quote:
Last month, the General Accounting Office (GAO) made headlines with its report that scores of high ranking employees from eight federal agencies had degrees from bogus colleges or unaccredited schools. Worse yet, a GAO spokesman said, "It's a much larger problem than the evidence we have to date shows." That could be an understatement given that just three of the unaccredited schools the GAO examined revealed that 463 current or one-time students are federal employees. Still, some were unfazed; one wit commented: "I'm not as concerned with whether government workers have degrees as with whether they are working at all."
That remark bespeaks the conventional wisdom that government work-excluding the Armed Forces and those in law enforcement--is the epitome of "inside work; no heavy lifting." Moreover, it reflects personal experience: people who have waited on line or on hold or who have heard "that's not my area" too often wonder if anyone works in federal agencies let alone if those working know what they are doing. Often they do not: a 2003 study disclosed that the
IRS gives incorrect answers or no answer at all 43 percent of the time!
An actual, rather than anecdotal, example of a federal employee's work ethic was revealed in testimony in a challenge to a small mining claim in the Plumas National Forest some 100 miles northeast of Sacramento, California.
There Donald Eno, a disabled veteran, seeks to provide for himself by working sixty hour weeks on his gold and travertine discoveries. His years of hard work may pay off: estimates are his gold is worth $650,000; his travertine is
valued at $20 million, or more! However, because of oddities in federal land law, the federal government could eject him from his property, if it can prove that his claim
has no value or that it is more valuable for use as a sacred, scenic, or geological site. Because
local U.S. Forest Service personnel oppose mining in general--in an area that has been mined for over 150 years--that is what they are trying to do.
In a recent administrative proceeding, the United States called, as its expert witness, a Forest Service geologist who testified that Mr. Eno's gold has no economic value. His testimony was not persuasive for numerous reasons, including, errors in basic math, use of the wrong mining equipment, and incorrect economic assumptions. But his most ludicrous assertion was that every hour of dredging-the actual recovery of gold from the stream-required one and
one-half hours of work. Part of that extra time was what the geologist said he needed to get ready to work each day; the other part was for frequent "work breaks." In fact,
over the three days the geologist was at the claim, he averaged two hours a day in the stream recovering gold.
Mr. Eno faulted the geologist's lackadaisical approach to dredging for gold. Eight hours of work is eight hours of work, Mr. Eno argued. Lawyers for the United States countered that the geologist's views are "standard in any business in America." Hardly; however, the geologist's view may be "standard" in the federal government.
At least the geologist was in the stream and dredged for gold, which is more than could be said of another Forest Service employee who testified that Mr. Eno's claim was "sacred" to local American Indians. The purported expert witness did not interview any of those Indians, nearly a quarter of whom disagreed with her conclusions; she called them "statistical outliers." Moreover, as to two key "sacred" features about which the witness testified, she
admitted during cross examination that she had not visited the sites! Perhaps she was on one of the geologist's "work breaks."
Fortunately, the administrative law judge rejected the testimony of the Forest Service employees and ruled for Mr. Eno. Other Americans, however, may not be so fortunate in
their encounter with federal "workers."
ne time they will say one thing to you and the next time it will be something completely different and chances are neither is right.There was a 20/20 program not too long ago that showed some of the government jobs that are out there.One job was to test the viscosity of ketchup to make sure it was within guidelines,now that really is an 'IMPORTANT' job,it sure is worth thousands of dollars for someone to do this. 
