Adventures in Bureaucracy

Saturday, February 28, 2004

Observations from a first-time visitor to Prague. Odd how EVERYONE seems to comment on the taxi drivers.

¶ 09:14

More complaints about Homeland Security. More duties that I'm glad I don't have to deal with in my section.

¶ 09:12

A Northern Virginian has some words about the latest Metro scandal. I think most people in the Washington area take some degree of pride in the Metrorail system - one of my co-workers from the outer suburbs was even going to take his kids into town on it because they were looking forward to the ride! - but stories like this help erode the general goodwill.

¶ 09:02

The Washington Post has an interesting account of the Taliban regime from someone who was part of it. Waheed Mojda, an officer in the Taliban's Foreign Ministry who is now an aid to the Afghan Supreme Court, has written a first-person account of how Afghanistan was run.

One interesting observation:
"So many Taliban officials were war cripples, missing eyes or limbs, that Mojda said he developed a theory about repressive rule as a form of physical revenge. Omar, who had one eye, enjoyed absolute power as the movement's chosen emir, yet he resorted to 'dreams and auguries' and was often unreachable when major decisions had to be made."

Some of the problems could happen with any large organization, although the Taliban seems to have taken things to an extreme:
"The Taliban's obsessions with religious litmus tests and personal loyalty repeatedly undermined its administrative competence, according to Mojda. The ability to 'recite verses from the Koran beautifully' was enough to obtain senior administrative posts, while transferred officials took along large coteries of followers, known as 'andivalis,' forcing agencies to start from scratch. "

Andivalis... I'll have to remember that term when the next re-organization comes along.

¶ 08:18

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

The best words to describe this came from Bill the Cat: "ACK! THPHT!"

¶ 20:42

Sunday, February 22, 2004

And speaking of Belgium, I hadn't heard anything like this before. Although now that I think about it, there rarely seems to be news about peace-keeping missions after they go into whichever country is falling apart at the time. Odd how Iraq is under the microscope when there's hardly ever news on the current U.N. operations in places like Kosovo, Georgia, Sierra Leone, Liberia or the Congo.

¶ 23:15

Two insults for the price of one!

"Brussels is the Skywalker Ranch of European politics, full of money and equipment, but empty of vision and imagination for more than a decade now."

Ouch.

¶ 22:49

Friday, February 20, 2004

Another one for the "Who could have seen that one coming?" files.

¶ 07:57

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Oops. I upgraded my browser to the latest version of Internet Explorer, which is like putting up a sign saying "WELCOME VIRUSES AND WORMS!" In the process I managed to wipe clean my entire e-mail account, address book and all. And since the upgrade, Freecell has gone all screwy. Who saw that coming? It's that sort of unintended consequence that makes me leery of genetic engineering. Who knows what can happen with a little DNA upgrade?

¶ 21:12

Sunday, February 08, 2004

I stopped in for a nosh at a Sbarro's and got a Britney Spears CD. That can't be a good sign for her career. Next stop: a VH1 "Where Are They Now?" special.

¶ 21:40

Thursday, February 05, 2004

This is just appalling. What kind of a person would do something like that?

¶ 19:32

Monday, February 02, 2004

Like we didn't see this one coming.

¶ 08:12