Dear Blackmailing Hostage Taker:

(I have to admit that I get a little satisfaction in knowing that people will recognize you by that name.)

I was too upset to write yesterday and figured I’d probably get myself in trouble. Usually, I carefully weigh my wording to make sure I don’t cross lines or call you names that I shouldn't but the last couple of days, civility was not possible for me. Today, I’m writing because I can thank you for at least one thing.

The kids make fun of me because I take notes – when I read the news, watch television, talk on the phone . . . I do that for a couple of reasons. When I write something, I am more apt to remember it correctly. Also, I hate to trust my memory for details so the notes make me feel more secure about repeating what I’ve heard or read. However, thanks to you, today I was able to answer questions and make statements without my notes, or Google, or calling anyone for verification.

One guy asked: What kind of sociopath that already had millions of dollars would want more if the condition was millions of hungry elders? Who wants to live in a society where the old and poor are wandering the streets looking for cans or handouts?

I knew the answer without notes: Mitch McConnell!

Someone else suggested: Prayers really are answered.

“Absolutely not,” I was able to say without hesitation. “If that were true, Mitch McConnell’s tongue would have fallen out for lying, Sarah Palin would have gained at least 400 pounds (most of them in the form of warts on her face), and at least a couple of Republicans would have developed a conscience or accidentally spoken a truth.

“How can anyone be so heartless?” Someone tossed out on an internet site.

“Simple,” I typed. “Apparently, being born Mitch McConnell makes heartless simple.”

“Who could possibly think it’s a good idea to give tax breaks to the wealthiest and then deny a $250 pittance to those who depend on social security?”

“Mitch McConnell’s party,” I shouted.

And to think, a few months ago, there were actually people in this country who didn’t know who you are. I doubt that will happen again – ever.

On Behalf of My Grandchildren, Senator McConnell, I Share My Pain with You

Surely, when your party talks about “sharing the pain” you don’t mean that as a one-way offer. It would only be fair if we share our respective pain with one another, right?

So you’ll know what to expect, I will describe my pain. It isn’t something I enjoy doing, but I think you deserve to know what you're in for.

If I sleep more than five straight hours (almost impossible these days), I wake with my eyelids stuck to my eyeballs, stiff joints and sometimes dislocated hips and/or shoulders if I accidentally roll over during the night. The eyes are more bothersome than painful, but a dislocated hip can be excruciatingly painful if the muscles have reacted. It will probably disgust you to know that I don’t brush my teeth right away, because there’s less chance of my jaw or wrist dislocating if I wait an hour or so. I hope you can deal with the dry mouth that long.

The fun part about sharing my pain, though, is that it changes so frequently that there is never a dull moment. I can start a project with an aching wrist and finish it feeling as though my knee is separating or my neck might break from the weight of my head. Dull aches fill some days while others are mostly electrical shock sensations. Increased eye pressure will make me completely forget that my left arm is numb or that my skin is so fragile it hurts for my hair to brush my cheek. If you’ve never had a Charlie horse in your neck, your breast, or your chest, or a flared intercostal nerve, I’m afraid you are in for a huge surprise. And if you haven’t fallen flat on the floor because you didn’t know your knee or hip was out when you tried to stand, you haven’t lived the wild life. Better buckle your seatbelt!

But something tells me this isn’t the pain you had in mind. So, I promise I will carry half the heartbreak of turning over your fortune to pay for that stupid war you started and, in return, I will only ask that you suffer an hour or two of wondering how we’ll survive if the social security check is cut and the Medicare deductible raised. We can split wondering how to pay the utility bills even-Steven but I’ll carry the brunt of the aches that accompany living in this cold, drafty place. Don’t thank me because I’m not that nice; I simply don’t think you are strong enough to endure as much as I do.

