Archive for the ‘Veteran Stuff’ Category
I found some interesting things you might, or might not, be interested in.
Everyone MUST view this video!!
WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 4, 2010 —”News reports about life insurance companies profiting off our war dead struck an emotional nerve at every level,” said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., national commander of the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.
“It may be a legal industry practice, but learning that a company is earning more interest than what they pay out to surviving families just reeks of corporate greed and irresponsibility.”
According to Bloomberg News, if beneficiaries do not request a lump sum payment or direct the money elsewhere, insurers are holding the funds in corporate accounts that provide ridiculously low interest rates, plus they are giving misleading guarantees about the safety of the funds.
For example, Bloomberg reported that Prudential in 2008 paid survivors 1 percent interest on their accounts, while the company itself earned a 4.8-percent return on the same account. Prudential is the nation’s second-largest life insurer and manages the Servicemember and Veterans Group Life Insurance programs for 6 million military and military retirees. MetLife, the country’s largest life insurer, provides insurance for all nonmilitary federal employees.
Prudential defended their practice by saying its Alliance Account “does not in any way take money from beneficiaries,” and that beneficiaries can withdraw the entire amount, plus interest, at anytime without penalty. Prudential admits the account is not FDIC insured — a fact disclosed in their material — but alluding to State Guaranty Funds protections is misleading. State Guaranty Funds are nongovernment safety nets, similar to insurance to protect the policyholders of insurance companies that might fail. Only a fraction of the State Guaranty Funds provided in all 50 states and the District of Columbia would cover the top SGLI or VGLI amount of $400,000.
“This entire issue is about full disclosure,” said Tradewell, a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis.
“I know that the interest rate my savings account is earning is far less than what my bank earns by virtue of them holding my money. The difference is I know that, the surviving families do not. They think their money is safe and earning a good rate of return, where in fact their money isn’t fully protected and only the insurance company is earning the profit, which just isn’t right.”
In the aftermath of the Bloomberg article, the Department of Veterans Affairs, who oversees the SGLI and VGLI insurance programs, announced last week it would investigate the holding practice. Rep. Deborah Halvorson (D-Ill.), the step-mother of an Army Special Forces soldier who was wounded in Afghanistan, introduced legislation to require companies to tell beneficiaries how their money will be invested, and how much the insurer stands to make from holding the funds. And New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an investigation of the practice, which Bloomberg reported has allowed more than 100 insurance carriers to retain and earn investment income on $28 billion owed to life insurance beneficiaries around the country. MetLife is based in New York.
From the VFW.org web site.
Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court filing of a friend-of-the-court brief by 22 news media organizations in support of the First Amendment rights of the Westboro Baptist Church has outraged the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S.
“As despicable as their message of hatred is, at least the church has a vested interest in this fight,” said VFW National Commander Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis. “The media only filed their brief to protect themselves against potential libel suits.”
The case is Albert Snyder v. Fred W. Phelps Sr. (et al), who leads the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., a nonaffiliated church that for years has taunted grieving mourners at military funerals nationwide, calling their deaths a by-product of a nation that tolerates homosexuality.
On March 10, 2006, in Westminster, Md., more than a half dozen Westboro members showed up at the funeral of 20-year-old Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder carrying signs that read “Semper Fi Fags,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “Thank God for IEDs.”
His father, Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., sued the church, and in 2007 a federal jury in Baltimore awarded him $11 million in compensatory and punitive damages, an amount the trial court later halved. The church appealed, and in September 2009, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., voided the lower court ruling and ordered Snyder to repay the church thousands of dollars in court costs, an outrageous judgment that the VFW quickly raised money to pay.
In a brief filed earlier with the Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear oral arguments in October, Snyder’s lawyers argue that the church’s right to free speech does not trump the family’s right to mourn in private. The VFW agrees, and filed its own friend-of-the-court brief to support him, as did 42 members of the U.S. Senate and 48 states and the District of Columbia.
The news media brief, filed by 22 organizations that include the Associated Press, New York Times and Hearst, says a tort ruling in favor of Snyder “threatens to expand dramatically the risk of liability for news media coverage and commentary.”
“This issue is between a grieving father who lost his son in Iraq and members of a self-proclaimed church who want to use First Amendment free speech protections as a sword and shield at the same time,” said the VFW’s Tradewell.
“This issue is not about freedom of the press or libel laws, regardless of how the media wants to twist the meaning of their amicus curiae brief,” he said. “The media is a business with an obligation to conduct proper due diligence in the gathering and reporting of information to the public. The Westboro Baptist Church and its message of hatred is a sickness. Let’s not confuse the two.”
From the VFW website at vfw.org
Way to go VFW!!!
Published in Stars & Stripes by Jeff Schogol July 16, 2010
ARLINGTON, Va. — Twenty-two media organizations have sided with a radical church against the father of a fallen Marine who is trying to sue it for picketing his son’s funeral.
The media organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Wednesday with the Supreme Court in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church, which protests near servicemembers’ funerals because it believes that troops’ deaths and other national tragedies are divine revenge for America’s tolerance of gays and lesbians.
The father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq in 2006, sued the church for picketing near his son’s funeral with signs that said “God hates you,” “You’re in hell” and “Semper Fi fags.” They also distributed a flier with Snyder’s picture on it that read “Burial of an Ass.”
Snyder’s father, Al, won at trial, but he lost an appeal and was ordered to pay more than $16,000 in court costs. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court in the fall.
While not defending the Westboro Baptist Church’s actions, the 22 media organizations argued that the church is protected by the First Amendment. They also contend that the case could have a chilling effect on news gathering if Al Snyder prevails.
In the brief, the media groups argue that speech cannot be deemed too offensive too be protected by the First Amendment.
