Privilege Funded by Public Money

by Joel B. Pollak

5 Sep 2012

First Lady Michelle Obama’s pitch to voters last night relied on the premise that she and her husband understand what it is to struggle to make ends meet. She spoke movingly about their early years--about how a young Barack Obama drove a car that was “rusted out" and found his furniture “in a dumpster,” how they both came from families that had to “scrape by.” Her fairy tale--however well-delivered--was one great, big, colorful lie.

Both Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama began their adult lives with a leg up on the rest of America. They attended elite schools: Michelle went to Whitney Young, the public magnet school for Chicago’s upper class, while Barack attended Punahou, the private prep school for the top stratum of Hawaiian society. They were accepted to Ivy League schools despite undistinguished credentials, and both attended Harvard Law School.

“[B]elieve it or not, when we were first married, our combined monthly student loan bills were actually higher than our mortgage,” Michelle said. That sounds like a raw deal--but in fact reflects their fortunate circumstances. They had both just graduated from a very expensive law school, and their combined income from cushy law firm jobs dwarfed the repayments. Barack also soon enjoyed a second salary from the University of Chicago.

They had expensive tastes, reflected in the $277,500 two-bedroom condo they bought in 1993--a high price even by today’s standards. Several years later, they moved into their $1.65 million mansion in Hyde Park--with the help of fraudster Tony Rezko. Barack often told a story of hardship on the campaign trail in 2008 about having his credit card declined--once. The fact that he thought this counted as real hardship speaks volumes.

As her husband moved onto the national political stage, Michelle Obama began to enjoy a lavish lifestyle at taxpayer expense, directly and indirectly. When Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate, he obtained a $1 million earmark for the University of Chicago Hospital--and his wife’s salary as Vice President for Community Affairs jumped from $121,910 to $316,962. Her job: pushing poor, uninsured patients to other hospitals.

As First Lady, Michelle Obama has lived high on the hog while the rest of the country has suffered through an extraordinary recession. In 2010, she and her entourage decamped to Spain for a lavish vacation. That summer, the Obamas encouraged Americans to visit the Gulf coast after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which threatened tourism in the region. They promptly jetted off to Maine for their own summer holiday. This summer, the Obamas skipped their usual summer trip to the wealthy playground of Martha’s Vineyard--months after Michelle and her daughters had enjoyed an expensive winter skiing trip in Aspen. And, of course, there are the frequent pilgrimages to Hawaii, Some of their family’s comfort, of course, comes from private income, principally Barack Obama’s book sales--yet even that wealth is a spin-off of Obama’s political career.

If, as the Democrats eagerly pointing out, Mitt Romney enjoyed the privilege of private wealth, the Obamas have enjoyed privilege funded by public money and public life. And until entering the national spotlight, they gave little to charity, contributing instead to a church that preached racial grievance. “[T]ruth matters,” Michelle Obama told the nation last night. That, too, is a lie--because so far, she has evaded it without consequence.

Waterloo? Did Bonaparte Conceal and Carry?

The class for Conceal and Carry was full at the campus I wanted to attend but they started another class at a different campus. This has been such a popular class that they may have to expand it. I told the secretary they should have a class at night for working people. The class I'm enrolled in is farther away but I signed up anyway. It's only for two days so I can manage. It starts the latter part of March so I have some time to get used to the idea of carrying a gun. Sends shivers down me. Just looking at them turns my blood cold.

I'd rather not have to take up carrying an arm but if I have to I will. I'm no better than other people who have defended themselves or their country. I look at it like my right to vote or do any of the other things the Constitution says I have a right to, like life, liberty, and speaking up for what I believe. I'm so accustomed to a free life that I don't realize all I'm at liberty to do. I don't want my country to just roll over and submit to this unlawful robbery of our money, freedom, and way of life. Besides if the congress takes away my money and I can't buy enough food I will need a way to hunt for food. Now I wish I'd learned to hunt.

I live in a populated area but the other day I saw a dead possum lying in the road just outside my home. How does possum stew sound? Delicious?


Mother possum giving her baby something to eat.

If I'd have had this training many years ago when I was living alone I wouldn't have been raped. That would have spared me all the time in recuperation. Now that's a story all by itself. Makes me shudder. Wish I'd have known karate also. The guy would have been missing several items of jewelry he holds dear. I mean he would be able to sing high A. Beats the heck out of scalping him and making him bald the rest of his life. God help me. I'm wanting to hurt him again. I hope he met his Waterloo.

Laundry Money

Honorable Senator Inhofe,

Thank you so much for all you do to try to help us. Thank you for voting NO on the new bills we are going to get from Washington. I thought about the word Washington and it seems fitting that the government is located in Washington D.C. Because it's the place where they take a "ton" of my money and after "Washing" it they give it to someone else. Is that called "money laundering"?

In your newsletter you said, "We have $1.1 trillion in new national debt that amounts to $10,000 per household. We have $800 billion in new government spending that amounts to $7,000 per household." Our household income is just under $24,000.00 a year. So we will be left with $7,000.00 a year to live on? $7,000.00 / 12 = $583.33. That leaves us $583.33 to live on each month. My mortgage payment is $477.64 a month. Now what do I do to pay the electric, gas, and maybe eat some food? We have never taken any government assistance and I just don't know how we will be able to eat. What do we do?????? My husband was giving me $500.00 every two weeks to pay all the bills and food. I hope that the democ-RATS have some ideas other than living in a cardboard box. I've seen this happen in Mexico but never thought I would have to live in a box.

