LEE RODGERSMEDIA'S PERVERTED PRIORITIES ...
LIBERALS INVESTING THEIR MONEY WITH BAIN ...
A TRAVELING RADIO GUY'S ADVENTURE IN CAIRO
LIBERALS INVESTING THEIR MONEY WITH BAIN ...
A TRAVELING RADIO GUY'S ADVENTURE IN CAIRO
Ponder it: The cost of living skyrockets ... incomes are down ... millions are unemployed ... the national debt & deficit are almost beyond comprehension ... our military is demoralized ... our enemies are licking their chops.
And our "news" media believe the nation is in a fever to get Barack Obama's recipe for home-brewed beer!
Oh, yes. No matter how many illiterates with word-processors or microphones mistakenly think otherwise, "media" IS a plural word.
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September is young, but here's a serious contender for the title, "Biggest Pile of Unadulterated Bull(bleep) of the Month" --
“Cooperation with Israel between our military and intelligence communities has never been closer.” -- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
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IMPORTANT READING --
A vote of thanks to columnist Deroy Murdock for doing the digging to uncover some facts about Democrat hypocrites and their endless bitching about Bain Capital ...
"Bain’s private-equity executives have enriched dozens of organizations and millions of individuals in the Democratic base — including some who scream most loudly for President Obama’s re-election. Government-worker pension funds are the chief beneficiaries of Bain’s economic stewardship. New York-based Preqin uses public documents, news accounts and Freedom of Information requests to track private-equity holdings. Since 2000, Preqin reports, the following funds have entrusted some $1.56 billion to Bain:
* Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund ($2.2 million)
* Indiana Public Retirement System ($39.3 million)
* Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System ($177.1 million)
* The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System ($19.5 million)
* Maryland State Retirement and Pension System ($117.5 million)
* Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada ($20.3 million)
* State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio ($767.3 million)
* Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System ($231.5 million)
* Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island ($25 million)
* San Diego County Employees Retirement Association ($23.5 million)
* Teacher Retirement System of Texas ($122.5 million)
* Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System ($15 million)
Leading universities have also profited from Bain’s expertise.
According to Infrastructure Investor, Bain Capital managed wealth for “endowments and foundations such as Columbia, Princeton and Yale universities.”
Bain’s other college clients have included Cornell, Emory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh. The following schools have placed at least $424.6 million with Bain Capital between 1998 and 2008:
* Purdue University ($15.9 million)
* University of California ($225.7 million)
* University of Michigan ($130 million)
* University of Virginia ($20 million)
* University of Washington ($33 million)
Bain clients have included the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ford Foundation, the Heinz Endowments and the Oprah Winfrey Foundation.
“The scrutiny generated by a heated election year matters less than the performance the portfolio generates to the fund,” California State Teachers’ Retirement System spokesman Ricardo Duran said in the Aug. 12 Boston Globe. CalSTRS has pumped some $1.25 billion into Bain." -- NY Post
Perhaps you'd like to share this last item with any liberal teachers you know.
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"In his book 'The Audacity of Hope,' then-candidate Barack Obama, when talking about his relationship with Big Labor union officials, wrote: 'I owe those unions. When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away. I don’t consider this corrupting in any way.'
"Fours year later, it’s become clear he did a lot more than just call them. Countless giveaways to organized labor have ensured that Washington union bosses owe the president and will spend more than a billion dollars to ensure President Obama's return to the White House." -- Mark Mix, Washington Times
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The "Hit The Road, Barack" cover issue of the dying liberal rag Newsweek did what was intended. It more than doubled their usual newsstand sales even as it enraged their usual -- and shrinking -- liberal readership.
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Where's the most expensive place to live in the U.S.? Here are the top five:
1. Manhattan
2. Brooklyn
3. Honolulu
4. San Francisco
5. San Jose
Watching the budget? Here are the least expensive places.
Harlingen, Texas, is the lowest-cost town, followed by Memphis; McAllen, Texas; Fayetteville, Ark.; Temple, Texas; Conway, Ark.; Pueblo, Colo.; Wichita Falls, Texas; Springfield, Ill., and Winston-Salem, NC. Nicest of the lot: Fayetteville.
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It was a great opening weekend of college football with some terrific games. The much-touted Michigan-Alabama match wasn't one of them, though. If Nick Saban were less of a gentleman, 'bama could've run up a much bigger score. The (twelve-team) Big Ten still looks more like the Seven Dwarves.
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A life in radio -- and travel ...
