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 F. David Shelene May 1, 2003 Recently there has been a great outpouring of support for our troops in Iraq. It seems some people learned from the mistakes made in the treatment of our soldiers who had fought in Viet Nam that you can be for or against the war and still support our troops who have no alternative but to go where they are told to go and fight. We should all support them every way we can. Most Americans have been doing just that, but there is one assembly of Americans who have been taking things away from our soldiers even as they profess to support them. In a recent vote, some of the Members of the House of Representatives supported President Bush’s budget plan. When they voted to support his plan, they also voted to slash veterans' benefits! At the same time the Republicans voted to cut medical care for children, child-care assistance and support for foster care and adoption believe it or not plus give a huge tax cut to the wealthy! These budget cuts clearly show who these Representatives really care about. They believe the budget can be balanced on the backs of the poor, without any significant cuts in programs that benefit the wealthy. These Representatives professed to support our troops and our families, then voted to cut benefits for millions of Americans at the bottom of the economic food chain, at the same time voting huge tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. This type of hoodwinking of America has to stop and there is a way to help stop it. If you have a home computer, (if not go to the library,) you may check out your representative’s voting record by going to vote-smart.org and typing in their last name or your zip code. Poor people, (including many of our troops,) are being forced to tighten their belts even more while the rich get richer off of their labor. To check this out, click here. You will be amazed at the pay some of our CEO’s are taking home. Some of them are even from bankrupt companies. In 2001, Richard Wardrop CEO of AK Steel, while locking out workers in their plant in Mansfield Ohio claiming the company couldn’t give the employees a better benefit package, raked in $8,839,982 in total compensation including stock option grants from AK Steel Holding Corp. Wardrop has another $438,500 in unexercised stock options from previous years. This is a tiny salary compared to the CEOs of the big drug companies. In 2002 Henry McKinnell Chairman and CEO of monster Drug Company Pfizer Inc. raked in $33,912,294 in total compensation including stock option grants from Pfizer Inc. And Henry McKinnell has another $18,888,995 in unexercised stock options from previous years. At the same time, a huge number of Americans and many of them veterans can’t afford their prescription medication. Check up on your Representatives in both Washington and your state capital. It becomes very obvious which political party supports working and lower income people and which party makes sure the money gets funneled to the top. Please be sure to support our brave troops that have always stood as a wall between us and those that would destroy our way of life. Our country’s Military Commanders have done a great job in planning this action and our soldiers have fought bravely and in some cases died to carry out our Government’s wishes whether they agreed with those wishes or not. Some of them may not have wanted to be there but it made no difference. If their country said to go; those brave souls went. The last thing on the planet our Representatives should be doing is taking things away from them! We need to be sure to remember many of those troops can barely support their families on the military pay they receive while some of their Representatives in Washington voted to cut Veteran’s benefits even more! We need to remember that…… next time we vote. ------------ F. David Shelene is a member of the Wood County Democrat Executive Committee and have served as a delegate to the State Democratic Convention where he served on the resolutions committee. He has served as a political activist for quite a few years attending and helping organize rallies in many parts of the country including Washington D. C. Email F. David Shelene: fdshelene@freelancewriters.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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