Here's my latest LTTE, posted for comments before I submit it:

[Jackpine Radical]

I know a lot of conservatives were upset by President Bush’s speech the other night. There was a great deal of talk about how he seemed to be proposing an enormous Federal cash outlay of Rooseveltian proportions to repair the damage of Katrina. If he were to actually fulfill the promises he made, it would cost maybe $200 billion.
Well, folks, don’t worry. Mr. Bush doesn’t mean it the way it sounds. That money isn’t going to be wasted on useless social engineering projects, and it will be flowing to the wealthy, not coming from them. Like most Federal funds, this money too will be extracted from the useless eaters who comprise the middle and lower classes (who would otherwise waste it satisfying their tiresome little proletarian needs and desires), and will find its way directly into the coffers of the ownership class.
Thus the President seizes the opportunity to turn a catastrophe into a vehicle for transferring Federal dollars upwards into the hands of those deserving guardians of wealth who sit at the top of the financial pyramid. Halliburton already has its no-bid cleanup contracts, and even the contract for mortuary services has already been let to a Texas funeral home chain whose owners has been proving their merit with large contributions to Mr. Bush since his first run for Governor. Further contracts will be forthcoming for Republican loyalists.
If you are rich, Republican, and a $100,000 Bush Pioneer, you too will have a place at the table. Meanwhile, our President has made sure you can keep as much as possible of your coming windfall by suspending any living-wage requirements for Federal contracts. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. What’s not to love about a system like that?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Woo hooooo!

[myrna minx]

2. Excellent letter.

:bounce:

[OregonBlue]

3. Perfect, don't change a thing.

[Evergreen Emerald]

4. publish that puppy!

[Dhalgren]

5. Hits them where they live! Good job!

[H2O Man]

6. Very well done.

Don't change a thing.

[melissinha]

7. great

it includes all the necessary points... doesn't cry bleeding heart liberal whcihy turns people off... but gets there throught the back door, very nice... great ending.

[canichelouis]

8. Send it

[junkiebrewster]

9. excellent letter...

Personally, I would omit the "proletarian: reference as the Marxist overtones of the word carries a lot of negative connotations, especially coming from a left side of the aisle viewpoint. But, that's a stylistic difference of opinion.

Mail that puppy.

[Toots]

12. That word also caused me to pause

Other than that the letter is great.

[Jackpine Radical]

15. The letter is purportedly from a RW point of view. "Proletarian"

was meant to be taken as a bit of snide snarkiness implying disdain for the commoners.

[trof]

10. Just one thing: paragraphs.

4 looks about right.
Break after $200 billion, ownership class, and Republican loyalists.
Great letter!

[Jackpine Radical]

13. The paragraphing didn't carry over from Word, but it's there.

[loudsue]

11. Please check your grammar here:

"and even the contract for mortuary services has already been let to a Texas funeral home chain whose owners has been proving their merit with large contributions to Mr. Bush since his first run for Governor. Further contracts will be forthcoming for Republican loyalists"

How 'bout a comma after "chain", and change "whose owners HAS been proving" to "whose owners HAVE been proving".

That's a great letter!! Run with it!!

:kick::kick::kick:

[Jackpine Radical]

14. "Has" was a typo. Thanks for catching it.

As for the comma, I don't think it works because "whose owners..." is a dependent clause modifying "chain."

[ewagner]

16. Nicely done Sir!

I agree with deleting or modifying the proletarian reference. It carries baggage.

[zbdent]

17. How about this little factoid for a reference

It would take a minimum wage earner (earning maximum minimum wage) 19,418 hours to make what a "Bush Pioneer" bribes W with . . .

486 40 hour work weeks

9.4 years working without a vacation.

And that's without figuring the taxes that the worker must pay . . .

[Jackpine Radical]

18. The law treats everyone equally.

It permits the poor as well as the rich to buy politicians.