Warren Buffet has just given away $40 billion to charity and philanthropy.
I'll say that again: WARREN BUFFET JUST GAVE AWAY $40 BILLION TO CHARITY AND PHILANTHROPY!
And nowhere in the media or online have I seen a statement from the President congratulating and thanking him. To be fair, I haven't seen a statement from any politician.
Of course the president does not have the time to commend every great act by an American. But $40 billion to charity? If the winning coach of the Super Bowl gets a phone call from George W., I think Buffet rates a telegram or something.
Something like, "You're doing a hell of a job, Buffy!" or "Way to be a decider!"
Or "Wish my friend Ken Lay had done something like that with his billions!"
From Yahoo! News:
NEW YORK - New Yorkers are a polite bunch.
No, really, they are. So says Reader's Digest.
The magazine sent reporters "undercover" to 36 cities, in 35 countries, to measure courtesy. New York was the only American city on the list.
In a city with a reputation for being in-your-face, New Yorkers seem to be expressing themselves with a new one-finger salute: a raised pinkie. In fact, they seem to have even better manners than people in London, Toronto and Moscow.
In its admittedly unscientific survey, the magazine's politeness-police gave three types of tests to more than 2,000 unwitting participants.
The reporters walked into buildings to see if the people in front of them would hold the door open; bought small items in stores and recorded whether the salespeople said "thank you"; and dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up.
New Yorkers turned out to be the most polite: 90 percent held the door open, 19 out of 20 store clerks said "thank you," and 63 percent of men and 47 percent of women helped with the flying papers.
In short, four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy test.
The rudest continent is Asia, Readers Digest said. Eight out of nine cities tested there — including last place Mumbai, India — finished in the bottom 11. In Europe, Moscow and Bucharest ranked as the least polite.
Reader's Digest, which has readers in 21 languages, is publishing the results in its July issue.So, to sum up in a haiku:
New York! Great food, shows.
Also curteous and kind.
Fuggedaboudit!
If you do not love playoff hockey, you have no pulse.
The Stanley Cup playoffs outclass all others, by light years. Every goal is precious, every power play makes your breathing shallow, every spectacular save can alter sports history. It is non-stop, one thousand percent adrennaline.
Last night, the Carolina Hurricanes, nee Hartford Whalers, won their first cup in franchise history. It was lifted high by their captain, Rod Brind'Amour, a class act and a man born to play the sport.
Some other post-season thoughts:
*Carolina and Edmonton were easy teams to root for- neither one was loaded with superstars, just blue-collar players who worked as a team. In hockey moreso than any other sport, teammates have to play for each other. The 'Canes did that to perfection.
*If you need anymore proof that the NBA playoffs rank a distant fourth in excitement when compared to baseball, football, and hockey, consider this: Baseball has the
World Series. You're not the MLB playoff champs, you're the
World Series champs. Football has the
Super Bowl. Not the NFL playoff champs, the
Super Bowl Champs. And of course, you're not the NHL playoff champs, you're the
STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
NBA? Simply the NBA playoffs, the NBA champs. How boring is that???
*Now that the Whale have won a cup, three of the four teams that entered the league in 1980 have won the cup- the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers being the other two. The Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes have yet to win a cup, and their most recent claim to fame has been a gambling ring being headed up by an assistant coach and the head coach's wife. Maybe it's time to pack it in, Coyotes...
Welcome to the Roberts court!
The supreme court ruled today that police with a warrant to search a home are not required to knock before entering.
I thought conservatives wanted to keep the government OUT of our homes!
"Our Fourth Amendment traditions place a high value upon protecting privacy in the home." said Justice Breyer in his dissent.
Welcome to Bizzaro world!
Scalia, writing for the majority, the failure to knock is a "preliminary misstep."
Hate to tell you this, Antonin (may I call you Antonin?): Most caselaw involving criminal procedure spring from "missteps." Mirranda not being advised of his rights? Just a misstep. Gideon not being provided an attorney for his trail? Misstep.
Ragan appointing you to the bench? Misstep.
I was never a big fan of Henry Rollins.
Until now.
Shut up, Ann!
Harry, I like your moxie!
a quote from Sen. Reid, from AP:
"What is the United States Senate going to debate this week: A new energy policy? No. Will we debate the raging war in Iraq? No. Will we address our staggering national debt? No. Will we address the seriousness of global warming? No. Will we address the aging of America? No. Will we address America's education dilemma? No. Will we address rising crime statistics? No. Will we debate our county's trade imbalance? No. Will we debate Stem Cell Research? No. But what we will spend most of the week on is a constitutional amendment that will fail by a large margin," he wrote in a draft speech.
