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$18M Contract For Transparency Website Released — But Blacked Out
zokuga writes "The US government recently approved an $18 million contract for Smartronix to build a website where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money, as part of President Obama's promise to make government more transparent through the Internet. However, the contract, which was released only through repeated Freedom of Information Act requests, is itself heavily blacked out. ProPublica reports: 'After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the Government Services Agency released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless. In all, 25 pages of a 59-page technical proposal — the main document in the package — were redacted completely. Of the remaining pages, 14 had half or more of their content blacked out.' Sections that were heavily or entirely redacted dealt with subjects such as site navigation, user experience, and everything in the pricing table. The entire contract, in all its blacked-out glory, is here."
Standard practice, unfortunately. Despite what folks may think.. the website itself will provide the necessary transparency. However, the redactions in the contract are to protect trade secrets, national security concerns (explaining integration with other confidential government systems), etc. What we need, is the website, and for the website to provide the information clearly, and efficiently. Who does it,a nd the details of the contract, are largely irrelevant.
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As we've seen to date, when you criticize the Obama administration they'll simply label you an extremist or rabble-rouser and dismiss all allegations against them. You think Bill Clinton was slick? He was just Teflon. Obama is made out of superfuid.
The funny thing about events of late is that politicians think people are pissed simply because they oppose the certain bills, like the health care initiative. Newsflash Washington, you're pissing EVERYONE off with your nonstop bullshit. You're in the pockets of those that truly control things, so why should we give two shits about what you say? You don't make decisions obviously, they are obviously made by outside forces. You work for the people alright, it's just which people we wonder because It's obviously not us.
Dear Mr President. I'm not angry because Glenn Beck or anyone else told me to be. I'm pissed because:
A. Unemployment is way too high. Jobless recoveries don't pay the bills.
B. The economy is in the tank. Blame it on Bush, again. That seems to be what you guys are great at.
C. You bail out banks that simply took too much risk, breaking the model of capitalism that you tout as the best in the world.
D. You refuse to allow oversight of the Federal Reserve and it just keeps printing money out of thin air. A huge risk for us if we can't meet our economic goals.
E. You don't stick to your promises (see deal with drug manufacturers for an example)
F. Your party is filled with hypocrites and fools (for example Nancy Pelosi) and you pander to them repeatedly.
G. And finally you promote transparency and then blank out FOIA released contracts. WTF?
The gig is up Obama. Time to cut the shit. Your blank check is revoked. And yes I voted for you so save your "Republicans yada yada" nonsense.
So, ahh... how are you impressed with Obama's promise of "transparency in government" so far?
I mean, seriously - rushing bills through faster than anyone can read them and check them for problems, and now this?
I wonder where the $18M is really going.
A majority-based representative democracy is no less a representative democracy than a direct-percentage representative democracy. It just has different methods of assigning representation.
Whether or not those different methods are better--that's a different question, and one on which I share similar views to yours; I would much rather more granular representation. But it doesn't stop being a representative democracy because you, personally, have your ox gored.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
It's cute how Mark Fink, aka "twitter", keeps going around modding me down because he doesn't like my stance on Mono.
Keep it up, Mark. Maybe Roy Schestowitz will give you a hug someday.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
Keep it up, Mark. That hug is waiting for you!
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
I have more karma than you have mod points, Mark.
You're so close to getting that hug!
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."