Comments on: “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny.”

By: MadFed

MadFed — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:20:23 +0000

Hmmm. I guess I was too busy making the bureaucratic machine turn more slowly. Does it bother you if I write 10$ 14% of the time and $10 %18 of the time and then I write 10.00 0.33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333 of the time or ten bucks a quarter of the time? I guess I did not realise that I would be taken to task for putting the percent sign in the wrong place. It’s fine, apparently the government can’t fire me for not consulting my style manual.

By: american analog threat

american analog threat — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:48:23 +0000

[...] i like the idea of an junior-high-elective-style employment program. dance? restaurant management? government? you [...]

By: gRant

gRant — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:28:49 +0000

ndenunz, thank you.
Very disappointing for my high school english teachers who did manage to impart the great sources of literary allusions (Shakespeare, Milton, and the KJV of the Bible as I recall).

Shame I can’t properly distinguish amongst them.

By: hamburke

hamburke — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:34:36 +0000

I worked for the federal government (EPA) as a contractor (lab-rat) and there were days I wished that certain people would just not show up! They didn’t know how to do their jobs anyway (seriously, if you’ve been working in the same lab for 28 years, learn how to use the DOS -based database – I did and I was only there for a year – and stick your used glassware in the bin labeled “dirty glassware” so I don’t have to guess when I retrieve it from your lab every morning) so it would actually have saved me time.

By: Canthz_B

Canthz_B — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:24:36 +0000

Yeah, but from whom did he lift the line?

Oddly enough, the first person to say “There’s nothing new under the Sun” was telling a lie!

By: ndenunz

ndenunz — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:51:56 +0000

gRant,

It was Solomon in Ecclesiates.

By: Walter Findlay

Walter Findlay — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:38:18 +0000

“Joan of Arc, with the Lord to guide her,
she was a sister who really cooked.”

Since they burned her at the stake (steak!) this verse seemed a bit perverse.

By: gRant

gRant — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:49:27 +0000

amy d: Wasn’t it Billy Shakespeare who said “there’s nothing new under the sun?” I would be very surprised if Wade was the first person to make that particular joke.

Also, no mens rea.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:01:58 +0000

See #39.

By: WorkerBee

WorkerBee — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:51:57 +0000

I kept reading the title as “when the people fear their government, there is tranny.” Makes it much more interesting…and confusing.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:10:33 +0000

Don’t mess with accountants. We’ll shove your hand into an adding machine.

By: Milton

Milton — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:40:20 +0000

if they take my stapler then I’ll set the building on fire.

By: Sheepish

Sheepish — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:39:14 +0000

i’ve thought the same thing since i left.
why would anyone in their right mind stay that long?
oh, well maybe that explains it.
also, i don’t like change.

By: Maryland Rubbernecker

Maryland Rubbernecker — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:37:42 +0000

I find this very amusing because, nobody ever, ever gets fired in federal government. They just get passed on to the next office. It takes months and month to get rid of a bad employee because there’s so much paperwork.