Michael Keller has worked on five continents during his 15 years in the foreign service. He's been in Germany, where the standard of living is pretty good, and the Central African Republic and Cambodia, where he could only hope that his three children suffered nothing more than bumps and bruises because of poor medical care.

Joe Lieberman and Danny Davis are proven allies of federal workers and each chairs congressional panels affecting them.

The Hatch Act, which regulates the political activity of federal employees, isn't as restrictive as some workers think. It might surprise them that the law even allows wearing and displaying campaign items on the job -- as long as it's after the election.

Break out the Ray-Bans -- Barack Obama says he wants to "make government cool again."

Here are some interesting tidbits that recently knocked on the Federal Diary's door.

Federal employee unions worked hard for Barack Obama during his winning presidential campaign.

David Sheagley and Darlene Tinsley, a husband-and-wife team employed by the Social Security Administration in Ohio, are political activists.

Some animals burrow to secure protection from the elements. Rabbits, moles, gophers and groundhogs are examples of burrowing critters.

The Office of Personnel Management has a list "Dos and Don'ts" for converting appointed officials to career positions.

If Barack Obama wins the White House, he will have been helped by a broad swath of organizations representing federal employees.

With the U.S. Postal Service projecting that it delivered 9 billion fewer pieces of mail in fiscal year 2008 and a $2.3 billion deficit for that period, mail carriers might have more to worry about than snarling dogs on their routes.

With John McCain and Barack Obama waging a fierce battle for America's top prize, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement of this year's presidential election.

Things are looking bleak for the U.S. Postal Service.

Net Income or Loss:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hearing on Hispanic federal employment yesterday was almost over when someone noticed the elephant in, or more precisely, not in the room.

If you've ever been busted by a boss and felt the discipline didn't match your deed, you might take some comfort from a new Merit Systems Protection Board report.

The reaction from leaders of organizations that work with federal employees to the announced resignation of Scott J. Bloch, the besieged U.S. special counsel, can be summed up in two words:

In tumultuous times, investors have tumultuous thoughts. Some federal employees invested for retirement in the Thrift Savings Plan's ultra-safe G Fund became unnerved recently. They worried that with the government on the hook for billions of dollars in financial rescue funds, it might raid the G Fund to help pay for it.

You might think that federal retirees would feel pretty good about the news that their annual annuities will jump next year between 5 and 6 percent. After all, it's the biggest raise since 1982 and more than twice this year's increase.

It's not unusual for folks to cast absentee ballots when they're out-of-town on election day -- some do it even if they are out of this world.

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, but don't expect any gala celebrations.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 prohibited the following personnel practices.

Staffing shortages at the State Department are so serious that much of its work is not getting done.

If you thought the 3.9 percent raise federal employees will receive next year is a decent increase these days, imagine how happy they would be with the 15 percent boost phased in over three years that workers who clean the Justice Department's headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue NW started getting Saturday. Under the contract, cleaners who earned $15.51 an hour will see that rise to $17.94 by the end of the contract, according to Local 323BJ of the Service Employees International Union. The cleaners are outside contractors employed by Makro Services.

We like to hear from our readers, and from time to time the Federal Diary will print a "speak out" column featuring your thoughts. Today, readers comment on pay-for-performance, possible postal service layoffs and the government's pledge to job applicants.

If you buy a new car, it comes with an owner's manual.

In these crazy financial times -- with the stock market diving and retirement savings eroding -- the last thing you want is stagnant wages when almost everyone around you is getting raises.

Here's another sad sign of our economic times: Never before has the U.S. Postal Service laid off workers. Now, it's a real possibility.

A throng of good-government types packed a National Press Club meeting room yesterday, determined to help smooth the transition from President Bush's administration to whatever comes next.

Its original boss was Congress. Now the Government Accountability Office has a second group of people to whom it must be accountable -- union members.

When -- maybe that should be if-- Congress passes legislation to bail out floundering financial institutions, the Treasury secretary likely will be granted unusually broad power to waive regulations covering the government's hiring of outside contractors.

Health insurance premiums for federal employees will jump almost 8 percent, on average, in 2009, a sharp increase over the 2.9 percent increase this year and the 2.3 percent increase in 2007, the Office of Personnel Management announced yesterday.

For Brendan Doyle, it's a matter of equal pay for equal work.

Amid the swirl of activity on Capitol Hill surrounding legislation for a $700 billion bailout of financial giants is a little-noticed effort to protect Frank and Flo Fed if they reveal things their agencies are doing wrong.

With the financial markets swirling like Hurricane Ike, many investors in the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees are acting as if they've just chilled in a yoga class and now are taking Rudyard Kipling's advice to "keep your head when all about you are losing theirs."

When the Defense Department launched a new way of rating and compensating some of its employees more than two years ago, the National Security Personnel System was billed as an innovation that would rejuvenate the workforce.

Diversity at the senior levels of legislative branch agencies is kind of like a dance -- one step forward, one step back.

