Federal Bureaucracy
More moves toward transparency and accountability
So the news is still full of bad stuff, but I detect a change in people’s reactions to the bad stuff, in that calls for transparency and accountability keep mounting.
15Jun2010 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedThe reason why Justice hasn’t acted on Siegelman?
Here’s that one little piece of information that starts dispersing the fog around the matter of Justice’s inaction: the involvement of someone very close to Attorney General Eric Holder.
20May2010 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
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.
11Sep2009 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued“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
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
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 | ContinuedTVA 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
Patent Failure: New book addresses bureaucracy’s suppression of innovation
Not a long post today, but a good one. There is a terrific review from the Ars Technica website of a new book: Patent Failure:How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk.
16Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Getting the approval of 15 different agencies
The Gulf Port, MS, Sun Herald reports today on both the problems and progress of the Missisippi Development Authority (MDA) in its post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. Officials from the Mississippi Development Authority paint a picture of vital Hurricane Katrina-relief projects still snared in federal bureaucracy almost three years after the storm. But members of the MDA [...]
12Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued“Incredibly quick response for a governmental institution…”
A nod to yesterday’s Progress Report for pointing me to this Washington Times story. It’s about veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) being given the drug Chantrix in a Veterans Administration study about smoking cessation. Chantrix has a record of causing or exacerbating mental instability, and someone somewhere had to be nuts (to use the [...]
18Jun2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedYou know you’ve lost control when…
Here’s a hoot: it appears some one or more State Department career-types—meaning non-Bushies—have been having a bit of fun in the State Department hallways. This is from the blog Nukes & Spooks: Outside the State Department ‘s press briefing room on the department’s 2nd floor hang large official photos of Bush, Rice and Vice President [...]
23May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 2 comments | ContinuedFrom SNAFU-ed …. Situation Normal: Medical Marijuana User Dies After Being Denied Transplant
Here’s one for your daily dose of bitter gall: SNAFU-ed …. Situation Normal: Medical Marijuana User Dies After Being Denied Transplant Timothy Garon, 56, died Thursday at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center. He was denied a spot on the transplant list primarily because he used medical marijuana to ease the symptoms of hepatitis-C. [...]
5May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Thumbs Up to Oak Lawn Bureaucrats, Thumbs Down to Illinois State Bureaucrats
This is just too typical, funny and sad all at the same time. Town ends comical ‘Stop’ signs like ‘Stop! In the Name of Love’ 1 day ago OAK LAWN, Ill. (AP) — Oak Lawn has removed comical remarks in octagonal shapes it placed under stop signs in an effort to get motorists to obey [...]
3May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedBureaucracies at Their Worst: Governmental, Corporate, and Organizational
In all cases, there are features in the structure of the bureaucracies that have allowed this turning of responsibility inside-out, such that the government, business or organization operates 180° out of phase with its stated principles and mission. The question becomes: how can bureaucracies be structured differently to prevent that 180° shift?
20Apr2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedCatching Up
Recovery from knee surgery is going really well, but it has set me back on posting here, which is a tad frustrating with so many relevant things going on. This post will consist of snippets and links to a few of those stories. Beginning with last week, there was the story about federal bureaucrats spending [...]
16Apr2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Broken FDA and Thoughts of Stakeholder Governance
I can’t help but wonder, though, if there might be a better, less adversarial model that might work–something that involves stakeholder organizations being in active dialogue throughout each phase of both policing and regulatory functions.
7Apr2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedSunshine and other updates…
Sunshine, sunshine everywhere? Ah, were it only true—even the sort that one of these days will melt the snow in my yard and draw toward it the sharp green shoots of daffodils and tulips. As for political sunshine: I’ve refrained thus far from joining the fray about former Gov. Spitzer, which all came about shortly [...]
18Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedI couldn’t have said it better…
I couldn’t have said it better, and actually I have been thinking about a post along these lines lately, so I’ll let the Philippines’ former Civil Service Commission chair say it for me: ABS-CBN Interactive A professional bureaucracy is the best defense against graft and corruption in government, former Civil Service Commission chair Karina David [...]
3Mar2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedWhich bureaucracy flubbed the records search? US rendition flights stopped on UK soil
Today’s GuardianAmerica carries a story about US flights on “extraordinary rendition” missions—i.e. transporting terrorist suspects to and from secret prisons where “enhanced interrogation,” aka torture, was used—that had twice landed on British soil. Tony Blair’s government had assured Britons that no such flights had ever landed on British soil, that Britain had not participated in the US [...]
21Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | ContinuedBiden & Bond Going in the Right Direction
I had barely finished my last post when I found this: Biden, Bond Seek Probe of Vehicle Delay 2008-02-18 19:49:46 WASHINGTON (AP) — Two senators are urging the Pentagon to investigate a Marine Corps report that bureaucrats refused an urgent request from battlefield commanders in 2005 for blast-resistant vehicles. “We need an official investigation to [...]
18Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
