Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Honest Guys Were Holding Out for Tickets to the College Softball World Series

In the wake of the BP oil spill, more people are paying attention to the ongoing scandal at the Materials Management Service (MMS), the branch of the Department of the Interior responsible for handing out oil drilling permits and collecting leasing fees.

It may not surprise you to learn that for about the last 10 years, everyone and everything including office supplies at the MMS has been for sale to the highest bidders among the world's energy industry companies. Today, we learn the winning bids for the souls of these dedicated public servants didn't even to be all that high.

According to the blog Talking Points Memo, government inspectors found that one MMS employee accepted the following bribe: tickets to the Peach Bowl.

The Peach Bowl? First off, it's not called that anymore. It's the Chick-fil-A Bowl now. Second, and more importantly, what the hell kind of miserable cheap bribe is that. Tickets go for less than face value outside the Georgia Dome on game night. Nobody watches the damn game on television if they can help it. Has our beloved country fallen so far that our grafters lack the imagination to steal big, or in this case medium?

The story said the bribee took the tickets because he was a huge LSU fan. The huge LSU fans I know want the coach to be fired if a season ends with a Chick-fil-A Bowl berth.

Every man has his price, but for the sake of self-respect, that price should never fall below a seat at a BCS game.

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