Archive for May, 2008
Another International Update–Nepal
A couple of months ago I ran a story about the promotion of ethics in civil service in Nepal. It appears we can look for that to continue following the abolishment of the monarchy and the nation having been declared a democratic republic. I am far away from an expert on Nepalese politics, but as [...]
29May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Rudd and bureaucrats again…
Kevin Rudd‘s administration in Australia is going to continue to be of interest here because of his background as a bureaucrat, and his apparent dedication to bureaucracies that well serve the public. The operative word there is “apparent.” Time will tell the story, of course, but there’s a news item today–or technically, tomorrow, given that [...]
28May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
My Memorial Day Weekend
I suppose I spent the Memorial Day Weekend much as many people did. I mostly did yard work, planting flowers and cleaning up the detritus that gathers in a yard over a winter. I talked with neighbors who were walking their dogs or pushing a stroller with a studious little face peeking out from its [...]
27May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
You 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 | Continued
“A rising tide raises all boats.”
Every community needs a Jayme Wilson. He’s being honored tonight as Humanitarian of the Year in San Pedro, CA. Mr. Wilson went from attorney to business man and community leader, and has demonstrated top notch leadership in the San Pedro area. Consider this from today’s DailyBreeze.com story: Navigating sometimes rough waters between community factions and [...]
21May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Some of those stories I was talking about…
Marian Wright Edelman, president of The Children’s Defense Fund, writes on today’s Huffington Post about the importance of a Congressional bureaucratic remedy to the crisis affecting tens of thousands of the nation’s youth who are locked away in detention centers, where they are suffering extensively from physical and sexual abuse. At issue is the Prison [...]
20May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
On “Transparency and democracy”
There’s a very good op-ed piece in today’s Louisville Courier-Journal by J.T. “Jerry” Miller, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Parks under Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Miller does a terrific job of articulating the need for transparency that transcends partisanship, as all of us of whatever political stripe are entitled to know what our government does [...]
19May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Dumbledore he’s not. (Or, proof of the man’s innocence…)
Albus Dumbledore, and presumably none less than Harry Potter, too, could certainly stir up a real full-sized tempest in a teapot, but I’m not at all sure they could have succeeded better than the Pasco County, Florida, bureaucrats who have sent substitute teacher Jim Piculas packing because he performed an innocuous little magic trick in [...]
18May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
PrawfsBlawg asks: What do bureaucrats want?
Stumbled across an entry posted by Rick Hills earlier today on PrawfsBlawg that asks, “What do bureaucrats want?” In brief, he notes that academics—particularly “economically oriented ones”—seem to assume that bureaucrats are primarily after power, and he questions that assumption. I agree with him. I don’t think bureaucrats are always after power, or even that [...]
15May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
“It takes longer to learn less…” Canadian Conservatives’ Growing Opacity
Today’s Toronto Star features a national affairs column by James Travers that’s all about the growing opacity in Canada’s government, which owes, not surprisingly, to Conservatives who campaigned on promises of openness. Oh, so much of that have we seen this side of the border—calling something the opposite of what it actually is. Here’s Travers’ [...]
13May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Another Textbook Case of Bureaucratic Insanity
Someone saw “KKK” in the title and jumped to the conclusion that Mr. Sampson was a supporter of the KKK, and filed a complaint against him with his university’s Affirmative Action Office, alleging that his reading the book in the break room constituted racial harassment.
12May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Oh, the challenges of setting up good bureaucracies…
This situation touches on deficient personal ethics of the officers who milked the system, but the flaw they exploited appears to have been an innocent one. That’s different from corrupt government officials intentionally setting things up (e.g. “no bid contracts”) so as to benefit themselves and their cronies, as we have seen so often during the Bush administration.
8May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Bureaucrats and Billboards
I was still living in North Carolina and under the age of majority when one evening at dinner Dad waxed eloquent and enthusiastic after meeting Vermont’s Governor Phil Hoff, and also about what had just happened in Vermont. The event of note was the ban of billboards in Vermont, preserving open scenic views along Vermont’s [...]
7May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Lots of ‘He said–He said’ in Missouri’s Open Records Mess
Last month I ran a little item about the situation in Missouri, and since then it has expanded into a “he said—he said” mess of grand proportions. Governor Matt Blunt has his hands full, as does MO’s Attorney General, Jay Nixon. There are bunches more people involved, however, with lawsuits developing so quickly one would [...]
6May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
From 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
Australia’s New PM Puts Major Focus on Bureaucratic Reform
I would suggest, however, that while we prefer our bureaucracies not be ideologically driven in the way the Bush administration departments have been politicized, advancing the idea of policies and processes that are responsive to their constituencies, as Rudd seems to have done, is expressive of an ideal, and in that way is putting forth a non-partisan ideology. Lacking a clear partisan ideology doesn’t mean that he’s “lacking ideology” altogether.
4May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | 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 | Continued
Caught on Tape– “Counterintelligence Woman!”
Gosh golly gee whiz. Here I am, a bare six months into this blog and already I’ve succumbed to leading with a sensationalistic and inaccurate headline. My bad. So here’s the clarification. “Counterintelligence woman” (explanation here) wasn’t actually, literally caught on tape. But a story about her and the problems she caused certainly was caught [...]
2May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
The Innocence Project
I’ve taken myself to The Innocence Project website a few times, intending to write something about it here at some point. Yesterday’s release of James Woodard from a Texas prison sets a good point. May it be repeated as many times as there are innocent incarcerated people, and as quickly as possible. Mr. Woodard’s story [...]
1May2008 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
