All Blog Posts Tagged 'obama' (41)

Do federal employees really care about their retirement, pay, and benefits??? The more people I talk to, the more I realize that most don't even think about it.  Maybe when the employee is near retirement they start to ask questions because they are nervous, but why not ask questions before? Are we too busy to care or are we so focused on public service that money is not a priority? For me, from day one, money is a priority - every cent counts. Especially with the pay freeze, it will likely…

I have released the speaker line-up for the fifth Sentiment Analysis Symposium, slated for October 30, 2012 in San Francisco. The symposium will feature speakers and panelists from leading firms (including Dow Jones, IBM, Infosys, J.D. Power, Thomson Reuters, and Toluna), start-ups, and academia. We'll also, once again, have a solution-provider exhibit area for demos and one-on-one discussions with sponsors and pre- and…

Pinterest, with tremendous growth as of late, has made a splash in the world of social media. The photo-sharing website was the fastest website ever to break through 10 million unique visitors, and 40-60 percent of registrants regularly use the service after they've created accounts.…

There is a fascinating story in Politico:

President Obama's muddy transparency record

http://politi.co/ykWK7q

"Three years into his presidency, critics say Obama’s administration has failed to deliver the refreshing blast of transparency that the president promised"

In general, I think the story is fair --…

http://www.homelandsecuritynet.com/HSN/2012/02/baby-faced-bombers/

Afghan police recently arrested four suspected insurgents in the process of smuggling 41 children to Pakistan from eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

According an Interior Ministry spokesperson, the insurgents were planning on using the children said to be between 6 and 11 years of age, as suicide bombers, saying: "We…

The White House Thursday made a push to protect the privacy of online users by announcing the voluntary Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR). The bill is designed to give consumers more control over the information they share on the Internet. Obama is calling on the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to work with companies, privacy advocates, and stakeholders to determine specific rules which reflect the sentiment in the CPBR.…

The United States Postal Service has been delivering mail on Saturday for decades, which may soon come to an end for the fourth time in history as the USPS copes with yearly deficits. President Obama's 2013 proposed budget backs plans allowing the USPS to cut Saturday mail services, as well as increase the price of stamps beyond inflation and recalculating how it could pay for the retirement of postal workers. It would also refund the USPS $10.9 billion over…

I would love to have a megaphone that goes straight to President Obama's ear, and have him deal with my problem. We all have problems, and maybe some of them are ones that we desperately need solved. However, unless Obama decides to G+ chat with you, they may go unnoticed. I can think of something I would yell at Obama: "Thanks for making it so I have health insurance until I'm 26. Now can you please do the same with dental insurance?!" Unfortunately life doesn't work like that. But if it…

Today President Obama will be officially announcing the Veteran Job Corps, as discussed in the State of the Union in January. The corps will be allotted $1 billion to employ 20,000 veterans over the next 5 years to upkeep and restore public spaces, such as national parks.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki on Thursday described the program as “a bold new effort” to lower the high unemployment rate for post-Sept. 11 military veterans, which stood at 13.1…

The #40dollars campaign; you might have heard of it. It was a campaign on Twitter in which users posted what $40 a week would do for them using the hashtag #40dollars. The campaign opposed the end of a tax cut which would add about $40 a week taken for taxes from middle class payrolls. The White House even had a Tax Cut Calculator to determine how much Americans would lose if the payroll tax cut wasn't extended.

On day one of the campaign, The White House made a post "What does…

Back in August the Department of Energy issued a request for information to develop a voluntary National Asset Rating Program for Commercial Buildings (AR Program). The thought was that an AR Program would establish an Asset Rating system for commercial buildings based on a national standard and would evaluate the physical characteristics and as-built energy efficiency of these buildings. It would also identify potential energy efficiency improvements.

The department of Energy is…

This week President Obama laid out his vision for America and his rationale as to why he should be re-elected. In a nearly hour-long speech, he sought to firmly establish himself as the defender of the middle class. While the ideals underpinning his rhetoric are laudable, the approach of demonizing various segments of society is not the way to creating solutions we so desperately need.

One need not get into the…

The Washington Post reported this week that President Obama issued an order to agencies, asking them to utilize digital record keeping systems. As of right now, much of the filing that is being done “is based on an outdated approach involving paper and filing cabinets,” but Obama wants to “move the process into…

An article in the Washington Post reported yesterday that Obama signed the Kate Puzey Volunteer Protection Act of 2011, which protects Peace Corps volunteers who report wrongdoings, requires volunteers to go through a…

President Barack Obama delivered remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Phoenix Awards in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011.

The President stated that he needed the help and determination of the Congressional Black Caucus in supporting and helping pass the American Jobs Act:



With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I'm going to press on for equality. I'm going to press on for the sake of our children. I'm going to…

In January of this year I posted a discussion paper on Ozloop entitled The public service in a Wikileaks world. Some of the ideas in that paper took me down the path of suggesting that we need a public service renaissance.

Like many others, at the time I was very much of the view that there was much over reaction to the…

In a recent blog posting from the Washington Post's Al Kamen, we find an interesting, slightly tongue-in-cheek debate going on about who actually takes credit for the SEAL Operation that took down bin Laden. Obama, Bush, or as Kamen writes:

Some folks tried to give Bill…

Wondering what the state of things are here in the US?  If so, I suspect you will be watching President Obama's State of the Union Address this evening. 

That's great for what's going on Nationwide, but if you're curious to learn more about what's facing each of the 50 states, don't forget that…

Gov 2.0 Radio is inviting its community to join in rating President Obama's State of the Union address live on Tuesday night. You'll be able to give your feedback second by second on your iPhone - just follow the instructions here.

By participating in the live mobile polling, you'll be building a custom profile of reactions from the Gov 2.0 community. We're participating in this product demo through our…

I'm sure you've seen the slider bars and dynamic graphs that TV news organizations use to provide real-time audience and focus group feedback during major speeches and debates.

Well, Gov 2.0 Radio is partnering with IdeaScale to promote a new app that allows iPhone users to rate President Obama's State of the Union address in real time. Just download and install the app "SurveySwipe" and it will ping you when the President goes live on Tuesday night.

Gov 2.0 Radio will be…