Word of the Day:

mazuma
slang for "money," 1901, from Yiddish, from Mishnaic Hebrew mezumman "designated, fixed, appointed," used in Medieval Heb. in sense of "cash" (cf. slang the needful "money"), from Akkad. simanu "appointed time."
It seems like everyone is making cool million off their own lives these days by writing books about, well, about being them. If only anyone wanted to read about being me.

Today the Clinton's released their tax returns to the public, showing a combined income of $109 M between 2000 and 2007. Here's my favorite line of the Washington Post story:

The returns reveal how the Clintons turned global fame into a successful commercial brand...

Did we really need to know about the life of the Clinton's during the White House years enough to pay them millions of dollars in royalties? We already know enough, I think. But America can't seem to get enough of celebrity life. Enough so that we start labeling the Clinton's as a commercial brand, like Air Jordan's or Kleenex.

I much prefer reading books of real substance, like one I just finished, by former Navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell, who wrote an extremely moving account of his time being hunted by Taliban in the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, while his buddies were dying with valor all around him. Why aren't we paying real people big money to read amazing accounts of thier lives? Instead we're shelling out $25 dollars for the hardback version of Hillary Clinton's years in the White House.