Unmarried marriage counselors running our government

It's always been a favorite expression of mine and I use it to describe the sheer incompetency of typical management in top-heavy bureaucracies, corporations and organizations.

Perhaps no organization epitomizes this better than the Federal Aviation Administration.

I have some business with them and was trying to trace down the number of the specific "in-charge" administrator I need to talk to. He's a helluva good guy, helluva good pilot and very good at what he does for the FAA, which deals with pilots.

Having worked for the government myself (Department of Justice), I knew the routine--find a main office, grab a number and start calling and asking each de-successive person for the number of the next de-successive person until you get the person you need.

This technique works incredibly well in the government because just as shit rolls downhill, there is nothing a bureaucrat loves more than passing a problem on to the next person below them. That seems to empower them.

Finally, I get the number I'm looking for, but while I was on hold each of the de-successive six times working my way down the typical government flow chart, I got on the internet and looked up the regional directors and read their bios.

Now, keep in mind that in the FAA, the second "A" stands for AVIATION. That means pilots. It means airplanes. People who fly airplanes. People who work on airplanes. People who facilitate airplanes and those who fly them, fly on them and work on them at places called AIRPORTS.

With that in mind, here is the bio of the Southwest Regional director or ringmaster or whatever you want to call her. Note that in the bio, you will see no mention of her credentials as a pilot, air traffic controller, engineer, mechanic, flight surgeon (medical) or anything like that.

What you'll see is what really matters to the government: Diversity and bureaucratic bullshit, of which this woman has a mountain of.

Read for yourself:

In September 2007, Jane Doe was appointed to serve as the Regional Administrator.

In November 2006, she was appointed to serve as the Deputy Regional Administrator for FAA’s Southwest Region headquartered in Fort Worth. The Southwest Region encompasses Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. In this capacity, she assisted the Regional Administrator in maintaining oversight and appraising overall mission accomplishments for this 4,600-person region. Additional responsibilities include interfacing with industry, the public and Congressional offices and other government agencies at the regional level. In addition she served as the Regional Emergency Transportation Coordinator for the Department of Transportation, Region VI.

Prior to this appointment, she served as Regional Executive Manager, managing and directing the daily operations of regional headquarters personnel in logistics, financial and information management, operations center, executive staff, charter program office, and runway incursions.

Prior to these assignments, Ms. Doe was Division Manager, Human Resource Management Division, FAA Southwest Region, for 10 years. In this position, she served on many national level teams and actively promoted programs within Human Resource Management Division and the FAA for hiring and career advance for people with disabilities and people of color.

And people wonder what is wrong with our country today? Look who the hell we have administering to our infrastructure! It's no wonder we have a gazillion-trillion dollar debt.

With bozos like this running this large of a region of just ONE of a myriad of government offices, you're going to have problems. I seriously doubt this woman knows the difference between a tampon and a pitot tube or a departure stall versus a power-off stall, but she is administering almost five-thousand other federal aviation staffers, of which I'll also wager that less than a fifth know a damn thing about airplanes, flying them, fixing them, etc.

The bad thing is that at our general aviation airport, I'm constantly running into recently separated military types--pilots and mechanics and controllers, etc--who would love to transfer their military skills and experience into the FAA.

When I ask them how the application process is going, almost every single one of them in the past ten years has thrown up their hands and basically said, "Screw the FAA," and then gone on to work for the airlines or elsewhere in the private sector.

Is it really any wonder, with this head-up-the-ass mentality that we, as a nation, are where we are in the arena of absolute government incompetence.

If you still don't believe me, just take a look at our Chief Executive.

He's the biggest unmarried marriage counselor in the nation.