Tag: Obama

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PBS Newshour’s Deepwater BP Oil Spill Widget

I’ve been tracking and writing about the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for Live Earth but I thought I’d note the excellent widget that PBS Newshour created to help users track and visualize the apparently unstoppable horror that has been ongoing for more than a month off the coast of Louisiana. Great work by one of the finest multimedia teams in the land.

It’s horrible and embarrassing that we’d give oil companies such extensive liberty so as to contaminate our waters knowing that there was no available technology to avert the inevitable disaster that we are facing right now. Personally I hope to see Obama get serious and put his foot down even more — this is the ultimate cause for concern about climate, energy, and the future.

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Open Government Directive Issued — Will it Be Followed?

The U.S. government is vowing to keep an open dialogue just as it seems it’s getting stuck back in it’s tight-lipped ways. Today the White House Open Government Initiative released the Open Government Directive (PDF) and the Open Government Progress Report to the American People (pdf).

Wordle: Open Government Dialogue#OGD Wordle via Clay Johnson.

OMB director Peter Orszag explains at WhiteHouse.gov:

The directive, sent to the head of every federal department and agency today, instructs the agencies to take specific actions to open their operations to the public. The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration are at the heart of this directive. Transparency promotes accountability. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise to government initiatives. Collaboration improves the effectiveness of government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the federal government, across levels of government, and between the government and private institutions.

The Sunlight Foundation has full coverage here and here.

Below, I’ve embedded both official documents for your perusal. To what levels are these directives enforceable? Who will be monitoring and how?
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