Letters: The reality? I'm very, very bitter . . .

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20080418_Letters__The_reality__I_m_very__very_bitter______.html

Philadelphia Daily News
I'M A BITTER American.

My family lived in the Keystone State, but the jobs started being driven out. So we went South, where the companies were going - cheaper labor, no unions. Then came NAFTA.

You're darned right I'm bitter. I'm bitter every time I fill my tank with $3.36-a-gallon gas. Hoping I'm not incurring too much engine damage as it says "premium only." Can't afford it.

I'm bitter learning the IRS hired private contractors earning 50 cents of every dollar collected from tax deadbeats. Bitter that my government has issued no-bid contracts to companies that aren't earning their keep in Iraq, and my proud soldier-friends have had to protect them. For a 15th of what those "contractors" are making.

Oh, yeah, I'm bitter.

Bitter that Hillary thinks I can't be proud, happy, productive AND bitter, too. This from a woman who sat on WalMart's board and helped kill the unions? Maybe her family never did union work. Mine did.

Sitting on that Wal-Mart board, she helped kill organized labor in much of this country. We know she promoted our jobs being sent overseas. NAFTA - it was "so good for so much of the country." Not my country. Not my family. Yours?

But my husband wasn't hired to speak on behalf of the Colombian trade deal for $800,000. Was yours?

Darned right I'm bitter. Aren't you?

Francine Simmons, Tampa, Fla.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. Bitter is a pretty good word for this Iowain, Nafta killed this state as well

Forget Hillary and Nafta is all I can say. I get angry, frustrated and very bitter every time I think about it.

[OhioChick]

7. NAFTA Killed Ohio, as Well.

I'm pretty damn bitter, myself.

[Muttocracy]

2. There are a lot of bitter New Yorkers too... nt

[mac2]

3. We in Illiniois are bitter toward much of the Congress

and President not just the Clintons. We need to make it clear that we don't approve or support NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO trade deal or any other secret organization where decisions are made by unelected persons in our name.

It violates the Logan Act and our Constitution.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

4. Here is some bitter from Ohio

Watching the economy getting worse and worse month after month. Paying $40 to fill the tank on a Cavalier! Having my husband with heart problems refuse to go to the doctor more than twice a year because of the cost of the office visit. Living in a country that believes in "preemptive war" and Torture. Having an --- steal the election and having to watch his smirk. Well, you get the idea.

[Warpy]

5. 20 years of being labeled uninsurable

and being turned down for all but per diem nursing jobs for fear that I'd cost the hospital health plan a few bucks has made me incredibly bitter.

It's very hard to love a country that treats so many of its citizens like shit.

[mac2]

6. You mean an administration whose leaders treat their citizens like

shit. Leave America and her citizens who do care out of it.

Sorry about being turned down for a job because you were too expensive. It happened to me too. Guess they thought we had rich uncles. Better to give those jobs to Visa workers.

[mopinko]

8. and she never worked the night shift, either.

has no idea what work is.

[babylonsister]

9. Rec'd! Thanks for a great letter telling it like it is. nt