Letter #141... Dear Mr. President... War is Being Waged Against Americans.

Dear President Obama,

Last night I watched, with renewed horror, the 20^th and hopefully the last Republican Presidential debate. It seems to me that each one, tried to out-crazy the other one.

They keep talking about a war in Iran… what they fail to see, in spite of talking about it incessantly, are the wars they are waging against people in this country. The war against women, the war against the middle class, the war against union workers, the war against the auto industry, the war against the LGBT community, the war against immigrants, and the war against children. All of these wars are raging all around us and the Republicans are responsible for perpetuating and inflaming them.

The war against women by denying women coverage for contraceptives and moving to require invasive and unnecessary procedures before a woman can receive a legal abortion. The war waged against women by men like Darrel Issa under the guise that it was about freedom of religion instead of the real agenda… contraceptive coverage for women. The image of five men in a congressional hearing talking about women’s health and contraception was not only appalling, but disgusting. Not a single woman was allowed to testify… really?

In Virginia the GOP had to abandon their bill requiring women to undergo a vaginal sonogram because of the terrible backlash against it. Again, it was men pushing for something they know absolutely nothing about. They didn’t even know what their own bill was about… all they cared about was gaining more control over a woman’s reproductive rights.

9 year-old boy brought to court in an orange jump suit... really?

The war against children is being waged through tax cuts that affect schools all across America, but most particularly in poor neighborhoods. Then there are the cases where prosecutors want to charge children with crimes at younger and younger ages. A case in Washington State where a 9 year-old boy brought a gun to school and the gun accidentally discharged while in his backpack, shooting an 8 year-old girl. They brought him to court crying and wearing an orange jump suit. Bail was set at $50,000 at his hearing while they try to determine if the third grader will face criminal charges. Really? He’s 9 years-old, he probably wanted to show off to his buddies… where was the intent if the gun was in his backpack? Tragic? Yes. But what kind of trauma will this poor boy suffer as a result of adult stupidity… his parents for having a loaded gun he could access, and a system that wants to put a child in jail. Shameful!

Yes Mr. President… there are wars raging across our land against ordinary Americans and fueled mostly by the GOP, and they need to be stopped. Where has our common sense and common decency gone? These issues need to be addressed… we are a people at war with our neighbors and each other, and it must stop.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

Your Gadfly Granny

Letter #140... Dear Mr. President... Another Machiavellian Plot by the GOP

Dear Mr. President,

Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts

I just listened to a December 2, 2011 tape of Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts questioning the CEO of Keystone pipeline owner TransCanada, about keeping the oil from the tar sands in the U.S. After several attempts by Rep. Markey to pin down this question, the CEO said, “he could not guarantee that the fuel from the pipeline would stay in the U.S.”

As we see the price of gas creep ever closer to the $5 mark, it has become quite apparent that this is the next battle the GOP will use to try to derail your re-election. If the price of gas keeps going up it will be the beginning of another downturn in the economy. Without affordable gas, people will travel less, the cost of food will rise, the cost of airfares will increase, people will not be supporting hotels and restaurants, and as a result there will be more layoffs, more people applying for unemployment, and more people losing their homes again, etc… etc… We can’t let this happen again.

As you know, three Republican Senators… David Vitter, John Hoeven, and Richard Lugar introduced the Strategic Petroleum Supplies Act, S.2100 – that would prevent you from selling oil from the SPR unless the Keystone pipeline is approved. You simply can’t let them get away with this horrific attempt to hold our oil hostage for their own selfish, transparent gains and that of the big oil companies that already realized record profits again last year.

Both President’s Bush used the sale of SPR to insure that there would not be a disruption in our oil supply before the first Iraq war and after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, David Vitter praised you for selling SPR oil to offset the disruption of Libyan oil.

Don’t let them get away with this Mr. President… the sale of our SPR lowered gas prices and prevented economic devastation by protecting ordinary Americans from huge price spikes. S.2100 would prohibit such sales and effectively eliminate this protection and your ability to use it as such.

Protect Gasoline Prices

Holding the SPR hostage is going to be the end run the Republicans are counting on to stop you from being re-elected… They are losing the battle on jobs and the economy, since it is obvious that the economy and the job market are indeed improving. And the newest ridiculous attempt to paint you in a corner regarding contraception protection for women as an assault on Religious rights is ludicrous.

