How much I make matters when it comes to how much I pay into the system. The more I make, the bigger the chunk I pay.
I think it's definitely a load of crap that we're paying ANY frivolous expenses for former presidents when they're freezing current employee pay rates.
I think failing CEO's making tens of millions in salary, then getting as much or more in severance packages is several orders of magnitude more absurd...
@marc_with_a_c: So you are ok with giving away money to a multi-millionaire because he does charity? Well shit, all I have to do is volunteer at a soup kitchen once a week and you guys should foot my new all-you-can-eat cell phone bill, amiright?
@lausley: What exactly is a war criminal? Could you define that?
Because, really when it comes to international law I cannot think of any way in which a war is actually "legal". Seeing as outside of the civil type (which isn't civil at all) it involves invading another sovereign country.
Well at least I see him out in public attempting to help with his charities and foundations and such. Some of that money could actually be international calls. It's guys like Bush Sr and the other presidents we are still paying for that sit in their cabins for most of the day that piss me off.
@marc_with_a_c: Even though I'm most definitely a liberal-leaning type of guy, I gotta point out that Bush Sr. was out fundraising for Katrina recovery effortswith Clinton. Together. On the same plane, even.
But no, I don't think we ought to be giving them that much - any of them.
@getz76: So let him collect VA benefits just like everyone else including my Dad, Grandfather, etc. No hippie but if were gonna keep paying your wadges and are not as active as you can be I think its lame. I'm sure his other business dealings take priority though...
@navin: It'll consist of beer, steers, chainsaws, and American trucks. He doesn't do the whole high tech thing. Oh yeah, and hospital bills, for when, you know, he falls of his bike.
Mah fello Am'ricans, Ah know this w'll proba'ly come as a shock to many, but I do loove the telephone ladies. Mmm boy with those sultry voices, not like the harpy trumpet scratch I wake up to every mornin'. I do what I likes n' I likes what I do.
@phoenix27: Presidential pension is a tradition, along with the staff, although I don't understand what role they play.
In terms of the office rental space, furniture, satellite television, I don't quite understand this. These are private citizens now, correct? Why do they need subsidized office space that costs millions?
@ludwigk: All of this pales in comparison to the cost of the Secret Service detail that they keep for life (IIRC Clinton is the last who will get to keep them for life)...
@Jon B.: Actually, his speech writer Jon Favreau, but not that Jon Favreau, said being Obama's speechwriter is the worst gig he's had, because Obama's notes are the speech, and then you make a bunch of comments, and then he rejects them all and gives the speech he wrote in the first place.
Then again, the kid was previously the speechwriter for Kerry's campaign, so I'm not sure I'd be taking his notes either.
exactly what updates are there to follow? I don't see how this is a live news story...unless there are riots or something, what is going to happen other than the planned ceremonies? Do we need to be twittered every single time he drops his blackberry? or the first time a black man sets foot on the inauguration stage? I'm not racist at all, but this is ridiculousness squared just because he's black.
@Wilson Rothman: Ironically, the fact that there is so much attention to his race kinda proves his point. He is dark skinned. So what? If this was a 'post-race' society, people and the media wouldnt care if he was bright pink.
...or it could just be that people happen to give a shit about the inauguration for the first time in almost 50 years.
For a shit-ton of reasons.
Seriously, I'm a little tired of the hype too, but people aren't just excited because he's black, or bi-racial. They are excited because 79% of the country is optimistic that he's going to be a good president whether they supported him or not, and because 65+% think the last guy was a douchebag, and we're in the middle of oh, a financial crisis, and a war, and people are just kind of looking for something good, and fun, and hopeful, etc., etc., etc.
And it's historic because he's a first.
It was historic when Kennedy was the first Catholic President.
It was historic when Thatcher was the first female British Prime Minister.
Do you all have some kind of logic coloring book that you use to figure life out? Everything must be one of 5 Crayola choices and fit within one little box, and God Forbid anything require any critical thought, blurring of lines, or something more complicated than you can be told to you by your Granny or in a Fox News or MSNBC soundbite!
Kudos Giz, on a remarkably slanted post. We've come to expect nothing less. Thank God there are very few undecideds here, and that many of the Obama acolytes won't be able to get out of high school (or into the country) to cast their fraudulent votes.
01/22/09
01/22/09
How much I make matters when it comes to how much I pay into the system. The more I make, the bigger the chunk I pay.
I think it's definitely a load of crap that we're paying ANY frivolous expenses for former presidents when they're freezing current employee pay rates.
01/22/09
They get a salary (which is already outrageously high) while in office...
Paying for security? I can understand that. But phone bills and cable? That's just downright absurd.
01/22/09
I think failing CEO's making tens of millions in salary, then getting as much or more in severance packages is several orders of magnitude more absurd...
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
Because, really when it comes to international law I cannot think of any way in which a war is actually "legal". Seeing as outside of the civil type (which isn't civil at all) it involves invading another sovereign country.
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
But no, I don't think we ought to be giving them that much - any of them.
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
Is that short for veterinary-intern? I wouldn't have guessed that H.W. was an animal lover...
01/22/09
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01/22/09
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01/22/09
01/22/09
;|
01/22/09
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01/22/09
In terms of the office rental space, furniture, satellite television, I don't quite understand this. These are private citizens now, correct? Why do they need subsidized office space that costs millions?
01/22/09
01/22/09
01/22/09
Maybe if an American brewery decided to make a decent beer for a change... we wouldn't have this issue.
01/22/09
01/19/09
01/19/09
You didn't honestly think that he wrote his own speech, did you? :)
01/19/09
Then again, the kid was previously the speechwriter for Kerry's campaign, so I'm not sure I'd be taking his notes either.
01/19/09
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01/19/09
For a shit-ton of reasons.
Seriously, I'm a little tired of the hype too, but people aren't just excited because he's black, or bi-racial. They are excited because 79% of the country is optimistic that he's going to be a good president whether they supported him or not, and because 65+% think the last guy was a douchebag, and we're in the middle of oh, a financial crisis, and a war, and people are just kind of looking for something good, and fun, and hopeful, etc., etc., etc.
And it's historic because he's a first.
It was historic when Kennedy was the first Catholic President.
It was historic when Thatcher was the first female British Prime Minister.
Do you all have some kind of logic coloring book that you use to figure life out? Everything must be one of 5 Crayola choices and fit within one little box, and God Forbid anything require any critical thought, blurring of lines, or something more complicated than you can be told to you by your Granny or in a Fox News or MSNBC soundbite!
GAAAAAAA!
/long day
//rant over
10/29/08
10/29/08
10/29/08