Friday, February 11, 2011

The Best Mubarak Eulogy, Yet.

"Mubarak and his family were seen leaving the presidential palace with their bags."

"Of course, they weren't carrying their own bags."

Even if the lowest estimate ($25-75 Billion) of Mubarak's wealth is true, that'll still rank him in the Top 10 wealthiest individuals in the world. Not too shabby. Even people like you and me with a single billion dollars stashed in our mattresses don't carry our own bags. Definitely a top 10 wealthiest person on the planet wouldn't either. I imagine.



Happy Aloha Friday. Today is indeed a Happy Aloha Friday for the Egyptians. What happens to them from here is anybody's guess. I'm not pessimistic about Egypt's future why with Facebook and Tweeter there to keep a watchful eye on a new Egyptian gov't. That's not an exaggeration of the raw power of the social network. In an interview on CNN, an activist who was detained was asked by a CNN reporter, "Tunisia, Egypt....what's next?" and the activist's answer was an immediate, "Ask Facebook." That's saying a lot about the power of Facebook from an activist who was at the epicenter. You hear quips on the news about Facebook's influence on the Egypt revolution, but it sounds more like the media's cliché du jour than an outright fact. It's almost scary when you realize the awesome power of social networking. Last night there was a fireworks display in Waikiki. This is not to be confused with the weekly Friday night fireworks show. Was it a celebration of the Egyptians' victory? I searched online everywhere and absolutely nothing was written about last night's fireworks or what it was commemorating. Egypt and Hawaii are 12-hours difference. Feb. 11 will be of course Egypt Day here there ever after.

The irony of the pyramids in the light of the Egypt Revolution is that the pyramids served only the needs of a single dead human being, whereas the building that I happen to be working on being in the construction trade would provide living quarters for hundreds of living people, even Egyptians. Even taking into account the antiquity value of the pyramids, it ain't the most apple pie a symbol of freedom. Thus if the Egyptians had any energy left they should bulldoze the pyramids. But that's strictly with me. Here's the gist. Hillary said something along the likes that the US will be there to guide the Egyptian people through the days ahead. That had ugly american written all over it like this tribe of sand dwellers don't have the wherewithal to manage their own national affairs.



Hosni Mubarak $25-75 Billion

Alex O'Loughlin (Steve McGarrett) $100,000 per episode

Charlie Sheen $1.25 million per episode

Oprah Winfrey $315 million per year

Judge Judy $45 million per year

Of this bunch, only Judge Judy is fully deserving of her salary. No special guests or scripts on her show in comparison with David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million, and Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million.

7 comments:

Kay said...

Excellent post, Ron. No kidding? Judge Judy has 45 million? Who said law doesn't pay?

I always love reading your take on things. My husband said Mubarak had to get himself way out of the country because once he stepped down, people would be checking his books and finding out just how corupt he was. Well... the U.S. gave him a ton of cash, too.

RONW said...

Kay- TV guide released a list in Aug, here. It came as a surprise to me too about Judge Judy's salary. She deserves it though. With Mubarak, without power he wouldn't be in the position to steal all that he did. And the dilemma is that "without employing tactics that would get him a seat at the Hague, Mubarak wouldn't be able to remain in power." Not that anybody who overthrew him would have allowed the Egyptians more freedom. Just a coup about power for power sake. Btw, I try to maintain myself as an anonymous blogger to be free to say what I like. Foremost, it's just an opinion. Feel free to disagree. I have never deleted a single comment yet, other than those that were extraordinarily lewd.

OkiHwn said...

Conservatively, Mubarack has stolen $1B a year. Not bad!

RONW said...

Nate- anybody in Mubarak's position would have stole too. Perhaps, more. Add US foreign aid to the booty. Executive bonus. What's new.

Mokihana said...

Awesome post. I love Judge Judy. She doesn't take any crap from anybody. Smart and able to see through all the lies and faking.

I always think that if people would stop drinking and/or doing drugs and maybe even living together without a pretty tight contract, she'd be out of a job. Fortunately for us, that's doubtful.

I also like what you said about Bilary. Ugly American is right. Somehow my word verification of dinglybo seems to fit here. Ha!

It's hard for me, struggling just to pay the mortgage each month, to conceptualize what all those millions and billions really look like.

RONW said...

Lybyrinth- Judge Judy never fails to entertain. I thought she might have been getting out of hand with her authority, but then I realized it's all part of the shtick. I'm sure the confrontations itself aren't staged since her decisions are binding and the losing party doesn't get paid for the episode.

Mokihana said...

Awesome post, Ron. That's an interesting thought about Egypt's future and Facebook/Twitter.. I hadn't thought about that before.