You need to let the American people know what’s going on with the Keystone pipeline, the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, and the ever-increasing price of gasoline. You need to call out Senators Vitter, Hoeven and Lugar for their horrendous attempt to manipulate the price of gas for their own political gains and that of the GOP, and praise Rep. Ed Markey for seeing through this Machiavellian plan.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

Your Gadfly Granny

Letter #139... Dear Mr. President... How Can Gridlock be Healthy?

Dear Mr. President,

Some things simply defy logic, can you think of a possible instance when ‘gridlock’ was, or could be, considered healthy? No, neither can I.

I asked that question because a columnist in our small local paper said just that. The River Valley Times is a Herberger Publication, providing local articles of interest and information. Their motto is: “To Inform with Integrity, Entertain with Taste and Go Forward as the Voice of the People…” It covers Rancho Murieta, Sloughhouse, and Wilton.

This columnist is relatively new to the RVT, replacing a slightly more liberal columnist, which is sad because a liberal voice is seldom heard in our community. In yesterdays paper the columnists headline read: Get involved in political process or don’t complain. Sounds good, I believe that too, so I read the column.

The big contention is that we need to hear more voices that are conservative, because conservatives by nature want to spend less money. It was then stated that some of our surrounding cities that have elected conservatives are at least being heard to be doing better financially (I’d like to know which ones), and “Texas is much better off than California, and one of the reasons is that they have a lot of conservative voices.”  That of course is not the case, but that’s not my point today.

This columnist further stated that, “The liberals need to hear the conservative voices of reason – at the very least on fiscal issues.” How has that worked for you Mr. President? You’ve spent three years listening to ‘conservatives’ and trying to ‘compromise’ on the issues, but to no avail… conservatives don’t want to listen.

Here’s another quote, “There are still conservatives living in CA, and they have the right to be heard too. Let’s not forget that we do live in a democracy.” She further stated that, “Never hearing or discussing the ideas of the opposition is very narrow-minded.”  Somehow I don’t think that liberals have been considered narrow-minded, aren’t we the ones that want to expand and broaden rights for all Americans?

And here it is… “these discussions take time and can create gridlock, but that’s healthy.” “The best outcome could be that nothing gets done, and that might be good in this state…” and …”Let’s get more conservative voices in the arena and then they can set the example to spend less.”

Gridlock Healthy? Not!

Everyone knows what gridlock is, but just to be clear, it is defined as (1) a traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible (just what we all look forward to… being ‘stuck’ in traffic), and (2) a complete lack of movement or progress, resulting in a backup or stagnation. How can either of these definitions, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered healthy?

I love my community, and I love the RVT, but I cannot abide stupidity. While I don’t profess to be a writer, and understand this is “commentary” and not a factual article, the writer should at the very least, support her assertions with some kind of logic or simple facts.

Here are some ‘facts’ that the columnist completely missed. This was an analysis done by the Center for American Progress.

1.     91% of the total weekday talk radio programming is conservative, 9% is progressive.

2.     Each weekday there are 2,570 hours of conservative talk compared to 254 hours of progressive talk.

3.     In the top 10 radio markets 76% of programming is conservative, and 24% is progressive although programming is more balanced in New York and Chicago.

4.     This dynamic is repeated over and over again regardless of how the data is analyzed, whether one looks at the number of stations, number of hours, power of stations, or number of programs… ‘conservative talk’ continues to be pushed out over the airwaves in greater multiples of hours than ‘progressive talk’ is broadcast.

5.     Radio has more than 50 million listeners each week, and ‘conservative talk’ radio undeniably dominates the format.

I don’t know what planet this columnist lives on, but on planet earth we need less conservative voices like hers, that believe that gridlock is healthy, stagnation is healthy, and that either of these should be used as examples of how to move the ‘conversation’ forward.

The River Valley Times should find a new columnist, one that is capable of listening too, and understanding the real problems facing not only our state, but the entire nation, and I can assure you that answer is NOT more conservative, obstructionist voices, but LESS.  We get enough fiction disguised as fact from Fox… that’s why conservatives are it’s largest audience.

I would prefer the RVT motto to be, “To Inform with Intelligence…

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

Your Gadfly Granny

Letter #138... Dear Mr. President... Cherish the 'Gift of Time'.

 Dear Mr. President,

Last June for Fathers Day I wrote to you about the ‘gift of time’… time spent with loved ones, our children, our parents and our friends.

That was Letter #46 and I talked about losing my father when he was just 50 and I was 20, and how sad it was that my brother Charlie was just 13 years old at the time… and now, sadly Charlie has passed away too.

The talk about Obama care vs Romney care, vs single payer, vs what ever the current crop of candidates are spewing across the country… the bottom line is we all need health care… we need it from the minute we’re born to the day we die, there is no escape… kind of like taxes.

