Aside from my continuing QOTD posts, I haven’t blogged shit in months.
I have always maintained the stance that I only get to writing when the inspiration hits. Something really interesting happening; a great synthesis of random thoughts forming a whole; something in the news that I have a crazy, unique angle on.
For the most part, I have transferred a lot of my great thoughts and words of wisdom to video form — check out my YouTube channel for those. A lot of what I would’ve written about, I speak on now.
Any who, think of the following scenario. I know many of us have had this play out in our lives from time to time…
There is some change, long overdue, some move we need to make in life. But our laziness, lack of urgency, plus the fact that the status quo — though not great — is not hurting or causing us more discomfort than we can handle, prevents one from getting off our collective asses.
That one was me. This was the relationship I had with my HP laptop, over the last 6 or so months.
Alas, the motherboard (defined in layman’s terms: an expensive piece of a laptop that usually costs you more than a new laptop would) of my old laptop got fried somehow, and that was that. When I asked that repair shop guy why/ how this happened, he replied: “Why do people die from heart attacks or cancer at age 30?”
One thing that showed me is that things can end at any time — only change is guaranteed in this life, nothing more. Personal relationships, business deals, fortuitous situations that make things easy for us, life itself — any and all of these can end any day, and we find ourselves behaving as if we have eternity to do the things we want to accomplish.
So now I’m back, new laptop in lap, and it’s time to go to work.
And a funny thing has taken place in this no-computer-having time — really about the last 60 days or so: I have a helluva following out there, and demand for my name is at an all-time high, and rising.
That’s somewhat crazy, and somewhat not.
Crazy because I haven’t even had my signature on a professional basketball contract in 18 months. In my visions back in 2003, I’d always figured that playing — in actual pro games — would be the way my name would ring out.
Not crazy, on the other hand, because shit — I’m connected to my people and they know where to find me. Simple as that. I made it that way, and it will remain that way.
DreAllDay.com has set high-water marks in readership/ site visitors every month in 2010 so far, even with me not able to check the stats for the final 2 weeks of May. That makes me feel good. As for YouTube… Well if you’ve been to my YouTube channel, you know what it is.
So, enough talking. I’m on the verge of reaching critical mass on this here Internet, and I gotta make it before the next motherboard fries. There is no Plan B.
So I turn 28 today. To signify this event, I wrote myself a letter. I’m not sharing it with anyone; just sharing with you that I did it.
From last birthday, courtesy of TheMissNguyen
I wanted to take a long, hard look at where I’ve been and where I’m at. And look at where/who/what I though I’d be 10 years ago when I was a high school senior.
I found that even though I’m in a good place all around, I’m not completely satisfied: I wanna be in a great place. And it’s not changes that I need — more along the lines of improvements and paradigm shifts.
I have never hid the fact that I want to be great. And I have plenty to strive for cuz I’m not yet there. The letter I wrote myself has me pointed where I need to go; maybe I’ll need a re-write at 29.
The sports story of the year decade wasn’t even a goddamn sports story.
We all know what happened: Tiger Woods crashed his SUV. His wife “saved” him from the truck before the cops arrived, with a conveniently handy golf club.
Then the tabloids took control.
Tiger f*cked this chick. She denied it but no one really cared about her.
Hey, Tiger f*cked this one, too!
OK, Tiger definitely f*cked this broad — he even left her a voice mail with his name on it!! And on & on it went (goes?).
My intention when the story first hit America over its collective head was to not even write or comment about it — essentially this is a private, family situation (not that I wouldn’t write about one that so moved me, but this one didn’t — and doesn’t). No laws broken, no court dates, no criminal activity. And I think a large percentage of folks wouldn’t give a damn about it either had it not involved the highest net-worth athlete in the history of history.
What surprised me, but at the same time didn’t surprise me, was how so many people, both on TV and common folk (Tweeters and Facebookers, I’m looking at you), were so quick to jump on their high horses and talk down on Tiger Woods — just how disgusting and terrible a man he had been exposed to being.
