Just add a little bit of background and a little bit of research, and BAM! Here we go again with another example of ridiculous spending by our nation’s elected officials.

            The full purpose of the funding is to support the First Tee Life Skills program, a character building program (“teaches life lessons”) that is intended to benefit low-income and minority children on military bases by teaching them how to play golf. Interestingly enough, this money excludes children of military families,2 which begs the question, why are we paying for a program on military bases that excludes the very children this program is supposed to help? Rep. Clyburn said in his speech defending the earmark before the House that it was to go specifically for children of military families.

            While it may be difficult to argue the program’s motives, it is not difficult in pointing out Clyburn’s relationship with the First Tee Program. Exactly 72 days before Rep. Clyburn requested the earmark to be included in the 2008 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, the City of Columbia Golf Center, a host facility for the First Tee Program, was renamed the James E. Clyburn Golf Center, complete with a giant statue of the representative in the front of the building.

            Though the $3 million earmark doesn’t go directly to ‘his’ golf center, it does go to benefit the World Golf Foundation, the parent organization of the First Tee Program which his center hosts. The World Golf Foundation, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, has a $20-30 million annual budget and has the financial support of corporate giants such as Bank of America, Time Warner, Barclay’s, FedEx, AT&T, General Mills, MasterCard, Coca-Cola, Shell, and Wal-Mart, along with the PGA and LPGA. At the end of 2006, the foundation had over $14 million in cash and savings.3

            The World Golf Foundation also has its own vacation destination, the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida. The World Golf Village has several deluxe vacation packages, 3 world-class resorts, a spa, 2 golf courses, an IMAX theater, and the World Golf Hall of Fame.

            When the bill that contained the earmark passed the House and the Senate in the middle of 2007, the earmark was not included. Rep. Clyburn tried, but it did not make the cut. An interesting example of ‘House and Senate baseball,’ it was added after the bill was voted on by Congress and included in the conference report, or final version of the bill, once the senate said that they were willing to add more house earmarks.

            Before the $3 million that The First Tee received in 2008 to aid in teaching golf to children on military bases, they had received 2 other earmarks since 2004 worth $3 million, adding up to a whopping $6 million of money that you earned and had to forcibly donate. The pentagon did not even request this money or the program it funds. It’s an interesting question to ask – If this is a necessary program, (as Rep. Clyburn projects) why not let the military sort it out by raising greens fees on its hundreds of golf courses across the country, or using funds from its MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) Fund?

            In an interview with CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla on November 27, 2007, Rep. Clyburn defended the earmark by saying that there are plenty of softball and basketball programs, but these kinds of programs only ‘make sergeants.’ He said this money was not just for any one particular golf course, but for a program that teaches individual competition, because “that’s how you make generals and colonels.”

            Apparently we just spent $3 million to create high ranking military officers 30-40 years from now that know how to play golf.

$6 million could pay for:

- 8.2 million golf balls

- 126 tons of nickel

- 720,000 bushels of soybeans

- The lifetime earnings of 8 minimum wage workers

1. You can find the full text and video of Rep. Clyburn’s speech at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=595418058

2. This fact is in the ‘Fact vs. Fiction’ report by Rep. Clyburn on the website http://clyburn.house.gov/pressroom-press-releases-detail.cfm?id=75

3. Their financial information can be found in their tax form 990’s, or the Return of an Organization Exempt from Tax.

     Tiger Woods language at this year’s Masters was rather unbecoming.  Among others, he dropped at various times a loud “Tiger Woods, you suck!”, an F bomb, and on a couple of occasions, even took the lord’s name in vain.

     Not quite what you’d have expected from the old Tiger Woods, pillar of the community and paragon of virtue.  But then, this isn’t the old Tiger Woods any more, is it?  No, Tiger Woods has pulled a Bill Clintonian one on us all.  Sure, we were all mad at him.  But not any more.  A quick stint at a country club under the guise of ’sex addiction’, a news conference and a bit of golf… and all is forgotten.

     Sure, he told us he was going to clean up his act.  But lets be realistic here.  Tiger Woods learned his lesson.  And the lesson is that when you’re Tiger Woods, there are no real consequences.  The man had sex with half of the women in America, and what really happened?  He lost a few endorsements.  So what?  Instead of making $100 million this year, he’ll have to limp by with a paltry $40 million.  Poor guy.

     Now theat he and soon to be ex wife Elin Nordegren are headed for divorce court, it’s just a matter of time until we’re all watching to see who he’s sleeping with now.

