Letter to the Editor

ink penDear Sir:

The January issue of El Ojo Del Lago contains letters to the editor that present incomplete explanations and/or misleading representations of the facts.  One writer misleadingly infers that Google, in its official capacity, makes specific opinionated statements about a variety of issues, which of course Google never does.  Google is a repository of billions of opinions posted by millions of people or organizations that can state just about anything they want to.  This does not mean that Google endorses or agrees with those opinions.

As an example, the writer says that Google states that the Washington Post was described as “Pravda on the Potomac”.  That was nothing more than someone’s opinion posted on Google and certainly didn’t necessarily reflect what Google officially may or may not believe.  Another writer in response to what he believes has been misinformation about the similarity of benefits available to Federal employees as well as members of Congress (who are also Federal employees) lists the benefits that are similar for both groups (with some major exceptions as he notes).

As far as the writer’s list of items go, he is correct, but he fails to list some very important items that benefit members of Congress that are not applicable to regular Federal employees.  Specifically, members of Congress are vested after just 5 years of service and a full pension is available to members 62 years of age after just 5 years of service, 50 years of age after 20 years of service, or any age after 25 years of service.  As a retired Federal employee I can state that these generous conditions for retirement are not available to regular Federal employees.

In addition, members of Congress can get free outpatient care at military hospitals in the Washington, DC area (Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD and Walter Reed Army Hospital in DC (which may be closed at some time in the future).  By the way, this information can be obtained through Google.

Sincerely,

Frank Mallalieu

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