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Informed Citizenry
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Legislature
- U.S. House of Representatives
- U.S. Representative Look Up
- U.S. Senate
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Journals/Calendars
Senate
Journals: http://www.mass.gov/legis/journal/index.htm
Senate Calendar: http://www.mass.gov/legis/senate/calendar.htm
House Journals: http://www.mass.gov/legis/journal/main.htm
House Calendar: http://www.mass.gov/legis/house/calendar.pdf
Joint Session Calendar: http://www.mass.gov/legis/senate/jtcalendar.htm
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Rappaport Institute Policy Notes Database
The Rappaport Institute Policy Notes Database
contains information on new and recent policy-related scholarly research about Greater Boston. The database allows users to
search for articles, reports, and student theses by author, keyword or by one of 18 different subject areas, which include
education, economic development, public finance, and social services. More information about these issues is available at
IssueSource.org an online database produced by MassInc
and the State House News Service that "gives citizens basic, background information on Massachusetts politics and policy news
stories."
OpenMass.org
The goal at OpenMass.org is to help inform and empower civic engagement by providing easy to access information. What you
see today is just the beginning. With your feedback and guidance we can continue to push the envelope of civic engagement.
5 Ways to Make OpenMass.org Work for You
Find Your Members of the Massachusetts Legislature
Find your Representative and Senator on OpenMass.org and see all the bills and earmarks they have sponsored, campaign contributions
they have received and lots more.
Track What's Hot
At OpenMass.org you can track which Bills, Representatives and Senators are most viewed.
Monitor Public Hearings
Keep updated on public issues that matter to you on the Hearings Page
Watch For Newly Signed Laws
OpenMass tracks bills signed into law by the Governor.
Coming Soon!
User logins, RSS Feeds and more...
About OpenMass
OpenMass brings together official government data with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what's
happening in the Massachusetts Legislature. They are currently running in Beta mode. Their goal at OpenMass.org
is to help empower civic engagement by providing easy to acccess information.
OpenMass is modeled after OpenCongress.org, a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to make Congress more transparent and to encourage
civic engagement. They are working with OpenCongress to help expand their model to the state level.
OpenMass would not be possible without all of the tireless work performed by the Clerks Office in creating and maintaining
the mass.gov/legis site. They also have gathered news and data from Google News, Google Blog Search and FollowtheMoney.org
Learn How the Massachusetts Legislature Works
The legislature is complex and sometimes incomprehensible. This basic overview can help make sense of the process: Lawmaking in Massachusetts. |
Massachusetts
Legal Materials
Constitution and Legislation:
Judicial Opinions:
Regulations and Other Agency Material:
Additional Collections of State Legal Resources:
Provided by the Legal Information Institute (LII), a research and electronic publishing activity of the
Cornell Law School.
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Artillery for the Mind |
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- "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
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- ~ Socrates
Greek philosopher in Athens (469 BC - 399 BC)
What is critical thinking?
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 problem solving |
argument |
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thinking |
persuasion |
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creativity |
decision making |
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informal logic |
asking the right questions |
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reasoning |
giving reasons for beliefs |
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algorithms |
conceptual blockbusting |
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heuristics |
comprehension/understanding |
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judgment |
metacognition |
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scientific method |
intelligence |
The "discrete activities" that comprise critical thinking are categorized differently by different learning
theorists. For the sake of simplicity and utility, we are categorizing the elements of critical thinking as including:
- Observations. From a series of observations, we can come to establish:
- Facts. From a series of facts, or from an absence of fact, we make:
- Inferences. Testing the validity of our inferences, we can make:
- Assumptions. From our assumptions, we form our:
- Opinions. Taking our opinions, we use the principles of logic to develop:
- Arguments. And when we want to challenge the arguments of others, we employ:
- Critical Analysis (through which we challenge the observations, facts, inferences, assumptions, and
opinions in the arguments that we are analyzing).
