In Data Deluge, Multitaskers Go to 2 8 12
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ACTA: The International Treaty You've Never Heard of That Could Affect Internet Freedom
Read the Article at Common Dreams 1 28 12 |
Decline "Friend" Request: Social Media Meets 21st Century Statecraft in Latin America 1 26 12 |
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Hi Hank Last week you stood with millions of Americans to protect online freedom and innovation. Congress heard you, and delayed consideration of the PIPA and SOPA bills, which -- if enacted -- would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American businesses. 1 26 12 |
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The following article shows the new social consciousness that our elected leaders loath. The reason? -- they are no longer in charge of dispensing their view of information, and like it or not, are being forced into a dialogue with their consitutents. ----Dialogue they feel is not to their advantage, because the citizen can take the issue to where the citizen wants the light to shine on. Our elected leaders have usually never had to contend with that before but . . . “It’s a new day,” he added. “Brace yourselves.” . .
In Fight Over Piracy Bills, New Economy Rises Against Oldexcerpts follow: WASHINGTON — When the powerful world of old media mobilized to win passage of an online antipiracy bill, it marshaled the reliable giants of K Street — the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Recording Industry Association of America and, of course, the motion picture lobby, with its new chairman, former SenatorChristopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat and an insider’s insider Yet on Wednesday this formidable old guard was forced to make way for the new as Web powerhouses backed by Internet activists rallied opposition to the legislation through Internet blackouts and cascading criticism, sending an unmistakable message to lawmakers grappling with new media issues: Don’t mess with the Internet. . . . . . . . .It appeared by Wednesday evening that Congress would follow Bank of America, Netflix and Verizon as the latest institution to change course in the face of a netizen revolt.. . . Phone calls and e-mail messages poured in to Congressional offices against the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect I.P. Act in the Senate. One by one, prominent backers of the bills dropped off. . . . . . . . “It’s a new day,” he added. “Brace yourselves.” . . . . . . . .Then the Web rose up. Activists said the legislation would censor the Web, force search engines to play policemen for a law they hate and cripple innovation in one of the most vibrant sectors of the American economy. . . . . . . . . And for all the campaign contributions, Washington parties and high-priced lobbyists the old economy could muster, nothing could compare to the tentacles the new economy can reach into Americans’ everyday lives through sites like Wikipedia. . . . . read more and see video at nytimes.com poanposted 1 21 12 |
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Around the Web - ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Guardipedia - we answer your questions during Wikipedia '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Why We've Censored Wired.com | wired.com |
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A Political Coming of Age for the Tech poanposted 1 20 12 |
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Hank
A rather interesting piece on how the FBI beats around the bush and with holds requests. Talk about Secret Police. It appears to make a mockery of Freedom Of Information Act. Larry
 Published on Truthout (http://www.truth-out.org)
Home > Revealed: The FBI's Secretive Practice of "Blackballing" Files
Revealed: The FBI's Secretive Practice of "Blackballing" FilesBy alexa
Created 2012-01-17 06:52
Jason Leopold [1]
Source:
Truthout
Display date:
Tuesday 17 January 2012
Published Date:
Tue, 2012-01-17 (All day)
Label:
Report
Have you ever filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FBI and received a written response from the agency stating that it could not locate records responsive to your request? If so, there's a chance the FBI may have found some documents, but for unknown reasons, the agency's FOIA analysts determined it was not responsive and "blackballed" the file, crucial information the FBI withholds from a requester when it issues a "no records" response. The FBI's practice of "blackballing" files has never been publicly disclosed before. With the exception of one open government expert, a half-dozen others contacted by Truthout said they were unfamiliar with the process of "blackballing" and had never heard of the term. Image:
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Homepage:
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License Type:
Creative Commons
Feature Slot:
primary
Computed author:
Jason Leopold
Computed author bio:
Jason Leopold [7] is lead investigative reporter of Truthout. He is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, News Junkie [8], a memoir. Visit jasonleopold.com [9] for a preview. Follow Jason on Twitter: @JasonLeopold [10]. Links: 1 19 12 |
