Strobridge agreed. “Don’t try to tell us that a country that can afford hundreds of billions of dollars in pork spending and tax cuts can’t afford to pay for both military weapons and retiree health care,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">More than 22,000 members of the officer’s group have writ!
ten
Congress opposing the initiative, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">House Democrats seized on the controversy with a Jan. 25 letter to President Bush asking him to disavow the fee proposal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“It is unconscionable that you would even consider a fee increase on the men and women in uniform who bravely sacrificed for our country, especially during a time of war,” states the letter from House Democratic leaders. “We must demonstrate our commitment to !
our
troops and future veterans by assuring them that just as they protected us, we will take care of them when their service ends.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">They said the fee increase not only is unfair to military retirees, but will also hurt military readiness through its impact on recruiting and retention.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">“Your administration must not shift additional costs upon veterans or military retirees,” they wrote, adding that to do so would be “a natio!
nal
disgrace and … a pointed rebuke to those who served and have earned those benefits.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">And once the returning troops become veterans, what then of that once proud support, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>?<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>!
<div
class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Take care, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Moscow</span></font></st1:City><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">, <st1:State w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font face="Arial"
size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." <br> <br> --Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.</span><o:p></o:p></font></div> </div> <div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></div> </div> _____________________________________________________<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> http://www.fsr.net <br>
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