Why do THEY keep calling me????

I will be so freaking glad when this election season is over...my phone is ringing off the hook with calls from the Republican party. You already know how I feel about "Macaca" Allen...he hasn't checked in with me since the day he became a Senator. In fact, when he was Governor of Virginia, I didn't hear from him either. But right now, my phone is ringing off the hook because George and Thelma-she-can-kiss-my-keister-too Drake, want to be able to count on MY vote. I don't think so!

The ONE and only encounter I had with him (and John Warner, and Bob McDonnell, and fortunately the FORMER Republican state representative Ed Schrock) was at a public hearing about the effects of jets (and the noise they produce) on the health, living conditions, and homes of residents living around Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, and Fentress Air Field in Chesapeake, VA. This hearing was held several years ago, and at the time, other effected residents, members of a grassroots organization called Citizens Concerned about Jet Noise, and I tried to speak with these "gentlemen" and have our voices heard by the US Navy, our mayor, our city council, members of the group investigating and making their report on these issues, and the media.

By encounter, I mean that as individuals who ARE effected by jet noise, approached these men who were elected (not by me, though) to represent the citizens' interests, they turned a collective deaf ear. They would not even acknowledge our presence. And coincidently, when the order in which "guests" were called upon to speak, those who were "pro jet noise" were given an opportunity to speak first. (Maybe we just didn't hear them call on us because of our hearing loss due to excessive jet noise!)By the time, those who are actually affected by jet noise were allowed to speak, the media was gone, our elected representatives were gone, and we were "preaching to the choir."

Let me tell you about jet noise. When we bought our home in 1995, we knew it was in the flight path of Navy jets doing their practice landings around Oceana. We knew it was loud. But it was tolerable...most of the time. The jets flew up high enough that we'd have to pause our conversation for a few seconds until the jet passed. That was then...1995.

I'm not sure just when things changed, but the jets began to fly much, much lower, then they stopped varying their path a few blocks in either direction of our neighborhood which had given residents a break, and then they started doing more practice-landings much, much later into the night. More recently the Navy has replaced the F-14 Tomcats (of Top Gun fame, I think) with FA-18 Superhornets, that are a jillion times louder.

Anyone who says they "(heart) jet noise" must be deaf, or else live elsewhere. Noise is noise. Fingers in the ears do not help. When the jets fly over, the windows stay shut and we stay indoors (as if that will help...often times we sit INDOORS with our fingers in our ears). The sound penetrates one's skull. When our kids were in elementary school, they couldn't study or sleep because of the constant racket late into the night (they're now in college and it continues). The jets fly so low that we can see the rivets on the underside of the jets. And during Hurricane Isabel, when we lost electrical power for 10 days and had to open our windows, the practice landings did not stop. It couldn't have been more miserable unless we had simply laid down on the runway. Also, there is a layer of oily something on our car and house windows.

You ask, "why don't you just move??" We have never had a problem living near a jet base; the base can be used to house (and maintain) the jets, and military personnel. But the encroachment by homes (ours is 41 years old) makes it difficult to approximate carrier landings because of all of the lights, for one thing. We have long requested an out-lying practice landing field that can provide the darkness needed for night practices, and cut down on the risk in the event of a crash. There are still plenty of rural areas just south and west of here. Unfortunately for us, the City of Virginia Beach wants the money the jet base brings in in the form of money received from the federal government and taxes at the expense of the hearing and health of at least 35,000 of its citizens, AND have allowed more homes to be built closer to the base, and within the high noise levels of the flight approaches to the base.

Our family has been called UNPATRIOTIC by those who support the noise...mostly Republicans. This really pisses me off, pardon the "French". Because I grew up near an airport in Chicago, because my dad retired after devoting 35 years to the US Air Force, because my husband gave 20 years of his life to the US Navy, because my uncle was in the Army and was responsible for graves registration in Italy during WWII for American soldiers, because my father-in-law served in the Marines, because my brother served in the Navy during the Korean "conflict", because my brother-in-law served in the Army, because my niece is serving in the Air Force, and because my son-in-law is currently a career Navy man...and because every generation of my family has served in the military defending this country since the first of my ancestors stepped foot on this soil before the Revolutionary War. Of the many citizens of this country, I feel that our family has the right to be called Patriots. Members of our family have served patriotically for over 350 years.

I challenge Macaca to demonstrate what he and his ancestors have ever done to demonstrate their patriotism besides run for political office and collect money and privilege. I DARE him and his buddies to do what they do FOR FREE. GEORGE, JOHN, THELMA...DONATE YOUR SALARIES. And open your books so we can see who has donated to YOU, and to whom you've donated (your support, your votes, and your money). Heaven knows you've made enough over the years to live comfortably for the rest of your lives.

I suggest that they wouldn't know how to live life as the rest of us do...paycheck to paycheck. See if THEY could put four kids through college, pay a mortgage and car payments, food and utilities on what the REST OF US DO. Give up that government-privilege retirement check for life, and accept social security and personal retirement accounts as the rest of us are expected to. It seems to me (I'm back in college and studying Western Civilization right now) that there have been "civilizations" in the past, where the common folk got fed up with their representatives and fought back. Why do we accept this bull-dookie from our elected officials? WE are supposed to be the bosses...WE elected them...WE should have the right to determine their salaries...and the right to decide when, if ever, they deserve a pay raise.

If I thought I could get grass-roots support, I'd run for political office myself. The "NO MORE BULLCRAP" platform. I'd be calling people to see what the frig they want, not calling for their vote. If I was doing right by my constituents, I wouldn't have to be calling them begging for votes. I'd donate fully half of the salary to charitable organizations...who couldn't live on half of the $165,000 a year some of these people are earning??? Hell, we've been living on a Wal-Mart salary for the past nine years. Our income would grow by over $60,000, and we'd still have money to donate. I don't believe members of Congress would ever cut their salaries in half. But I DARE them to do their patriotic duty of serving their country for FREE. And to VOTE AGAINST THEIR AUTOMATIC ANNUAL PAY RAISE.

If you'd like to see me run for office, start a petition. I'm a wife, a mom, a grandma, a student, and a volunteer. The last time I lied was when I didn't tell my parents that I was going to see Moose Cholak, Vern Ganya, Wilbur Snyder, Dick the Bruiser, and his cousin, the Crusher at a wrestling match at the Chicago Ampitheatre in about 1965. I got caught in that lie, and it didn't feel good. I don't lie anymore. I have a bunch of stuff jammed under my bed, and my garage is messy, I dusted the top of the piano with my sleeve because I was in a rush. See, I have nothing to hide. I need to comb my hair, brush my teeth and leave for school. NO MORE BULLCRAP.

Sign my petition: I want Cinnabitch to run for political office because she double-dog dares her opponents to cut their salaries and NEVER LIE, and look out for those she represents:

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