Sarah Palin is a Fucking Retard

I use the word retarded all the time. I use it when someone is being stupid, I use it when something stupid happens, I use it when I do something stupid. I do NOT, however, use it to refer to the mentally challenged in the same way I do when I refer to an idiot friend. Doing so would be terribly insulting. However, our language is full of words that have different meanings. I understand that the reason the word retard was first used as an insult against someone who is being stupid is because the first user was likening the stupid person’s behavior to that of a mentally challenged individual. I understand that. However, overtime, the word has been stripped of its link to mentally challenged people and now simply means stupid. I am not saying “you’re mentally challenged” I am saying “you’re stupid.” For those of us who use it colloquially, it has a different meaning then it originally did. The same goes for those of us who use gay colloquially; when I refer to something I don’t like as “gay” I am not calling it homosexual, I am calling it stupid. But anyways, onto the point.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently referred to a group of liberal Democrats as “fucking retarded.” Obviously whether or not liberal Democrats are fucking retarded is a subjective point, but if Mr. Emanuel believes they are stupid, then he has every right to privately call them fucking retarded. OH SHIT WAIT! I forgot that Sarah Palin’s son Trig has down-syndrome! Obviously he should be fired as Mrs. Palin demanded in her Facebook response:

I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of that inner circle, Mr. Rahm Emanuel, and not allow Rahm’s continued indecent tactics to cloud efforts. Yes, Rahm is known for his caustic, crude references about those with whom he disagrees, but his recent tirade against participants in a strategy session was such a strong slap in many American faces that our president is doing himself a disservice by seeming to condone Rahm’s recent sick and offensive tactic.

I’m sorry Sarah, but if we had to fire every person who called somebody retarded, the unemployment rate would be a hell of a lot higher than 10%. Still, because of the negative backlash, Rahm has issued an official apology and has vowed to join the effort to end the use of the word. I mean, I don’t know why, but whatever. Let’s take a look at Rahm’s apology:

CNN gives us some different perspective on the matter: watch.

In this video Frank Stephens of the Special Olympics asks Americans to start using a new word to replace retard: respect. I don’t think he realizes that this doesn’t  make any fucking sense syntactically or semantically. First of all, asking us to replace retard with a different word doesn’t solve any kind of problem at all – it still means the same thing. Unless of course, that new word, respect, carries over its meaning. If that is the case, then I would never use it towards someone I am calling retarded because that’s not what I am trying to say.

GOP cheerleader and leading asshole Rush Limbaugh also decided to weigh in on the situation criticizing our politically correct society for berating Emanuel for “calling a bunch of people who are retards retarded.” Now surely, as Keith Olbermann predicts, Sarah Palin will rip Limbaugh apart for using language so hurtful to intellectually disabled Americans:

Let’s see how she did:

Let’s go to the gentleman from South Carolina for analysis:

Indeed, Mr. Colbert, indeed.

Parisian Love

I just watched Google’s 2010 Super Bowl ad [which as actually been floating around since November 2009), and its one of the most brilliant commercials I have ever seen, aside from Levi’s commercials. Them are some good advertisements.

I never thought that such an awesome story could be told in a fifty second text-based commercial. The brilliance of the following ad, however, isn’t only the fact that it tells a touching, feel-good, happy-ending story, but that it demonstrates perfectly how Google has affected our lives. Whenever people need an answer to a question, directions to a location, information about a city, advice on a number of things, they go to Google. Its become something so common that, at least for me, its not a reflex. Furthermore, the ad features little subtleties that allows the average user to connect with the protagonist of the story: things like typos on searches and backspacing to re-type a misspelled word. Normally commercials show us perfection, but this commercial shows us us. At any rate, here is Google’s amazing Super Bowl ad:

I had to watch it twice to fully appreciate it. At first it seems to be just a random selection of searches related to France, but the end tells us that it is much more: it is a love story, and a happy one. It begins with a young man searching for study abroad programs in France. Between his arrival and his next search, he has presumably met a young Parisian woman. The two have planned a trip to the Louvre and he wants to treat her to a meal at a nearby cafe afterward. During this first date the beautiful Parisian girl says, “tu es tres mignon,” which, thanks to Google, our young hero discovers to mean “you’re very cute.” The date goes well. Worried that she’ll tire of his uncultured American ways, he searches for tips on impressing a French girl so he’ll be on top his game for the next date. He’s found out that French girls like chocolates, so he searches for a chocolate shop in Paris, hoping to impress his lady with a gift on the second date. During the second date, the two talk about fine dining and films. He is a little bit in over his head, but plays it cool and Googles truffles are and Truffaut as soon as he gets home. The dates blossom into a relationship which extends beyond the young man’s semester abroad. Worried about what the distance will do to them, he searches for advice on long distance relationships. The distance does nothing to diminish  his love for his Parisian princess, so he seeks out a job in Paris to bring him back to her. He finds one and books a flight, using Google to check if its on time. Not long after, he looks up Churches in Paris. The two are getting married. Before long a child is on the way and the nervous father looks up instructions for assembling a crib. Fin.

What a beautiful story. What a beautiful ad.

Update: this video just showed up on Digg. Hilarious:

Remember It.

I’m not sure if February is mean, bitchy lady month or something, but the population of MBLs in Boston seems to have skyrocketed. Perhaps there is a convention in town, I don’t know, I wasn’t invited.

This morning for the first time I forgot my wallet in my room when I left for my 9:00 am class. I noticed as I was about to leave the security booth, but was running a little late so I figured I would just get my BU ID number from my email and check back in with that, no problem. Which it wasn’t! I spent the walk back from class memorizing it and one of the friendlier security guards (who definitely looks like some guy from some movie) happily let me in after calling the command center with my name and ID number.

Its 10:00 am at this point and I haven’t eaten. I’m hungry. I know I could run upstairs and grab my wallet, but I know if I do that, I’ll go on my computer for “a couple minutes” which will turn into an hour. At that point I will have missed breakfast and wasted an hour. So I figured I would just go to the dining hall and lovely Elvia (I think that’s her name), the sweetest little lady I’ve ever met, would smile and welcome me in if I gave her my ID number.

Elvia being the sweetest lady ever.

However, lately this other terrible woman (I don’t know her name) has been taking the earliest shift, and Elvia hasn’t been starting till a little later. She’s this horrifying woman who has caked so much make-up onto her middle aged face that she looks like a wax-statue. That would be fine and all, but she’s so nasty and bitter.

Mean lady.

I walked up, disappointed not to see Elvia, and informed the other check-in lady that I had forgotten my ID in my room and politely asked if I could check-in with my ID number. I should mention that there was no one behind me in line, no one in front of me, and the dining hall was nearly empty. So basically, it had been a slow morning. But by her reaction, you’d have thought I asked for her to prepare me a meal and deliver it to my room at rush hour during dinner. “What’s the number” she barked. I slowly and clearly said it for her so I wouldn’t take up any of her precious time by making her repeat it. “Thanks a lot!” I said after she entered the number in, still hiding my hatred for her. “Remember it” she coldly replied.

Excuse me? Really? You’re going to giver me a bitchy attitude because I forgot my ID? Listen lady, it literally would have taken just as much time to swipe my card and wait for it to process as it did to punch in my ID number. Actually, you know what, you’re right. Rather than take up a half a second of your time, I should have marched over to C tower, climbed up eight flights of stairs, gotten my wallet, climbed back down eight flights of stairs, and then brought you my card to swipe. Even then you probably still would have been pissed that I had the audacity to request your card swiping services because you were so busy sitting on your ass. Doing nothing. Which is exactly what your job entails. There’s no need to have an attitude about it. Elvia sits there every morning and welcomes me with a smile and a “good morning” or “how or you,” even calling me “sweetie” from time to time. That saintly woman has literally never gotten mad in her life. What right do you have to be so bitchy? I mean I can see if I had tried to enter with my ID number when it was really busy and the lines were backed up and everything was hectic, but I didn’t. Jesus.

Rant complete. Really though, be friendly lady.

http://images.clipartof.com/small/14950-Friendly-Red-Haired-Housewife-Waitress-Or-Maid-Woman-Wearing-An-Apron-And-Resting-One-Hand-On-Her-Chest-While-Holding-The-Other-Hand-Up-Clipart-Illustration.jpg

Oh… Okay…

I recently discovered how awesome the Boston Public Library is. I have walked by it countless times and always assumed it was a concrete solid, but it turns out that its hollow on the inside and full of art, movies, and lame things called books. I have been there twice in the past week to peruse the DVD collection and have happily found some classics I have wanted to see for a long time.