The grass-must-be-green-over-there group: ‘If I had a Swedish model for a wife and a billion dollars, I’d be good and happy for life! What a fool!’
The appalled women group: ‘Why even get married if you’re gonna cheat??? Tiger is despicable. I hate him!’
The I’d-never-be-that-dumb male group: ‘This fool left his name on the voice mail. He ain’t have no hush money for these hoes?
And the most incredulous of them all — The self-righteous males who just couldn’t understand how Tiger could do such a thing: ‘Tiger needs to step away from golf and get his life together… He has disgraced his wife, kids parents and family!… The PGA should suspend him!… Why did Tiger’s friends not tell him not to do that???… Tiger has absolutely no respect for the holy sacrament of marriage!’
It is never smart, in my opinion, to get to spewing opinions on another person/ couple’s private situations, no matter how public they become. Even if it’s your job to do so — it is completely within your rights as a sports TV person (and you’ll keep your job) to say, “This is obviously a big story, but it’s really none of our business. Let the Enquirers and US Weeklys dig in. Let Tiger deal with his family, and we will jump right on it when he starts swinging golf clubs again.” There were a few talking heads who did take this route in their own way, notably Jason Whitlock of the KC Star.
All that aside, dammit, this was easily the sports story of the year — albeit with no points scored, no whistles blown, and no Gatorade bath at the final buzzer. Just trending topics, after-the-fact analysis, and a long off-season for a guy who rarely loses.
– Mr. Dre Baldwin www.DreAllDay.com Twitter.com/DreAllDay Facebook.com/DreBaldwin
Posted 8 months, 1 week ago at 7:47 PM. Add a comment
Below is a post comment email I recently received from “Tom,” who came across a post from my old blog titled “Fa’ Shizzle,” one of my favorite pieces to write. I’m posting his comment in its entirety with no retorts (for now). Read away.
———————
I watched a few of your ball handling videos on YouTube and thought that you might have a few deeper insights into foot work and positioning in regards to scoring zones on your website DreAllDay.com, which has unfortunately led me here.
I’m white, 21, and a basketball player. Obviously playing a predominately black sport, and playing it well I might add, has given me a a solid mix of friends and acquaintances and the only thing I will never understand about black culture is the use of “N word.” (well that and their fascination with self-serving rappers like Mike Jones and Snoop circa 2009.) Why is it okay for one group to express rights that another group cannot? Equality, unwavering equality should be our ultimate goal. Black America is still not a free America, not completely, but by making ethnic/cultural distinction, as well as affording ethnic privileges to a select few, only separates us further. Part of today’s racism still lingers from yesterday’s mentality, but it also stems from how the hip-hop culture portrays itself. You wanna be a gansta? Well don’t expect to be taken that seriously.
By forcing this lifestyle down our throats you force us to take notice of just how different we really are. The actions of a popular few are defining an entire generation of Americans, black and white.
On top of the damage you’re doing to your own culture, it’s also unfair. Logically a word is just a noise that we associate with an object or idea. So why the uproar? Intelligent, rational people will understand that the only words that matter are the ones that motivate love or hate. The casual use of the “N word” does neither. And who made you or anyone else a member of the secret English police? Who has the right to say what I can and cannot say. I live in TN and hear Christian propaganda every time I start a conversation or turn on the radio, but until I hear those words uttered by a public official in an official statement or at a public proceeding I have no right to be angry, they are merely expressing their right to free speech. I believe on your FAQ someone asked why you talk shit or something of that nature and your response was free speech. Why the double standard? Equality is not a destination, it is a journey. A journey that no one person can undertake alone, yet each step must be taken individually. As we approach our goals the dangers of complacency become more prevalent, allowing falsehoods to permeate our collective minds, turning reality into reality TV and taking power away from the free spirit. Damning us with popular culture.
