THE WILLIAM BENNETT SYNDROME
How easy is it for us common-folk to remember that William Bennett, the "conservative consultant" for a couple of satellite news channels, wasted away over a million dollars playing the slot machines in Vegas? If you are like me, ... my memory is vivid when it comes to remembering the details of rich and famous people wasting away their money while there are children in the U.S. who do not have computers in their homes. Wasting a million dollars. What a jerk! Can you pronounce Lindsay Lohan?
Ah, but Bro. Bennett, well, ... he excused himself. That money was money from "... my book sales and didn't affect our household income." Easy come, easy go! Bennett's book was probably ghost written anyway, so all he had to do is play the Tom Delay game.
"I am not a good writer, so I told them about what I wanted to write, and they just wrote it." And Delay was and is one who pushes for educational reforms. I'd throw Dubya Bush in this category as well. How many of us really think Bush can write one paragraph without mistakes? Just one! Not me. But Delay claims he has a "learning disability" that forced him to pay a professional writer to write his "autobiography." Under NCLB, Delay would have been forced to take the dumb "nationally normed testing," mandating even Special Education students to take the test." Bill Richardson had the most prescient answer for a question about NCLB.
"I'd scrap it. It's not working!"
What is the difference between these right-wing rich people or brainless celebrities like Lohan or Ms. Hilton? None!
Now it appears, we have Michael Vick throwing his money into an bottomless pit, ... pit bull fighting. They don't breed pit bulls for children, even though Spanky and his comedic gang had "Pete," (pronounced Pety) the pit bull with a ring around his eye. The dog played a big role in all of the Spanky And The Gang's early comedies, without ever mauling any of the kids. Pit bulls will attack, and like an alligator will hold on, mangle, and go for the carotid artery.
Richard Pryor, said, after burning up his face doing drugs, "Heroin is God's punishment on the rich and famous." Sounds good to me. With most "sane" people who have millions, they would find some way to use their excess money to better the world, a la, Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie.
"Sir" Charles Barkley has bragged many times on Jay Leno that he has wasted a lot of money gambling. His biggest loss? About a million dollars on one bet. And this man is thinking about running for governor of Georgia or Mayor of Atlanta? Give me a break. Sir Charles "ain't no" Senator Obama, for sure! The thing about illegal gambling is that there is a lot of money passed under the table, which is not reported to the IRS, so it is a tempting escape to keep from paying taxes from such activities. Now we find out that Michael Vick, a great "professional" football player, is somehow involved in the raising and fighting of pit bulls. Dog fighting isn't just watching a bloody sport; it's done for "under the table" gambling money.
Vick has been ordered to stay away from his team's early season practice and rightly so. It seems a bit strange that Vick has gotten himself into this jam, since dog fighting is usually a 'white man's' disease. He was caught on the radio this morning making excuses for his "bloody" hobby.
As I sat in my local veterinarian's waiting room, a young man in his 20s came in with his pit bull, which had open wounds, ... some where the dog's skin was hanging open uncovering the muscle. The dog seemed to be in no pain, though.
"What the heck happened to your dog?" I asked.
"Ah, ... he was hit by a car." And if anyone believes that, I have alligators in my cellar.
It has been only a few years since Oklahoma outlawed "cock fighting." My neighbor used to raise them. They're 'gonna' die anyway.
Don't get me wrong, though. I know lots of football players who put their money to useful projects. But it's the glaring bad examples that stick out like a sore middle finger. "I earned my money, I'll waste it however a want!" - Sir Charles
"Hey, I don't want to hear anyone complain about what I do with my money!" Barkley says on the Leno program. "I'm the one that earned that money by playing defense against professional players, so I can do what ever I want to with my money." One sperm in millions, Barkley could have never been conceived or could have been born in India.
Sir Charles is right, but he better find something else to do, rather than run for politics. Look what "easy money" has done to President George Bush. It is hard to believe that one president can screw up so many times, and still be in office. You see, after Bush was refused entrance into Texas University Law School, he fell back on his family name and his trust fund to get him through Yale and Harvard, ... with enough money left over to pour into a gamble in "big oil," and we all know the history of that gamble. For the Bush family, gambling is legal.
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