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The Federal Government will be open in the morning operating under an unscheduled leave policy with a planned 4 hour early dismissal. Employees reporting for work should be dismissed by their agencies 4 hours earlier than their normal departure time from work. OPM is continuing to closely monitor developing weather conditions should there be a need to reassess the Government's operating status.

About a month ago, I received a tip from Larwyn on Obama’s Latest Big Brother Plan. To say it is chilling, is the understatement of the century. After I read about it, I immediately felt ill… I had not blogged on it because the last month has been hectic, but this indeed is something that will fundamentally ‘change’ all of our lives and not for the better. The White House plans to expand the Office of Personnel Management. Most Americans don’t even know what this Office is, much less how dangerous it now is. First excerpt: The Office of Personnel...

I'm a Defense Department retiree and received my annual annuity statement from OPM the other day. We didn't get a cost of living adjustment this year, but I noticed my monthly payment went up. Upon closer examination, I saw that OPM had arbitrarily reduced my monthly withholding. Evidently, the administration wants us all to think we got a raise, only to find out we will owe the extra money back in 2011 (after the elections, of course). I did a quick survey of my former co-workers and the same thing happened to them. This is very unusual, since withholding amounts...

Via Instapundit comes word that the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intends to purge the federal government of Republican civil servants all in the name of purify the federal bureaucracy.

President Obama has announced his intention to nominate John Berry to serve as the next director of the Office of Personnel Management. A veteran of the Treasury and Interior departments and current director of the National Zoo, Berry also once served as legislative assistant to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). "From turning around the National Zoo to fostering a more productive work environment at the Department of the Interior, John Berry has a tremendous record of effective management in key public service roles," Obama said in a statement. "I'm confident that he will provide that same leadership at OPM to help...

Obama administration officials had indicated last week that the U.S. was preparing to pledge $900 million in assistance for Gaza

LONDON – LONDON – As World AIDS Day is marked on Monday, some experts are growing more outspoken in complaining that AIDS is eating up funding at the expense of more pressing health needs. They argue that the world has entered a post-AIDS era in which the disease's spread has largely been curbed in much of the world, Africa excepted. "AIDS is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, but it's just one of many terrible humanitarian tragedies," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies health spending at Syracuse University. Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the Caribbean island of...

ON WORLD AIDS DAY: President to Receive First ‘International Medal of PEACE’ for Humanitarian Initiatives WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 24, 2008 – Dr. Rick Warren will present President George W. Bush with the first “International Medal of PEACE” from the Global PEACE Coalition in recognition of his unprecedented contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health, to be held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. At the Forum, Warren will engage both President Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush in candid conversation regarding past accomplishments and priorities...

Friends Of The Border Patrol Report offers Change #1 to newly elected administration and Congress Chino, CA – Friends of the Border Patrol has released a report uncovering corruption and security compromises within the government titled “Unjustifiable and Impeachable: The FOBP Report on DHS, DOJ, and the Courts. Andy Ramirez has authored this report with a section featuring 50 Exhibits documenting compromises, corruption and unconscionable incidents that go back 15 years in some cases. The report contains two volumes, with Volume I authored by Andy Ramirez, and Volume II written by Attorney John Cavicchi, which primarily addresses the court system....

An ex-girlfriend of State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo took jurors yesterday on a detailed guided tour of his high-flying and coddled lifestyle, his rages and romantic messages, and his resolve to make others pay for his pleasures. ---snip-- She told jurors that Fumo reveled in the perks of being a powerful politician. "It made him feel good," she said.

GOV. SARAH PALIN TELLS FOX NEWS CHANNEL’S SEAN HANNITY ‘THE CORRUPTION ON WALL STREET’ IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FAILING INSTITUTIONS Palin: ‘CEO’s and Top Management’ Have Been ‘Addicted’ to ‘O-P-M, Other People’s Money’ In a two-part interview, with the first part airing tonight on FOX News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes” at 9PM, Governor Sarah Palin talks about the economy and who is to blame and her and McCain’s strategy to try to fix it. Excerpts of the first part of the interview are below. Thursday night’s excerpts will be released tomorrow. *Mandatory Credit: FOX News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes” On...

