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A bit of news has come my way, and all I can say is: HELP!
The news is that Glenn Beck, the weepy wizard of talk show weirdness, has moved to Dallas, Texas. Come on – we Texans have enough of a burden having to be home base of such right-wing, corporate-hugging politicos as George W and our presidential wanna-be governor, Rick “Supercuts” Perry. Adding Beck is piling on!
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Actually, he didn’t move to Dallas. Instead, Beck (who claims to be the voice of the little man) has pitched his tent in Westlake, a little-known burg some 30 miles west and north of the vibrant city. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, but apparently it takes a gated and guarded enclave of ritzy multimillion-dollar mansions to satisfy Beck and others in the rich-and-famous crowd. That’s what Westlake is – a bastion of secluded and secured luxury for about 1,000 superrich people. It was recently named by Forbes magazine as the most affluent neighborhood in the country. For example, Beck’s little domicile in this ghetto of the privileged goes for more than $5 million, though it can be leased for a mere $20,000 a month.
And, since he has been dumped from Fox TV’s line-up of hard-right yakkers, Beck might only have a month-to-month passport for this wonderland of CEOs, sports stars, and the like. Indeed, some homes there are big enough to have their own zip codes, with red-tile roofs that cost more than Beck’s entire abode.
Westlake is marketed to moneyed elites as a place where they can “just lead normal lives.” Ah, yes – the normality of everyday multimillionaires, huddled inside walls. One resident says that “What’s nice about living here is the freedom.” But it’s an odd concept of “freedom” to lock yourself in a cage, albeit a gilded one. Especially if Glenn Beck is there with you!
“For state’s elite, there’s no place like Westlake,” Austin American Statesman, July 24, 2011.