Posted on 10/02/2013 9:16:14 AM PDT by Night Hides Not
I am a federal bureaucrat. A professional government employee. And guess what? I’m damn proud of it.
It seems that all I hear these days are the once and future leaders of our country tripping over themselves to denigrate the work we do. I’m tired of it, and I’m fed up. I don’t claim to represent anyone other than myself, but I would bet that a fair number of federal employees feel as I do.
We are lawyers, doctors, PhD students, economists, writers, electricians, construction workers, security officers and technology specialists. We are not a drain on the national economy; rather, we are a primary reason why the United States remains as great as it is.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When I worked civil service, I tried to act as an honest broker, to assure that the government got the product it asked for. That required a lot of detailed tests of the product, and review of all the data collected. With a contractor of questionable skills, that was a great deal of work, and resulted in adverse reports causing at least one project to be canceled.
When I worked with a competent and occasionally brilliant contractor the work involved was just as detailed, and the documentation required was just as massive, but less satisfying.
Eventually I went to work for a contractor. I was able to select one that was competent and occasionally brilliant.
Whatever! I don’t care dude. Do you care about me?
Good... I know that there are some fine people working in government and some of the absolute worst of humanity as well.
“We do our jobs to take home several checks, so we can own a beach house, a mountain house, and our house in town. We also use our special status in a down economy to use our taxpayer supplied money to take over hurting private businesses, and we act like we deserve our position.” WE are you— honest.... surely. Our shirts are brown.
OK, I will— just as soon as I tell the Dept. of Interior cops who removed employees from the property where they work for a private foundation supported farm park in VA-— BECAUSE the park sits on federal land. It happened yesterday in VA:
News blog, with comments from the Farm’s director:
” National Park Officials closed down the educational Claude Moore Colonial Farm near the CIA in McLean, Va., even though the federal government doesn’t fund or staff the park popular with children and schools. Just because the privately-operated park is on Park Service land, making the federal government simply its landlord, the agency decided to close it.
A Claude Moore Colonial Farm official said that the privately-funded staff is on the job Wednesday, but barred from letting anybody visit the historically accurate buildings or animals. Anna Eberly, the managing director, sent out an email decrying the decision and rude National Park Service staff handling the closure.
Pointing to Park Service claims that parks have to be closed because the agency can’t afford staff during the government closure, Eberly wrote: “What utter crap. We have operated the Farm successfully for 32 years after the NPS cut the Farm from its budget in 1980 and are fully staffed and prepared to open today. But there are barricades at the Pavilions and entrance to the Farm. And if you were to park on the grass and visit on your own, you run the risk of being arrested. Of course, that will cost the NPS staff salaries to police the Farm against intruders while leaving it open will cost them nothing.”
She added: “In all the years I have worked with the National Park Service, first as a volunteer for six years in Richmond where I grew up, then as an NPS employee at the for eight very long years and now enjoyably as managing director for the last 32 years — I have never worked with a more arrogant, arbitrary and vindictive group representing the NPS. I deeply apologize that we have to disappoint you today by being closed but know that we are working while the National Park Service is not — as usual.”
OK, so when are fed agents going to arrest a hunter on federal lands-— cause they are “shutdown”.... what a joke!!
Considering the amounts of abuse being heaped upon them at just about every turn, I’m not surprised.
Who but a masochist would enjoin in any conversation with supposed brother and sister FReepers only to be castigated and scorned simply because they work for the gov’t.?
Deplorable and inexcusable behavior and some of the comments are unjustly excoriating of these folks.
I take it you’re a guvmint employee.
I also take it you missed the main point of the article that started this thread, and the main point of the responses......
The private sector could do the work for a lot cheaper and the dead wood percentage would be low.
Washington Sees Incomes Soar as Most of U.S. Declines
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3069096/posts
Nearly Three-Quarters of Jobs Created Since June Are in Government
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2967002/posts
And FTR, FR is a political message board and consolidator news site. I was not aware that it was some sort of “brotherhood” or “sisterhood.” I missed the meetings and the secret handshake I guess......
LOL - I just made two trips to the area the last two weeks, and I was telling people all I saw were 3000 dollar suits, 500 dollar shoes and 150 thousand dollar cars!! Great minds.....(and I assure you there are few 1000 dollar suits.....not up there.....they're 2-3-4-5 K easy).
I did a lot of work as a sub-contractor on government projects or the Navy, Army, Air Force, GSA, NSF and many I forgot.
On my first project, I bid it just like I would for a private company and lost my ass. The contracting officer was quite arbitrary and waived fire code and generally accepted practices. I had to modify my drawings and add quite a few disclaimers. That was the GSA. I found the Navy work more satisfying though the preliminary designs they furnished were totally impractical and unrealistic. Nonetheless, it took time to show them why and have them agree to revisions.
The bottom line was I estimated my fee the same as for private industry and doubled it to make sure I didn’t lose money on the projects. I was still “competitive.”
Your anger is misplaced. If you thought that you are immune from the Clown, welcome to the real world. The private sector that pays you has been cutting back to the bone. The gov’t spending goes up. CUT the gov’t like everyone else has cut. The taxpayers are not SLAVES.
Of all the self-serving, self-aggrandizing, self-stroking feel-good claptrap I’ve read, this could serve as a model. No surprise that it comes from the comPost. It and the NYCrimes are thumping the tub heavily to protect obama on this one.
Fortunately, it looks like they’re losing.
I've been scorned moreso by liberal alumni that I joust with. They were aghast and apoplectic when I mentioned that I worked in the federal government.
My simple response scuttled their diatribes:
1. As a conservative, I understand there are legitimate functions of government.
2. Isn't it better to hire an experienced professional to oversee troubled banks and contractors, rather than an unqualified individual fresh out of college? I've had two contractors resign "from convenience", because my team held them to the terms of the contract.
Besides, I've been called every name in the book by now, so I just do my job.
Not me...I love wearing my Atlas Shrugged themed polo shirts to work several times a week. It's funny, 95% don't have a clue what "Akston's Diner" represents.
A few months ago, I was asked about one by the highest ranking person on our floor. When I told her, she exclaimed, "Oh, I've been wanting to read that book for a long time!" lol
I’d suggest that this self-absorbed whiner quit his federal job and take one of those high-paying private sector positions he claims he is forgoing to serve his nation.
Unfortunately for him, he KNOWS that a private sector job for which he would be hired that pays what the Foreign Service is paying him does not exist—or the whiner would have taken it already.
By the way, his Iraq “war zone” service was most likely served in the cushy, and safe, Green Zone.
As my Dad (RIP) used to say:
nothing’s too good for the taxpayers
Well yes, but the DC culture also includes the residue of an out of control government....too many crony capitalists and lobbyists and over paid staffers and consltants, all because a 30K a year talent in the real world can be worth several hundred thousand dollars a year in DC because there is just too damned much power and money to go around in DC....and it’s all being sucked - one way or the other - out of the private sector across the country.
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