Favorite team:Alabama 
Location:Tuscaloosa, AL
Biography:
Interests:
Occupation:
Number of Posts:10328
Registered on:12/8/2008
Online Status:Not Online

Recent Posts

Message
Your grandkids will be the last to remember you. 100 years from now no one will remember you existed.


quote:

Here is some advice to those Vets who are receiving any money or benefits at all from the VA:

STFU about it. Please. Be smart. STFU.


This also makes me question: why the tags? It's definitely an advertisement for how many are on it.
quote:

Amazing the number of people that don't know the difference between disability and compensation.


The tags say "disabled veteran." Not "compensated" veteran.

While I'm here....why do people get these tags? Is it a point of pride? Is it extra? Or is it less? is it free? Or is it mandatory?
quote:

100% agree. Of all the hills to die on for the OT, yall pick this one. You have no idea what it takes and the toll on your body, just to make it out of boot camp in the 80's. I have jumped out of helicopters, was pushed off a high platform, was mentally tortured and busted both of my knees and my ankles, all while serving. So, should i just ignore those things? I lost most of my hearing from being in an artillery unit for years. Should i just ignore that?


Absolutely not. Sounds like you had legitimate injuries and are justly receiving compensation. I don't think anyone would argue against that.

But this is why we can't have reasonable conversations about it. If you question it, people trot out Lt. Dan and ask you why you don't support HIM getting disability. Of course we do. Everyone does.

Doesn't explain why it's ballooned so drastically lately (in participants and dollars), in relative peacetime. Is it really that much of a stretch that there's abuse of the system?
quote:

Like I said above that category is total and permanently disabled. Not 100%. 100% has nothing to do with your working ability. This is a benefit these people agreed to when they signed up for this job. Many of these military positions beat the absolute shite out of your body. Its nothing in comparison to a civilian job.


Thank you for this perspective.

Everything you said can be true, and it can still be true that more people are on it now than ever before. It's like everything else with government. Incompetently run (ie: effectively screening fraudsters) and growing without regard.

There are those that have legit injuries and disabilities and deserve (and we owe) compensation.

There are also those that don't.
quote:

I'm just curious if you served in combat. You seem to be quite critical of those who did.


And this is why this is difficult to discuss.

Not everyone who served served in combat. The largest increases in DV history have occurred in relative peacetime.

Even in peacetime, servicement get hurt all the time. They should be compensated.

That doesn't mean there isn't RAMPANT abuse of the system and many, many people who shouldn't be on it are. That's just welfare and abuse.
quote:

Mind ya own business.


It's every taxpayer's business. There is rampant abuse and corruption in the system. You can see it with your own eyes.

No one wants to talk about it.

I see "Disabled veteran" tags everywhere in Alabama. Once I noticed it I couldn't unsee it. From beaters to 100k Escalades/HD trucks

Are we really damaging all these folks in peacetime now?

Really nice seeing them in front of the gym. Or watching a guy get out to go play tennis.

The corruption is RAMPANT. I know a guy who will get 40k per year (I may be slightly wrong on the amount) for LIFE. He works at the same company I do. Doing the same job I do. Has some so called condition that has no observable symptoms.

That 40k just so happens to be around my federal tax liability every year.


LINK /


quote:

Between 1954 and 2000, the share of veterans receiving disability compensation was very stable, fluctuating between 8 percent and 10 percent. Today, nearly 30 percent of the country’s 18.5 million veterans receive it.


quote:

Additionally, the average annual payment to veterans receiving disability has increased substantially, from about $12,000 in 2000 to $21,000 today. This growth has been driven by a shift to much higher disability ratings since payments are higher for those who are found to be more disabled.

From 2000 to 2022, the number of disability compensation recipients with a rating of 70 percent or more increased by 7-fold (from 0.34 million to 2.66 million) while the number with a rating of just 10 or 20 percent hardly changed (from 1.23 million to 1.30 million). This rating system used by the VA encourages disability compensation recipients to apply for increases in their ratings and may discourage some from improving their health.



quote:

With total annual disability compensation expenditures increasing from $28 billion to $112 billion, VA spending on the program is now 83 percent as large as for Social Security Disability Insurance, the largest federal disability program that insures 10 times as many adults. Moreover, since veterans who receive disability compensation benefits have increased eligibility for the VA’s health care services, the program’s rise in enrollment has simultaneously contributed to substantial increases in health care spending by the VA (the other main category of the VA’s budget). 

