Our tax dollars hard at work

One of the things I am learning about life in the DC region is that there a lot of people who think they are verrrry important here.

Case in point: Michael Chertoff compiled a book of his most memorable speeches to give to select employees of the Department of Homeland Security as a goodbye gift. Read more about it here.

Glad to see that 11K went to good use. Yup, 11 THOUSAND dollars. I'm sure most civil servants want to do nothing else but spend their free time re-reading old speeches from their boss.

And I'm sure that there wasn't any other way to spend those funds. Nope, I can't think of any after-school programs, or domestic violence shelters or even a neighborhood watch program that could use a few thousand dollars. Good thing someone thought of publishing a book of OLD SPEECHES.

My last point...yes, there is a place for posterity. Washington, Lincoln, a few other old guys left us with memorable words to inspire and remind us of our great country. But I'll bet you a dollar to nothing that THEY didn't decide their words should be published, THEY didn't spend taxpayer money on such foolishness. If Chertoff thinks his speeches were that special, he's welcome to write a book and sell it for as much as the market will bear. But I'm thoroughly annoyed that he thought the taxpayers should foot that bill.

That is all. I'll get off my soapbox now.
Hmmph!