Featured
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
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
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 | Continued
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
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
Unplanned hiatus over!
My primary focus is still paying attention to, and getting reform in, the lower levels of bureaucracies. Those are the non-sexy, non-glamorous, under-the-radar agencies and bureaucrats that I think form the foundations, and the bureaucratic breeding grounds, if you will, that give rise to such egregious bureaucratic abuses as we’ve seen the last eight years.
13Nov2008 | Deborah Alicen | 2 comments | Continued
Open records struggle in Vermont
This week saw a new chapter in open records struggles here in Vermont. The Vermont State Employees Association, the state workers’ union, had requested from the Department of Human Resources emails and other documents relating to Gov. Douglas’ plan to cut 400 jobs from the state’s payrolls. DHR responded with a demand for $1700 to pay for the time DHR staff would have to spend gathering the documents
2Aug2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Insurance Company Rules
Netroots Nation, which recently wrapped up in Austin, TX, is something I really, really hoped to go to, but alas. Good things are popping out of there, however, including this stitch of a video, Insurance Company Rules. It’s from Health Care for America Now!, a grassroots campaign to achieve universal affordable health care. Insurance company bureaucracies [...]
20Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Keith John Sampson’s Apology from IUPUI Chancellor Bantz
This one will also go into the BureaucracyBlog Resource Library as an example of both the importance of standing up to bureaucratic abuse, and the role that publicity plays in rectifying bureaucratic abuse.
14Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Unpacking the last decision: Egregious is as egregious does
If Franz Kafka and Lewis Carroll had provided the raw materials for the fantastical creation of a government office, their results would probably look very much like the Office of Professional Regulation in the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. Last week I posted the latest and last decision in my Kafkaesque journey through the Looking Glass world of the OPR. This week I unpack that decision.
6Jul2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
When the best can’t pull it off…
What is to be done when even the best, most idealistic and well-seasoned elected official, in the country’s most politically progressive state, cannot prevent her staff from abuses of power based on crony-ism and conflict of interest?
Create a State Ombudsman Office.
30Jun2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
The People’s Right To Know – Right Now!
By J.T. “Jerry” Miller
Former Commissioner of Kentucky’s Department of Parks
You are a huge basketball fan. Your team is playing in the tournament finals. You’ve used your hard earned money to buy tickets for your family, not to mention the expensive drinks, popcorn and hot dogs. Now imagine that you and the other fans in the stands have to watch the game through a foggy window. You can’t really see the action, so you have to rely on the P.A. announcer who will give you updates on what’s going on – as he sees it.
23Jun2008 | Jerry | 2 comments | Continued
