The Inquisitr » White House

David Cross claims he snorted coke “40ft from Obama”

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:40:50 +0000

A comment made by comedian David Cross at a stand-up gig this week has been widely re-posted across the blogosphere due to an outrageous claim he made about snorting coke at the White House Correspondents’ Association, about 40 feet away from the President.

Cross wrapped up a set Wednesday night with the controversial brag, apparently part of an ongoing competition with a friend. Cross “got to go because (his) girlfriend is a fancy Hollywood actress,” and he decided to use the opportunity to get the upper hand over a friend who’d done blow in the now-defunct DEA museum on a trip there with Cross. Cross said:

“But it’s crazy and there’s security, Secret Service is standing there,” said Cross. “I’ve got photos of all this. … I’m there and the president is right here and with all these people at the table” Cross snorted some coke, he said. “Maybe 40 feet from the president of the United States!”

Cross said he texted his friend to say, “No way you can ever top that.”

Cross could very well be joking, but it hasn’t stopped many right-wing blogs from blaming the incident on Obama. No comment from girlfriend Amber Tamblyn (of the squeaky-clean chick flick series Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants) on the veracity of her fella’s story.

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The White House shows off its green thumb

Steven Hodson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:35:00 +0000

One of the things that Michelle Obama wanted to do once she got to the White House was to provide an example to the American people that having a garden which you could use to help feed your family was a good thing.

To that end First Lady Obama and the Head White House Chef Sam Kass have just released a follow-up video showing how well the Victory Garden at the White House is doing. As well as showing its progress the video also provides some interesting historical reference points about the garden. The last garden of this type was during the Second World War and was more for show than anything else as it really didn’t provide any amount of food.

This time around however the garden has produced some 200 pounds of food that is used daily in the meals at the White House. As well the seeds used for the garden came from Peter Hatch, head gardener at Monticello.

White House Reverses Bush Administration Policy On Visitor Logs

AHN — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:00:22 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The Obama administration on Friday announced that it would open White House visitor logs to the public, reversing a policy of the Bush administration that it had adopted. The decision is part of an agreement to settle four lawsuits filed by a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, against both administrations.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said, “For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside. Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process.”

Logs from the past 90 to 120 days will be released every month by the administration online. Exempted from the disclosure is “a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee),” the White House said.

CREW had made Freedom of Information Act requests asking the Obama administration to release records of healthcare and coal executives to find out how much influence these officials had on the government. Before that, the non-profit group had sought from the Bush administration information about how frequent nine conservative religious leaders, including James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, went on visits to the White House.

The group had filed a lawsuit questioning the validity of a 2006 memorandum of agreement between then-President George W. Bush and the Secret Service, which creates the logs, that said visitors to the White House compound were not to be publicly disclosed.

A week before Bush left office this year, a federal judge ruled in favor of CREW, rejecting arguments that invoked executive privilege, and that declared the logs exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

The Jan. 9 ruling also said the Secret Service had destroyed visitor records before 2004 upon orders of the Bush administration, in violation of the Federal Records Act.

The Obama administration has been pushing hard for Congress to pass healthcare reform and climate change legislation this year. It said it began reviewing the visitor log policy of previous administrations “during its first days in office,” and that CREW had participated in the development of the new policy.

CREW made clear that the current administration had “initially refused to turn over the records,” but added, “The Bush administration fought tooth and nail to keep secret the identities of those who visited the White House. In contrast, the Obama administration – by putting visitor records on the White House web site – will have the most open White House in history.”

The White House goes Live on Facebook

Steven Hodson — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:24:10 +0000

I just saw this flash across my Twitter feed an thought it would be interesting for those Facebookers out there who want to keep up with what is happening at the White House. It appears that you can now watch live feeds from the Obama White House.

The app included the embedded Live Streams video from the White House as well as a chat area for either everyone watching along with you or just your friends.

You can find the White House Live app here – enjoy

Obama footing the bill for private residence make-over

Steven Hodson — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:45:36 +0000

With every new president that comes into office there is the typical out with the old and in with the new and the private residence of the presidential family is no different. To help with this renovation the new president is allotted $100,000 to overhaul the Oval Office as well as the White House residence. As well they are allowed to accept donations of goods to help with the make-over.

The Obama’s have decided that in this time where people are having a hard time holding on to their homes, let alone renovate them that they will be absorbing the cost of the renovations rather than accepting money from the public purse. As well they will not be using any money from the White House Historical Association, a privately funded foundation who recently paid $74,000 for a set of china that Laura Bush ordered before leaving the White House.

Now mind you a family with a reported income of over $4 million probably won’t have too hard of a time paying the bills. That is as long as they don’t let Hollywood decorator Michael S. Smith; who Michelle Obama has hired to to do the renovation, go too overboard.

[picture courtesy of Apartment Therapy / hat tip to New York Magazine]

The White House CTO – Web 2.0 need not apply

Steven Hodson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:56:00 +0000

The Chief Technology Officer of the United States of America.

Damn that’s a pretty heady title to have hanging around your neck. To be the person responsible of dragging the U.S. government kicking and screaming into the real technology present; and prepared for an ever changing technological future, is a hellva job description to try and fill. This is exactly the position that is going to be up for grabs under an Obama administration and is getting a lot of press from within the tech blogosphere.