So far, I think I’ve been extremely fair. However, about that “cancer” you are trying to inflict on my grandchildren – it all changes here. You did say that increasing the deficit is a cancer to our children and grandchildren, and now you are holding our government hostage until we allow you to inflict a HUGE $700 billion cancer on our children and grandchildren. (I assume you mean mine since I haven’t heard anything about your children and grandchildren.) I refuse to share your guilt for that. I have pleaded with you for years not to hurt my grandchildren so you get to carry this one on your own.

I could have done more to warn my fellow Kentuckians about you. I could have campaigned harder for your opponents. But those children were not involved; they did not get a vote, and there was nothing they could have done to protect themselves from you. Guilt isn’t something I do well and considering the rest of my pain and my willingness to share yours, I deserve this break from your guilt.

I will also claim an exemption from the burn of the blood that is on your hands now, as well as what is to come. You do know, don’t you, that the decisions you are making now will cost lives. Closer lives – not lives of strangers in foreign countries that don’t seem real – people right here in your city and state will die because you want them to. Others will want to die because of the life you have forced them into by thinking that protecting your tax break is more important than their lives. That will be a heavy load, Senator McConnell, that the people who voted for you will have to help you with. Not me. My clear conscience is not negotiable.

Please let me know when you plan to hand over your fortune to pay off your war. I need time to prepare for sharing that pain with you and I’ll want to order balloons and noisemakers.

Since you continue to shirk your responsibilities and embarrass us by not hanging around to hear what others have to say, I'm bringing this to you:



And I ask that you respond to Sen. Mary L. Landrieu's question about how Democrats were supposed to negotiate with you after you've said repeatedly that your top priority is to see President Obama defeated in 2012.

Sincerely,

Sandy

Today's Short response to Senator McConnell

"All of this finger-pointing is doing nothing to create jobs," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "It's a total waste of time."

My response: Then put your middle finger down now and stop wasting our time.

Lame Duck Laundry List For Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

I spent the evening trying to decide how to address you. If I were your boss, I would fire you, effective immediately. If I were your spouse, my bags would be packed and there would be no looking back. If I were your friend – well, I would question my sanity for that decision. I think you deserve to be put in timeout for behaving like a two-year-old.

I’ve decided to address you like the despicable, dishonest bully that you are. The only thing that exceeds your dishonesty is the gall it takes to stand with a straight face and say that you care about the American people, and that the election was a month ago so you wonder why the Democrats have stalled. I’ve had enemies treat me with more respect and kindness than you do, and I can’t imagine anyone trying to insult my intelligence more often than you do. It would be laughable if it weren’t so important and so pathetic.

Your stall tactics are as transparent as the rest of your lies. You were sent to Washington to do a job, and that job affects my life, along with the lives of everyone I care about. If you don’t want to do that job, resign. Who do you think you are to hold us and our government hostage? Seriously, what on earth makes you think this is acceptable? It is blackmail – some say it is treason. I will join any and every group that tries to prove either of these, and I will give them all of my time. Legal counsel advised recently that there will be grounds for a class action suit when the people can prove personal damage as a direct result of your refusal to act on important matters in a timely manner. I hope what you delivered in writing to Senator Reid today will serve as proof that you have done exactly that.

Here is what THIS American person (and the majority of others I have spoken with) expects you to do, immediately:

• Let the Bush tax breaks expire for income over $250,000
• Speak out openly, loudly, and immediately against the violence your party is inciting, and the civil war they are encouraging
• Pass the Disclose Act
• Repeal DADT
• Ratify the START treaty
• Pass the DREAM act
• Extend unemployment benefits
• Keep your hands off Social Security and Medicare
• Say NO to your party’s absurd attempts to dismantle the constitution

There is no excuse to stall, filibuster, stomp your feet like a spoiled brat and demand everything your way, or to lie to the American people any more. Lead your party through the appropriate actions to get these things done quickly and smoothly during this lame duck session, and don’t imply that anyone other than you is responsible for this heavy load during the final weeks. You have obstructed for years. You blew off the President when he invited you to the White House after the midterm. You have stated repeatedly that your only goal is to obstruct this President at the expense of THE American people.

