Last week, we told you about CitizenTube, a channel gives you a chance to ask the President follow up questions after the State of the Union speech. For the past five days since the President’s speech, people from across the country have submitted and voted on video and text questions on CitizenTube.

Today, the President will respond to these questions in a live YouTube interview at 1:45 p.m EST.

This is the first time President Obama will answer follow-up questions since the speech last week. CitizenTube promises the interview “will cover a range of issues, minimize duplicate questions, and include both video and text submissions.”

As of now, well over 11,000 questions have been submitted covering a broad cross-section of topics and concerns.

Tune-in to CitizenTube at 1:45 pm EST for the interview.

This Wednesday, at 9pm EST, president Barack Obama will deliver his State of the Union speech.

This year will be extra special as the followup to Obama’s speech viewers will have the opportunity to submit questions (and vote on other users’ questions) in response to the speech on youtube.com/CitizenTube. Next week, Obama will answer some of the questions in an online event delivered live from the White House. From the YouTube blog:

“Presidents have long used new technology to share their message directly with the American people. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to broadcast the State of the Union over the radio in 1923, and President Truman made history in 1947 when he became the first to deliver his address to a live television audience.

This year’s State of the Union speech will also make history. It will be the first time that citizens will have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions during the speech — and to hear the president’s response to those questions.”

Currently, the exact timing of the followup event is unknown.

A recent list published by US News & World Report titled “15 Government-Heavy (and Recession-Resistant) Cities” lists 15 cities in the U.S. where government jobs are heaviest. The numbers come from a Brookings Institution report released in June. According to the article,

“Metro areas where government is one of the main employers shed fewer jobs than other metro areas. Average employment in these government-heavy areas has fallen only by 1.3 percent between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2009, compared with 4 percent losses for metro areas where the major industries are arts and entertainment or agriculture. “

The benefits of recession-resistant government jobs are felt by everyone – even those who are not working in federal government. These benefits, from more government activity, include money to spend on other parts of the local economy: education, health and nonprofit organizations. These areas tend to attract a variety of individuals, ranging from families looking for a better lifestyle, those going through a job change due to layoffs or graduating college students looking for a good start to their careers. It’s a simple cycle of progression: people making money spend their money thus improving their area and creating more jobs as a result.

Among the cities listed, four are home to SGIS offices.
Of those cities, we are proud to say we have offices located in:

• Washington Metro Area (Vienna office)
• Pasadena, Calif.
• Tampa, Fla.
• Orlando, Fla.

The report shows that government employment rates continue to hold strong. Recently, SGIS opened a new office in Fayetteville, N.C., and we continue to expand, but more importantly, we continue to hire. SGIS has grown exponentially in the past 7 years as shown by our awards and we’ve opened several offices nationwide in that short amount of time. In an economy that seems to be slipping, more individuals are looking to work in federal government-related fields. SGIS provides Intelligence Analysis, IT, Engineering/Integration, Training and Cyber Security solutions to the federal government. We work with various agencies supporting the Intelligence, Homeland Security and Defense communities. Some of our open positions include Resource Managers, Account Managers, Web Developers System Administrator/Integrators and Configuration Managers. To check our open jobs, you can visit our Careers page.

You can check out the entire US News & World Report list here and view all of our SGIS office locations on our website.

SGIS has joined with Rally for the Cure for our
4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament in support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Time & Location
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2009
The Courses at Andrews Air Force Base, MD
Registration at 8:30 a.m.
Golf shotgun start at 9:30 a.m.
Lunch and awards at 3 p.m.

The Mission of Susan G. Komen for the Cure:
To spread awareness in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease and to help women realize that education and reinforcement of early detection is the best defense, until there is a cure.

Calling All Golfers!
Friends, colleagues, and community: You are invited to join us in supporting this event. We welcome individual players to be paired with a team, but encourage you to bring your own WINNING team! Come out and help support a cause that is so dear to SGIS. Can’t play in the tournament? Become a sponsor, donate to the prize pool or volunteer your time. No effort is too small! All proceeds will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.