To: Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Bishop, Schumer, Gillibrand, Holder, Durbin

January 25, 2010

I can't understand why our government repeatedly offends middle-class. The "guns and religion" remark still reverberates. President Obama blasted Scott Brown's truck about 7 times on January 17, 2010 in support of Martha Coakley's senatorial campaign. He worked the house like a first-rate standup comedian offending the folks who own and drive pickup trucks

My 11 year old Ford F250 truck was made in the USA by USA labor. It was paid for in USA dollars and financed by a USA bank. USA investors made a profit from the deal. It's been used to help people move, carry leaves to the recycling center, haul mulch, clear debris from around our church, cart building materials and deliver thousands of Bibles.

The enclosed photograph was taken two years ago at Mount Zion National Park – one of many fantastic places in this great country. The truck took us to 49 states.


The President's been to Copenhagen to lobby for the Chicago Olympics and the Global Warming debacle. He's campaigned for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Hopefully, President Obama will campaign in New York's First Congressional District for Tim Bishop. Has it occurred to anyone that a truck driver might have been more successful? Your political tribe may be able to stimulate the far-left Air America liberals but the rest of the electorate is left cold.

Your tribe lacks the common sense of truck drivers – people who work for a living as opposed to the politicians who pontificate and dream up new ways to spend, regulate and tax. My annual physical is no longer paid for by Medicare. Deductions for sales taxes have ended beginning in 2010. We don't appreciate the trend.

It's hard to believe that, at age 69, I've become so involved in politics. Thomas Paine seems to speak to us today when he lists the abuses of England's king against the colonists. Your tribe seeks to bring us into the orbit of Europe and socialist nations but the words of Paine are as true today as when he said,,
"This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every Part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster ... the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still."

Please rethink your goals. The country is vehemently opposed to the socialist tack which the Democrats favor. We've seen how it works in Venezuela and France and we don't want it here. Make amends with the National Association of Manufacturers. Give GM back to the investors. Be honest!

"The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations to have as little political connection as possible... Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalships, interest, humor, or caprice?... It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." George Washington, September 19, 1796.

To: Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Bishop, Schumer, Gillibrand, Holder, Durbin

January 18, 2010

This past summer we visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta Georgia and then drove the historic route from Montgomery to Selma. It was humbling to drive on that road where so many courageous men, women and children braved the opposition of hatred and bigotry [photos 1 and 2].

We have come so far as a nation and I am proud of our progress. The evidence of that progress is the overwhelming support for the election of our first black president. There were strange alliances [photo 3] as Americans moved toward a more racially harmonious society. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that my vote for Barack Obama was the wrong choice – the change that I hoped for is disappointing and quite different.

Nancy Pelosi, in her "New Direction for America", in 2006, promised tough and smart national security policies for America's freedom and protection [p. 6]. The Black Panthers who intimidated voters in Philadelphia [photo 4], the extremist positions [photo 5] and the White House web site that urged citizens to report others whose free-speech expressions could be considered "fishy" indicates that her policies failed.

The killings at Fort Hood by terrorist, Malik Hasan, and the attacks on Kenneth Gladney by SEIU members in St. Louis [photo 6] and Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack by White House appointee Michael P. Meehan in Washington [photo 7] are frightening. The security that Pelosi promised sounds wonderful – but I don't feel safer.

The reality is that the failure of Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute Kenneth Gladney's attackers as well as Obama's and Holder's interference in the Black Panther's voter intimidation case makes the tragedy of the assignation of Martin Luther King, Jr. even sadder. The administration's actions showing favoritism for the Black Panther terrorists will only lead to escalating racial tensions – tensions that could tear us apart and reverse the sacrifices of Dr. King and other black and white patriots.

Holder called us a nation of "cowards" in regard to his perception of Americans and the ways that we interact with each other across racial lines. He said, "…we have to be able to accept criticism where that is justified." I hope that he and the rest of the administration and congress will accept this criticism with the goal of protecting the prosperity and security of our citizens and the nation.

