Some random thoughts about Transparency Camp 09. Here are my big take-aways from the conference. Excitement: There’s a tremendous amount of enthusiasm among enlightened advocates of government transparency, fueled by the election of Obama and the mainstreaming of Web 2.0 tools like blogging. There’s a real can-do spirit, which is in marked contrast to continuingRead… Read more »
I had a heart attack in 2001. Obviously I survived. A friend of mine had one a few years earlier and he didn’t. I remember that incident quite well because his wife called us around six-thirty in the morning as we were getting ready to leave for work. We’ll call them Fred and Ethel (onlyRead… Read more »
Several people have asked me what I took away from Transparency Camp, an “unconference” held this past weekend here in DC (read the Twitter stream to get an idea what it was like). I did get a few concrete facts out of it, but fundamentally to me, it was all about basic research, not applied.Read… Read more »
Note: This post is of my own personal opinion and is not endorsed or supported by any local, state, or federal government agency. I’ve given several presentations on RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and shown people just the basics about how to create a simple feed. Nothing fancy. However, during a conversation I was having withRead… Read more »
House Democrats will unveil a measure Tuesday that splits the U.S. Census Bureau from the Commerce Department and makes it an independent government agency similar in design to the National Institutes of Health or NASA. The proposal comes in the wake of Republican allegations that the Obama administration is attempting to politicize the census byRead… Read more »
This weekend, when I was in dire need of a good scallops recipe, I went onto FoodNetwork.com to see what looked good. Over the past year, they’ve become my website of choice for recipes because their site is so easy to use, and their user comments section helps me decide whether or not to tryRead… Read more »
Good Monday morning TSP participants. It’s time for your weekly TSP Talk. Stocks opened in dire straights on Friday, but quickly found their footing turning a 150-point decline into a small gain by the afternoon, but by the close sellers jumped back in and took the Dow down 119 points. After a dismal 2008, theRead… Read more »
President Obama will nominate Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) today as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a job originally offered to former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, who withdrew last month due to issues with back taxes. Experts suggest that in addition to the administration’s health care reform efforts, Sebelius, 60,Read… Read more »
Washington, D.C.-area federal offices will operate today under “liberal leave” or “unscheduled leave” and delayed arrival status, meaning employees who cannot make it to work can request off, or should otherwise arrive to work no more than two hours later than normal, according to the Office of Personnel Management. The decision comes as school districtsRead… Read more »
Fair to say that Title XV of the Economic Recovery Act requiring transparency has unleashed a tidal wave of pent up energy and justified momentum towards a more open government. The “strings attached” funding provisions ensure that there will be a solid attempt at top down enforcement of transparency for state and local jurisdictions. ButRead… Read more »