The Massachusetts Open Meeting Law requires that public business be conducted in public view (i.e. in the open). But it is written so that members of public bodies aren't allowed to discuss issues within their jurisdiction with the public or with each other over the internet - even when the public is notified of the discussions and given information so that the public at large can monitor a “Public Internet Discussion” as completely as the members of the public body themselves. House Bill 2908 would amend the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law (M.G.L. c. 30A, §§ 18-25), to permit members of a public body to communicate with each other and the public via “Public Internet Discussions”, and maintain and enhance the openness and transparency of activities of public bodies, by: 1. Defining a “Public Internet Discussion” (as distinct from a meeting) 2. Requiring that notice of a “Public Internet Discussion” be publicly posted, in the same way as a notice of a meeting must be 3. Requiring that the posted notice include instructions for free access (via the Internet) to the “Public Internet Discussion” 4. Requiring that the public at large be able to monitor the “Public Internet Discussion” as completely as the members of the public body themselves 5. Requiring that every statement in the “Public Internet Discussion” have an indication of the date and time it was made and who made it 6. Requiring that a transcript of the “Public Internet Discussion” be kept 7. Requiring that the transcript be freely accessible via the Internet There is a document containing an executive summary of House Bill 2908, a description of the thinking behind it, and an FAQ about it. That PDF file can be downloaded from https://sites.google.com/site/townmeetingtechnology/home/files/HB%202908%20Description.pdf or viewed online at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0b3dubWVldGluZ3RlY2hub2xvZ3l8Z3g6NjhlYTFlNTZiMjg5MjNkMw House Bill 2908 itself is available at http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H2908/Text . . . House Bill 2908 consists of editing instructions for changes to the Open Meeting Law - so it is only meaningful if it is read in conjunction with the current Open Meeting Law, a version of which with line numbers can be downloaded from https://sites.google.com/site/townmeetingtechnology/home/files/OML_with_line_numbers.pdf or viewed online at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0b3dubWVldGluZ3RlY2hub2xvZ3l8Z3g6MTQ3ZjA0OTcyNTYyYmVlNA The current Open Meeting Law (without line numbers) is also available from the Massachusetts Attorney General's office at http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/open-meeting-law/open-meeting-law-mgl-c-30a-18-25.html and from the Massachusetts legislature by going to http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIII/Chapter30A and following the links to Sections 18 through 25.

On May 1, Disney filed ten applications to trademark "Dia De Los Muertos" for products ranging from jewelry to jellies. "Dia De Los Muertos" is not a brand name owned by Disney, it's an ancient and sacred holiday observed by millions across the Americas for hundreds of years. Disney should immediately withdraw its trademark applications.

Right-wing super villains Charles and David Koch are looking to purchase media outlets in order create new mouthpieces for their propaganda. Staffers of the Los Angeles Times, one of the media outlets targeted by the Koch brothers, are not taking this lying down. Last week, at an in-house awards ceremony for Los Angeles Times staff, columnist Steve Lopez asked everyone in attendance, "Raise your hand if you would quit if the paper was bought by the Koch brothers." About half the staff raised their hands, perhaps dooming the sale of the newspaper to the Kochs. Please sign our petition supporting the journalists and staff at the Los Angeles Times who are willing to quit their jobs if Charles and David Koch purchase the newspaper.

Everyone has been towed or knows someone who has, due to some sort of parking violation, whether it was a Loading Zone, a meter violation or No Parking. In these events, private towing companies are called to uphold public law and the person being towed, in many cases, has no idea what towing company towed the vehicle. This person must also pay any requested amount even though they did not choose the particular company. The state or county should regulate these practices and protect its citizens from these fraudulent-like practices.

Since, they have been here, we had several black out, power outages, price gouging on your Bill. They Flooded peoples homes by not getting rid of the water. This only happened after the people demonstrated against their prices and to get rid of them. We dont want them down here, we want Duke Energy out of NC. Out!

This petition is to the State of Tennessee to commence an Ouster Proceeding against the Shelby County Register of Deeds Tom Leatherwood and the COA of the Register of Deeds Joseph M. Reves, due to documented acts of RICO violations USC Ch.96), Public Corruption, Breach of Public Trust, Ethics Violations, violations of Tennessee Code Annotated , Title 47, Section 9, Title 18 of the U.S.C. conspiracy to defeat enforcement of the laws, Titl 18 of U.S.C., Statues at Large, Sections 5403,destruction of documents and public records, conspiracy to defraud the public, malfeasance and neglect of duty.

All citizens of USA

Recently, Green Tree Mortgage, LLC took over the loan servicing for my mortgage. Each month that I receive my statement my payment shows double. When calling their representative(s) I am told that if the payment is received after the 1st of the month it is considered late. I/we are retired and only receive our retirement check on or after the 1st of the month so I cannot pay my mortgage until I have received my retirement check. Even though the late fee is not assessed until after the 15th of the month, Green Tree reports my payments as being received as late as the 19th of the month. There is no way that it takes 12-15days for them to receive our payment by mail. The only way that I can prove that they are lying about when they receive the payment is to send our payment via certified mail each month. Upon doing research on line to see if others have a similar complaint, I found over 1500 other people who have filed a consumer complaint. see http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/greentree.htm?page=2. At a time when our economy is down, it seems abusive and predatory that this company would place the kind of pressure that it exerts on the populace. The company is either lying about when they receive the payments or when they post the payments. One of the people that I spoke with acknowledged that he was an investor in real estate, which seems like a conflict of interest to me. Perhaps someone should look into the composition of the members of the company to see how many of them would benefit from the customers loss of their property.

In light of all the evidence and numerous cases indicating the health risk of artificial sweeteners. The FDA has not taking a stance to protect the consumers from dangerous sweeteners.

This is not even an issue that I have encountered personally, and in spite of that I am still outraged that banks have found yet another way to steal from hard-working Americans. Banks are making people homeless practically "for sport," and it needs to stop.

California is getting ready to strike a blow against Citizens United by passing SB 52, the California DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would shine a bright light on the shadowy interests who depend on secrecy to influence elections. SB 52 (authored by Senators Mark Leno and Jerry Hill, sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign, and endorsed by over 300 organizations and leaders) would mandate clear and prominent disclosure of who is behind political TV, radio, print, and mass mailer ads - on the ads themselves. SB 52 will stop special interests from hiding behind fake committee names by requiring ads to show their actual original contributors. Our elected officials deserve praise when they stand up for transparency and disclosure as powerful as SB 52, so sign the petition to thank them today!

If this Supreme Court decision goes the wrong way America is no longer the "land of the free.!