Wednesday, February 13, 2013

I Plan to Sequester Myself Near a River














I suppose I should be concerned by this panic-inducing headline in the WaPo's Federal Diary: Furloughs likely would exceed 1 million; feds feel ‘undervalued, unappreciated’!!! It all sounds very dire, and needs a lot of exclamation points.

I've seen the official Department notice, so I know the possibility of unpaid furloughs is quite real. And yet, it rolls off me like water off a duck's back brown trout. Preferably a trout in the Rose River, certainly in a river somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley.  

Ever since I enrolled in the Department's retirement seminar I have adopted a whole new laid-back vibe. I won't actually retire for a few more years, and I won't stop working even after that, but the mere act of planning for retirement has me feeling downright giddy. Undervalued and unappreciated? Speak for yourself, WaPo. Personally, I'm feeling pretty good.

Spending a couple weeks fishing sounds like a great alternative to the daily grind. My fellow feds have my sympathy, and I know that furloughs will cause real hardships and disruptions to families. But at least I won't be contributing to the misery.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way to go TSB! Happy trouting! The new Egyptian ration for poor people is 3 pitas/day (440 cal).That should quiet them down til you get back. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I read the 2.99 e-book by the 28 yo army sgt: Benghazi. It had a more detailed version of the battle than I'd seen before. The Tripoli guys raising $30,000 for a plane ride to Benghazi and their heroic efforts against 100's of attackers saved many lives. The implication was that this was revenge for extensive JSOC ops last summer run by Brennan last summer from the WH. (and kept secret from everyone) As a result I'm ready to pin the blame on Brennan for the whole thing. He will be perfect at CIA! gwb

Anonymous said...

10 Anti-tank Missiles Supplied to Military Council for Aleppo Fight
Saturday, February 16th, 2013
TSB: Here are your weapons from Libya to Turkey to Syria. Looks like we had to put this little Benghazi thing to bed before releasing them.
(That's some pretty fancy hardware!)
gwb
http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=17770

Anonymous said...

TSB:One U.S. diplomat complained that this “mindset” -- that is, a mindset that actually valued civil liberties -- “presents serious challenges to our efforts to enhance counterterrorism cooperation or promote passage of anti-terrorism legislation.”
Great article today by Greg Grandin on why Latin America told the US to shove it on GWOT. gwb
It's in Tomdispatch.com

TSB said...

I'm not surprised about Latin Americans refusing to go along with our plans. Teddy Roosevelt once offered a toast to his fellow Presidents of the American Republics and to "the excessively free and independent peoples over whom they preside."

In the field of criminal justice most of Latin America follows the Napoleonic Code, which means they object to some of our most common Anglo practices; for example, they do not take testimony from co-defendants or informants involved in the crime being prosecuted, on the theory such testimony is inherently untrustworthy. I expect they would object to most of the counter-terrorism plans for similar cultural reasons.

Anonymous said...

TSB: The State Department has issued a travel warning for US citizens that is almost world wide!
We are advised that AQ is everywhere (except latin america)and also Taliban. They are planning things like kidnap, assassinations, bombings, hostage taking especially in asia, africa and the ME. I saw this in a British rag but shouldn't it be conveyed to the citizenry? Maybe this warning is classified? Thanks!
gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I did a thorough review of the Napoleanic Code which satisfied my need for always learning something from your responses! That said, I still think you would enjoy reading the article. 'Count Von Rumsfeld' was really good at baffling the US citizenry and a press gagle but the southern hemisphere was still reeling from 55 yrs of CIA type disappearance of political scoflaws and refused the candy$$$.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175650/tomgram%3A_greg_grandin%2C_why_latin_america_didn%27t_join_washington%27s_counterterrorism_posse/
Also, watago on not letting those sequester fear mongerers press your scared buttons! gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I love the way DOD analyzes tragic incidents. (like Ft. Hood) This pilot was unable to fly his perfectly good F-22 properly because he was too 'distracted' by having no oxygen! I'm surprised they didn't bill his wife $422 million for crashing the plane! gwb

http://www.rt.com/usa/air-force-widow-incompetence-249/

TSB said...

GWB: That worldwide travel warning was an embarrassment to thinking adults; unfortunately, that means most people who see it won't object. It's the sort of thing DHS puts out all the time - worthless, but a CYA exercise that is probably unavoidable in today's political environment.

Anonymous said...

Thanks TSB! I thought it was strange that I read it once in the 'Daily Mail' and then never saw it anywhere else. I zipped right over to Dipnote and saw that John Kerry was buying windsurfing T-shirts at the State Dept gift store so I quit overdosing on my BP meds and put on a funny T-shirt!
gwb