I and my husband have been living in our home for about 11 years and payed our mortgage until we have 41% of our home paid off. Now with paying the government $17,000.00 a year we will lose our house and be on the street. Would you ask Obama what we are to do now with his new hope and change. I'd like him to stick his hope and change where the sun doesn't shine. Side ways. You have my permission to tell him and all the democ-RATS I said so. This is not giving me any hope at all. I feel hopeless now.

Thursday Unbelievable

• On Thursday, January 22, I took my mother to the credit union to deposit money so she could pay for her new windows. We finally got to the window inside of the credit union and a teller asked what she could do for her. My mother handed her a card with her bank number on it and then she handed her an envelope with several thousand dollars in it. The teller picked up the envelope and turned around and said she would be right back. She disappeared into the area where the drive through tellers are located. I was surprised that she didn't count the money. We stood there for about five minutes. I told my mother that she should have counted the money before she walked off to confirm the amount was correct. I felt the need to speak to a manager about this and that's what I did.

• I walked over to an information desk and asked to talk to a manager. A manager of the tellers came out and I told her what had happened and she was dismissive to a certain degree. She said the teller had to work the drive through and the front desk. I told her it didn't make any difference and that she should have counted the money first. She said there were cameras all over and they would have caught the problem. I told her that a camera can't see inside an envelope and count the money. If there had been a difference in our total and the tellers total then what would they do? This manager still didn't seem to be concerned about what had happened. She said she talked to the teller about it and it wouldn't happen again. It bothers me that she had such a flip attitude about this matter. I have never had a teller do that before. The name of the credit union is Tinker Credit Union. I plan to make another complaint to the managers supervisor. I should have done it then but I had to take my mother to her doctors appointment just after that.

• Earlier that day, Thursday, my mother called me and told me that someone from the company that installed our new windows had called her. They were wanting to go to her house and pick up another check. They said that the check we had given them the on Monday, January 19, had the wrong name in the 'pay to' space. I had written the check to the company that made and installed the windows, Champion. This person on the phone told her that because she had decided to pay payments for the windows her bill would be turned over to a finance company. They were going to charge my mother 21% interest. My mother was having a fit of anger and nerves. She said she was not about to pay anyone 21% interest. She was fit to be tied. I thought it was pretty bad business practice for the window company to have waited until that moment to tell her about this amount of interest. When the window company's salesmen went to her house to sell us the windows, she told him she would be making payments. She planned to pay at least $500 a month. The salesman never said a word about a finance company or the 21% interest. What a RAT. I think he is a jerk for not telling an 84 year old woman on a fixed income about what the finance interest would cost. If she had not had the money to pay the bill in full she would be stuck with the outrageous interest. Now I won't recommend this company to other people. I may even report this to the BBB. I don't know if that will help but I'm going to try. They need to change the way they do business. They need to be up front with people and tell them the interest they will be paying.

I know this is out of order according to the way things happened that day. Sorry but I'm too lazy to copy and past them in the right order. So hang on.

• After my mom and I finished at the credit union I drove her to her doctors appointment. You have to understand one thing about me that has been true for some time. I have a problem with being on time. In order to combat my lateness I now give myself a lot of time to get places. That is what happened Thursday. I write down appointments and meetings in a large red day planner. It's a very nice book with plenty of space to write appointments.

• I had written down 2:45 pm in the day planner for mom's appointment for Thursday. That was actually the exact time of the appointment. No problem, right? Well, mom had gone to have an MRI on Tuesday and that appointment was 2:15 pm. No problem, right? Wrong. I have a problem with numbers. I see numbers fine but when I write numbers or remember numbers I sometimes flip them. On Thursday I remembered the time for Tuesdays appointment, 2:15 pm but our appointment was for 2:45 pm. We arrived at the doctors before 2:00 pm. The doctor didn't see us until after 4:00 pm. We waited in the waiting room from before 2:00 until well after 4:00 to see the doctor. Guess how long the doctor was in the room checking my mother. Five minutes. That's right, five minutes.

• After we left the doctors office we drove to the window company to give them a check for the full balance of the windows. My mom was real weak and tired from all the things she'd been through that day. She didn't say much to them. The person who called her on the phone earlier that day was not out front. That person was very rude to my mother on the phone. He had been instisting that he be allowed to go to her house and pick up another check. I'm glad she told him she had two appointments that day. What a jerk. We gave them a check for the balance of the windows and they gave us a printer receipt with a zero balance.

• My mother had gotten a bathroom window that had a half of the window etched. It isn't etched enough because someone standing inside her shower can see her form. We now have to buy something extra to put on the window. What a bummer. New windows that cost thousands and we now have to add something to them. We will now be searching the local stores for some kind of film that looks like stained glass or etched glass.

• Here is an idea for the stained glass look. We haven't gone shopping yet and I have no idea where to find this locally. Here's hoping.