On Sep 4, 3:45*pm, hk wrote:
Vanity Fair
* * ** Republican National Convention
* * ** | The 2008 Election

Cindy McCain's $300,000 Outfit

That's three typical mortgages for some Americans now out on the street.

John McCain Discloses Data on His Charity Giving

By Grant Williams

Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has released
his tax returns for the past two years, including details about the
money he donated to charitable causes.

In 2007, the Arizona senator reported $405,409 in total income and
contributed $105,467, or 26 percent of his total income, to charity.

http://philanthropy.com/news/updates...charity-giving

Now Obama:

"Giving, service and compassion are recurrent themes on the campaign
trail for Sen. Barack Obama, but the Democratic presidential contender
has only recently dug deep into his own pockets to support charitable
causes.

Obama has enjoyed a robust household income throughout his political
career in the Illinois Senate and the U.S. Senate. But for most of
that time he has reported comparatively little by national standards
in charitable contributions on his tax returns, records released by
Obama show.

Public attention to charitable gifts has led to uncomfortable moments
for prominent political figures. Then-Vice President Al Gore came in
for withering ridicule in 1998 when his tax return showed he had
contributed just $353 to charity. So did then-President Bill Clinton,
after a review of old tax returns revealed that he had once claimed a
$75 deduction for donating a suit with ripped pants to the Salvation
Army, as well as $2 for a pair of used underwear and $9 for six pairs
of used socks.

Obama's household income has been inflated the last two years from the
proceeds of lucrative book deals he signed shortly before entering the
Senate in 2005. He pledged to turn over $200,000 of the book money to
charity.

On their just-filed 2006 tax return, Obama and his wife, a hospital
administrator, reported taxable income of $983,626 and claimed
deductions for $60,307 in charitable donations. In 2005 they earned a
combined $1.65 million and gave away about $77,300.

In 2002, the year before Obama launched his campaign for U.S. Senate,
the Obamas reported income of $259,394, ranking them in the top 2
percent of U.S. households, according to Census Bureau statistics.
That year the Obamas claimed $1,050 in deductions for gifts to
charity, or 0.4 percent of their income. The average U.S. household
totaled $1,872 in gifts to charity in 2002, according to the Center on
Philanthropy at Indiana University."

Seems the Dims have a problem with putting "their money where their
mouth is", huh?

Harry, why don't you sell that Parker and donate the proceeds to needy
Americans? You're not using it anyway.