marksb @ 11:33 am (#80)

(and LHP, obviously)

While this is an interesting idea, having someone from one agency doing investigations in another has its own problems. The folks doing this, particularly the worker bees, end up being in the position of working every day around people who aren’t in their organization. Generally, this is rather undesirable for lots of reasons, including lack of visibility to one’s own management and having to understand the workings of two organizations rather than one.

While this structure has advantages, it also has disadvantages. Besides, as you suggest, just making the person who runs the investigative agency part of the cabal can make it easier to deflect or defeat investigations that get too close to the wrong target. At least the current system makes the criminals work harder by requiring them to put criminals in charge of all the agencies.

Oh, and I think the GAO shouldn’t be that agency. Right now, it can be an honest investigative agency just looking for inefficiency in government. If such a thing is done, it should either be as a separate agency or part of DoJ, IMHO.

Well I don’t like the DoJ much. At least today, but really, hasn’t the department been troubled in the past as well? Maybe the GAO isn’t right, but I really like the idea of an independent office of the government that has the expressed mission of fraud and corruption anywhere in the government. And is guaranteed to be independent.
Now that I think about it, the DoJ would be perfect—if there were a way to assure the office’s independence…

OldCoastie @ 69

I’m stilling scratching my head over shrub’s “presser” this morning… what was that thing?

glad to see both Edwards and Obama use the word “escalation” in the last 24 hours…

It’s probably just a PR move to reassert his presence amidst all of the opposition in the news recently.

bar ordered ‘im outside to get ‘im out from underfoot while the adults work.

others = babysitters &/or proving they’re workin’ & not spending the holleydaze shoppin’ fer shoes.

(and LHP, obviously)

While this is an interesting idea, having someone from one agency doing investigations in another has its own problems. The folks doing this, particularly the worker bees, end up being in the position of working every day around people who aren’t in their organization. Generally, this is rather undesirable for lots of reasons, including lack of visibility to one’s own management and having to understand the workings of two organizations rather than one.

While this structure has advantages, it also has disadvantages. Besides, as you suggest, just making the person who runs the investigative agency part of the cabal can make it easier to deflect or defeat investigations that get too close to the wrong target. At least the current system makes the criminals work harder by requiring them to put criminals in charge of all the agencies.

Oh, and I think the GAO shouldn’t be that agency. Right now, it can be an honest investigative agency just looking for inefficiency in government. If such a thing is done, it should either be as a separate agency or part of DoJ, IMHO.

Christy Hardin Smith @ 84

rumi at 81 — LOL This season of The Wire was so well done. I hear that next season (which will, alas, be the last if they stay true to plan) will focus on the media and its role in the mess that is modern life and politics, as well as the contuing saga on so many of the amazing characters that they have created. Why The Wire doesn’t get more Emmy nominations is beyond me. The guy that plays Bubbles, alone, is beyond awesome — his junkie portrayal is spot on for SO many of the folks that I dealt with day in and day out in the criminal system. Amazing stuff.

I don’t know why, either. I haven’t watched The Wire, because I don’t get HBO and so don’t want to get involved in the story, but the guy who wrote it also wrote Homicide, which was a terrific program that never got the respect it deserved.

I found it by accident the year it started. The characters and writing…..the whole damn experience, actually, drew me in from the start.

The whole series, from start to finish, has been one of the best written shows I have ever seen. Very true to life — but the writers are a journalist who covered the Baltimore area and a former cop from the same area, so they know it in and out, and they try to stay true to what they saw and experienced. It is amazing how much that translates to what I also saw day in and day out.

rumi at 81 — LOL This season of The Wire was so well done. I hear that next season (which will, alas, be the last if they stay true to plan) will focus on the media and its role in the mess that is modern life and politics, as well as the contuing saga on so many of the amazing characters that they have created. Why The Wire doesn’t get more Emmy nominations is beyond me. The guy that plays Bubbles, alone, is beyond awesome — his junkie portrayal is spot on for SO many of the folks that I dealt with day in and day out in the criminal system. Amazing stuff.

I don’t know why, either. I haven’t watched The Wire, because I don’t get HBO and so don’t want to get involved in the story, but the guy who wrote it also wrote Homicide, which was a terrific program that never got the respect it deserved.

A good article, and this is certainly an important subject. I’m commenting without having read the other comments. I’m sure that LHP and Mary have some interesting things to say on this subject. I’ll just say that one of the phenomena you quote, that some agency bosses have discusssed firing their IGs, can sometimes be viewed as a sign that the system is working. If you’re in a position like that and you’re not making your bosses uncomfortable, you either have great bosses (a rare thing, in my experience with government), or you’re not doing your job properly.

Of course, in those situations, an IG would need strong backup, which would be provided either by the executive or legislative branch. As you’ve pointed out, there isn’t such backup now, and that’s where the problem lies. One branch or the other has to be on the case and willing to do the right thing. The courts can’t really help here, using them just takes too long.

Anyway, thanks for writing this. It’s an illustration of how government should work and doesn’t seem to be these days. We seem to have lots of those…

The scenes of an idealist turned teacher of troubled kids that now has to deal with NCLB requirements instead of actually teaching….the kid who is forced to ration out the month’s money to his mom’s screaming obscenities in need of a fix…taking care of his sibling and his addicted mother against the odds and lure of easier money in the neighborhood….and the appeal of a sense of family that he can’t get at home.

Bubs is the lost poet of unachievable justice in this life. How about Omar for Sec of Defense?

:)