Bits and pieces

47 % of USians don't pay taxes at all. How many of them are in the anti-government movement?
(yes I cited a fox news article, but everyone has reported it)
See also a fun article: 5 myths about taxes
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=901335
noting 1) the average overall tax rate is 18%, with people over 1 mil taxed at about 27% on average, 2) the US is not overtaxed compared to a view of other countries, 3) higher taxes can eliminate the deficit (I don't buy this one at all), 4) taxes are simple for most, 5) refunds are bad!

Stupak retiring and good riddance

I can't wait to sell my RIMM-job (blackberry) stock. I just got a new bb at work (same # if you have it, and now I'm doing and allowing text msgs until I'm told otherwise) and it uses a special proprietary power/link cord so you can't just plug it into a usb like every other phone made today. The connection is like a USB, but skinnier and incompatible with standard USB plugs. They are trying to keep their diminishing market share by making themselves incompatible with mainstream technology!? I hope I salvage 75% of my principal on this - I'm no pop-tech-fad or IT expert, but I know a raging assholish bad idea when I see one. I'm going to sell as soon as I hit the 1-year mark on this garbage.

VA's McDonnell declares hooray for the civil war, makes minor omission of that silly little slavery thing. The AG removes anti-gay-disc, now the Gov "forgets" slavery while honoring the civil war while tea party death threats and militia/terrorist assaults by rednecks ravage the country. Are low taxes worth it? Is crime in DC really that high?

I'm sore from the gym 2 day later - that abs work is going to be tough to get going again, but well worth it. Ow. Yay. Ow. Yay.

Janna sent me pixels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFpcTGJwvZ0

How to gets a gummint job

I'm cutting and pasting from an email exchange about "How to get a Fed job" since this has come up a lot lately. I'm in favor of people I don't hate getting Fed jobs.

KSAs suck! They also require that you speak the secret code:
> Describe a problem you encountered
> Tell what you did to solve the problem
> Give the measurable results of your solution.

This sucks balls because if you haven't done the exact job before, you are often cut as "unqualified" and many top applicants have answers like "I have the education and experience to perform this task, but have not done so in the past." This may be why we keep promoting illiterate secretaries and can't keep degreed people in da gummint.

Some links:
http://www.ourpublicservice.org/OPS/programs/calltoserve/toolkit/KSAs.pdf

NPS training doc - (start around page 11 with samples)

If you're frustrated by not making it through the process, I think you may suffer from be looking at it the wrong way. We just interviewed 2 people for a job, but one of them was already doing the job and a shoe-in. The poor other person wasted their time reporting for this dance, and who knows how many others applied - when the decision was made before the job was posted. We're required "to be fair" by posting all jobs. It's moronic. If any of them feels bad about not getting the job, it's only because they didn't know (nor could they find out) what the playing field was. A JD PhD with 30 years experience was not going to get the job over the girl that already sat in the chair as an administrative person for 20 years - it wasn't even a question. Anyone upset over that fact was misplacing their frustration or inappropriately attributing their frustration to some nonexistent flaw in themselves or their experience. That's just silly.

When you apply for a fed job, don't. Don't apply for "A" as in ONE, or THAT fed job. You apply with a shotgun into a flock approach - you fire cheap easy rounds with a low chance per bird of a hit, and hope to hell you hit something. Looking for a fed job isn't like picking out a ripe target and aiming your sights on a well-reasoned shot with an expensive round loaded into the chamber manually, you find a simple way to go full auto and blast away at distant and fuzzy targets that you'll almost certainly miss like a drunken redneck.

Guns. Ammo. Targets. Alcohol. Federal jobs. Deer crossing signs. Shakespeare. It all comes together.

If you get wedded to a job or don't apply to ones you're not terribly qualified for you just reduce your chances of getting any job, and increase your frustration at not getting each one you really like. You have to try often, make it easy to try, and not care if the inconsiderate birds fail to recognize which of your bullets are best suited to penetrate their internal organs.

I feel like I'm describing how to be a club whore. For the record, the gross analogies and tactical advice all work for both environments - only it's morally bankrupt to scatter shot exchanging disease risks for hours of pleasure, while whoring for cash is USian and even church approved.

I'm going to get fired for talking like this. Hope it helps!

(no subject)

The big case settlement was just posted in public so I can talk about it. The Union sued us nationwide for time spent donning and doffing required gear, plus walk time, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. For 8 months I met with Agency officials, researched case law, and analyzed case facts.

The Union started off pursuing a remedy of over $200 million. On March 10, 2010, I worked with another litigator and an OGC attorney to negotiate final settlement for $22 million for past liability, and create a process to move forward.

I will probably never work on a case as important as that again in my life.

I was offered a chance to put my name down as a signatory, and nearly did, because the amount was 22 million and my name would be beside it. I chose not to because the amount was 22 million and my name would be beside it.