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Feature Article #1

“Sunshine is the best disinfectant.”

President Obama’s appearance yesterday in Baltimore with Republican House members was certainly a stunning event, not least in that it seems to have left some Republicans stunned as to why they allowed it to be televised live.  Obama seized the opportunity to lay out the biggest problem that accompanies demonizing the opposing party—members of opposing [...]

Deborah Alicen | January 30th, 2010 | Continued

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Feature Article #2

Cigna: “That’s just the way it is;” but not if Dawn can help it

Every now and then a bureaucracy finds out that they’ve messed with the wrong person, and now it’s Cigna’s turn to find out they shouldn’t have messed with Dawn Smith.

Deborah Alicen | October 2nd, 2009 | Continued

Feature Article #3

Protect Insurance Companies PSA

MoveOn.org has released a new “insurance company public service announcement” featuring Will Ferrell.  This one competes for top spot along with the Insurance Company Rules video.  Here’s the new one–check it out and then look at the old one for an additional dose of hoot:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Deborah Alicen | September 22nd, 2009 | Continued

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Feature Article #4

Crystal Lee Sutton, “Norma Rae” dies after denied timely care by insurance company

Crystal Lee Sutton, whose labor organizing efforts inspired the movie Norma Rae, died September 11 in North Carolina at age 68.

Deborah Alicen | September 14th, 2009 | Continued

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Feature Article #5

Gang of Six and Battered Woman Syndrome

Why, oh, why, has the Gang of Six–the six Senators working on the Senate Finance Committee’s version of a health insurance reform bill–why on earth, why in heaven’s named, would they do anything (as they have) to accommodate him and his wingnuts?!?

Battered Woman Syndrome.

Deborah Alicen | September 11th, 2009 | Continued

About this Site

I am a scholar activist, organizer, and consultant to businesses, organizations and individuals focused on increasing effectiveness by achieving transparency and accountability in bureaucracies, whether in the public or private sector. Following a first career as a television producer/director, I went back to grad school in psychology and spent 20 years in private practice.
My doctoral [...]

Other Recent Articles

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Heartbreak and horror, knee-jerks and demonizing

Late night channel surfing can lead one into all sorts of unfamiliar territory. It has led me to writing this.

31Aug2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Another corporate snafu–Tracfone false advertising? Updated

I’m not someone who needs all the latest electronic toys. Only once did I do a 30-day trial of an upper tier cell phone plan. All the little extra charges made me faint, so I ditched that for a Tracfone.

1Aug2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Revisiting Australia–Updated

Oh, would that I were getting on a plane to actually fly to Australia! Alas, this is instead a revisiting of the subject of Australia and its bureaucracies.

30Jul2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Catamount Health flub up

Vermont’s Catamount health insurance option is truly a wonderful thing for many people who would otherwise have no health coverage. And I haven’t heard any horror stories about them such as one reads about private insurance companies refusing to pay for medical treatment for people who’ve paid in their premiums faithfully.

29Jul2009 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
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Amazon and 1984–a lovely bit of irony

Here’s one about corporate bureaucracy. You may have seen or heard something about Amazon having angered some owners of Kindle, Amazon’s ebook reader. Amazon deleted copies of George Orwell’s 1984…

28Jul2009 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
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“There’s a dynamic change in people’s views about transparency”

Tim Geithner has apparently been cutting deals with some of the banks that received bail-out funds and which are now posting significant profits. That level of recovery is great news–their profits are up, which means taxpayers’ investment should be receiving a nice return, yes? Um, not so much.

21Jul2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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On the short term, maybe an “enforcement monitor?”

ProPublica writes of extreme problems in California regarding professional regulation of nurses. One option for dealing with the problems is that of installing an “enforcement monitor” in the regulating agency to keep things moving along. The article says the California medical board had once done that for a period of time. Perhaps [...]

15Jul2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Child Protective Services, OPR, and State Ombudsman Office

The first thing the universe presented me with last week was a call from a state senator’s aide, looking for input on how to effect external oversight for CPS. My response, of course, is to create a State Ombudsman office. With a little reminding, the senator remembered that our paths had crossed before, when I testified before the Senate Government Operations Committee against removing a level of appeal in the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR).

13Jul2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Starting again, again…

During this hiatus the bureaucratic stuff has kept right on swinging along, one bit after another after another. Here are a few of the stories I’ve bookmarked, listed in no particular order.

25Jun2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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The new DOJ: Power is as power does

Until people at the DOJ are so committed to justice as to be willing to face the prospect of having their own feet held to the fire in the U.S. justice system, they may as well rename the DOJ to the Department of However Much Justice Is Possible After We’ve Covered Our Own Backsides.

7Mar2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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We really must have transparency and accountability

Having been clear, I hope, in presenting my progressive/liberal credentials, I’ll say that for some things there simply is no middle road. Transparency and accountability are among those things.

President Obama has so far signaled, if not outright opposition, at least considerable foot-dragging when it comes to undoing some of what can be undone of Bush’s legacy, and pursuing accountability for Bushies who may have committed crimes.

18Feb2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Kays Gary on Dorothy Counts: Between MLK and Obama

There weren’t many of us who witnessed the Arkansas National Guard facing down school children, to prevent school integration in Little Rock, who would have imagined we would see an African American president in our lifetime.

19Jan2009 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
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TVA Disaster

Most of my time lately is still spent getting used to my two new knees, but I keep watch on matters bureaucratic when I have the opportunity between the day job and rehab sessions.  Now having the time for a post, I find I do have a problem with deciding which stories to focus on, [...]

13Jan2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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Here’s to things passing as they should…

Ah, I just couldn’t let the end of the year pass without one more post for 2008.  My latest hiatus was on account of my taking the time to get two new knees installed.  Though I didn’t have internet access while in rehab—and wouldn’t have had the brain power to make proper use of it [...]

1Jan2009 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
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The Innocence Project

If you have not acquainted yourself with the Innocence Project, do so now. And by all means, anytime you start feeling as if your situation is really terrible, just give a few minutes thought to what has been endured by those whom the Innocence Project has helped, and what is being endured by those who continue to be wrongly imprisoned.

14Nov2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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