WWTG-Fox 5 reported that thousands of job seekers gathered for a federal government job fair last week. The Partnership for Public Service, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has hosted the event for eight years, said more than 7,000 people pre-registered for the event. Of that, an estimated 90 percent actually showed up to meet with the hundreds of recruiters that were there to represent more than 80 federal agencies, making this the largest fair ever hosted by the organization. Most of the attendees were college students or recent graduates.
The government is looking to fill more than 50,000 entry-level positions in the next year. Agencies also want to fill 60,000 paid internships. According to NPR, entry-level hiring in the federal government has seen steady growth over the last five years. Since 2005, almost 20,000 people were hired for entry-level positions. Read more of this post
Politico just filed a report about the booming economy in Washington, D.C. where confidence is high after the “massive expansion of government under President Barack Obama”.
Politico surveyed 227 “Washington elites”—meaning DC residents who make at least $75,000 a year, and work in politics in some form—and found a group much more optimistic than the rest of the country. More of the elites said the country was on the right track (49%) than on the wrong one (45%); in a national poll, 61% went with “wrong track.” Read more of this post
According to a survey conducted by the FCC, 30 million Americans (one out of six in the nation including the Washingtonians) have experienced bill shock, which it defines as a sudden increase in people’s monthly bills that isn’t caused by a change in service plans.
It also shows that nearly half of cell phone users who have plans with early termination fees (ETFs) — and almost two-thirds of home broadband users with ETFs — don’t know the amount of the fees they’re accountable for
One-third of the people surveyed who said they experienced bill shock said their bills jumped by more than $50. Read more of this post
I was a 19 year old Iranian when I was drafted to the Iran/Iraq War back in 1983, one of the bloodiest Wars of the 20th Century. Incidentally, the entire world, the former US defense secretary Rumsfeld and his boss, Reagan were supporting Saddam at the time:
A few days prior to one of our major strategic moves, about 200 Iranian soldiers, myself included, were rounded up to listen to an “inspirational speech” from a Mullah and two of his non clerical lieutenants. They were preparing us not to fear death.
The Mullah and his lieutenants started telling us about the heaven, the awesome time we will be having with seventy two virgins, and how desperately the virgins are looking forward to meet us up there. As a typical man, it got me excited first, you know. The thought of 72 chicks but the excitement lasted only a few seconds. The though of death, the thought of not seeing my fat mamma, my baby sisters, and fathers anymore, by far were more powerful than anything else. Maybe, if the Mullah had said sex with thousand women, it would have been different story But, 72! NO SIR! not enough to die for.
Saeed, the guy sitting right in the middle with the mustache, one of my very good friends made a joke about the virgins as the Mullah was still yapping. He said “wait a sec! but, I want to have sex down here on earth, not up there!”. Although, we were scared young soldiers with the thought of possibly getting killed in a few days, Saeed, me, and five other guys were literally hysterical about the situation. We laughed our pants off. But, this wasn’t a joking matter to them. So, all seven of us were yanked out of the unit and sent to the Army prison for a week because of the laughter. The punishment wasn’t really a week of going to prison, the thing is for every week of going to prison during the service, the Army added one additional month on top of our standard two years. Once released; sadly, we found out 125 other soldiers in the units were killed in the attack.
Neither I nor any of my other six friends would have fallen for the sex with seventy two virgins crap anyway, but the joke totally made one of the lieutenant and most of the surviving soldiers in our units rethink our motivations. We all continued talking and laughing about it for a few months. I am certain the lieutenant who was an ideologically changed man with fresh ideology was able to influence others in the system as well. I never saw him again. If he is still alive and reads this, I wish him well. As for my friend who made the joke, regretfully, he lost his life 3 months later in another attack – in fact a chemical attack, (the materials were given to Saddam Hussein by the US Government, and I think the Germans, to be more specific, the Dow Chemical Company).
About 2 million people including my very close cousin who was an army parashooter were killed during the 8 year war (1980-1988):
Curious as to what this personal story has anything to do with current U.S. State Department initiatives and diplomacy? Read more…
I hope you all have had a chance to check out my recent posts about Gov 2.0 and GovLuv. There is another Gov thing called Govloop in DC.They have been around for over a year.
Govloop was founded by Steve Ressler who came into the government in 2004. The site was launched last year and was acquired by GovDelivery a few month ago. So, they are now a division of GovDelivery, and Steve, has been running the site independently from GovDelivery since the acquisition. Their mission is to integrate Web 2.0 goodies into the old government known as Gov 1.0 . As for the limit from 2008 to 2012 I used in the equation, well, based on how Webenized the Obama administration has been, I can totally see the potential for Govloop during this administration. But not sure about the next one. So, if we end up having another one similar to old Bush-Chaney regime in 2012, I just can’t imagine republicans allow the Government continues to stay as open as it is today.
