This is the Modern World

The govdocs community is all in a tizzy at the moment, at a change that happened while we were all watching Barack Hussein Obama become the President of the United States of America: the switchover at www.whitehouse.gov. While some of us may be wondering if this switch happened immediately at 12:01pm on 1/20/2009, others are wondering how the Bush website will be preserved for posterity. Normally the task of the National Archives, this time around, we're going to be thinking of "archiving" in a whole new way.

Everywhere you go, always take the weather*

The National Weather Service (part of the great NOAA umbrella) has provided us with Inaugural weather of the ages. Will next week's events be likened to Reagan's 1985 swearing in, the coldest in history (7 degrees!!), or will there be gridlock a la Kennedy's 1961 snowstorm that caused a massive traffic jam?

One last directive...

Typical of administrations as they leave the White House, the Bush administration has relased a directive for just how we should deal with Arctic Terrorists. That's right-- the Arctic region of These United States is vulnerable to more than just ice. Released on January 9th the National Security Presidential Directive and Homeland Security Directive will establish a policy that-- at least for the next week-- will be how the United States will deal with threats to the areas visible from the Russian border.

ch-ch-changes

Need a way to keep track of the transition? Check out change.gov, the official website of the President Elect. Submit your own ideas as well as apply for a job, and keep track of events so you can determine the best way to avoid Metro during the Inaugural Celebrations.

"Every Dick and Tom with a demo in his palm*"

Want to work for the Obama administration? If you answered "yes" to that, get in line behind every other policy wonk. How might one improve the chances of actually scoring one of these coveted positions? Check out the Plum Book, so named for it's, er, purple cover (trust me, you have to see it in person). This document, released every four years, details the job listings in each of the government's executive branches. So get to working on that resume!


*thanks to De La Soul for this post's title.

Transition Tradition

In two and a half months, a whole new administration is going to be leading this great country of ours. It's going to be a little bit daunting, what with the crazy economy and two wars going on. Traditionally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) assists with admin-to-admin transitional matters to ensure that everything goes smoothly. And no, this doesn't mean removing the W from keyboards (as was rumored White House staffers did during the 2001 transition); it means making sure that the new kids on the block know what's up. Visit the GAO's 2009 Transition Website to see how it's going to go down this time, and who knows... you might find yourself so informed you could get a job working for President Barack Obama!

transition

from whitehouse.gov: