Letters to my children
America, a country in peril
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From Letters to My Children, by Joe Patenaude ABOUT THESE LETTERS Working people of America, WAKE UP, Republicans can no longer continue to destroy us, our new President will reverse this meltdown of the middleclass. Republicans have a WAR without an end, bringing our country down. Their energy policy is drill, drill, drill; they destroyed our economy, housing and our pensions, aided by Wall Street greed. America’s National Security was put in the hands of political hacks. Healthcare and education have been turned into a national disgrace. REAGAN Democrats and no term limits are to blame, but we can reverse course from complete destruction. We need NATIONAL UNIONS to protect our workers who were decimated by UNION BUSTING, started by Republican President Ronald Reagan. We now face the biggest, most dangerous union in the world, Communist China, who is on the road to…... It’s happening today, August 14, 2007. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS IN AMERICA. Our workers are being pushed to the bottom by capitalist GREED, aided by Republican politicians, with tax breaks for corporations that move to foreign countries. Wall Street...... PRO LIFE OR PRO CHOICE Hi Everybody; Divisive, destructive, devastating, disingenuous, and many other words can describe the way religious and political leaders use this tragic problem of our society, ABORTION, to divide our country. Most people have problems when dealing with this issue, and the last thing we should be doing is using it as a political football. Republicans use these LABELS to convey the idea that being Pro Life, means against Abortion and they should be, FOR LIFE. Pro choice, means for abortion and therefore, AGAINST LIFE. Very deceiving, these labels apply to one instant in life or death, .... Until unwanted pregnancies are eliminated through education and prevention, we need to provide a workable solution, not a law to criminalize pregnant women. Abortion has been used as a wedge by the Republican party for decades. It has divided modern America like no other issue, that is until Iraq. Now the Republican horizon has shifted to a disaster they created, and refuse to stop. This unjust war, is killing and maiming 100’s of thousands of people and displacing millions of Iraqi citizens. Are these the values of the Christian Right? Do they believe innocent people should be slaughtered because an irresponsible Republican President that controls our military, has made a horrific mistake? IS IT A BIGGER CRIME, A SIN AGAINST HUMANITY, TO PERFORM AN ABORTION OR TO PUT A GUN TO SOMEONE’S HEAD AND BLOW HIS BRAINS TO SMITHEREENS? Only YOU can answer that! THINK! If we devoted 1% of the money we are squandering in Iraq, on the abortion problem, we could have helped millions of distressed women and their unborn. Does America care? We must care if we want to be a civilized society. .... CAPITALISM OR COMMUNISM The world’s corporate owners become deaf, dumb, and blind, to the absolute oppression used by Communist governments, while they are providing slave labor for the capitalist factories. Do they also forget, that Communism destroys Democracy. And ultimately all FREE PEOPLE. WILL THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COLLAPSE BECAUSE OF THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTION OF OUR SOCIETY BY REPUBLICANS, CORPORATIONS, AND PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH? We are faced with a TRILLION dollar war bill...... The American Dream, my children and grandchildren, and every American born hereafter to be able to have and enjoy. The good life, for all our future workers. Sending our jobs to Communist China and India started the devastation of our workers. It will crush THE AMERICAN DREAM. FREEDOM, to vote, worship, pick your job, all the things we take for granted, denied under Communism........ AMERICAN HERO OR REPUBLICAN MYTH HOW THE REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO APPEAR LIKE RONALD REAGAN, REAGANESQUE. Hi Everyone; President Ronald Reagan was one of the most admired presidents of modern history. His ability to charm, enrapture an audience, create a good feeling when there should not be one, was better than any president before him. It was probably the result of his acting career. I remember him as the announcer for General Electric Theater and the host of Death Valley Days, both on television. Republicans want to emulate him because he convinced Democrats and Independents, especially those who work for a living, to commit ECONOMIC SUICIDE. They bought their own noose and hung themselves, by voting for the people and ideals of the Republican party. That’s why all Republicans want to return to the days of Ronald Reagan; he convinced Democrats to support a philosophy that reduced workers wages, ..... HEALTHCARE Well it turns out that political parties have very much to do with healthcare, and with our very quality and length of life. If we provide everything for some, and nothing for those in need, we will in fact fit in the Republican Pro Life category, where most “conservatives” claim to be today, VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED to good healthcare for a longer life and better quality of life, for EVERYONE. It had been standard procedure in the past, that doctors were the kings, they reigned supreme over the life and death of most people. Now the insurance companies are playing with our lives. A file clerk, deciding without so much as an instant of hesitation, if you deserve to have life saving treatment. The FORM says “you can live another day”, or the FORM says “you are going to die”. It’s the FORM, everything is checked against you, we cannot prevent you from dying. Doctor’s opinions are not needed, it is NOT covered. No reprieve from DEATH ROW. Any last wishes? Is providing healthcare for children, they are America’s FUTURE and there is nothing more AMERICAN, a national priority? Only hot dogs and apple pie come close. You would expect it would be from any responsible person in America. Our Republican President asks congress for $180 Billion for the war one day, then vetoes a bill the next day that provides $7 billion more a year to maintain and expand child healthcare so additional AMERICAN families would be eligible. Do you remember the Republicans shouting “We are for Family Values”? How about demonstrating something that supports..... Politicians have promised for decades to enact term limits, they have broken every promise, we will send them into the land of “no returns”. Enact voter enforced TERM LIMITS Incumbent politicians, like many other leaders, have led the working people of America down a road to certain ECONOMIC RUIN, by allowing corporations to decimate their wage structure, reduce healthcare coverage and put their pension plans in shambles. American companies must have some obligation to their workers, as well as to their stockholders, it should be a law. Our present day elected officials have failed us miserably. Or is it simply that ......
