Billionaire philanthropists Mel and Bren Simon are laying the
groundwork to give their 43,000-square-foot Carmel mansion and private golf course to the IU Foundation and downsize into
a new home in the Village of WestClay. The estate, called Asherwood, includes a 10-green golf course, a giant pool house and
a
30-foot-by-50-foot outdoor pool. The home, twice as large as
the Carmel palace built by former Conseco executive Stephen Hilbert, features a 2,700-square-foot spa and a 1,300-square-foot
library. One idea for the estate is for the creation of a liberal think tank. (The aerial image is from Google Earth.) The
Simons paid about $2.5 million for a three-story, Beaux Arts-style "city home" in the Village of WestClay, shown at right.
The full story is
here.
30-foot-by-50-foot outdoor pool. The home, twice as large as
the Carmel palace built by former Conseco executive Stephen Hilbert, features a 2,700-square-foot spa and a 1,300-square-foot
library. One idea for the estate is for the creation of a liberal think tank. (The aerial image is from Google Earth.) The
Simons paid about $2.5 million for a three-story, Beaux Arts-style "city home" in the Village of WestClay, shown at right.
The full story is here.
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And regarding the upkeep, Cory's article notes:
If the Simons give Asherwood to the IU Foundation, a cash gift likely would accompany the real estate since upkeep alone is in the range of $1 million per year, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told IBJ.
People who complain about liberals are like the man from Virginia who went to college on the GI Bill and bought his first house with a VA loan. When a hurricane struck he got federal disaster aid. When he got sick he was treated at a veteran's hospital. When he was laid off he received unemployment insurance and then got a SBA loan to start his own business. His bank funds were protected under federal deposit insurance laws. Now he's retired and on social security and Medicare. The other day, however, he got so mad that he climbed into his car, drove the federal interstate to the railroad station, took Amtrak to Washington and went to Capitol Hill to ask his congressman to get the government off his back.
Here are a just a few of the things America would be without were it not for liberals in the White House:
Regulation of banks and stock brokerage firms cheating their customers
Protection of your bank account
Social Security
A minimum wage
Legal alcohol
Regulation of the stock exchanges
Right of labor to bargain with employers
Soil Consevation Service and other early environmental programs
Tennessee Valley Authority
Rural electrification
College educations for innumerable veterans
Housing loans for innumerable veterans
FHA housing loans
The bulk of hospital beds in the country
Unemployment insurance
Child Labor Act
Small Business Administration
National Endowment for the Arts
NASA
U.S. Civil Rights Act
Medicare
Peace Corps
This list is by no means exhaustive. And I'm not (or they, to be precise, as I've lifted much of the above) saying liberals haven't championed some disastrous policies or that conservatives have never had a positive influence in the development of this country. All I am simply trying to say is that the kind of irrational sniping by people like DRT ignores the morally muddled and complex nature of this world, thereby helping to dumb down the level of discourse in this country.
DRT, wake up or at the very least, get your head out of your proverbial ass and welcome to the hyper complex and morally confusing world known as reality.
I know, I know, this will require you to make an extra effort to understand wildly different perspectives and may even, gasp!, make you challenge your beliefs. Don't worry, DRT, it won't kill ya ;-)
You raise some great points. Unfortunately, in this world, the change of power is what has hurt. Liberals have been the ones to come up with many policies and programs to help people at all levels. That has been the backbone of the Democrat Party. Unfortunately, what has taken over the same party as leadership are progressives. Ideas for the benefit of all - that's what we need. Throwing out our traditional values in the process, that's what progressives want.
We as a society need to bring together the best and brightest to be leaders - we certainly don't have that now in either political party. We need to hold on to our traditional values, and we need embrace rational change and stop the name calling.
Lastly, there is a growing segment of our populace that thinks they are entitled to handouts from the government in the form of being paid and not working (I don't mean those that cannot work), free medical care, free groceries, free day-care, free this and that. These entitlements were never the intent of those in government when programs were created to be a helping hand. Unfortunately, checks and balances be damned, too many are feeding at the public trough and are undeserving.
{maybe they could fit an IKEA in there while they are at it}
:)