Dude, really, stop. All I need is another forty tons of beluga, and I've got his nose perfect.

Back off, man.

How many ways can I register my disgust? Puke, hurl, technicolor yawn, etc...........

Notice I did NOT use the non word irregardless!

Sheesh Midaz, I fixed it.

Irregardless, you're still a jackass.

I remember an old Mr. Boffo cartoon, of a panhandler holding a cup and a sign reading, 'Please spare some change - Won the lottery twice, wasted the money foolishly," and a policeman telling him to move along before he gets hurt, as people glare at him angrily.

She's down to her last half a million in cash. Uh, yeah, she's really hurting. And she also has several assets she could get rid of and still live quite comfortably...or is it just easier for her to keep all her goodies and *itch about a "disease" to milk more sympathy (undeserved this time) from the public?

This woman owns a ton of JUNK, including that now-garish house. She developed a spending problem. I think it's time to develop a SELLING problem.

Later,
bbeck

A $5 million award, and now she has nothing? Why do I suspect Don King's involvement here . . .

I knew Dan, and this is a sad story. She needs help. The whole family does.

Please be careful about knocking someone in these circumstances. I'm not choosy about funny material, they're fair game, but let's cut them some slack from the haters.

According to the article, just over 2 milion came from the charitable award, and 3 million came from her own friends and family.

This is a bullshit screen that she is using to cover herself from her family's anger.

"I give you a million of my own money to get you through the hard time and you did WHAT with it??"

As they used to say: some people can die of thirst in a flood.
(Actually, flood water contains so much contagen of all types you can't drink it, but it sounds good).

She needs help.

She already got help once and look at what she did. It's not being "hateful" to expect her to take some responsibility for her actions, especially now that she seems to recognize she's overdone it.

I'm certain there was a lot of spending that 9-11 families engaged in. Depressed or not, most people would succumb to the temptation to buy things they've always wanted and could suddenly afford. A problem arises, however, when someone spends all of their money and then tries to blame it on a disease stemming from their depression...when it's far more likely the blame lies in the Grasshopper Effect of failing to plan for the future.

But let's give her a break and say this woman DOES have a disease. The money she got from the government was designed to compensate for her husband's income so she'd never have to work. Well, she's STILL got a lot of that money, it's just tied up in assets. If she sold her stuff and moved to a cheaper place, she could still have a great home and not have to work. So, why doesn't she do that? She may not want to move out of the home she lived with her husband in -- although she didn't have a problem with completely remodeling it -- and while that's sentimental and all, moving is just a consequence of her disease, because having a disease DOES have a down side. In other words, any help shouldn't come in the form of more money and sympathy, but rather in teaching her to properly deal with what she has left.

Later,
bbeck

Spongeworthy:

Than someone close to the family needs to step in and manage her finances until she can do it herself - if that day ever comes. They also need to impart to her that going public with this is unbecoming to say the least and has a negative effect on charitable giving.

There was so much good she could have done with that money for herself, her family and for others. Unfortunately, she blew the opportunity.

Make that: Then somebody

You both have a point here. I would point out that the family wasn't starving to begin with and they had some acquaintance with excess cash. Spending is hardly new to these poeple, just this caliber of spending.

I don't know the widow or the kids at all, but I am quite familiar with the repercussions of this particular type of loss. You don't want to underestimate how guilty you can feel about being paid for losing someone in such a horrible way. I suspect a deep desire to get rid of the dough is behind this, and it's too buried to stand up and yell, "So give it to some homeless dudes!"

Anyway, criticizng them is one thing, but I hate to see otherwise nice people pilloried for freaking out like this. Now if it were funny, that's another story.

Fair enough, Sponge. You're just a nicer person than I am. :) And I am sorry if Dan was a friend of yours. We'll all be feeling 9-11 for years to come, some more than others.

It will be interesting to see if this woman gets her act together. I hope so for her family's sake.

I'm just glad there was money put aside for the children, so they won't end up with nothing due to the mother's excesses.

Later,
bbeck

True 'dat.

I see that she now wants to start a hair removal business. Maybe Ace can recommend it to Mr Combover!

Now I'm really glad I only donate to animal charities! My mom lost her first husband when she had my older brothers 8 and 6 months old and she only got social security which she saved for their education and savings accounts. She was poor but sounds like she was much classier than this greedy woman.