An Open Letter to the United States Congress

Although in the past, I have written in good humor with open letters, this is not one of those times.  This is an out and out gripe fest to the idiots that have been elected to run our country.

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Dear Congress,

I am appalled with the Republicans refusal to compromise.  Do your job or lose your job.  In case you are wondering my exact position on this whole debt ceiling thing here you go:

1) I am tired of hearing about it.  Absolutely sick of it.

2) I blame the Republicans for walking away from the table repeatedly while they try and pander to the idiots who think they are "taxed enough already" and don't actually bother to see that their views and requests of their Representatives are actually more damaging to them than what is happening now.

3) For God's sake RAISE TAXES FOR THE WEALTHY.  It is NOT fair that my tax burden as an unemployed, recent college graduate and my husband's as a grad student who works more than he is paid for, is more than people who make the high 6 figures.  That is ridiculous.  I am more than happy to pay taxes for the programs I believe that this country needs.  I am not ok with the rich people doing nothing to help their country.  I can't do it by myself.

4) STOP GIVING TAX BREAKS TO OIL COMPANIES AND OTHER MAJOR CORPORATIONS WHO USE AND ABUSE THEM.  If everyone paid the same tax structure that we did under Clinton we could reduce the deficit so fast!  Forget Clinton, what about the Republican's golden boy, Reagan's tax structure?

5) End Corn subsidies.  End them now.  Reinstate the FDA's and the USDA's ability to fine the companies and meat packing industries who break the laws.  You want to subsidize something? Subsidize healthy foods that don't make this country sick.  HFCS is TERRIBLE for you, but it's impossible to avoid it because the government has made it so cheap to use.

6) And one final request for you and all of your colleagues: Put what's right for this country instead of what is right for re-election.  Grown a pair and actually help this country instead of hurt it.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jenny Jensen
A Concerned and Angry American

P.S. I also support excise taxes.

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Thank you all for your patience as I resist the urge to knock all of Congress' heads together until they pull them out of their major donor's bums.

This letter was sent directly to my district's Representative, Mike Rogers and to John Boehner.  Except with an extra "I'm disappointed in you" thrown in for Boehner's letter.  I did expand on a few things here that I didn't in the letters to them.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), now being falsely advertised as Corn Sugar!

Whether you call it HFCS, or Corn Sugar there is no denying that it is in just about EVERYTHING.  It is in everything because it's cheap.  Why is it cheap? Because there are government subsidies that makes it very profitable for big farms and forces small farms out of the business.  The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

And they aren't subsidies for corn edible immediately off of the stalk either.  It's for corn that gets ripped off the cob, thrown in silos and in piles when the silos get full - and they do - then the kernels sit, sometimes for months, years.  Then they get chemically cleaned and processed into HFCS.

If we actually put subsidies into corn edible from the stalk without any processing, do you know how many people that could feed, healthily?  A lot.  I don't know an exact number, but I will look into it and get back to you.  And, do you know how much healthier our meat would be if cows and pigs were fed grass, instead of corn?  Right now, cattle farms are feeding cows feed corn, which is not a natural part of their diet, but they feed it to them because it fattens them fast.  This in turn gets them to slaughter sooner and turns a profit sooner.  

But what does this do to the cows?  It causes all kinds of health problems for them!  The cows need antibiotics, and they get so many illnesses, and if they live too long, they die horribly.  Although being slaughtered for beef doesn't sound like the way to go either.  Anyway, in addition to that, the meat is fattier and less healthy than when cows are grass fed and free range.  You know, back in the day, when working in a slaughterhouse was an acquired skill?  But that's a rant for another day.

Alright now that I have that off my chest, a summary of a scientific article of a study about why HFCS is bad for you, with a link to the original article, will follow.

huff, I feel better.  At least until I see another frigging corn sugar commercial.

I'll leave you with a link to an article in The Consumerist about how Big Sugar is suing Big Corn for false advertising.  Enjoy!