The Week in Comments: Federal pay, the debt ceiling and, of course, bin Laden
The best in reader reaction to recent articles.
A roundup of some of the comments received this week in the GovExec.com Mailbag. All comments are presented in their original, unedited form.
On Pentagon performance management transition faulted
Who cares what the union thinks? They were never part of NSPS. Union, please mind your own business and quit making excuses.
Why did this cost over $238 million to move people out of NSPS and back to the GS system? What did it cost to move people to NSPS from GS?
To Jane Doe,
The movement of personnel in to NSPS was primarily administrative paperwrk costs which are rearely calculated. The movement out of NSPS was expensive due to pay setting rules under the GS system. If your salary falls between steps in a grade you get the higher step which can cost up to 4,000 dollars at the GS-15 level.
There hasn't been much news about the new performance management system DoD is trying to develop. The level of union involvement is also a mystery. I know when NSPS was being created the unions were not involved it was only after DoD was taken to court that the unions became seriously involved, and they were able to keep their memberships from the fiasco.
On U.S. forces kill Osama bin Laden
No body=no proof. Its like declaring the deficit solved because Obama found a penny on the Whitehouse driveway. Where is the "get real" moment here?
Bravo Zulu to the men and women of the intelligence community for great intelligence work and the men of the special forces command that took this threat out for good.
Fitting that May 1 is also the date that Hitler's death was comfirmed after he committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin in 1945. Now this date will also be known as the anniversary of the death of another maniac, Osama bin Laden.
On Step by step: How the U.S. killed bin Laden
Go Navy Seals! Go Navy! Go Pentagon! Go DoD! Go USA! PS: They need to replace those Blackhawk engines.
It is interesting to see how many morons use this historically important news as a springboard for their stupid political agendas.
Hopefully, in the months and years to come, the truth will come out by people WE CAN TRUST. Our highly trained SEAL Team Six will probably be "sworn to secrecy" by the hypocrites in "command". But EVENTUALLY our guys will go for the gold with TV, movie, book deals, lecture circuits, etc. I truly thank God that none of them were hurt in this long overdue assassination. It is a certainty that they will be denied the $27 Million "bounty" that had been posted on Bin Laden's head for almost a decade now - so they will deserve a pay day, even if a little later in their life, probably after service.
On President thanks intelligence employees, military for Bin Laden operation
Talk is cheap. Repeal the pay freeze, give us a make-whole payment and stop beating on federal employees.
Cut their pay! Now!
the headline should read "FEDERAL EMPLOYEES KILL OSAMA BIN LADEN"
On House GOP pondering strategic debt-ceiling vote without cuts
So it was too politically dangerous to shut the government down but it may not be too dangerous to ruin the nations international credit? We need to replace all of congress and start over.
Every man, woman and child (and there are many!) in congress agrees that that spending needs to be cut back to get the country on an even economic keel. Every RESPONSIBLE man and woman in congress also agrees that revenue needs to be increased for the same reason. And what do the repubs want to do about the problem? Instead of negotiating a solution with their co-workers like any normal person would do, their strategy appears to be to "bait" the democrats with a vote to be used against them in a political campaign. What a wonderful way to resolve a difference of opinion.
What I've seen of extending the Bush tax cuts is nothing more than giving corporations free reign to further concentrate their industry positions while hiring no one. Just look back over the past several months and see how many multi-billion dollar mergers have been announced. I ask this Congress where are the jobs that you all ran on. Where is the less Government - as you pass more intrusive laws giving access to my doctors office, and restricting my freedom of association.
On With bin Laden dead, should the war in Afghanistan die with him?
We invaded Afghanistan to kill or capture UBL. The mission has been accomplished. The only other reason for us to stay is to prop up the Karzai government. This provides a negative return on investment. We should begin withdrawal tomorrow and be completely disengaged no later than August 31, this year.
We should declare victory and start drawing our troops down. Time for the Afghan central government to standup and manage their own affairs.
"deadliest stretch of the war"... "on pace to set a grim new record". Rhetoric like that is the exact reason the American people are moving to extracting from the war zones before the job is done. This author would have lost their mind in the Viet Nam era. We lost as many people in a week as we have in 10 years in Afghanistan. Does that make it any better for those who have suffered loss? No. But this is nothing but pure sensationalism and my best guess is that this individual would be the first to criticize any administration that happened to be in power when the next terrorist attack happens on American soil. You think this is over?
We could stay another 10 years and be basically in the same situation we are in today. At $2B a week, YES please end this madness!
On White House gets down to cases on selling excess properties
The term "properties" is misleading when the everyday person will read "property" to mean land with or without buildings. In reality many of these "properties" are sheds or similar buildings on government installations which means they can't be sold. And, they have to be maintained because many of them would become HAZMAT if allowed to deterioriate. And, they cost money to tear down. When you add all those "ands" together, there will be no savings from this, only an illusion for the public and media.
Also, some of the properties are in National Parks that the public will not be able to buy. Plus, all of the properties near nuclear plants (i.e. Oak Ridge, TN), for security reasons the government will not be able to sell.
Let's not be short-sighted on this list. It is a start. Round one of BRAC wasn't as impressive as later rounds. Turning over shacks and out-buildings to the universities and cities who own the surrounding land may not save much on an individual basis, but in terms of roll-up costs for the out-years and routine maintenance, this can add up. Besides, I'd rather see this than lose my Secretary.