Sunday, May 20, 2012

And Nero fiddled

I wrote this during my internet "outage" and it is dated. I thought I'd share it anyway.
Well, I hate to say I told you so. This whole deal with the GSA and the Secret Service should be no surprise to my dear readers-aka the beleaguered tax payer. Who do you think pays for all this crap? Those of you who follow this blog know I have railed against government excess and its seeming not to care about its constituents.  Nancy Pelosi demanding a 757 for her own use for travel back and forth to California still irks me. She didn't want the plane supplied by the government because it had to make a fuel stop to make it to California. I can't make this stuff up, people! While the Secret Service incident is not a direct example of government excess-the resulting costs will be. By the way; have you ever seen the stories detailing the cost and effort to protect the president? They went off the deep end after Kennedy's assassination and dug a whole new pool after nine eleven. I would never try to minimize the importance of protecting our chief executive, but there has to be a limit. Even his motor-pool is a case study in excess. You do know the Air Force uses planes to haul all those vehicles wherever he goes? The GSA is whole other story. Talk about the rooster in the hen house-who do you think oversees government expenditures? Almost a million dollars was spent on a "team building" and motivational trip to Las Vegas. The director and his cronies made numerous trips to Vegas beforehand to "arrange" things, adding even more to the tab. Having served on Embassy Duty and worked hand in hand with our diplomats has put me in a unique position to comment on these things. I remember the State Department flying David Clayton Thomas and Blood, Sweat and Tears in for a concert. I'm not sure what message that was supposed to impart to the locals? For many in the government having money left in the budget at the end of a fiscal period is a time to panic. Fear of their allotment in the budget being cut drives them to spend every penny they have. It is not the system your Mom and Dad taught you. I do have to say that most of the people serving us that I have rubbed elbows with, seem to be hard working, caring individuals. However, people that know their employment is not subject to the vagaries of the economy do have a different perspective on things.

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