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The priorities of government and role of media skewed excerpts follow: ....The voting public is turned off more than ever... ....The closest I got to County Manager Jim Dinneen Wednesday was an appointment through his secretary who squeezed me in for a one-hour 10 a.m. appointment Tuesday. That's five days from today. I have uncovered some troubling pending that goes far beyond Nicole Carni's salary. I won't reveal it here, but once I publish that segment in NSB News' investigative series, "Show Me the Money: New Smyrna Beach," some people are going to have egg on their faces. Of course being that our operation is exclusively online with very limited resources, we are not taken seriously until the stories are published. The politicians and bureaucrats don't seem to recognize what the public can't get enough of and that's who has their hands on the tax money.... ....There was plenty of drama at Wednesday night's joint meeting of the New Smyrna Beach City Commission and the CRA, but you wouldn't know it reading the agenda-reporting style story in this morning's News-Journal. When you see our videos, you'll see for yourselves how screwed up things are even as the mayor brags about the CRA streetscapes finished during his two-year tenure. You'll see how he offers an apology to CRA Chairman Jim Kosmas who had to pay back a $1,900 grant his CRA colleagues voted for him. And there's the apology from the mayor for the $20,000 grant CRA Chad Schilsky was forced to rescind. Mayor Adam Barringer, however, makes no mention of his own role in piggybacking on Schilsky's grant for his own financial gain through his construction company. And low and behold, Barringer's role is not mentioned in the News-Journal article while the story alludes to the two CRA members having been accused of "unwittingly violating ethics laws by benefiting from receipt of CRA grants in the past." The "unwittingly" term came from CRA consulting attorney Mark Hall, who of course, was the attorney of record in previously stating the grants were proper. The one commissioner who couldn't or wouldn't challenge Hall is Jim Hathaway, a candidate for a seat on the county council in the 2012 elections. NSB News will explain why in an upcoming segment of its Show Me the Money series. Our videos will also highlight some of the key players from the joint meeting who have connections to the SVAA scandal. Again, more in-depth explanation in upcoming Show Me segments. It will take us a couple of days to process the videos. In the meantime, NSB News has to wait for Dinneen to satisfy the News-Journal, having given the newspaper public records denied to NSB News for that paper's Sunday edition on Carni, follow-ups with the News-Journal after Carni's firing Tuesday and, of course, the conference call Wednesday.... read the complete report at nsbnews.net 1 19 12 |
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Who are behind this push to curtail free speech and the flow of information on the internet?read at the following link, the threat on the flow of information on the internet: 1 18 12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more
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Who are behind this push to curtail free speech and the flow of information on the internet? And are those people afraid of revolutions which we have seen in the middle east? I have long suspected that the new world order is behind the attack on the internet. There is a fair usage doctrine which I will look up and reproduce on this web page, which allows for posting excerpts from various sources, for educational purposes. The fair usage doctrine could have been made with Port Orange Area News in mind. I once received a phone call from a lawyer for the DBNJ, and I suspect that the phone call was initiated by a complaint to the DBNJ by the ACLU, of all organizations, because of excerpts I had reproduced on the POI web site, from dbnj, which excerpts were contradicted at an aclu meeting in dayton beach. I was told by the NJ lawyer that I can only use abstracts, which basically as far as she was concerned, would allow me to reproduce the first sentence from a dbnj article, and of course, accompanied by a link to the article. I knew that her opinion was in conflict with the fair usage provision, but I said OK, took the excerpts off the poi web site, and one month later, returned to my old way of educating my poi readers. I can easily get around this notion of only reproducing abstracts relating to published material, by summarizing in my words, the content of an article. And then as long as I am at it, add my opinion, which in the case of the DBNJ would be to point out that it rarely ruffles city governmental agencies as long as the agencies are keeping the NJ's reporters in the loop of communication. Except for an occasional editorial criticizing a city agency when its actions can no long be ignored, the news journal, like many in the professional news media, keep in the loop of information by not ruffling the feathers of the elite. Independent citizens journalists have no such worry, because in general, they are not included in the "We Are Family" loop of information. The DBNJ once did an investigation on freedom of information requests by local governmental agencies in Volusia County. POPD was faulted for asking some unnecessary questions of the NJ undercover agent requesting information, and intentionally delaying turning over the information to that person requesting information. The NJ once did an article about members of the POFD attending a seminar in a space convention center in Mississippi, and it was brought out in the article that the expense of the trip was paid from money collected from POFD flu shots. The NJ did not follow up on the proper use of said fund, and Craig E. Young via POI web site, made an issue that such funds were not properly represented in Port Orange budget reports and such dispensing of said money was not appropriate. The city manager took the blame for not having placed said money into a regulated fund, and changed the proceedure for the future. I think we are all learning a lot