Last night I returned to pick out a selection to watch during the weekend with a couple friends. I browsed through the whole collection pretty quickly and selected ones that jumped out at me. With about five in my hands, I discovered a cart of recently returned DVDs that hadn’t yet been sorted back into the lot. As I flipped through the cart, a sweet old lady approached. I have a slight cold and sniffled gently after she approached. The  nice old lady asked, “Do you have a cold?” as gently as I had sniffled. “Yeah I have a little cold,” I replied. Then all of a sudden the weirdest thing happened: the sweet old lady transformed into a frigid old bitch right in front of my eyes! It was so fast that I didn’t even see it happen! “Oh well then can you not touch the movies please? Thaaaaannnkkksssss….”

Bitch.

OH OKAY EXCUSE ME. It seems that this old lady is under the impression that when someone is sick they drench their hands in snot and germs. I cough into my arm and I sneeze into tissues. I wash my hands, especially if I for some reason accidentlly sneeze into them, which, honestly, I don’t think has ever happened. You know. Because that’s fucking gross. At any rate this old woman, who was just a patron and not an employee, also shouldn’t be allowed to touch the DVDs. Old people wear diapers, so I have to assume that her hands are covered in feces, right? You know, because like me: she is a dirty slob who doesn’t bathe and allows their germ-infested bodily fluids to have reign over their appendages. Nice.

Next time I’ll go to the library like this to appease the elderly:

Why Up Shouldn’t Be Nominated for Best Picture

I’ll start out by saying that by increasing the amount of Best Picture Oscar nominees to increase viewership will likely do just that but at the same time will make a nomination economically less valuable. Its supply and demand: the more of something there is, the less valuable it becomes. By doubling the amount of nominees, being a best picture nominee isn’t really that big a deal anymore. Sure, it does allow for movies that traditionally may not be nominated, like District 9, to be nominated, but it also makes that nomination less of an honor. With ten nominees, it makes almost every movie that was “really good” a shoo in for a nod.

Exhibit A.

As well,  With that said, there is an animated feature category for a reason: without that category, animated features would hardly ever be recognized at the awards. Certainly, many animated pictures over the years have demonstrated that animated pictures can be just as moving, entertaining, and relevant as live-action films. However, there is something about live-action films that does set-them apart from animated features; perhaps that actors act not only with their voices but with their mannerisms and body language; sets are not  just drawn, but built; the camera is not virtual; the list goes on and on. So while I believe that animated films are of great value, they just aren’t as enormous a technological achievement for directors, actors, and pretty much everyone else, as are live-action films. That’s just my opinion, though. Obv. And with that opinion I of course believe that Up should rightfully be nominated for Best Animated Feature, but should stick to its category.

It was cute, though.

[Edit - Erin just let me know that Life is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon have both been nominated for BP in the past. In total, seven foreign language films have been nominated for BP. However, I still believe that if there is a separate category, it should be stuck to. And if movies are going to transcend the category line, then there is no way that anyone can convince me that Up, Up in the Air, or Blind Side were better movies than the White Ribbon. And still yet, an animated feature, to me, is less of a technical and directorial achievement than an animated film. However:] How about foreign language films? There is a separate category for foreign language films for the same reason there is for animated features: if there wasn’t, foreign films would hardly get any attention at the Oscars [Still true, as over the Oscars many years only seven films have been nominated]. Foreign films obviously have a smaller American audience then do most widely-released American films and the Oscars is a US-based program. However, this is of no consequence to the quality of the films. So, honestly, I am in favor of having a separate category for foreign films. I do, though, have a problem with the fact that while Up is allowed to transcend the boundary of its principal category, foreign films apparently are not [Yes they are]. Because if they were, then Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon undoubtedly would have been nominated for Best Picture… right? [Way to fuck that up, Academy]. I mean, I hope that the academy isn’t seriously suggesting that Up is a better movie than the White Ribbon (hint: its not). Furthermore, what then about the thousands of brilliant foreign films over the years which have been trapped by their category and weren’t nominated for Best Picture? [Still stands, though apparently seven films were good enough]. Granted there have historically only been five nominees a year, but are we suggesting that none of the foreign films released in the past years have been among the five best pictures in their given year of release? [Nope, apparently not.] I hope not, because that would be wrong. [Yupp.] Essentially, what I am getting at, is that Up’s nomination has undone decades of precedent that have kept foreign [not foreign, although historically they have been mostly ignored by the BP category] and animated films within their category. And IF Up is nominated, then its a travesty that the White Ribbon isn’t as well. [Thanks Erin for this tip!]

