Archive for February, 2008
“Pure, vindictive, political thuggery:” A New Tale of Vermont Politics
Green Mountain Daily just added this post about Burlington’s Intervale having lost a major battle to stay in operation and continue providing its many benefits to the community and state. Granted that there were problems with composting in the Intervale, but the responsible parties were willing to, well, be responsible, and make whatever changes were [...]
28Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
A Case in Point
In my 11/24/07 inaugural post on this blog, I wrote the following: I have seen state bureaucrats possessed of as much ineptitude and malice as anyone in the Bush administration, and what I’ve seen has convinced me that we’ve wound up with something as bad as our present corrupt government because of our acceptance of [...]
27Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
The Age of Transparency Arrives in East Tennessee
Here’s a very heartening story the AP is running today, about Knox County, Tennessee, where voters are effectively sweeping out the old county bureaucracy and instituting transparent processes where cronyism long held sway. By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 26, 5:50 AM ET KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Maybe it was the expensive lobster lunch. [...]
26Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Which 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 | Continued
US Court Strikes a Blow against Transparency
I’m posting this on the fly—click the link for the complete article. BBC NEWS | Technology | Whistle-blower site taken offline A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US.
19Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Biden & 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
VoteVets.org Presses for Hearings about Military Bureaucratic Mess
VoteVets.org recently launched a petition drive to get Congressional hearings into why a manufacturer of helmets who was being sued for shoddy work was awarded a new, huge contract to produce more helmets for troops in Iraq. Since launching the drive, the story came to light about military bureaucrats’ “gross mismanagement” being responsible for hundreds [...]
18Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Proposing Professional Adjudicative Standards
As evident in several previous posts, the approach I’m taking to address the problem of incompetent and conflict-of-interest ridden bureaucracies is to seek legislative remedies. I have recently had exchanges with colleagues who are taking different approaches to the same kind of problem. One aims to develop a coaching/mentoring network to help people who are [...]
17Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Bureaucrats’ “Gross Mismanagement” Blamed For Hundreds Of Marines’ Deaths – Politics on The Huffington Post
Granted that Mr. Miranda, as cited in a recent post, had an axe to grind in his scathing memo about State Department bureaucrats being leaked (see the backstory section of that post), but I think it’s notable that two major stories barely more than a week apart point specifically to bureaucrats as the source of so much waste of life and resources.
16Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
A New Trend in Church Accountability
The AP reports today on several new graduate programs being offered by colleges and universities in church management. Masters’ programs have been launched at Duquesne University and Boston College, and Villanova University will start a program this summer. The programs will cover areas such as management of personnel, finances, and all aspects of church business. [...]
12Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Not So Common Sense and Vermont State Laws
On the one hand, we do not want every detail legislated, but neither can we fail to specify “common sense” behavior when people who should know better repeatedly fail to act that way.
10Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
“We have brought to Iraq the worst of America — our bureaucrats”
“We have brought to Iraq the worst of America — our bureaucrats…” So says veteran Republican operative Manuel Miranda, as reported in this story from ABC News. In what ABC News terms a “confidential memo,” Miranda also says that the there are “scores” of his counterparts in Iraq who share the same opinions, “each from [...]
8Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Jennifer Nix: A Little Sunlight Please: The Super-Delegate Transparency Project – Politics on The Huffington Post
Can the Age of Transparency finally be dawning? Welcome the Super-Delegate Transparency Project: From Jennifer Nix: A Little Sunlight Please: The Super-Delegate Transparency Project – Politics on The Huffington Post: Super-delegates should vote according to the will of the people-the popular vote — whether Clinton won that district or state, or whether they fall into the [...]
8Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
CIA Destroyed Tapes As Judge Sought Interrogation Data – Politics on The Huffington Post
Here’s the lead of a HuffPo piece today, that links to a couple of more detailed articles very worth reading, but once again a situation that should incite tons of attention which will likely soon fall off the radar of whatever few have noticed it so far: The New York Times reports this morning that according [...]
7Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Of Ombudsmen, Freedom of Information Act, Conflict of Interest, and Bush
This certainly does not come as a surprise. From a recent AP story on WTOPnews.com: WASHINGTON (AP) – A Senate committee chairman accused the Bush administration on Monday of undercutting open government with a budget proposal that would have the Justice Department oversee a new office devoted to promoting greater freedom of information. Open government [...]
6Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Kays Gary Columns Available Here
A couple of weeks ago, when I wrote a post about the PBS program on Sargent Shriver, I made reference to my Dad, the late Charlotte Observer columnist Kays Gary, and went looking online for some of his writing to link to. I didn’t find much, which was a little bit of a surprise since [...]
4Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Henry Waxman on Bill Moyers This Week
Rep. Henry Waxman has to be one of the greatest public servants in the history of the country. The man has been an unrelenting voice for accountability in government for decades. He was on Bill Moyers Journal this week, talking about a number of egregious federal cases in which accountability is lacking. The two most [...]
3Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
HUGE Instance of Government Protecting Itself from Prosecution
“Gross incompetence.” That, and malice, inevitably take root in any system where accountability is lacking. Granted that governments can’t set themselves up to be sued out of existence in on fell swoop (or even one swell foop, as my mama used to say), but we are in desperate need of increased accountability in this country.
1Feb2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