As has been noted here, for many years I pursued simultaneous careers in broadcasting and the travel industry. Because our Chicago travel operation specialized in exotic travel, I was often in Egypt, even during the years when we had no diplomatic relations with that country and the Soviet presence was large. Visas had to be obtained thru the India embassy in Washington.
Shortly after U.S.-Egyptian relations were resumed and most Russians departed, I escorted a group of about forty Americans to Cairo. The bus company we customarily used to transport our groups from the airport to their hotel -- then it was usually the Nile Hilton, right next to Tahrir Square, site of many demonstrations, often shot for TV from that hotel -- met us with an undersize bus. They ordinarily used a 42-passenger vehicle but this one only held about thirty.
Arrival was about 10PM and the airport was, as usual, a madhouse. There was no way all of us could crowd onto the bus, so I told the driver to leave me and suggested to a couple of people in our group who'd been there before that they simply have our folk be seated in the hotel lobby and I would arrive shortly by taxi to take care of reservations and check-in.
Next problem. Taxi after taxi passed me, loaded, as I stood in front of the terminal.
Then a car pulled up, occupied only by a driver. I thought I'd glimpsed the man inside the terminal shortly after arrival and was surprised when he lowered his car window and asked -- in excellent English -- if I'd like a ride into the city. In my haste, I ignored my normal caution and climbed in beside him.
At that time, when you pulled away from the terminal, it was darkness all the way into the city. We're barely beyond the end of the terminal when he stops and two men emerge from the darkness and climb into the back seat. My immediate thought was, "Uh-oh!"
We begin the drive on the darkened highway, the driver and rear-seat passengers conversing in Arabic. Then the driver suddenly turns off the highway onto a dirt road into the desert. By this time, I'm trying to recall when my will was last updated.
Despite my fears, the passengers got out, bade the driver goodnight and walked off toward their dimly-lit homes. They were airport employees, it turned out; friends of the driver and he'd simply offered them a lift to their homes.
While I'm sweating from both heat and relief, we resume our uneventful drive to the Nile Hilton. Fairly bubbling with gratitude, I first offered to pay him then, when he declined, I asked if I could at least buy him a drink. (Mostly Muslim they may be, but many Egyptians drink. At the time, Cairo was always a gathering spot/watering hole for wealthy Muslims from all over the middle-east.)
He accepted my invitation and we agreed to meet in the bar after I'd taken care of my duties with my tour group.
We seated ourselves in the cool of the Nile Hilton bar, ordered drinks and then I asked him the question that lurked in the back of my mind.
"Did I see you glance at me inside the airport -- before you picked me up?"
"Yes."
"Have we met before? Should I know you?"
"No, but I know you."
"Really? How?"
"Because I work for Egyptian Intelligence. When you were coming here during the years when we had no relations with the U.S., we wondered why; wondered if you were a spy. So I followed you every time you were here."
Relieved, I asked, "What do you do now?"
"Oh, I'm still with Intelligence -- only now I follow visiting Russians!"
A footnote ...
Early in my travel experience in some of the world's more exotic places, I became accustomed to the reality that bribery is often essential. I developed an alternative solution to the suddenly "lost" reservations and similar difficulties.
Especially on nighttime arrivals after senior hotel executives were gone, even at quality establishments such as the Nile Hilton, it was not unusual to be confronted with the "lost reservation" problem at the reception desk. After an exchange of "baksheesh" -- bribe money -- it would suddenly be found.
When confronted with this annoying problem, I simply turned to my group, announced the problem, then said loudly, "Folks, they can't find our reservations and it's too late at night to run around to other hotels. So just take your clothes off and make yourselves comfortable. We'll sleep here in the lobby."
At that point, some of the men (whom I'd already briefed on the standby plan) would begin to remove shirts and women start taking off shoes.
The stunned -- shocked! -- reception clerks would invariably and quickly "find" our reservations and bellboys would be summoned to get our people quickly to their rooms.
PS-- Do NOT try this in Nairobi, Kenya. I did once and the response was a quick gathering of hotel employees eager to see a strip-show.
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The White House, in response to Vice President Biden being unfavorably compared to Paul Ryan in intellectual capability, has proudly announced that, as of last week, the VP has actually mastered the skill of tying his own shoes.
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Jay Leno --
"A man in Florida has been arrested for wearing a President Obama mask while robbing a McDonald's. To show you how good this guy's disguise was, instead of a holdup note he was reading from a teleprompter."
"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."