http://uspublicserviceacademy.org America Deserves Our Best Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:00:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I arrived in DC via the red-eye from San Francisco this morning, found my way to some food and caffeine, and was officially ready to meet the gang and get prepped to lobby.  We are staying at George Washington University at Thurston Hall, which happened to be Shawn's (and my ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/07/14/day-1-youth-conference-2010/ Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who recently lost his bid for re-election, will be remembered fondly by the friends of the Public Service Academy. Back in 2006, long before we had any momentum behind the Academy, Sen. Specter agreed to meet personally with Academy staff members. After an hour of ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/05/20/thank-you-sen-specter/ From Holly Harper: “I hate government because I know these guys...and let me tell you, the weakest most drunken, f*#$ing incompetents went to work for the U.S. government because they weren’t smart enough for the private sector,” says the fictional Jeff Skilling, a character based on former Enron chief Jeff Skilling in the Broadway ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/05/11/why-do-we-need-the-academy/ My name is Tim Biba and I'm a YAC'er from Pennsylvania. I attended the 2008 Public Service Academy Conference in Washington and have nothing but great things to say. After attending the conference, I've never been more motivated to enter public service. If you're like me, the day that you ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/05/10/more-reasons-to-go-to-the-academy-youth-conference/ The past week must have been tough for government haters. Two major crises have shown once again how much all of us -- including government-bashers -- depend on effective government. With the tourism and fishing industries of the Gulf Coast drowning in oil, to whom do we turn? Not BP ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/05/05/we-all-hate-government-%e2%80%94-until-we-need-it/ From Shawn Raymond: The play "Enron" is now running on Broadway. In it, the character based on former Enron head Jeff Skilling states: "I hate government because i know these guys . . . and let me tell you, the weakest, most ignorant, most drunken f*&^ing incompetents went to work for ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/05/05/why-does-enron-prove-we-need-the-academy/ From Kyle Robisch, Chair of the Kansas Youth Advisory Council: I just wanted to take a minute to urge all of you to come out to the 2010 US Public Service Academy Youth Conference this July! I went to the Conference in 2008 and it was honestly one of the best ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/04/30/you-gotta-come-to-the-youth-conference/ Jocelyn Gruber, a Youth Advisory Council member since April 2009, sent a letter to Tom Brokaw, NBC journalist, asking for his support of the Public Service Academy earlier this year. In a personalized handwritten note (nice touch), Brokaw applauds Jocelyn’s efforts, but goes on to say that he, as ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/04/28/help-support-the-academy-tom-brokaw-says-nope/ I have a foggy memory of the political fights that went on many years ago to grant an observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday as a federal holiday. I recall that it went in stages: first there were non-binding resolutions which acknowledged that his leadership on civil rights ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/01/18/its-a-day-on-how-to-help-even-if-you-are-off/ Last week, the New York Times wrote a story on the findings of a study on the graduates of a marquee teacher training program, Teach For America.  The study's aim was to find out what the level of civic engagement was for the alums of the program, after they completed ... http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/blog/2010/01/12/the-academy-and-tfa-a-match-made-in-public-service-heaven/