An Open Letter to the President of the United States

Dear President Obama,

Having watched your State of the Union Address Wednesday, I was inspired by your call for ideas to address Health Care Reform. I, via this letter, would like to submit my thoughts and ideas for consideration and debate, with the intention of finding a path to a solution that meets the needs of all Americans with regard to available and affordable access to health care.

First, I would like to state that I have read through as much as possible, as published by both partisan and non-partisan organizations, research and details of the provisions outlined in H.R. 3962. I believe that bill to be quite aggressive at attempting to reform the health insurance industry in the United States. I also see that much of the controversy and divisiveness you referenced in Washington is, truly, putting a blockade in front of progress toward a solution. However, at the same time, I would caution that dissenting viewpoints to a presented bill (any bill, introduced by any author or committee), in any house of Congress, does not explicitly translate to a lack of desire to do the necessary work. A “NAY” vote on H.R. 3962 should NOT be politicized to suggest that a person or party is against health care reform. They are merely voting against THIS bill’s solution. To suggest otherwise is exceptionally divisive in a country where divisiveness has already torn away the fabric of healthy, progressive debate and dragged it down to an ideological Civil War of Words where the dirty weapons of politics such as personal attacks, “fear-mongering”, distortion of truth, and in some extreme yet unfortunate incidents, violence or the threat thereof. I am not talking about Congressmen and Congresswomen. I’m talking about everyday average Americans. For the Joe-the-Plumbers to the Brad-the-IT-Guys of America, our “Leaders” in government, all parties, and honestly, all branches, have given us the example of bickering, finger pointing, name calling and posturing to follow. This is clearly unacceptable.

Elected officials are servants of the public, their constituents. This means all of them, not just the ones that voted for them. The arrogance and narcissism must be dealt with. You were elected on the promises of hope and change for a better America. Millions of people voted for you. Millions did not. You must lead them all. You represent all of us. You need to lead - ALL of us. Naturally, as you said in your speech, there are deep seeded differences in ideology and philosophy across the political spectrum. My expectation from you, from Congress, from all elected officials down to the school board members to the local alderman in the smallest American hamlets is that a consensus can be attained, differences set aside, personal grudges eliminated, partisanship be damned and the progression of work toward the betterment of America be the one and only standing objective of the offices which you hold.

We are in a political society now where we have few choices come Election Day. We are in a society where we must choose elephant or donkey, red or blue, Democrat or Republican, and the nature of these party politics makes our support of any candidate backed by these parties a label. I voted Republican, therefore, in the public mind, I MUST be anti-gay rights, I MUST be pro-oil company, I MUST be a member of the “Religious Right”, I MUST be anti-health care reform, I MUST be a hard-line conservative. Similarly, I voted Democrat, therefore I MUST be Pro-Choice, I MUST believe in Tax-and-Spend, I MUST be anti-Military, I MUST be a hard-line liberal. This label concept is clearly on display in Washington politics. That attitude transcends the walls of the Capitol Building and White House, and seeps into the public psyche. These labels go further in countering any progression toward diversity of thought, understanding, mutual respect and agreement on the common goals of all Americans. They hinder our elected officials from truly understanding the complexities of philosophy of their constituents’ mindsets, beliefs, principles, and needs. But today, my choice is Team Red, “all-in” or Team Blue, “all-in,” and I am identified and classified by those narrow options. That is EXACTLY why Americans across the country are looking at their elected officials, even the ones they voted for, and still ask “but who truly represents me?”

Respectfully, Mr. President, I’d like to return to the topic of health care in America. I believe that we have exceptionally high quality of health care in this country. I believe that trusting your doctor and trusting your hospital is instinctive to most Americans. We believe in the health care system. We believe in the doctors, the medicines, the procedures and the technologies so much that when we do have a need to visit a physician, if he or she tells us to “take two of these and call me in the morning”, we do it knowing that is what will work the best toward fixing what hurts.

