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You make some excellent points. There is no doubt there is dead wood in the government, one of them works in my office and I'm sorely tempted to push her down an elevator shaft one of these days.

Is it hard to get rid of these people? You bet... because of the unions. It's unions, more than government itself, that is causing the bulk of the problems in my view. Can it be done? Yes, I see it happen but it takes effort.

We are heavily unionized, unfortunately, even in Homeland Security. The Department inherited four or five different unions when it was created, all of them competing with each other to be the one calling the shots. Different working rules, different overtime systems, different leave accrual and classification systems. It's been a nightmare trying to come to some accord.

All of our inspectors and border patrol are union, as are some of the people in the field office. My position is bargaining (union) although I flatly refuse to join. I am so behind President Bush for wanting more control and flexibility over assignments and working conditions, and I'm sick to death of the union whining.

Sorry, I'm in a bad mood. Just got back from mailing my federal taxes. Grr.

Wow, I had no idea that Homeland Security was unionized!

Thanks for filling me in.

How did it get unionized? I thought a good part of the battle in the 2002 elections was over the issue of how democrats obstructed the creation of Homeland Security by insisting it be under union control.

What am I missing here?