A letter to Congress

Dear Congress

I am a very unhappy constituent regarding the health care bill. I feel the bill is too large and expensive for the country to handle. In addition I believe that it fails to deal with one of the most important issue related to health care: rising premiums. Many of Americans feel that we no longer have a voice in our federal government and that needs to be changed.

The following are a list of ideas for a common sense health care reform bill that will not cost the country as much as the current bill did:

1. The increase in health care premiums have to be tied to a benchmark like inflation or the cost of living

2. People who receive unemployment benefits get to keep their insurance as long as they are on unemployment.

3. People can not be dropped due to the amount of their claims

4. No pre-existing conditions

5. If you get insurance on your own it is tax deductible

I feel these are more common sense approaches that the nation will support and keep premiums down for the average person. This letter will probably not get to you and be pushed aside by one of your aides. If it happens that you do read it please provide some feedback.

Spring training

I will start out by saying that I understand that it is still spring training. That being said, so far Colvin has been tearing it up this spring after gaining about 20lbs of muscle over the winter. If Colvin can keep it up, I would like to see the Cubs trade Fukudome for a pitcher of some sort. In his place I would like to see Tyler Colvin get a shot at playing right field every day.

By trading Fukudome, they can free additional money up and go after a reliever to bolster the bullpen or even the starting rotation. Up to this point, Fukudome has been a disappointment. He has had great starts to the 2 seasons he has been on the team but has not finished strong. I think it’s time to move on and start the process of mixing in some of the up and coming kids with the veterans.

It also appears that the Cubs prized prospect Starlin Castro will start in the minor leagues. I don't have an issue with that except for their plan to not give Theriot time at 2nd base. Theriot mostly likely will be moved to there when Castro is called up and he should get time there to be able to get comfortable.

It sounds like the Cubs have several prospects that will be good major league players. Hopefully they can develop them and the players will perform as expected when they get here. The future looks bright for the team.