More Dollars Than Sense
American Dreams vs. American Nightmares
Back in the 1990s, I met and briefly worked with three billionaires.
The first—Ross Perot—was the shortest wannabe dick-tator I’ve ever met. He was a total asshole. His small-dick energy arrived minutes before he did and stuck around long after he left the building. I got the impression even he knew he sucked.
The other two—Merv Griffin and Bill Gates—were nice and treated us “little people” with kindness and respect.
Mr. Griffin lived in a star-studded fantasy world, but despite all his power and wealth, Merv was always fun and magnanimous. He was also very, very, very gay. As was the crew of his private jet. We should all be so lucky to live that kind of life….
As for Mr. Gates, I’ve rarely met anyone as shy and seemingly embarrassed by all the hoopla and security surrounding him. At the time we worked together—on a photo shoot that lasted less than 15 minutes—I had to submit to a full background check before getting the job and repeated body scans before meeting the man himself.
When we finally met, Bill went around the small hotel room we transformed into a makeshift studio—complete with beds strapped to the walls—and introduced himself to everyone, thanking us for our patience with all the security hoops and protocols.
Even though Gates hated being photographed, he remained calm, cool, and collected throughout the short shoot. When we were done, he shook everyone’s hand and wished us safe travels before being whisked out of the room by his security detail.
Merv Griffin was by far the most fun to work with, but Bill Gates was the most human. And professional. (As for Perot, well, fuck that guy. What a prick.)
Why am I remembering this trio of ultra-wealthy guys, only one of which is still alive?
Well, the last 24 hours have brought up a lot of feelings about billionaires and their unrealistic worlds and world views.
Between the start of “The Dumbest Trade War In History,” the likely start of another recession, more arbitrary firings by an unelected oligarch, and the Carnival-Barker-In-Chief’s bullshit speech last night, I’m even more certain Lady Karma is coming for the billionaire class sooner rather than later. And I’m cheering her on…Ms. Karma’s often tardy, but has been known to throw quite a party.
Not only do these scary clowns and shit-throwing circus monkeys not understand they may be rich and powerful, but history is full of the rich and powerful being forcibly removed from office…and more. In this case, likely by the very people who voted for their dumbasses.
Mobs will be mobs, right? Live by the mob, die by the mob.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving crowd, in my opinion.
In the meantime, the only reasonable and sensible things I’ve heard in the last 24 hours have come from the outgoing Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and former-presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders.
Stand up to billionaire bullshit and fight for what’s right…our rights!
Clint 🌈✌️
ON THIS DAY = MARCH 5
BIRTHDAYS
1891 = Eva Kotchever = Polish-Jewish librarian and writer 🌈
1908 = Rex Harrison = English actor
1910 = Ennio Flaiano = Italian author, screenwriter, and critic
1922 = Pier Paolo Pasolini = Italian actor and filmmaker 🌈
1927 = Jack Cassidy = American actor and singer
1936 = Dean Stockwell = American actor
1938 = Fred Williamson = American football player, actor, and filmmaker
1938 = Paul Evans = American singer-songwriter
1945 = Sadao Hasegawa = Japanese artist and activist 🌈
1946 = Murray Head = English actor and singer
1949 = Bernard Arnault = French businessman, philanthropist, and art collector
1952 = Alan Clark = English musician and songwriter
1954 = Marsha Warfield = American actor
1955 = Penn Jillette = American magician, actor, and author
1956 = Teena Marie = American singer-songwriter
1958 = Andy Gibb = English-Australian singer-songwriter and actor
1970 = John Frusciante = American singer-songwriter
1974 = Eva Mendes = American model and actor
1974 = Kevin Connolly = American actor and director
1974 = Matt Lucas = English actor, comedian, and tv personality 🌈
1989 = Jake Lloyd = American actor
EVENTS
1616 = Nicolaus Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is added to the Index of Forbidden Books 73 years after it was first published.
1770 = During the Boston Massacre, five Americans, including Crispus Attucks, are fatally shot by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later.
1836 = Samuel Colt established his first factory to produce recently patented production-model revolver, the .34-caliber "Paterson."
1872 = George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
1933 = Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to later pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.
1940 = Six high-ranking members of the Soviet politburo, including Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, in what will become known as the Katyn massacre.
1943 = World War II: General strike and protest march in Athens against rumours of forced mobilization of Greek workers for work in Germany, resulting in clashes with the Axis occupation forces and collaborationist police. The decree is withdrawn on the next day.
1953 = Joseph Stalin, the longest serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.
1963 = American country music stars Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and their pilot Randy Hughes are killed in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee.
1981 = The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research, and went on to sell more than 1.5 million units.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It's amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral, self-righteous, bullying laziness.”
Penn Jillette
Well expressed, Clint. I am much less concerned about fame and fortune, especially in regard to those representatives I meet, than humanity. Do I "embrace" them (metaphorically - usually - not physically) as fellow humans or not so much?
I love the human called Clint.
I have only met Bill Gates. One of my stops along my working way as System Manager for the Seattle City Council. Before the new City Hall was completed, City offices were in the old Municipal Building, a recycled 2 star hotel that had seen better days even before it was built. Anyhow, as the IT guy, I had many stops to make and the design of the building was such that the main hallway made two 90 degree turns as it wound around the reception area. I came busting around the corners and literally run into Bill Gates who had been visiting one of the Council Members. Papers went flying everywhere, Bill and I shake ourselves off and then he and his retinue (about six guys) take off. Nothing was said but I was able to report to my coworkers later that day that I had run into Bill Gates.