About an hour ago, I heard Governor Emeritus Jesse "The Body" Ventura (Ref.-MN) speaking to Leonard Lopate on WNYC-FM guess where. Ventura was prattling on about the taxes he paid during his governorship of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. He earned $120,000 a year--before meals his family ate and trips in his governor's limo. That brings it to about $60,000 that Ventura saw. At that point James George Janos (1951-?) said something I will never forget: "I live a certain lifestyle. $60,000 a year doesn't cut it for me." With that, every upper-class twit from Park Avenue to Park Slope within earshot of a radio must have had an orgasm. And every construction worker from the Bowery to the Bronx within earshot of a radio must need medical attention because they kicked the nearest steel girder with such force.
Mind you, I don't listen to WNYC with any degree of regularity. But I will say that Gov. Ventura must have had a perfect audience. Leonard Lopate anyway strikes me as effete, timid, and solicitous. I didn't stay long enough with WNYC to hear Lopate's response to so odious a statement because I was mad enough to write about this. But I can only think that Lopate's response must have been nonexistent.
In the meanwhile, it almost goes without saying that all the power Jesse Ventura used to have has gone to his head. Now he's just the sort of guy you wish politicians never were--hungry for more power, more money, looking for someone and something to argue to and complain about. It is not a lawmaker's job to complain, any more than it is a governor, a senator or a president. The complaints of the rich and powerful are lost on the people who have no money or power.
And now, if you'll excuse me, the soapbox is getting somewhat wobbly.
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