Also why the distinction between Latin cats and Asians? Asians suffered the same plight Latinos face today in the late 1800′s to early 1900′s. The Irish, Polish, and Italian immigrants also faced prejudice and persecution, it just wasn’t as well documented. How about Native Americans? And why do mixed ethnicities get a pass? What if a half black, half white guy looks and acts white, can he say it? How about a 1/8 black, 1/4 Latino, 5/8 Asian guy? Could the late Michael Jackson say it? How about Steve Martin’s character from “The Jerk”? If I have a black child can I say it? If teach black lab to speak, is this a word I should omit from it its vocabulary? Or is it cool because it’s black?
How about s non-American black person, they face none of the same prejudices you do, have they earned the right to say the heralded “N word”?
Anyway, nice ball handling vids, watched some of your shooting videos, pretty consistent mechanics, just a little slow on the release (maybe its different in person) Well I hope you make it to the NBA, and I hope you continue to motivate young people to get out of their houses. Peace.
Posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago at 12:41 PM. Add a comment
This is a review from my Favorite Books list; the link from which will be also on the Books Page.
***
“”That was supposed to go in,” he groaned. “How did that not go in?”
More than twenty-two years have passed since that night… And I still don’t have an answer for him. For everything else, I have answers.
I think.”
Bill Simmons is my favorite online author, favorite NBA writer/ observer, and I hope he watches me play someday and writes at least a paragraph about what he sees. With all that said, you must believe me in my saying that is completely without bias that if you are a fan of the NBA (whether it be from its beginnings or circa now), you MUST read this 700-page manifesto.
It took me 30 days and I did it in chunks. TBoB is one of those rare read-100-or-so-pages-in-one-sitting-and-not-even-notice books — something I don’t think I will be able to say about Obama’s Audacity Of Hope, which got bumped (for the fourth time!) when I received TBoB in the mail. Simmons tackles topics that bball fans love to discuss, such as who was better between Russel and Wilt, the definitive list of the best players of all time (in order), his ultimate hypothetical team, the Greatest Team of All Time, and much much more.
If you’re unsure and would like a risk-free trial reading of the man devoted enough to own the title of “The Sports Guy,” just go here to his online page at ESPN.com.
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 12:13 PM. Add a comment
This is a review from my Favorite Books list; the link from which will be also on the Books Page.
***
“There are some college coaches, many in fact, who cannot adapt to the pro game. Their whole thing is their system. They bring in players and say, ‘You will play this way,’ even if their skills aren’t right for playing that way. One thing I always noticed about [Coach K] was that he changed the way he ran his offense every year based on the players he had. That’s the kind of flexibility you need n the pros.”
I didn’t think I would ever pick this book up off my shelf, but when I found myself with no apparent options more appealing, I decided to give the first chapter a shot at pulling me in. I came to find that author John Feinstein is a great writer who was able to make the story of an old basketball coach interesting to me. It didn’t hurt that Red Auerbach had a helluvalotta opinions on all topics basketball.
Had to repost a short list I read on TIME’s site about the good ‘ol Book.And I agree completely with all of it.
1. Stop taking quizzes. Nobody cares what literary time period you are. 2. If you sync your Twitter account to Facebook so that you fill others’ news feeds with a constant stream of mundane updates and references to people with little @ symbols before their names, be prepared for people to de-friend you. Maybe even in real life. (Read “25 More Things I Didn’t Want to Learn About You On Facebook.”) 3. Don’t friend someone you don’t actually know 4. If you must friend someone you don’t know, include a message explaining why you are doing so. For example, “Hi, I’m your cousin’s roommate!” would suffice. 5. Actually, no. Why would your cousin’s roommate want to be your friend? That’s still weird. 6. Don’t invite people to events if they don’t live in your city. I’m glad you still live in our old college town, but guess what? I don’t. Even if I did, I still wouldn’t waste my Friday night listening to you play music at that vegan coffee shop I frequented when I was 19 because I couldn’t get into bars. 7. I’m sorry your grandfather died of emphysema, but I will not join your “cause.” 8. Make sure all your photos are rotated in the proper direction. How will people know how fun your Fourth of July barbecue was if every picture looks like you fell over? 9. If you create a group called “Lost my cell phone; need your numbers!,” I will join, but I won’t give you my number. 10. Cryptic status updates about your mental state — “Rachel is trying so hard,” “Rachel wishes things were different,” “Rachel is starting her life over” — don’t make you sound intriguing, just lonely and pathetic.
