I’ve always wondered about the application process and the background check people high up in a presidential administration goes through. For the most part, I think these people are sought out, so they don’t need to fill out an application and all that mess. But the ABC News political blog provides us with a glimpse of that process for the folks that want to be top ranking officials in the Obama administration.
“If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an email, text message or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-elect if it were made public, please describe.”
So asks question 13 of the questionnaire for potential top-ranking Obama Administration officials.
The mind reels.
The seven-page, 63 question intrusive and extensive list of queries, first obtained by the New York Times and confirmed as legitimate by the Obama Transition Team, offers a revealing glimpse into both the Obama team’s determination not to repeat the mistakes of its predecessors (Any nanny issues? Any discriminatory club memberships?) as well as the new era on which Obama will lead (”Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc.”).
Applicants are asked if they or any immediate family members own a gun, if they have ever been charged with sexual harassment or malpractice, if they have ever had any alimony or child support issues, “any writs of garnishment,” or any bankruptcy problems.
As George Bush prepares to move out of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, and Barack Obama prepares to move in, I thought I’d take a virtual trip around the country and see what’s going on at other locations with the same address.
On May 3rd 2008, artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley invited the Google Inc. Street View team and residents of Pittsburgh’s Northside to collaborate on a series of tableaux along Sampsonia Way. Neighbors, and other participants from around the city, staged scenes ranging from a parade and a marathon, to a garage band practice, a seventeenth century sword fight, a heroic rescue and much more…
Street View technicians captured 360-degree photographs of the street with the scenes in action and integrated the images into the Street View mapping platform. This first-ever artistic intervention in Google Street View made its debut on the web in November of 2008.
Click here to learn more about the event and view the interactive embedded Google Map.
And who can’t love a giant chicken on a street corner.
Bono writes about Bob Dylan, and Bono comes in at 32 which I think is a little high. As much of a fan I am of him, I don’t know how I feel about him making the top third. I think maybe he’s in the middle or lower end. Heck, Sting didn’t even make the list. But I have to admit that Billie Joe Armstrong’s write up did catch my attention:
I would describe Bono’s singing as 50 percent Guinness, 10 percent cigarettes — and the rest is religion. He’s a physical singer, like the leader of a gospel choir, and he gets lost in the melodic moment. He goes to a place outside himself, especially in front of an audience, when he hits those high notes.
Too bad Eva Cassidy didn’t live long enough, she would have definately made the list.
When Classmates.com told user Anthony Michaels last Christmas Eve that his former school chums were trying to contact him, he pulled out his wallet and upgraded to the premium membership that would let him contact long-lost fifth-grade dodge-ball buddies and see if his secret crush from high school had looked him up online.
But once he’d parted with the $15, Michaels learned the shocking truth: No one he knew was trying to contact him at all. Classmates.com’s come-on was a lie, and he’d been scammed.
At least that’s what the San Diego resident alleges in a lawsuit (.pdf) filed against one of the net’s original social networking sites, whose banner ads featuring unflattering yearbook pictures remain a staple around the internet. If the lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, succeeds, it could raise the minimum standards of honesty for online businesses.
The Presidential Pet Museum was founded in 1999 as a repository and means of preserving information, artifacts, and items related to the Presidential Pets. The Museum is now open to the public for all to view and enjoy. Over 500 items of interest are displayed for lovers of pets, Presidents and pet trivia. Children learn by association and what better way to educate visitors about our Presidency, than through the White House Pets. Nearly every President had a pet, both exotic and common, and one can learn about them all at the Presidential Pet Museum.
This article/interview with CNN made me a little bit more sympathetic towards W. In it he’s a bit reflective about his time in office and admits he regrets some of the things he said as well as that Misssion Accomplished banner. I was never offended at the “wanted dead or alive” quote. I also thought it was a bit interesting that he called President Clinton before the Obama visit to get some advice on how to welcome the next incoming president.
I think Clinton was the first president I really kept tabs on regarding the news and stuff, I guess that’s because I was just becoming a young adult and that’s the phase you start to pay attention to things of this nature. I use to get upset when the news referred to him as Mr. Clinton, and thought it was a swipe at him by not using the President salutation. Then the other night on the local news, there’s this segment called Viewers Voice, and one viewer thought the news was doing the same thing towards President Bush by calling him Mr. Bush. The news dude then stated that proper or standard protocol is that the first mention of the president is when the presidential title is used, and evertime there after is when Mr is used. And now I know.
Be careful what you wish for. I was upset that Palin never talked to the press during the campaign, now she’s everywhere.
When ordering something and there isn’t a hurry in it’s delivery, it’s fun to track it online.
I’m sure this happens with both campaigns, but here’s a story of office equipment from the Obama campaign being donated in Pittsburgh. The article states that 200 campaign offices in ten states are involved in this program.
A seven-year-old blogger received a letter from Obama. Link
If you are interested in celebrity feet, I have a website for you. Link
When I use to have to hand customers cash in jobs I held way back when, I always made sure to hand the bills back all facing the same way and all right side up. That’s something my father taught me, when putting cash in my wallet have all the bills face the same direction. I don’t think I’ve been handed money back in which the bills face all the same direction and right side up in quite a while.
An interesting way to read African-American history. Link
Bacon of the Month Club just $12.50 a month. Link [Thanks, John!]
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a big fan of our NBC affiliate’s newscast, and that Mike Snyder isn’t my cup of tea. A couple of months ago he started to blog about his weight, so I decided to check out his blog to see if he made any progress. I didn’t find anything about his weight loss, but the first two posts describe the heart attack and double by-pass surgery his 37-year-old wife had. Wow, best of luck to him, his wife, and their two young girls. Link