CUTERRRR!!!!!

Solution: don’t nominate animated films in the future. Up wasn’t that good anyways. Oh, also, neither was Up In the Air. Everyone shut up.

Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission

I don’t want this blog to just become a collection of my assignments for COM 201, but they have been keeping me busy lately. I was asked to write an Op-Ed and I chose to write about the recent supreme court decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission. Hit it:

Democracy is based on the core principle that the power to govern should be in the hands of the people.  In the United States, the people exercise that power by casting their vote for the candidate they see most fit to lead. The 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission to overturn the McCain-Feingold Act undid a century-long precedent which protected that fundamental right of the people; now that corporate spending limits in federal elections have been lifted, the power to govern lies in the hands of corporate giants. As MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann predicted on his program, this ruling will bring a future in which the government is no longer of the people, for the people, and by the people, but rather “of the people, by the corporations, [and] for the corporations.”

The court has determined that as associations of citizens, corporations have the same constitutional protection guaranteed to people in the United States by the bill of rights. To limit the amount of money a given corporation can spend on a candidate for office, the court reasons, is to violate a corporation’s first amendment right to free speech. This interpretation of the law is a gross misjudgment which, by virtue of corporate bank accounts, gives corporations more influence in federal elections than individual voters. While it is true that single citizens too have the right to donate to political campaigns, only rarely will an individual’s capacity to contribute even nearly match that of a multi-million or multi-billion dollar corporation.

Elections should not be financial competitions, but competitions of policy, strategy, and honesty. The court’s decision allows corporations to determine which candidate will receive the most exposure to the nation’s citizens. Such a policy will allow great candidates willing to fight for the people to go unnoticed while great candidates willing to fight for corporations will be thrust into the spotlight.

The Christian Science Monitor argues that many voters vote based on false beliefs garnered from misleading campaign ads, continuing, “the media blitz that saturates voters’ minds to the exclusion of all else is the goal of any campaign manager with enough money to pull it off.  Under these circumstances, voters trying to inform themselves about the issues of the day are not shopping in a marketplace of ideas so much as looking for a needle in a haystack.” This illustrates the fundamental danger of this court’s decision: a voter’s choices will now be exclusively offered as corporate products to be purchased with a vote.

The function of a public servant is to serve the public; with heavy corporate influence it won’t be long before this democratic tradition is bastardized beyond recognition. Honest candidates looking to fulfill their duty to serve the public will be forced out of the political arena by candidates swimming in corporate monies. Before long, these honest politicians, a phrase oxymoronic even by today’s standards, will become extinct and the American public will be left only with the candidates chosen for them by corporations. Candidates willing to forfeit their duty to the people for corporate financial support are power-hungry politicians unfit to lead. And yet politicians of this deceitful breed will likely be the only choices offered to the American public.

Proponents of this decision will argue that it does not alter a citizen’s right to elect the candidate of their choice. However, this assertion ignores the fact that the candidates citizens have to choose from will be hand-picked by corporate donors.  Air-time will be clogged with corporately-funded political ads lauding the candidates who would best serve the corporation’s special interests and berating or ignoring the candidates who would best serve the people. With constant exposure to corporate influence and almost no exposure to untainted candidates handicapped by minimal funding, how can people be expected to know who, if anyone, has their interests in mind?

Furthermore, according to Mitch Lipka of the Consumer Alley as quoted on WalletPop.com, voters may fall victim to misleading advertising and marketing tactics: “People can be manipulated by slick marketing campaigns. There is no question the amount of money that will be spent on some of these campaigns will be staggering and, of course, slick. People will be influenced and, in some cases, misled.” This type of misleading advertising, which is often employed in the political arena, further demonstrates how injurious the court’s decision can and will be to our democracy.