What has been the primary topic of political, economic and social concern is not America’s health care system. It is the cost of America’s health care system. I often try to use a very simple example when discussing with my friends where I perceive the root of the problem to be. Why does it cost $10 for a single dose of Tylenol at the hospital when I can go to a drug store and buy an entire bottle for less? Extrapolate that inflated pricing to the more complex medicines, specialized doctors, and complicated technology and it is any wonder the cost of health insurance is so high? Digging deeper into the causality, we need to truly understand the pricing of the health care and address that before, or concurrently, with dealing with the cost of the insurance. Another hot topic relates to the concepts of a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies price their products on the basis of risk. Because people with pre-existing conditions are at high risk for requiring more and more expensive health care than someone without, insurance companies will either charge massive amounts of money to cover them, or decide the risk is too great to cover them at all. This is certainly tragic. However, I would put to your consideration that if the cost of the care itself was better managed and less inflated, the risk analysis is fundamentally changed, suddenly making an insurance company’s pricing structure more manageable to the patient.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I would not suggest that the current situation exists absent of blame on the health insurance industry. What I am suggesting is a closer examination of the cause of the high costs of health care and its effect on the high costs of health care insurance. I also would not suggest that addressing the cost of health care alone would then immediately make the insurance available and affordable to every American. I am simply proposing that it will take more work to follow the cause and effect flow back upstream to truly understand and make intelligent choices about how to deal with the problem.

Mr. President, the following represents some personal thoughts to begin to address the cost of health care, and why insurance is still difficult, expensive, or impossible to obtain for many Americans.

- Require that the health care industry publish a rate schedule for their services so the public can better begin to understand the costs. If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it.

- Investigate the feasibility of a “cap” on Malpractice Lawsuits. Detractors to this idea might suggest this could devalue the life or livelihood of the victim of malpractice, but I put to you that no amount of money truly defines or replaces the unfortunate injury or worse, loss of a loved one due to malpractice.

- Considering our intention of ensuring available, affordable health care to all Americans, perhaps think about mandating that heath care services be treated more as utilities than free enterprises, removing the risk of profiteering from health care, and helping to drive down costs.

- Consider grant-type funding for research, development and innovation in the health care medicine and technology sectors, allowing these organizations to provide the tools to health care organizations without needing to collect extra revenues to fund R&D. This would certainly include academic institutions. This can help drive down the cost of that new X-Ray machine or that new prescription drug for the hospital. If it costs less for the hospital to purchase, it should cost less for the patient to use it.

- Consider setting a baseline for basic preventative care costs. For example, a yearly visit to the doctor for a physical, blood test, cholesterol test and blood pressure reading should not break the bank, nor be radically different between doctors. Combined with published rate schedules as mentioned above, it allows the public to choose in an informed and educated way how to use this service, and it allows an insurance company to better price coverage for this basic need.

Mr. President, these are merely a couple examples of ideas that could constitute outside-the-box thinking on dealing with the problem of health care costs in America. These ideas might be impossible, impractical, controversial, tried and failed, or even currently in consideration. What I am attempting to encourage is to look deeper into the problem to find the basic root cause of it instead of focusing on the symptom. Ask the question, “why is health care insurance so expensive or hard to get and keep,” and follow the answer down the path to a solution. It is not so simple that it can be summed up to the greed of the health insurance company, although there may certainly be cases where that is a contributing factor. We cannot fix the problem by subsidizing the insurance without attacking the root cause.

The American people believe in each other. That is the spirit of America you alluded to in your State of the Union speech. They want to believe in the government. They want to believe that the government will act in their best interests in order to solve the problems we face today of unemployment, national security, financial security, and providing an America that is a beacon to the world in the name of freedom and liberty. Where our children and their children can grow up knowing that they live in the greatest country in the world because it is a country of the people, by the people and for the people, and our elected representatives never forget it.

In closing, Mr. President, please encourage yourself and your fellow Washington representatives to the American people to remember and live by the essence of why we are here and what we believe in.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Sincerely, your constituent,

Brad Kostreva

What the WHAT???

It's just after 3pm on Sunday afternoon. The AFC Championship Game is on, Sanchez just threw his second TD, and I realized... I just don't care. Is it the AFC? Nah.. Jets/Colts? Nah.... I think there's just nothing "fun" about watching this game. I barely have any interest in the Vikings/Saints game later. Granted, I do enjoy Peyton Manning's face after the Jets score... he has that "I though I was invincible?!?" look and then he goes and cries into the giant Gatorade bucket.

