testes 5
Lord Valve
by Ann Coulter
12/29/2010
Liberals never tire of discussing their own generosity,
particularly when demanding that the government take
your money by force to fund shiftless government
employees overseeing counterproductive government
programs.
They seem to have replaced "God" with "Government" in
scriptural phrases such as "love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind." (Matthew 22:37)
This week, we'll take a peek at the charitable giving
of these champions of the poor.
In 2009, the Obamas gave 5.9 percent of their income to
charity, about the same as they gave in 2006 and 2007.
In the eight years before he became president, Obama
gave an average of 3.5 percent of his income to charity,
upping that to 6.5 percent in 2008.
The Obamas' charitable giving is equally divided between
"hope" and "change."
George W. Bush gave away more than 10 percent of his
income each year he was president, as he did before
becoming president.
Thus, in 2005, Obama gave about the same dollar amount
to charity as President George Bush did, on an income of
$1.7 million -- more than twice as much as President
Bush's $735,180. Again in 2006, Bush gave more to charity
than Obama on an income one-third smaller than Obama's.
In the decade before Joe Biden became vice president, the
Bidens gave a total -- all 10 years combined -- of $3,690
to charity, or 0.2 percent of their income. They gave in
a decade what most Americans in their tax bracket give in
an average year, or about one row of hair plugs.
Of course, even in Biden's stingiest years, he gave more
to charity than Sen. John Kerry did in 1995, which was a
big fat goose egg. Kerry did, however, spend half a
million dollars on a 17th-century Dutch seascape painting
that year, as Peter Schweizer reports in his 2008 book,
"Makers and Takers."
To be fair, 1995 was an off-year for Kerry's charitable
giving. The year before, he gave $2,039 to charity, and
the year before that a staggering $175.
He also dropped a $5 bill in the Salvation Army pail and
almost didn't ask for change.
In 1998, Al Gore gave $353 to charity -- about a day's
take for a lemonade stand in his neighborhood. That was
10 percent of the national average for charitable giving
by people in the $100,000-$200,000 income bracket. Gore
was at the very top of that bracket, with an income of
$197,729.
When Sen. Ted Kennedy released his tax returns to run
for president in the '70s, they showed that Kennedy
gave a bare 1 percent of his income to charity -- or,
as Schweizer says, "about as much as Kennedy claimed
as a write-off on his 50-foot sailing sloop Curragh."
(Cash tips to bartenders and cocktail waitresses are
not considered charitable donations.)
The Democratic base gives to charity as their betters
do. At the same income, a single mother on welfare is
seven times less likely to give to charity than a
working poor family that attends religious services.
In 2006 and 2007, John McCain, who files separately
from his rich wife, gave 27.3 percent and 28.6 percent
of his income to charity.
In 2005, Vice President Cheney gave 77 percent of his
income to charity. He also shot a lawyer in the face,
which I think should count for something.
In a single year, Schweizer reports, Rush Limbaugh
"gave $109,716 to 'various individuals in need of
assistance mainly due to family illnesses,' $52,898
to 'children's case management organizations,'
including 'various programs to benefit families in
need,' $35,100 for 'Alzheimer's community care --
day care for families in need,' and $40,951 for air
conditioning units and heaters delivered to troops
in Iraq."
(Rush also once gave $50 to Maxine Waters after
mistaking her for a homeless person.)
The only way to pry a liberal from his money is to
hold tickertape parades for him, allowing him to
boast about his charity in magazines and on TV.
Isn't that what Jesus instructed in the Sermon on
the Mount?
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it
with trumpets, as the hypocrites do ... But when you
give to the needy, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing, so that your giving
may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what
is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:2-4)
In my Bible, that passage is illustrated with a
photo of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
At least the hypocrites in the Bible, Redmond,
Wash., and Omaha, Neb., who incessantly brag about
their charity actually do pony up the money.
Elected Democrats crow about how much they love
the poor by demanding overburdened taxpayers fund
government redistribution schemes, but can never
seem to open their own wallets.
The only evidence we have that Democrats love the
poor is that they consistently back policies that
will create more of them.