*Taken from: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/faculty/pedagogies/thinking.shtml
Links for further study:
Critical Thinking On The Web
The Foundation for Critical Thinking
FactCheck.org
Critical Thinking. (From Illnois Loop.org)
Argument Mapping Tutorials. Six online tutorials in argument mapping, a core requirement for advanced critical thinking.
The Skeptic's Dictionary - over 400 definitions and essays.
The Fallacy Files by Gary Curtis. Best website on fallacies.
Butterflies and Wheels. Excellent reading - news, articles, and much more.
Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion by John Stuart Mill. Classic chapter, densely packed with wisdom about thinking.
Chance - best resource for helping students think critically about issues involving probability and statistics
A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays by Ian Johnston
Baloney Detection Part 1 and Part 2 - by Michael Shermer. 10 step guide. | |
News and Media
Provided by 
WEBSITES
The online resource consolidating websites, forums, and blogs that advocates
state sovereignty for the New England states.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation (MTF) is a nationally recognized, independent, non-partisan organization focusing
on state spending and tax policies and the Massachusetts economy. They provide
accurate, unbiased research with balanced, thoughtful recommendations that strengthen the state's finances and economy in
order to foster the long-term well being of the Commonwealth.
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MBPC) provides independent research and analysis of state budget and
tax policies, as well as economic issues, that affect low and moderate income people in Massachusetts.
Citizens for Tax Justice, founded in 1979, is a 501 (c)(4) public interest research and advocacy organization focusing on federal, state and local
tax policies and their impact upon our nation. CTJ's mission is to give ordinary people a greater voice in the development
of tax laws. Against the armies of special interest lobbyists for corporations and the wealthy, CTJ fights for:
- Fair taxes for middle and low-income families
- Requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share
- Closing corporate tax loopholes
- Adequately funding important government services
- Reducing the federal debt
- Taxation that minimizes distortion of economic markets
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Common Cause
A non-partisan citizen's organization whose goal is to ensure open, honest,
accountable and effective government at the federal, state, and local levels.
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The Massachusetts Municipal Association
A nonprofit, nonpartisan association that provides advocacy, training, publications, research
and other services to Massachusetts cities and towns.
The MMA is the only statewide organization that brings municipal
officials together to establish unified policies, to advocate these policies, and to ensure the effective delivery of services
to community residents.
Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth
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Founded in 1996, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth – known as MassINC – is an independent,
nonpartisan research and educational institute. MassINC brings together diverse perspectives – including those held
by conservatives and liberals, business and labor, advocates and policy makers – to focus on the challenge of achieving
the American Dream in Massachusetts. To pursue our goals, we use independent research, a wide range of public events, and a unique approach to journalism. |
An independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks
to change the intellectual climate in Massachusetts by supporting scholarship that challenges the "conventional wisdom" on
Massachusetts public policy issues. The Institute believes that individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable
government, and the expanded application of free-market principles to public policy contribute to greater human dignity, happiness,
and economic prosperity.
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Dedicated to placing secession in the mainstream of political thought as a viable solution to contemporary problems. | |
This booklet shows how our form of government was designed to function
and how it functions today. It also describes how certain organizations and individuals have taken control of our constitutional
republic. These individuals and organizations have managed to reverse the constitutionally intended order of sovereign citizens
as masters of government servants.
The analyses within this booklet are from the best available information to date. The
issues proposed are stated in general terms so that lines of logic and common sense are able to become clear; it is intended
to inspire further thought and research.
BLOGS
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Mass Revolution Now!
Raising the 'Roots! (No longer active. But still
online.)
Blue Mass. Group
Reality-based commentary on politics and policy in Massachusetts and around
the nation.
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Interesting Links
Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Massachusetts
February 6, 1788.
