So I was hanging out on the Federal Times news website this morning. Nothing new there.
And I was reading about how, for the zillionth time, there's another plan out there to financially smack around federal employees. Nothing new there.
Seems the House Money People or Whoevertheyare Blahblah Committee has voted to basically cut federal pay by 5%. Nothing new there.
Then I read a comment on that news story that was very interesting. It seems to have been written by a fellow federal employee, and it said:
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"Hey folks, I did a Google search on opposition to Paul Ryan, the architect of most of the cuts to federal pay and benefits and it looks like there is a promising fellow named Rob Zerban who is going up against Ryan in the Wisconsin 1st district. I just sent a donation to his election campaign against Ryan, hopefully it's a few bucks well spent. Just for the record, I don't work for the campaign or have any ties to the candidate nor was I asked to post anything on his behalf. It just seemed like the right thing to do since I don't live in Wisconsin and can't directly cast a vote against Ryan in the November election. Also I am posting this from my home computer and on my own time."
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I read that and I was all WHOA.
You mean to tell me that most of the anti-federal-employee attacks, where people are freezing my husband's salary and freezing his cost of living adjustments and trying to take away his benefits and trying to screw with him financially left and right are mostly coming from one single political dude named Paul Ryan? I mean, I've never heard of the guy before, but I cannot TELL YOU how sick to death I am of Congresspeople trying to screw with my husband's pay and benefits. It's disgusting to me.
Now, here's a quick disclaimer. At this point in my life, I pretty much don't care about politics. And, actually, the only thing that's going to be a bummer about being on R&R to the States next month is that I'll be back in the world of American politics.
But, y'all, the one thing that motivates me to NO END is doing whatever I can to stop the continued attack on federal employees.
So, anyway. The Googles tells me that this Paul Ryan dude is the House Budget Committee Chairman. And he has actually said that federal employees are "immune from the effects of the recession." Which is about the stupidest thing I have ever read. He has also said that "government bureaucrats in Washington enjoy significant advantages over those whose tax dollars finance their compensation." Except that most government employees live outside of Washington, haven't had pay increases or cost of living adjustments in YEARS, are barely middle class, and do all manner of things like guard our borders, keep our food safe, care for our disabled veterans, etc. Not to mention, you know, how some of us are living in crappy places in order to help Americans and American needs overseas. And how pretty much ALL of us are sick to death of being treated like we're worse than Satan and the root of all of the ills of the U.S. economy.
So I looked up the best challenger to this anti-federal-employee Paul Ryan dude, like that comment said. Meet:
Rob Zerban. And his lovely wife, Cornelia, of course.
Like the commenter, above, I cannot vote for Rob Zerban, because I don't live in Wisconsin. But I sure can give money to his campaign.
And I have never, in my life, EVER given money to a political campaign before. No joke.
Rob Zerban is a bit of the underdog in the race right now. His campaign has less cash than that anti-federal-employee Paul Ryan dude (who I guess is some sort of Political Big Deal or whatever), however, it's out there on the interwebz that Rob Zerban really does have a shot to unseat him.
So, you know what? I'm going to treat this almost like a drinking game. Every single time I read on Federal Times about how Mr. Political Big Deal Paul Ryan has sponsored this or is doing that to screw federal employees, I'm going to give money to the Rob Zerban campaign.
At least it will make me feel better!
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