This just up on Americablog.com:
Why is McCain getting $58,000 a year in disability income?
John Aravosis (DC)
First off, I find it fascinating that John McCain, who is refusing to vote for the GI Bill for our troops because "it's too generous," is himself getting $58,000 a year, tax-free, from the US government for his military service. Had McCain been getting that amount every year since Vietnam, that would total $2,000,000 for the man who isn't into overgenerous government. I just find that interesting.
Holy wheelchairs, Batman!
Now I have no problem with retirement pay for military veterans. My own father gets retirement pay for his 20 years of service as an Army officer. One time I asked him about it when I was young and rebellious, and he explained to me that there are few jobs where one of the requirements is to lay down your actual life. Fair enough.
But this? If he's "fully disabled" as the article claims, then why is he running for President?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
I really don't know how to flesh this out any more than this. :)
UPDATE:
Okay,to be fair I'm going to add this comment from below, which clears up many things:
Lot of Ignorance Here (0 / 0)
I am a disabled Iraq and Afghanistan Navy vet. I am rated at 60% disabled, which means I get a tax free payment for the rest of my life. Am I truly disabled, as in I can't earn a living? No, but that's not what the system is for. It's really compensation.
All departing servicemembers these days are required to go through a Transition Assistance class, because Vietnam era vets weren't told of their rights and the support they were entitled to. At my TAP class, the VA representative put it this way: The government knows that the rigors of service are way beyond what most people do in a job. They have done studies over the years, and just the lack of sleep and stress of peacetime service, much less wartime, shorten a veteran's life considerably. That's what disability compensation is for. Any medical condition that was caused by or made worse by military service is eligible for compensation.
The real problem is the review boards for the VA. I don't have the info on hand, but each state has a review board, and they rate Disability and Compensation (D&C) at wildly different rates. The conditions I have may have only gotten me 20% in some states, or 80% in others.
There are a lot of things to go after McSame about, but this isn't one of them. He served, he was severely injured, so he's eligible. Period. Same as Social Security: You contribute, you receive. I don't want to see means testing in either program. And of course McSame's a hypocrite, but aren't most Repugs?
Drop this red herring, and do something good for vets, like writing your Congresscritters to support the new GI Bill, or supporting legislation making D&C more standard across the board.
by qm1pooh on Sun Jun 08, 2008 at 03:44:25 PM PDT