Because Democracy is Not Free — we all have to work at it
The scent of rising dough permeates the air in our house this morning. My son will be delighted by fresh pretzels, a treat normally reserved for the evenings and only after hours of begging. For me, cooking has always been a sign of emotional health. When I’m feeling happy, I cook. It makes me feel happier, and [...]
In Part II of the “Ignorance is Bliss” series, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demonstrates how to ignore bad news by simply refusing to accept delivery — of an internal e-mail. According to a synopsis by ProPublica: On June 25th, senior EPA officials revealed that the White House had refused to open a December e-mail [...]
In part I of “Ignorance is Bliss” series, the Army demonstrates how to arbitrarily utilize its own policies. August 2006, decorated Sergeant Darren Manzella tells the Army, “I’m gay.” Three weeks later, despite Manzella’s own admission, his battalion commander told him an investigation had been closed without “finding proof of homosexuality.” (i.e., If the Army wanted [...]
I’m heartbroken. I had hoped that Judge Samuel Conti would have told this administration that it couldn’t leave our veterans out on the street, that it couldn’t lie about the severity of PTSD, and that the mission of the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) should remain intact: money allocated by Congress for the mission of serving veterans should [...]
The leading paragraph to today’s article in the Chicago Tribune reads: Managers at an FAA radar facility handling flights into and out of Chicago’s airports are under investigation over allegations they covered up air-traffic control errors, authorities said Wednesday. I rubbed my eyes — twice — the first word was still there. After rereading the [...]
I’ve been accused of being a wet blanket. I tell you stories about hapless whistleblowers subjected to dognappings and locked in their offices. I told you the story about the federal worker who got fired over a widely-distributed (and gossiped about) piece of doodoo. So today, I’m going to give you good news. Here it is: The [...]
Eureka, I found it! I feel so relieved. It has been a while since I’ve had a great humorous story to convey. While I was inputting the 2nd quarter FY 2008 MSPB statistics, there it was — the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) doodoo story. Within this dehumanizing culture of federal service, GS status and [...]
Released today: Here’s a link to the Office of Inspector General’s latest special report, “An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring in the Department of Justice Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program.” Writes AP, “A new audit concludes that rookie attorneys with Republican roots got interviewed for plum Justice Department jobs while their liberal-leaning [...]
“To be an FAA whistle-blower is to be an outcast,” writes NPR in its article, The Perilous Path of FAA Whistleblowers. It’s a story whistleblowers know all too well. NPR highlights some of the 32 heartbreaking tales of woe, including that of Peter Nesbitt, whose related story I recounted in “Confiscate Fido.” Writes NPR of his [...]
Answer: When they’re General Attorneys. Take a look at the Federal Employee Database. Nearly all of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Administrative Judges are GS-14 General Attorneys. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Administrative Judges are GS-14 or GS-15 General Attorneys. Compare that with DOL Counsel Andrew Schultz, who is also a GS-14 General [...]