Government

The SEC and Short Sales

Bill Gratsch — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:03:44 GMT

With the continuing turmoil in the market, lawyers continue to post on a variety of related topics. To wit, Thomas Gorman of Porter Wright has offered hist thoughts, via SEC Actions, on the recent moves by the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning short sales:

The SEC’s Bold Step Into The Markets Mandates Quick Follow Up Measures

SEC Modifies Its Emergency Short Sale Rules And Suggests They May Be Extended

Technorati Tags: short sales,sec,security and exchange commission,shorts

Mukasey Likely Attorney General Nominee

Bill Gratsch — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:39:57 GMT

The news media and blawgosphere are reporting this morning that Michael B. Mukasey will be President Bush's nominee for the currently vacant U.S. Attorney General position.

Here is a sampling of the headlines:

Stay Tuned: Judge Mukasey (Ret.) May Be Nominated For Attorney General - Concurring Opinion

Bush to Pick Mukasey As Attorney General - Guardian Unlimited

Bush Expected to Name Judge as Gonzales's Successor - How Appealing

Bush nominating retired judge Mukasey as attorney general: reports - Jurist

Blawg Ad Network Goes Live

Bill Gratsch — Mon, 23 May 2005 16:27:22 GMT

Blogads has started a Law Blog Network, for any blawger who wishes to sell advertising on their blawg.

According to the site, some blawgers have signed up immediately and there are a few advertisers already on board. Check it out via the links above.

State Governments Continue to Feed

Bill Gratsch — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 19:40:56 GMT

I added a new category to the blawg directory last night that encompasses U.S. State-level government. Specifically, efforts by the States to provide feeds of legislative and legal-related materials of interest to both legal professionals and the public at large. The States, by and large, are not producing blawgs, but some are starting to showcase the dissemination technologies inherent in most blawgs, particularly XML (e.g., RSS, RDF, Atom, etcetera) feeds.

One great example (and view of the future) is provided by the State of Texas. On this web page, the Texas Legislature offers the public multiple avenues to stay updated with activities within the Legislature itself. Instead of the old-line approach of dictating to the public how and/or where it can receive this information, it enables the public to make the choice. In many cases, you simply pick how you wish to receive the updates and information (on your cell phone, on your pda, via your favorite news reader, etc.) and subscribe to the appropriate feed.

The positive effects that blawgs and syndication technologies are having on the rapid dissemination of public information emanating from all branches of government is very real. Even while this movement remains in its infancy, snapshots of the future like those offered by the State of Texas, gets one excited about the possibilities.

In the coming weeks, look for more States to be added to State Government category in the directory. You might be surprised at what is already available.

FCC's Powell Joins the Blogosphere

Bill Gratsch — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 15:38:46 GMT

The Monday morning buzz seems to be the emergence of Federal Communication Commission Chairman Michael Powell's new weblog at the end of last week.

The first two postings to the weblog picked up a lot linkages around the blogosphere, with various commentators offering a mix of skepticism and accolades.

According to CNET, Powell decided to start blogging as a way to directly communicate with the technology industry. "I am looking forward to an open, transparent and meritocracy-based communication--attributes that bloggers are famous for!" Powell said, adding he wanted to get out of "the Beltway Washington world where lobbyists filter the techies."

The weblog is accepting comments, and there has been no shortage of people submitting their thoughts on a variety of FCC-related issues. Indeed, in reading through some of the comments to Chairman Powell's first two postings-- and putting skepticism aside for the moment--there were some interesting responses from the public that offered insight into a number of differing positions on the subjects he discussed. Assuming that someone at the FCC is actually reading the comments, I, for one, hope that Chairman Powell's weblog is the start of a trend at both the Federal and State government levels.

State of Wisconsin Offers Legal Feeds

Bill Gratsch — Mon, 19 Apr 2004 16:59:26 GMT

In a nice display of a State working to disseminate both legal and general interest information to the public using emerging technologies, the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau is now offering a wide array of RSS feeds. The feeds are organized by topic, and range from state budget briefs, to general legislative news to specific feeds covering a category like K-12 education developments.

You can find the Feeds organized and listed at this web address: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/rss/index.htm.

New Harvard Study - Blogs and Senator Lott

Bill Gratsch — Mon, 08 Mar 2004 21:18:23 GMT

The Shorenstein Center within The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has just released a new case study on blogging that deals, in large part, with last year's Trent Lott--Strom Thurmond episode. Specifically, the role that blogging played in the dissemination of information outside of traditional media outlets and which, arguably, ultimately led to the final outcome of Senator Lott's resignation from the majority leader position.

Links:

Case Study (in pdf format).
Online Comment-Discussion Board on Subject - hosted by The Berkman Center at Harvard

Utah Courts and Legislature Feeds Expand

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 01:22:57 GMT

I recently checked in with Ray Matthews' RSS in Government weblog and couldn't help but notice that Utah is continuing to expand the amount of government information available via RSS/RDF feeds.

Examples include:

Utah Gov Headlines

Governor Olene Walker News

Governor's Executive Documents

Utah Court Opinions

Utah Legislature News

Utah Courts in the News

Click here

Cut and Paste Democracy?

Bill Gratsch — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 19:16:35 GMT

While there has been significant discussion about the fact that all of the leading candidates in the U.S. Presidential election maintain campaign blogs, there has not been much coverage of sad reality that, in general, legislative and executive branches have not done much to follow suit.

Looking overseas. Perhaps tired of waiting for action, a group in the United Kingdom decided to create its own govblog specifically covering daily updates from No. 10 Downing Street's press office. This govblog cuts-and-pastes information gathered from the daily meeting between Prime Minister's Official Spokesman and a "small coterie of political journalists" into blog-friendly snippets and an accompanying feed: Downing Street Says. Note for the U.S.: wouldn't it be useful if one of the journalists covering the White House press briefings did the same?

Thinking about all of the information flowing out of government entities (not to mention our elected officials' offices), only to be buried in myriad websites and databases, the weblog and feed concept surely could play a powerful role in better dissemination of public information; it may just take some more 'cut and paste" webloggers to get it done.

More Signs? Bush Campaign Adds Blog and Feeds

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 16:20:21 GMT

If the President is blogging, does that mean weblogs have turned the corner?

A nice development in the continuing growth of the weblog and rss feed medium is the new Bush-Cheney campaign blog. Perhaps spurred by the early positive press regarding the Howard Dean weblog, President Bush's team has clearly recognized the power of weblogs and the headline feeds that a weblog can generate.

I particularly like the topical feeds offered by the Bush weblog as I continue to believe every politician, elected or running, should be sharing information in this way. It is simply too effective a conduit to disseminate legislative and regulatory information to be ignored.

Perhaps high profile blogging efforts like the Bush-Cheney and Dean Campaigns will continue to spur politicians into action. Here's Hoping.