Archive for September 26th, 2008
DorobekInsider: Godspeed to Kurt Kelman
I just saw that Steve Kelman posted on his FCW.com blog, The Lectern, about the death of his father, Kurt Kelman, who passed away last night. He was 89.
From Steve Kelman’s post:
Kurt Kelman… was an immigrant. Born in Vienna, Austria, he was 19, and just graduating from high school, when Hitler took over the country in 1938. He immediately decided to leave. A few months later, he got a train ticket to Basel, Switzerland, just over the German border, but with no passport, he would have been unable to enter the country legally. Just over the German border, he jumped off the train as it rounded a bend, and walked into the city to a refugee organization, which took him to a small village to hide. Turned in to the police by a suspicious local farmer, he was put in jail (he didn’t have any money to pay a fine) and then expelled, fortunately to France and not back to Germany.
DorobekInsider: BlackBerry or spouse? Hmmmm
Just a Friday pre-weekend item: So if you only could choose one — your BlackBerry/iPhone or your significant other, which would you choose?
Well, for one-third of the people in at least one survey, the answer was obvious: their smart phone!
The Economist’s Gullivar travel blog has this item:
A NEW survey conducted for Sheraton Hotels & Resorts finds that over a third of smart phone users would pick their BlackBerry over their significant other if they absolutely had to choose one to live without. Gulliver has covered PDA addiction before, noting that users show signs of addiction “similar to alcoholics“, but this survey result has to represent some sort of new low. The 35% number wasn’t the only depressing survey result, but if you’re a heavy CrackBerry user, you already know the rest:
The vast majority of people (84%) say they check their PDAs just before going to bed and as soon as they wake up, 85% say they sneak a peak at their PDA in the middle of the night, and 80% say they check their e mail before morning coffee. A whopping 87% of professionals bring their PDA into the bedroom.
(And yes — the photo is from BlackBerry events going on around DC right now. This one happened to be outside the Regan Building. The BlackBerry and its team of assistants were pointing people to BlackBerry’s government Web site, blackberrygov.com. The photo is taken with my iPhone… but I have both an iPhone and a BlackBerry.)
DorobekInsider: Why feds may not be able to use YouTube
Many federal agencies post videos to YouTube or other video sharing sites, but that might not really be… legal might be too strong, but… maybe not inaccurate. But don’t panic yet!
YouTube, of course, is the big playing in online video, hosting nearly one-third of videos posted online. That is largely because it is so easy to use — and then for others to post videos.
Well, it turns out that the YouTube terms of service apparently conflict with federal laws.
We all have seen “terms of service.” Most of us see it as that part of the registering process that you quickly pass over by quickly agreeing. We agree because, essentially, we have no option. (FYI: This site has a summary of YouTube’s terms of service.)
Apparently some wise people were smart enough to read the YouTube terms of service and there is this mind-numbing provision (italics added by me; ALL CAPS added by them):
Federal agencies only play in federal courts.
There are some other problem language, but… from what I understand, that is the big one.
I’m hearing that the folks at GSA and YouTube’s parent, Google, are trying to work something out for federal agencies that will resolve the conflicts. I have queries into GSA.
Mostly related: The executive branch isn’t the only one dealing with these kinds of issues. Congress has apparently been struggling with issues as well, Roll Call reports.
The issue itself is almost mundane: House rules prohibit Members from using outside Web sites such as YouTube, but many openly violate the rules and post such videos on their official Web sites.
Both House Democrats and Republicans agree the rules need to be updated. But formulating them and negotiating the language has already taken more than a year.
Staffers had hoped to piggy-back on the Senate’s resolution and agree on language before Thursday’s business meeting, but they came up short.
Roll Call has a interesting column by Soren Dayton, a manager for New Media Strategies, who also blogs at conservative Web sites TheNextRight.com and Redstate.com.
A much simpler principle would have sufficed: What matters is what you say, not where you say it. That would reflect the reality of current practice and be appropriate to the “new” media and the changing economics of the “old” media. Furthermore, these answers are implied by a letter by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), as posted on the Speaker’s office blog, The Gavel…
Let me briefly summarize Capuano’s proposal, its problems, and a simple content-based solution. That solution would allow Members to communicate with the public using today’s Internet tools. Capuano made the proposal as head of the franking commission, which operates under the House Administration panel.
Continue reading Dayton’s column here.
DorobekInsider: The Wall Street crisis could impact the government too
We have all been watching the mess on Wall Street — and I think most people in government sit back and think, “Thank goodness I’m a fed and I don’t have to deal with this stuff.”
Unfortunately, in today’s hyper-connected world, what happens on Wall Street has ramifications on Main Street… and around the Beltway. (Ah — the world is flat!)
We seemingly hate to say it, but… it seems we just don’t know.
In my own mind, I keep going back and forth on the potential impact of this to government.
But here is some reading/listening on the subject.
* Michael Lent, the editor and publisher of Government Services Insider, wrote a excellent column for the current issue of Washington Technology headlined, Five ways the financial crisis makes things tougher for contractors. The headline could have just as easily have read, “Five ways the financial crisis makes things tougher on agencies,” to be honest, particularly given that agencies are increasingly dependent on contractors to get their jobs done.
I should note that we had Lent on Federal News Radio’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris on Thursday. You can hear him for yourself here. [.mp3]
His five ways:
1. Regulation — in general — is now in, with gusto, easing passage of more rules.
2. The bailout will infect the discretionary budget, snuffing growth in some areas.
3. Financing for M&A deals will be constrained as “deleveraging” proceeds on Wall Street.
4. Small businesses will suffer a continuing credit pinch.
5. Boards of directors will be compelled to proactively surveil management.
One of the somewhat scary parts of this situation seems to be that the longer it goes on, the less we seem to know. For example, last weekend, when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was on the Sunday news shows talking about the $700 billion package, my immediate thought was that this would have a huge impact on agencies. Why? Because, just as Lent says, the debt would essentially choke the government spending.
But — and we all hate this phrase — we just don’t know. Elsewhere on Federal News Radio, on InDepth with Francis Rose, our mid-day program, Rose spoke to Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. His point: We just don’t know what this will mean. [You can listen to the interview with Aaron here. (.mp3)] It depends how much the government pays for these troubled debts… and how much it can then sell them for.
Meanwhile, CNet’s Dan Farber says that we should get ready for a new wave of consolidation, at least in the information technology world.
While tech spending doesn’t exactly correlate to the credit crunch, IT purchases are expected to slow down over the next three quarters, according to Forrester. Advertising spending in 2009 could be curbed if the economy spirals downward. Of course, no one knows which direction the gyrating stock market and spending patterns will go. If the $700 billion government (taxpayer) handout brings more confidence into the markets, the outlook will be better. But the majority of companies lacking strong financials or sales pipelines will be looking for reasonable exits or ways to conserve cash while the economy sorts itself out.
One other piece that is worth reading. (Hat tip to Federal News Radio’s Francis Rose.) Over the weekend, WP money columnist Robert J. Samuelson provided insights into one of the big questions coming out of all this economic mess: How did we get here in the first place?
His column, headlined The Confidence Game , is worth a few minutes.