"As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending." -Andrew Jackson

TO: Obama, Pelosi, Reid. Schumer, Killibrand, Bishop, Durbin, Romer

Christina Romer, Council of Economic Advisors Chair, seems to be as sweet a lady as the grandmothers that I've met at the Tea Party rallies in Washington. She's bright and articulate and her observations in "Do Tax Cuts Starve the Beast" seem to be well researched. Steven J. Davis, in his comments about her paper, points out the benefits of VAT and Cap and Trade as being less visible to taxpayers than the income and other taxes and "would lead to a large expansion of the size of government" at marginal cost – preferable to your political tribe but anathema to the rest of us.

Christina's January 10, 2010 interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC on possible job growth by spring seems naively optimistic – this administration's mishaps are destroying the confidence of the people.

Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, said that the system worked after a jihadist terrorist was thwarted by airplane passengers on December 25, 2009. It took days for President Obama to address the issue and then he only acknowledged that there was a war on Al Qaeda (leaving out the Taliban and other enemies of America). Michael Leiter, National Counterterrorism Center director, skied instead of reporting for duty.

The health care debacle has resulted in Harry Reid's bribes being referred to as part of the "art of compromise". He added, "if they [senators] don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them – that's what this legislation is all about."

Nancy Pelosi displayed the acting ability of Lucille Ball to almost tearfully equate the peaceful September 12 demonstration by a loose confederation of citizens at a Tea Party event in Washington with the violence and turmoil in San Francisco in the '70s. This past week she displayed the quick wit of Gracie Burns when asked about televising health the care debate. When reminded about the number of promises that presidential candidate Obama made to televise the proceedings on C-span, she replied, “There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail.” He also promised not to raise taxes on the middle class and now we union members are worried about taxes on our health insurance policies.

We citizens are making sacrifices while our political elite party at the White House. Pete Souza's photographs of the ”Fiesta Latina" and the "Stevie Wonder" White House Performances show the divide between your political tribe and the rest of us. While you party, we citizens struggle to feed the hungry.











Christina Romer's misplaced optimism on ABC lacks the common sense of most Americans. Business people do not have confidence in the future to commit to hiring more people. The expiration of tax deductions from federal tax returns, the rapidly expanding deficit and national debt, the unbounded expansion of government, uncertain future taxes and regulations as well as Congress and White House dirty politics cast suspicion on your intentions.


David McCullough, in his book, Truman, provides a code of conduct that all of you should strive to meet:

"Ambitious by nature, he was never torn by ambition, never tried to appear as something he was not. He stood for common sense, common decency. He spoke the common tongue. As much as any president since Lincoln, he brought to the highest office the language and values of the common American people. He held to the old guidelines: work hard, do your best, speak the truth, assume no airs, trust in God, have no fear."

Monday (1) - January 4, 2010

Dear Politican,

The global warming is piled up outside my home and I'm relishing the warmth inside. When I walked our dog Zach, this morning, it was around 20^o and the driving wind created more snow drifts. Zach loves to stick his nose in the white fluff and sniff for whatever dogs sniff for. I've shoveled more snow this year than I have in quite a while and I live in a gated senior community where contractors shovel out our homes. The questions asked as we walk around the neighborhood are generally related to Al Gore and his far-fetched "Global Warming" dog and pony show.

Americans are asking other questions about the ideas being bandied about by our elected officials and their appointees. We want to know why this divisive health care issue has brought out the worst in our elected officials. We want to know why, if the legislation is so good, senators have to be bribed to vote for it. We wonder who's watching the till and how our grandchildren are going to pay for all that you've borrowed or committed to be spent.

We have the impression that the political tribe is so sequestered from the American public that it has no concepts about citizens' daily challenges and doubts about the future. You folks get good salaries and perks that are far removed from the average American. You get the red carpet treatment when you travel – without regard for your carbon footprints – while the rest of us struggle. If the President wants to swim, the citizens in Hawaii are denied the use of their public beach.

When we peacefully assemble and petition the government, we're called "astroturf" and "unruly mobs". When we ask questions, we're ignored or sent generic answers from a database of responses.

At the beginning of this new year, I encourage you to remember your roots and dreams and aspirations and ask yourself if the power that you've acquired has led to a distance from those who elected you and a feeling of invincibility typical of our teenagers. I encourage you to do what Hillary did – take a listening tour to hear what the people think.

However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, Farewell Address, Sep. 17, 1796