Archive for the Bureaucracy Category

Ebola: The Halcyon Days Of The Panic-demic In A “Peak” Health Care-less System (October 13, 2014)

Posted in Book Reference, Bureaucracy, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Ebola, Health Care, Military, Pogo Plight, Population, Privacy, Public Health on October 13, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “Who can you trust?  Events are moving so quickly.  Fraud and deception work effectively in finance and politics, but Mother Nature is indifferent to and immune from the shenanigans and machinations of mortals.”

2          “The government and the public are still mired at Stage 1.  The government is denying the threat because it has no plan.  The public is denying the threat because it has no idea.”

1          “I am collecting the quotations of the major players to document the response in real time.  Dr. Frieden with the CDCE and Dr. Fauci with NIAID/NIH are not prepared and have not been candid.  A test patient, Dr. Nancy Snyderman with NBC, agrees to a voluntary quarantine and then brazenly violates the quarantine, refuses to accept responsibility and escapes accountability.”

2          “We as a society need to move through the stages from denial to anger to bargaining to depression to acceptance of a plan more quickly than the virus is moving.”

1          “The health care-less system will peak after it fills the nineteen available beds.”

. . .

2          “Easy to say that everything reasonable must be done to contain and eliminate the menace in West Africa.”

. . .

2          “Viewers of Fox tv are yelling at the tube for the government to do something.  The Republicans who advertise on the network cut funding to the CDCE and other programs.”

1          “If the Democrats had provided an additional five billion dollars in funding to the CDCE, what would have happened?”

2          “The CDCE would have lobbied for another five billion dollars.”

1          “Or ten.  And yet the Democrats cut funding, as if any amount of funding matters.  Some researcher who sent repeated e-mails to those in power warning of the dangers of Ebola is not happy.”

2          “I can forward some of the e-mails.”

. . .

2          “A communicable disease is communicated by public transportation.  Even if the disease is not transmitted at this time via air, the public is transmitted via air.  Ebola is small enough to fit in a ‘carry on’ bag.  Ebola will hitchhike and stow away.  Air travel must be purposefully restricted.  Restrictions are costly, but the costs of limiting air travel must be weighed against the costs of not limiting air travel.”

1          “All costs should be calculated.  We need to address the resulting deprivations of privacy and limitations on constitutional rights before the public is too terrified to think.”

. . .

2          “One of the bench marks will be bleach sales.”

1          “Or overflow patients camping in tents in parking lots.”

. . .

1          “The female RNs are underpaid to do the work while the male MBAs who make the decisions take almost all the profits.  The RNs are underpaid to care for the sick and the dying and are not paid anything to get sick and to die in the process.  When a nurse is called in to care for someone sick with Ebola at an institution unprepared for the challenge, she or he should in good conscience call in sick.”

2          “She or he will get there and then be blamed for the negligence of the hospital.”

1          “The American military personnel being deployed to Africa are not being provided combat pay.  The ‘charge of the blight brigade’ should occasion charges against those giving the orders.”

2          “No one gets it.”

1          “Everyone will get it unless all of us get it.”

. . .

[See http://prosperouswaydown.com/category/subtopics/healthcare-subsystems/ebola-healthcare-subsystems/  Five stages of grief and five stages of collapse in a dire scenario.  http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2014/10/ebola-and-five-stages-of-collapse.html#more.  Consider Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Be clean

Get a flu shot

Wash your hands

Take your kids to the park

Prepare to hunker down

Be calm and panic (but do so with poise and dignity)

Go East, Young Person (August 25, 2014)

Posted in Bureaucracy, Collapse, Education, Military on August 25, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “Horace Greeley advised the young man to go West seeking land and opportunity.  Today the sage advice is to leave the sagebrush and go East.  All the power and all the money is absorbed and consumed by the contemporary Rome, the black hole known as Washington.  Most of the remaining high paying jobs with pensions and health care are at the epicenter of the Empire.”

