Whew..

Three things are on the agenda for today folks. It might be a long one so sit tight...


1. Nik, our baby, is epileptic. He's been having seizures, and now has to take phenobarbital for the rest of his life. Chance and I are now on some kind of national registry, because we have to adminiter a narcotic- a controlled substance to our dog. Fun.

2. I want this rug, right now.

3. Something I found on the internet, that I found surprisingly poignant.

Open Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama -
There are plenty of shallow things I care about - like University of Illinois basketball and the sad state of rock & roll - but I can’t really afford to do much of that anymore because you keep screwing up. By the way, you can expect this to be incendiary. I am pissed. And I want you to know it. I am tired of glad-handing and playing grab-ass.
You keep perpetuating the madness of previous administrations.
1. You’ve hired a bunch of the same people that were the architects of this economic and social disaster in the first place.
2. You’ve canned campaign promises left and right just like your predecessors - such as with the lobbyists you have hired that you said you wouldn’t hire.
3. You’ve blathered on about hope and change - and I guess I hope you change your ways - but you have managed to destroy my hope that you had it in you to change things for the better instead of the underwhelming fortitude to wallow in pursuit of the status quo. Are you a shill for corporations, sir, just like all the others?
You keep bungling opportunities in crisis for real change.
1. You could have pushed single payer health care with private delivery in any stimulus package, but you didn’t. Why not?
2. You could have initiated steps for recovering some funds and dramatically altered (for the better) the state of our planet by generating a comprehensive carbon tax, but you didn’t. Why not?
3. You could have developed a small speculation tax so Wall Street could bail out itself, instead of breaking the backs of us taxpayers with little to show for it, but you didn’t. Why not?
Are you a coward, sir?While I am sure you thought it was pretty awesome to go to Chicago over the long holiday weekend and play basketball with your buddies, I thought it was pretty not awesome that my dad lost his job over the same weekend because you and your cronies in Treasury and at that god-forsaken Federal Reserve have no backbone when it comes to forcing the banks (you know, the guys who contributed tons of cash to your campaign) to move capital around a bit so we plebeian can keep our 9 to 5.
I recognize you inherited a mess. I also recognize you do not understand or embrace the concept of boldness. I don’t care that this is the biggest piece of legislation in history - that means nothing to me, or my father, or millions of others out there who are struggling, stressing, and dying. I know there is no easy solution. I also know you have demonstrated very little acumen for finding any portion of one. I want to hear about accountability, Mr. Obama. I don’t want to hear excuses. Simply put, you work for the American people. You work for me. And you stink at your job. You don’t have a hundred days or whatever the mainstream press is using as a deadline for judgment. I can tell you now that you are screwing up royally.And it is not just with the economy.I don’t want you to use the state of the economy as an excuse for keeping us in perpetual war and occupation status in Afghanistan and the rest of the world. That’s been done, and that isn’t change, Mr. Obama. That’s a repeat of World War II and continuation of Bush policy. So are those infiltrations into Pakistan. You are a smart guy. You know Pakistan is a sovereign nation. I know you’d like to solve their issues for the sake of “national security” but I think we have a few problems of our own here at home that you are bungling and that need your full attention. Plus, they don’t like it when you kill human beings inside their sovereign borders. Are you a war-monger er, just like so many of the others? A moment for pettiness - stop using “look” and “listen” to begin so many of your damn sentences. Most of us who are paying attention are looking and listening. It’s not like you are going to get more people to look and listen simply demanding it. I know your staffer is getting bored with this letter, so I will close and keep it simple by summing up what I have said, and will do so by making a few demands of my own.
Brief digression - I won’t expect any real response on paper, because that would take too much time from a lowly staffer’s normal duties of chasing down your brand of smokes and looking for that errant black sock lost in the laundry. I also won’t expect any real results in the coming years of your presidency: I may be a fool (for the simple fact that I am not in Washington already harassing the crap out of you and your cronies), but I am not gullible, Mr. Obama.
1. Have David Plouffe (you know, the guy you have sending annoying peppy emails every other day) send an email laying out which campaign promises you have broken, which ones you really intend to keep, and which ones you envision being difficult to keep. In other words, cut the crap.
2. In every speech you make, and in every stand you take, include single payer health care as the highest priority. Make it happen. If you are going to break our backs in a thousand other ways, at least make sure we have health care as a right, rather than a privilege.
3. Begin global discussions on a universal carbon tax. Use that noggin of yours and recognize cap and trade won’t solve anything. Unilaterally start a carbon tax against the worst polluters here in the good old US of A.
4. Tax the crap out of corporations that have no state loyalty. Again, you are a smart guy. You know what I mean here.
5. Implement a small speculation tax immediately, so these corporations can pay for their own buffoonery.
6. Apologize to the American people for being such a tool for these same corporations. Prime-time. On National TV. Then stop being a tool for these same corporations.
7. Stop the war-mongering. Now. Bring our daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives home.
8. If you choke on any of 1 -7, resign.
Sincerely,
Gregory Vickrey
Plebeian
Angry Citizen
Illinois Fan