Category Archives: Weblogs

Free speech for bloggers as journalists reaffirmed

This should have been obvious already from the Open Government Act of 2007, among other laws, but now a court has reaffirmed it.

Dan Levine wrote for Reuters 17 January 2014, Blogger gets same speech protections as traditional press: U.S. court,

A blogger is entitled to the same free speech protections as a traditional journalist and cannot be liable for defamation unless she acted negligently, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

Crystal Cox lost a defamation trial in 2011 over a blog post she wrote accusing a bankruptcy trustee and Obsidian Finance Group of tax fraud. A lower court judge had found that Obsidian did not have to prove that Cox acted negligently because Cox failed to submit evidence of her status as a journalist.

But in the ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Cox deserved a new trial, regardless of the fact that she is not a traditional reporter.

“As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is unworkable,” 9th Circuit Judge Andrew Hurwitz wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel.

Here’s the actual ruling: Obsidian Finance Group, LLC; Kevin D. Padrick v. Crystal Cox, United States Cour tof Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 17 January 2014, Continue reading →

Free the Internet: stop SOPA and PIPA

If you don’t know what SOPA and PIPA are, Google, Wikipedia, reddit, and many other websites will tell you today that those are bills in Congress to censor the Internet.

If you like blogs, YouTube, facebook, and other social media, you won’t like SOPA and PIPA if they become law, because they will enable big copyright holders such as movie studios to force websites to remove links to entire domains on suspicion of copyright violation.

What you can do: contact your members of Congress today. You can do that through one of the many online tools Or call, email, or send a paper letter directly. Free the Internet!

-jsq

You like blogs, facebook, twitter, etc.? Oppose the “PROTECT IP” Act

If you like facebook, twitter, eBay, blogs, other social media, or even Google or Yahoo, you won’t like the so-called “PROTECT IP” Act, which is coming up to a vote in the Senate any day now. It would let big corporate copyright holders impose monitoring, take down websites, and cut off funding, all without need for a court order. There’s still time to oppose it.

Parker Higgins wrote for EFF Monday, The PROTECT IP Act Is Very Real and Very Bad — Call Now to Block It

The PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) is the evil step-sister of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the much-criticized Internet blacklist bill introduced in the House last month. They’ve got a lot in common — both bills would allow the government and private rightsholders to censor the Internet for Americans, and both bills have faced strong opposition from regular citizens, business leaders, and public interest groups.

In one way, though, PIPA is much worse: while SOPA is still in the House committee stage and has been the target of extraordinary public opposition, PIPA is already out of committee and poised for consideration of the full Senate. That means PIPA is a few dangerous steps further along in the process of becoming law. And with only a few weeks to go in this legislative session, the Senate may try to rush the bill through before the public has a chance to respond.

Here’s one way to contact your elected representatives. Or call them on the telephone. See also LAKE’s contact information for national elected officials.

-jsq

Videos of entire Lowndes County Board of Education meeting of 30 August 2011

Here’s a playlist of the entire 30 August 2011 Lowndes County Board of Education meeting of 30 August 2011. As you can see, it really was almost all about approving a resolution against school consolidation. We’ve already posted that resolution and the unanimous vote.

The actual resolution is a model of such things: simple and easy to read, yet complete enough to cover the territory, and leaving no doubts as to the board’s position. Congratulations to LCBOE on that resolution!


Playlist, called meeting, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman and John S. Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Let me also take a moment to thank some LCBOE staff. Continue reading →

Blog tinkering

You may have noticed LAKE has been tinkering with the LAKE blog, On the LAKE Front, for the last few days. Some of the changes are is visible, such as the addition of a Search box, and pages About the blog and the Submissions Policy. You probably also noticed the new blog owl picture at the top of the page.

Some changes you only see if you post a comment. We’ve tried several variations on comment posting to cut down on spam. You may say “what spam?” but that’s because we usually catch it before you see it. By spam we mean comments (often automated) pretending to be relevant to the blog item but really only there to promote some unrelated topic or to sell something. We hope the current settings will decrease the work involved in catching spam while keeping it easy to comment on recent postings.