from our two muckrakers, if I may say that, Craig and Ted. And I am happy to know that all of their opinions, in full, can be presented to the public through the poan web site. Most of their commentaries would not be published by the dbnj. Once an allegation or speculation gets into the internet search engines, it stays there, and the only remedy is to enter an opposing opinion, to contradict the speculation or allegation. I had found in the past that the Port Orange city council was loathed to use the internet as a tool for broadcasting its opinions. Instead, the city council has relied on the city manager to answer questions, many of them originally proposed and intended to be answered by city council people. There is no question in my mind, that such an attitude by city council people, is an effort to avoid accountability for their actions, opinions, promises and views. I have been told that the sunshine law prevents city council people from publicizing an opinion, other than in a city council meeting. And often there too, we hear very little opinions uttered, except from Don Burnette and Bob Ford. Instead they let the city manager take the heat, and as I see it, it is all starting to catch up with the city manager. Ted Noftall is wrestling with unclear communication from Port Orange City Hall, and is coming to the conclusion that it is deliberate obfuscation. I think so. At the end of January, I will discuss on this web page, why the minutes of city council meetings take so long to be published, and why it takes so long to publish on the city's web site, a video of last night's city council meeting. When Moses went up on the hill to receive the burning bush and the 10 commandments, no one else was there. How do we know that we truly got all of the commandments from Moses, and/or were the original presented only 8 commandments. In the city politics world of real estate, how many appraisals are received before the right one is accepted by the city manager. I had asked for the number of appraisals sought by the city manager before the purchase of the Lohman funeral home, at an exorbitant price. I never received an answer, and am content to ignore the non response, so that I can keep bringing it up when I feel it useful. The vatican kept us in the dark ages, by not only keeping hidden important documents, but by forbidding us to read certain documents. And now, there are those who want to put us back in the dark ages, by curtailing the free flow of information on the internet. The we are family crowd tried to ignore us, now they see that they have to make us go away. Their view is probably that we are nasty pests that unnecessarily inflame people to protest what the elite are doing to us. Another bank in Port Orange? Tell me. Did the citizens clamor for another bank in Port Orange, or does Port Orange just seem like a nice place to settle, for deals on real estate, visions, river walks, exchange of properties, Gamble place, developments without concurrency compliance, requests for changes in building plans put to the city in phase 2 , 3 and 4 of the developers plans, mitigation of costs of trees requests and lessening of impact fees, under the guise of making more jobs, but supplying homes that very few can afford to buy. All of these issues need light shown on them, with an adequate response and reply from our elected city leaders. You have been following poi web site and now the POAN web site, as well have the DBNJ. ---. I should say this. The city of Port Orange has put a wealth of information out on its web site. But fortunately for people who might not want to be held accountable, the citizen must work very hard to plod through all the information and see how it is or may impact the citizen. Don't expect the NJ to do that. We can thank people like Ted Noftall and Craig E. Young for helping us see the light through all the murky information. What I do see, is that when Ted wants to examine under a microscope the information offered by the city, communication problems seem to arise. Do you think the city has been well communicating with you. Let me know poanposted 1 18 12 at 1112 am |
Since the dawn of broadcasting, our free speech has been dominated - and largely controlled - by the powerful corporations that control public airwaves and the shows they carry.
Real free speech on the Internet is a profound, existential threat to these media giants and the politicians they own. So they are desperately trying to seize control of the Internet with obscure bills called "SOPA" in the House and "PIPA" in the Senate.
SOPA and PIPA would wreak havoc on the technical infrastructure of the Internet, and threaten thousands of Internet businesses which are truly creating jobs.
More importantly, these bills would give big corporations and the Attorney General the power to shut down websites large and small that somehow link to copyright violators, whether through their own posts or even visitor comments.
How on earth can a website - ours included - monitor thousands or millions of links that accumulate over the years? And why should a single link be sufficient to shut down a website or force a bankrupting legal battle with a giant corporation?
No corporation should have that power. And no Attorney General should either - just think of Alberto Gonzales, who abused his vast powers by authorizing warrantless wiretaping and torture, then lied to Congress about it.
Websites large and small are fighting SOPA/PIPA, including Wikipedia and Google. Some are even going black for a day of protest.
President Obama opposes "legislation that reduces freedom of expression" and urged Congress to pass a bill that narrowly and carefully targets foreign piracy.