In comparison, annual VA spending on education benefits such as the GI Bill is just $10 billion, and annual spending on veteran readiness and employment, a program designed to help veterans with service-connected disabilities obtain stable and suitable employment, is only $1.5 billion. 

The primary driver of the growth in disability compensation enrollment has been a series of regulatory and policy changes over the past two decades (including most recently the 2022 PACT Act) that have made it steadily easier for veterans to apply for and qualify for disability benefits for a broader set of medical conditions. As a result of these changes, nearly 40 percent of veterans who served in 1990 or later receive disability compensation benefits.

While one might attribute these high rates of disability compensation receipt to improved battlefield medicine and the long-term effects of combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, recent research suggests otherwise.

Veterans who enlisted since 2010 have some of the highest rates of disability compensation enrollment even though they were significantly less likely to deploy and faced a substantially lower risk of injury while deployed — only 1 percent of Army service members who enlisted between 2010 and 2015 were wounded in combat.

Considering how much easier it has become to qualify for disability benefits, it is perhaps unsurprising that 5,000 pilots who passed their Federal Aviation Administration physicals are now under investigation for receiving veterans’ disability benefits for conditions that should disqualify them from the cockpit.
Maybe Chicken should consider creating a "movie and tv" board.

re: Lady’s purse cost

Posted by Grievous Angel on 5/18/25 at 9:48 am
The LV purse that everyone carries is ugly. Basic bitch equipment. Real rich people don't wear things so garish and branded.

quote:

They are getting rid of the Bellagio fountains


That's such a signature of LV at this point I highly doubt it.

But they did just get rid of the Mirage volcano show.

With time there are no sacred cows in LV. But I think they'd need to have a pretty compelling reason to replace that fountain at this point. It's very cool and at the heart of the strip.



quote:

He does have some pandering type songs though


Wonder if Jason Aldean (who sucks) will be remembered similarly if he just makes it this long.
SC but they are wearing different levels of makeup/prep in those pics.

SC is so tiny her head looks weird on her body.
The Avengers was a moment.

The Dark Knight Rises was a letdown.

For that reason I give the nod to the Avengers.
quote:

Croyle


Croyle was Bama's son. He came to Bama when Bama was down, and I believe he turned down FSU who was on top of the world.

I think he was a 5 star recruit and was an elite passer. He played on teams that were crippled by sanctions. And he couldn't stay healthy. But he was an ELITE prospect in a long string of good-ole-boy prospects.

The Florida game was one glimpse of his potential.
quote:

The thing I respect about it is that it is set in the South and pokes fun at southern culture, but does it in a respectful way where you feel like, as a southerner, you are in on the joke.


And Hank Hill is a decent man, and a caring father. He takes pride in his propane career and his lawn.

He's a damn fine American.

You could also do a lot worse having Peggy Hill as a wife and mother.


It's nowhere near as cynical as most Mike Judge creations (and I love just about all of them--I think I'll find B&B funny when I'm 90). KOTH has the biggest heart of any of them.



re: Great Directors' worst movie

Posted by Grievous Angel on 5/14/25 at 8:19 pm
War Horse from Spielberg popped to mind.

Thoroughly mediocre.

Could add West Side Story.

Been a while since he released a banger.
It's not a bad way to spend money if you're going to have a place to live. And in most scenarios, it is financially better to own than rent.

But it's NOT the slam dunk everyone makes it out to be. It costs a lot to keep a house up to snuff, pay the taxes, insurance, etc. Some people just don't want to deal with it.

For the record, I own my house, no mortgage and have going on 20 years.

It can still be a PITA.
quote:

Ray Liotta was originally signed to Dennis Quaid's role, but he died soon after signing up. Liotta would have been great as well !


He would have been better. He's creepier. When he's not even trying to be.

Just watched this for the first time. Definitely a conversation piece.

I have to say I enjoyed it. The part where she can't leave her house to go on a date with her homely friend was heart breaking, while at the same time you know she didn't give him the time of day when she was younger/hotter.

I was laughing at the end. It was a Carrie scene. There was also The Fly, The Shining, Citizen Kane, and others...