Lake County Fiscal Rangers

SamAdamsAlliance Market Research on the Tea Party & What's Next

This foundation, SamAdamsAlliance, funds various oversight groups and does research.  This link goes to their 2010 series on the Tea Party, who is joining it, and what is next, but this page is before the 2010 elections & examined

who makes up the Next Wave of activists joining this movement:

• Who is identifying with the Tea Party brand?

• How are they interacting with Early Adopters?

• How is the Next Wave making its mark on politics?

• What does all of this mean in terms of the 2010 elections?

http://www.samadamsalliance.org/research/activist-insights/next-wave.aspx  

 

They also provided seed funding for the "Texas Watchdog" blog in Texas:

http://www.texaswatchdog.org/about/who-is-funding-the-work/

vj

 

 

Brooksville, FL City Council Decides NOT to Continue Red Light Cameras

Cities in Lake County are being approached about installing red light cameras like those in Orlando.

Here is an instance where another Florida city tried them, and the City Council decided the main feature of the cameras was excess revenue generation for the State and City, and they did NOT renew their provider agreement, essentially turning off their red light cameras.   It is interesting to note that the fine for a red light camera offense is $158, and $83 goes to the State, then the vendor keeps about 25%, or $37.50 and the city keeps...

FiscalRangers.com Security Alert - BE VERY wary about new Orlando Sentinel "Login" Process

Today, the Orlando Sentinel has implemented a new login system that ensures your privacy in posting online comments is DEAD, and your comments can be linked to your name on other accounts you have.

-At one time I was a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and I follow news related to consumer data privacy issues.   Yes, I know you think I spend all my time reading County budgets, but when I am bored, I read about data privacy!

Today, I tried to post a comment to an article on the Orlando Sentinel website and they no longer use their own login method, but force you to select one of several social media login accounts.  Thus, you can't use any method except clicking and using your existing, or new account on Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

The sentinel is even offering a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to get people to use the new system.

This is an extremely risky practice, because Facebook, for instance, has been pummeled in the press THIS WEEK for having...

FiscalRangers.com Consumer Alert: My Shaky Experience with Verizon's Droid Phone

I recently upgraded my old Motorola flip phone to Verizon Wireless's new Droid Smartphone  which uses Google's Android operating system (OS). It is a competitor to Apple's iPhone.   I had earlier used several Palm Pilots which were known as personal digital assistants (PDA's) since they did not have phones built in.    I fully believe that the Android system will grow in importance and eclipse Apple's phone since Google is spending a lot of money on it, and others like Palm Pre or even Blackberry's will lose customer interest.

So, I went to the Verizon "store" in the Lake Square Mall (Leesburg, FL) and bought one.  Verizon still aggravates me by... 

Yelp.com - Hi Tech Way to Find Good Eating Places & Businesses in Lake County

Imagine an internet phone book with customer reviews of local Lake County businesses.  Kind of like Amazon.com product reviews, but tailored for Lake County businesses.

You can tell Lake County businesses are behind the technology bandwagon when most restaurants, etc. have not listed themselves on Yelp.com

Yelp is a major player in rating eating, entertainment & business locations in major cities.  So, the nearest big cities to Lake County are Tampa or Orlando.   If you select Orlando, it shows

FiscalRangers Consumer Tips on Internet Password Creation - And what NOT to use

A website was hacked recently and the hackers posted online all the user accounts and passwords they used for that website.   Some people analyzed which passwords were used the most and how easy they were for an internet "hacking" routine to guess them.  Amazingly, 290,000 user accounts used the very easy to hack "123456".

So, if you want to find out how weak or easy your online internet passwords are to "hack", then read the article below.

An Overview of Medical Clinic Scams, and example of one that was fined $24-million

A chain of clinics providing "free" medical services for kids from low income families was just fined $24-million because they ran a scam that implemented unneeded medical procedures on kids to run up Medicaid billings.  Examples including performance of numerous root canals on screaming kids tied to boards which were not needed.  Read and understand so you can ensure YOUR kid or friend is a victim of similar medical scam clinics in Lake County.