Tag Archives: OSOGR

GOP advocates slashing military benefits — not the Demorats, the GOP

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GOP GeniusesFrom Breitbart.com:

Paul Ryan Budget Deal Cuts Military Pensions to Pay for Spending Increases

by Matthew Boyle

The budget deal that House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) made with Senate Budget Committee chairwoman Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) cuts military pensions to pay for immediate spending increases, CNN Money’s Jennifer Liberto reports. The bill raises spending by $63 billion over the next couple of years.

“The deal cuts pension cost of living raises by 1 percentage point for military retirees who aren’t disabled and not yet 62 years old,” Liberto wrote last week.

Cost of living hikes are automatic raises intended to keep up with inflation. The problem is, most military retirees are a lot younger than private sector retirees. They enlist in their 20’s and retire in their 40’s. Very few stay on till they are 62–those who may be lucky enough to escape major injuries at war, or rose to higher echelons in the military system.

Any of my veteran readers starting to gnash their teeth yet, chipping enamel?  Well, read on, because here come the numbers:

Liberto went on to note that the cuts to military pensions are far more significant because of how early military members retire. “When compounded, the 1 percentage point cut could result in much more than a 20% reduction in retiree pensions over 20 years,” Liberto wrote. “The average cut in pension payouts, including compounding interest, for a retiring Army Sergeant first class, would be about $3,700 each year, according to the Military Officers Association of America. Over 20 years, the total losses could balloon to more than $80,000.”

Let me repeat:  “Over 20 years, the total losses could balloon to more than $80,000.”

Invertebrate GOPWhy yes, that’s certainly a perfect way to treat our US military personnel, is it not?  And there are FIFTEEN-HUNDRED PAGES in the bill which, of course, no one will actually READ.  Republicans, have you learned nothing?  Is this not the Limited Liability GOP on display?  Is this not a replay of ObakaKare?

I already wrote about the GOP continuously warring on Conservatives, by way of what I term the Old School/Old Guard Republicans (OSOGRs).

It is shameful what the House GOP wants to do to the military retiree benefits.  Shameful and disgusting.  It is a betrayal of the Republican base.  Republicans want to put the $18 trillion dollar deficit on the backs of military veterans.  Is the US military, as far as the GOP is concerned, nothing more than budgetary “low hanging fruit”?

More pointedly, Hugh Hewitt weighed in on this bill via his Tuesday radio show.  Truth Revolt covers it here and below (thanks to Jeff Dunetz):

Hugh Hewitt Slams Paul Ryan For Reduction of Benefits For Military Vets

“The House GOP steps up and says the only group that we are going to force to pay for their own readiness will be the active duty military”

On his Tuesday night radio program, Hugh Hewitt confronted House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for singling out those in uniform today or those who retired after 20+ years of military service as the only ones in government to have their retirements cut in the latest budget deal.

The radio host rejected Rep. Ryan’s points totally. Hewitt pointed out that the military was the first and only group to take a cut in this budget.

Some of these men and women in the thirteen years we have been at war have been deployed  six, seven, eight, times have missed dozens of Christmases, birthdays and birth of their child, and the Congress steps up, the House GOP steps up and says the only group that we are going to force to pay for their own readiness will be the active duty military. Because I heard you say very clearly, we need to maintain readiness so in order to get them the jet fuel they need to fly off the aircraft carriers, or the bullets they need to train, or the camouflage they need to move around at night, we have to cut their future retirement.  

This will destroy retention, it will destroy morale, and it is deeply unfair to the American military which has sacrificed more than anyone else, and you guys put them first. And now you are rushing it through so the people who are outraged like me cannot get on the phones at 202-225-3121 and encourage the House Republican Caucus to absolutely reject this deal.

And so here we go:

Republicans savaging the US Military, before anyone else.

Did I hear one word about Paul Ryan’s House members taking a cut?  The Senate taking a cut?  Staffers taking a cut?  Staffers only just now have to — some of them — adhere to ObakaKare.  And those that have done so are bailing.

This is a focused, tightly focused cut on the US military.