     So of course Tiger Woods will swear if he damn well pleases, no matter how many kids are listening 20 feet away or on television.  Who’s going to do a thing about it?  The PGA?  The PGA is buried so deep in his jock that he could play naked and they wouldn’t say a word.  Republicans, or conservatives?  Of course not.  In the new age of Barack Obama, criticizing a black man for anything makes you a racist.  The press?  Come on.  The guy is as untouchable as his buddy Michael Jordan now.

     So get used to it.  It’s Tiger’s world now.  We just live here.

    Quite frankly as the cheating part goes I don’t belive the newspaper that started this all actualy posted the story.  Just because people want money and they want publisity for some rumor that is true, it won’t last long.  I am discusted at Tiger Woods for cheating, but it makes me so much more eritated that the news is still following him around all the time. It is his life, but people should not pry into other people’s business because they want to know what is going on.

Final Notes:

    Don’t be like Tiger Woods and cheat, 95% of all men/women get caught cheating on their spouses, so don’t do that. Think before you act.

An example of opposites attracting.

This by all accounts is a story of two men who would be considered polar opposites. Former NFL football player Conrad Dobler and current pro golf champion Phil Mickelson. On the suface there is little that connects the men. Conrad Dobler a man once dubbed “The NFL’s Dirtest Player” was a lineman who played from 1972 to 1977 for the Arizona Cardinals. He split his last four years in the league between the New Orleans Saints and the Buffalo Bills. Phil Mickelson nicknamed “Lefty” is a pro golfer and champion on the PGA tour. Mickelson born in 1970 spent part of his childhood living in Arizona. As far as anyone knows that is as close as the connection was until recently.

Comrades with little in common

Dobler seemed to life a charmed live after football. He acted in commercials and other venues. It appeared the man had it made. Fate wrote the story differently. The years of playing pro football took their toll and the former down and dirty grunt experienced the breakdown of his knees. Applying for the NFL disability pension he was turned down. He became one the many neglected retirees of the multi-billion dollar league. As I noted in my article, “War, Sports And The Absence of Accountability”, he is one of the many warriors that played the game following orders only to be forgotten. Recent NFL Hall of Fame inductee Harry Carson referred to this atrocity in his Hall acceptance speech.

Conrad’s story takes a painful turn for the worse. On the Fourth of July in 2001 his wife Joy had what for most would have been a simple accident. She fell out of her backyard hammock. Tragically, she broke her neck becoming a quadriplegic. With this event, the myth of Conrad Dobler’s charmed life ended.

Mickelsen is a man of great talent with his sport playing as many others at this time in the shadow of golfing god, Tiger Woods. Upon hearing of the Dobler family’s situation Phil Mikelsen through his agent volunteered to pay Holli ’s, Conrad and Joy’s daughter, college tuition. Up to this time, the Mickelsen and Dobler families have never met. Phil refuses to talk about his selfless action. So, I will.

Trancending my own prejudices.

I am not a golf fan. I love football but disliked Dobler as a player. I do recognize the difference between a sports or celebrity persona and a real person. I also recognize when people reach out to others in time of need greatness is born. Phil Mickelsen obviously is a man of tremendous humility and does not want to call attention to his act of kindness for all the right reasons. I am exploiting his selflessness out of selfishness.

My confession.

I admit I am using the Mickelsen-Dobler situation to make a point. The point is a theme I have long crusaded for throughout my life. People do not need to have a reason to reach out to others in need except because they want to. In my published story, “A Holiday Legacy”, the theme was even when you have nothing you have something to give. As I wrote in “Giving A Celebrity Notice For What Everyday People Do?” lesser minded celebrities get more notice for lesser acts of humanity. This was an act of extreme selflessness. It is an example of the power of the heart to reach out to someone in a time of need. We can’t all pay for the college tuitions of the “Holli Doblers” of the world, but we can give extend them a hand. What Phil Mickelsen did was not about having money. It was about having pride, heart, and a conscience.

In the same league on a different field of play

I came across a person who complained about the conditions he was forced to work in while performing a community service at a local shelter. In his rant he made it sound like he was complaining because he was forced to volunteer. As we communicated I discovered his complaint was not about the job but about what the so-called volunteers that came before him had left him with. His predecessors were careless and belligerent about their work performance. More than likely, they were people who volunteer to say they volunteer and not really do much of anything. My friend, who chooses to be anonymous, was left to do double the work. In fact, because of the prior crew he stayed longer to make sure the job was done right.

To my bear of a friend and to the Phil Mickelsen’s of the world, I say thank you for giving us the opportunity to know of you. I thank you for your silent humility and for making the world a better place for someone else. I thank you for being a leader by example and not be the accolades your deeds might bring.