Thursday, April 13, 2006

Sailor Marriages Called Fraud

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), novelist

Where is the news in that story? So are the marriages of bankers, lawyers, grocery workers, farm pickers, and especially high-powered executives who have the money to buy young beauties far beyond what their looks warrant.

Eight sailors where charged with arranging fraudulent marriages to Polish and Romanian women to help the women obtain U.S. citizenship and to collect bigger military housing allowances for themselves.

Let them marry; to me that is better than parading prisoners around in their underwear.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Every single point you make is true..why the hell is this news? They need to stay on task and report the important stuff..like the lies and bs coming out of the WH..and what nimrod figured out that charging soldiers with something that has been done for centuries was a good idea? They should be shot and sent to Serbia..in their underwear.

Ricky Domingo said...

Fraudulent marriages in the military are becoming an increasing problem, at least in the eyes of top brass, in the US Army and Marines. There was a story on NPR about it few months ago. Single soldiers shipping out to Iraq are marrying single women, taking the extra housing allowance, sometimes kicking a little back to their "wives." Then the single, mostly college student or young working women get good health care for free. Of course there are no solid numbers, but the incidence of charges against such arrangements is on the rise.

The Misanthrope said...

Domingo, I agree it's not right, but I think there are more important issues the military needs to address. I would think this is a red herring to take us away from the more critical issues of people serving beyond their term, lack of proper equipment, and poor pay to begin with.

Janet said...

This takes the whole idea of BIG love to a whole new level.:)

Jack Steiner said...

I think that our soldiers deserve better treatment, but I am not sure that I agree that we should turn our heads and look away.

In theory the money they steal could be allocated for the equipment you said that they need.

The Misanthrope said...

Janet, I enjoy your wit.

Jack, I don’t disagree, but I would hate to see these guys punished more than those who okayed our new lenient and ethic-free prisoner of war policies or those who are so bureaucratic that the red tape couldn’t be cut to help preserve the life and limb of our soldiers.

Dusty, Russia wouldn't want those guys even in Serbia.

Anonymous said...

How can you prove that a marriage is a fraud? it might just be that these guys are going to Poland and Romania for wives b/c it is hard as hell to meet women in the military that don't look like Moe Howard.

Since when did the gov't start requiring couples to have a "love" license before getting married/ Or what is it that they require?

Anonymous said...

Trying to get my hyperlink to show up.