MILITARY
Armed forces benefits well-earned, deserved
“Pentagon balks at future cuts” (News, Aug. 5) refers to “gold-plated benefits now guaranteed to military retirees.”
While I am not privy to the authors’ definition of “gold-plated benefits,” I assume they refer to medical care, commissary use and the option to retire at 50 percent of base pay after 20 years of service.
Retirees are authorized medical care — but for most retirees, access to that care is almost nonexistent (unless one retires in an area like Washington or San Diego). With the recent closure of Fort McPherson and the downsizing of Fort Gillem, there are no commissaries available within miles.
Military service is unlike any other in the U.S. The closest comparisons are law enforcement and firefighting. I recognize the ongoing sacrifice and willingness to go in harm’s way by those in law enforcement and firefighting. However, the likelihood of being in armed conflict is much less probable.
Fifty percent of base pay is a small price to pay for anyone who has committed to going in harm’s way whenever their country has required. Gold-plated benefits? I don’t think so.
Gordon Fisher, Marietta
POLITICS
Washington power plays destroying country
It appears to me that the Republicans (and some of the media) are getting exactly what they want. To defeat President [Barack] Obama, they are willing to bring this country to the brink of ruin. They know (or think that they know) that the voting public will hold the party in power responsible for the current economic downturn. Their goal is to become as uncooperative as possible to regain control of the executive branch of government. They have questioned the president’s citizenship, religion, intelligence and integrity.
We have no one to blame but ourselves, both voters, and non-voters. And America is getting exactly what it voted for: the destruction of a once-great nation.
Clarence Lewis, Atlanta
SPIRITUALITY
No denying universal interconnectedness
Our country’s failures are not economic or political, though they manifest in both arenas. They are failures of spirituality: The triumph of fear over openness, greed over generosity and selfishness over compassion.
A world view that values individual gain above the health of the whole denies the connectedness of our relationship to other humans, the planet and life itself. What happens to one happens to all.
This is reflected in every aspect of our lives. Pesticides poison all the way up the food chain. Acid rain created in one industrial valley kills trees in upstate New York. This reality is a common thread through all the world’s religions. It is expressed as “do unto others” as you would have them do unto you.
Sybil Thomas, Whitesburg