LAKE welcomes feedback, in comments on the blog or facebook page, or by email to information@l-a-k-e.org. (Yes, the dashes are part of the address.)

We also welcome submissions for posting. See the blog Submissions Policy.

Many owls can see a lot.

Submissions Policy

LAKE welcomes submissions!

Submission Methods

Please send submissions for On the LAKE Front
the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange,
  • by email to lakesubmissions@gmail.com
    or to information@l-a-k-e.org (yes, the dashes are part of that address).
  • or as a comment on a recent LAKE blog post.
    LAKE may choose any comment to promote to a main post.
Feel free to comment on the LAKE facebook page, but we currently only promote blog comments to blog posts.

Submission Format

This is a blog posted in HTML on the web. Submissions should be plain text inline in the body of the email message or blog comment.

What Not to Submit

Our mail stacks are as big as your mail stacks, so help us out by sending us material close to ready to post.

No Word, please, unless it is an official government document.

No PDF unless it is an official government document or a published report.

Convert It

If you do send a non-text format, if at all possible also convert it to plain text and send us that, too. Always send a summary, plus what you think is interesting or important about the document.

You may use HTML markup to indicate emphasis, headers, images, videos, etc.

We like pictures and videos. Please put them on the web and send us links to them.

If you have pictures or videos you don’t know how to get on the web, please send us a note to information@l-a-k-e.org with a request to discuss.

There are no length limits on submissions, but we (and our readers) do get bored with wordiness and repetition.

Submission Content

Content relevant to Lowndes County, Georgia or the surrounding area is preferred.

We especially seek reports on government bodies and other meetings. There are five cities and the county government in Lowndes County, and two school systems plus at least twenty appointed boards, and of course similar organizations in the surrounding area. All of them are of interest. Go, take notes, take pictures, take videos, send us some!

Opinions are good; facts are better. This is a blog, so every post has opinions. But we try to back up opinions with evidence.

If you have documentation, please send a link to it online, or a citation for where to find it, or a description, or the name of someone or some organization that has it, or the document itself. If you send a non-text document, see Convert It. We’re all owls in this together.

Editorial Policy

LAKE reserves complete discretion to select, edit, and annotate submissions, and to delete blog or facebook comments that are spam or personal attacks, or for any other reason whatever.

Comments on the LAKE blog or facebook page are not necessarily endorsed by LAKE, even if we promote them to be main blog posts. Most blog posts by LAKE people are not necessarily endorsed by LAKE, either. Chronic readers will have noted that we don’t even agree among ourselves on a number of issues and often criticize each other. Remember, the purpose of LAKE is transparency and dialog. The only posts that are endorsed by LAKE as an organization are those few that say by someone “for LAKE”.

Remember LAKE’s motto:

Citizen dialog for transparent process
Comments and posts on this blog are part of that process.

We look forward to your comments and reports!

About On the LAKE Front

LAKE welcomes your submissions to its blog,
On the LAKE Front!

LAKE is the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange. Our motto:

Citizen dialog for transparent process

LAKE is just curious citizens; a small core group and a larger loosely connected group of associates. We are the media, and you can be, too!

See our submissions policy.

“Olive branch or smokescreen?” –Patrick Davis

Patrick Davis wonders from Macon:
Is this Brad Lofton-led ‘solar’ groundbreaking event by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority an olive branch or a smokescreen.for the community Or an example of ‘compassionate consevratism’?
The solar plant has been part of the plan from the beginning, which of course doesn’t quite answer Patrick Davis’ question. VLCIA knows it can increase the size of the solar plant, and they seem to think that could be a good idea. They could also choose to forget the biomass plant, but they refuse to do that. Much more about Wiregrass Solar Power LLC.

Also please note that this blog is On the LAKE Front, where LAKE is an acronym for the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, which is about citizen dialog for transparent process for all of Lowndes County and the general area, not just Valdosta.

-jsq