Jeff celebrates his 47th Birthday with family.

I mention all this because my son Jeff, who just turned 47, has come to live with my husband Gary and me. It wasn’t by choice, but by circumstance… the circumstance being that he was diagnosed with end stage pancreatic/liver cancer. He was living in Hawaii, but was unable to care for himself any longer… it was time to come back to California where most of his extended family live, and where hopefully, the time he has left is spent without the stress of trying to cook for himself, or do the laundry, or worry about who is available to take him to the doctor. And isn’t that what a family is supposed to do, if possible?

I can’t begin to tell you how sad it is to see my son so sick and in so much pain… pain that as a mother I would gladly suffer for him. Of course that is not possible, all we can do is try to help make him comfortable, and give him the gift of our time. Time to reminisce about childhood friends, and birthday parties, Christmases, school and sports events that we all shared and enjoyed. Time to remember the little things in life that don’t seem like much at the time, but are the threads that weave us together forever, as a family.

For Jeff it is a time to reflect on his own life, time to realize that even a life that in his eyes hasn’t amounted too much… in our eyes it was priceless. A life is not measured by what one has achieved, or accumulated, but how they’ve treated other people along the way. Jeff’s heart and his actions have always supported and uplifted others that were less fortunate or down and out. Jeff always gave his ‘gift of time’ to people that others had already written off as lost causes. If a price could be set for charisma and be patented and bottled, Jeff would have been a millionaire.

Life is short Mr. President… as busy as you are, I know you are spending it wisely, and I know that the time spent with Malia and Sasha is the most precious time you’ll ever have… for you and for them. Treasure every moment… they end too soon.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers,

Your Gadfly Granny

Letter #137... Dear Mr. President... An Apology on Behalf of All Americans

Dear Mr. President,

I’d like to apologize for the rude and disrespectful manner in which Governor Jan Brewer greeted you the other day when you arrived in Arizona. I believe that I speak for all decent Americans when I say, “we are deeply sorry” for this very public display, and obvious lack of respect toward you personally, and the office of the President.

Gov. Brewer... You need to apologize.

I’m sure there are many good people in Arizona, who now know, that their Governor is capable of being blatantly disrespectful toward another elected official, and their President, and that somehow she thought it could play out to her best advantage. This is unacceptable behavior for anyone, on any level, and I hope at some point Gov. Brewer recognizes this and apologizes in her own behalf.

As we know Gov. Brewer followed this blatantly disrespectful act with a round of talk show interviews trying to put a positive spin on her rudeness by saying she felt threatened, that some how, some way, your body language was threatening. Even the most hapless inebriate would be able to point to the person in that photo that was threatening… and it most certainly wasn’t you Mr. President.

Con. Giffords letter of resignation

On the other end of the spectrum in Arizona we have Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, walking bravely and respectfully up the stairs toward the rostrum of Speaker Boehner to personally hand him her letter of resignation. Even though they had many differences besides party affiliation, both Speaker Boehner, and Congresswoman Giffords, knew how to display the proper etiquette, the proper decorum and proper respect, befitting the Chamber and the political office each held.

Former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, hit the nail on the head when she spoke of Giffords, “she has brought the word ‘dignity’ to new heights.” Indeed, it was a moment that made us all proud, regardless of our political differences. In fact, it was easy to see how moved Speaker Boehner was by looking at his facial expressions… which I believe were genuine, and appropriately emotional.

I can only hope that in the ensuing months, people from both parties will remember these images and decide for themselves how they want our America viewed by the rest of the world, through the disrespectful eyes of Gov. Brewer, or the gracious and dignified eyes of Congresswoman Giffords. I know… there really is only one answer.

Again, please accept my apology, and the apology of all decent and genteel Americans, for the unconscionably rude behavior of the Governor of the great State of Arizona. It was most certainly uncalled for, unnecessary, and 100% inappropriate.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers,

Your Gadfly Granny

Letter #136 - Dear Mr. President... Beware of People Who 'Like You Very Much'

Dear Mr. President,

Magnificent! Your State of the Union message was just what this country needed to hear… moving this country forward for all Americans, united, rather than divided.

Always reaching across the aisle

My last letter on January 3^rd talked about the three years you’ve spent reaching across the aisle asking and hoping for Republican cooperation… and even now, in the State of the Union address, you are once again asking the Republicans to work with you, to send you legislation that you can sign to help lift the American people out of the abyss we’ve been mired in for far too long. Asking both Democrats and Republicans to work together for the ‘common good’ of all people, regardless of their party affiliation.  

