Happy new year. Same as last year.

[theweaselking]

"The CIA has stuck with its overall approaches, defending and in some cases refining them. The agency is working to establish procedures in the event a prisoner dies in custody. One proposal circulating among mid-level officers calls for rushing in a CIA pathologist to perform an autopsy and then quickly burning the body, according to two sources."

Also,
Having solved all their own credibility and competence issues, Republicans to investigate the Red Cross to ensure it's being run well.

The multibillion-dollar charity has come under increasing scrutiny from Congress in the past three months because of what many regard as its stumbling performance after Hurricane Katrina and because of its rapid turnover in leadership.

iocaste puts it best: "You know, Chuck, if you have a problem with the way the Red Cross operates, I have a suggestion: Maybe large-scale disaster relief in this country should not be the responsibility of private, volunteer, charitable organizations? What do you think? You've got to admit, there's something there."

Comments

[psychojediboy.livejournal.com]

Those idiots will probably appoint Mike Brown to run the investigation.

Maybe large-scale disaster relief should be run by people with a CLUE

[demongrrrrl.livejournal.com]

Maybe if some of the high-priced fancy-assed consultants brought in to "opine" about the Red Cross ever actually TALKED to the people who WORK there (and not just management staff at HQ in DC), they'd get a clue.

It would be a lot simpler to run the organization IF THEY ACTUALLY KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION THEY ARE TRYING TO RUN. You know - maybe actually have spent some TIME dealing with REAL people who have REAL issues? This would be instead of sitting in the white marble palace on Red Cross Square, sticking their heads up their own asses.

I can tell you right now what the Republicans will find: "Poor leadership that can only be solved by replacing all senior management staff, bringing a vital atmosphere of change." Probably the phrase "customer-focused" will be in the recommendations somewhere. It's always about the customer. Nobody ever gives a shit about the staff who are busting their asses out in the field.

There should not be an "us vs. them" mentality between the headquarters staff and the people in the field who actually do the work. But it's very much there. This is true in the Red Cross and probably in the Federal Government (like FEMA) too.