The cup of indignation runneth over

A few party animals at the GSA and Secret Service have made life easier for late-night talk show hosts, commentators, and people and politicians who just don't ...

The GSA/Secret Service situations provided gallons of yuk-yuk juice for late-night hosts, for professionally irate commentators, and for people and politicians who just flat out don’t like the government.

Even the president took a couple of verbal shots at last Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner

So a good time is being had by all.

Or nearly all.

But there is probably nobody as angry at what happened in Colombia and Las Vegas as the majority of the folks who work for the Secret Service. Or the General Services Administration. Followed closely by people at the Pentagon, Interior, Justice and the National Institutes of Health. The vast majority of government workers are as stunned and angry as anybody around. They are taxpayers as well as public servants.

Shortly after the revelations were made, a poll showed that 62 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of government. I was one of the 300-million plus who weren’t asked, so I don’t know what they mean by government. Is it that your mailman is always late? Or that the IRS wants too much? Or that Congress spends too much time on vacation?

Anyhow, the poll prompted a lot of comments. Here are two of my favorites:

  • “I need to add something to a recent column: ’62 percent of Americans have unfavorable view of federal government’.

    It is not hard to figure out why this is the case. Politicians, including the White House, go out of their way to say things about the ‘Federal Worker.’ In comparison, the average fed out there, does NOT have the benefits that Congress has. The average American does not know this. They think all feds have the retirement, insurance, paid time off, etc., that Congress has.

    Then you have the GSA ‘party’ and the Secret Service debacle. Before I retired, all feds and military had to go through an annual security briefing. We had to sign a paper that we had attended it.

    Part of the brief was talking about meeting people in bars. Didn’t these Secret Service agents and military have to take this briefing? They should be fired for doing what they did. That is one of the oldest tricks in the book.

    I have never seen anything like what is happening today. Being a fed is not a right, it is a privilege. If you don’t want to play by the rules, get out. Retire, quit, or whatever.

    The majority of feds and the military take their job very seriously. They want to do what is right. We even had a DoD Civilian creed.

    And now, all want the federal worker to pay for mistakes Congress and the White House made/make. I wouldn’t be surprised if all feds leave the government.” — Richard T. Wagner

And last, but definitely not least, this comment:

  • “I work for the federal government and I have an unfavorable view of 62% of Americans.” — Goshkruse

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

By Jack Moore

The next secret ingredient in your tube of toothpaste could be … pig mucus. According to an article in ScienceDaily, the mucus lining the stomachs of pigs is an “abundant source” of a natural anti-viral agent. Researchers think the mucus could be added to baby formula, mouthwash and toothpaste to protect against viral infections.


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