I hope it happens. I hope the Congress listens the words you spoke, the ideas you put forth, and the future you proposed, without twisting those words and ideas into something malevolent and unrecognizable. For once I’d like to hear some consensus, on the premise that they can and should be doing more to move America forward.

Unfortunately, I doubt that we will experience much movement in a positive direction. As I watched my local news at 11:00 last night, I listened to 3^rd Congressional District Republican Dan Lungren, respond when asked by a reporter, what he thought of your speech. His response was totally negative, suggesting that you didn’t even mention how we were going to pay down the deficit. Apparently, he and I listened to a different speech. You did, in fact, mention the debt and how nearly $1 trillion will be added to that debt if we continue to give tax breaks to the wealthiest 2%, and if we don’t close the tax loopholes, but I guess that’s not what Lungren wanted to hear… so he didn’t.

Today I watched a YouTube video Lungren put up when he got back to his office in Washington, with a much more scripted response… however, after saying how he ‘likes you very much,’ he then lambasted your policies, saying they are inconsistent with the facts and what he sees back home, and that you described “an economy that was going gangbusters.” I believe what you actually said was “the state of the union was getting stronger, and we’ve come too far turn back now.” It’s exactly this type of bombastic, irresponsible, exaggerated rhetoric that has created the gridlock in Washington, and divided this nation and it’s people. 

I live in the district that Lungren represents and I see positive growth all around me, we have new stores opening up in Folsom adding hundreds of ‘new’ jobs that weren’t there before… and LAFCO voted 6 days ago to allow Folsom to grow by 3500 acres for development that includes businesses, schools, homes, parks… etc… Folsom is a trade area that is growing at twice the national average, so don’t listen to the Lungren’s who claim to “like you very much”… because with friends like this, who needs enemies?

Stay positive Mr. President, because neither success nor greatness will be found in your power, prestige, or your position… but instead, it will be found in your humility, your service, your goodness, and your character, which you have in abundance.

Most Respectfully, 

Marcia Reimers

Your Gadfly Granny

Letter #135... Dear Mr. President... Mistaking Kindness for Weakness.

Dear Mr. President,

In many respects you and I are alike… we both care a great deal about people and genuinely want to help whenever and wherever we can. Sometimes that desire to help is wrongly misinterpreted as being weak.

Over the last three years you have tried again and again to work with Republicans, often compromising on key issues in an effort to move at least part of the Democratic agenda forward. To the consternation of most Democrats, who knew it wouldn’t work, at least you tried… at least your heart was in the right place, and for the right reasons. But, as they say… no good deed goes unpunished.

Recently, I’ve been helping a friend through some medical issues culminating in long delayed, life saving surgery. I was more than happy to help in any way possible, believing that everyone needs help from time to time, and no one should have to go through surgery alone. It’s not necessary to go into the details or the myriad of things I actually did, but suffice to say it never seemed to be enough. There were lists made of things for me to do, stores to go to, transportation to appointments, time and transport to the hospital before and after surgery…. etc… etc… The straw that broke the camels back came when it was time for the follow-up appointment… I was asked if I would make a little detour to take two dogs to the groomer. While this person ‘talked’ about being appreciative for ‘everything’ I’ve done, there was ‘always’ an additional chore that needed to be done… something they were sure I wouldn’t mind doing, but never asking if I had the time, or was able to do these things.  

So Mr. President… it seems there are two kinds of people that need, and accept, help from those that offer… the kind that ‘truly appreciate’ the things you are ‘able’ to do for them, and the kind that no matter what you do, there is always something else they need. They mistake kindness for weakness and exploit that kindness at every opportunity, and then wonder why their ‘friends’ pull back and don’t keep in touch.

For you Mr. President… after three years of trying to forge bipartisan support for issues important and necessary for moving this economy forward, and trying to improve the lives of ordinary Americans… what has been your reward… distain from the Republicans who have maligned you, and denigrated you at every opportunity, and Democrats aren’t much better. They’ve called you ineffective and conciliatory… and now everyone’s upset with your new ‘go it alone’ strategy. Go figure.

You have always been an unparalleled gentleman, hugely respectful, and a true statesman that comports himself with the dignity and integrity that the office of the President of these United States demands. You do it all with grace and courage, never weakness… and there isn’t a person on the right or the left that can hold a candle to you, or fill your shoes, or do the incredibly difficult job you do for this country.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers, 

Your Gadfly Granny