That is the truth. Own it. You’re living in a YouTube world now, and we aren’t all foolish enough to deny what we’ve seen and heard for ourselves.

Disgusted,

Sandy

p.s. The cost of Cokes did not double today. Truth is, they were on sale last week and returned to the regular cost today. Same as nobody is "raising" taxes by allowing Bush's "sale" to end - as planned, by the Republicans. You might want to get honest about that, too.

Senator McConnell Isn’t As Loveable As Uncle Charlie

To put it as nicely as possible, Uncle Charlie was full of crap and everyone knew it. He told me wild tales about pulling the plug in the bathtub, Daddy swirling down the drain, and someone having to rescue him from the river. He had fish stories, and deer stories, and the big, unbelievable stories about most every topic. He was fun, because we knew not to believe him.

He also played games. With me, it started out he would give me a quarter if I would scratch his back. I scratched his back – over here, a little higher, harder in the middle – until my fingernails threatened to fall off. When I finally cried uncle, he said he would pay me that quarter next time he saw me. I knew I would never see that quarter but about five years into this game I did remind him that next time never got there. He upped it to a dollar then, and said he was saving those quarters and dollars in the attic for me.

When I started bringing boyfriends around, Uncle Charlie told them what I would be able to buy with that money – houses, cars, big things, since I had faithfully scratched his back for so many years. I scratched, smiled, and rolled my eyes at the boyfriends, knowing I would never see a cent. Uncle Charlie wanted his back scratched, I didn’t mind doing it, and that was all there was to the story.

If I had believed – past the age of six – that Uncle Charlie was going to pay me those quarters, I would have been naïve. I would also have been terribly disappointed and he would have been a jerk if I had depended on that money to buy a house, or car, or anything big or small.

For some reason, this game isn’t nearly as much fun when President Obama plays me and Senator McConnell is Uncle Charlie.

Thanksgiving, Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

I purposely omitted “Happy” from the title because I am sticking to my honesty campaign and, the truth is, Thanksgiving is not the happiest day of the year for me. I do, however, have much to be thankful for I just rehash those things every day except the one day assigned. I’m rebellious that way; never loved anyone more because it was Valentine’s Day, or dreaded winter any more or less because of something a groundhog did or did not see.

Thanksgiving will always live under the cloud of having been the day my father was diagnosed with cancer and, consequently, the day my happy world changed. I had known disappointments before then, even had some complications in my life at the time, but nothing (so far) compares to the devastation I felt that day (although December 13, 2000 was a close second). I knew my father would not survive because his eyes died that Thanksgiving Day, resembling the heartbreaking, lost forever look in the eyes of many fighters returning from war. I hope you have met a few so you will understand what I’m talking about.

I’m writing this while my pumpkin cake cooks, and I’ll go through the motions tomorrow, preparing the rest of the meal, smiling and playing games with the family, and allowing myself one day of the year to be defiantly thankful even though I know it is irrational to begrudge a day for causing me sorrow. I’ll post this tonight but expect you and your staff to be out tomorrow. When that occurred to me, I wondered who you will think of most on your day off – the unemployed who wish they didn’t have another day off, the people fighting the wars you started, or maybe the people who are stuck in hospitals receiving cancer diagnoses and hoping you heard Wendell Potter’s confession about destroying Michael Moore’s movie SICKO and creating the fake grassroots group that purposely destroyed our ability to have an honest debate about health care reform.

If you let me know which library is most convenient for you, I’ll have them hold Mr. Potter’s book, Deadly Spin, for you. Maybe, you will be thankful for the opportunity to denounce your Party for stealing the truth from the public, and for the opportunity to apologize for your continuance of that deception, and most of all the opportunity to call press conferences, appear on talk shows, and speak with newspaper reporters to set the record straight. If timing ever worked this well for me, I would be extremely grateful.

