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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: bureaucracy

bureaucracy stories: 18 news summaries

 Help Wanted: 
 Fed Govt. 
 Needs 600K 
 New Workers 

270K new hires deemed critical to make up for retirement

Sep 3, 09 11:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The federal government must hire 600,000 people over the next 4 years to balance a wave of retirement and keep pace with President Obama’s ambitions, the Washington Post reports. Nearly half of those positions are considered absolutely essential for agencies to provide their services, a new report states,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • government spending • employment • bureaucracy • Department of Homeland Security • Federal government • job • Obama administration • President Obama • hiring

DC Deficit Fixer: Print on Both Sides of Paper

$102M in painfully obvious cuts shows how outdated gov't is

Jul 29, 09 10:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - A short while ago, President Obama called on his Cabinet to make budget cuts in their departments totaling $100 million. They came up with $102 million, but some of the cuts were so obvious one wonders why it took a presidential edict to elicit them, the Wall Street Journal notes.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
government spending • bureaucracy • savings • budget deficit • Obama administration • President Obama • big government

Little Left for Fiancée of
Fallen Soldier

Unmarried loved ones have no standing, get nothing from Army

May 25, 09 1:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - To the US Army bureaucracy, love means little without a marriage certificate—so the fiancée of a man killed in Iraq was left with nothing other than what his family was willing to part with. Now, the Washington Post reports, Kyle Harper, 27, is trying to forge a path... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • military • marriage • US military • bureaucracy • US Army • soldier • engagement • engagement ring • Iraq war • fiancee • Michael Hullender • Kyle Harper

Ex-CEO, Swift-Boaters Lead Attack on Health Reform

Rick Scott ties Democrats' plans to Canadian, British systems

May 11, 09 7:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - As leading Democrats prepare for a health care overhaul, the loudest opposition isn’t coming from GOP leaders—it’s coming from investor and former hospital CEO Rick Scott, with the help of the team that “Swift-boated” John Kerry, the Washington Post reports. Scott is spending $5 million of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care • bureaucracy • health care reform • campaign • Swift Boating • Rick Scott • Jay-ZTV

 For Bush Veterans, 
 DC Jobs Are Scarce 

Former administration officials find bad economy, overwhelmed job market

Apr 30, 09 9:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Former Bush administration staffers are feeling the economic pinch as acutely as other victims of the sagging economy, Politico reports. GOP job-seekers in Washington face a triple whammy of economic chaos, minority status on Capitol Hill, and an excess of qualified Republicans. “The Washington side is a bit of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • Washington DC • Capitol Hill • bureaucracy • unemployment • job market • congressional aides • Republicans • jobless

Foreclosures Draw Eager Buyers, but Banks Drag Feet

Red tape and bureaucracy hinder efforts to buy repo'd properties

Apr 13, 09 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Bargain hunters are turning to foreclosed homes for deals, but many are finding that buying repossessed properties from banks is a bureaucratic nightmare, the Washington Post reports. Though the housing market cannot stabilize until the unprecedented volume of foreclosures is sold off, banks are sluggish to act and fraught with... More »

MORE ABOUT:
housing market • foreclosure • bureaucracy • housing crisis • repossessions • bureaucratic blunders • financial crisis

 Jargon Not a Best Practice, 
 Brit Bureaucrats Told 

Confusing phrases are keeping people from using services: agency

Mar 18, 09 3:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - This recession requires the British government to drop its jargon and get consensually transparent, er, clear. A government agency frets that people are missing out on services because they don't understand bureaucratic lingo like the following phrases, per Reuters:
  1. Slippage: Why not just admit the delay?
  2. A menu
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
list • British • bureaucracy • English • Britain • irritating phrases

(Newser) - As Hillary Clinton takes over the State Department, it's worth remembering that her train-wreck presidential campaign followed an "audacious 2000 run for Senate" and an excellent record as a legislator, Michael Crowley writes for the New Republic. "The question—not only for Hillary's legacy but for US... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Cabinet • State Department • secretary of State • George Mitchell • bureaucracy • Madeleine Albright • Susan Rice • Obama administration • Dennis Ross • Richard Holbrooke • President Obama • Cabinet secretary • Obama Cabinet • James Steinberg

(Newser) - NASA is abuzz over a satirical video posted on YouTube that takes on the space agency’s innovation-stifling bureaucracy, reports NPR. Written, shot, and edited by astronaut Andrew Thomas and starring NASA employees and contractors, the video tells the fictional story of a young engineer’s frustrating attempts to propose... More »

