I recieved this in my email this morning, and in reading it I realized how much I agree with it.
I'm sorry to anyone who might not agree, or for some reason might find this offensive, but I felt compelled to share it with you all. (I'm sure I'm not the only one who got this)

This letter you are about to read was written by a 4th grade teacher She even gave the world her telephone and fax numbers. We are in dire need of more true American citizens who are proud of OUR United States of America.

April 27, 2009
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500

Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America.
You are responsible to the citizens of the United States.
You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world.
Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead ? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?
Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States?
This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, (at least until you came along), come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain , our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia .
How dare you, sir! How dare you!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey . You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?
I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.520million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer.
You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do.
We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.

Sincerely,

Every Real American

P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'............. PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST......it's past time for all Americans to wake up!

Ms Kathleen Lyday Fourth Grade Teacher Grandview Elementary School
11470 Hwy. C Hillsboro, MO 63050 (636) 944-3291 Phone (636) 944-3870 Fax

I've never understood this "illegally" invading XXXX country business ...

We can invade any f'ing country we want to invade. If we feel like invading Greneda, lets do it. Want to topple the government of France? I see no problem whatsoever. Don't like how Chile does business with us? Send the military.

I dont recall the Roman Empire, or the British Empire or the Persian Empire, or Germany, or any other country in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD "asking" for permission to invade another country. They felt like doing it, so they did it. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Even all the nonsense about our "government lied about WMD" is BS to me. Government lied? Too bad. I'm glad we're in Iraq, I hope we stay there for another 100 years and take all their oil. We won the war. We should get all the benefits of victory. I hope we topple Iran next, and wouldnt mind a few other countries while we're at it.

There is no such thing as "illegal" war. You do what you do and do your best to win, and just be prepared for the response.

Hmmm, who helped kick the Germans back to Berlin? oh that was us
who defeated Japan? Oh that was us too
were it not for us, most of the world would be speaking German or Japanese, so if we may have been a little arogant, I think we have good reason. Oh the Russians helped in Europe, but who won the cold war? oh US AGAIN

But like the empires that Raj mentioned, and some TW players too, it is when you get a bit arrogent that someone usually hands you your butt.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Edit: Shouldn't all this be in smack talk?



So a few very vague sentences aimed to tone down anti-American rhetoric overseas is suddenly obsessed with appeasing the Muslim world? And these ppl wonder why they lost the last election so badly. They lost it about the time they lost touch with reality.



I venture to guess he knows history better than the author of this letter. And the US is not a Christian country. The only people that think that are a small group of history revisionist wackjobs. There's a difference between deism and Christianity. A difference few bother to understand, but that was well known to the enlightenment-era masons that founded this country.



Really? There are actually people that believe this? Wow. This country was not founded on "Judeo-Christian ethics" (whatever that's supposed to mean) any more than it was founded on a belief in magical flying hamsters.



The problem with dumb people is they always assume everyone else is dumb, too. Which, ironically, is what makes them so easy to manipulate.



So companies that are responsible for a huge chunk of the wealth in this country shouldn't be supported, even tho letting them fail completely would cost us 10x (or more) what a bailout would cost? There's a reason why Herbert Hoover is not looked-upon fondly. We do not need another great depression.



That's it? 2.5 million and 9.1 million? Really? Freaking cheapsakes. There's 435 ppl in the house of reps. That's $20,920 per rep. Now let's assume each committee has a couple of staffers, and each rep has 1, and maybe senior ranking members have 2. That's maybe 700, 800 people that work as staff. That's less than $15k, which in a city like DC is pretty crappy when you consider how pretty much everything is considered a bonus.

No offense, if I worked my tail off to support a ranking member of Congress, I'd expect better.

So because this person took a 5% pay cut, everyone should, eh? You know what that's called? Communism.



What's with all this "we" stuff, jacko? While I'm sure I can find reasons to be erked (there's a few, altho the talking points are better nuanced), overall I'm a lot happier with the current admin than I ever was with Bush. Even Clinton, for that matter. I don't love all the "tax the rich" sentiment, but a .1% (point 1 percent, not 1 percent) tax increase isn't exactly going to have me up in arms on anything considering what it might actually do for this country.



