Rep Darrell Isa on SOPA and Technology in Washington

Mashable's interview 5 Questions For Rep. Darrell Issa, SOPA Opponent and ‘Internet Defender’ provides an interesting look, not only at what stopped the SOPA legislation, but also how Washington deals with technology. Essentially they're behind the times, and for the few legislators who do have a grasp on current (or emerging) technologies political party is of little consequence.

When the technology community rallied together in opposition of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Rep. Issa was at the front lines of Congress fighting to kill the bill. And as a former electronics company CEO, he’s one of the few Congressman who seem to “get it” when it comes to technology (Fun fact: Rep. Issa lent his voice to the alarm system for the ultra-sleek Dodge Viper).

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The debate around SOPA and other technology bills doesn’t divide neatly along party lines. Do you think technology issues are, in a way, bipartisan?

“Intellectual property and how we deal with that is always bipartisan … Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) was particularly helpful in this entire debate, he brought his own version [of an intellectual property bill] to the Senate floor. [Rep. Jared] Polis [D-Colo.] was great to have as somebody else who knew the Internet and what it could do.”

You put the draft version of the OPEN Act online for the public to read and comment upon. Do you think that kind of transparency is the future of politics and technology?

“I do believe it is the future. Congress has to be willing to fund it. The Madison project had to be done at an external site because that kind of interactive exchange isn’t allowed under the House’s firewall rule, so we went to an outside storage facility.

“We don’t like to call the people who make the rules in the House and the Senate “Luddites,” but they’re pretty close. They’re very ultra-conservative on what (new technologies) they’re willing to adopt. Congress only went to Outlook Web a year ago — and it was still only a belt-and-suspenders type of access … our whole infrastructure is built around not getting hacked rather than getting access.

“The technology systems in the House are quite archaic, and if you’re dealing with members that have been around for a long time, it’s harder to adopt new platforms than if you’re in the private sector and more comfortable with new platforms. A big part of the House’s bandwidth is actually used for an off-site redundancy, which duplicates every one of our sites for Outlook and all of our servers. We use so much bandwidth for that, I’m still fighting to get (Voice over IP) telephones installed in the House.”

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Jobs and Politics - February Numbers

From: February Job Gains Create A Wrinkle in Presidential Race

U.S. jobs increased significantly in February after a very strong January. This could create an interesting political wrinkle for Republicans running for president. Simply blaming President Obama for the economy is losing it's punch. The Republican candidate needs to explain why less regulation and lower taxes will make the economy stronger. A few months ago some Republicans thought they'd simply be able to point to the economy and win the election. That no longer appears the case. The economy is not the only issue, but if the Republican candidate doesn't win that issue, it seems unlikley that they'll have much of a shot next November.

U.S. gains 227,000 jobs in February

"The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3% as nearly half-a-million workers reentered the labor force in search of jobs, the Labor Department reported. That’s usually a good sign because it means people believe more work is available.

The increase in nonfarm jobs topped 200,000 for the third straight month, which reinforces the view of an economy gathering strength as 2012 unfolds. The past three months of full-time job growth — aided by unusually warm winter weather — is the fastest since the end of the 2007-2009 recession and marks the best performance since early 2006.

The influx of new jobs is also pumping more cash into the economy in the form of wages and salaries, generating fresh demand among consumers for the goods and services that businesses produce. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of U.S. economic growth.

If that keeps up, businesses might have to hire more workers to meet the rise demand, further underpinning the economic recovery.

Improved job growth exceed Wall Street estimates. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted an increase of 213,000 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis, with unemployment holding steady at 8.3%. "

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Cute Cat Hides in Bag - Video

Cute Cat Hides in Bag

Job Cuts Coming to Yahoo

Reuter Reports via Yahoo...

Yahoo preparing layoffs, could affect thousands: report


"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's new chief executive is preparing a significant restructuring of the Internet company, including layoffs that could cut thousands of employees from its payroll, according to a technology blog.

The moves could be announced as soon as the end of the month and would represent the first major changes under CEO Scott Thompson, the former PayPal president who took the top job at Yahoo in January.

The changes at the struggling Web pioneer, which recently hired the Boston Consulting Group, will focus on its products group, as well as on research, marketing and public relations and businesses that are not core to the company, according to the report on Monday in the blog AllThingsDigital.com, which cited anonymous sources."

Yahoo preparing layoffs, could affect thousands: report