An Open Letter to John Culberson

December 20, 2009

Representative John Culberson, 7th District

514 Longworth Building

Washington DC 20515-4307

10000 Memorial Drive, Suite 620

Houston, TX  77024-3490

Dear Representative Culberson:

Thank you for your response to my letter expressing my opinion on health care reform with another of your empty, partisan, form letters written by someone on your staff. I truly appreciate the time it took one of your minions to add me to the distribution list of constituents you don't pay attention to. I read everyone one of your letters before I throw them in the trash where they belong. This time, however, I thought I would let you know how closely I read everyone one of them. And, by the way, I have composed and typed this myself.

In your form letter to me, you opened with: "In the last year, the federal government has taken over portions of the banks, the auto industry, and the housing industry."

Ahem, might I remind you that YOU are a member of the Federal government.

You have spent time focusing on issues that don't further the advancement and cohesiveness of this country and its citizens, such as signing on as a co-sponsor of HR 1503, the bill introduced as a reaction to conspiracy theories which claimed that President Obama is not a natural born US citizen. This was in June of 2009, seven months AFTER the election. We were pretty well ensconced in the recession at that point, but you're still beating a dead horse rather than corralling the one that's gone off the trail.

Let's look at what you HAVE spent time on recently ...

You voted FOR the bill blocking funding for economic stabilization in January of this year. You know, the bill where the newly elected (by electoral AND popular vote) President was trying to clean up the financial mess from the previous administration. Interestingly enough, you voted FOR many of the bills that helped get us in the financial mess in the first place.

You voted FOR every military and defense spending bill from September 2001 to September of 2006. (George was a real sweet talker.) You've voted AGAINST every bill this year. (Those dang libruls just not saying it as sweetly?)

You've since voted AGAINST the CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2009. (Screw the kids in THIS country, and let's go blow up some more kids in other countries too, right?)

You also voted AGAINST Mortgage Restructuring In Bankruptcy because it would have helped in the investigation of mortgage fraud, and AGAINST Oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a program which would:

·      Increase reporting requirements and procedures for companies receiving TARP assistance in order to better determine how the funding was used (Sec. 101, 103).

·      Restrict the structure and compensation of executive boards of companies using TARP assistance (Sec. 102).

·      Make TARP funding available to small community financial institutions designated as S-corporations and C-corporations (Sec. 105).

In October of 2008, you voted AGAINST Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation for US citizens, and you voted FOR Continuing Appropriations such as:

·      $480.25 billion for the Department of Defense, $43.48 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, and $119.92 billion for military construction and veterans affairs (Divs. B-E).

·      Specifies that the funds appropriated in this act are not subject to a prohibition on use for offshore oil and natural gas preleasing and leasing (Div. A, Sec. 152).

·      Maintains funding levels at $7.51 billion for 2009 to fund loans of up to $25 billion in total principal for automobile manufacturers and component suppliers to pay for up to 30 percent of the cost of equipping themselves to produce vehicles or components which meet specified emissions and fuel economy standards (Div. A, Sec. 129).

How about we just slap some uniforms on all the unemployed, put a gun in their hands, and send them over there to kill some more people that didn't have anything to do with 9/11? That will take care of the problem since fewer of them will come back to continued unemployment because they'll either be dead or disabled, then you can deny them benefits for that as well, and they probably won't have any more kids who'll need that stupid CHIPS program.

In 2007, you voted AGAINST Mandatory Troop Rest Periods Between Deployments to Iraq. I'm sure the already exhausted troops and their families really appreciated that, especially when they came back in physical, mental and emotional pieces--if they came back at all.

You voted AGAINST the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (Farm Bill):

·      Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to spend $991 million during 2008-2012 - and $206 million each subsequent fiscal year - for the purchase of fruits, vegetables, and nuts for nutritious foods in domestic nutrition assistance programs and an additional $250 million during 2008-2012 for fruits and vegetables for schools (Sec. 4404). (BTW, ketchup is still not considered a vegetable, even though Repub Ronnie said so.)

·      Supports the price of dairy products by requiring the Secretary of Agriculture to buy cheddar cheese, butter, and nonfat dry milk made from milk produced in the US (Sec. 1501).

·      Establishes the Biomass Research and Development Initiative to award grants and financial assistance for the research of biofuels and biobased products (Sec. 9001).

·      Offers incentive payments for the production of oil seeds that reduce the need for hydrogenated oil (Sec. 1605).

·      Extends the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program through the 2012 fiscal year (Secs. 2101, 2203).

·      Requires pilot programs to reduce obesity in the United States (Sec. 4141).

You have voted IN FAVOR OF big oil companies 91% of the time on important oil-related bills, such as Iraq War Funding, Climate Change Studies, Clean Energy, and Ending Oil Subsidies. The majority of your campaign financing comes from the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate industry, with the second highest level coming from the Oil & Gas industry. Is it merely a coincidence that you vote AGAINST energy conservation and AGAINST preventing financial fraud?

If the people of Harris County elected you, the least you can do is take care of the people of Harris County, not your elite cronies and their lobbyists on K Street.

In your canned letter to me, you also made the statement that "fiscal conservatives recognize that our health care system needs a tune up, not a trade in." Wow, I'd like to live in your elite, health care-paid-for-by-taxpayers bubble. I want the damn trade-in and I want it NOW.

You go on to say in the form letter that "we need to preserve the doctor-patient relationship, not let government bureaucrats make health care treatment decisions." What you really mean is that we need to keep letting your goombahs in the insurance industry control who the haves and have nots are when it comes to health care. Which side of your mouth was saying what?

You made one statement I agree with: "we need to make high quality coverage affordable for everyone, not pick winners and losers." To that end, I would like my child with a chronic disease to have the same insurance that you do as a paid member of Congress working ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF HARRIS COUNTY.

We know that your views on the government "interfering in health care decisions" of private citizens doesn't transfer to your belief that the government shouldn't interfere in the definition of marriage since you co-sponsored a bill on same-sex marriage, and then didn't even VOTE on it when it came up. Coward.

I will openly state that I have NEVER voted for you and I NEVER will. I will, however, ALWAYS be watching EVERYTHING you do and publicly commenting so that others can see what a hypocrite you are.

As for your closing line in my letter, I DON'T entrust you to represent me in the US Congress and I will continue to work on behalf of your opponents every time.

Sincerely,

Laura B

Harris County, TX, Taxpaying US Citizen Contributing to your freaking salary