When this idea of a White House CTO first started making waves through the tech blogosphere we heard names like Lessig to Winer being proposed to fill the position. Now we hear that Eric Scmidt of Google has stated he wouldn’t be interested in the position if offered it (bullshit) and so the guessing carries on. As interesting as this discussion might be it is all centered around the singular idea that whoever fills the job should be a thinker from the Web 2.0 social networking social media world of the web.

WRONG, wrong, wrong.

This is so many ways from wrong it isn’t even funny but the attitude is a perfect example of the inflated sense of importance that permeates that part of the web. For them everything is about social media and all that other related warm and fuzzy stuff – for them the tech world gravitates around them and their philosophies. Sorry guys but it doesn’t and anyone that thinks so is as narrow minded as the anti-CTO people.

The fact is that the U.S. is losing its place as a leader in the technology fields and it will need a concentrated effort from both government and business to even make it back to the top of the pile let alone take the lead for innovation and excellence. However limiting the filling of what could be one of the more important positions in any White House; now and the road ahead, to someone who might be a shining star in social media but across the broader tech field is a bit player is being extremely short sighted.

Technology isn’t just the Internet and as important as that is it is only a small portion of what a CTO would have to be concerned with. Technology is everything from the hardware to the software to the connectivity (and sharing) of all kinds. It isn’t just limited to making sure everyone in the government has a frikken Facebook page or uses Twitter or writes a blog. For a CTO it is the very infrastructure that all of the government; and citizens, will be using.

Does it work right?

Is it on par with other competing countries around the world?

Does everyone have equal access?

Looking beyond our myopic look at the Internet being the cure for all our ills we need to understand that a CTO cannot; and should not, be solely about that one thing. Dan Farber has a great post today on the subject and provides us with a great list of some of the things that will be a part of any White House CTO’s purview

Protect the Openness of the Internet

Encourage Diversity in Media Ownership

Protect Our Children While Preserving the First Amendment

Safeguard our Right to Privacy

Open Up Government to its Citizens

Bring Government into the 21st Century

Deploy Next-Generation Broadband

Promote American Businesses Abroad

Invest in the Sciences

Invest in University-Based Research

Make the R&D Tax Credit Permanent

Ensure Competitive Markets

Protect American Intellectual Property Abroad

Protect American Intellectual Property at Home

Reform the Patent System

Restore Scientific Integrity to the White House

Make Math and Science Education a National Priority

Improve and Prioritize Science Assessments

Address the Dropout Crisis

Pinpoint College Aid for Math and Science Students

Increase Science and Math Graduates

Lower Health Care Costs by Investing in Electronic Information Technology Systems

Invest in Climate-Friendly Energy Development and Deployment

Modernize Public Safety Networks

Advance the Biomedical Research Field

Advance Stem Cell Research

In the overall view of that list we can see that the Internet is only a part of what needs to be dealt with. As such any person filling that position has to have a broader view of technology than just what the proponents of Web 2.0 and social media would like us to believe. That doesn’t mean that the Internet isn’t important and that it is in dire need of some serious attention but the web is bigger than Web 2.0 or social media regardless of how self-important proponents of the movement like to think. The fact is that the web and its underlying infrastructure in North America; and the U.S. in particular, is in sad shape when compared to the rest of the world.

Alan Patrick from Broadstuff points this out in a post today as well

Work we are doing in understanding the evolution of the Internet implies that one of the biggest drivers of competitiveness going forward will be top class digital logistics. It was ever thus – first class comms have been the hallmarks of great societies from the first Sumerian runners (the SandalNet) onwards.

However, the buildout of the huge pipes in Asia seems to be missing most Western commentators on the Arts Technical except for the odd remembrance. To recap, Korea has built out a very high speed internet system via a combination of government, corporate and consumer collaboration.

Why is this?

Well it boils down to two things in my opinion. The first is a total lack of strong governmental direction and support. I don’t propose that the government take over the whole Internet infrastructure but I do believe that they can strongly suggest to the industries involved that it would be in their best interests to work together and improve what we have. It can do this in many ways that doesn’t require taking ownership. Like Doc Searls says

Regardless of what we do, we must liberate the Net (including the carriers) from telecom reguation. It’s too new, too different, and too important to be shackled by the boat-anchors of the 1934 and 1996 telecom acts — and by addenda to those acts, even if they are meant to improve existing law on behalf of the Net.

Liberating the web from the telecoms doesn’t necessitate taking over the pipes but it does mean that whoever the CTO ends up being they have to have the bite to go along with their bark. We can’t be just instituting another toothless watchdog branch of the government like we have in the past.

This is a job that is far more important than promoting the cause of Web 2.0 and social media. Sure there is no denying that those things are a part of it all but really they are only a small part of a much larger picture – a much larger need. Whoever is tapped to take the position as America’s tech CTO needs to be someone who has a deep understanding of technology as a whole not just a small part of it. They will need to understand how all the different parts of technology need to be brought together in order to return the U.S. to the technological powerhouse it once was.

Equally so business will need to be made to understand that this is something that is more important than the short term shareholder profits. For too long now the technology sector in the U.S. has been treated like a pig trough for everyone to gouge their unsustanable greed out of. In the end it is the people and the country that has paid the price. This is also something that the White House CTO is going to have to deal with and it won’t be happening on some Facebook page or some intern managed blog.

I have no idea who the Obama Administration will be looking to to take on this job but I sure hope that they don’t just rely on the potifications coming out of the tech blogosphere in making their choice.