I had a vision of having my own website as far back as 2003. I wasn’t sure of what I would name it, or how I would design it, or what type of content it would contain, but I know I wanted it. My vision grew as the Internet and its capabilities grew, and I finally set about obtaining a domain name almost a year before the site ever saw the light of laptop screens. I started out with a do-it-yourself 100% HTML site that was way more work than it should have been. Thanks to some good tips from some very smart people, I changed over to some much more user-friendly hosting, and the rest, as they say, is history. And history is still being written.
Now, it’s been 365 days, over 100,000 page views, and numerous design changes, and we’ve made it- the first birthday of DreAllDay.com!!! Special thanks to Phu for all the support and behind-the scenes grind work; GoDaddy.com and WordPress for their well-made infrastructure; and anyone who has ever come across this site — even if only for 1 second — because every one counts.
And make sure you tell a friend about the fantastic things going on at this site. The best is yet to come!
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 11:59 PM. 2 comments
We would like to apologize for the delay in our response to you, thank you for your patience.
I have had a chance to review your letter and your reservation. I sincerely apologize if you feel the way your trip was handled was not to your satisfaction. I see that you fly regularly with us and I am glad to hear that on your previous trips all went well.
I have contacted the Station Manager’s of both Tampa and Fort Lauderdale to highlight your complaint. I apologize for the confusion about your seat and your bags once you arrived. The flight was full and there was a possibility that we needed your seat as a volunteer, unfortunately, when we determined that we would not need your seat, we had to place you in whatever seat we had available. I apologize if the flight attendant did not permit you to use your phone once the doors had closed, this is a federal law that they must observe. I realize that you needed make the necessary arrangements via phone for the last minute changes and I will forward your concerns with the flight attendant to the Director of In-Flight. We take all feed back very seriously and are committed to improving services wherever we can.
I would like to extend our apologies for the situation and offer you a $50.00 future flight credit good towards your next trip with us. I will issue the voucher and instructions upon receiving your reply.
I hope this information was helpful and if there is anything else that I can provide for you, please do not hesitate to ask.
Have a wonderful day and thank you for choosing Spirit Airlines!
Sincerely,
Jeremy Schoggins
Corporate Consumer Relations
SPIRIT AIRLINES
***
My three cents: It’s obvious that parts of this letter have been cut-and-pasted from Spirit’s database of ‘Customer Complaint Responses,’ but the guy had to have read the letter being that he specifically responded to details of the letter that reached him (also note that this guy Schoggins was not one of the original recipients). Anyway though, a $50 credit? Not good enough, IMO. A shitty flight experience deserves at least one free round-trip flight; the punishment must fit the crime, so to speak. But what should we expect from an airline whose CEO accidentally hits the “Reply All” button when instructing one of his employees to give a proverbial “fuck you” to a disgruntled consumer (more)…
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 7:29 AM. 2 comments
This is the first post in my Guest Spots section here on DreAllDay, and it is only fitting that my girlfriend Phu, aka The Miss Nguyen (Twitter), has the honor of first post-er.
Miss Nguyen has worked as an editor before and never ceases to point out my random mis-spellings in random places (I even spell-checked the below entry when she sent it to me- no errors). She often has interesting viewpoints on a wide range of topics; when we discuss stuff I always say, “You should write a blog about that!” but I don’t think she is as much into sharing her opinions with the World as I am, so my ‘squawks’ fall on deaf ears. But when Miss Nguyen does decide to put her thoughts in writing, they’re always well thought- out, never off the cuff (my preferred method of communication), almost as if her entire piece is written in head before she even touches the keyboard.
