Massachusetts has recognized the Pirate Party as an official political party and voters may register their party affiliation as "Pirate" effective immediately. The Massachusetts Pirate Party follows in the footsteps of the Swedish Pirate Party, which ran in 2006 in response to the ongoing copyright infringment struggles between the Pirate Bay and the Swedish government, and has spawned a larger global political movement. The Massachusetts Pirate Party sees its platform extending beyond copyright issues to include working against corporate personhood, increasing transparency in government, and maintaining personal privacy in the wake of the PATRIOT Act and other civil-rights-diminishments.
posted by briank on Mar 9, 2011 - 60 comments

The FBI has released their extensive files on US Senator Edward M. Kennedy to the public, covering their relationship with him between 1961 and 1985. The seven files, totaling more than 2,200 pages of documents reveal (among other things,) the perhaps unsurprising news that the late Senator received "scores" of death threats from radical groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, “Minutemen” organizations, and the National Socialist White People’s Party. The release was initiated by a Freedom of Information Act Request from Judicial Watch on May 3, 2010, (Complaint pdf) but the FBI gave the Senator's family the "rare opportunity" to raise objections before releasing the file.
posted by zarq on Jun 14, 2010 - 20 comments

The legislature is trying to impose its conception of "family values" on the state by banning spanking. Another case of religious fundamentalists imposing their values on everyone and meddling with individual liberties? Meet the sponsor. (Also see recent non-binding resolution nearby.)
posted by thedevildancedlightly on Jun 11, 2005 - 110 comments

What's a bigger waste of taxpayer money: Throwing a concert in a tunnel for a public works project years late and over budget or putting on a New Year's fireworks display for TV cameras only?
posted by MediaMan on Dec 9, 2003 - 23 comments

Massachusetts governor has new plan to get death penalty re-introduced. Romney claims that his science is so tight that guilt will be irrefutable. It's an interesting angle to take to change legislation. I do, however, wonder how science can irrefutably detect crooked cops.
posted by Mayor Curley on Sep 24, 2003 - 33 comments

State income tax or not? Massachusetts voters get to decide on Nov. 5th. Is this a real possibility or just a publicity stunt for Carla Howell and the Libertarian party?
posted by Hall on Aug 16, 2002 - 48 comments