So I'm sitting in my basement - (huh, the Who is playing the Super Bowl halftime show... must be part of that CSI Theme Song contract with CBS) - watching this game in the background, it's mostly white noise, and deliberately NOT doing something for work I should be doing. I had a good weekend, that's bully for me, got a new TV to replace the one that died, and built an elliptical in the basement too. I've been playing both the gee-tar and piano lately, which has been fun, especially remembering that I know how to play the piano. There's even a couple songs that I can still play with my eyes closed. (Joseph Addai fumbles, Peyton face gets longer than the Oakland Raiders offseason... yeah.. Football humor)

You know what? Screw it! Lets turn this posting into Sports-Related humor!!!

I want to know who the first guy is that combined the letter "D" and the "##"-looking thingy to hold up during their teams chants of "de-FENSE!!!" etc... because as "visionary" that guys was, it's old-hat these days. Get an original sign buddy... that one's taken.

Heheh... another shot of Peyton Manning's face all red and poofy, kind like a baboon butt. That makes sense to me for some reason. Feely from 48... Good. His name's "Feely" - that either REALLY worked for him in High School, or REALLY didn't... 17-6 Jets, and Peyton Manning's updating his resume because he can't believe how awful his team is. NEXT SUNDAY ON CBS... THE GRAMMY'S! Yeah, the Grammy's... the awards that mean nothing to the musicians anymore either... You want an award? How about "Most Songs Illegally Downloaded"... that should be an honor if you think about it... Your product is so good, people risk getting sued just to have it. Or how about "Number One Song Moms Turn On After Turning Off Their Kids Jonas Brothers" - cuz all ya'll know that Barry White would be winning year after year after year after... cuz Moms dig Barry White. Especially Your Mom... That's what she tells me anyways. BOOYAH.

Is it just me, or do the Michael Phelps Subway commercials seems just icky... like seeing a dude in an uber-tight speedo makes me hungry for a sub? Maybe it's a "swing" thing, and I don't "swing" that way... but I guess I could see the marketing working for someone who does... "mmm...speedo... I want a meatball bomber." I guess that could work.

Indianapolis gets a touchdown on a blown coverage by the Jets. Peyton Manning claims he is the greatest to have ever lived.

So I'm selling my old TV on Craigslist... it's got 12-15 single pixels out on the screen scattered. For a video game machine or occasional use, it's a good thing. But for me, it's my "primary TV", so I don't want to deal with dead pixels. It's a 46" Samsung LCD DLP Projection TV. You can't hang it on the wall, but it's ultra-thin and ultra-light. I listed it for $150 on Craigslist, for a **46" HDTV** and I'm getting low-ball offers of $75!!! BITE MY BIG TOE!!!

*SIGH* more later... Ciao!

OPEN FORUM

YO!

Before I announce this topic, I need to clarify that "BradK" is a 'persona' - not necessarily reflecting the 100% the author and creator of said persona...

Having said that....

Let loose all, this is an open forum to discuss, debate, disseminate and defer...

It's all about YOU!

Starter Topic:
Do we really need Lifestyle, WE, AND Oxygen in our cable channel packages?

Maybe I'm the JerkFace?!?

So, some of you may have seen the back and forth I had with another Blogger who frequents Racine-centric blogs who goes by the pseudonym "OrbsCorbs" on an article on the Racine Post web site.

Now, in this back and forth, I have been accused of mis-quoting, immaturity, game-playing, singling out (his) opinion as lesser than anyone else's, and then basically challenged to a "rumble" as if we were in grade school with a playground octagonal ring.

From my perspective, I actually thought I was quite civil and clearly stated in what I had written. Basically, all this started when I asked him to clarify a comment he had made earlier in the "comments" section of the article.

Despite my perspective, it has dawned on me that perhaps *I* was the a-hole he had made me out to be, and I'm too ignorant to realize this.

For reference - here's a link to the article with all the back-and-forth beginning about half-way down the comments section.

http://news.racinepost.com/2010/01/liberal-media.html

At one point later in the exchange, Orbs invites me to contact him via his email address on his Blogger profile as opposed to continuing the discussion on the Racine Post site. I accepted his offer, and in fact, the full body - verbatim - of the email I sent him is this:

*******************************
Orbs,

Consider yourself emailed!

Sure, I made an assumption when you said "you and the wealthy dowagers..." that you were lumping me into that group. It still deosn't seem like an unreasonable assumption - despite that I was wrong about it.