As I watched my father die, and as I contemplated my own mortality a couple of times, I realized some of the things that I am most grateful for (364 days a year). One of those is that money really does not matter in the big picture. Sure, it’s nice to be able to afford effective pain management when terminal, or when politicians have decided that tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% are more important than universal health care, or even affordable medications, but money cannot buy peace of mind, a clear conscience, a second chance to make things right, or respect.

I guess, on Friday, I will be grateful to you for reminding me how grateful I am that my father spent his life giving to others, harming no one, playing fair, lifting everyone he met, and honestly making this a better world just by being himself. If given the opportunity to choose a perfect life, I would have to say that I have had it because I was raised by an honest, loving man. Maybe he set the standards too high, and that's why I expect so much more than I get from you.

Today, I ask you to consider history and legacy. Your name will appear in the history books, possibly as one of the people instrumental in bringing down the Unites States of America. I’m not sure that even our enemies will consider you a hero for that; I think it will be an ugly page that no one should truly want to see their name on. If it all falls apart tomorrow, or even if things continue as they are headed, I believe this is how you will be remembered. No amount of money, or power, or Texas textbooks will change that. The truth lives in all of us, and it will live for generations after you are gone. My grandchildren will carry their knowledge and disdain for you the same as they carry love and respect for the great grandfather they never met, as will many others.

You have time, Senator McConnell, to make things right and to change that legacy. In one day, you could stand before the public and clean things up. You could correct the lies your party spread about health care reform, and be honest about what a mistake it would be to borrow money to help the top 2% move more jobs overseas while the middle class dies. You could admit the accomplishments President Obama has made and vow to help him improve on those to make up for your obstructionism this past year. And you could surely influence Senator Kyle regarding START and become a hero for making the world a safer place.

I will be thankful if you do.

Sincerely,

Sandy

We're Tired of Turdblossom Politics, Senator McConnell

Dear Senator McConnell:

I suppose you think when those microphones are in your face you are only speaking to your base, so you can say whatever you want and everyone will believe you. That defies reality, Senator McConnell. The truth is, all of us are listening, and we recognize statements like the following as nothing other than Turdblossom Politics. We deserve more. We expect more. I demand more.

I'm back to parse a few more of your words (can't say I didn't warn you or I'm not good for my word).

"It's time Congress got its priorities straight," [Senator McConnell] said. "It's time Congress focused on job creation -- and that means preventing tax hikes. It's time to set aside the political votes and government spending that the administration and Democratic leaders have put above all other priorities for two years."

Tax hikes? Seriously? When the sale ends and prices return to normal, do you also call those price increases? Calling returning to the original tax rates a ‘hike’ is purposefully misleading, which is not polite, honest, or acceptable.

“We are experiencing what can only be described as a jobs crisis, a sustained period of chronic unemployment; and two years of policies that have vastly increased the size and scope of government and added trillions to the debt and have done little to alleviate this problem.”

Same with implying that the jobs crisis is a result of the last two years. If there is a shred of truth in that, it’s because you have obstructed. The full truth is that President Obama inherited this crisis and you have vowed to do everything in your power to prevent his success in correcting it.

So you will know exactly how much I understand your tactics, I will share what I have observed over the last decade of paying close attention to you guys in Washington as well as communicating with your base out here in the real world. It’s not pretty.

There is an undeniable pattern. Hateful, distracting comments made only to discredit intelligent debate most often come from puppets who are doing what they're always instructed to do – project their guilt onto others. The most brilliant of Turdblossom's devious plans was to turn his brainless wonders loose and have them accuse the opposition of their sins and crimes, either before they pull them off, or before the news worms its way through the media and gets to people who aren't perceptive or paying attention.

The people railing against President Obama are victims. They've been injected by the Turd, and you – perhaps because you have no choice other than to adhere to your leader - who knows they don't have the fortitude to change the channel or see the light, and that they certainly aren't smart enough to recognize or admit the truth when it comes around. They're so infected that they'll keep on spreading Rove’s venom long after he is insignificant (like syphyllis, he's the gift that keeps on giving) and after everyone who isn't also infected sees their scars and knows to back away.

