corrente

Now let me say first off that the "endorse Kerry" part of that headline is pure speculation on my part. But suspicion is surely justified after seeing the following:

(via Pittsburg Post-Gazette)

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is considering stepping down, telling colleagues he needs to earn money in the private sector to put his teenage children through college, officials said.

Ridge, 58, has explained to colleagues that he needs to earn money to comfortably put his two children, Tommy Jr. and Lesley, through college, officials said. Both are now teenagers. Ridge earns $175,700 a year as a Cabinet secretary.

When Ridge left Pennsylvania as governor, where he served from 1995 to 2001, he was earning $138,316 each year.

Ridge owns an $873,000 home in Bethesda, Md....and his most recent financial disclosure reports, filed in early 2003, showed that he owned between $122,000 and $787,000 in stocks and funds, including modest ownership in The Walt Disney Co., General Electric, Nike, Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

My God, the poor man! Destitution indeed! A fund drive is certainly in order. I weep into my kerchief at the thought of his plight.

So did I just pull that "Kerry endorsement" stuff out of my ass? Well, yeah, since I am a mere blogger. If I worked at NYT it would be called "It's my trial balloon and I'll float it if I want to, thank you."

But think back to what seemed like a stock line in Kerry's acceptance speech last night, about helping make college more affordable for the downtrodden and hard-pressed. If even a guy making 175 freakin' thou a year needs help to send just two kids through school, is this not proof that Kerry's college aid plan is needed even more than we thought?

Or...is it maybe that Ridge wants out of the cesspool before the honey wagon arrives, and came up with the best excuse he could? We Spin, You Get Dizzy (slogan tm. 2004 correnteco.inc)