Funny :)

But, in this case, could we mount the fisherman on that plaque instead of the fish???

In Jackson’s original “story” (the first one) bad triumphs over good, a corrupt official punishes a qualified applicant and deprives the government of a needed service. If Jackson’s followup claim/”story” is true, and the point of his original “story” was to illustrate how government contracts are routinely awarded in DC, it is an even more damning indictment of the current government in DC. Instead of revealing an instance of unethical behavior on the part of one government official, it indicts all government officials as practicing unethical and punitive behavior with regard to awarding contracts and depriving the government of needed services by qualified applicants.

I would have thought it was when deaths occurred. But thousands of americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and yet we still laugh. Then an american city is lost, New Orleans, and people die and become forgotten and we laugh at the incompetence that allowed such.

The country is bankrupt (yes, the technical definition is debt beyond means or ability to repay), the ranks of the “poor” are increasing, our parents and grandparents are being abandoned and being left to decide between “food” and other luxuries such as utilities and medicine, and we continue to laugh.

We laugh at the president. We laugh with the president. We laugh at the hate-mongers and the “religious” elitists. We laugh at the racists and homophobes and we laugh at the exploitation of others. We laugh at starvation. We laugh at murder.

I challenge anyone to explain why all of this is so funny that our laughing at it makes it okay and acceptible. I would also like to know what the definitive point is that we need to reach when it all stops being funny and we become serious. Lastly, I would like the answer to the question of – “When did evil become amusing?”

I only say this because, the story Jackson told-or rather, HOW he told it-was so poorly constructed that it sounded like someone who was either making something up out of whole cloth, OR trying to embellish an existing story on-the-fly.

Either way, he’s an idiot. As has been pointed out, if he was telling the truth THEN, then be broke the law. If he’s telling the truth NOW, he was trying to intimidate people trying to do business with the government by implicitly saying “How much tax dollars you get depends on how much you stand by Dubya.” They are both reprehensible behaviours for a man in public office. The “explanation” is just as douchey as the story that came before it. There is no way-I repeat NO WAY-to put a nice face on this issue, and he should be forced to resign or be relived of his position. Hell, Bush should essentially fire him just so that, for a nice change of pace, he looks like he’s actually cracking down on improprieties within the Administration. Yeah I know, pipe dreams, but it makes sense to me…

Why on earth would a contractor bidding for a contract come out and say ‘I do not support your President’.

There is only one circumstance I can think of where that reply would come up in a sales call – IF THE CEO WAS ASKED FOR A CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION.

I certainly would never bring up politics with any customer unless I knew what their politics were in advance and that they were compatible.

The politics issue has to have come from Jackson.

That is why he is making this peculiar statement, what he is really doing here is repeating his internalized self-justification for demanding a bribe and being rebuffed.

They act as if you are being disloyal to the King of something. I know they think George is King, but his reign of division, mistrust and lies will be over soon. I personally liked this President until he started lying about everything. If he believes he is right, then he shouldn’t have to leak and lie.

As expected, he doesn’t fire this jerk for threatening to pull funds from anyone who doesn’t support this administration. Mr. Jackson needs to realize that federal taxes are paid by Democrats too and we have something to say about our money. After all as the President is fund of saying, ‘That money belong to the American People’ not politicians. I guess if I called Mr. Jackson and told him I worshipped the President, I could get a billion dollars in HUD Money.

-GSD