I have no problem whatsoever meeting someone and debating in person. Perhaps in this way the ambiguity of the conversation which often occurs in written form can be avoided. How something is intended is not always how it is received, of course, and clearly you perceived my comments as personally antogonistic to you, the man. I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you and make up for that on my part.

I have to admit, based on other comments you have made on the Racine Post and JT Irregulars, etc, I thought that ideologically, we may have a bit in common, so I welcome the chance to meet up with you and chat. Honestly, I think it could be fun.

Again, no harm was intended by my initial comment on this thread, it was simply a serious request for clarification.


Brad
***********************

His response to this email was not via email as he had requested - but rather the last couple postings on the thread of the blog.

Now - maybe I am the jerk! In a moment of self-examination (no lumps found), I tried to consider this possibility, and put it to you, the loyal followers of my Musings, to come back and let me know where I stand. Because I trust you to be honest with me, I would expect that if indeed I am the jerk here, you would not only come out and tell me, but do so with no reservations.

Granted, I expect all of you to tell me I'm a jerk "in general" - but I'm looking for some feedback for this specific instance/exchange with Mr. OrbsCorbs.

I've got a bit more to say on the topic, but will hang back for a bit and consider your initial responses first....

So I put to you, followers of the Musings... Was *I* the jerk here?

Speaking of...

HELLO and Welcome to the BradK Show!!!

With us here today is my id... or super-ego... or whatever it is that causes me to talk or type to myself in a narcissistic way.

Today we are going to interview one of the most engaging and entertaining minds of a generation - nay - a few generations. Winner of several meaningless and mostly made-up awards, this person has redefined shameful self-promotion, Appetizer Menu's at Applebee's, and has written a How-To guide on baking Smurf's (release date TBD).

Please welcome with all "due" respect... One of the other Voices in my head...




B:
So, BradK thanks for taking some time out of your extremely busy day to sit down with me and educate our readers a little bit about you and what makes you tick.

V(oice):
Thanks, physical manifestation of myself, it's been seconds since I last expressed myself in a way that others could understand

B:
Meaning..?

V:
Verbally, using English instead of my made-up language combining elements of Esperanto, Klingon, and the southern most dialect of Djibouti.

B:
I know Djibouti.

V:
I've seen Djibouti.

B:
Touche!

V:
So what do you want to know about?

B:
Well, what I want to know, what our readers want to know, what everyone else wants to know - what did you think of the latest Chilean elections?

V:
That's a great question me, I think the best way to answer that is to break down what really happened. The Chile elections were full of meaty debate, spicy rhetoric and just an oyster cracker's worth of intrigue and scandal. It's no wonder it came down to a runoff election which I nicknamed, of course...

B:
The Chile Cook-Off Elections?

V:
Don't interrupt me again.

B:
Sorry.

V:
I really hate it when you steal my punchlines, especially for the marginally funny jokes I pepper into my speech.

B:
But it works better when read that way.

V:
I hate you. Now I have no inspiration to continue my diatribe into food-sounding country politics like Hungary and Turkey.

B:
Don't forget Belgium.

V:
I never waffle on the important topics, Brad... you know that.

B:
Sorry... please continue.

V:
A lot of you have asked my opinion on the Gilbert Arenas incident where he pulled an unloaded gun from his locker and waved it in the face of his teammates, and whether or not the NBA has properly responded to the issue...

B:
Yeah, I don't care about that, let's move on to the next question. In your opinion, was Avatar worth the hype?

V:
That's "James Cameron's Avatar" and yes, it was worth the hype. And I mean that purely from a utilitarian perspective. They spent a crapload of money "hyping" it, and it made a crapload more than they spent. By definition - worth the hype.

B:
Very well. Who is your pick for the next Nobel Peace Prize?

V:
Clearly me. I mean, I have personally generated more ideas on how to bring peace to this world than anyone in history. Like the most recent winner, I have not actually disclosed those ideas, acted on any of them, or increased troop levels in a war, but MAN do I have some ideas. And I bet they're better than his. Here's a hint - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sammiches. I bet the most recent winner's ideas never included those.

B:
Imagine if they had!

V:
It wouldn't have been as good as MY PB&J idea.

B:
You're very sure of yourself.