The GOP: you can clearly, now, go straight to Hell.  You are the same as Demorats to me.  Prove me wrong.

BZ

P.S.
Thanks to CLA for the top graphic.

Govt Big Enuff

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Republicans: once again warring on Conservatives

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McConnell's Staffer's Nasty Ass Comment to LevinMany people who are actual Conservatives (with a capital “C”) have “had it” with the staid old GOP representatives in Congress, to include (off the immediate top of my head) John McCain, John Boehner and now, Mitch McConnell via his newest insult proffered by a staffer named Brad Dayspring.  See the Tweet above, slamming Conservative talk show host Mark Levin.

Levin responded here on Facebook, as reproduced below:

These sleazy intimidation tactics will not work

January 9, 2014 at 7:54am

Mitch McConnell’s National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) hit man, some idiot named Brad Dayspring, does not intimidate me and will not silence me with his sleazy inside-the-beltway tactics.  (See link below.)  In fact, I am more fired up than ever.

Liberty and Tyranny is nearly 5 years old, sold nearly 1.3 million copies, and was on the New York Times best-seller list for half a year during 2009.  The Senate Conservative Fund (SCF) has been using the paperback version of the book in recent months to encourage donations in support of conservative candidates.  This has nothing to do with best-seller lists that date back to 2009.  I am told that the number of books distributed by the SCF represents about 3 percent of the total.  In addition, the SCF worked directly with the publisher, not me, in making these arrangements, and SCF apparently received a deep discount because of the bulk purchase of the paperbacks as would others who use the book for promotion purposes.  I am told this is typical.

Now, let me be clear.  I hold McConnell and the chairman of the NRSC –  Jerry Moran of Kansas – personally and politically accountable for the sleazy intimidation tactics of their current and former staffers.  My opposition to McConnell’s re-election is underscored by pathetic behavior like this.  Conservatives should not give a dime to the NRSC, money which is used to pay the salaries of these hit men and empower McConnell, et al.

I take Mark Levin to heart.  I do not contribute to the NRSC.  I do not contribute to the NRC.  I gave that up roughly five years ago.  I target my contributions to specific individuals because I do not trust the GOP.  I predicate this upon having an actual memory.  And the BZ phrase that goes something like this: “the best predictor of future behavior is past performance or the lack thereof.”

Invertebrate GOPFurther, as many people already realize, having read this blog, I am no longer a registered Republican.  I am an Independent because the GOP has proven, time and again, that it has no spine, that it is clueless, that it is rudderless, that it is leader-less, and that it is too interested in being loved.  It is too interested in being involved in compromise and bi-partisanship.

These days, visions of bi-partisanship and compromise involve, via the Demorats who are in control, voting and thinking precisely as the Demorats themselves.  Anything less is heinous, racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist and any other -ist that Leftists can craft.

At the end of the day, in truth, Old School/Old Guard Republicans (OSOGRs) visit local DC watering holes and bend elbows with their good friends the Demorats — belly larfing and back-slapping with the stimulated vigor of having hosed the American Taxpayer another day, to their mutual and eternal pensional and future employment benefit.

I have had it with Republicans who propose caution and consideration and taciturn reflection predicated but upon caving and capitulation and a willingness to cast aside the basic and fundamental documents of this great nation.

Let there be no mistake: I am not a massive fan of Mark Levin.  He writes well, he is an attorney, but I cannot physically listen to more than five minutes of his stridently-nasal and irritating voice and, clearly, he isn’t sufficiently strong in my local radio market to deserve a leading AM or PM Drive slot.

That said, I don’t doubt for a microsecond that he is a true Conservative in every form.

The American Media Maggots portray issues on the Right as the TEA Party vs all others.  Let me be clear: I frequently do not agree with much of the various TEA Party formulations who, in my estimation, have lost their compass.

The current Demorat Mantra is this: “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine unless you have the power to wrest it back from me.”

Given past history — when the GOP owned the House, the Senate and the White House — just what did they do with this power?

Nothing.

BZ

 

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