Federalism and medical marijuana.
Attitudes toward government waste
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Teaching in Texas
Re: Class discussion on the existence (or lack thereof) of teachers' unions in Texas
A quick Google search reveals:
1) There are teachers' unions in Texas
2) The unions have much less power than their counterparts in other states -
They lack influence because collective bargaining and striking are illegal for public employees in Texas, as the Texas Government Code Section 617.002 states, “An official of the state or of a political subdivision of the state may not enter into a collective bargaining contract with a labor organization regarding wages, hours, or conditions of employment of public employees.”
Relatedly:
A column by David Brooks in the Thursday New York Times explores some of the recent conflicts between teachers' unions and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He writes on unions "dogmatically trying to keep bad teachers in the classrooms" but also implies there is evidence of "perestroika...within the education establishment" regarding education reform.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Skippy's List
Re: Organizational Culture of the U.S. Army
A humorous look at some things people in the Army are not allowed to do:
Including:
24. Must not tell any officer that I am smarter than they are, especially if it’s true.
63. Command decisions do *not* need to be ratified by a 2/3 majority.
83. Must not start any SITREP (Situation Report) with “I recently had an experience I just had to write you about….”
192. The proper response to a briefing is not “That’s what you think”.
The site = Skippy's List
AL Franken's Amendment
The Daily Show does a segment on Al Franken's amendment requiring the government to terminate contracts with contractors who do not allow employees to sue in the event of a disagreement. This amendment is a response to a case where a 19 year-old employee of KBR was gang raped by coworkers in Iraq and was later told that her contract prevented her from suing KBR for reparations.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Bureaucracy
Public Sector Unions
The Citizen's Perspective
- Largest is AFSCME
- Largest federal is AFGE
- Others
- Political role
- Review administrative rules from 10/12 blog entry
- Instructions for IRS Form 1040 and related forms.
- Federal Regulations (see esp. graph on p. 14).
The Citizen's Perspective
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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