V:
Ironically, you aren't, and that doesn't make any sense at all, given that we're the same person.

B:
Shut your pie hole.

V:
Well said.

B:
Well, we're coming to the end of our interview, is there anyone you'd like to give a "shout-out" to? We are quickly approaching 12 billion readers, so whoever you want to say "HI" to, go ahead.

V:
Why thank you BradK, I'd like to send a special shout-out to the following people:
Don Imus, Paris Hilton, Snoop, Nicole Richie and Howard Stern.

B:
Why them?

V:
Because they have negative Q-Scores.

B:
Well, thank you again, I hope to hear from you soon...

V:
Duh.

B:
Good night!

Stuff That Bothers You But You Don't Talk About

Hoo-Ah

My foray into bringing the TABOO into the open! I'm certainly going to miss some, so please, feel free to add your own, and while you're at it, get friends and enemies to add their own and join the cult-status-following of the Musings of BradK....

1) Urinal Talkers
Sorry.. I'm standing there hanging onto my personal memorabilia, I don't really want to have a conversation. One of two things can happen... first, it will trigger a stupid sense memory later in life when my memorabilia should be doing something completely different, but no, my sense memory goes back to the Urinal Chat about how cold it is outside... and "cold" does not help the show if-you-know-what-I-mean. The other thing that can happen is that the conversation a la urinal can skew off to locker-room chats, and before you know it, I'm peeing all over the ceiling. There's a visual for all y'all. Speaking of locker room chats... do you suppose women locker rooms are full of girls bragging about their conquests and whatnot (as is the stereotypical male locker room... except for mine because I was always shoved in the locker by the jock-bully's and couldn't really hear the conversations or brag about finally figuring out that the Uvula wasn't what I thought it was).

2) The Guy/Girl that Won't Go Away
You know who I mean. You're at the bar, at a restaurant, standing in line for a movie, in bed, and there's that PERSON who just won't go away. You've given them clues like saying "Go Away" or clubbing them in the head with a large rock, or farting a lot - almost to the point of passing out (not from the smell, but from pushing so hard because you haven't had beans in a while... then the smell).

3) The Perversion of Traditional Religious Ideologies by Those With Personal Human Agendas Beyond the Purpose of the Teachings of the Religion.
Yeah. I hate that.

4) Sales as Kohl's.
Really...? REALLY..? Why call it a sale when it's ALWAYS that price?

5) "New Customer Promotions" from Time Warner Cable.
Sure, let's give the guy who's been giving all his money to DirecTV or Dish Network for years a break on his new cable bill. Not the guy who's loyally been raped monthly on their TIME WARNER CABLE SERVICE. That guy (cough cough, ME) is the sucker who will just put up with it. STOOPID...

6) 2-Year Cell Phone Contracts
You want to hear good stories about this... Talk to Jenny. 2 YEARS??? I don't even know what I'm going to do in 2 days, and I have to commit to a cell phone service for 2 YEARS!?? Other than World Dominance, I don't plan ahead.

7) Microsoft
And Apple. They both are very good at pointing out the other's bad points, and ignoring their own. Why is this taboo??? Well, wait until the loyalists read this and start defending their corporate baby.... Steve??? STEVE????

8) Anonymous Bloggers
Bite Me.

9) Butt Itches
Really... when are you supposed to take care of a butt itch? I vote for in public, for no reason other than to remove the stigma. And the itch.

10) Airplane 2: The Sequel
I can tell the same joke twice, and make it worse the second time too.

11) Airplane 2: The Sequel
It wasn't as gooder the second time.

12) People Who Are Famous Just For Being Famous
I'm looking at YOU George Harrison...

13) When a list of "Taboo" things just becomes a list of things that annoy me.
I HATE THAT SO MUCH I WISH THAT I COULD STOP IT IN MID-SENTE...


Muchas Gracias.

BradK

The Early Birds

On my way to 12 billion followers by 2011, I'd like to personally thank "The 5"

Like Battlestar Galactica's 5, these 5 will have an extremely important role in shaping humanity as we know it moving forward.

For starters, there's Jenny Kostreva - who will bask in the fame and fortune along with me as we go viral baby... Global Web Domination.

