Memo to the White House

TO: Rahm Emanuel
White House Chief of Staff.

FR: Amy S. Dixon,
Taxpayer, Citizen, Voter.

RE: Beer with the President.

Congratulations on the completion of the first Beer with the President event (hereinafter BWTP). Given the success of this evening, I am anticipating that you will want to duplicate it in the future. Accordingly, I respectfully request your consideration as someone to be invited to a similar event.

I hope that you will not make arrest by, or conflict with, law enforcement a precondition to an invitation to BWTP. Frankly, it would generate a lot of paperwork for me. Perhaps the law enforcement aspect of the discussion could be expanded to what the Administration is doing with respect to beefing-up federal regulatory enforcement (i.e. enforcement of environmental regulations, enforcement of regulations protecting working folks, changes at the SEC (if any), etc.). This could be an opportunity to showcase the good stuff that is now happening under this President. Alternatively, I like to discuss First Amendment issues, so perhaps that could be on the agenda.

On the issue of who to else to invite, I want to note that although my husband's father was a police officer, there are also firefighters in the Dixon Family background. Accordingly, could I bring a firefighter to the BWTP instead of a police officer? I hate to generalize because hurtful, wrongful, illegal generalizations are the basis of the inauguration of BWTP, but I have to say that firefighters as a group are typically a lot of fun and great to have at parties.

If invited, I propose to bring some real Wisconsin beer for everyone to enjoy. This will avoid some of the controversy that arose for the first BWTP and promote the products of my home state.

Further, although I understand the President drank Bud Light, I propose we avoid light beer. In Wisconsin, light beer is consumed for one of two reasons: It serves as either the equivalent to asking for a glass of water (refreshing after a round of golf), or it is consumed by people who intend to drink beer continuously for 8 to 12 hours on "game day" (Packers / Brewers / Badgers, etc). Since there will likely be time to have just one beer with the President, let's enjoy some good stuff such as a delicious Spotted Cow. Can the White House provide peanuts in the shell and popcorn? It's traditional.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Results of the NPR Best Beach Book Poll

The list of 100 best beach books selected by NPR listeners is now available at npr.org/books. Eight of the ten books I voted for in the survey made the final list.

Do most of the titles on the final list look familiar to you? I've read a significant percentage of these books. It is fun to look at some of those titles and think once more, "oh, that was a good book".

The WP Reports that the Plastic Logic E-Reader Will Arrive in January

From the Washington Post:

The e-book world will get markedly more interesting in January when Plastic Logic, a Mountain View, Calif. tech company, launches its eReader in the United States.

. . .

What will separate the new device from the Kindle is its touch screen; the Kindle is still button-bound. The Plastic Logic e-reader also will be able to access Wi-Fi hot spots, which the Kindle cannot.

(more)

A Non-Starter: "Losing Mum and Pup" by Christopher Buckley

Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir by Christopher Buckley, may or may not be an excellent book. I don't know because even though the book has been knocking around the house for about two months and I fully intended to read it this July, I just can't do it. I am not interested. So, I guess that is my review.

Best Seller Round-Up

"Why should writers wish to be rated -- seeded -- like tennis players? Handicapped like racehorses? What an epitaph for a novelist:
He won all the polls!"

- Saul Below, The Paris Review Interviews, I.

I. The New York Times.

Published July 26, 2009.

Fiction Paperback (Trade): The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle), Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows.
Fiction Hardcover: Best Friends Forever, Jennifer Weiner.
Nonfiction Paperback: Glenn Beck's 'Common Sense', Glenn Beck.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Unmasked, Ian Halperin.

II. Los Angeles Times.
Published July 26, 2009.

Fiction Paperback: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson.



Fiction Hardcover: The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Nonfiction Paperback: Glenn Beck's 'Common Sense', Glenn Beck.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell.

III. Northern California Independent Booksellers.
For the week ending July 19, 2009.

Fiction Paperback (Trade): Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout and Annie Barrows.
Fiction Hardcover: The Help, Kathryn Stockett, Amy Einhorn
Nonfiction Paperback: Julie & Julia, Julie Powell.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell.


IV. Heartland Indie Bestseller List.
Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association
For the week ending July 19, 2009.

Fiction Paperback (Trade): The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle), Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows.
Fiction Hardcover: The Help, Kathryn Stockett, Amy Einhorn
Nonfiction Paperback: Glenn Beck's 'Common Sense', Glenn Beck.
Nonfiction Hardcover: Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell.

T.G.I.F.

It is Friday. It is July. Half of the people you need to talk to about your projects are on vacation and the other half is leaving at noon. You, however, are in the office for the duration of the day. Sounds like it will be the perfect afternoon for you to read this article from Slate called "Fix Your Terrible, Insecure Passwords in Five Minutes" and then proceed to, well, fix your terrible, insecure passwords!

To the Opponents of the President's Health Care Reform Plan: Why Do You Hate America?

To the Congressional opponents of health care reform, and their pals: So, you like the status quo on health care, eh? But what was that your friend Sarah Palin said? Only dead fish go with the flow.

The facts support implementing health care reform now. For example, according to a report published last June by the White House Council of Economic Advisers:

[H]ealthcare spending, which currently accounts for about 18 percent of the country's economic output, could reach 34 percent by 2040 if the current rate of cost growth continues. The report called that outlook "unsustainable."

Most working Americans with health insurance get it through their employers and the study said rising costs have increased insurance premiums and cut into workers' wages. A reform that reins in costs would improve economic efficiency and boost economic output by more than 2 percent in 2020 and by 8 percent in 2030, the report concluded.

That would translate into $2,600 in higher income for a family of four in 2020, rising to $10,000 by 2030, the report said. Since about half of healthcare costs are paid by federal, state and local governments, their budgets also would benefit greatly by reform, it said.

Providing medical coverage to the uninsured will also help the economy by improving the overall well-being of the work force -- providing a net benefit to the economy of about $100 billion a year, the report said.

Without the overhaul, the number of uninsured Americans would rise to about 72 million in 2040, it said.

(Via Reuters).

The status quo cannot continue. Let's just get the necessary changes done now, folks.

Check out the full video of last night's press conference by President Obama on the topic of health care reform.