If the public servants currently holding office truly believe in serving the public, they will do whatever is possible within their power to see that this ruling is overturned or otherwise nullified. If they will not, then it is the obligation of the public to rebel against the ruling until they do. However, if all in America fail to act, then this once proud democracy will dissolve into a privately-funded corporatocracy.

Late Night War Heats Up: NBC Tanks Move in on O’Brien’s Universal Compound

We were tasked with writing a fake news article in my Writing for Communication class. There she blows:

NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker ordered an attack on Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien’s studio compound at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California early Monday morning. NBC tanks and infantry surrounded the studio just after midnight and were fired upon by in-studio insurgents an hour later. A source inside the compound claims that O’Brien sidekick and Tonight Show announcer Andy Richter made the call to open fire.

The fight lasted through the night, and as of this morning the opposing sides have ceased fire as they tend to their wounded. Early reports estimate the current death toll to be in the thousands, with thousands more injured. Max Weinberg, longtime drummer of the Max Weinberg Seven, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a frequent O’Brien guest, are reportedly among the dead. Reports from the battlefield indicate that Jay Leno himself lead the NBC troops into battle but was able to deflect enemy fire with his chin and left uninjured.

Tensions have been high between O’Brien and his parent corporation, NBC Universal, since Zucker announced plans to reschedule the Tonight Show to make room for a half-hour program with former host Jay Leno. NBC kept Jay Leno’s contract in place after he handed over the Tonight Show and gave him a primetime program which was cancelled after four months due to bad ratings. Zucker believes that Leno would attract a larger audience with a half hour show at 11:35 pm.  O’Brien, however, refused plans to bump his show from 11:35 pm to 12:05 am to make room for the program, saying in an open letter, “I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is [the Tonight Show’s] destruction.” Leno, who handed the show over to O’Brien just seven months ago, has agreed to retake his old position as host of the Tonight Show, if O’Brien is killed or captured.

Pre-attack polls indicated overwhelming support for the O’Brien camp. These numbers have grown since the attack with activists groups throughout the nation rallying in favor of O’Brien. However, governments and humanitarian groups from around the world have criticized Zucker for the use of violence. In a statement made on the Today Show this morning, the defensive CEO denied responsibility for starting the war: “Conan has been waging a war of words since last week,” he urged, referring to O’Brien’s highly critically monologues on the Tonight Show, “but this is America; we fight wars with bullets, not words. I didn’t write the rules.”

Following this statement, President Obama invited Zucker, Leno and O’Brien, to the White House for a beer summit. Talks fell apart, however, after Leno leant O’Brien a bottle opener only to snatch it back before O’Brien had a chance to use it. O’Brien quickly returned to his Hollywood compound. No statement has been made since, but the violence remains indefinitely halted.

Aid groups are using the pause in battle as an opportunity to bring food and water to the thousands of devout fans currently held up in O’Brien’s compound as well as injured NBC troops on the battlefield. Haitian President René Préval has agreed to temporarily redirect all donations to the Haiti earthquake relief fund to Late Night War relief efforts. “You think you get a raw deal when God gives your country a devastating earthquake,” Préval said in a statement this morning, “and then you see what NBC did to Conan. It really puts things in perspective.”

Howard Stern: Prophet

I got the movie The Late Shift years and  years ago from a Salvation Army in New Hampshire and watched it in the back of my mom’s car on our VCR/TV combo thing as she zipped around getting groceries or whatever moms do. This was back when I was a huge Jay Leno, simply because I was always an NBC viewer and had never seen the much funnier David Letterman. The film tells the very interesting and scandalous tale about how Jay Leno more or less weaseled his way onto the Tonight Show and sent then host of Late Night with David Letterman packing for CBS. Never, however, did I connect the dots and assume that Leno would ever end up doing the same thing to Conan O’Brien years later when it was O’Brien’s turn to host the show. I, however, am no prophet like the lord of the future Howard Stern (the BU allum I am most proud of):

It’s almost chilling how he saw that coming. Somehow he knew that this deal wouldn’t go through. The funny thing is, I bet back then everyone thought he was crazy. Artie Lang, who also works on Howard Stern’s radio show, predicted troubles for Conan in the future as well:

At any rate, tomorrow’s The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien will, very sadly, be the last. I, however, vow my viewership wherever he goes because he is one of the funniest personalities on television today. Triumph the Insult Comic dog, we hardly knew yee.