Rick Ditter - "You're the meaning in my blog... you're the inspiration..." Or rather.. yeah. You know... You shall lead my entourage. Like in that show on HBO... "Oz"

MMaxwell - I'm not sure if you have time to be in my entourage with all that shopping you do with Jessica Simpson, but I would be honored of course to have you along!

Bakey - Good things will come of this... my fame is your gain...

Ryan Scott - I will try SO HARD to dig up the old Euro-Trip blog posts and get those on here!

So - there is is, we are 5/12,000,000,000 of the way to our goal. I will be working on syndication and re-feeding on Facebook and all that, and hopefully do some video blogging linked into YoubTube.

Just remember - tell your friends to follow... and their friends... and their friends... This is gonna be AWESOME!!!


More soon...

The Best Movie Ever Not Made

When two colossi come together with such force, it breaks the molds of space-time and warps all life as we know it, and as we don't know it yet because we aren't smart enough to figure it out, but underneath the shadow of ignorance it's sooooo freaking cool you can't stand yourself......

Comes the premiere...

of...

The latest movie script that BradK will start writing, get bored of about halfway through the ideation, set it down indefinately and then forget he ever did it....

Based on characters created by people who weren't intelligent enough to combine them into a singular story....

Funded by no one because it's level of awesomeness makes people's heads explode unless they are wearing special protective UW Badger football jerseys that kinda look like hockey jerseys...

Starring Poncho Villa as himself, and an esemble cast of 3 million extras, side characters, sub-plot characters, Will Ferrel, and the voice of Orsen Welles...

Featuring 'splosions so large that 7 counties around L.A. thought they were under attack by Pyrenee mountain folk armed with nucular weaponry...

Written in the beutiful peotic rhythmic style of elegiac distich consisting of a dactylic hexameter and a pentameter....

I grant you...

"SHAKESPEARE HIGHLANDER 2: THE QUICKENING RENEGADE EDITION IN LOVE: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE RETURN"

Notable quotes:

Kurgan:
"Oh happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and tonight YOU SLEEP IN HELL!!!!"

******************************************

Ramirez:
"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achive greatness, and if your head comes away from your neck, it's over!"

*****************************************

Kurgan:
"The unkindest cut of all!" (dies)
Connor:
"There can be only one!"

****************************************

Rated PG for strong bloody violence throughout, language, sheep mutilation, adult situations, Christopher Lambert's acting, excessive drug use by the writer, dizzyness, loss of appetite, water retention in your man-boobs, and a general lack of taste throughout

Welcome to the Musings of BradK

Hi. BradK here.

You may remember me from my confrontations with such bloggers as "Anonymous", "Anonymous" and occasionally, "Anonymous" on such blogs as "Racine Post", "Free Racine", "Journal Times" and others.

Well, I decided to start my own blog, because darnit, what I think and have to say is so friggin' important, the whole of the GoogleWeb needs to see it, ponder it, comment on it, and dangit, follow this blog into history as I reach my newly refined goal of 12 billion readers in the next 12 months. That's only a billion readers per month people, and I know we can do it!

I'll supply the content primarily, but will allow guest bloggers form time to time who need some venting space or just have something interesting to say (though not as interesting as what I have to say because I don't want to be overshadowed by the superiority of others, which, I grant that they have, but probably won't ever admit in public except for just now in this statement. DAMN. Screwed that up).

If you are interested in commenting, do it. That is all I have to say about that.

If you are interested in guest blogging, I need to see three writing samples from 4th grade, a photo (not of you, but of a sexy-lady, unless you are a sexy lady. No Ditter, not you), and a promise to accept all the crap I give you in the comments section of your post. I'm willing to waive the writing sample requirement if you have a catchy title to your blog post.

Please note that speling errors and non-proper grammer are going to have happen in hear, so get over it. (See what I did there?)

Thank you.

These are my musings. They shall be on any topic I come up with at any givem moment of perspiration.

Here are the rules of commenting on my blog:

1) No "Anonymous" - sorry... you gots somethin' to say, put your name or fake-name-but-online-ID to it.

2) Any comments are subject to deletion at any time for any reason I see fit. This includes using words in "cutesy" text-messaging lingo like "IC", "2day", or "irregardless".

3) Personal attacks are... well, what the hey... keep it in good fun, and I don't care if you call someone a jackass. If you call me a jackass, see rule #2.

Let the fun begin!

That is all.