I have a suggestion for the people of our great nation. Let’s grab some lipstick and paint circles around the eyes of Vladimir Putin that our current president found so alluring.

We could slap red lipstick crosses on Walter Reed Hospital and the VA hospitals to signify the under funding they have received and the abysmal care our heroes and heroines have received.

Let’s smear the brightest red lipstick we have on the hands of the CEOs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the major oil companies and the pharmaceutical, health industries. Even if they aren’t caught, they’ll at least be red-handed.

Let’s go to Washington’s K Street and mark the offices of all those high-powered, anything-for-a-buck lobbying firms – a large dollar sign seems appropriate.

We could mark in deep red the doors of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve signifying our $10 trillion dollar debt and deteriorating condition of our economy.

We need to spend time touring the country and daubing the doors of those industries that have closed their doors and left the country with our jobs but not without continuing to collect tax benefits and shelters — maybe a light gray lipstick for that job. Since we’re traveling all over, we could stop by our local schools and slap some lipstick above their doors for the lack of support received from the administration in terms of funding while being overburdened with expensive rules and regulations.

What is the color of shameful? I suppose red. Also, let’s make big black Xs on all the bridges, overpasses and crumbling highways of our federal system. Finally, let’s rush up to Glacier Park and to Alaska and, using our green lipstick, mark all the glaciers and ice packs that are disappearing. But hurry or we won’t have anything to mark.

Surely, there are many other things you as individuals and groups may decide need the touch of lipstick. Once we’re all done, let’s step back and admire our handiwork and hope that the McCain campaign and the Republican Party will pay as much attention to each of these problems as they did to a comment about the McCain policies and, in doing so, will be willing to debate and discuss rationally how to resolve these problems. Wouldn’t that be a real change?

JOHN CHAPLIK
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 8:40 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.