I’ve Got Syrup on Me Fingahs!

There is only one thing that could possibly have made this already depressing day of post-election blues any worse: getting maple syrup on my hands.

Lately I have been practicing moderation with my syrup use. Gone are the days of youth when I would drench whatever breakfast treat was on my plate with as much syrup as said treat could absorb. Generally I now only use enough syrup to lightly coat the outside of my french toast or pancake so that I can enjoy the sweet flavor with out it too dramatically altering the food’s texture. This morning, however, I was feeling pretty down, you know, because Scott Brown won the election and the world IS FUCKING OVER. No, seriously though, I am bummed out this morning. So I decided to be a little bit liberal with my syrup. I WISH MASSACHUSETTS HAD BEEN MORE LIBERAL WITH THEIR VOTES LAST NIGHT. BOOM. God this is awful. Anyways, so, yeah, I used more maple syrup than my college self traditionally has been using.

Me eating breakfast.

Because I normally use a moderate amount of syrup, I only have to be moderately careful about balancing my plate level so that it doesn’t spill over the side and onto the floor, my clothes, or worst of all, my hands. Sometimes when I am selecting a muffin or other dessert while I still have the plate in my hand, we have a close call, but usually I catch myself and can level out the plate before we have any spills. This morning, I kept my plate entirely level to and from the dessert bar, with an additional plate with carrot cake and a muffin in tow (yeah… I’m really indulging this morning; sue me).

Of course, just as I was about to place my plate on the table, it tilted slightly to the right. I watched in slow motion as the thick, murky syrup drizzled off of the plate onto my hand. Panic. I dropped the plates on the table and dove into the napkin dispenser, pulling out as many as I could, rubbing my hands furiously and fruitlessly, knowing I was only forcing the syrup deep into my gaping hand-pores. Then and there I knew: this would be a shitty day. As I type, most of the syrup has been eradicated from my flesh, but I can still feel the sticky remnants on my palms and in between my fingers.

If you’re wondering if this is some sort of allegory for the election, nah. I just fucking hate getting syrup on my hands.

Side-note: When I went to Bustins with the twins this past summer, I told Sophie about my hatred of finger-syrup during breakfast. She proceeded to splash her hands around in the syrupy basin that was her plate, rubbing them together as if it was soap. Its the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. OTHER THAN PEOPLE VOTING FOR SCOTT BROWN.

Sigh.

An Open Letter to Anyone Who Voted for Scott Brown

We are lucky to live in Massachusetts. We have MassHealth, a progressive health care system that does for citizens of our state something like what Obama is trying to do for the citizens of the country. We are very fortunate to have that here in Massachusetts, and the citizens of the United States would be equally fortunate to be blessed by similar life-saving legislation. We are now closer than ever to health insurance reform, a life-long dream and passion of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, the former holder of the seat your candidate has just won. However, because so many of you elected Brown to office, Kennedy’s dream hits a speed bump. Presently, the future of the health care bill currently circulating congress is uncertain, but Brown’s election slows the momentum and lessens its chances for survival. I genuinely believe that if that bill ends up dying as a result of this Senate race, every person who dies as a result of our inadequate and corrupt health insurance industry until we DO reform our system dies on your conscience. People are dying every day because they can’t get the care they need – that is not America.

I understand that Martha Coakley was a terrible politician – she didn’t play the game the way it is played in this country, so she lost. However, I believe that the fact that a candidate’s aptitude at this so-called “political game” can make or break his or her campaign illustrates a fundamental problem with our political system as well as the ignorance and apathy of voters. Today shouldn’t have been a vote based on playing the political game but a vote based on what we as compassionate human beings owe to our fellow man, namely, in the case of this election, adequate health care. For the first time our votes for a given candidate actually meant something – finally our votes had the ability to bring about real change in this country, to help extend health care to millions of suffering Americans. By voting for Brown, you took this opportunity and you threw it away.

I will end as I began: we are lucky to live in Massachusetts, because we have a progressive health care system. Shame on you for not doing your part to ensure that the rest of America is blessed with a similar system; shame on you for being so selfish.

Sincerely,
Ryan Piccirillo