Bad news seems to come in waves -- literally, as in those that washed away homes near Galveston on Saturday. Hurricane Ike now is leaving his calling card across the rest of the country in the form of soaring gasoline prices. And the crisis on Wall Street is frightening.

Federal workers who don't like it when the government contracts jobs out to private industry can celebrate a victory this week -- the Internal Revenue Service announced it is resuming management of taxpayer files at seven regional submission processing centers.

If there's one thing the red and blue parts of official Washington can agree on, it is that the government's hiring process is a mess.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich.

You might not have noticed, but the contest between Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is not the only presidential race underway. At the 30th biennial National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association convention in Louisville next month, incumbent Margaret L. Baptiste will face a challenge from Tom McKinney, president of Chapter 2104 in Dunwoody, Ga.

We like to hear from our readers, so from time to time the Federal Diary will print a "Speak Out" column, featuring your thoughts. The Diary got lots of mail related to last week's columns on Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama's views on federal workplace issues. Here's a sampling.

CHICAGO Tucked away amid a huge array of media organizations at a journalists' convention last month was a nondescript stall that easily could have been missed among the many booths with more inviting presentations.

Every day seems to bring more bad news about newspaper colleagues around the country losing their jobs. The auto industry is shedding workers faster than gas-guzzling SUVs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says layoffs "were the highest for the month of June since 2003."

Like long weekends?

If there's one thing Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agree on, it's that the federal government generates lots of frustration.

When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) starts work as president next year, he'll automatically get lots of perks without even passing a probationary period. He'll be able to fly without paying extra for baggage, food or decent leg room. He'll ride in a luxury car, but he won't have to pump fuel costing more than $4 a gallon. And he'll occupy the finest unit in all of public housing.

Like other federal workers not content with their current jobs, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama seek a higher government position with better pay, a bigger office and more responsibility.

It was gratifying to get so many responses to my first Federal Diary column this week. Many of you wrote to inform me about particular problems, to alert me to column ideas or just to say welcome. One thing I quickly learned is how much retirees count on this space for news and information. They were the largest single group of readers who responded and they made it clear that their issues should not be ignored.

Dear Frank and Flo Fed,

Linda Springer says good-bye today to the Office of Personnel Management.

The Federal Diary is back.

This is it. My last Federal Diary column.

In the early 1980s, when Congress moved to bring federal employees into Social Security, the outlook for the civil service pension system was uncertain. But Judy Park had a plan.

Military power requires brainpower, and the Defense Department is moving to engage a new generation of scientists and engineers to conduct research that may pay off in technological breakthroughs for the nation's military.

A coalition of 112 organizations is urging House and Senate negotiators to move quickly to resolve differences over legislation that would strengthen the protections afforded federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse.

Even though the McCain-Obama battle is just getting started, it is not too early for their political teams to start thinking about the transition to the White House. It might even be too late.

A bill that would permit many federal employees to telecommute at least two days every two weeks was approved by the House yesterday on a voice vote.

If federal employees are lucky, an enterprising aide to the next president will make sure that a new book by Paul C. Light, the longtime expert on public service, gets on the agenda for the inevitable Oval Office discussion on what to do about the federal government.

Near the entrance to the Council for Excellence in Government, these words appear on the wall:

The Office of Personnel Management sent a "stop work" letter to the contractor developing a software system to calculate retirement benefits for federal employees, officials said yesterday.

Six years ago, Congress opened the Thrift Savings Plan to military personnel and other uniformed services. It is proving to be one of the government's quiet success stories.

More than 200,000 federal retirees are enrolled in two government-sponsored prescription drug programs, and the duplicative coverage may cost more than $200 million annually, according to two House members.

Senior Defense Department officials describe the roll out of the National Security Personnel System as "event driven," a way of saying that it evolves as lessons are learned and fixes are made.

The BRAC Transition Center is tucked in a corner of the Crystal City underground, and the staff uses a nearby popular steakhouse as a landmark to guide visitors to the center's entrance.

To help the government attract scientists, doctors, economists and other highly skilled professionals, two House members yesterday introduced a bill that would create graduate-level scholarships for students who commit to public service.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Social Security Administration are launching a study group to better understand the problems that Hispanics face in getting hired and promoted in the government.

Bring back federal retirees for short-term projects. Bring them back as mentors.

Three House members who oversee the Thrift Savings Plan have proposed opening the program to new investment options, including a Roth feature that would allow tax-free withdrawals of retirement savings.

The government's intelligence community is changing its pay system to better reward agents and analysts, part of an effort to fix problems identified after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

As best the Peace Corps knew, Jeremiah S. Johnson was "the first instance of a volunteer" who tested positive for HIV and wished to remain with the agency rather than return to the United States for medical treatment.

At the Internal Revenue Service, one employee over a two-year period took sick leave on 13 of the 14 Tuesdays after a Monday holiday.

Federal executives are less satisfied with their pay than they were two years ago, and many don't understand how their raises and bonuses are linked to job performance ratings.

Federal employees are held to a high standard when it comes to ethics and the public trust. That's also the case when it comes to taxes.