[Homestead] Assorted things

EarthNSky erthnsky at bellsouth.net
Wed Oct 8 00:44:13 EDT 2008



Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:
> Another view on Al-Mansour. Note the date...it appears that nothing new 
> has turned up in over a month:
> 
> http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Obama_camp_denies_Sutton_story.html
> 

Thanks for posting that..
This article is linked to that one...
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1064437,CST-NWS-sweet20.article

It lists Obama's jobs...so maybe KAM did not pay Obama's way into 
Harvard, but there is still the question of pulling strings...

I just had to ask as I am interested in all of this because

1. I am 3 months older than BO and went to college at the same time.
2. We both attended 2 years at "lesser" private colleges before moving 
on to the big names
3. We both attended Ivy League post graduate schools.

I know how much college costs.  I was also poor, probably poorer than 
Barack.  I had plenty of scholarships and Pell grants, but it wasn't 
enough.  I worked 3 jobs throughout most of my college years, sleeping 
only 2 or 3 hours a night for months on end.  During those years I was 
so poor that I could not afford tampons and could not buy a coke from a 
machine.  All my money went to school and living.  I had student loans 
that approached 25K.  I did not complete post graduate school, 
obviously, there is no MD after my name, but Obama did complete law 
school so he has 3 more years than me with 3 more loans.  My boyfriend's 
parents became my surrogate family and they sponsored me by paying part 
of my Emory tuition in addition to their sons' tuition.  They did this 
through a church 'grant' so that it would be tax deductible for them. 
Basically, I was their charity.  They were both Emory Alumni, and since 
I was the DIL2B, they wanted that for us.

So I sit here, and I read Obama's jobs, and I of course don't know how 
much his grandparents put in, but I am sure it was plenty even by 
today's standards.  Even with scholarships, loans, jobs, and 
benefactors, I still had real trouble to the point that I just could not 
juggle everything.   The breakup with my fiance and the loss of his 
family's support led me down a path of self destruction that resulted in 
me dropping out of school.

If Obama did it on his own, and it appears that he did, then my hat's 
off to him.  BUT, part of me-maybe my pride, just says that I know how 
tough I was-what I put into it, and if I couldn't do, how could he do it 
with those penny ante jobs(trinket sales and deli worker???) and without 
a benefactor.  I know that Emory and Columbia and Princeton were 
comparable in price, as were Emory Medical School and Harvard Law 
School. I don't recall how much tuition was offhand, but I know they 
were almost the same.  Emory is the Harvard of the South.

So while some may think I am picking on Obama, and maybe I am, I do have 
my reasons and I am not just trying to be a troll or piss anyone off.  I 
really appreciate your open mindedness, Lynn, enough to search yourself.

Bev, coming to terms with old demons...

-- 
"What Luck for Rulers that Men do not Think"             Adolf Hitler
erthnsky at bellsouth.net




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