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About the Book
ABOUT THESE LETTERS Many years have gone by since my children were young and the world was full of promises. America, the best country in the world where working persons, using their abilities, a lot of effort and hard work, could participate in the AMERICAN DREAM, creating the lifestyle desired by most people around the world. Now, fifty years later most of the opportunities for working people are fading into the sunset, most new jobs are not for middleclass working Americans. I am writing about the demise of our society in America, that effects every person and will have a profound effect on our children and future generations. These letters are to my ten children and sixteen(now seventeen) grandchildren, telling them how America is changing, and not for the better. Capitalists continue on their path for PROFITS, at any human cost, much like in the days of the 19th century, as told by our great grandparents. Now they have abandoned our workers to support a Communist Country who is NOT a friend of democracy. Politicians distort the truth, tell outright lies and they have betrayed the American people. They have put us(workers) in the path of an economic tsunami that will devastate all of America. Republican disdain for the working men and women of America is now producing the dreaded results of lost jobs, lost pensions and a lost future for ALL OUR CHILDREN. Republicans help their capitalist friends cuddle with COMMUNISTS while this Republican President bombs innocent people in the middle east. This unjust Iraq war has killed and maimed 100’s of thousands of people and displaced millions of Iraqi citizens. Are these the values of the Christian Right or any Christians? Do we believe innocent people should be slaughtered because an irresponsible Republican President that controls our military, has made a horrific mistake? IS IT A BIGGER CRIME, A SIN AGAINST HUMANITY, TO PERFORM AN ABORTION OR TO PUT A GUN TO SOMEONE’S HEAD AND BLOW HIS BRAINS TO SMITHEREENS? Only YOU can answer that! THINK! WILL THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COLLAPSE BECAUSE OF THE RUTHLESS DESTRUCTION OF OUR SOCIETY BY REPUBLICANS, CORPORATIONS, AND PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH? President Ronald Reagan was one of the most admired presidents of modern history. His ability to charm, enrapture an audience, create a good feeling when there should not be one, was better than any president before him. It was probably the result of his acting career. I remember him as the announcer for General Electric Theater and the host of Death Valley Days, both on television. Republicans want to emulate him because he convinced Democrats and Independents, especially those who work for a living, to commit ECONOMIC SUICIDE. They bought their own noose and hung themselves, by voting for the people and ideals of the Republican party. We have had UNION BUSTING, greed and corruption gone wild. To recover workers need NATIONAL UNIONS, where everyone is protected from capitalism turned ugly. My children(who are adults now) and grandchildren, and every American born hereafter should be able to achieve THE AMERICAN DREAM. We must show our young people that it is THEIR country and they can reverse this economic and social tragedy my generation has created.. Many of our young people do not know that the political party that has helped the working person for the last 100 years is the Democratic Party. But we need a new direction, we are in a global economy and America must stand as one nation, not Democrat or Republican, but as Americans, in an AMERICAN PARTY, if we are to survive as the world leaders. AMERICA IN PERIL American workers must WAKE UP, Republicans have decimated us. A WAR without an end, they are NOT PRO LIFE, our middleclass is now second class, their energy policy of $4.00 gas, an economy destroyed by Wall Street greed, our National Security is in the hands of political hacks, healthcare and education are a national disgrace. REAGAN Democrats and Independents helped elect these rogue politicians, with our new President we can change direction, now.
About the Author
Florida Author gets a second chance at life. A human interest story that is an inspiration in these times of great unknowns. How LOVE, great medical care, hard work and luck helped this senior citizen recover from what could have been a life ending tragedy. Everything was going great, at 71 years old my health was holding up with the help of medications to treat a few common chronic illnesses. Then, what seemed like a bolt out of the blue, a life changing event sent me a devastating blow to the head, it was a stroke. A call to 911, EMS personnel preparing me for the trip to the hospital, then test after test, doctors conferring to determine how extensive the stroke had damaged my brain. It was a very serious problem, I most probably would never walk again or enjoy all the things we take for granted. Lying in bed the next few days, watching the activity around me but barely able to respond with any sounds that could be understood, although I could hear and understand the conversations of the doctors and my family, it was the last thing I ever expected, my independence, my idea that I could always take care of anything, dissolved into the reality that I needed help for everything, something everyone hopes will never happen to them. Barely able to move, it was as if half of my body had been cooked in a microwave, it was impossible to do almost any simple thing, like roll over on my side to relieve the pressure of being in one spot for a long time or to raise my head to take the never ending stream of medications. Life, as I had known it for all those years had come to an end, a very depressing thought. The next step was therapy, physical, speech, occupational emotional, a recovery process that continues today, four years after my stroke. Physical therapists began to work on my body and my mind, trying to stimulate my non-responsive muscles and brain, the first step of a long and sometimes difficult journey. The brain can learn new things, even years after a devastating stroke. The power and flexibility of the brain, my loving supportive wife, the excellent physical therapists and medical doctors had helped me recover from what seemed to be an inevitable loss of independence. After two years, .I was able to sit at my computer and start typing. At first it was a battle of my fingers vs. the keys, striking 2 or three keys a time, but in the end I was able to write LETTERS TO MY CHILDREN, America, a country in peril. This book is my impression of why we are facing the extreme challenges in our society, something my 10 children and 17 grandchildren and all young people in America should know.