A Lone Voice in the Wilderness

I must be one of the very few Americans who saw merit in the 1099 provision.  Sadly, Congress has now repealed it, so tax evasion continues.

How Bureaucrats Act

On the military theme, this Post article shows even Army lifers don't get and follow the message.  A brigade commander refused to follow the counterinsurgency doctrine associated with Gen. Petraeus and instead used the "search and destroy" doctrine associated, in my mind at least, with Gen. Westmoreland and Vietnam.

And Joel Achenbach of the Post, who has a book out on the BP well disaster, writes of learning, or relearning:

One thing I learned doing my book reasearch is that people don’t actually read reports. They don’t read their emails and they are not always in the loop. The one fella over here doesn’t know what the fella over there knows. If I were in charge of things, I’d make sure that any really critical piece of information was posted in the elevators and bathrooms.

You have to remember that people don’t behave the way they are supposed to behave. More generally, executives and managers and decision-makers need to remember that the military truism about battle plans (they don’t survive contact with the enemy) is true of most things in life. A plan is a good thing to have, to be sure, but you have to accept the fact that it will be abandoned in crunch time (and later mocked in the media).

A Haircut and Morality: Vietnam and Daily Life

Got my hair cut today.  Two old self-proclaimed Nam vets were bloviating (I've a strong memory of sitting around the tent and talking about the old f--ts who talked big at the VFW or Legion post; we agreed we'd never do that.)  One was boasting about the number of water buffaloes "they'd" shot.

Then I read this great post at The Best Defense. Mr. Ricks has a quotation from a contributor to a book on My Lai: Evil doesn't come like Darth Vader dressed in black, hissing. Evil comes as a little bird whispering in your ear: 'Think about your career. I'm not sure what's going on. We'll muddle through for the next couple of hours. We'll get over the hill, and we'll go on. I mean, after all, I can't call people in and admit that I can't control, I can't do some other thing.' In my judgment, the evil comes from that point of view.

After hearing the vets, I might just quarrel with the quote: evil really comes as a narrower and narrower focus on the nearby, so there's no awareness of a moral issue at all.  As in, was it right to kill someone's property and means of livelihood; did it advance the idea of winning the" hearts and minds." 

Ryan's View

Apparently, according to Chris Clayton, Rep. Ryan's budget plan would require a cut in farm programs by reforms in the 2012 farm bill.

In his plan, "The Path to Prosperity," Ryan stated that farmers appear to be doing well, and could manage if Congress were to "reduce the fixed payments that go to farmers irrespective of price levels." Further, agriculture needs "reform the open-ended nature of the government’s support for crop insurance."

A Convocation of Swineherds

We never raised pigs on the farm, so why I follow three blogs of hog farmers, which somehow sounds better than swineherds, I don't know. I'd like to eavesdrop on a meeting of Walt Jeffries, Bob Comios, and the Stonehead  where they compared notes and had a frank exchange of views, as the diplomats say. 

Arthur Brisbane Misses the Point

The New York Times has a new omsbudsman, Arthur Brisbane. In his piece today, he argues:

"This [a new integration of web and print operations] suggests to me a companion move The Times should make, one that would help secure a tighter bond with its audience: publishing The Times’s journalism policies in a searchable format and in a visible location on NYTimes.com. That would enable readers to see more clearly into the news operation."

Brisbane points out Times' policies are scattered in different places and are hard for the reader to find. It's all very well, but I believe he misses the main point. I, as a reader of the Times, both print and web, could give a damn about their policies. I care  more about the results.  Indeed, it's the reporters and editors of the Times who need to know and follow the policies; it's the people newly recruited to be reporters and editors of the Times who need to be trained in the policies and know where they can find them; it's the managing editors of the Times who need to see the policies in one place so they can direct the newspaper and web site to follow the policies; so finally it is the people of the Times who need to have the policies consolidated and easy to find.

I'd argue much the same is true for any bureaucracy: you can't serve your clients and customers effectively if you don't know what you're doing; clarity, like charity, begins at home.  The nice thing is once you have clarity at home you can be clear to others.

Bringing British Cuture and Cuisine to the French

Dirk Beauregarde reports that Marks and Spencer is opening a store in Paris, trying to alleviate the serious French deficiencies in food and fashion.

The Deficiencies of Non-Bureaucratic Organizations

Accusing terrorists of being bureaucratic is not a common move.  But this post at the Monkey Cage suggests that's what they need, more bureaucracy.  If I follow the argument, a terrorist group which is united on a common goal could safely coordinate its actions by the typical "cell" organization common to subversive movements.  But when some in the movement have their own ideas, or become motivated by money or the search for prestige the organization becomes less effective, because the cell structure limits the flow of information back to the leaders of the organization and makes it hard for them to allocate money to the best places. So what terrorist cells gain in security, they give up in efficiency.

Do We Import Farm Produce, or Farmers?

That's the question the food movement should be asking based on this Hmong high tunnel project in MA. It's  true that immigrants are more likely to work hard for lower returns, thus fitting the niche for locavore agriculture.

India Isn't Really So Populous

Look at the map in this Roving Bandit post, showing the population of the various Indian states, but don't scroll below the map.  You'll conclude, if you're like me, Indian states aren't really populous.  Then scroll.