I am of the generation who remember bomb drills in elementary school, when students innocently hid under their desks. Spending billions of tax dollars on Cold War era nuclear weapons in hopes of security is just as absurd, especially at a time when Congress is cutting the federal budget. Unless we change our course, nuclear weapons and their associated costs are projected to cost U.S. citizens $640 billion during the next 10 years. I'm dead tired of seeing my tax dollars, paid by the work I do everyday as a teacher, high-jacked for weapons that have the capacity to destroy - many times over - everything I love and value. NUKES ARE NUTS! Need more food for thought and action.The declassified video included with the first article is surreal reality check! http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/31/debating-nuclear-deterrence/ http://www.wand.org/2013/11/22/a-look-into-gold-plated-waste-our-briefing-on-the-hill/ http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/09/b61-12holland/

We believe the proposed development at 3210 California Ave SW (DPD project # 3014176) is of broad public significance. As neighbors and residents of the Admiral neighborhood of West Seattle, we ask the City to uphold the intent of the NC2-40 zoning classification by allowing no more than 4-stories to be built. • The proposed 5-story building is not legal. It is an additional story beyond the applicable height limit. (SMC 23.47A.012.A.1.a.2.) • The proposed average grade plane is set artificially high (at over 13-feet above street level) and does not meet the intent of the rule for calculating average grade, which is to encourage buildings to better follow the topography. (Director's Rule 4-2012.) We respectfully request a public meeting with DPD in order to understand why the proposed 5-story project is considered legal, and to voice our opinion that a 5-story building at this location will have a negative impact on the Admiral neighborhood, and the City. There is potential for this project to set a negative precedent for large, non-contextual development in the City of Seattle.

google+ has been shoved down Youtube user's throats, and it has destroyed the comment interface, the message interface and the interface of how we interact with our own accounts! There has been almost no positive feedback posted online about the combining of google+ and Youtube, and we all want the two to separate!

I preregistered to vote when I was 17 in high school and have voted in practically every election since I was 18. I feel that the ability to vote is an integral part of being an active and properly informed citizen. Getting people active at an early age encourages them to be more involved in our society. We need to ensure that all eligible U.S. citizens in Florida are able to vote without any substantial obstacles in their way. Voting should be made easier, not harder! Without the right to vote, you don't have a voice in our society.

Background A concern for american families and businesses is substantially addressed in a macroeconomic design concept, so that financial services like housing, government, and business finance, savings and pensions, boosting confidence at every level giving everyone a better chance of success in planning their personal savings and lifetime and business finances. This should be politically attractive.

I am just annoyed at having my mail box filled up with crap I don’t want.

This petition has been created in an effort to repeal the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12). The rate increases this act will create will cause thousands of foreclosures and completely destroy the real estate market. The negative impact this act will have on communities stretches far beyond what many in our government understand. We have already seen the home values in flood zones plummet to all time lows, and this will only get worse. We are asking that the act be repealed, or that rate increases be deferred until FEMA completes the affordability study mandated by law.

MontCo sells Parkhouse and Open Space to a Developer Please join the opposition and protest a deal that has been characterized by unanswered questions, shady associations, scandal, lies, a willful disregard of the residents, insider information, and the belligerent arrogance of our County officials in the sale of Parkhouse (aka Montgomery County Geriatric Center or “Johnson Home”) and the surrounding 220 acres of open space in Upper Providence Township by Montgomery County. Montgomery County Commissioners closed the sale of Parkhouse and the 220 acres of land surrounding the facility that was previously slated to be permanently preserved in the county's own open space plan. The entire property was sold for $41 million in an unscheduled, unannounced, behind closed-doors recess in their Thursday morning meeting March 6, 2014. The new owner is a REIT that was formed in Delaware on January 14, 2014. We have no way of knowing who the actual principals of this REIT are and whether Dr. Menkowitz is still a part of it. The 70 acre Upper Schuylkill Valley Park was not ever part of the original deal but was sold along with the rest of the property then condemned and bought back for $2 million. How generous of them to protect a park that was already county-owned. The 5-year deed restriction only gives the public access to the property for the next 5 years or till the new owner develops it, whichever comes first. It gives the land no further protection from development than Upper Providence’s zoning ordinances already in place and will prove to be a costly battle to protect them The Request For Proposal had shown the Montgomery County Commissioners had been lying to the public about their intent to develop the land surrounding Parkhouse. The RFP states that the buyer, Mid-Atlantic Health Care, will be working with Einstein Health System, Ganas Development (led by Dr. Elliot Menkowitz a county-employed doctor at Parkhouse) and Sukonik Building Companies to develop a comprehensive development strategy. A subpoena had been issued and Dr. Menkowitz has been fired for ethics violations in his involvement with insider trading on the deal and suggesting he had special influence over the sale process Mid-Atlantic CEO Scott Rifkin's claim that they had changed their mind in regards to the development of the land is meaningless as they do not own it, GA HC REIT II Royersford SNF, LLC does and THEY will be the ones to develop it. This sale was brought about to fill a hole in Montgomery County’s budget caused by the failed Logan Square movie studio project. Montgomery County Commissioners are patting themselves on the back for creating the 2014 budget in surplus while blind-siding us on the sale of our precious open space and much needed home to the less-fortunate elderly. Montgomery County commissioners have now set a precedent to sell off any open space or park that has not been permanently preserved as open space. It is the responsibility of those in office to operate with transparency, obedience to those who they serve, and with the goal of doing good by all. The three Montgomery County Commissioners have violated all three of these very important principles, and will continue to do so if we stay silent on the Parkhouse issue. Rallys are being held to raise awareness to this issue. Check the Save Parkhouse Facebook group for the next rally: https://www.facebook.com/groups/242665885899065/ Full story and timeline here: saveparkhouse.blogspot.com PA State Representative Warren Kampf has joined the fight to save the open spaces at Parkhouse. Please sign his petition at: www.WarrenKampf.com/Parkhouse

