From this:

A staffer on the House Appropriations Committee publicly proposed Wednesday that he and his colleagues become eligible for the 4.1 percent pay increase that President Bush has requested for the military. Such policy recommendations are usually reserved for elected members of Congress.



John Scofield, the powerful committee's spokesman, told The Hill newspaper: ''Congressional staff who are crafting legislation, whether it is a defense supplemental or a crime bill, are just as important as someone who is serving on the front line.''

Scofield's $72,500 annual salary is more than double the pay and fringe benefits of an enlisted soldier with four years' service.



Not much comment needed here, I think. The fact that Scofeld can say something like this without dying in his tracks of sheer shame shows pretty much what the mindset of such people is.