In an article entitled "Trashing TRICARE," Bill Gertz begins, "The Obama administration's proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers' benefits untouched."

Yet again, our elected leaders - our Commander-in-Chief no less - propose to erode benefits earned by the service of men and women in America's Armed Forces. Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration, constantly pounded private businesses for failing to provide generous transition benefits to downsized employees. Yet when it comes to the real-world management of one of government's legitimate "businesses," the United States Armed Forces, the current employer insists on moving in the direction of gutting the benefits afforded to military personnel, veterans, and retirees.

At my last regular checkup at the VA clinic in Marion, I overheard one of the doctors speaking with a vet in the hallway about the cuts they are facing. I thought to myself then, how in the world do these wingnuts in the White House think that they can foot the healthcare bill for every American when they can't even afford to run the limited program already in place? Budget proposals like this confirm my conclusions.

I'll paraphrase what a local radio talkshow host said about Kerry during that campaign (Christians for Kerry are like roaches for Raid): Veterans for Obama are like - you got it - roaches for Raid. Do we really want to vote for the one who wants to kill us? We have done it before, but it is once again time to let our Congressional officials know that we oppose the erosion of benefits for our military families, retirees, and veterans. Thank you for your support.