Samuel F Doucette

Candy,

Nice to meet you through GovLoop! I’m a former Air Force PAQ intern myself (manpower is my career field) but not prior military (unlike you). Prior to coming on board in 1997, pretty much all I knew about the military was through Tom Clancy novels. 🙂 I drank from the firehose and the rest became history.

While I am not a Public…[Read more]

Mark, I know this is an old but ever-interesting discussion. I too have noticed that resentment. I believe it tracks to the relative health of the private sector economy and the age-old human condition of jealousy and envy. When unemployment is low and the private sector economy is booming, then those who work in the private sector smugly look…[Read more]

Welcome! And, your English is good. 🙂

If you aren’t comfortable replying publicly to this discussion question, you can message me through this or send me an e-mail at work: [email protected].
Thanks,
Sam

That said, I agree with much of what he says. The Church is indeed a hospital for sinners instead of a museum for saints. Pope Francis (as well as his predecessors) has been saying as much.

Without having yet watched the video, the way the title is phrased points to a false dichotomy between loving Jesus and following religion. As a Catholic, I believe that I can have a personal relationship with Jesus through receiving Him Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity through Holy Communion and encountering Him in the other sacraments, as well…[Read more]

Colleen,
It’s a tough spot to be in, no doubt. The best my wife and kids and I could do was simply to make our morals known. For example, we’ve asked our kids’ pediatrician whether any of their vaccines were developed from aborted babies. She didn’t know, but did some research for us and found out that none of them were. I think we’re going to…[Read more]

Peter, I’m sure you were being sarcastic. I appreciate that. Seriously, our voting laws are definitely in need of reform to prevent just the kinds of illegal/immoral activities you allude to which are standard practice in jurisdictions like Cook County IL.

My wife and I voted last evening, and we brought our three kids (ranging from 5 yrs old to 18 months) along. It was an educational experience for them. I stayed up way too late watching the returns. But coffee is a wonderful thing.

I will vote tonight on the way home. Even if the lines are long, MA polls stay open until 8:00 PM EST.

I will vote on the way home from work tonight. Even if the lines continue to be long. Polls in MA are open until 8:00 PM EST.

My vote is not sway-able (if that’s a word) since my mind was made up a long time ago regarding the candidates. In order of importance, my issues are 1) life and marriage issues; 2) religious freedom; 3) national defense; and 4) economic policy (fiscal, deficit, job creation). One candidate gets these right; the other does not.

Slowly changing culture through continuous process improvement.

My biggest issue not really covered very much — How will we maintain a strong military if sequestration occurs, especially in a still-dangerous world? How will we avoid hollowing out the military like what happened in the 1970s after Vietnam? Historically we always do this — build up the military during wartime, cut it too much during peace,…[Read more]

If I were the hiring manager in a less-than-garden-spot location, I would try to attract talent by emphasizing that people who come to that location will still gain valuable experience to broaden their knowledge and experience base. I would tell them that it’s understandable even OK for them to come to Location X, gain that experience, and then…[Read more]

Dannielle,

Good rules to live by! In my environment, politics is everything — which I abhor. However I also realize that it makes the world (my world) go around so I play the game and also try to keep my integrity intact. Here are my rules:

1) Tell the truth and give honest, unbiased advice and analysis. However, do this in a way that…[Read more]

Dan,

In the military/DoD subculture in which I work, once you reach GS-14/15 level you are expected to put in the crazy hours you speak of because the mission is paramount. I’m a supervisory GS-13 and father of three kids under 5 (4 yrs, 3 yrs, and 10 months). I know that if I were to aspire to the GS-14/15 ranks, my home life would suffer…[Read more]