Offsides

Dear House Speaker John Boehner,

Let me ask you a simple question, and I think you can handle this inquiry without consulting your 10-man staff to come up with a two-sentence answer. I also understand brevity is not part of a politician's lexicon, but try not to disappoint me as you have done in the past.

Why do members of congress take SIDES when deciding the fate of this country's future? Aren't we all Americans seeking common ground when it comes to making decisions for the Greater Good? Aren't we all covered under the umbrella of the American flag - or is it just the rich?

Can you answer these questions, Mr. House Speaker, or is a simple explanation beyond your comprehension?

Let me help you out, sir, because you and the rest of the Keystone Cops obviously require hand-holding when it comes to making a tough decision and doing their job. 

The duty of ALL 435 officials, who could easily double as the Marx Brothers, is to conduct the people's business! That's what you were all hired to do. You were not elected to work for special interest groups or your party. You are living proof that George Washington was ahead of his time when he admonished his countrymen that political parties would impede the progress of this infant nation.

Sir, you have the privilege of working inside that great big marble dome because your constituency believed in you, but I know I don't — especially the way congress has conducted itself for the past month.

America's leadership is becoming an embarrassment to the world and congress has the look and feel of the latest episode of "Jersey Shore." Right now, I would put all my money on "Snooky" to call the ball on the debt ceiling.


Your trademark is your insincere and incessant crying. In just a few days, we will be balling our eyes out when America defaults on its loans. Of course, you will still be getting your paycheck, but seniors and veterans won't be receiving their benefits.

I thought we are all on the same SIDE? Apparently not! Forget this polarization nonsense or America is a divided nation. 

No kidding! 

But that didn't stop the framers of the Constitution from hammering out a document that guaranteed "all men are created equal." Our forefathers had the temerity to work around their differences and create a nation from scratch.

Today, thanks to poor leadership, greed and stupidity, the nation is looking like a ghost town as businesses vanish and the growing poor line the streets.

What would Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin think about all this shenanigans?

I do know that you have gone out of your way, along with the rest of your party, to sideline a nation with party politics, back-biting, arrogance and insolence. I know the other side has done the same.

Do you understand what is at stake here? All of you are making decisions that will affect the quality of heath of Americans and their future for generations to come. You are messing with the world's wealth. Schools are crumbling, and local budgets and good paying jobs are drying up while of you babble on —about nothing. We are back to the year 1933, and all we are missing is the Great Depression, Hitler, Mussolini and a global conflict.

You are a sad lot with axes of grind instead of helping America stand on its own two feet again. We are involved in three conflicts in the Middle East, poverty flourishes, education suffers and we are all indentured servants to foreign governments while congress prolongs our agony with its adolescent behavior. Good men are dying on battlefields and citizens are losing their homes as our leaders engage in daily finger pointing.

Do you really understand what is going on around you. You are supposed to be making decisions for the Greater Good. You work for us — not the GOP or the DNC.

How can any of you be taken seriously!

Thanks to both parties, I have become an independent who is hoping someone with a sound mind and the ability to lead will suddenly materialize in the nick of time to resurrect a floundering nation.

But I do have you and the GOP to thank for helping me make the switch to independent. I just hope those of you who vote won't forget these leaders with feet of clay when the next election rolls around.

I know my memory will serve me well when I cast my vote. 

A woman of substance

We didn't know what to think of each other when we first met 21 years ago. We were from two different worlds, but over the next decade, Dorothy Millett and I would find common ground - at the kitchen table.

I was a boisterous and an opinionated young man who didn't mind speaking his mind. Dorothy Millett was a 67-year-old widow who didn't say much over the phone whenever I called to speak with Terri. She was abrupt, and I felt short-changed because our conversations amounted to just a few words - and she was about to become my mother-in-law.

It wasn't until our numerous lunch dates in Dot's kitchen was when I really got to know this extraordinary woman, who could take whatever was left in the hallway pantry and turn it into a gourmet meal.

I knew she wasn't sure who the heck this guy from the Boston area was and whether his intentions to marry her daughter were honorable and true.

I just thought she didn't like me!

And yet, despite a few rounds of haggling over our wedding plans, Dorothy Millett and I eventually stopped eye-balling each other and grew to like and then love each other despite our differences.

But Dorothy and I were united by a common interest - our love for Terri, who made us both feel special because she is such a special person.

And I came to appreciate her Yankee ingenuity in the kitchen and her old-fashioned horse sense when it came to life's problems. She knew how to simplify life's curve balls in a world that has a knack for complicating everything. She was, in my opinion, a leading authority on common sense. She, along with my mother, became my inspirations in the kitchen, too.

Of course, Dot's culinary talents went a long way to winning me over and making me feel right at home in her humble abode. She knew the fastest way to reaching me was through my stomach, and as a growing young man, who could say no to her culinary delights.

I often told her that we should open "Dot's Kitchen,' and added we could make a fortune because she was such a genius with the average recipe.

A free meal at Dot's dining room was like hitting the lottery or winning Sox tickets to a game on hot August day at Fenway Park.

But what was really remarkable about this woman, who had the stamina of a 40 year old and whose mind was still sharp, was that she had the nerve to adopt a child in her 50s and raise her in a safe and loving household without any fanfare.

And while she was bringing up Terri, this unselfish, civic-minded woman, who was also active in her church, still found time to improve other people's lives in her community.

I have had nothing but respect for Dorothy Millett, who always asked for my mother and father and took a vested interest in my son.

She was one of those human beings who played a huge role in the lives of two people trying to find their way in the world.

I will miss her, and her absence means life will never be the same for Terri and me, and that is why Dorothy Millett's passing is such a huge loss to her family and friends.

Dorothy's death, while not unexpected, has nonetheless left us all feeling empty.

I will miss Dorothy Millett for a number of reasons.

I offer the Millett family this written tribute to a woman whose common sense and integrity were beyond reproach.

My deepest condolences to all who knew this fine woman.