ARMY TIMES: BUSH NOTHING BUT LIP SERVICE TO MILITARY

ARMY TIMES - In recent months, President Bush and the 
Republican-controlled Congress have missed no opportunity to heap richly 
deserved praise on the military. But talk is cheap - and getting cheaper 
by the day, judging from the nickel-and-dime treatment the troops are 
getting lately. For example, the White House griped that various 
pay-and-benefits incentives added to the 2004 defense budget by Congress 
are wasteful and unnecessary - including a modest proposal to double the 
$6,000 gratuity paid to families of troops who die on active duty. This 
comes at a time when Americans continue to die in Iraq at a rate of 
about one a day. 

Similarly, the administration announced that on Oct. 1 it wants to roll 
back recent modest increases in monthly imminent-danger pay (from $225 
to $150) and family-separation allowance (from $250 to $100) for troops 
getting shot at in combat zones. 

Then there's military tax relief - or the lack thereof. As Bush and 
Republican leaders in Congress preach the mantra of tax cuts, they can't 
seem to find time to make progress on minor tax provisions that would be 
a boon to military homeowners, reservists who travel long distances for 
training and parents deployed to combat zones, among others. 

Incredibly, one of those tax provisions - easing residency rules for 
service members to qualify for capital-gains exemptions when selling a 
home - has been a homeless orphan in the corridors of power for more 
than five years now. 

The chintz even extends to basic pay. While Bush's proposed 2004 defense 
budget would continue higher targeted raises for some ranks, he also 
proposed capping raises for E-1s, E-2s and O-1s at 2 percent, well below 
the average raise of 4.1 percent. 
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I trust the traitorous debunkers will be easily amused by this!!