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New GI Bill a positive step, but bargain?

The Department of Veterans Affairs will begin processing payments tomorrow for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. The new veterans bill was designed to augment current veterans benefits such as those found in the Montgomery GI Bill, which was a de facto post-Vietnam era bill. Veterans will also have the ability to transfer benefits to family members under the legislation.

The improved benefits are expected to help nearly a half-million veterans and their families attend college next year alone. Almost $80 billion for these benefits will be paid out during the next decade.

I am happy to see an improved GI Bill to help the younger veterans and their families. Still, I can’t help but think this crop of veterans are getting shafted compared with what I had for the GI Bill and the economic situation of the times that I used them to attend college.

When I started college in 1980 I was under the post-Korea and Vietnam era GI Bill. I got a check every month I attended school. Since I was single the amount I received was $327 per month for a full load of 12 hours. That amount increased to $376 by the time I graduated in 1984. That doesn’t sound like much, but consider that tuition at state universities in Texas was $4 per semester hour during that time period, plus the fact that I worked full-time as a fireman, and one can see how I made out.

I remember on at least one occasion and perhaps maybe it happened more often than that but I received my monthly check and was able to pay tuition, fees and books for that semester just by using my monthly stipend.

A year after I graduated I returned to my alma mater, Stephen F. Austin State University, with thoughts of getting a graduate degree. Since I had only a minor in political science, which was the field I had locked onto for a possible master’s, I had to first take a few more hours to get my second bachelor’s in that field. By that time tuition had jumped to a whopping $12 per semester hour.

Looking at my old school’s Web page with its tuition calculator I see that for a full load during the upcoming fall semester the tuition is $50 per semester hour, then you start looking at fees, room and board if you live on campus, etc., and the numbers start increasing.

Even adjusting for inflation what I spent back then for various costs were a steal. In today’s dollars I would be paying $196 a month for the one-bedroom apartment I rented when I started college.

It is no wonder that when I look back on the days I went to college that I felt somewhat rich. Little wonder I feel that way since the Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator shows that the amount I was making in combined salary and GI Bill would be more than $39,000 in today’s dollars. That’s pretty good buying power for a college guy.

So today’s veteran, when someone tells you the college they are selling is bargain then perhaps it might be. But it certainly isn’t the bargain that I had when starting school almost 30 years ago.

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Back in service a day later

For slightly less than 24 hours I have been off the Internet due to a broken wireless modem. Forget that I didn’t know that I had insurance for damaged wireless equipment. I had no idea that such equipment could be delivered within 24 hours. I suppose that is because the insurance company was the mover behind the curtain rather than Verizon.

I suppose that when one sees he or she is spending more time on the phone with people from the wireless Internet provider and/or the cell phone company, then perhaps the deal that has been chosen isn’t working out so well. Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t look like I have a choice. Verizon has the best wireless Internet service in my area.

When that service is working properly it is super and with excellent speeds. The problem is consistency. I suppose I shouldn’t get bent out of shape because my Internet fails right in the middle of doing something important or time-sensitive. My wireless is still 10 times better than what I have to put up with using dial-up for my government computer.

Then again, I don’t have to pay a monthly charge for my dial-up service which powers my part-time job’s equipment online.

This all makes me wonder if cell and wireless Internet service will someday be somewhere next to flawless? With com providers, such as Verizon, trimming more and more workers form its rolls it certainly seems that is a dream of something far, far into the future.

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The password is …

Look at them. A page of jumbled letters, numbers and special characters I have written down on several different pages . It’s all for the sake of computer security.

I have about 15 different passwords for work-related sites, or should I say, my part-time work-related sites. Then I  probably have another 25 or 30 more passwords for personal use or for my other line of work.

Now, I must admit that contrary to all the warnings, I do sometimes use the same passwords to access different pages. I am warned over and over not to do that. But have mercy on a poor soul as me who does good to remember the grocery list.

I would almost be willing to bet that my number of passwords are even lower than many other computer users. But there are still too many passwords that fly out in front of me, leaving me dazed and confused.

Perhaps someone out there in the computersphere is working  on a way to minimize passwords. I mean, some sites can remember your password and login name. And then some sites say they can but don’t really do it, like my Verizon Wireless account. Maybe we should get Sally Struthers to do a TV commercial asking for bucks for developing a password-free world like she did seeking help for all those impoverished foreign children.

Please we need to limit passwords before people go stark raving mad. Time is running out!

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Ted Poe: To Birth or Not to Birth

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, is embarrassing his constituents again. I am one of them. Poe, the former headline-happy judge turned right-wing nut champion, has shown himself to be in the forefront of the “Birther” movement.

The so-called “Birthers” are those who either cling to the fantasy or have helped perpetuate it that President Obama was born in Kenya. Poe has at the very least done his share to make sure this second round of raising the birth issue gained a little press. Others among the Birthers believe Obama’s election to U.S. president is part of some larger conspiracy.

Poe, who shows up touting his right-wing views on CNN’s Lou Dobbs and various Fox News programs, was  one of the sponsors of a bill that would require presidential candidates to produce a copy of their birth certificate. Somewhat ironically, Poe and others pushing the “Birther Bill” voted for a resolution honoring Hawaii’s 50 years in the the union and noting the Aloha State is the birthplace of Barack Obama.

Officials in Hawaii today once again affirmed that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu.

Back to Poe, he has proven that he is more interested on hot-button issues that will get him on Must See Right-Wing TV than helping out the home folks back in the 2nd Congressional District of Texas. For instance he appeared on one right-leaning TV show, I think it was Lou Dobbs, using El Paso as a backdrop. While I too have concerns about El Paso I am not a congressman. Poe is and he doesn’t represent El Paso.

Although the district no longer represents the heart of the East Texas Pineywoods as it once did —  the 2nd being urban and in the affluent ares north of Houston certainly more Republican —  it is easy to determine that Ted Poe is no Charlie Wilson.

Maybe next election the folks of the 2nd Congressional District of Texas including Republicans will do as others did in electing Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress, and turn out Ted Poe so he can do his wingnut act without taxpayers footing the bill.

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No police discount for you

A wise man once said: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

This morning I listened as a defendant appearing for sentencing before the local criminal court judge copped to stupidity as the reason the man committed the acts for which he pleaded guilty. Those charges were for evading arrest and impersonating a public servant.

I was in the criminal courtroom this morning for a freelance gig and while waiting through the docket call. I got to view the seemingly never-ending parade of idiocy that keeps our criminal justice system in business.

The facts in this particular defendant’s charges were not totally clear as he had already pleaded guilty and was only in court for punishment. But it appears that he ran from police on a motorcycle at speeds of what he said was near 100 mph. His charge of impersonating a police officer stemmed from his attempt to buy a range-finder for playing golf during which time he had asked for a police discount. Whether the two charges were related or if he flashed a phony badge eludes me.

I do know in a brief research of the defendant’s criminal records in three states that he had prior charges for reckless driving, speeding and criminal impersonation. It makes me wonder if he is a serial impersonator. He no doubt has a need for speed. He also claims to be a professional bike racer but given his history I am not sure I would take his word at face value.

The judge sentenced the man to probation and a fine on the two charges. Let’s just hope that the man doesn’t try to impersonate a probation officer.