On Feb. 23, 2009 Jari submitted: Subject: DOES THIS REALLY SURPRISE ANYONE? At the top right hand corner of Page 17 of the New York Post of January 24th, 2009, was a short column entitled "Replacing Michelle" in the National Review "The Week" column. I found this interesting, so here it is, word for word, as it appeared. 'Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama: The University of Chicago Medical center hired her in 2002 to run "programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting." In 2005 the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317,000 - nearly twice that her husband made as a Senator. Oh did we mention that her husband had just become a US Senator? He sure had. Requested a $1 Million earmark for the UC Medical Center, in fact. Way to network Michelle! But now that Mrs. Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that be, if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000? We can think of only one explanation: Senator Roland Burris's wife wasn't interested. ---The Editors of National Review, writing in the Magazine's Feb 9 issue.' |
The Babbling Brook proclaimed: Ah, the party of the people. |
Bob the Good noted: Hmmmm.... Let's see... $200,000 salary increase to Michelle Obama $2,000,000,000 in no bid contracts to Cheney's Haliburton That's a 1/1000 order of magnitude. There are none so blind. |
The Babbling Brook noted: Gee, I didn't know Cheney owned Halliburton. |
Bob the Good noted: Cheney was Halliburton's CEO. He ran Halliburton. During his tenure, Halliburton subsidiaries in offshore tax havens increased from 9 to 44. Meanwhile, Halliburton went from paying taxes of $302 million in 1998 to getting an $85 million tax refund in 1999. In 1995, when former Secretary of Defense Cheney became CEO, Halliburton jumped from 73rd to 18th on the Pentagon's list of top contractors. Hmmmm. As V President, Cheney continued to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in 'deferred' income from Halliburton... a conflict of interest? Dick Cheney lead Halliburton as CEO and the United States as VP. Regarding Michelle Obama - she graduated cum laude from Princeton with a B.A. in sociology and got her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She became the community affairs executive director at the U of C Hospitals. Then, in May 2005, she became a U of C VP. Funny... Jari's source doesn't mention anything about Michelle's promotion to VP. Nor does it mention the $3,000,000 earmarked for NIU that year. (You remember ... our alma mater.) Your Republican senators Brownback & Roberts submitted earmarks totaling $8,500,000 for a Kansas Child Development Center and $4,000,000 for an "Urban Operations Environmental Lab" Let's see... $1,000,000 for a hospital (that Congress didn't approve) vs. $12,500,000 for a child development center & "Urban Op Enviro Lab" (whatever that is) It's a matter of where money would help vs. where it looks good. |
The Babbling Brook explained: 2 wrongs don't make a right. Ms. Obama is now the 1st lady. As you should have learned from Nixon, She should be above favoritism in every way or our kids will continue to believe that respect for authority is wasted on the wrong people. Mr. Obama was elected in part because the country is sick of politics as usual. This pettiness in office has got to stop. Remember, Hillary is 4th in line. |
Bob the Good wondered: So lemme get this straight. When 'Republicans' point to slanted circumstances that seem (on their face) to be examples of bad leadership by 'Democrats'; it's ok. But when a 'Democrat' uses FACTS to expose that slant, and then illuminates egregious 'Republican' misbehavior of the sort vaporously claimed by 'Republicans' - the Republican response is ... Well everybody does it. Q: If Republicans claim everyone does it, why do they gleefully criticize only 'Democrats' for what 'Republicans' actually practice? A: It's a bowel movement, releasing the thoughtlessly digested right-wing propaganda they're fed. Ooops... did I say that? Big Picture - Bush didn't protect us on 9-11 after being warned by Rice's August 6th PDB. He flew bin Laden's family out of America when all other flights were grounded. Though our Special Forces requested it, he failed to put enough boots on the ground to capture bin Laden at Tora Bora. Then he lied us into a war in Iraq. Bush inherited a $128 billion budget surplus. Obama inherited a $1.3 TRILLION deficit. And the best the 'Republicans' can do is latch on to Michelle Obama's promotion and pay raise. Give me a break! P.S.: Hey, how bout dem Bears? |
The Babbling Brook insisted: None of that crap you just trowled out would have been necessary if Dickless Bill Clinton had taken Bin Laden out when HE HAD THE CHANCE. I guess he was tooooo busy with other affairs to run the country. There is no end to this. Quit fighting your grandfather's wars. |
Bob the Good wimpered: OK Golly - I was wrong. Thanks for the insight. Your compelling argument gave me the impetus to see the light. |
The Babbling Brook observed: Bob - there are no right answers - I'm just as flawed and broken as everyone. I happen to believe that the only salvation for humanity is in the return of Christ. With that said, I also believe that it is within you and I to change the world we touch in ways that exhibit love and kindness. |
Bob the Good sobbed: Oy! You always manage to knock the wind out of me. But so what: You're an asshole! :>) |