MORE ABOUT:
NASA • YouTube • video • bureaucracy • innovation

analysis

Obama Fills West Wing With Powerful Czars

Critics warn of collision between Cabinet, top advisers in key jobs

Jan 8, 09 9:58 AM CST
(Newser) - Stories of agencies working on the same projects and not bothering to coordinate dog every presidential administration, but Barack Obama has an ambitious plan to avoid all that: He’s concentrating power over domestic issues in the hands of White House advisers. “It really is a way of him... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • White House • bureaucracy • czar • Tom Daschle • President Obama • Obama Cabinet • Adolfo Carrion • White House Office of Health Reform • Carol Browner • White House Council on Environmental Quality

300 in Limbo as Houston's Last Ike Shelter Closes

Many still wrangling with FEMA, other agencies, blast 'ridiculous lies'

Oct 16, 08 11:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Red Cross will boot nearly 300 Hurricane Ike survivors from its remaining Houston shelter Sunday, the Chronicle reports, leaving them to the care of federal and local agencies some accuse of “ridiculous lies.” The possibility of transitional housing does little for one FEMA reject, who was told... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Houston • bureaucracy • homeless • shelter • FEMA • American Red Cross • Hurricane Ike

OPINION

 Leave Washington Alone! 

DC is unfair target of attacks, 'good place in which to live'

Oct 5, 08 1:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Politicians can make a career out of promising to “change,” “clean up,” “reform,” and “shake up” Washington. And while the District may not completely be a shining city on a hill, it’s doing just fine, thank you, Leonard Downie writes in a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • Washington DC • bureaucracy • public sector • private sector

Girl's Death Moves Philly Mayor to
Tears, Fury

Suspends 7 in uproar over starved teen

Aug 5, 08 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Philly mayor Michael Nutter was visibly enraged today as he announced the suspension of seven city social workers who failed to prevent the starving death of a young girl, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Nutter was responding to a grand jury report that found the negligence of caseworkers abetted Danieal Kelly’... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Health and Human Services • bureaucracy • starvation • Philadelphia • child neglect • Michael Nutter • city government • Danieal Kelly

Census Bureau Downgrades Back to Paper

Hand-held computers won't be ready for 2010; count's costs rise

Apr 3, 08 6:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - The 2010 US census was meant to be a high-tech affair, NextGov.com reports, but the Census Bureau today ditched plans to use hand-held computers. The agency will return to plain old paper after "a lack of effective communication" derailed efforts by Harris Corp. to come up with devices... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • Census Bureau • bureaucracy • US Census • Carlos Gutierrez • bureaucratic blunders • Harris Corp. • hand-held computers

Government Typos 'Kill' Thousands

People very much alive struggle to convince Social Security they're alive

Mar 1, 08 9:08 AM CST
(Newser) - It's not easy being dead—just ask Laura Todd. The Tennessee woman is one of an estimated 12,000 people a year the government declares dead—often because of a typo in the Social Security database—when they're still very much alive, MSNBC reports. The error can create a financial... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Medicaid • government • bureaucracy • death • database • Social Security • red tape

Immigrants Facing Epic Citizenship Delays

Rush to beat fee hike has wait at 18 months

Jan 25, 08 5:40 PM CST
(Newser) - Over one million immigrants will have to wait up to 18 months before become US citizens due to a massive bureaucratic backlog nationwide. Applications surged last summer ahead of a fee increase of nearly 75%, the Boston Globe reports, helping create the paper jam. Before the increase, the average immigrant... More »

MORE ABOUT:
immigration • immigration reform • citizenship • Citizenship and Immigration Services • bureaucracy • Election 2008

Pentagon Destroys
Surplus Goods

Surplus dealers angry at scope of gear purge

Jul 23, 07 2:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Pentagon is scrapping millions of dollars of gear it has traditionally resold to surplus dealers, Time reports. The army claims that sorting passels of helmets, boots, and sleeping bags is too onerous, while suppliers are concerned the move is the vestige of an effort to keep old jet parts... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • Pentagon • fighter jet • helmets • bureaucracy • US Army • surplus • army supplies

(Newser) - George Packer traveled the world from Baghdad to Malmo to Damascus to talk to the Iraqis, mostly young,  who have served the American military as interpreters, intelligence gathers and local experts.  He finds a disillusioned group of once pro-American Iraqis betrayed by mistrust, bureaucratic indifference, and outright lack... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • military • America • stress • bureaucracy • troop withdrawal • US Army • PTSD

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