B          “Town after town after town after town after town after town are now vacant shells with breathing zombies struggling to survive the day.  Those with limited schooling have no recourse except to enroll in the military and fight resource wars for the bankers.  Those with the chance to get some schooling flee and enlist in some institution of higher learning to get certified and credentialed.  They might get a gig with a corporation, yet they will not get a pension or many other benefits.”

A          “I advise kids who have the connections, the moxie and some good luck to get a plum job with the federal government and ride it out.”

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

The violin is more sonorous and the fires distant

In Memoriam (May 26, 2014)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Book Reference, Bureaucracy, Hypocrisy, Kleptocracy, Military, War on May 26, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “Fly the flag, fight to allow others to burn theirs, and campaign to prevent unwilling and unwitting lads and lasses from fighting for the entertainment and economic advancement of those in power.”

B          “And read the most insightful work on the underlying reasons that those in power take the powerless to war in the poem War Is A Racket by someone who understood war.  General Smedley Darlington Butler was a United States Marine Corps major general which by the way was the highest rank authorized at that time.  At the time of his death, he was the most decorated Marine in United States history.”

A          “Decorated is a curious description.  He knew his stuff.  Take the book to the beach.  Take it to head.  Take it to heart.”

B          “Take it to the class room.  And put it on required reading list next fall in the schools.”

A          “What about All Quiet On The Western Front?”

B          “Put them both on the list.  Remarque remarked on the absurdity and futility of the killing enterprise, whereas Butler served up the explanation front and center.  Follow the money.”

. . .

B          “They would not need to neglect as many veterans if they did not create and break so many of them.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Dissent is patriotic

Butler and Eisenhower said it all

Going Postal: The Postal Service (June 27, 2011)

Posted in Bureaucracy, Pogo Plight, Postal Service on June 27, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C          “Let me get this right.  Because the recipient’s address states both the street address and the post office box number, one of your colleagues sent the letter back to me the sender as undeliverable?”

B          “You can pick the street address or the post office box number, but you can’t pick both.”

C          “It was clear where the letter should be delivered.  The address is a belt and suspenders way to assure delivery.  Or try to assure delivery.”

B          “There were two addresses.”

C          “Both are accurate.  Pick an address, but deliver it in a timely manner.”

B          “We don’t pick an address.  We returned it to the return address.”

C          “Which included both my street address and the post office box number.  You picked an address and returned it.”

B          “We had to return it.”

C          “You are obligated to deliver it.  That is the law.  Those who use the Postal Service are using it as a last resort.  Sounds like there is a willful effort to find an excuse not to deliver a letter and force the sender to pay postage and try again.  The practice may allow the Postal Service to generate more Benjamin Franklins, but that is not what Benjamin Franklin envisioned.  Was this business plan created by an American-trained MBA?”

B          “Who knows.”

C          “What if the return address instead had been the address of the intended recipient and included both the street address and the post office box number?”

B          “We would pick one address and return the letter.”

C          “So it would have gotten to the intended recipient.”

B          “Rules are rules.”

C          “Thus, the one way to guarantee that the letter arrives is to put the recipient’s name in the return address in the upper left corner with both the street address and the post box number . . . address it to yourself with both the street address and the post box number . . . and then to clinch the deal one should avoid putting any postage on it?”

B          “That will work.  Every effort will be made to deliver the letter to the return address.”

C          “If it works for the Postal Service, it should work for me.  . . .  I guess.”

. . .

C          “The office moved next door.  The arrow on the office sign now points to the right rather than to the left.  The name is unique.  No one could miss it.”

B          “The forwarding order has expired.”

C          “So.”

B          “If there is no forwarding order, then the mail cannot be forwarded.  It’s an order.”

C          “Timely receipt of the mail is absolutely critical.  As it is, the letters are returned to the sender who may not make another effort to resend them.  One sender suspected that something was not right and just happened to think to call and inquire further.”

B          “Deliver another forwarding order.”

