www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/ns_tic.pdf

Imagine a world where individuals can seamlessly access information and services online from a variety of sources – the government, the private sector, other individuals, and even across national borders – with reduced fear of identity theft or fraud, lower probability of losing access to critical services and data, and without the need to manage many accounts and passwords. Individuals can conduct a wide variety of transactions online and trust the identities of the entities with which they interact. Individuals know what information service providers are collecting about them and how they are using it. They have choice in the number and types of user-friendly identity credentials they manage and use to assert their identity online. They have access to a wider array of online services to save time and effort.

imagine a world where papers like this were actually shared w/ the public before they're voted on!

http://www.nstic.ideascale.com/a/dtd/NSTIC-Should-Have-a-90-Day-Comment-Period/52669-9351

--timball

National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

1. You Have To Visit Different Links To Hide Your Profile Info From The Public

This is especially important if your kids have their own Facebook accounts.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF

Worried about your Facebook privacy? Six things you don't know, but should

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 21, 2009

January 21, 2009

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Act

A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." In our democracy, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government. At the heart of that commitment is the idea that accountability is in the interest of the Government and the citizenry alike.

The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails. The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve. In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies (agencies) should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public.

All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.

The presumption of disclosure also means that agencies should take affirmative steps to make information public. They should not wait for specific requests from the public. All agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. Disclosure should be timely.

I direct the Attorney General to issue new guidelines governing the FOIA to the heads of executive departments and agencies, reaffirming the commitment to accountability and transparency, and to publish such guidelines in the Federal Register. In doing so, the Attorney General should review FOIA reports produced by the agencies under Executive Order 13392 of December 14, 2005. I also direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to update guidance to the agencies to increase and improve information dissemination to the public, including through the use of new technologies, and to publish such guidance in the Federal Register.

This memorandum does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departm... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

president obama's first memo

Robert Daniels has been locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, since last July. But he has not been charged with a crime. Instead, he suffers from an extensively drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. It is considered virtually untreatable.

County health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as a danger to the public because he failed to take precautions to avoid infecting others. Specifically, he said he did not heed doctors' instructions to wear a mask in public.

"I'm being treated worse than an inmate," Daniels said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press last month. "I'm all alone. Four walls. Even the door to my room has been locked. I haven't seen my reflection in months."

Civil Rights?

Man with tuberculosis jailed for not wearing mask - CNN.com

Last month, Limbaugh reached a deal with prosecutors who had accused the conservative talk-show host of illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping pain pill prescriptions. Under the deal, a single charge commonly referred to as "doctor shopping" would be dismissed after 18 months if he complies with terms that include submitting to random drug tests and continuing treatment for his acknowledged addiction to painkillers.

Okay so if you enter a plea agreement you're guilty. You get a PO to track your case and your progress, because you are guilty. If you violate your parole then you get the original deal gets thrown away and you get recharged w/ BOTH crimes.

How many people wanna bet that pig fucker gets a walk?

--timball

FOXNews.com - Rush Limbaugh Detained at Florida Airport for Improperly Prescribed Viagra

Felt said that if he had something for me, he could get me a message. He quizzed me about my daily routine, what came to my apartment, the mailbox, etc. The Post was delivered outside my apartment door. I did have a subscription to the New York Times. A number of people in my apartment building near Dupont Circle got the Times. The copies were left in the lobby with the apartment number. Mine was No. 617, and it was written clearly on the outside of each paper in marker pen.

Felt said if there was something important he could get to my New York Times -- how, I never knew. Page 20 would be circled, and the hands of a clock in the lower part of the page would be drawn to indicate the time of the meeting that night, probably 2 a.m., in the same Rosslyn parking garage.The relationship was a compact of trust; nothing about it was to be discussed or shared with anyone, he said.

How he could have made a daily observation of my balcony is still a mystery to me. At the time, before the era of intensive security, the back of the building was not enclosed, so anyone could have driven in the back alley to observe my balcony. In addition, my balcony and the back of the apartment complex faced onto a courtyard or back area that was shared with a number of other apartment or office buildings in the area. My balcony could have been seen from dozens of apartments or offices, as best I can tell.

A number of embassies were located in the area. The Iraqi Embassy was down the street, and I thought it possible that the FBI had surveillance or listening posts nearby. Could Felt have had the counterintelligence agents regularly report on the status of my flag and flowerpot? That seems highly unlikely, if not impossible.

Bob Woodward on his relations with Mark Felt.

How Mark Felt Became 'Deep Throat'

blood diamonds. I've hated deBeers ever since I found out they owned the market on tetra-carbon... damned bastards.

Ten reasons why you should never accept a diamond ring

I received this in my email today...
I thought it might be spam, but it doesn't appear to be:

JUST A REMINDER...

In 28 days, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. You will be charged for these calls.

Call this number from your cell phone 888/382-1222 or register on-line at www.donotcall.gov.

It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your time.

It blocks your number for 5 years. Please pass this on to everyone you know who may be interested."

U Nevermind: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_cell_phone_directory.htm

Do not call

] Year after year, Wal-Mart's low pay and meager
] employee benefits force hundreds of thousands of
] employees to resort to Medicaid, food stamps, and public
] housing. Call it the Wal-Mart Tax. And it
] costs you $1.5 billion in federal tax dollars every year.

They had a full-page ad in the Times today.

Welcome to the new WalmartWatch.com

This strategy, released on March 18, is one of the driving documents for the Quadrennial Defense Review, which is just getting under way.

This Strategy outlines our approach to dealing with challenges we likely will confront, not just those we are currently best prepared to meet. Our intent is to create favorable security conditions around the world and to continue to transform how we think about security, formulate strategic objectives, and adapt to achieve success.

This strategy emphasizes the importance of influencing events before challenges become more dangerous and less manageable.

That sounds like the preemption strategy we all know and love, but there's also a certain General Memetics Corp. quality to it.

National Defense Strategy of the United States, 2005