LETTERS
LETTERS Messopotamia Congratulations on “How They Missed That Story,” [James Bennet, December] about the failure of modern “press release journalism” to look into the reasons for the military...
...wins...
...They have a proper civil needs to be informed...
...LETTERS Messopotamia Congratulations on “How They Missed That Story,” [James Bennet, December] about the failure of modern “press release journalism” to look into the reasons for the military buildup of Operation Desert Shield...
...DANNY BURTON Columbus, Ohio I read with profound interest and frustration your article entitled “How Bureaucrats Pad Their Pensions,” condensed by Readers’ Digest in its October issue [“A Pension for Trouble,” Matthew Cooper, July/August 19891...
...I disagree, though, with the author’s contention that meager government salaries are not part of the problem...
...I’ve heard through the grapevine that the person who generated the memo is mightily perturbed that his “inside” joke has received so much attention...
...RUTH MORGAN Breckenridge, Texas Uncivil service Great balls of ire I read with amusement your “Memo of the Month” for JanuaryFebruary 1991...
...It’s really sad when our president finds so much time to entertain Michael Jackson at the White House and follow all sports events and telephone all the winners, but doesn’t think it’s important to answer a widow’s letter asking for a waiver to reinstate a partial annuity...
...response has built Saddam Hussein into an Islamic superhero...
...It is common to find rangers with 10 years in the Park Service, a college degree, and thousands of hours of formal training who are still being paid at the GS-5 or -7 level...
...So, please do not send us memo candidates that you believe were designed to be amusing...
...Fan letter carrier I am a letter carrier for the U.S...
...However, the fat cats don’t exist in all levels of civil service...
...Postal Service, a member of the National Association of Letter Camers, and a union steward here in Columbus...
...Apparently, last month we missed one...
...COLIN G. JAMESON Key West, Florida Government by degree I didn’t think the economy was in such terrible shape until I read Mr...
...I work as a consultant in the computer industry, and that memo has been circulating “in the business” for about one and a half years...
...I’ve been a seasonal ranger with the National Park Service for 20 years and can testify that the application process gives new depth to the word byzantine...
...I’m a registered Republican, but I won’t cast my vote again...
...There’s an old Arabic saying that it is better to be a cock for a day than a chicken for a year...
...So the snideness you perceived was totally inadvertent and is regretted...
...What happens if the U.S...
...Why does the image of a patronizing, supercilious, Ivy League pontificator come to mind when I try to picture the person who wrote this article...
...One would have thought that with 28 years of service, he would have been able to receive at least $17,000 per year in benefits...
...GEORGE DURKEE Twain Harte, California Bagged I am sure you and Leonard Reed [“Tilting At Windmills,” December] are able to speak with authority when disparaging GS-15s, but your snide comparison of their competence with Safeway managers is both a cheap and uninformed shot...
...Didn’t they realize that you’re Ivy League...
...MUM: Good idea, dear...
...He was a GS-13 with his last employer, HUD...
...Why is it,” Alexander scoffed, “that in 300 years of effort your Romans have been unable to subdue the single province of Mesopotamia [Iraq...
...This would never have happened in England...
...Imagine, they wanted her to have a credential to teach...
...on the head...
...Instead, he got $12,500 combined with social securityand much of that was taken away from me when he died in 1989...
...Heilemann’s sad story [“Uncle Sam Doesn’t Want You,” December] about the plight of recent Ivy League grads...
...SKIPPER: It’s no use Mum, the government has been taken over by city university night school types...
...As a result, many parks are having difficulty finding qualified seasonal workers and permanent rangers are leaving in increasing numbers...
...I hope John Heilemann’s excellent article on government recruiting (or lack thereof) inspires the folks at OPM to get their act together and come up with a more responsive hiring system...
...The Park Service has never had a problem presenting a “sexy” image and, until recently, attracting large numbers of applicants...
...However, you overlooked an even more ominous eventuality...
...The dedication to an ideal found among park rangers is probably as high as it is among Peace Corps workers, so if we’re in trouble, imagine what the rest of the federal system is like...
...By comparison, it will make the skill of Prince Klemens von Metternich at the Congress of Vienna seem like the resolution of a kindergarten sandbox dispute...
...troops on the ground in . . . Iraq chills military experts...
...In the 4th century A.D...
...Must be SAT envy...
...Perhaps our military advisers are adding to their consideration of the pitfalls of modem warfare a memory of the bloody age-old trap that waits in “the land between the rivers...
...I expect a dinner conversation at one brutally treated supplicant’s summer home to have gone something like this: MUM: Skipper, I can’t believe it...
...Now, pick whatever victory scenario you like, then ask, “What happens after we win...
...TEDRUSHTON Phoenix, Arizona James Bennet quotes a Los Angeles Times piece of August 5 which has since been heavily reinforced by Congressional testimony: “Any plan for using U.S...
...JIM MORGAN Yuba City, California Your article on government employment hit a painful nail PAUL A. VOLCKER New York, New York Mr...
...Later, Julian ignored not only history but irony and invaded Iraq himself, where he was destroyed...
...They even made me stand in line and fill out forms...
...the Roman Emperor Julian, himself a gifted general, wrote satirically of an imaginary meeting between Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar...
...I can just imagine the psychological scars left on these poor rejected souls after spending a day at the Office of Personnel Management...
...ROBERT J. SYPEK Hudson, Massachusetts The editor replies: Because “Memo of the Month” aims to delve into the unconscious mind of the bureaucrat, over the years we have tried to weed out memos that are concocted to be funny...
...Volcker was the chairman of the National Commission on Public Service...
...Who could ask for anything more...
...Don’t they know she graduated from Brown...
...My late husband took early retirement at age 58 after 28 years of government service, including his naval wartime service...
...On that basis, the U.S...
...My amusement was not because the “mouseballs” memo in itself was funny, but rather because it is a total fabrication...
...Keep up the good work...
...BILL SCHNIRRING New York, New York The editor replies: I respect all honest work and do not intend to demean anyone when I say some jobs are worth less than $81,000...
...However, I must confess that, for the time being, I am addicted to The Washington Monthly...
...Consider it on all bases: religious, military, economic, cultural, and geographic...
...I don’t agree with everything within its pages, but it educates me and makes me think...
...I intended to receive one issue of your magazine and then say “thanks but no thanks...
...The “devil made me do it...
...PATER: My Gawd, what have we become when a 23year-old with 1400 SATs and an Ivy League education can’t get a top job in government...
...Not only are Safeway managers’ jobs demanding and complex, they are responsible for making a profit-something not just alien to, but looked down upon, by many bureaucrats...
...Look how TWM helped Bunny...
...It was originally generated by a manager at IBM’s Boca Raton, Florida, division as a joke, and was mistakenly allowed to leave the company...
...They wouldn’t give you that measly GS-15 undersecretary position at Education...
Vol. 23 • March 1991 • No. 3
