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["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

I slogged through the first two stimulus packages.  and I mean, SLOGGED!  I 
worked for attorneys in the past and can do a pretty good scan for facts. 
However, the newest one is not getting out there in any reasonable period of 
time AND it is twice as long as the second one which was twice as long as 
the first one.

Now, having written grants in one of my former lives <g>, I can tell you the 
objective of LONG packages is to hide the pork because NO ONE wants to spend 
that kind of time reading.  Your eyes cross after awhile because the 
language used is deliberately repetitive and your mind refuses to reread 
after awhile.  One of the objectives of chapter breaks is to give your mind 
refresh time.

The problem with the *supposed* stimulous package is there are no strings, 
so to speak.  Or, at least not the type that usually come with federal 
money.  There are no "standard and usual" punch list type of controls. 
There are no "list criteria by which you propose to demonstrate the success 
of this program" or "provide a needs lists" or "provide line item 
accountability for audit controls" or any of the other *stuff* that is the 
norm.

When you get federal grant money for schools, you have to "prove" a need and 
then list how you are going to demonstrate that you have "filled" the need. 
You have to have an auditing process set up BEFORE you get any money.

The guidelines for getting the money set forth how everyone is to be paid. 
The guidelines put limits on admin costs.  The guidelines set limits on over 
runs.  And so forth and so on.

ABSOLUTELY none of this is being done with the stimulous package, nor with 
the last one.  Which, btw, least we so quickly forget, was NOT Dumbya 
darling but rather Pelosi and Teflon's brain fart!

Yup, fiddling while Rome burns comes to mind!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> Ah! <Bev slaps forehead>  I get it now.  Okay...that sheds some light.
> I hope Marie will clarify if this isn't the reason.  When I worked at
> the PD, I suppose I, too, was a taxpayer funded employee.  I never
> thought of us as a drain.  In fact, most of us could have made more
> money in private service/corporations, but it was a sense of duty, a
> love of the job, that made up for the pay.  For me, I felt a sense of
> obligation.  I said earlier that I had not used public health services,
> but I suppose I have.  When the kid was little and first diagnosed with
> asthma, we had so many medical bills that we almost lost our house and
> were heading for bankruptcy.  The county wrote off 99% of our debt and I
> personally felt that I need to serve-to pass it on, so to speak.  At
> that time, the cops I worked with risked their lives for $11/hour
> (1993)-firefighters started at $15 and EMTs at $12.  I think if people
> had known how little cops make for what they do, they would give more of
> their income to state and local governments.  BUT, most people are not
> like me.  Most people hate cops.  I have blue in my blood, so my bias is
> on the side of government employees, state and local in some cases, 
> federal.
> > Now, having worked for the Feds and at the county and city level, and
> > having collected a pay check from those same taxpayer dollars, I can
> > tell you that a great big % of my fellow employees were professional
> > gold bricks!  I personally think that the whole paid holidays and
> > sick leave thing are ridiculous with the sick leave being massively
> > abused!  Anyone, and I mean ANYONE who says otherwise is playing
> > pretend!  Government employees, in general, take longer breaks,
> > longer lunch hours, do more personal business on the clock and take
> > more items home than private sector employees!
>
> I don't know, but the generalization doesn't sit well with me.  I think
> it would depend on where you are and what 'government' agency you work
> for.  Of course, there are slackers everywhere, and unions support
> slackers, too...but I think there would be a difference between someone
> in public safety, like a firefighter or a 911 operator, and a
> transportation worker or Arnold's admin assistant.<g>
> > Ya know, I was no model employee and I'm certainly not a whiz kid at
> > what I did.  What I am is someone who is easily bored <g>  I need to
> > be busy.  I couldn't spend my time wandering the halls or sitting in
> > the break room yapping.  In 6 months, I set up a new filing system,
> > completely updated and cateloged and set up job specific binders to
> > put in all the city's vehicles. Something that had been worked on for
> > FIVE YEARS and gotten no where!  Three employees had been working on
> > it.  Now, do the math on the wages and toss that money down the
> > drain!  Five years, three employees!  Something that could be and was
> > done in 6 months!  That is typical.  So, Bob is right.
>
> I'm like you in that regard.  I hate being bored.  I think Bob
> generalized, too, and he definitely played on the stereotype.  Lynda I
> think many people like me and you just don't fit with the generally slow
> beauracratic pace of government work.  People who are type A, classical
> busy bodies, generally find more 'active' jobs.  They go off looking for
> the challenge, not the paycheck.
>
>
>
> > BTW, CA beens doing something of this nature, plus sueing the Feds on
> > and off since they became a state <g>  I would say that the tipping
> > point came with NAFTA and NCLB and this latest bit is the straw that
> > broke the camel's back!
>
> Yes.  I did pick up on the fact that this game has been played for quite
> a while now.  I don't know if the Libertarian powers that be are just
> digging up stuff to throw out there to stir the pot or if there really
> is a growing successionist movement like some of the extremists(Corsi
> and Jones) claim.  I like listening to all sides...the truth is usually
> somewhere in the middle.  As you know, I am personally for smaller
> federal government, so I am not real happy with the path the country is
> taking.  For almost my entire adult life, I just see this huge sprawl of
> the Fed, with them amassing more and more power and control and it is a
> scary time for me.  The Bush administration pushed me over the edge with
> the Patriot Act, but I'm not sure what the alternative should have been.
>  Listening to Obama is mesmerizing, and I want to believe him, but he
> has already gone back on so much of what he promised.  He touts this
> stimulus package like it is the best thing since sliced bread, but I am
> not buying the hype.  It looks like pork, It squeals like pork, and it
> smells like pork.  He can call it whatever he wants, but I just can't
> see how it will put the country back on track, save people's houses, and
> make people want to buy a Chevy.<g>  The States will blow the money just
> as quickly as AIG did.  They will be back asking for more within a year
> of receiving the first check.  Our whole mentality is "give me" and the
> chickens haven't come home to roost yet.  I wish I had a better
> understanding of all of this.  To me, it all feels so insane, so wrong.
>  I see lots of people excited about the stimulus package, but are they
> just hopeful and trusting?  Has anyone read it yet?  I don't mind paying
> my fair share of taxes if I think it will be used wisely.  I resent my
> tax dollars going to federal aid for Octomom and her children, however.
>  I've heard that she received a disability settlement and that is how
> she paid her fertility doctor.  I'd like to know what her disability is.
>  Obviously, she has a few screws loose, but seriously!  Sorry, I suppose
> I should have more sympathy and empathy, but I believe in personal
> accountability, and she just flies in the face of everything I believe in.
>
> Bev
>
>
> --
> "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
> not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
> will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
> world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
> are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
> the problems of the human race"
>
> ~ Calvin Coolidge
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