Am I making something of nothing or is this outrageous?
Don Quixote on Apr 07 2011 at 8:18 am | Filed under: Government
DQ here. My wife works for the government. She received an e-mail today from the Dan Tangherlini, Assistant Secretary for Management, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Performance Officer, U.S. Department of the Treasury. The message related to the possible shut down of the government and it began with the following paragraph:
Throughout the discussions about funding for the rest of the fiscal year, the President has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the Administration is willing and ready to work day and night to find a solution with which all sides can agree.
The statement has nothing to do with the shutdown itself or what will happen if there is a shutdown. It is a purely political and completely partisan statement. Obama is working day and night and it’s those terrible Republicans who are inflicting this terror upon you. So, am I making something out of nothing or is this a thoroughgoing abuse of what should be a non-partisan office?
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17 Responses to “Am I making something of nothing or is this outrageous?”
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I come down heavily on the through-going abuse side.
“The President has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the Administration is willing and ready to work day and night to find a solution with which all sides can agree.”
As long as you don’t call the President at 3:00 AM.
Or when he’s filling out his bracket.
Once you realize NBOTUS sees only one side he will consider, it’s a very truthful and unobtrusive statement.
It’s a political statement in toto and is, though not leaglly, an abuse of office. BTW, only about 800,000 government workers would be part of a shutdown and they will be paid that ‘lost’ money later just as always happens.
What do you make o that message? Toilet paper.
I doubt you’d get a conviction but that is very close to a violation. Just a wink and a nod away.
Is your wife with Treasury or did this guy send outside his department? Such a statement should have come from the White House, and been worded less partisan.
“the Administration is willing and ready to work day and night”
Is Dan willing to back that statement up with dates and times?
Good question, DQ. I’ll assume that your wife works for the federal government.
Despite its partisan political bent, could this be looked upon as simply a “keeping staff informed” memo? And, I am not a lawyer (hey, who here is?), but since the memo does not ask or require the staff to do anything then my guess is that no laws have been broken.
But, that doesn’t make that statement any less obnoxious or abusive.
I would not overreact. Elections have consequences and the winning side gets to write the memos.
The vehicle is there and anyone who can take advantage of it, will. That’s human nature. And any individual protesting this in the workplace where it appears sticks his or her neck WAY out, so consequently probably won’t. This is just politics as usual. The politicizers get to do it, and the people who would dispute it probably stay silent–but these days we have other ways of raising our voices and pointing out the injustices and broken rules–on the internet, as you are doing. Accountability is increasing. Thanks for point it out.
Zhombre and Zabrina, you are right. It just irritates me when people take advantage of political positions in improper ways. Don’t get me started on the “newsletters” I get from my Congressperson – purest political ads, printed and sent at taxpayer expense.
The Deputy Secretary of Defense is saying something similar here:
The department remains hopeful that a government shutdown will be averted. The President has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the administration is working to find a solution with which all sides can agree.
This isn’t true, and the fact that President Obama refuses to make sure military folks are paid during a shutdown proves that he’s not serious. And the fact that he’s got yet another vacation planned for this weekend calls into question that “working to find a solution”.
Grrrrr. That first paragraph in my comment above was a quote from the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Obama’s an idiot. The drooling village idiot has been missing for awhile now. Time to send him back from whence he came.
Of course, college professors, Kerry, anybody that got up the ladder via affirmative action, I also consider idiots. If only because that is their actual processing level. No matter what their IQ says on paper, in reality, they are idiots, pure and true.
I’ve noticed “slow” people that were so either because they were by nature cautious, lacked experience to make it look easy, or simply just didn’t get the right idea of how to go about things unless told by a wiser hand. Those are “slow” people, for whatever reasons. But they aren’t idiots. No, it takes something A LOT MORE, for you to qualify as an idiot.
[...] Room‘s Don Quixote (which I’m guessing is not his given name) wonders, “Am I making something of nothing [...]