So those ppl that don't agree with the author here aren't "Real Americans?" eh? Insulting, but sometimes arguing with an idiot just brings you down to their level.



I grew up in Missouri. I've actually been to Hillsboro. It's an armpit. Consider the source.



Nod... that's technically true, really. The only laws that define how we go to war were followed when a declaration of war was passed.



Yeh, but those weren't really democracies either. While Rome was in the hands of the senate, it was largely peaceful (minus a few big events). When Caesar took over, well... not so much.



Disagree here. The gov't needs to tell it's people the truth. I voted against a large swath of incumbent candidates last election (in both parties) because they were involved in hiding the truth. Public accountability is paramount to a healthy republic. If my representatives lie to me, they will no longer be my representatives. Even if that means funding their opposition. Even if that means I don't really agree with their opposition.

Anyway...

Iraq actually has very little oil. They invaded Kuwait because their previous war w/ Iran had broken them financially. And toppling Iran would mean facing a nuclear state in an armed conflict. Before we play war hawk perhaps we should consider that risk. I find it funny how most people that push for casual war have never served in the military.



There's always a bigger fish.

Alright, I'll post my opinion here. The government has, in several situations, implemented taxes on products bought by a small portion of our population trying to raise enough money to pay for the debts they are running up. A few examples are:
1) The elderly paying more for medication and health care to the point they can't afford to pay heat bills.
2) The middle class, instead of the upper class, is making up the difference for the tax cuts given to the poor.
3) Smokers are paying through the nose for tobacco.
4) Independant truckers are paying so much for fuel they are going bankrupt.
5) Landowners are taxed for school levies while renters pay nothing.

Sure, maybe none of the above effects you, but when it does hit you, don't expect any support from the other groups that you didn't support when they were targeted.

If they want to impose higher taxes on certain products, tax toilet paper. Everyone uses that.

BTW, I'm not Republican OR Democrat I usually vote for the candidate I think would do the best job, and O'Bama wasn't it.

They pay what other people pay (sometimes less), they just have less disposable income. There is medicare tho, which is sad proof that good intentions aren't enough. Not an easy problem to solve.



Nod. Always going to be a problem when "the upper class" knows ways to hide income legally. Capital gains income gets a lot of nice tax advantages. It's income, but then again... it isn't.



Stop smoking?



Cost of diesel is like 60 cents cheaper here than regular unleaded. Altho nobody guarantees anyone an income. The market inevitably dictates what inefficiencies get cut. Harsh reality, but unavoidable. You either do what's profitable and survive, or you don't and don't. This will mean fewer truckers, the cost of shipping will go up, price competition will force consolidation and you'll end up with a handful of large truck lines running most of the show. Price collusion ensues, price goes up, inefficiencies come back, smart independent truckers find a new niche. Circle of life type stuff.



Varies from area to area. Here landowners pay property taxes, but to think that renters don't pay anything is crazy. Renters have to rent from people that have to pay their mortgages, the cost of those taxes just gets passed on to renters. This is actually kindof interesting tho, as sometimes renters can claim a tax deduction. and sometimes owners can claim property tax deductions. Would be interesting to compare the 2 to see who comes out ahead.

Altho I have a hard time arguing against property taxes being used to fund schools. Schools are a good thing, an educated populace is a good thing. Problem is that a lot of those taxes are spent on crap and wasted in a maze of bureaucracy. None of that's a federal issue tho, and with so much of our attention focused on "the President" it's easy to forget how much of our lives is local.

These drug reps are giving away tons of free medicine to the individual physicians to promote their new drugs. Do you know what happens to 90% of this free medicine? It gets thrown out because it expires or the nurses that work there take it home. So it's not like we can't afford to give the elder people, that these doctors perscribe 10 different medicines to, at a cost they can afford. It's all a money racket for the physicians and the drug companies.

Stop Smoking? That's an individual choice, just as over eating is. More people die each year from being severely over weight than smoking, but they add a 400% tax on tobacco. Let's add the same 400% tax hike onto fast food and see how many people complain.

