Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Chicago, another is from Tennessee, and the third is from Minnesota. All three go with a White House official to examine the fence. The Minnesota contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900. $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me." The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700. $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me." The Chicago contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700." The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?" The Chicago contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence." "Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how the new stimulus plan will work.
NASA was interviewing professionals to be sent to Mars. Only one could go and couldn’t return to Earth.
The first applicant, an engineer, was asked how much he wanted to be paid for going. “A million dollars,” he answered, “because I want to donate it to M.I.T.”
The next applicant, a doctor, was asked the same question. He asked for $2 million. “I want to give a million to my family,” he explained, “and leave the other million for the advancement of medical research.”
The last applicant was a lawyer. When asked how much money he wanted, he whispered in the interviewer’s ear, “Three million dollars.”
“Why so much more than the others?” asked the interviewer.
The lawyer replied, “If you give me $3 million, I’ll give you $1 million, I’ll keep $1 million, and we’ll send the engineer to Mars.”
Since he was a Texan being tried in New York, the young man felt he didn’t have a prayer of beating his murder rap. So, shortly before the jury was to retire, he bribed one of the jurors to find him guilty of manslaughter, not murder.
The jury was out for days, after which they returned a verdict of manslaughter. Cornering the bribed juror, the Texas whispered.
“Thanks a million! However did you manage it?”
“It wasn’t easy, admitted the bribed juror, . . . “All the others wanted to acquit you.”
I think this is a really old joke:
A thriving baseball club is one of the features of a boy’s organization
connected with a prominent church. The team was recently challenged by a
rival club. The pastor gave a special contribution of five dollars to
the captain, with the direction that the money should be used to buy
bats, balls, gloves, or anything else that might help to win the game.
On the day of the game, the pastor was somewhat surprised to observe
nothing new in the club’s paraphernalia. He called the captain to him.
“I don’t see any new bats, or balls, or gloves,” he said.
“We haven’t anything like that,” the captain admitted.
“But I gave you five dollars to buy them,” the pastor exclaimed.
“Well, you see,” came the explanation, “you told us to spend it for
bats, or balls, or gloves, or anything that we thought might help to win
the game, so we gave it to the umpire.”