FUN WITH BENNETT!

The LA Times gets somewhat goofy will William "Dice" Bennett and the $8 million he's lost over the years gambling. They suggest some alternate ways to spend that money:

Wagered on Funny Cide in the Kentucky Derby and won $110,400,000.

Bought 2.3 million boxes of Thin Mints cookies from the Girl Scouts.

Picked up the tab for Bill and Hillary Clinton's remaining legal fees (just to show there are no hard feelings) and still had $6.25 million to cover therapy for Chelsea.

Bought tickets to Disneyland for 216,000 children ages 3-9.

Sponsored 25,640 impoverished children for a year (providing clean water, schooling, food and health care) through World Vision.

Erased the L.A. Archdiocese's $4.3-million budget shortfall and the Diocese of Orange's $2 million in cutbacks and still had $1.7 million in pocket change.

Paid the Bicycle Casino's tax bill to the city of Bell Gardens for one year.

Paid Dodger pitcher Andy Ashby's salary for the 2003 season (probably not a wise investment).

Distributed 266,667 free copies of "The Book of Virtues" at full retail value (or 380,952 copies at Amazon.com's discount price)

Of course, other things come to mind...

He could furnish his entire organization with eight hundred thousand Pope John Paul II plates.

He could pay for eight George W Bush photo-op trips to the USS Lincoln!

The possibilities are endless...