“Listeners’ emotional reactions to speech, however, cannot serve as a justification for censorship,” the brief said. “This Court has made clear that citizens ‘must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech in order to provide “adequate breathing space” to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.’?”
The media groups also argue that the Supreme Court ruled there can be no standard to determine which speech is too “outrageous” to be protected in the case of the Rev. Jerry Falwell against Hustler Magazine, which ran a parody advertisement about Falwell’s mother.
But the crux of the media organizations’ argument seems to be that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of Snyder’s father, it will open the door allowing people to sue news organizations for coverage and commentary that they don’t like.
“The outcome sought by the Petitioner would subject a wide variety of speech to the heckler’s veto, where any private individual can claim to have been targeted with offensive and outrageous speech,” the brief said.
But someone who wanted to file such a lawsuit against the media would have to prove the media intentionally harmed him or her, and that would be very difficult, if not impossible, said Sean E. Summers, attorney for Snyder’s father.
Not surprisingly, the media organizations’ argument drew criticism from veterans groups.
AMVETS believes the First Amendment’s religious rights protection give mourners the right to hold funerals in peace, said group spokesman Ryan Gallucci.
“Where’s the protection for the Snyder family’s rights?” Gallucci said in an e-mail. “This isn’t a censorship issue and we’re surprised to see media agencies come out in support” of the Rev. Fred Phelps and his family.
Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, scoffed at the idea that ruling in favor of Snyder could open the floodgates for libel suits against the media.
“I have a job that requires me to be correct; why shouldn’t the press be held to that same standard?” Davis said.
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Can you believe this? This is absolutely the most un-American thing I have heard of in a LONG time.
And that’s my view.
KANSAS CITY, Mo., February 12, 2010 —Due to overwhelming response from the veteran community following last year’s live stream from the 110th VFW National Convention, VFW will stream live from this year’s National Legislative Conference, March 6-10, only on www.vfw.org
Streaming will begin with the Voice of Democracy Parade of Winners at 6:00 p.m. (EST) on March 7th.
We’ll pick it back up with the Conference’s Opening Session, set to begin at 8:00 a.m. the next morning, featuring guest speakers General George W. Casey, Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki.
A delayed stream of VFW Commander-in-Chief, Thomas Tradewell’s testimony on Capitol Hill will also air the afternoon of Tuesday, March 9.
In addition to streaming the segments live, all events will also be available on demand.
For up to the minute information, video clips and pictures from the VFW National Legislative Conference join us on Facebook!
There was a memorial service two days ago in Beckley, West Virginia for the 29 coal miners who died at the nearby Upper Big Branch mine April 5th.
Twenty-eight hundred people attended the service. Most of them were there to pay their respects and console the grieving. At least a couple of them were there to make symbolic, political appearances.
Many of the working class men who died were veterans and some of them rode motorcycles. A source has told this page that “Families of the miners killed in the explosion…had requested the Patriot Guard Riders attend.” The Patriot Guard Riders is an informal club of veteran motorcyclists which exists to make sure that all veterans are given respectful funerals. And, they were banned from this service by federal officials because those officials believe the Patriot Guard is a security threat.
Cleared With Governor
The appearance of the Patriot Guard at the service, at the request of at least several families, was cleared by West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin. Travis Mollohan, a senior aide to the Governor worked with the Patriot Riders to arrange a staging location.
The day before the service, Joe Cumblidge, the West Virginia State Captain of the Patriot Guards emailed the men who were scheduled to participate: “Due to circumstances totally and completely beyond the control of the Patriot Guard Riders and Governor Joe Manchin of West Virginia, we are regrettably ordering a STAND DOWN for this mission. Specific details will not be posted here but, we’ve been told we are not welcome to participate because of certain high-level dignitaries that are scheduled to be in attendance.”
The “high-level dignitaries” were President Barack Obama and Vice-president Joe Biden. A Patriot Guard Rider named Pat Hanifin told WSAZ in Charleston that Manchin had been forbidden to allow the Patriot Guard to participate “because of overwhelming security concerns with high-ranking federal officials – it was just not logistically possible for them to be a part of the event.”
A member of the Patriot Guard who had planned to ride that day told this page, “the reason was because the Secret Service did not want us there because of the possibility of the President attending. Why? So he can stand there like a fool and disrespect every veteran in attendance with his hands crossed?”
Obama And Biden
At the service, the President stood in front of a row of 29 crosses and told the mourners, “Our task, here on Earth, is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy. To do what we must do, individually and collectively, to assure safe conditions underground. To treat our miners like they treat each other, like a family. Because we are all family and we are all Americans.”
Vice President Biden, who spoke before the President, warmed up the crowd with a wise crack intended to insult West Virginia’s most prominent recent football coach, Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez left West Virginia for the University of Michigan after the 2007 season.
“They loved hunting, fishing, riding horses and four-wheelers,” Biden said of the dead miners. “They hated the way Coach Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan.” Biden’s remark seemed to charm the mourners, who applauded.
Both Biden and Obama managed to escape West Virginia unharmed.
From
http://www.agingrebel.com/?p=3216
Beaches Resorts has announced an additional discount to honor our Military Family. (U.S. Only)
To include: U.S. Military active and/or spouse, retired, Reserves, National Guard, Veterans and DoD.
Two fliers are a located
Flier 1 Here and
Flier 2 Here
President Barack Obama recently signed the Veterans’ Emergency Care Fairness Act of 2009. The new law will enable the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reimburse veterans enrolled in VA health care for the remaining cost of emergency treatment if the veteran has outside insurance that only covers part of the cost. Previously, VA could reimburse veterans or pay outside hospitals directly only if a veteran has no outside health insurance.
It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN , not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN , not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN , not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN , not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the VETERAN ,
who salutes the Flag,
It is the VETERAN,
who serves under the Flag!
