At the end of each work day, I ask myself if I feel I earned my pay in what I did for the company that day. Fortunately, being in a low paid position has it's advantages as my goals are somewhat reduced from those of your average fry flipper in a paper hat. Even with this self imposed benchmark, I find some projects delayed well past my personal point of comfort. In the world of private business, that is very bad. In the world of government, I hope for this to be a frequent occurrence.
I am one for whom the idea of governmental gridlock is a good thing. The less done by these slaves to the power of the ballot box the better off we all are. This goes for the federal, state and local levels of public service.
It is therefore somewhat unsettling for me to complain about a situation of possible governmental delay. Next week the voters (and quite possibly a few illegal aliens) of the state of Massachusetts will head to the polls to decide on an elected replacement to fill the senatorial seat vacated when Ted Kennedy joined Mary Jo Kopechne for that final car ride in the sky. The polls are showing a very close race and it is quite possible a Republican could win the seat. If that happens, the Democrats super majority of 60 votes will disappear quicker than a reality show about the Jackson family sans Michael.
Should Republican Scott Brown win the seat, MA Secretary of State William Galvin has the ability to wait 10 days for absentee ballots to arrive and another five to then file the paperwork. He could probably schedule a few days vacation but that might be pushing the envelope a bit too far. This delay would enable the interim seat holder, Paul Kirk, Jr, to vote yeah on the healthcare bill and make sure he has two weeks notice to give on his apartment in DC.
This normal and legal waiting period would not give me pause were it not for the fact Galvin bypassed these same rules way back in 2007 to seat a fellow Democrat in the House who joined in overriding a veto by then President and still hated George W Bush.
As it typical in government, politics overrides doing what is right. Or even doing what is consistent. At the end of the day I hope Mr Galvin asks himself if he earned his civil servant's six figure paycheck. Or if he earned only the respect of pundits while sacrificing ethics.
S2
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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3 comments:
Agreed.
Off topic:
When I enter "No mato mi pavo" into the "Translate" box at www.spanishdict.com/translation, I get back "Do not kill my turkey."
When I enter "I killed my turkey," and translate in the other direction, I get "Yo maté a mi pavo."
In the words of Fawlty Towers' unforgettable Manuel, "Que?"
Sorry, I'm probably being unforgivably pedantic here.
CB.
Cracker, my most loyal commenter, allow me to assuage some angst. The title of this blog comes from a colloquialism of the Yucatan region of Mexico which is "mato mi pavo" (I killed my turkey). An extremely well spoken resident of Merida assured me that No mato mi pavo would, albeit loosely, translate to I didn't kill my turkey.
Most online translations provide quite literal phrases. Just as we often drop words from proper sentence structure when we speak, so to do the Mexican.
Your pedanticalness (spell check be damned, that is a word) is most welcome. As are all your comments.
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