Elen Nagler was elected last week as a delegate from the 35th Assembly District to the California State Democratic Party Convention, and as the alternate representative from the district to the Executive Board of the State Democratic Committee.
I shared with Ellen the following snippet from Yes Minister / PM. I am rereading the Yes Minister and PM series for the fourth time. By way of lightish backround, the first book of the Yes Minister series I ever read was actually an autographed copy (by Sir Humphrey and the Minister) courtesy of Dr Russell Cope who has hosted them for luncheon and eventually catalogued the books at X collection of the NSW Parliamentary Library stack (Cleverly, Dr David Clune refers to the stack as dungeon).
Humphrey: There are four words you have to work into a proposal if you want a Minister to accept it.
Sir Frank: Quick, simple, popular, cheap. And equally there are four words to be included in a proposal if you want it thrown out.
Sir Humphrey: Complicated, lengthy, expensive, controversial. And if you want to be really sure that the Minister doesn't accept it you must say the decision is courageous.
Bernard: And that's worse than controversial?
Sir Humphrey: (laughs) Controversial only means this will lose you votes, courageous means this will lose you the election.
- The Right to Know
Josef, (sic)
I will print out that dialogue and keep it before my eyes at all times. Wonderful!
Posted by: Ellen Dana Nagler at January 11, 2005 12:25 PM
Bringing courage Home :-)
Indeed, Ellen the reason I am so fascinated with politics is because as with crime, abuse of power or stuff ups, there are no boundaries...as a result, the literature will never dry out of political stories. Mind my words: Never!
In the context of the NSW transport mentality we share this with you:
Sir Mark: We'll offer to call him Transport Supremo, shall we.
Sir Arnold: Yes, much more attractive than Transport Muggins.
...
Jim: After all we do need a transport policy.
Sir Humphrey: If by we you mean Britain that is perfectly true, but if by we you mean you and me and this department we need a transport policy like an aperture in the cranial cavity.
- The Bed of Nails; Yes Minister / PM
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: A Fistful of Contractors:
Hot off the press. In the bad old Czechoslovakia something along these lines would have to come off the back of the truck before an ordinary man in the street would be able to read it. In a real democracy anyone can read it ...
Since the first civilian contractors started operating in Iraq in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq there has been growing public scrutiny of their activities. While most of the attention has been paid to the activities of contractors doing reconstruction work such as Halliburton, Parsons, Fluor, et cetera, growing attention and concern has been paid to the operations of those private military and security firms (herein referred as Private Military Companies, or PMCs) who provide security for such firms, as well as for Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) workers, nongovernmental organizations, and western media.
• The Case for a Pragmatic Assessmentof Private Military Companies in Iraq [When the sun comes up, I have morals again. Elizabeth Taylor Culture of negligence a danger to patients
• · And God said: Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan. George Burns Sir Mark Thatcher: Mumsy's Boy; Thather’s escape raises questions about Straw’s role "I didn't accept it. I received it." Richard Allen, National Security Advisor to President Reagan, explaining the $1000 in cash and two watches he was given by two Japanese journalists after he helped arrange a private interview for them with First Lady Nancy Reagan. ]
• · · They gave me a book of checks. They didn't ask for any deposits. Congressman Joe Early (D-Mass) at a press conference to answer questions about the House Bank Scandal. Pressure grows to strip Thatcher title
• · · · [Capital punishment turns the state into a murderer. But imprisonment turns the state into a gay dungeon-master. Rev. Jesse Jackson ] I'll make it really simple for everyone: the way to oppose torture is by opposing torture. That's how you do it. You don't do it by voting for the torturer, attacking the people who won't, and then saying "oh, but torture is bad; [God, if I click on one more left-leaning blog that has a post about how bloody wonderful it is that Andrew Sullivan is opposing torture, I'm going to put someone in a stress position Via Tim Dunlop ]
• · · · · The reason most people want to become clerks at the Parliamentary table is to wear clothes they would not be caught dead in otherwise. Speaking of being caught in the Yes Minister episoded, buses donated to East Timor by the NSW Government in 2002 have never been used Yes Minister: Commuters out, squatters in as Timor gift fails road test ;
[MPs Accountability: All Australian MPs receive a minimum listed salary of $106,770 a year with an unaccountable electoral allowance of between $27,300 for city MPs and up to $40,000 for rural and regional representatives which is solely an extention of salary. With major parties able to guarantee new candidates upper house seats, it would be of interest to know how many have changed their residential address from the city to country following knowlwdge of being selected as a candidate ...
- Rod Charlton, Oatlands: letter to the editor Sunday papers ]
• · · · · · The Totally Unauthorized Tribute: Not That There's Anything Wrong with That Do the time, pay the fine: you've earned it after all: John Quiggin ; [ John Quiggin Commentariat: Attributing Thousand Dollars Towards Tsunami ]