This first entry is a copy of a letter written to the CEO and Manager of Customer relations at Spirit Airlines, Re: a horrible travel experience. Let’s go…
Dre
***
To Whom it Concerns Most:
Yesterday, on June 10th, I boarded Flight 336 from Tampa, FL, heading to Fort Lauderdale, FL. Being the 18th Spirit flight I’ve flown in a matter of 8 months, I assumed it would go as (relatively) smoothly as most of my previous flights. I clearly was wrong to assume, because what happened after I stepped foot on that plane was incorrigible.
Upon boarding the plane, I placed my carry-on bag in the baggage compartment and took my AISLE seat. A few minutes into boarding, an announcement was made, seeking a volunteer to deplane and take a later flight because “somehow” our flight was overbooked. A gentleman, whom I later got to know quite well, volunteered and boarding continued. Yet a few minutes later, another announcement was made, seeking 2 more volunteers to take the later flight as well. After a few minutes of hesitation, I noticed there were not any volunteers. Knowing full well the plane would not leave until the “overbooking” was resolved, I volunteered my seat and deplaned as well. Another female passenger, Nicky Hernandez, who was on her way to a funeral, volunteered shortly after and headed off the plane.
This is where the events go awry. While waiting in the boarding area for my flight to be re-booked, an attendant burst through the flight door, commanding the gentleman passenger and me to quickly get back on the plane, because seats were “found” for us. My luggage was snatched out of my hand, and I was rushed back onto the plane, with hardly any allowance to ask questions, let alone receive any answers. I asked the attendant if I would now have to check my bag, which was a hassle I would not have had to deal with if I had never volunteered in the first place. I was told, “No. I’ll take care of it”, by your attendant. Back on the plane, I was directed to my new seat – a MIDDLE seat, with a fairly large person beside me. At this point, although aggravated, I kept my composure, reminding myself that the flight would only be a 40-minute ride.
As anyone would, I needed to contact my transportation to let them know that I indeed would not be getting on a later flight, so I would need to be picked up at the original time. Immediately upon sitting, I began to dial my ride, and seconds later, a flight attendant informed me I would need to turn my phone off immediately so that we could take off. I told the attendant I simply needed a minute to relay the necessary information to my transportation. Considering the ambivalence of the situation thus far, I was appalled to be treated the way I was. The attendant was blatantly rude, announcing as loudly as he could without yelling, that I could go ahead and make my phone call but that I would be holding up the entire plane. At this point I said to him, “You asked for volunteers and I was one. I deplaned, from the back of the plane, mind you, and then shortly after was rushed back on the plane. You “found” a seat for me, although I already had one in the first place. You then took my luggage from me, and moved me from an aisle to a middle seat. And now you are telling me I can’t tell my transportation to pick me up at the appropriate time without you attempting to blame and embarrass me in front of the rest of the passengers. This is unacceptable.” The attendant’s response, “I didn’t do anything to you. It wasn’t me.” I then reminded the attendant that they and all the rest of the crew are the face and representation of Spirit, therefore, he did do these things, because when you work for the company, you are the company, and the company was the reason all of this was happening. He walked away, and for a brief moment, I thought the debacle was over. How wrong I was… again.
On his way back from the front of the plane, the same aforementioned flight attendant patronizingly asked me “what (he could) do to make me happy for the next 36 minutes.” I told him he could stop patronizing me and provide me the contact information for the corporate office. He said he would see what he could do. To no surprise, I was never given said information, and the attendant and I spent the rest of the flight ignoring one another, possibly the only thing he did well throughout the whole experience.