Fuel oil products and kerosene take much less refining than gasoline. It should be much cheaper. When all these independant owner operators go out of business and the major trucking companies are the only ones left. Guess how much it's going to cost the consumer to get the products delivered to the stores then? The price of everything will sky rocket and the consumer will bite the bullet then.

Sure the property taxes the land owners pay get passed on to the renters living in that area. But the renter has the right to vote on these levies, and then when the rent gets too high, they just move to another area. The land owner is stuck with the bill.

Sure, samples. Not sure I'd say "tons" but there's some. Nurses aren't legally supposed to take that stuff home, if they're doing it... that's a problem. Either way, it sounds like the problem that you're describing is one of distribution. Doctors have old samples, some patients could use them. Doctors have no way to do this (even tho most pharma companies do have programs to help with this).

So uhm, why not start an organization that works w/ doctors and offers a samples program for the elderly? Maybe work with pharma companies too to bring in their programs as well?

The thing about problems like this is... we can't really expect OTHER PEOPLE to do it for us. If we feel strongly about something, we have to take action ourselves.



Well yeh, that's capitalism. If it's worth doing, it's worth making money doing. Life isn't a charity.



And people pay taxes on food, too. But then again I'm not going to get fat off other people's "2nd hand food" either. Food is a necessity (altho we have a grocery sales tax here), smoking is a luxury, so there's going to be a luxury tax. It's either stop smoking, or pay the tax. Choice rocks.



Whoa. That's a huge assumption. A refinery has to spend the same amount of money to build a plant, and that plant produces a wide array of products. Fuel oil is part of the same crack process that gasoline is.

But prices are not based entirely on cost. If they were, then nobody would be making money. Without money, why go into the refinery business? How could you afford to hire people to keep the plant running? Price discovery is based on cost as support, and competition as resistance. Market price is between the 2.

If you think you can offer fuel oil products or diesel fuel cheaper, then why don't you open up a refinery? People would certainly buy your product if it was cheaper, and you'd force other refineries to compete.



Maybe, maybe not. We saw a massive increase in gas prices and the consumer price index only increased marginally, then we saw a massive correction in commodity prices and the CPI dropped. We're actually seeing deflation right now.

But ok, so 5 or 10 years from now price goes way up. Lets say it doubles. That'll suck. But if a large portion of it's shipping costs then alternative fuels that aren't priced to crazy-land will allow smart truckers to start a line based on a more efficient fuel. That means they can charge less and undercut the competition, prices go back down again, and then we're more energy independent than ever before. Works for me.



Renter and landowner both have the right to vote. And if rent gets too high, they can move if they can find a suitable area. Likewise the landowner can choose to sell. They might get what they want for it, they might not, but that's the risk of ownership. If you don't want to take on the risk of property ownership, don't own property.

If enough people in your area feel the same way, then either people will move away, people will vote away the tax because it's choking them, or local representatives will be forced to cut the tax. On the other hand people might see the improvement in schools and choose to move to the area, and might decide it's worth paying the tax. In that case new people will move in to replace those that move out, but in that case you'll have a good market to sell into.

To the OP, here is what I think.

If the basis of your argument is: "If you don't do things my way then bad things will happen, guess what? You are a terrorist. And you need to GTFO. If all you can do is attack, and not be constructive in a healthy way, then guess what? You are a terrorist. If all you know is fear, then that's all you have. I don't want your fear, you can have it. GTFO!

Stop whining and be grateful that it doesn't matter if we have a raging moron as president like the last one, or a slick-talking-entitlement-supporting-taxaholic like the current one, our country is still a better place to live than anywhere else in the world.

You know why it's that way? Because we majority moderates take the best of your ideas and let you keep the fear and the crazy.

*high five*



Sweet.

Yes but do you know what's even better about this country? Free Speech and the right to complain about whatever the H we want to. So I really don't care if anyone disagree's with me or not, because I'm going to use my given rights as a U.S. citizen and complain as much as I want about the mistakes made by the morons we have in office today. So stick that in your pipe.

Laff. True enough. But as they say... actions speak louder than words.