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I'm sure at this point this is all just total wishful thinking on my part, but is there any possibility that perhaps Rush's U-turn(that'll torque some of 'em!) might have been the result of someone at the WH confiding that they are looking to at some point institute civil service reforms? Obviously not now, but when conservative power in Congress is more secure? It would fit in well with Bush's stated principles of seeking accountability through reforms. Again not now, but I don't think the necessary political climate is as far away as some might think. Three years ago who would have thought that the 'permissible' thinking on social security reform would have shifted so starkly? And from where I stand civil service reform is one of the two real keys(along with budget downsizing) to unlocking a meaningful change in the direction of gov't beauracracy. Not to mention a seismic shift in the political landscape, maybe not on the scale of a USSC appointment, but getting up there.

looking to at some point institute civil service reforms?

I think I know what you're getting at, but I'm not sure that's the way to go about it. I think the right way to reform the federal bureaucracy is to decentralize it. Move the Agriculture Department to Kansas, where the bureaucrats will have some real farmers in their bowling league. Make the HUD bureaucrats move to the South Bronx; they could take over one of those "housing units" they put up there. I'd move the Interior Department to some logging town in Oregon, and the Energy Department to Texas.

The goal in this would be to break this "culture of government" that permeates the Washington, DC area. Make these guys live amongst real people who are affected by what government does. Too many of them spend their entire lives working and associating only with other people who work for the government. It causes a weirdness we would all be better off without.

One of these days, NASA. One of these days... to the MOON!