PublicEye.org
The website of Political Research Associates
In support of a more just and inclusive society, Political Research Associates exposes Rightwing and oppressive movements
that challenge that threaten that society. We provide those on the front line – media, advocates and educators
– with research-based information, analysis and referrals. Political
Research Associates • 1310 Broadway, Suite 201 • Somerville, MA 02144
Voice: 617.666.5300 • Fax: 617.666.6622
• pra@publiceye.org
Strike The Root
Strike The Root is a daily journal
of current events and commentary from a libertarian/market anarchist perspective. The mission of STR is to advance the
cause of liberty, primarily by de-mystifying and de-legitimizing the State. STR seeks a world where people are free
to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they don't use force or fraud against peaceful people.
"The state sovereignty
record of Massachusetts," by a son of Norfolk.
Publication Info: Ann Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan Library 2005 Availability: These pages may be freely searched and displayed.
Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Please go to http://www.umdl.umich.edu/ for more information. Print source: The state sovereignty record of Massachusetts, by a son of Norfolk.
Son of Norfolk., Norfolk, A son of. Norfolk, Va.: J. W. Fatherly, 1872. Subject terms: State
rights Massachusetts -- Politics and government URL: The State Sovereignty Record of Massachusetts
Many examples of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' support of State Sovereignty were given. Here are some excerts:
"Governor
John Hancock said that a "' consolidation of the States into one government would endanger the nation as a Republic, and eventually
divide the States now united, or er:adicate the principles for which we have contended," meaning the principles fought for
in the then recent Revolutionary War. Did he in prophetic moool then look forward to the present time and predict the wonders
that now are being, and for the last eleven years have been enacted in this-what shall I call it? certainly not, Republic.
When Samuel Adams was appointed Lieut. Governor, (John Hancock being Governor,) he said, referring to his induction
into office, " I shall be called upon to make a declaration, and I shall do it cheerfully, that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
is and of right ought to be a free sovereign and independent State. I shall be called upon to make another declaration with
the same solemnity, (his oath,) to support the Constitution of the Unitted States. I see no ilconsistency in this."
"Thus without going farther than so much of the record of Massachusetts as I have here presented,
(for, if I were to go beyond it in an elaborate essay on the subject, I could so pile a dozen Pelions on Massachusett's Ossa,
as to bring out the right of secession as clear as the noon-day sun in an unclouded sky,) I think that you or any unprejudiced
reader of these pages, of whatever political opinions he may be, must admit that this record conclusively proves, (or at least
ought so to prove to every citizen of Massachusetts,) that the right of secession did exist, and that it was no infraction
of the Constitution, but a right independent of and outside of the Constitution, and inhering necessarily in every member
of a political Confederacy constituted not by the fiat of any one sovereign, political community, but brought into existence
only by the " mutual agreement " of independent, Sovereign States, already existing as such before the compact of union was
entered into. I remain, dear sir, with much respect, Yours very truly, A SoN OF NoRFoLK. "
The mission of the American Humanist Association is
to be a clear, democratic voice for Humanism in the United States, to increase public awareness and acceptance of Humanism,
to establish, protect and promote the position of Humanists in our society, and to develop and advance Humanist thought and
action.
Humanist Association of Massachusetts
Greater Worcester Humanists
Massachusetts Historical Sites
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Weather Underground is committed to delivering the most reliable, accurate weather information possible. Our state-of-the-art
technology monitors conditions and forecasts for over 60,000 U.S. and international cities, so you'll always find the online
weather information that you need.
The AIRNow is a website that reports daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your outdoor air is, and
what associated health effects might be a concern for you. The AQI focuses on health effects you may experience within a few
hours or days after breathing polluted air. EPA calculates the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air
Act: ground-level ozone, particle pollution (also known as particulate matter), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen
dioxide. For each of these pollutants, EPA has established national air quality standards to protect public health.
The Massachusetts Mapsite provides a collection of over 450 maps for the cities and areas of Massachusetts and includes shaded relief maps and city
area maps intended for recreational and educational web site visitors.
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