A soldier deployed in Iraq asks the banks for a favor.

Do you think they'll listen?

How will the financial firms then be able to afford the large Political contributions to the Bush team if they do not steal from poor people. Army reserves people are not wealthy generally speaking. I mean we can carry this "SUPPORT THE TROOPS" too far.

This is too good not to print out for easy reading:

http://www.optruth.org/main.cfm?actionId=b...=14&entryID=433

"Dear Banks, Credit Unions, Credit Card Companies, and other financial institutions that currently have our soldiers by the short and curlies:

Believe it or not, I believe you when you say you weren't informed about the provisions of the new law. Hell, nobody else pays attention to Congress (except when they're making medical diagnoses from 1000 miles away), so why should you?

But I am puzzled about something. I see the American flags draped prominently on your buildings. I see the yellow ribbon and American flag stickers placed prominently on your employees' cars. And I see the advertising you target at military families, advocating your long-standing and total support for the troops. So why don't your actions match your rhetoric?

This isn't about compliance with the letter of the law. This is about deeds, not words. You really want to show your support for troops in a visible and concrete way? Try this.

Immediately adopt a policy that freezes the debts (credit card bills, home loans, car loans, etc.) for any Reserve Component soldier from 90 days prior to mobilization to 90 days after. No payments, no accrued interest, nothing. The clock stops on that debt. Seems only fair, since for many soldiers, the clock stops on their personal lives during that same period. Don't wait for legislation, just do it.


Why only RC soldiers, you ask? Hey, if you want to extend it to all servicemembers, be my guest. The reality is that with combat pays andtax-exempt status, many AD soldiers get a substantial pay boost upon deployment. Not so with RC soldiers, who in many cases take substantial pay cuts due to the difference between military pay and their civilian salary.

And please don't whine to me about financial losses. We all expect a banner year for the financial industry due to the new bankruptcy legislation that just passed. Military families make up such an infinitesimal portion of your customer base, you'll hardly even miss the money.

 
So how about it? Can we see some real support instead of just empty gestures? 2.8 million servicemembers are waiting for your answer."

  By: Ray Kimball


 

Thanks, Pie- and I added the introduction to the article to kind of give it some context:


An Open Letter to Financial Institutions

From today's NY Times:
Sgt. John J. Savage III, an Army reservist, was about to climb onto a troop transport plane for a flight to Iraq from Fayetteville, N.C., when his wife called with alarming news: "They're foreclosing on our house." ... A longstanding federal law strictly limits the ability of his mortgage company and other lenders to foreclose against active-duty service members. But Sergeant Savage's experience was not unusual. Though statistics are scarce, court records and interviews with military and civilian lawyers suggest that Americans heading off to war are sometimes facing distracting and demoralizing demands from financial companies trying to collect on obligations that, by law, they cannot enforce.

This reminded me of my own life's experience with 'the bank' after I was back from the 'nam war. I was getting married, and seeking a new house to start a new life. Upon applying for the house, the agent told me that I was turned down. I was surprised... as I knew that my credit was excellent.. and was working and he said that it wasn't the financial aspect of it that was the problem. He said it was my selective service status. I said "Hell... I'm out .. done... served my time in war... I'm out of the Army now!" He said that it did not matter, even as (the lie war) Vietnam was winding down, I was still listed inactive duty even though I had pulled my time. I sat there stunned as this was only the beginning of many Vietnam haunts that would follow me like the plague and ruin many opportunities for me. I left that office in a daze.... knowing that my own country had truly turned it's back on me.

Once one gets their GI govt branding, they will hit many roadblocks and walls. Iraq vets will find out as they start coming home to 'false' promises and pretenses. You are only a number in the military... to serve, shut up and eventually go away. What happens to you back in civilian life is tuff nookies.

Texas has a law which paralells the Federal statute. The Texas AG will personally prosecute a criminal case if it happened in Texas. The AG is an elected official in Texas and he couldn't ask for better publicity than busting a bank for ignoring this law. I think it happen once during Gulf War I, it was pretty impressive to see a Texas Ranger leading off a Bank president in handcuffs.

Did you ever get that one right! Some things never change...