An Office of Personnel Management investigator was snooping around my neighborhood today asking questions about one of our neighbors, who apparently is seeking a high-level position with the U.S. Government. She came to my door, showed her badge and paper work, and I invited her in. After a flurry of questions about my neighbor's personality, jobs, family life, etc., she asked me the following question: "Is there any reason that you would think or make you believe that this person would not be loyal to the Government of the United States of America?" And then it dawned on me.... I...

The Federal Aviation Administration. The Social Security Administration. The National Science Foundation. The Treasury Department. All could lose as much as a quarter of their employees by 2012, mostly because of retirements. They are not alone. Across the government, about a third of full-time employees will retire in the next five years, according to estimates prepared by the Office of Personnel Management. The turnover could be even higher in the ranks of federal executives and supervisors. From the start of the Bush administration, agencies have been preparing for the churning that will be caused by the baby boom retirement wave....

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Department employees mostly are an unhappy lot. An internal survey of about 141,000 of the department's 208,000 employees found that only 58 percent were satisfied with their jobs, the same as results from a 2006 survey that measured job satisfaction across the government. The department ranked at the bottom in the 2006 poll, which was conducted by the Office of Personnel Management. While 91 percent of the people who work at the department think the work they do is important, only 54 percent would recommend the department as a good place to work. That number is...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON -- The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. Scott J. Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, wrote Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey last week that the department had repeatedly "impeded" his investigation by refusing to share documents and provide answers to written questions, according to a copy of Bloch's letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The Justice Department wants...

Billionaire Democratic Sen. John Kerry has finally sent his own aid package to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans more than two weeks after the storm hit - and a week after most of the city had been successfully evacuated by the Bush administration. Kerry traveled to New Orleans on Monday aboard a UPS Boeing 757 loaded with 5,000 bottles of baby formula, 5,000 pairs of sneakers and an array of cleaning supplies, the Associated Press said. "Everything that any of us can do is so welcome, and it provides just a little bit of help at an extraordinary time," the Massachusetts Democrat...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2005 – Defense officials vowed this week to keep DoD civilian employees affected by Hurricane Katrina as up-to-date as possible on benefits and other entitlements and to help these employees continue to contribute to the department's mission. "Our DoD civilian employees are a valuable resource and an essential part of our total force structure," Marilee Fitzgerald, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for civilian personnel policy, wrote in a Sept. 3 memo to department employees. "As we move forward to restore operations interrupted by the storm and its aftermath, we must do all that we can to assist...

August 22, 2005 -- AIR America, the much-hyped liberal media ven ture that was supposed to revolutionize talk radio, is "solvent and apparently stable": So claim the gullible cheerleaders at The New York Times, who made that unsubstantiated assertion in a recent glowing profile of Air America host Janeane Garofalo. But behind the fawning headlines and celebrity kiss-ups is a tale of astounding financial and legal chaos. The city Department of Investigation and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer continue to conduct separate probes into a dubious loan scheme involving Air America and the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club....

Ku Klux Klansman-turned-Senator Robert Byrd has won passage of a bill that would fund a memorial to civil rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King. Byrd, who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14-straight hours, won "a significant political victory," according to the Associated Press, by securing $10 million in funding for the King monument. Polls show the eight-term Democrat facing a stiff re-election challenge this year if popular West Virginia Rep. Shelly Moore Capito gets into the race - with state Republicans promising to make Byrd's Klan past an issue. Byrd "has spent years trying to rehabilitate his reputation,"...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 - Four unions filed suit on Thursday to prevent the Bush administration from carrying out the first phase of a personnel system that would give officials sweeping power to reward, punish and reassign federal employees. The suit was filed by career employees of the Homeland Security Department, challenging rules it issued on Wednesday. White House officials said the new procedures, affecting 110,000 employees, were a model for changes throughout the federal government. The unions asked the Federal District Court here to issue an injunction against the final rules, which will be published on Tuesday in The Federal...