[meyer]

You know as well as I do anyone with a job anywhere in the U.S. Gov (hopefully, for the most part excluding our men and women in uniform), is gotten and kept using political or union string-pulling.

Well, that's really not true. Work ethic in the federal government is highly dependent on the branch and the area where the work is performed. Some do quite well (especially those of us that are pit against our private industry counterparts), and some don't do so well. I'll readily admit that government jobs tend to attract non-competitive type employees.