Letters to the editor for Aug. 29

Why now the problem with Confederate statues?

Many people have asked why now the problem with Confederate statues, since the first African-American president just left office and in his first election many voted for him because they thought he would take care of this problem.

But you may have noticed he didn’t take care of many problems.

Now that the Russian collusion topic has all but faded away, and the sore losers decided to revert back to an old Trump card (that seemed to work before, the race card). Using the money of George Soros to buy protestors, they can keep a steady flow of bad press for President Donald Trump. When this was used before, a lesser personality would have given up, but not President Trump; he feels the nation needs him. Where were the Sharptons and other black leaders for Baltimore, Detroit, and even closer, East St. Louis to help those people? Do they even want that poverty problem solved? Probably not, if the lower class are able to move up to middle class with jobs, they would no longer be enslaved to the Democratic Party. That’s why they believe President Trump must fail. Those that use the word “assassination” in the same sentence with our president should go directly to jail and not pass go — not covered in the amendment.

Slavery was, and is, synonymous with southern Democrats

How about a little American History 101? The Civil War was fought between the pro-slavery Confederacy and the anti-slavery Union. The Confederate army was made up of southern Democrats. Every statue honoring a Confederate war hero is a statue honoring a southern Democrat. If people want to remove statues of Confederate soldiers, have at it. Republicans couldn’t care less. Those statues have nothing to do with the Republican Party. Now, Nancy Pelosi is calling for Republicans in Washington to remove any and all statues of Confederate soldiers from the Capital grounds. Has she not been in Washington for 30 years? If she is so repulsed by these statues, why had she not demanded their removal 30 years ago? Contrary to what the alt-left media (NBC, CNN, The Washington Post, etc.) would have you believe, these statues represent the history of the Democrat Party, not the Republican Party.

As the man said, if you are intent on removing all references to slavery in this country, you must dissolve the Democrat Party. Slavery was, and is, synonymous with southern Democrats. After that, you can then punish the Native Americans. Some of them owned slaves, too. If you don’t, then none of this has anything to do with slavery.

Trump, resign and save us the expense, trauma of an impeachment

Again, Donald Trump!

Just when I think things couldn’t get worse, you now excuse hate!

We are all global citizens – people of every color (black or white – no one is truly white or black but all shades in-between), culture, religion or non-religion, sexual orientation, male/female, rich or poor, Democrat, Republican or Independent.

Have you ever heard of the tragedy of the Confederacy (a regretful mentality of white supremacy) where black people were enslaved, treated cruelly as non-humans and killed for being black and the Holocaust where Jewish people were banished/slaughtered by the millions?

As with women’s issues, the mentality of white supremacy (whether conscious or subconscious) still remains.

I wonder, how many in the crowd of the weapon carrying, torch wielding Nazi, white nationalist and Ku Klux Klan hatemongers were women?

There is no reason on this planet for anyone to have to not identify with their own uniqueness.

People of America, please don’t think just one person can’t change the world from hate to a place of equality and love. We are a collective force of ones.

Donald Trump, please resign and save the American people the expense and trauma of an impeachment.

It’s both frustrating and illegal

We are retired military, having invested over 20 years in service to our country. Because of limited health care services at Scott Medical Center, we are regularly sent to civilian medical professionals for our health care needs. I’m sure that our experiences are repeated daily. Specifically, several times we’ve visited a civilian clinic and found, when completing the initial paperwork, language (in the fine print) stating “I hereby accept responsibility for payment for any service provided to me that is not covered by my insurance. I also accept responsibility for fees that exceed the payment made by my insurance.” The terms of the providers’ contracts with TriCare specifically forbid this sort of “blank check” billing to anyone using TriCare. Waiting weeks to be seen and then being turned away because we refuse to give the provider a “blank check” for billing purposes is both frustrating and illegal! Area health care providers need to stop ignoring the terms of their contracts with TriCare. If they persist in using “blank check” clauses, they need to be reported to TriCare for investigation and possible contract termination. Don’t sign any blank checks just because someone says “it’s standard procedure”! One of the leading causes of bankruptcy is unexpected medical bills! No retired military family needs calls from collections agencies for bills that should never have been incurred or the heartburn of trying to figure out how to pay the bill for that $500 aspirin that the insurer denied!

If you work 20-plus years, expect wear and tear on body

A recent BND Sound-Off writer found fault with military veterans receiving Veterans Affairs disability compensation. The writer indicated that 92 percent of military retirees had a VA-identified disability “in spite of the fact that very few have seen a shot fired or been in harm’s way.”

Regardless of whether it’s a civilian or military job, if you work 20 years or more, expect wear and tear on the body. Liken it to a car with a couple hundred thousand miles on it.

Military service comes with pre-induction physicals, annual health assessments, and retirement physicals. All that poking and prodding produces voluminous medical records, ideal for validating if health issues are “service connected.”

Retirees with medical issues that may qualify for VA disability must also undergo a complete VA-provided physical as well.

From personal experience, the VA physical was the most thorough and complete received in my over 40 years service. It required medical checks at two area VA facilities. The doctor even sent me for additional X-rays to supplement the physical.

Based on that extensive documentation the VA makes a disability determination. Those with a disability of more than 50 percent receive a monthly compensation check from the VA. For a disability of 40 percent or less the retiree offsets the VA payment amount from military retirement pay to reduce tax liability.

VA compensation should not stand in the way of retirees seeking employment with the government or a contractor. It’s based on the most qualified for a particular job.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor for Aug. 29."