My 1,000th Letter to You

April 12, 2006

Dear President Bush,

As you say “we live in historic times”. This letter may be a small part of that history but I wanted you to know it is my 1,000th letter to you.

I began by blogging to you under the name Letters to Nowhere, a play on the White House address, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.(o) W.(here). On that site I posted 787 letters between June 2005 and January 2006. It disappeared when my blog host ceased operating their free service.

I intended to stop, but compelling news warranted continued commentary. Little did I know I would shift from commenting on the news to discovering uncovered tidbits in my research! Or should I say turdbits?

Who would have thought I would discover a possible conflict of interest in your White House Lessons Learned report? Omitting LifeCare from the document is malodorous at best, as 24 patients expired in that facility post Hurricane Katrina. That LifeCare had just been purchased by The Carlyle Group in August 2005 adds to the stench. Is your father still working for them?

I couldn’t imagine I would find a foul stream running through the health care arm of your administration. Yet, Tom Scully effectively served as the for profit health care shill, even inside the hallowed halls of government.

The whole letter writing campaign even took me down memory lane to the University of Virginia. Tom Scully and Katie Couric graduated a year ahead of me in 1979. Our alumni news highlighted both individuals. It called Tom a one time party boy who lived it up. Now that Katie is going over to CBS news and a role with 60 minutes, might our paths cross again? Now that would be a small world!

I wish you the best in your final term in office, actually I take that back. I wish the people the best. Please keep that in mind as you outsource the remnants of government functions to the private sector. Will efficiencies outweigh the layers of corporations each with their ever increasing profit motive? And who will get left behind as the impartial markets take their toll? We have already seen the new toll borne by the poor elderly and disabled under the new prescription drug program.

211 days have passed in our period of correspondence. Yes, your staff wrote me back 4 times. I know that some day soon, those 996 other replies will burst through my front door in a Harry Potter like scene.

I write my 1,000th letter with optimism that independence is dawning. Independence means people see something much greater than their alignment with one political party or the other. Speaking of a new dawn, I think I will just go outside to watch the sun rise. It is a better way of spending my time. My views should be crystal clear by now. Peace…..