2007 Top 25 Richest Americans

The Forbes Magazine 2007 List of 400 Richest Americans has been released. I have pasted the top twenty-five here for you.

Rank, Name, Worth (in billions), Age, Home, Affiliation

01 William Gates III $59.0 51 Medina, WA Microsoft
02 Warren Buffett $52.0 77 Omaha, NE Berkshire Hathaway
03 Sheldon Adelson $28.0 74 Las Vegas, NV casinos, hotels
04 Lawrence Ellison $26.0 63 Redwood City, CA Oracle
05 Sergey Brin $18.5 34 Palo Alto, CA Google
05 Larry Page $18.5 34 San Francisco, CA Google
07 Kirk Kerkorian $18.0 90 Los Angeles, CA investments, casinos
08 Michael Dell $17.2 42 Austin, TX Dell
09 Charles Koch $17.0 71 Wichita, KS oil, commodities
09 David Koch $17.0 67 New York, NY oil, commodities
11 Paul Allen $16.8 54 Mercer Island, WA Microsoft, investments
12 Christy Walton & family $16.3 52 Jackson, WY Wal-Mart
12 Jim Walton $16.3 59 Bentonville, AR Wal-Mart
12 S Robson Walton $16.3 63 Bentonville, AR Wal-Mart
15 Alice Walton $16.1 58 Fort Worth, TX Wal-Mart
16 Steven Ballmer $15.2 51 Hunts Point, WA Microsoft
17 Abigail Johnson $15.0 45 Boston, MA Fidelity
18 Carl Icahn $14.5 71 New York, NY leveraged buyouts
19 Forrest Mars Jr $14.0 76 McLean, VA candy, pet food
19 Jacqueline Mars $14.0 67 Bedminster, NJ candy, pet food
19 John Mars $14.0 71 Arlington, VA candy, pet food
19 Jack Taylor & family $14.0 85 St Louis, MO Car rental
23 Donald Bren $13.0 75 Newport Beach, CA real estate
24 Anne Cox Chambers $12.6 87 Atlanta, GA Cox Enterprises
25 Michael Bloomberg $11.5 65 New York, NY Bloomberg

A billion dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to. For the first time, it takes more than $1 billion to earn a spot on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans. The minimum net worth for inclusion in this year's rankings released Thursday was $1.3 billion, up $300 million from last year.

See the entire list here.



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Pearson Wins An Evil Victory

I have always assumed that Roy L. Pearson, Jr., the jerk attorney in Washington, D.C., must be getting some sadistic pleasure from torturing and harrassing the owners of his local dry cleaning establishment.

He has won. The family he has been harrassing is closing the dry cleaning shop at the center of the lawsuit.

Pearson is everything that is wrong with America and he represents nothing that is good about us.

Targets of Judge's $54 Million Suit Over a Pair of Pants Calling It Quits

New York Lawyer
September 19, 2007

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The owners of a dry cleaner who were sued for $54 million over a missing pair of pants have closed and sold the business involved in the dispute.

The Chungs' attorney, Chris Manning, is citing a loss of revenue for Custom Cleaners and the emotional toll of defending the lawsuit.

The trouble began in 2005 after a pair of pants the plaintiff brought to the cleaners in Northeast Washington went missing. But a week later, the Chungs said the pants had been found. Roy Pearson, an administrative law judge, said those were not his pants and decided to sue.

The lawsuit originally demanded $67 million but was reduced to $54 million. A judge rejected it in June.

Manning said the Chungs have closed two of their three dry cleaning businesses since the lawsuit began.

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New York Knows How To Say No, Thank You

As reported in the New York Times last Friday, the New York State Health Department has rejected $3.5 million of federal money to fund abstinence-only sex education campaigns.

Dr. Richard F. Daines issued a press release denouncing the Bush administration's idiotic abstinence education as "ideological" and with no basis in scientific fact. (Granted, science clearly has no role in the current administration.)

It is so refreshing to see that, every now and then, a thinking person gets into a position of power.

September 21, 2007
New York Just Says No to Abstinence Funding
By JENNIFER MEDINA

New York is rejecting millions of dollars in federal grants for abstinence-only sex education, the state health commissioner, Dr. Richard F. Daines, announced yesterday. The decision puts New York in line with at least 10 other states that have decided to forgo the federal money in recent years.

New York has received roughly $3.5 million a year from the federal government for abstinence-only education since 1998. The abstinence program was approved as part of welfare overhauls under the Clinton administration and was expanded and restructured under President Bush.

In a statement posted on the Health Department's Web site, Dr. Daines said, "The Bush administration's abstinence-only program is an example of a failed national health care policy directive." He added that the policy was "based on ideology rather than on sound scientific-based evidence that must be the cornerstone of good public health care policy." More

In his statement Dr. Daines also says:

Beginning October 1, 2007, New York is redirecting state funds to expand comprehensive sexuality education in schools and other community settings that will provide teens with medically accurate information and life skills to equip them with the necessary tools that they need to make the crucial healthy life choices needed for a healthy adulthood.

See that! You elect a Democrat and people with brains start making logical decisions based on facts!

Wow!



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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Ground Zero?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, asked the United States Secret Service to arrange a visit to Ground Zero and lay a wreath while he is in New York City to address the United Nations.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said a visit to ground zero "is a matter for the city of New York, but it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit ground zero."

Yet, we let allow the current president of the United States visit Ground Zero and he has turned this country into a state sponsor of terror. Why the double standard?

And so what if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would use it for his own political ends. Rudy Giuliani does it all the time and he has no more right to exploit Ground Zero than anyone. Exploitation of the crimes committed on September 11, 2001, is vulgar. What more could we expect from George Bush, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Rudy Giuliani?

I don't want Ahmadinejad at Ground Zero, but not because of some bogus reason like 'state-sponsored terrorism' (as if there is another kind), or political opportunism. I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be prevented from laying a wreath at Ground Zero because I am convinced he would then say that the wreath is a memorial to the hijackers, not the victims of their crimes. And that would be the most vulgar exploitation of Ground Zero.



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Do Not Call Registry Listings Set To Start Expiring

Did you register with the Do Not Call registry? The Registry, established in 2003, was established to prevent telemarketers from harrassing you.

When you registered, your request was vaild for 5 years. This means that those of us who registered in 2003 will drop off the list in 2008, and teh calls will start flooding back in.

Congress is in a masturbatory process to figure out what to do. Shall they force people to re-register or have the registry automatically extend infefinitely? The obvious answer is the latter, but I've never accused congress of understanding the obvious.

I have not missed the telemarketers. Have you?

To guarantee that you continue to appear on the Do Not call list, then go to https://www.donotcall.gov, select "Verify A Registration." You will receive an email that confirms you are verified for another 5 years.

Don't delay. Do it now!


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