Simply the re-naming of Ft. Marion National Monument in St.Augustine, Fla., by executive order to the "NATIVE AMERICAN MEMORIAL." It is time to recognize and honor the memory of the Native American people of this nation.

It seems that every once in a while we come across something that just “bugs” us. I am a business owner and with every business comes responsibility to its clients/patrons. I have had a good business running for over 14 years and have clients who love us and also clients that have not been so happy. With that said, it seems that something has just gotten under my skin. With the climbing use of the Internet and cell phones, they have become a crutch for most of the population. Review sites and local searches have become the wave of the future when looking for a business. These sites can be beneficial to businesses and their services/products, but when they take it upon themselves to decide which reviews are real and which are fake they ultimately make it a non trustworthy site. These sites are supposed to represent a business as a whole, but in actuality it only counts the reviews shown, in their ratings and creates mayhem for small businesses. Unlike other review sites, YELP has a filtering system which it thinks is a way to “weed out” the fake reviews. On my site for instance, one week ago it was showing 1 negative review and hid 2 real, good reviews leaving my rating at 1 star. This week we had 1 negative review and 2 good ones added to the site by real customers and as of today 11/22/13 the only ones showing are the 2 negative reviews, YELP has hidden all four good reviews, again leaving my rating at 1 star. When I complained to the Better Business Bureau, I received a response from YELP and this is what it said: “ Hi Chris, Thank you for writing - we are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's review filter is to showcase more reliable content. The system is automated, and it affects both positive and negative reviews. You requested that filtered reviews for your business be reinstated, but as the system is automated, we cannot manually restore filtered reviews (nor can we manually filter reviews). That said, reviews may become filtered or unfiltered over time as the system picks up new information. You can read more at http://www.yelp.com/faq#what_is_the_filter. Regards, Tara Yelp Inc. “ Not only does that not help me in any way, it is not a sufficient answer to my questions, which is “Why does it filter in the first place?” , “How does it determine who to filter?” , “Why does it not inform its Yelpers that their review may or may not be filtered out?” and “why are the filtered reviews hidden in light gray and can barely be seen?”. It seems to me, upon doing much research I have learned that there are many other businesses with the same concerns. Below you will find information articles on this problem with YELP: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/22/local/la-me--banks-yelp-backlash-20130423 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimhandy/2012/08/16/think-yelp-is-unbiased-think-again/ http://www.theresumator.com/blog/do-you-believe-yelp-hides-good-reviews/ SOMEONE HAS GOT TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING TO SMALL BUSINESSES AND SHUT YELP DOWN FOR GOOD.

A recent meeting was held between the Ravalli County Commissioners and members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes concerning the tribes' plans to transfer a parcel of sacred land (Medicine Tree site) to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order to protect the land as a trust within the federal government. At this meeting irrelevant, racist and extremely offensive statements were made by the chair of the Ravalli County Planning Board. The cultural insensitivity and ignorance shown by the Ravalli County Deputy Attorney and members of the County Commissioners demand an apology from all of us in Ravalli County.

Cannabis sativa (marijuana) is the most popular illicit drug in the United States. Its prohibition has caused innumerable harm to society. Its re-legalization and regulation would bring a number of advantages. It is currently, fraudulently, listed as a Schedule I narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act, which claims it has no medical value (disproved by the Institute of Medicine's 1996 "Marijuana as Medicine" report, as well as the 17 states in the US which have passed laws establishing its medical value, and other countries such as Israel which have nation-wide medical marijuana programs) and high potential for abuse. Marijuana, however, is a non-toxic, non-addictive substance (aside from slight dependence issues, no worse than a caffeine habit) upon which it is impossible to overdose. The prohibition of marijuana has failed to achieve its goals, so the only recourse is to end the prohibition and allow a legal and regulated market. This has the added benefit of making marijuana available for medical purposes (in flower, concentrate, or other options that patients would want to have), for medical research, and for the industrial use of its non-psychoactive variety known as hemp. As well, it would lift a large burden off of our criminal justice system, saving untold billions of tax dollars that could be used for more useful purposes (or given back to the people). Numerous people in my own family would significantly benefit from having legal access to marijuana (for medical purposes). My father, who has Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (a condition which causes unbearable, random pain, burning sensations, intense and random sweating, and other unsavory symptoms); my grandmother who has severe arthritis; my cousin who has Crohn's disease; my mothers best friend who has bone marrow cancer... the list goes on. Regulated marijuana is better than illicit marijuana, because either way, marijuana is here to stay.