Monday, September 07, 2009

Today's News: What a crock
Ludacris' charity is his own


In today's news, another example of the media abetting a celebrity who is using a tax write-off as if it was a gift of benevolence:

Talk about a one-man stimulus package: Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris has given away 20 cars to people who wrote about their struggles to keep their jobs for a lack of wheels of their own.

Ludacris said he was taken aback after reading thousands of essays by people struggling or unable to buy cars needed to get to and from work or find jobs. The 31-year-old rapper felt he could step in and move them ahead, partnering with a suburban Atlanta dealership for Sunday's...


And so on.

Ludacris and his team of advisors pulled the old double-coup. Make a charitable donation and do it in a way to garner as much publicity for yourself as possible. Since the media is always looking for a few feel-good stories to balance the top of the masthead negative ones, they will go along with the charade.

This is not meant to be a shot aimed at Ludacris. He's far too transparent for that. It's about all those who make mucho dinero and who follow the established pattern to keep as much of it as possible by loopholing Uncle Sam's codes.

The Fifth Estate is again reduced to a hovel.

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