(via redvelvetteacake)
my night is set
Producer Kermit Bloomgarden visiting with playwright Arthur Miller and his wife, actress Marilyn Monroe, in their apartment. Photograph by Robert W. Kelley. New York City, May 1958.
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Frivolous Lawsuit of the Day: A New York man is suing the photography studio he hired to document his wedding in 2003 because he says they didn’t shoot the last 15 minutes of the reception, leaving out the last dance and the bouquet toss.
Wait — it gets so much worse: As compensation for his mental anguish, Todd Remis wants H & H Photographers to cough up $48,000 so he can recreate the wedding, right down to the guests, for them to re-shoot.
The New York Times makes note of one tiny hitch in Remis’s plan: He and his wife, Milena Grzibovska, are now divorced, and her exact whereabouts are currently unknown to him.
The lawsuit, which was filed two years ago just prior to the statute of limitation’s expiration date, has already cost H & H more in legal fees than the amount of money Remis wants for his wedding recreation.
“[This case is] an abuse of the legal system,” said studio owner Dan Fried.
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Rich Get Richer of the Day: According to a Roll Call analysis of Congress members’ financial disclosure forms, the collective net worth of American lawmakers jumped 25 percent to over $2 billion in just the last two years — with 50 of the richest Congressmen and women accounting for 90 percent of the increase.
In 2008, the minimum net worth of House Members was just over $1 billion. In 2010, it rose to $1.26 billion. Senators experienced a more modest increase during this same time period, going from $651 million in 2008 to $784 million last year.
Roll Call notes that the real net worth of individual members is likely higher, since their estimates do not take into account non-income-generating properties such as private homes. Also, members are only required to disclose the minimum value of their assets — meaning, the actual value “may be much higher.”
Among other interesting facts: Senate Democrats are significantly weathlier than their Republican counterparts, while the opposite holds true in the House. Additionally, 78 percent of Congress’s total net worth is concentrated among 50 of its richest Members.
Don’t weep for the less-fortunate Members just yet: At least 196 House and Senate members are millionaires.
Any way you slice it, the average Congress Member is a serious chunk of change richer than the average citizen of the country he or she was elected to run: Congress’s median net worth last year was $513,000, which the median net worth among American households was around $100,000 — a number which, according to the Federal Reserve Board, has dropped by $20,000 since 2008.
[rollcall / image: sirmitchell.]