Benefits Extended To Federal Employees’ Domestic Partners

[Henry Hawk]

Okay, I will go ahead and throw my .. .. in here,

I have lightened my stance on this, and though I find promoting gay lifestyle to be a bad thing, I also, think that there are thousands of hetro lifestyles to be a bad thing too....I also am reminded about tossing stones at others, is even a worse thing to do.....I am to the conclusion, I am against anything that is going to cost US, the taxpayers MORE money, at least money that SHOULD not be spent in the first place.  As of now, marriage is between a man and a woman.....until, this changes, I am against ANY benefits that is extended to ANY FEDERAL employees...domestic partner.....I have a feeling THIS is going to cost us through the roof...there ALREADY is enough, wasted spending on FEDERAL employees, let alone, that there will be millions of more added on to it, because of this.

[Palehorse]

Okay, I will go ahead and throw my .. .. in here,

I have lightened my stance on this, and though I find promoting gay lifestyle to be a bad thing, I also, think that there are thousands of hetro lifestyles to be a bad thing too....I also am reminded about tossing stones at others, is even a worse thing to do.....I am to the conclusion, I am against anything that is going to cost US, the taxpayers MORE money, at least money that SHOULD not be spent in the first place.  As of now, marriage is between a man and a woman.....until, this changes, I am against ANY benefits that is extended to ANY FEDERAL employees...domestic partner.....I have a feeling THIS is going to cost us through the roof...there ALREADY is enough, wasted spending on FEDERAL employees, let alone, that there will be millions of more added on to it, because of this.

Clearly we disagree so there's no sense in any further sabre rattling.

However, did you know that the federal government is currently engaging in changes in how it evaluates employee performance, with an eye toward forcing long term employees that adopt a "no load" attitude toward their work assignments to seek other employment?

I hear that federal employees are increasingly being evaluated based upon merit instead of the "automatic" increases fed employees have been accustomed to. The POTUS wants accountability from everyone, and that includes federal employees. You either demonstrate via your work performance that you are hungry and have initiative/aspirations, or they will show you the door. (No more automatic raises and you are stuck where you are at best).

This brings them into alignment with big business, and in theory sounds like a great change. I hope that they can stick to their plan and weed out the slackers, as is the stated purpose of this change. . .

The change is not sitting well with those long term federal employees that have been riding the gravy train and providing the bare minimum in return for their compensation. A lot of squalling from them. Of course, I am no longer privy to actual first hand info on these changes so I may have some of it wrong, but I did speak to some old friends that are still active and they were telling me about it over the weekend.

In addition, it seems a lot of the Navy recruiters have already achieved their goals for this year and are pushing out current enlistment delay contracts to 18 months or more in some areas. In addition, they are now becoming a lot more selective pertaining to who they accept and who they do not. Disqualifying factors have increased greatly, since they are now getting candidates that have multiple degrees and multiple years of business experience to accompany their desire to enlist.

I know all of this is a bit off topic, but I believe that when you consider the change this and recognition of same sex unions represent, it demonstrates that work is being done to fix what is wrong in many areas of our government.

[Palehorse]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/06/22/same.sex.weddings/index.html

An article on same sex marriages out in the open in Iowa. . .

[LOsborne]

In addition, it seems a lot of the Navy recruiters have already achieved their goals for this year and are pushing out current enlistment delay contracts to 18 months or more in some areas. In addition, they are now becoming a lot more selective pertaining to who they accept and who they do not. Disqualifying factors have increased greatly, since they are now getting candidates that have multiple degrees and multiple years of business experience to accompany their desire to enlist.

I'm not sure this is good news. You have to ask yourself why the Navy is getting so many highly qualified candidates that they can upgrade their hiring criteria. I think it's simple. There are no jobs out there.

It was only a couple of years ago that the Army recruiters in Evansville got busted for falsifying drug screens and making promises to recruits they had no hope of fulfilling. Back then I had lunch with a fellow HR puke. I was telling him my choices at times were reduced to deciding whether I was going to hire Bubba with Uzi collection or Snake Eyes with the drug habit. He told me, "Who are you kidding, Lolly, we're going to hire both of them." And he was right!

Now I have so many excellent candidates, but I have no jobs to offer. Well, not quite. I have about ten positions (in five states), which demand skills and experience, but are offering insulting wages to start.

The Navy hasn't raised its standards because it's the right thing to do. It has raised them because it's a hiring manager's market.

[Palehorse]

. . .The Navy hasn't raised its standards because it's the right thing to do. It has raised them because it's a hiring manager's market.

I am sure you are correct. Just like everybody else, they'll take the cream off the top if given a choice, and they now have that option due to high unemployment.