Hey Leonardo!…and Fun with Government Salary Figures

Mad props to John Rogers, the screenwriter for the Transformers movie, for reclaiming a pro-America, pro-military viewpoint from the clutches of right wing conservatives in his blog Kung Fu Monkey. With just five words (and four embedded links), he swiftly deconstructs the wistful imaginings of Libertarians with cold, hard facts. He even throws down the gauntlet in support of a charity, Fisher House, that provides support for the families of American soldiers. John says he’ll match the donations of anyone who uses the “Make a Donation” button on his site with his “filthy liberal sodomite Hollywood monies”. You, John Rogers, are my HotW.

Ever wondered what government employees make? I was appalled by this recent report at Federal Times indicating that 67 percent of the Senior Executive Service (SES), the mid-level executives of the government, received performance bonuses. GSA, whose Bush-appointed head (Lurita Doan) was recently found by the Office of the Special Counsel to have violated the Hatch Act, gave performance bonuses to 97.1 percent of its SES staff. Maybe I’m naive, but I thought performance bonuses were a way to reward exceptional performance, not to serve as a financial pat on the ass for becoming part of the incestuous middle management of what I lovingly refer to as the Evil Empire. This information provides me with an oh-so-warm&fuzzy feeling as the government moves towards a “pay for performance” structure (in fits and starts, no less). I digress. If you wander over to this site, published by the Asbury Park Press, you can search government employees by locale or name and find out what they made in 2006 (I’m assuming that’s government FY06). Don’t go unless you have a strong stomach, as what you discover may appall you.