I pay close attention to their accusations. They are almost always what your Party is being accused of, charged with, or investigated for, or the next scandal to break about you. It's clever because it works on so many levels. It distracts from real issues that you can’t or won’t discuss, it infuriates the opposition, it maintains your minions because they feel important for being able to distract and get attention and, most importantly, it takes the wind out of the sails when news of your crimes and scandals breaks. It 'feels like' old news.

Clever, but not nice, moral, or ethical.

On the positive side, if we pay close attention to your accusations we will always know exactly what you are trying to hide. In this case, you are running from the crisis you created. You know what? No one can run that fast. It will stay a step ahead of you so you are only wasting our time with these dishonest statements.

Please reconsider. Everyone I’ve talked to is tired of wasting time.

Sincerely,

Sandy

Finally! A Response From Senator McConnell

I guess Senator McConnell has backed off his promise to “do nothing” now that he interprets the midterm as a mandate for his party. Finally, a response. And it doesn’t look like the typical form letter responses I used to receive.

However, although I am thrilled to see the final line where he encourages me to keep writing, the feelings I have about the rest of the letter fall way short of being pleased, or successfully patronized. I’ll break down my thoughts and feelings below the letter.


Thank you for contacting me with your concerns. You’re welcome but I consider it my civic responsibility to contact you with my concerns. I also, as I mentioned in one of my letters, consider it a matter of life and death. Literally.

I appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective with me. It has been my pleasure to do so. It has also been my pleasure to share the facts with you, and I feel just a whole lot disappointed that you fail to mention that in your response. How am I to believe that you will amend your public statements and/or your opinions and votes based on the corrected information if you don’t tell me? My perspective is important to me, as I see it is to you, but the facts matter much more.

I believe there is always some common ground even between those who might disagree on some particular issues. I suppose this is true. I honestly feel a bit disappointed in myself for not being able to identify even one issue on which we might share common ground because I am positive there must be one. You have my assurance that I will review your stances – as soon as you publish them in detail enough for me to do so – and identify the common areas.

I want what is best for my constituents, and I work hard [each?] and every day to improve lives of Kentuckians. Okay, maybe we do agree on the right to die. I, too, advocate for the right to die since I live with a number of painful diagnoses for which there are no cures and have considered the possibility that there will come a time when I will decide that I would rather die than continue living in this body. However, I believe this is a decision that only I should be allowed to make, and do not appreciate that you have decided that “what is best for me” is allowing you to serve on my death panel. Nor do I think it is my best interest for you to decide that homeless and hungry is better than the way I am living now. Granted, I live small, but I happen to be happy this way. The $2,000 deductible and cut in social security that you support would complicate my life enough to make health and happiness extremely hard to maintain and I do not think that is in my best interest.

I don’t think it is in the best interest of my children, grandchildren, and fellow Kentuckians to be without jobs, without safety nets, without oversight, or without representation in the Senate. Which brings me to the past year, when you have done nothing but say no and vow to undermine the President we elected. That was not in our best interest and does not, by any standards I would embrace, indicate “working hard” to improve our lives.

While we might disagree on the means, I hope at least our aims are common – better lives for the people of Kentucky. I hate to sound trite but I suppose this depends on your definition of better. From what I’ve seen and heard from you, we don’t share a common definition. To me, better means an improvement, not going backwards as you and your party suggest.

It is a distinct honor for me to represent my fellow citizens in the United States Senate, and I try hard to maximize the opportunity to help the Commonwealth at every turn. Commonwealth is an interesting word from someone who thinks the wealth should belong to 2% of the people. So is maximize, from someone who vowed to do nothing but obstruct, and carried through on that promise.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Again, it has been my pleasure, as well as my responsibility. I tend to maximize my disability by using my mind and heart and what little energy I have left to uphold my civic responsibilities from this chair. However, I am preparing my resume to apply for one of the jobs you will create with your bloated share of the “commonwealth” should you manage to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the top 2% in lieu of keeping me alive. I have experience with utilization of government healthcare, and I am a great reader, so I think you could use me in your office. The doctors will be upset with me but I don’t intend to go down without fighting for my life.

