The excitement and the exclamation points could not be contained as John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, railed against “the pampered elites of Washington” and declared his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.
While the U.S. Congress has never been more divided by party, there is something that unites many congressmen and senators. They’re millionaires.
Maybe you’ve heard this, but only about 1 percent of Americans are worth a million bucks. There are 535 congressmen and senators so, statistically, only 5 or 6 of them should be millionaires, right? Nope. Try 250. That’s nearly half of them. No wonder they’re so reluctant to give up those”temporary” Bush tax cuts for the rich.
More:
“47% of Congress Members Millionaires — a Status Shared by Only 1% of Americans,” Tom Shine, ABC News
“Most Members of Congress Enjoy Robust Financial Status, Despite Nation’s Sluggish Economic Recovery,” OpenSecrets.org
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive (“Ho-ho-ho” does not qualify), concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, correspondent for al- Baghdadiya television news service, was freed from a Baghdad prison yesterday, nine months after he interrupted a speech by the President of the United States by yelling “You lie!” “It is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He also presented George W. Bush with two Florsheim Awards on behalf of Iraqi widows and orphans. President Bush was visibly moved.
After the release of the Iraqi shoe-thrower, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security elevated security threat levels to cordovan.
You may be out of work, but George W. Bush has a new job. The former president is using his legendary oratorical skills to forge a new career, Mike Allen reported in Politico. After hearing the news, David Letterman’s writers required oxygen.
Mr. Bush is booked to give ten speeches this year in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He is represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau. The agency’s motto: “Inspiration from the World’s Greatest Minds.” Really.
This year’s National Bollard Festival® will salute the brave men, women, and sniffer dogs who protected two million people during the Presidential Inaugural festivities, say producers of the Washington, DC event.
Crowds will gather on the chilly National Mall and give a standing ovation to members of the U.S. Capitol Police, Secret Service, Federal Protective Service, National Park Police, FBI, DC Metropolitan Police Department, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and dozens of security corporations with federal contracts. The exact date and time of the event is being withheld for security reasons.
The Purple Ticket Mass Choir will give an a cappella doo-wop concert in a tunnel under the Capitol grounds. “It’s standing room only,” said a U.S. Capitol Police officer, “but there’s a great echo.” The rest of the program is available on a need-to-know basis.
The third executive order signed by President Barack Obama prepares the way for the closure of the U.S. Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba. U.S.. News and World Report has aggregated the information here.
The Guantánamo resort was George W. Bush’s destructive exercise in international destination tourism. Like every other business venture initiated by the MBA President, it was a dismal failure. Mr. Obama has lived in Hawaii and Indonesia and knows about tropical island real estate. Perhaps he could convert America’s Gulf Stream Gulag into a viable vacation destination and help defray the massive expenses of our economic recovery plan.
Cuba’s Fidel Castro seems to like our new president; perhaps Fidel will help with the condo conversions and timeshare sales.
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