As a native of the DC area whose father was Secret Service, and having many friends in Federal Government jobs ranging from a horticulturalist for the General Services Administration, National Capital Region, through people working for the Supreme Court, to people providing technical support for United States Customs and Border Protection, all of whom have homes, most have families, and all contribute to our local economy -- and by extension the national economy -- with what they earn doing what they do for the government. Well-functioning local economies are terribly important to the health of the whole. Many government workers do find ways to do things better in their organizations and save taxpayer money.

Most government workers i know are keenly aware of the need to give taxpayers a good return on the money they pay to allow them to earn a living -- much to the contrary of how DC is portrayed, we do not live in a complete vacuum unaware of our connection to the rest of the nation -- unlike what we see from Congress, most of the Congressional support staff, the Executive Branch workers, the Judicial Branch workers, and all their support people want to help the government do things well, do things right, and make things as better as they can for Americans on the whole.

Are there some useless and/or redundant positions in the Federal Government; of course there are. There are in most large organizations, try as they may to eliminate some or most of them.

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that the corn syrup industry is requesting that they be allowed to list their product as corn sugar on labels in the US.

I SO do not approve of relabelling it as corn sugar. Maple sugar and maple syrup are not the same, and they are certainly NOT using corn sugar in the sodas and what -- they're using corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup.