For several months now, Jim, or as he is more commonly known, Jay Tea of Wizbang fame has been helping me to secure some paperwork I need from the U.S.. I have sent Mr. Jim quite a few bucks via Paypal, and for a while he was trying his best to cut through the bureaucracy of the Costa Rican Consulate in the United States to help me. I always made sure Jim had MORE than enough money, and always asked him if he needed more. I wanted to make sure that he was not doing this for nothing, though most of what he was doing was a couple of phone calls and forwarding some paperwork and money orders for me. Of which I was willing to compensate him well.

Well, as some of you know, I have been traveling extensively the last couple of months, and could only keep in touch with Jay/Jim via Yahoo messenger and the occasional email. I frequently sent him additional funds, whether he asked for it or not, and was assured that he would take care of the paperwork for me. I even sent him my Birth Certificate.

I have been back in Costa Rica for a month now, and have sent Jay/Jim at least six emails, none have been responded to. Now since he and I have had what I considered to be something of a friendship over the last couple of years, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, assuming that either his spam filters were keeping out my emails, or that he was busy and could not answer right away. So I left him a message on Wizbang, where he is not so busy as to fail to post voraciously...

Today I sent Jim the following:

Jim: Did you just give up? Have a financial problem and need the money, or what Jim. I need to know one way or the other. I have not put anything on my Blogs about it because I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, but there is no way you could have missed the message I posted on Wizbang, so… Are you just a lying sack of shit thief, a person who needed a couple of bucks, or what. I mean for a person who always seemed to have the highest sense of personal ethics, I find it strange that you have not answered my emails. Have I not tried to make this worth your while…. How much money have I sent???

Which.... SURPRISE, also has not received a response. To be honest, I am dumbfounded... I would not agree with Jay Tea if he said iit was raining and I was soaking wet, but I at least respected him as an honest person, and one with some ethics and BALLS. I have not even seen him on Yahoo since he stopped answering my emails, something I would expect from some of the people I have encountered here who avoid conflict like the plague. It may also be a bit of pride...

So let me close by saying this... I know that it has been tough Jim, and if you needed the money, or even if you were just tired of the paper chase, I could understand that. But I thought you were a person with some personal HONOR. Ignoring my emails and stealing my money just about fucks up any credibility you have. Now I will be more than glad for you to prove me wrong. But at this point, it aint looking so good. I am sorry I had to make this public. As a man of scruples and honor, I would have preferred to handle this between the two of us, but obviously you did not give me the chance.

I am well aware that among the rabbid right, you will lose very little cridibility, and probably be congratulated by some of the more jaded among them for "ripping me off," but I can assure you, you LOST WAY MORE THAN I DID! The amount of money involved would not fund one of my weekend BBQ's or a night out with my team. And despite however it is justified, you come off as a cheap, cowardly thief, who did not even have the balls to answer an email or show your face on Yahoo. Not what I wanted or expected, because despite our political differences, I considered you a friend, and appreciated you very much.

I am equally sure that there are some people at Wizbang, or among their readership, that will be VERY disappointed. Oh and the STUPIDITY TAG, that is for me, I was the stupid one... But not at all the loser...

UPDATE: Jim has responded and apologized, and I understand and appreciate that he is engaged to help me.

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