Bush Commerce Department General is Gambling Too?

Picture courtesy of Bally's Atlantic City

Is it bad enough that the President is overseas gambling with America’s future and throwing the political dice of what he thinks our nation is all about but then again back at home he has many other folks rolling the dice as well? Toss the dice and see what the latest Bush administration scandal is and you cant make this stuff up!


Suffice to say that the good old boy network in Washington D.C. is still up to its old games. There seems to be a non stop mentality that anyone in the service to the people in the United States Government can do no wrong even if it breaks all the rules you learned in first grade, second grade, and all the way up the ladder of your public education. Doing something wrong is no longer questioned by anyone in the Bush administration because they are learning from the best at it.


Take a few of your closest buds and subordinates for an all expense paid junket to Atlantic City to attend a conference (winky, wink). There is some really serious government business in the city of slots and gambling institutions. Seminars with one armed bandits to discuss military commerce and how to expand the ventures of American business owners in the ways of … umm separating the government employees on the clock from their money.


Somebody has to defend the slot playing politicos and defend the rights of subordinates to loan cash to their boss when he runs out when it comes time to hitting the old slot machines… umm I mean when his expense account runs low for the lectures.


If you ever thought that the Republican run government has hit the very bottom of the barrel then this article from the Washington Post says it all…


Commerce Dept. Inspector General's Casino Trip Probed
Lawmaker Claims It Was on Federal Time
By John SolomonWashington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 9, 2007

Commerce Department Inspector General Johnnie E. Frazier, whose retirement was announced Thursday, took five subordinates attending a government conference last spring gambling with him in Atlantic City on federal time, a lawmaker alleged yesterday.


When Frazier returned to the conference in Philadelphia, he asked subordinates if he could borrow $100 and one assistant obliged, according to a congressional committee and an eyewitness.

Frazier retired while several congressional and executive branch investigations of his activities are pending. A report by the Office of Special Counsel last month recommended that President Bush punish him for violating the federal whistle-blower law by demoting two witnesses involved in the investigations.


(Snippet-a-roo)


The committee's staff also has interviewed an assistant in Frazier's office who gave her boss $100 after he asked subordinates if he could borrow money. An eyewitness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about reprisal, said Frazier asked subordinates for money the morning after returning from the gambling jaunt. One obliged, the witness said.


The House panel also is investigating whether Frazier and others altered or deleted government records after the investigations began. One manager has told the committee he helped Frazier delete approximately 4,000 e-mails from his government account last October, the committee said.


"Mr. Frazier's decision to resign was a wise one," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. "This investigation, however, is far from over." - Washington Post


Where does serving your nation in our government go from performing a task that is to find corruption within commerce become being corrupt yourself? I tend to think that it is a learned acceptance of government and we as the taxpayers are at the mercy of a check book that will never have a zero balance.


Corruption in our government is popping up everywhere and investigations are one thing but changing the ideology of what public service is all about will be a long road to travel. For the average person the word politician or public servant is now a very dirty word synonymous with a common street walker in the so called red light district. If a dollar is to be made then the risk of being caught is worth the chance of pulling the one armed bandit of public service.


What bothers me about this story in the Washington Post is that the Whistle Blowers that broke this latest scandal of the Bush administration are considered bastards amongst members of prominent public servants. In place of praise, they were demoted for serving the people. This gives the old saying “You can’t fight City Hall” a whole new meaning.


The United States Government payroll is the largest employer in the nation or a close second. Our nation supposedly encourages “Whistle Blowers” in one breath and yet time and time again in the next breath the people blowing that same whistle become the story and the ones to blame.


This leads me to believe that our nation is ruled by the select few for the purpose of serving just the select few and if you cross them then you will be subject to scorn and ridicule. Any skeletons in your closet become your excuse for ratting out corruption at any level and you become the bait and switch target. That is not right and it never should be acceptable to anyone if you call yourself an American.


If City Hall is asking you to loan them a hundred bucks due to a personal gambling problem and if you point it out as a “Whistle Blower” then I as an American appreciate your service to your nation. That it is not wrong.


Asking for the cash loan from subordinates is wrong! Taking your employees on a gambling adventure on government time is wrong no matter how you spin it.


Papamoka

Cross posted at Bring It On!

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