From time to time I write Letters to the Editor, usually when something pisses me off so much that steam starts billowing from my ears. Sometimes I write to the
local daily, more often to our
alternative weekly. As was the case a couple weeks ago, when the bankruptcy bill - and the Republicans successful efforts to kill the decent, common sense amendments to it - left me so mad I could spit nickels.
LEO didn't actually run the letter until the latest issue, which came out this past Wednesday. Today (Friday), I came home, and in my mailbox was, as Bulwinkle would've said, "fanmail from a flounder" - an anonymous love note from some slack-jawed wingnut...
My
LTE reads as follows:
George W. Bush and his minions slog on in their comical attempt to kill Social Security. (And don't let anyone kid you, their ultimate intention is to kill it, not "save" it -- Young Republicans chanting "Hey hey, ho ho, Social Security's gotta go!" at their recent convention kinda tipped us all off to that.)
But meanwhile, other damaging legislation winds its way toward becoming law, almost completely under the radar. The "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act" -- how utterly Orwellian -- is a love letter to the lending industry. Credit card giant MBNA leap-frogged over Enron to become Bush's single biggest donor and fundraiser. Little wonder that Republicans -- and a few quisling Democrats -- feel that MBNA and their brethren, with their criminally high interest rates, hidden fees, predatory lending practices and more than $30 billion in profits, need "protection."
Most bankruptcies these days are caused by crippling, catastrophic medical debt, and thanks to "free market" principles, more and more working Americans are finding themselves either underinsured or without any insurance at all. Most of us are one serious illness away from financial disaster.
Also, thousands of men and women serving in our National Guard and Reserves are being deployed for a year or more overseas, losing the income of their regular jobs. In some cases, this has led to losses of cars and homes. Couples are breaking up over the financial stress caused by Bush's war.
This Republican-sponsored bill would not take any of this into account; it would simply subject those needing to resort to bankruptcy to a so-called "means test."
Senate Democrats introduced amendments to the bill to protect current and veteran military personnel, those in medical emergency and the elderly, as well as an amendment to hold corporations to the same standards imposed on individuals. All of these amendments were voted down by God's Own Party.
Thanks, Republicans! To borrow one of your favorite pieces of rhetoric, why do you hate America?
With this bill, we move one step closer to what Warren Buffett recently called a "Sharecropper Society." Next stop -- debtors prisons and indentured servitude.
Now, I welcome discussions and disagreements any time I publicly express my opinion. I like to hear the other side of an issue.
But what I actually received in the mail today - as I said, anonymous, no return address - was this:
It is great to live in a country where you have the freedom to demonstrate how little you understand the world. You can freely demonstrate your stupidity and not be subject to Government interference.
Since you have demonstrated your stupidity and lack of understanding, I feel you should be rewarded with your own sign. So, in the words of a well-known comedian "Here's your sign".
And on a seperate, enclosed piece of paper, "i am stupid" in big, cartoon font letters.
What a friggin' laugh riot, huh?
I mean, Dude, if you're going to take the time to put down your Big Red, change out of your pijamas and go mail an anonymous hate letter to someone whose name and address is a matter of public record, at least be clever about it.
Oh - I see. You were being clever. Used your top-shelf material on me, huh? Sorry. Nevermind.
What a cowardly little punk.