Hey all. I've been down for a while due to surgery. Come next Monday I
will be fully released and ready to rock. In the meantime, I want to
share this letter to with all of you. Feel free to add to it and pass it
on.


Hope you all are doing well.

========================================================


My Fellow Americans,

            We have a problem in Washington, D.C., and it is greater
than any one party, political ideology or issue. Our out of control
politicians have set themselves up as royalty; Royalty, they believe, we
are here to serve and not question. They've made clear their utter
disdain for the populace over and over again. These Washington
politicians make King George look like a benevolent novice.

            Did you know members of congress make almost $200,000 a year
in salary for working 2/3 of the year? Did you know the majority of our
elected officials in Washington are multi multi-millionaires?  Yet as
unemployment numbers continue to rise across the country, and we
struggle to keep our homes, and feed and clothe our children, our
members of congress have also given themselves the following perks at
our expense?

  1.. They get to choose from 17 gold-plated, elite, top of the line
healthcare insurance options, and they refuse to give up their choices
and include themselves in the "great" and "fair" healthcare system they
are currently attempting to force on us.

  2.. They get new, gas guzzling, luxury cars, paid for by us, while
denigrating private citizens able to afford those same luxuries at their
cost.

  3.. They get chauffeurs at our expense.


  4.. They get luxury housing and five star hotels at our expense.

  5.. They get world travel, on private planes, at our expense. Did you
know, after recently shaming car CEOs who traveled to Washington in
private planes, the house just ordered 3 private Gulf Stream Jets for
their personal use at the cost of $200 million dollars? Heaven forbid
they fly commercial, at their own expense, like us lowly peasants.

  6.. They have many luxury dining halls to choose from in the capital
building, including five star dining. This way they need not see the
dirty faces of the poor, unemployed serfs standing in food stamp and
unemployment lines. Interestingly, last year, in the middle of the
night, democrats voted to privatize the management of these dining rooms
because they were unable to run them in an economical manner.


  7.. They wrote into law automatic pay raises for themselves. This
eliminates the necessity of justifying a vote for each pay raise.
Instead of changing the law to require a vote for each pay raise, they
hide behind the law as justification for not refusing it. "Gee, what can
I do? It's the law."

  8.. They get a hefty personal expense account, to be used, as they
feel necessary. I am certain they need those new 50 inch flat screen
televisions in those nice luxury homes we pay for.

  9.. They get "gifts" from those seeking favor. These gifts range from
valued tickets to a ballgame to high priced jewelry and all expense paid
trips to exotic locations. Of course, your representative will tell you
it's for the good of the government. They accept them on our behalf.

  10.. Using the power of their office, they provide large government
contracts worth millions or billions of dollars to their friends and
highest donors, which ensures high dollar donations to their campaign
coffers and probably a kick back or two.or three.

  11.. When they refuse to pay their taxes, such as Tim Geithner and
Rep. Charles Rangel, NY, they are "honest mistakes" that are rewarded
with powers of great position. Whereas if we fail to pay our taxes, for
whatever reason, it is a criminal offense and you will probably have
your wages garnished, your bank accounts seized, your homes, cars and
personal belongings sold at auction with the proceeds going to the IRS
and you will probably go to jail.

  12.. When they are caught driving while intoxicated they go to rehab.
We go to jail.


These are just a few examples of the unjustified, unwarranted, out of
control, out of touch, benefits our multi-millionaire royal members of
congress have gifted themselves. Examples that unnecessarily cost
taxpayers millions and millions of dollars each year, yet serve as
perfect examples of the self-imposed royal status that furthers the
great divide between Washington and the masses.

With their grand salaries and personal fortunes why are these
politicians continuing to loot from us? Why are they not paying for
their own housing, planes, cars, chauffeurs, world travel, high priced
hotels, tickets, jewelry, etc? Why are they not living by the same
demands and expectations they force on others?

They laugh as they continue to enrich themselves by looting from the
taxpayers. They demonize those "evil rich corporations" and attack those
"evil rich private citizens," as they exempt themselves from the very
laws they demand we follow. "Let them eat cake," they say. Why do we
allow these "evil rich" politicians to do this?

 It is time to burn the royal robes they've sewn for themselves. It is
time to put them in their place. It is time to remind them they are
lowly servants and nothing more. We do not work for them. They work for
us. We do not answer to them. They answer to us.

Call your congressman and senator today. Remind them they serve due to
the good graces of the citizens of this nation.  They serve you, your
neighbor and me. They do not serve themselves, their friends, or their
political cronies - not anymore.

Remind them, in no uncertain terms, they are not a royal class and you
will no longer permit them to act as one.

Remind them, no matter their attempts to justify, they are not deserving
of special treatment or exceptions to the rules; The very rules they
create for the rest of us.

 Remind them what is good enough for us is good enough for them and
theirs.

 Remind them they are easily replaceable.

My fellow Americans, it matters not on which side of the political isle
you reside. Certainly we can all agree members of congress, long ago,
overstepped its bounds and continue to do so with alarming disregard for
us, the taxpayer that drives not only this nation, but their elitist
lifestyles as well.

The arrogant, pompous, self-righteous attitudes of these politicians
need be replaced immediately with permanent, genuine, humility and
gratitude.

 Let us right these wrongs now. Put these politicians in their place.

Start by ensuring the best healthcare plan for you, your family, your
neighbor and your country. Demand the politicians (and their loved
ones), from the President on down, be the first signed onto this
"wonderful" healthcare bill they are trying to "gift" us by force; The
very healthcare bill most have of them have not even bothered to read.

Demand they eliminate, at the very moment this healthcare bill is signed
into law by President Obama, their 17 gold-plated, elite, health
insurance choices.  No exceptions. No excuses.

Do it today. Do it now.

Call, email, fax and visit your representatives. Do not stop. Pressure
them to lead by example and join the very healthcare system they are
generating for the masses. Do not take "no" for an answer.

When they tell you they must have these perks in case of a national
emergency. "No," you say, "you are replaceable and there is someone
qualified to fill your position immediately in the unfortunate event
that may become necessary."

God bless America for as long as she may stand,



Virginia Shanahan

Byline: Virginia Shanahan, though angry, is not a member of any mob, nor
does any lobby group or health insurance agency finance her. She is a
married mother of three who writes freelance in her spare time.