A few minutes ago at 1:42pm, the White House blog announced a live web chat with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis "to discuss the contents of the Department of Labor’s new regulatory agenda, which focuses on improving the lives of working Americans and leveling the playing field for businesses that play by the rules." Questions can be submitted through this live chat window, via Twitter using the hashtag #DOLREGS, by calling 1-866-487-2365 or by emailing webmaster@dol.gov.

There's only one hitch: the chat starts at 2:00pm. That's 18 minutes to engage a public. In fairness, the Department of Labor Regulations home page announced the upcoming chat sometime Friday afternoon, but that announcement didn't exactly get picked up by many observers.

There's one consolation. Solis's chat will be followed by Dec. 7, 8 and 9 (at the same address) by chats hosted by the heads of these Labor Department agencies: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Office of Labor-Management Standards, the Wage and Hour Division, the Employment and Training Administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and the Employee Benefits Security Administration. Details here.

This is an extreme example of a problem that seems to be turning into a pattern. Last week, for example, the White House held a clean energy forum with 120 youth leaders that was also streamed live, but with little warning. Some environmental activists I bumped into last week weren't pleased with how little advance notice they got of the event. Same with the "Ask U.S." forum that was done with Ambassador Scott Gration, NSC's Samantha Power and leaders of the Darfur anti-genocide movement. To be sure, it can be hard to schedule these events far in advance, but 18 minutes notice is pretty ridiculous. Call it "engagement lite."