C          “There is no need to enter another forwarding order unless an order to cease forwarding is delivered.  The forwarding order on line requires payment of a dollar for no good reason.  The mail simply should be delivered.” 

B          “Rules are rules.”

C          “But what are the rules?”

. . .

C          “You charge more because the letter is too fat?”

B         “It’s too wide.  See, it does not fit in this opening.”

C          “Shouldn’t the freight be akin to cereal which is sold by weight not volume.  It is just paper that will be flattened when it is stacked with other mail.”

B          “Rules are rules.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Going Postal

Deliver the mail

A functioning postal system is fundamental to a well-ordered society.

Postal Customer:  Dear Valued Customer:  I am writing to ask you to share your experiences with the United States Postal Service (USPS) and let us know how well we have been serving you.  Please take a few minutes to answer this survey.  . . .  If you would rather complete this survey online, please . . . .

“Needs new postage to remail.  When mailing remove label affix postage and remail.”

Postal Customer:  Dear Valued Customer:   Last week we sent you a survey about how well the U.S. Postal Service is meeting your mailing needs and expectations.  I hope you chose to accept our invitation to participate. . . .

Officious B-crats. Made In The U.S.A. (June 6, 2011)

Posted in Bureaucracy, Courts, Movie Reference, Pensions, Pogo Plight, Society on June 6, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

[0911 hours]

B          “You shall punch two holes at the top of the pleading.”

C          “What if you receive a pleading without two holes punched at the top of the pleading?”

B          “We reject it.”

C          “Even if it is a Motion For Stay Of Execution?”

B          “Don’t care if it’s not right.  Rules are rules.”

C          “I’m not talking about a stay of execution of a foreclose of a debt involving a fork lift, I’m talking about a stay of execution of a person.”

B          “Don’t care if it’s not right.  Rules are rules.  That is why they are rules.  Rules rule.  Two holes punched at the top of the pleading.”

. . .

[0937 hours]

C          “Do you know where the Recorder’s Office is located?”

B          “Do I look like a receptionist?  No, I don’t look like a receptionist.  I don’t look like a receptionist because I’m not a receptionist.  Do I really look like a receptionist?”

C          “You look like a person.  You look like a person receiving a pay chcck from the government.  You look like a person who might know which agencies are in the building.”

B          “Ask the receptionist.”

C          “Where do I find the receptionist?”

B          “There is no receptionist.  We don’t have a receptionist.  I don’t know where the Recorder’s Office is located.”

. . .

[0942 hours]

B          “We don’t record documents with two holes punched at the top of the pleading.  Period.”

C          “The court required two holes to be punched at the top of the pleading.”

B          “Don’t care if it’s not right.  There are rules.”

C          “I can’t remove the holes.  The statute says that every properly signed and notarized document ‘shall’ be recorded.  ‘Shall’ is a mandatory verb.  That wording actually makes life easier for all of us.”

B          “It’s discretionary around here.”

C          “Now today is a Tuesday.  On Tuesdays, some supervisors exercise discretion and record a document even if it has court-ordered holes in it.”

B          “Well, it is in fact Tuesday, we can make an exception this time and follow the statute, if you insist.”

. . .

[“Now the hired help is taking home regular paychecks.  I don’t.  The hired help has generous health care.  I don’t.  The hired help has been promised that they will receive a defined benefit retirement plan until they depart this planet.  I won’t.  The response of the ‘receptionist’ is not dictated by some absurd official policy.  And here on the wall near his office is a sign noting that the Recorder’s Office is down the hall to the left.  He may be a private sector contract employee who suspects that the contractor who may file bankruptcy to shed any financial obligations, yet he is receiving a regular paycheck.  Not far below the surface, Americans are angry, bitter, raging, frustrated and percolating.  Seems that some are working, although something is not working.”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Hold it [the chicken] between your knees.”  Jack Nicholson / Robert “Bobby” Eroica Dupea in “Five Easy Pieces” (1970) (With a little finesse, he could have gotten the toast without anyone getting toasted.)   

Tear, fold, spindle and mutilate