Upon arrival, I was looking forward to getting off the plane and forgetting about the last hour or so of my life, when Spirit decided it was not done with me yet. Our flight came in on Terminal 3, owned by JetBlue and US Airways. It was the first time in the 18 flights I’ve taken that I was ever dropped off somewhere other than Terminal 4, the terminal designated for Spirit. After finding out that my bag was checked, despite the assurance that it would not be, I headed to baggage claim, along with the first gentleman volunteer, and with Nicky Hernandez, the volunteer after me, whose bags were also taken and checked. The baggage listings had our bags coming in on Belt 1. We waited close to 30 minutes for our bags to come out, to no avail. The US Airways attendant attempted to help, calling Spirit’s baggage claim office several times, and getting no answer. We were then informed that there was no reason our bags would be there because Spirits’ bags all went to Terminal 4. So we walked to Terminal 4 to retrieve our bags. Arriving to Spirit’s baggage claim office, it was locked with not a person in sight to help. We waited another 20 minutes before an attendant came by, who, out loud, also wondered why no one was in office, further attesting to the ineptitude of the entire Spirit company.
We were invited into the baggage office while the attendant informed us that if we arrived in Terminal 3, the bags had to be in Terminal 3 and on the 6th belt. As we told her that the information board listed Belt 1, another attendant came in, insisting that our bags were in Terminal 3, on Belt 5, because “(he) was the one that typed it in and (he) just (knew) that (he) typed in 5.” However, all three of us saw Belt 1 on the board, and thus all three of us waited at Belt 1, and all three of us STILL did not have our luggage. Another attendant went to Terminal 3 to check Belt 5 as we waited. At approximately 11:45AM – 2 hours after our flight was scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale – we FINALLY had our bags and the debacle was over.
However, to whomever it concerns most, it is not quite over for me yet, because in good faith, I could not possibly go without letting this story be told. To the powers that be, may I recommend more intense screening of your employees, if nothing else but to find polite people? Mistakes happen and things go wrong sometimes, but the last thing a passenger needs is to be patronized, embarrassed, or to be treated rudely. There were a number of things that went wrong during my experience, but that number could have been significantly reduced by empathetic, polite, and sincere employees, of which I found you had none that day.
Will there be significant moves and changes made to Spirit in the near future? I certainly hope so. While you are definitely an “ultra-low cost” carrier, that should not mean that your passengers should expect experiences with “ultra-low” class employees.
Regards,
TheMissNguyen
Passenger on Spirit flight 336 on 06/10/09
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 10:48 AM. 3 comments
It is interesting to me how the piece on Strasburg discusses his fastball, how much money his super-agent will be able to fetch him in contract negotiations, and how teams with no chance of acquiring him are sending scouts to watch him anyway, because of what a treat it is just to see the kid perform. How the crux of the column is how much guaranteed money the young pitcher will receive from the team that drafts him, and how negotiation will set a new standard for top-flight draftees.
While the Garnett piece (also this, this, this, and this), paradoxically, discusses how overwhelming the whole situation may be for the young basketball player, how the money he is set to receive is “like… Monopoly money” to him, and how there is a strong possibility (along with past cases as evidence) that he might fail.
I know this issue has been talked about ad nauseum over the years, and fired up again last yer when Brandon Jennings ditched the NCAA for Europe and this year when Jeremy Tyler passed up his senior year of high school for the pros overseas. It’s just crazy that Lebron James and Kevin Garnett’s initial NBA contracts were worth less than $25 million COMBINED (note: the NBA installed a rookie pay scale in 1998; LBJ’s rookie year was 2003-04; and KG’s yearly salaries can be seen here), and Strasburg’s agent has MLB general managers talking in the $50 million range and there is nary a word of how overwhelming that may be for Strasburg or how he may have to worry about keeping childhood friends from pulling him in all directions or how he very well may fail, or how his example of being super-talented sets a bad precedent for less-gifted amateurs who may attempt following in his footsteps.