After I got out of the AF in '67, I started back to school- full time. I put in for my GI Bill, and waited... and waited... and waited. I had to borrow money from my parents for food, fell several months behind in my rent, and almost had to quit school to go back to work full-time. At one point I bought $20 worth of frozen chicken pot pies @ 10 cents each, stored them in my neighbors freezer, and that's what I ate for five months- every focking meal! Finally, two months before the end of the school year, I got my check- for the first semester. Oh, it eventually got worked out so that I started getting them regularly, but it still left an incredibly bitter taste in my mouth- and I still to this day have a problem eating pot pies...

So yes, you are, and always will be, a number- a government issue, no different than a humvee or aircraft carrier. AF19**6**3- that's me!

Ain't life grand!

It is if you hail from Texas.

Gee, Sarge- just when I thought we could be friends, you disrespect me like that!

Well I have lived in Texas and I have lived in California and Texas has everything California has except earthquakes and state income taxes.

I'll take earthquakes over DeLay any time!! ... and I have to admit, Texas has more miles of miles than anyplace in the USA!

Look at all Texas has given us. Bush and Delay. Good school systems and polution. Just joking about the school systems. Otherwise I guess its just paradise on earth. I would not wish to live there but to each his own.

Never used the GI Bill for school, but they were prompt on the home loan.

Of course they were- 1- it was a bank that loaned you the money, not the Treasury Dept.; and 2- they are loaning you money, not giving it to you.

Tom Delay's congressional district is about as far away from me as Colorado is to you. Your right about miles, going from where I'm at to California is a bit over 1,500 miles; at the half way point you'd still be in Texas.

It's also hard to find a Texan whose family has been here very long either, home air conditioning caused a huge influx of people into Texas over the past 50 years; three out of four people in Texas either came from someplace else or their parents came from somplace else. U-haul has a problem relocating all the trailers Yankees drag into Texas.

I guess you're near Houston or Brownsville?

No, I'm way up north near Dallas.

Tom Delay is from Sugarland, actually named for the big Imperial cane sugar mills, which is way down near Houston.

North Central Texas is like a totally different country from the coastal bend, Texas is made up of 7 different regions, each one is like going to a different country.

1. High Plains or Stake Plains: Amarillo; Lubbock, Midland-Odessa Sandy soil, flat; high altitude. Cowboy country.
2. West Texas or Trans-Pecos: El Paso, Big Bend National Park Arid; yucca, salt flats, mountains. Real Cowboy country.
3. Prairie: Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Abilene Sandy loam, mesquite, alternating prairie & cross timber (oak). Where the west begins.
4. Rio Grande Valley:Brownsville, San Antonio, McAllen, Laredo Limestone, black dirt sub-tropical. Lots of wet backs and snow birds.
5. Central Texas or Black Land Prairie: Dallas, Austin, Bryan-College Station, Fredericksburg Blackland gumbo, volatile contraction/expansion; chalk, limestone. Totally saturated with Yuppies.
6. East Texas or Piney Woods: Texarkana, Tyler, Longview, Beaumont Sandy clay, pine trees. Red necks and grits.
7. Gulf Coast or Coastal Bend: Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Padre Island Coastal soils, beaches, flat (and when they say flat they mean it). Oilmen.

Texas used to be solid democratic, I grew up in the Piney woods and if you voted for a republican and admitted it you just might get your house burned down.

Like I said before the immigrants have took over Texas and along with that, Texas politics.

The sun has riz
The sun has set
And we ain't out of Texas yet.

Did my basic at Lackland, went through my training at Sheppard, and worked for an insurance company in Dallas.

Just be thankful it wasn't someplace real lovely like Amarillo.

Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles!

The only place that you can AWOL for 3 days, and they can still see you.

You can't be AWOL if your still on the base!

Marine- this is very informative for those of us not familiar with Texas.
Why don't you post it over at Local ? Since Texas has become so influential, people should be familiar with this.

I also think it is worthy of it's own thread..... Texans seem to be running the world right now.

I'm from Florida and the state is populated with transplants here, too. But, it is getting so crowded that it is hard to break down into specific areas clearly anymore (with a few exceptions).

You know, Marine, that TX is the only state in the union that has secession language built into its constitution- it can secede any time it wants. I hope it wants to real soon...(no offense meant)