Anyway, back to Govloop. Steve saw a real need to have a place online where different branches of government employees could talk or share ideas on various topics or ask questions. That’s why he launched the site. As of today, they have about 23,000 members since their launch date. Not a big number compare to 350 m of Facebook, but I guess it is a decent number if we are talking only US Government community.
As for their parent company, GovDelivery, they are a software-as-a-service, cloud computing platform that government agencies use to communicate. For example, people can sign up to receive information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about specific topics and have that information delivered via GovDelivery.
One challenge they might be facing is the possible set back from several Government officials who still think social networking is a distraction and waste of time. They just have to find a way to demonstrate the ROI to them. Govloop needs to show them that they can help them to get more work done effectively and fast. It will be fascinating to see how Govloop and GovDelivery overcome this. Wish them luck!
As I mentioned in my previous post, Gov 2.0 initiatives are very important and critical for all of us – the citizens, the Senators, The Congressmen, the Senate, the White house, etc. Gov 2.0 unlocks stores of data that can better inform and empower us, the citizens, to have an impact on our communities, governments, and the decisions being made. We have all experienced the difference when there is a free and clear line of communication between citizens and their government, and seen the powerful things that can happen. So, I hope they can convey this message to the Gov 1.0 people who are standing on their way.
What’s also interesting, they have a Fund called AwesomeGov Fund which aims to highlight, honor and support government by raising awareness about government-related individuals, groups and programs that are inspiring in their ability to create impact and make government better. They are committing a minimum of 5% of all their revenue in 2010 to the “AwesomeGov” Charity fund.
So, I guess Govloop is all about helping US Government employees to talk to each other effectively via their site. While, GovLuv establishes an effective and clear line of communication between us, the citizen and both our congressmen and Senators via their site.
c) And, with special thanks to our current president who went crazy on the Web 2.0 and by doing so won the elections…
I am proud to be one out of thousands of grassroots supporters of the new “Gov 2.0”. Actually, the term has been around for a year, beginning shortly after our new president took office.
In a nutshell, Gov 2.0 is the idea of applying Web 2.0 services such as social networks (Facebook), micro blogging (Twitter), online streaming video (Youtube) to the government practices – bringing together old processes and new technology. Here is the definition of Gov 2.0 from several other people involved in the field:
After we all saw how George Bush and his lackeys kept the nation in the dark for eight years while his buddies got richer and richer as he sent our great nation down the toilet, I think Gov 2.0 initiatives are very important and critical for all of us – the citizens, the Senators, The Congressmen, the Senate, the White house, etc. Gov 2.0 unlocks stores of data that can better inform and empower us, the citizens, to have an impact on our communities, governments, and the decisions being made.
We have all experienced the difference when there is a free and clear line of communication between citizens and their government, and seen the powerful things that can happen. Gov 2.0 means doing the same plus utilizing the power of Web 2.0, including one of the company I recently covered GovLuv.
Having worked in social media and telecom space in Washington, DC for the past 12 years, I can tell change is here.
Anyway, there is a Gov 2.0 Expo in May 2010 at the Washington Convention Center, and they are currently calling for Presentations. So, if you are in the space and interested in getting coverage, here is the opportunity. You have until Jan 6th to do your thing (I’m checking, and it seems that they just extended their dates to Jan 6th).
The chair for the event is a friend of mine, Mark Drapeau, who used to work at the National Defense University. I met Mark over three years ago when I was still running my DC based social search company, Searchles.
Gov 2.0 Expo will showcase the real-world application of Web 2.0 technologies in government and municipal sectors, featuring a practical program that will teach government employees and contractors how to apply technology practices to government programs, and in turn
introduce new companies to the government market.
Just for you to get an idea of what the Conference will Include, the tracks are:
• Policy • Technology • Challenges • People
@JudyNetworks thx 4 following our blog @AwesomeDC. feel free 2 setup ur personal, biz on our main site, awesomise.me so we can promote them 2 weeks ago
but the excitement lasted only a few seconds. The though of death, the thought of not seeing my fat mamma, my baby sisters, and fathers anymore, by far were more powerful than anything else. Maybe, if the Mullah had said sex with thousand women, it would have been different story 
Elias Shams
Kamran Abdi
Tatiana Sorabi
