Obama agenda for change

The new Obama/Biden administration has many issues to address. It has established a website which outlines the new administration's agenda to address the economic crisis. It also offers a way you can send your input on topics ranging from the economy to health care. The bottom of the website provides links to information on a large range of topics, resources, and ways to become actively involved in the change process.

There is also a link to the Transition Directory which was developed to introduce members of the Transition and the incoming Administration to the Federal government resources available to them.

GAO Transition Priorities for the New Administration

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) (no joke, there really is such a thing), has established a website to help the new administration and the new Congress with the transition by listing recommendations for addressing issues facing the country. Drawing upon its institutional knowledge, the GAO site provides key reports for further research and contact information for GAO experts.

Issues the GAO identify as urgent include:

• Oversight of financial institutions and markets
• U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Protecting the homeland
• Undisciplined defense spending
• Improving the U.S. image abroad
• Finalizing plans for the 2010 Census
• Caring for service members
• Preparing for public health emergencies
• Revamping oversight of food safety
• Restructuring the approach to surface transportation
• Retirement of the Space Shuttle
• Ensuring an effective transition to digital TV, and
• Rebuilding military readiness

The site lists agency-by-agency issues, cost-cutting opportunities, management challenges, and provides a model for the country's long term fiscal outlook. Information regarding FraudNET, the government's provision to report mismanagement of funds is also provided.

Can I vote?

Recently, there has been concern that valid voters are being scrubbed from voter registration rolls. If you want to check to be sure you are registered to vote, use this site to guide you through the steps you need to follow to check the status of your voter registration.

The site is a non-partisan site developed by election officials. You will be given directions about how to contact your local registrar to check your status. I used the site because I received a piece of literature in the mail regarding my absentee voter status, and I wanted to be sure it was legitimate. It was, my registration was fine, and I just received my absentee ballot.

Rhonda

Election Fact Checking

Well, tis the season for election fact checking. The best and quickest resource for that is FactCheck.org.

So if you want to know what was accurate and what wasn't in all of those political convention speeches, visit the FactCheck.org site by clicking on the title of this post.

Rhonda

Welcome!

Welcome to Rhonda’s Resource Blog.

This blog is an expression of two interests: information resources and government. The mission of this blog is to share good sources of information with an emphasis on government resources, although other subjects may also be included. This blog is U.S. based and its emphasis will reflect that.

Why the emphasis on government resources? Democracies are dependent upon an informed citizenry. Government records are the threads that weave our communal and societal fabric together. They reflect our common struggles, triumphs, concerns, and values. Our archival heritage provides us with an understanding of where we have been and provides us with insights to where we are going. It is therefore, vitally important for a society to keep its archival heritage intact.

Examples of the destruction of a society’s archival and bibliographic record, sometimes as an intentional aspect of ethnic cleansing, can be found throughout history. Yugoslavia and Iraq are recent examples of cultures which have lost irreplaceable cultural and information resources. Not all compromises to a culture’s archival record come from outside the culture. Forces within a culture may also seek to alter the historic record. The U. S. Congress passed the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (PRA) in response to the mishandling of Presidential Records during the Nixon Administration. A former Clinton Administration official was caught trying to take public records from the National Archives. There has been much controversy during the Bush Administration regarding the scrubbing and mishandling of government information.

Not all government information and resources are political. The U.S. government is the largest publisher in the world. Much of the publications are a result of research conducted with public monies. Technology, medicine, and science are major subject areas in which government publishes information. Then, there are government information resources that are just plain fun. If like me, you enjoy history, government resources can be the granddaddy of gold mines. Just explore the Library of Congress' American Memory website.

When the Founding Fathers put forth their Declaration of Independence, the disconnection of the citizens to its public records was high on their list of grievances falling fourth on the list:

“He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.”

Jefferson, 1776, Declaration of Independence

Please feel free to share your thoughts and favorite resources.

Rhonda Super