Written by Neil Kelty on April 29th, 2009
Nearly one hundred years ago in 1914, Congress created the Legislative Reference Service  to provide “nonpartisan, objective analysis and research on all legislative issues.”
In 2003, we taxpayers paid more than $86 million dollars to provide this service to our representatives and senators. If we’re going to pay that much for people to write summaries of legislation I think the public has a right for easy access to this information.
The Problem
A 2003 CRS internal memo states three areas of concern:
Impairment of Member Communication with Constituents – So instead of recieving a form letter from my congressman telling me in their biased opinion how they plan to vote on the issue I could read an unbiased summary? Sign me up! I wouldn’t contact my representative …
Written by Neil Kelty on November 24th, 2008
Treasury
Timothy Geithner – Geithner appears to be President-elect Obama’s first choice for Secretary of Treasury. The current President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank has been in the thick of orchestrating the bailout and currently serves as chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee. Geithner graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in government and Asian studies and then received his masters in International Economics and East Asian Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Education
Tim Kaine – Kaine will be reaching the end of his time as Governor in 2010, as he is term-limited. Therefore, he could be an interesting snag for the Obama campaign despite the fact that he was passed over for the …
Written by Neil Kelty on August 13th, 2008
America hasnít seen a marketing machine similar to the Obama campaign for President in years (if ever), and I would be awful surprised if this well-oiled machine didnít pull out a victory in November.
While Barack Obama is an exciting person, it is his campaigns unmatched ability to implement an excellent marketing strategy that revolves around creating energy and brand recognition.
Branding
Obama has rolled out the most comprehensive branding strategy of any presidential candidate ever, find me someone who has done a better job and I’ll show you how Obama tops it. No candidate has ever put out a stronger message to America through slogans, logos, websites, and literature.
The branding …
Written by Patrick McAlister on July 5th, 2008
Written by Neil Kelty on April 3rd, 2008
When you picture Wikipedia, you don’t really think of a political battle. However, recently the “admins” are having battles among themselves as to what the direction of Wikipedia should be.
Open ‘em up & knock ‘dead
Some are falling on the side of letting most everything fly. With the obvious exceptions to spam and totally worthless articles, these folks would like to provide a wealth of knowledge on everything from Maywood City, CA to the White House.
They would rather leave in place the current system of calling an unfinished article a “stub,” which encourages further research and development on a particular subject.
For example, a few Wikipedia Administrators (which apparently is a rather coveted position that takes an awful lot of …
