Joe, I believe you give Augusta no chance at innocence based upon your words - "I REALLY don’t want them (your daughters) to be members of Augusta National. A ludicrously rich group of men will not invite a ludicrously rich woman to join their ludicrously exclusive club with its shameful history of denying anyone even slightly different?” You suffer from pure financial/class envy. Augusta hires Pinkerton Guards (yes I know the labor history of the Pinkertons). Maybe one of these contractors made a mistake, was not informed, or even acted maliciously. You give that no credence and automatically attack Augusta and the wealthy. You, Barak Obama and many Liberals believe being very rich is “ludicrous” and a negative to society. With the exception of inherited wealth, I believe the vast majority people in this country earned their riches legally, ethically and the accumulation of their wealth did not get taken away but rather benefitted many, many people. Finally, you have no idea if Augusta has or does not have female members. Their membership is private. I strongly believe that Augusta already has female members but do not feel it necessary to disclose that. Wouldn’t it be ironic to you and Martha Burke if Sandra Dey O'Conner, Condoleezza Rice and other prominent female golfers already are members? Perhaps there are members who love and have contributed to golf, who have even less money than you? Capitalists who attain great wealth and in the aggregate leave the world a much better place are not "ludicrous". Your socialistic bias and petty jealously has made you a bearded, Kool-Aid drinking, bitter clinger of 60’s era left brain washing. This attitude is shared by the members of your own Augusta – the sports journalists of America are even more narrow minded than Augusta members.
John M. Dowd Response
Danny - The value of privacy to very public people is extremely valuable, Barak Obama himself says it is what he misses the most. So it is very plausible to me that a member of Augusta might not want to disclose they are a member even if it benefited the Club. The Club, I assume, does not want members who use their membership in a public manner to benefit themselves. Bottom line, we do not know who are their members and there is no benefit to Augusta to disclose it even if YOU believe you'd rather disclose than be a protest target. My point about Bill Gates is that if you are Augusta, it might be cool to let the world know Bill Gates is in your club and visa versa the fact is neither disclosed it. Lez, Mr. P specifically and vehemently identifies Augusta members a ludicrously "rich" and that is why he does want his daughters to join. I believe a contractor might have messed up. J.P assumes Augusta is guilty and ties that in with being rich. My point is that we don’t know anything, it is private. Lez, I don not listen to, watch or read Glen Beck, I am a Dittohead. J - Mr. P himself repeatedly said "ludicrously rich" was his x-factor in joining Augusta, nothing else. Therefore, my takeaway is he has a problem with the rich. I have also read his other columns and you get a sense of his core values through his writing. J, you wrote “You are beginning with a particular, biased reading of his statements." Of course I am. I am reading his article. He did not write negatively or even mention power, he only mentioned "rich". Eron, as I said before, we do not know about Augusta’s policies, you and Joe P choose to believe they are discriminatory, I choose to believe there is a possibility that you are wrong and they actually might have female members. If they invite me to join (on scholarship) and I find out there are female members, I will not tell a soul because it would be none of their business. Wanting to know is not the same as right to know. We have no right to know Augusta's business.
That said, I really enjoy reading your stories and I have nothing negative to say about your personal choice of seeking a perfect beard or maintaining a middle income lifestyle in flyover country.
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