Please keep me informed of those issues that are important to you. You betcha!

Senator McConnell, I have written numerous letters, carefully documenting specifics. This is much better than the typical form-letter response but I am still disappointed that you did not provide a single answer to any of my questions, or one tiny specific regarding what you and your party plan to do – nothing about your plan for jobs, what we give up since you’ve changed your mind about earmarks, your plan for healthcare, what jobs you have created and will create with your tax breaks, why you blew off the President and think we should not be embarrassed, why you have made so many dishonest statements in public . . .

Sincerely,

Sandy

What Will We Forfeit When Senator McConnell Gives Up Earmarks?

I remembered to smile when I dialed, not only because I know that is the best way to sound pleasant on the phone, or because I'm generally not in a good mood before noon, but also because a night of sleep hadn't eased the anger yesterday's news generated. But it wasn't necessary. The pleasant voice on the other end of the phone would have made me smile as soon as she answered. If I were looking for a friend instead of answers, the person answering the phone in Senator McConnell's office would serve my purpose.

Today, I reminded her that Senator McConnell has provided a lot to this state through earmarks


Fiscal Year(s) 2008-2010 Number Cost
Solo Earmarks 134 $298,062,000
With Other Members 66 $159,862,325
All Congressional 200 $457,924,325
All Sponsored Earmarks 233* $1,535,993,325*



and asked what we should expect to give up now that he has reversed his opinion and sworn off earmarks.

The girl in his office did not know. She did take my name and address and promise to pass my question on to him in Washington so he could respond.

Senator McConnell said that with Republicans clear on their commitment to cut spending, attention will turn to Obama. "If the president ends up with total discretion over spending, we will see even more clearly where his priorities lie," McConnell said.

Of course, the Republicans have not been exactly "clear" - as in giving specifics about what they want to cut. In fact, they have run from that question, and they are refusing to serve on the Appropriations Committee. That makes it impossible to believe this is anything more than childish posturing.

Since banning earmarks will not make any difference in spending, the honest debates at this point would be: 1) where Republicans want to cut spending, and 2) line-item veto. But that would not be as self-serving as what Senator McConnell is trying to accomplish with his ban on earmarks.

I'm anxious to see how quickly he responds to my question.

Tax Breaks Are Not About Creating Jobs, Senator McConnell?

I called Senator McConnell’s Louisville office today to ask a few questions. The woman who answered the phone was pleasant and seemingly willing to help, it just wasn’t easy for her to provide answers that either don’t exist or are difficult to admit.

Since his website boasts: “I’m extremely proud of the clarity my Republican colleagues have expressed about what our priorities must be, and that we have listened to the American people,” I asked for clarification of exactly what those priorities might be. She said, “Health care and taxes.”

After consulting my dictionary to make certain I understood the definition of the word clarity, I asked for more. Exactly what does his party plan to do about health care and taxes? She told me they would repeal and revise the health care bill and hope to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Only, she didn’t say wealthy. And she directed me to Senator McConnell’s website for clarity.

I said I had been to the website and didn’t find the information I was seeking so I had a few more questions. What jobs has Senator McConnell created with his tax breaks so far, and what jobs will he create if his tax breaks are extended? She told me he didn’t have to disclose what he does with his personal finances and that the tax break is not relevant to creating jobs.

You could have fooled me. I’m quite certain that job creation has been one of the major “selling points” for extending the Bush Tax Breaks for the top 2%. But I gave her that one and asked what he plans to do for the community with the money he keeps if the extensions go through. Again, she told me he does not have to disclose what he does with his personal finances.

The only conclusion I can draw from this conversation is that Senator McConnell wants the tax break for his personal finances and it has absolutely nothing to do with THE American People.

Just as I thought.

Tomorrow’s question will be: What are you planning for Kentuckians to forfeit when you give up earmarks?