Life is not always fair. This past January, Roger Clemens (aka the Rocket) shocked the sports world by asking a record compensation of $22 million per year.
Clemens filed for a record $22 million in arbitration on Tuesday, and the Houston Astros offered the seven-time Cy Young Award winner $13.5 million.
The Rocket, who helped lead the Astros within one win of their first World Series last season, still has not decided whether to pitch this year or retire.
"We are proceeding down the arbitration path as if Roger were going to play," Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, said. "He has not yet decided whether to play in 2005, but I expect him to do so by Feb. 1 at the latest."
Clemens, who wears No. 22, would be playing his 22nd major league season.[link]
This was not to be. Clemens signed a contract with the Astros for $18 million and became the highest paid baseball player in baseball history.
Suha Arafat also asked for $22 million from the Palestinian Authority for financial security. Unlike Roger Clemens she got what she wanted. The deal was brilliantly negotiated by Mahmoud Abbas who proved to be a deft diplomat and a decisive leader even in the absence of his boss, Suha's late husband.
According to news reports, after Arafat's death, Suha met with leaders of the Palestinian Authority and insisted that she needed the financial security to continue to live in the lifestyle she'd become accustomed to. The PA leaders reportedly agreed to pay her $22 million a year out of secret accounts held by Arafat believed to hold at least $4 billion. In exchange, Suha was told she would have to reveal all of her husband’s bank accounts and investments, and allow the money that belonged to the Palestinian people to be transferred to the PA.[link]
What can we say? Good for you, Suha! And of course, there is plenty more from where this money is coming from.
President George W. Bush said Wednesday night in his State of the Union speech that he would ask Congress for $350 million to support Palestinian political and economic reforms.[link]
Mahmoud Abbas, the reformer, is getting the money to pay Suha in order to provide her with financial security. Two questions remain: can Suha pitch and
What do American taxpayers think about it?
with deep and sincere apologies to Roger Clemens posted by: jrtelegraph
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