We'll reserve judgment on any future "compromise" bill. For now, we must tell Congress loud and clear:
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik |
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Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, the Public Records Law, provides the public access to certain governmental documents.[8] The law is to be construed liberally in favor of openness.[9] When there is any doubt, Florida's courts find in favor of disclosure.[10] The Public Records Law applies to all agencies, including any "business entity acting on behalf of any public agency."[11] The only agency records that are exempt from inspection and copying under the act are those that are provided confidentiality by statute or those that are expressly exempted by a statute or general or special law.[12]
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Federal Contractor Monitored Social Network 1 14 12 |
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The following excerpts are from an article mainly concerned with business organizations. However, the sound principles stated can apply to governmental agencies. We will at a later date, get more into public records becoming public documents. -- hank '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Today’s corporations and government agencies are creating and receiving records at an astonishing rate. The volume of records is not only staggering but the records also come in a variety of formats such as: Manage – Once a document is created or received, it may become a record and will be classified, declared, and managed within the records management system. An ERM system is a software application that implements an organization’s records management plan. Hold Orders. Without a records management system, it would be impossible to completely identify and protect a series of electronic records that are subject to a hold order. The cost of manually identifying and separating electronic records that are being placed on hold would simply be prohibitive, if it could be accomplished at all. read the complete article at docushare.xerox.com poanposted 1 13 12
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Tired of regulationTo Palm Coast property owners, I think it's time to take back our property from the city.
January 13, 2012
A meme in the process of evolution. -- hank |
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Tired of political parties?If you are one of the 92 percent of Americans who do not approve of the results of the current political system, you have an opportunity in 2012 to make a statement. January 12, 2012
A communication revolt in the process. -- hank |
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| New Smyrna Beach commission considers taking financial control of CRA ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Questions about CRA spending surfaced in November at a Volusia County Council meeting, after council members received emails from a handful of critics. One, New Smyrna Beach resident Max Dugas, emailed the council saying the CRA "appears to cater to the businesses in New Smyrna Beach, not the community as a whole." 1 13 12 |
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Port Orange Town Center Port Orange West Community Development District ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Gov. Scott orders sweeping review of special taxing districts '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' excerpts follow: Floridians have a right to know what they're being taxed for and how that money is spent," Scott said in announcing the review Thursday afternoon. "This review will bring to light these questions and allow us to identify ways to save taxpayers money and increase accountability." Scott said he'd learned some special districts were "delinquent in submitting information about their activities" and it's "critical that we get a firm grasp on how (they) are operating and hold them accountable." Special districts pay for a variety of services for taxpayers in Florida, from infrastructure to environmental protection to economic development to community redevelopment to waste disposal. There are about 70 functions listed on the state Department of Economic Opportunity's website for special districts. Among Scott's tasks for the review: determine whether each district is serving its purpose, operating transparently and prudently spending tax dollars. He also tasked the budget office with finding whether the districts are levying taxes, fees and assessments appropriately. 1 13 12 |
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Annual Valuation ReportPension Actuary - City of Port Orange -
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Asset Name |
Market Value |
ICC EQUITY |
$12,421,450.26 |
ICC FIXED INCOME |
$7,096,491.48 |
AMERICAN EUROPACIFIC GRTH-R6 |
$122,634.23 |
NUVEEN TRADEWINDS GLBL A/C-R |
$124,626.41 |
VANGUARD GLOBAL EQUITY FD IV |
$123,827.58 |
INTERNATIONAL TOTAL |
$371,088.22 |
Cash |
$1,091,218.41 |
PORTFOLIO TOTAL |
$20,980,248.37 |
Purchased on 10/27: Amer Europac ($134,000) and Vanguard Global ($133,000)
Nuveen also added $33,000
I will not be attending the December meeting but will appear before the board next on January 23rd 2012 for the purpose of interviewing fixed income managers.
Just contact me directly if there are any questions on the attached performance report.
Happy Holidays!!
Jeff Swanson, CIMA
Southeastern Advisory Services, Inc.
877 557 0633 Office (Atlanta)
904 233 7600 Cell
904 372 9399 Fax
PLEASE NOTE: Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written communications to or from City of Port Orange officials and employees regarding public business are public records available to the public and media upon request. Your e-mail communications may be subject to public disclosure. Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing. The views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect those of the City of Port Orange. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message, and please delete it from your computer. Thank you.
poanposted 1 10 12 at 343 am