Re[2]: [at-l] State of the List

[bullard@northnet.org (James Bullard)]

At 10:08 PM 9/4/01 +0000, Jim and/or Ginny Owen wrote in response to Weary:
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>Second point - you're also the first in living memory on the list to 
>pigeonhole an argument or a comment as "right wing rhetoric".  Might not 
>have been quite so bad, but the remark ("I'm from the guvment and I'm here 
>to help you") was made in jest and you failed to understand that.  The 
>really pitiful part is that that remark is true - whether you like it or 
>not - and it has nothing to do with anyone's  particular or peculiar 
>political leaning.  Anyone who believes the government is their friend is 
>living in a dream world.

Ahem!  Jim Bullard of the NYS Dept of Labor here (AKA sAunTerer when 
wearing my hiker togs).  In this here country (government of the people, 
for the people, by the people) I am part of the government and not just 
because I work there.  You all are too.  Even those who chose not to 
vote.  It's just that those folks are laying down on the job.  And I *am* 
your friend and I will do whatever I can to help people on and off the job.

I know, I know.  There's lots of horror stories about terrible things "the 
government" has done ( afew have been done to me) and I've seen things go 
badly at work in my 27 years of service but I'm here to tell you that most 
times it works ("the good that men do is oft interred with them, 
etc.").  That doesn't even include the urban legends.  I know lots of other 
people who make up "the government" both in my agency and others, but I 
don't know one who isn't sincerely trying to do their job in a way that 
helps people.

I respect your knowledge of long distance hiking Jim but I part company 
with you when you paint me and a lot of sincere folks I also respect with a 
broad brush of negativity.  You chastise Weary for saying ideas are silly 
then you take a direct shot, not at ideas, and not just at Weary but 
straight at a whole group of people you don't even know.  That's not 
respectful at all.

sAunTerer