Posts Tagged: politics

Media Myth: GOP Has No Health Care Ideas

Many GOP amendments have aligned quite well with the President’s rhetoric regarding health care reform legislation. But Republicans, especially in the House, have been shunned by committee chairs and Democratic leaders who simply refuse to accept GOP amendments to health care bills, even when those amendments align with the President’s stated goals for health careRead… Read more »

Politics as Usual?

Working in Washington DC for the last 30 years has affected me. I take all the politics in the local news for granted. Here in DC we eat, drink, and breathe politics. Nearly every story is tainted with it. Some years ago I was in Omaha, Nebraska on a business trip. Yes, Omaha, Nebraska. IRead… Read more »

Our History of Polite Political Dissent

In 1832 in a political attack on President Jackson’s policies, Congressman William Stanbery of Ohio made allegations against Sam Houston, a native Virginian, former congressman from Tennessee, and Jackson supporter who was in Washington to lobby for better treatment of the Cherokee. Incensed, Houston confronted Stanbery outside his boardinghouse and the argument led to HoustonRead… Read more »

Embedding recommended for Parliament video

Image via Wikipedia The House of Lords shows itself – again – to be the most thoughtful and progressive chamber in a new report ‘Are the Lords listening? Creating connections between people and Parliament’ from its Information Committee. Parliament has some really daft rules against use of video of proceedings, which it has been extremelyRead… Read more »

Shifting from Gov 1.0 to Gov 2.0

Republished from eGov AU. Sometimes it is difficult for those of us who are new to the public sector to really appreciate the scope of the changes required to transition government institutions and cultures from a 1.0 to 2.0 mentality. It’s not simply a process of mandating a directional change from political levels (though thisRead… Read more »

Racism: Alive and Well in Today’s Politics

The Huffington Post reports on comments made by RNC chairman Michael Steele: The Young Republicans convention was held in Indianapolis last weekend and their election of a racist, middle-aged woman as President isn’t the only controversial item to come out of the GOP gathering. Local Republican blog Hoosier Access was able to get RNC ChairmanRead… Read more »

Gongs, Sir TBL and speeding up freeing up the data

Image by Getty Images via Daylife The gongs have been handed out for the Queen’s Birthday and, scanning through, I couldn’t see one for a webbie or a tekkie. This seemed particularly odd looking at the ones locally for Cambridge – home of the ‘Silicon Fen‘ – and the business related ones didn’t include anyRead… Read more »

Public engagement. Public empowerment.

My keynote from GOVIS 2009 – User Centred Government: More than meets the eye. Public engagement. Public empowerment. View more presentations from Stephen Collins. The GOVIS tag line is “Connect. Share. Learn.” So my first question is where is the conference wifi network for all of us to connect? It’s a must have for everyRead… Read more »

What does ‘transparent’ mean for government?

Republished from eGovAU. eGovernment, or government 2.0, is often discussed as a means to create greater transparency in government. However has there been a clear definition of what transparency really means for government in Australia? At the furthest extreme transparency would be like living in a glass house with glass furniture – everyone could seeRead… Read more »