Just interesting to me.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 10:21 PM. Add a comment
Since it’s the end of 2007 and we are all preparing for the holidays and the looming 2008, it’s time for the second Dre-A-Thon (not to mention the fact that ive gathered enough relevant material to make it interesting and worthwile).
improvements on the first Dre-A-Thon: instead of random, unrelated daily postings for a week or so, this Dre-A-Thon,will contain, exclusively, personal stories from my life, and the lives of some others whom have been mention in this blog in the past. so, if we’ve ever met, keep your eyes peeled (and don’t take it personal if i DON’T mention you. I’m the star here!).
to make it even more exclusive, ill make sure the stories i relive are being told here for the first time; no re-runs of anything I’ve written about in the past. this blog is 2 1/2 years old, so take a break from work and read up.
internally, i think the most efficient way for me to do this is to write a few stories each time i get to typing, and slowly release them over a period of time. i don’t like writing with a deadline of getting it done just to satisfy the Dre-A-Thon daily requirement. so there will be no daily requirement.
so let’s see…
layout of plans? check.
solid, repeatable idea to make it last? check.
enough material to keep the reader interested and coming back? check.
quality author to articulate stories well enough to relate to someone that wasnt there and/ or doesnt even know the principles involved in the given situation? check.
aight, looks like we’re ready too get started.
Posted 2 years, 8 months ago at 7:43 AM. Add a comment
I have plenty of new material to get out into the blogsphere, but im curently on Day 6 of my New Laptop Adapter Wait. shoulda been here 2.5 days ago. so sit tight, i got a whole new bag of shit to drop reeeeaaaallll soon.
Word to ya’ Mother.
Posted 2 years, 11 months ago at 7:55 PM. Add a comment
Wealthy ex-presidents reach into your pockets: Recently, the Congressional Research Service announced the federal subsidies requested for the coming fiscal year by ex-presidents Jimmy Carter, George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton. Globe-trotting Carter asked for only $2,000 for travel; Bush and Clinton, both millionaires, wanted $50,000 from taxpayers for travel. Bush said he needed $69,000 for “equipment” and $13,000 for postage. Is Bush planning to mail 32,000 thank-you notes next year?
What’s really offensive is that all three filed for the maximum presidential retirement payment of $191,000 annually. All these guys are wealthy, the elder George Bush having significant inherited wealth, yet all want taxpayers to hand them pensions seven times higher than the typical Social Security sum. This is extra galling because Carter and Clinton aren’t even retired! Carter continues to write books that sell well; Clinton is active on the corporate speaking circuit, having earned an estimated $10 million speechifying in 2006. Clinton prattles on and on about the horrors of inequality, yet demands $191,000 in bonuses from taxpayers whose median household income is about 1/20th of his estimated $10 million. Why didn’t the three ex-presidents request no pension at all? That would have been the dignified thing to do.
To top it off, Clinton requested $79,000 for telephone service. It is impossible, physically impossible, to spend $79,000 on telephones! If Clinton had a 10-cents-a-minute long-distance plan, he could talk long-distance 24 hours a day, 365 days per year — and you can imagine Clinton doing this — yet fail to burn through $79,000. The most expensive package offered by Verizon Wireless is an international super-phone with unlimited texting and four hours of talk time daily; this sells for about $3,000 per year. Clinton could purchase two dozen of the most expensive cell accounts available in the United States for the tax-subsidized telephone budget he requested. Is Clinton’s $79,000 phone request fraud, or is Clinton planning to use the money to buy phones for staffers working on his private speaking business? An ex-president who had financial problems might legitimately turn to the taxpayer. For all three living ex-presidents to be quite wealthy yet demanding public subsidies is shameful — to say nothing of a failure of leadership.
……………………….
just wanted YOU to know where your tax dollars (that nice deduction that comes out of all your paychecks) are going. you registered to vote yet?
Posted 2 years, 11 months ago at 11:04 AM. Add a comment
