re: her chirpy weekly email that you can read
here if you want to
Dear Senator Capito:
You are going to kill us.
Voting against the
EPA rules is denying climate change, as well as hampering any movement towards embracing
21st century realities: 1) coal is not going to be around forever; 2) other countries and states are implementing amazing technologies to replace environmentally harmful fossil fuels. Why do you insist on putting the future on the back burner?
Science tells us that climate change is real with potentially disastrous scenarios: the rising heat could bring on illnesses, crop failures, droughts, the possible extinction of 1/4 of earth's species by 2050...I'm sure you've heard all of this and more.? Why aren't you listening? Furthermore, if we could move forward with new exciting jobs in renewable energy, maybe West Virginia could get out of the crap hole Big Coal has put us in. It's estimated that 7.7 million people are employed world wide by the renewable energy industry, and it's projected to grow at 18%.
Solar alone attracted $149.6 billion in the US in 2013
. In WV,
our state budget has been cut by 2% across the board because of the loss of coal revenue. This decrease is not because of the
EPA AND YOU KNOW it. I suppose, however, the fact that you've received
$211,000 from the coal industry in campaign donations could excuse you, but it does not. It makes you a hired killer.
Not only did you vote against the Clean Power Plan you also voted against expanding background checks for gun sales ON THE HEELS OF ONE OF THE
WORST MASS MURDERS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. I have no words. Except this. If any of you NRA lovers ever lose a loved one to gun violence I will be sure to send my "
thoughts and prayers." I did notice that you neglected to mention this in your email. While contributions from the gun lobby were not relatively significant (compared to your motherlode from the Coal industry and what the gun lobby has given others), I expect now that the NRA is angry at
poor old Joe for daring to promote sane gun control laws, I predict you will reap what they don't give him. I'll be watching
OpenSecrets.org.
And this business with ObamaCare. Come on, Shelley. How many times are you
Republicans going to run that hamster wheel? You are wasting the salaries the people of WV are paying you by voting relentlessly for a bill that will die on the President's desk if it ever makes it there! After all the other stunts your party has pulled (let's see. Starting an illegal war in Iraq with a lie - leading to Middle Eastern unrest, countless deaths of women, children, and American soldiers; pretending the
trickle down economic theory and
cutting taxes to business will create jobs; the aforementioned climate change denial... I could go on all day here) I simply don't trust the Republicans to come up with a decent plan. As the practice manager of a
small family practice, I have seen more people come in with their brand new Medicaid card to see a healthcare provider for the first time in years. The problem with ObamaCare is, it does not go far enough. While allowing our more vulnerable citizens to qualify for Medicaid, the middle class is suffering from higher premiums and deductibles. I myself decided to raise my family's deductible from $5000 to $8000 to avoid a $300 increase in my premium -- which now is more than my $1185 mortgage. This is shameful in a developed country. We need to EXPAND Medicare to cover all Americans. You don't understand how much time and money is wasted in medical practices trying to deal with the hundreds of plans we accept, and the claims denials for stupid things like patients not responding to a Coordination of Benefits questionnaire (this one holding up at least 2 claims every day in my small office where we see 30 patients a day). If we could eliminate all the plans in our country and consolidate into one national plan, we could save $
150 million in paperwork alone. Furthermore, it would make the US more competitive in the international game, since most developed countries don't have to saddle their businesses with the additional cost of healthcare.
There are so many better things we could be doing, from the fairly radical to the more mainstream. West Virginia has the perfect climate for growing marijuana. Just across the river in Hancock MD, a
medical marijuana grow facility has been proposed and everyone from the mayor to little old ladies are applauding it. It could be just what that little town needs to pull it out of the funk it's been in for years: 125 jobs and $11 million in investments. What does Berkeley Springs get? A new
Dollar General store, complete with more junk from China and minimum-wage jobs! And then there was this
article that I read today.
But you just keep doing what you do, Senator Capito. Keep smiling and waving. And I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
bibi Hahn
Berkeley Springs, WV
Beauty will save the world