The Nation: "The Patriot Act, for all its noxiousness, is the symptom, not the disease–or rather, the gateway drug for an Administration addicted to the expansion of unaccountable executive-branch power."
April 2005
Monthly Archive
Opinion17 Apr 2005 02:00 pm
Opinion& Bad Poetry in Motion15 Apr 2005 09:34 pm
Mr. Newton shares the horrible thought for the day.
Click on image.
Opinion09 Apr 2005 11:43 am
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:
"It’s fantastic to put up to $18 million in the hands of freelance authors who can obviously use the money," said Jonathan Tasini, the plaintiff in the 2001 case Tasini v. New York Times Co., in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that electronically reproducing and distributing freelancers’ articles infringes on their copyrights.
I believe that ultimately the News & Record and other Main Stream Media will ultimately have to design payment "schemes" for blogger content due to the flood of buisness opportunities that will be offered that will.
Bustin’ Out of the Private Box
How do we as bloggers make money of blogging? By not reinventing the wheel, Main Stream Media (MSM) isn’t they are just looking for new grease.
This is where the deal is going down folks. The Greensboro News & Record (N & R) is one of the 15,000 news outlets that PAY for content from the AP, repackage it to their audience, then sell their audience to advertisers and marketers. The local media market is the most lucrative, and breaking the news agreggation down to the local level of cooparate media outposts from the state level is where the money has and will continue to hit the bank. Who’s bank remains the question?
Why would the N & R have continue to pay businesses like the AP to do news collecting if a buisness model of "Open Source Journalism" can be be developed that co-opts over 8 million staff members and their content at no cost?
The N & R’s "Public Square" is nothing but classic Main Stream Media spin on what is actually the new "Private Box" the traditional media is attempting to put the blogoshere in.
A "Public Square " owned and operated for and by private interests is not public.
We should have no interest in building a big statue of Traditional Media at the center of this "Private Box".
A true "Public Square" would be owned by the public and maintained in the interest of the public. Granted it is surrounded by private buisness that bring value and will always be positioned to capitatize.
What we need is to place the "public" at the head of the long tail, and have MSM accept that they will become the 2nd teir packaged between a 3rd teir of independent content producers.
The "Public" (all content producers) need to own the local aggregators and be provided equal access to the benefit of capitalizing on all inherent value within.
If 10 men of 6 highly competitive New York NewsPapers can meet and agree to work together…and within 100 years become one of the largest news gathering organizations in the world, what can 8 million people from all over the world accomplish in 10 even 5 years is the question the blogoshere needs to be addressing.
What we need is an Associated Blog Press.
Tag you’re it!
Opinion05 Apr 2005 11:41 am
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. Ignorance may deride it. But in the end, there it is.
- - - Winston Churchill
Opinion05 Apr 2005 01:58 am
Battle In South Texas: "The number of noncustodial mothers has doubled in the last decade. Is this because more mothers are using drugs or are unfit in other ways? No, this is because child custody has become a profitable business.
Since welfare reform legislation has cracked down on so-called "deadbeat dads," more fathers are fighting for custody. Now they can receive child support from the mother; they maintain control of the mother, and control the children too."
……..and the children suffer.
Opinion04 Apr 2005 12:29 am
7B‑309. Immunity of persons reporting and cooperating in an investigation.
Anyone who makes a report pursuant to this Article, cooperates with the county department of social services in a protective services inquiry or investigation, testifies in any judicial proceeding resulting from a protective services report or investigation, or otherwise participates in the program authorized by this Article, is immune from any civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed for that action provided that the person was acting in good faith. In any proceeding involving liability, good faith is presumed. (1979, c. 815, s. 1; 1981, s. 469, s. 8; 1993, c. 516, s. 9; 1998‑202, s. 6; 1999‑456, s. 60.)
There also is nothing on the books to deter a malicious reporter who chooses to abuse the law by leveraging the Powers of the State for personal, political or business reasons against your family.
If a reporter can report a family and remain anonymous to those they have accused, who’s responsiblility is it to determine that the report wasn’t made in "bad faith"?
Who’s responsible if questions arise as to the "motives" of the reporter and no one follows up?
If your family is reported to Child Protective Services….you are guilty until proven innocent.
Think about it….you have an enemy…they report you to DSS…they have immunity…."good faith is presumed" ……and there may be no recourse.
I support efforts to stop child abuse and neglect, but I also support safegaurds to stop those from abusing the system that is in place to "save the children."
Opinion01 Apr 2005 11:24 pm
"It may sound cynical to be so critical of the Department of Social Services. But I have wept with too many good parents who have lost their children, to not be cynical. Frankly, the system is evil and corrupt. The courts are helpless in the face of DSS power, or they affirm it because they believe in the DSS philosophy.
The exposure of these dirty tricks is only part of the story. You need to know how to fight back. Get a good lawyer. Read the "Fight Back" section of this web site. May God bless your efforts to stop this abuse of children, and reunite your family."
