The nurses who picketed Meg Whitman's homw were almost right - California State Employees are far too often not "hard-working," but "hardly working." They have far more time off than anyone who works in the orivate sector, have incredibly over-generous sick leave, paternity leave, bereavement leave, probably even new-puppy leave, disgustingly remunerative pension schemes. Pensions that they all rig so as to get pensions even higher than normal. They get special treatment from the guy in the white house who bows and scrapes to any union leader he sees. California nurses are the highest-paid in the nation. That they can take so much time off to pull silly political gags speaks more about them than about Meg Whitman.