His Own Kind

I don't want to say. After all, he is my own kind.
-Opie, on The Andy Griffith Show, when asked what he thought of another kid's behavior.

Back in April, in response to the uproar in this country caused by the price of gas going up and the news that oil companies made billions of dollars in profits this quarter, Senate Republican majority leader Bill Frist decide that the way to address problem was to offer every American a $100 gas rebate check. This federal money would be passed out two months before an election. This ticked me off and I quickly wrote an e-mail to my state senator saying the Republican Party could not buy my vote so cheaply. I also said that with the country so deeply in debt it was a bad idea. And that the tax breaks the legislators give oil companies keeps who-knows-how-many tax dollars from being collected that could help with this debt. And I told him that the Republicans should stop putting their party first and start putting what is good for this country first.

Anyway, I got a letter back Saturday:

April 27, 2006

Dear Ms Shannon,

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding energy company policies and profits. I appreciate you taking the time to contact me. There is no better guide for making tough decisions that hearing from the people whom I serve.

Due to years of neglect and shortsighted domestic policies, America is currently on the verge of an energy crisis. We have not allowed our supply of energy to keep up with our increasing demand. Due to this imbalance in supply and demand, as well as the recent high cost of crude oil and other factors, energy companies posted large profits in FY2005 and early FY2006.

In an effort to review energy company policies and profits, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, of which I am a member, held a hearing on March 14, 2006, to review consolidation in the oil and gas industries. I will be certain to keep your concerns in mind, should any legislation regarding oil and gas industry consolidation comes before the Judiciary Committee.

I believe it is also important to continue working to correct or country's imbalance in energy supply and demand. Diversifying America's fuel supply is one way to help correct this problem. To that end, on November 16, 2005, I cosponsored the Vehicle and Fuel Choices for American Security Act (S.2025) with Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and a bipartisan group of eight other Senators. One of the bill's primary aims would be to expand our renewable fuels infrastructure though a variety of means (grants, tax credits, and loan guarantees); and expand research and development in critical areas like cellulosic ethanol. These types of solutions not only reduce foreign oil imports, but are economically beneficial to Kansas and the Midwest.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please be assured that I will keep your concerns in mind. I encourage to visit my website at brownback.senate.gov for additional information on this and other issues on which I am working. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.

Sincerely,

Sam

Sam Brownback
United States Senator


I love getting a form letter back that does not address anything I brought up. The fact that his signature (Sam) is laser printed on the paper along with the rest of the letter screams form letter. That stupid sentence at the end of the letter where he encourages me to visit his website tells me that he didn't even read my e-mail.

This is a weasel letter. Much ado about nothing. Pass the buck time.

"Hey, I've been working! Look at all the deck chairs I've already moved!"

And I am sick of it. This guy has been in the Senate since 1996 so when he writes, Due to years of neglect and shortsighted domestic policies, America is currently on the verge of an energy crisis, he is talking about himself and most of the other people up there on the hill with him. All of them should get their butts in gear, stop kowtowing to the oil companies, stop trying to come up with quick fixes in an effort to do as little political damage to themselves as possible, and make some serious decisions that do not, in the long run, pass the problem on to the next generation.