The R-Word is a word used to belittle people but it is used on the backs of our friends that have little or now way of defending them selves.

On February 22, 2013, the federal court in Illinois refused to reconsider its December decision that there is a Second Amendment right to carry concealed weapons in public places. That decision threw out the Illinois law that had banned carrying concealed guns. Fortunately, this decision can now be appealed to the United States Supreme court, because on the same day that the federal court in Illinois announced its decision, a case was decided by the federal court in Colorado that reached the opposite conclusion. The Colorado case held that there is no right under the Second Amendment to carry concealed weapons. When there is a conflict between federal courts, as there is in the Illinois and Colorado cases, the U.S. Supreme Court is the only court that can decide which court decision is correct. But the Supreme Court will not consider the Illinois case unless Lisa Madigan appeals it. In the Illinois case that was just decided, Madigan has already said that based on her analysis of all prior Supreme Court decisions, it is her opinion that states can ban carrying guns in public, as Illinois had done. She should stand by this position and appeal the Illinois case to the Supreme Court. Lisa Madigan is the elected attorney for the people of the State of Illinois. She is the only person who can appeal the decision. If she does not appeal, Illinois will have to allow people to carry loaded guns on the streets and in other public places. Tell Lisa Madigan to represent your desire to have safe streets, to stand behind her legal opinion, and to appeal the case.

When Governor Kasich took office he took away our right to have union representation. In doin that he took away our right to bargain for better health care and he cut the pay of 7,000 Independant Home Health Care Aids along with Independant Day Care Workers. Since Governor Kasich says the state of Ohio is doing so well I'd like him to restore our pay. Cutting our pay by 26% he's cause a LOT of hardship for a lot of Independant Home Health Care Aids and their families. A lot of us used to spend some of that money on our clients, which we haven't been able to do.

The manipulation of our constitutional process to allow the minority to thwart the will of the majority has seriously and negatively affected the state of our union. It is time for Congress to stop representing their own personal interests and to start representing "We the people." Stalemate and obstructionism are not acceptable and it's time for Congress to STOP IT!

There was a vote on the Marriage Equality bill in the New Mexico House yesterday and two of our Democrat Representatives voted to kill it. Equality for all is the cornerstone of our country. Please let them know how disappointed you are in them.

The farm worker movement is proud to support a grassroots campaign urging President Obama to posthumously award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Fred Ross Sr., one of the greatest, although unheralded, community organizers of 20th Century America. Fred Ross was the trailblazing organizer who inspired, trained and mentored Cesar Chavez. In Cesar's words, "Fred did such a good job of explaining how poor people could build power I could taste it." Over a remarkable career spanning seven decades, Fred Ross also inspired, recruited, trained and mentored thousands of Latino, labor, civil rights and community leaders and activists, including Dolores Huerta, Jessica Govea and Gilbert Padilla. During the late 1930s, he ran the federal farm labor camp south of Bakersfield immortalized by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath. He helped Japanese Americans return home from internment camps during World War II. Beginning in the late 1940s, Fred organized the Community Service Organization (CSO) that elected Edward Roybal as the first Latino Los Angeles city councilmember since the 19th Century and organized East L.A. Latinos to become civic and political activists. Fred and Cesar built CSO into the most militant and effective California and Arizona Latino civil rights group of the 1950s and early '60s. Fred worked for years helping train UFW organizers and boycotters across the country. Fred Ross Sr. joined his son, Fred Ross Jr., in the 1980s to train a new generation of organizers to challenge U.S. support for the contra rebels in Nicaragua and to wage an international boycott of Salvadoran coffee. Cesar once said, “Fred Ross gave me and so many others a chance, and that led to a lot of things.” President Obama said Cesar Chavez inspired him to go to Chicago to become a community organizer in 1985. But it was Fred Ross who inspired and trained Cesar to become a community organizer in 1952. Now is the time for President Obama to recognize the enduring contributions to our country of Fred Ross. Please sign the petition appealing to President Obama to award Fred Ross the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The rising cost of a place to live has made me almost homeless. Together let us think of a way for everyone to have a home. We can build our own shelter on vacant land. We can remodel buildings that are empty. We can transform tax money into service for each other. By sharing the resources we each have, we can create a home and a job for us all.

I RETURENED TO WORK AFTER BEING OFF ILL AND THE ,DIRECTOR AND MEDICAL ADMINISTRATOR VIOLATED MY RIGHTS BY FORCING ME OFF WITH NO INCOME OR MEDICAL COVERAGE AND NOW I HAVE LOST EVERYTHING, BUT NOW THIS IS HAS HAPPENED TO OVER 250 CPD OFFICERS THAT HAVE MEDICAL ILLINESS AND NO ONE CARES THAT IT VIOLATES THE ADA, BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT CAN VIOLATE THE GOVERNMENT AS LONG AS THE PUBLIC DOES NOT KNOW.

Yes my husband is one of 26 imate at the present moment to be up for excuation at this present momenti in South Florida. Mr. Howell is yet to get a fair appeal by far, but at this present moment they have my husband up to be exuceted on 2/26/2013 with no proper appeal. Please take a look into the matter

On Friday February 15th, a 6th grade student entered Clayton Middle School with a .22 cal hand gun with bullets. Parents were not told what happened till the media got involved. Please sign this petition demanding we be heard in an open meeting, where they give us a chance to speak about this issue and our upset.

Partisan extremists in the General Assembly have just rammed through legislation designed to make it harder for Virginians to vote. The proposed legislation does nothing to combat voter fraud and is nothing more than an attempt to suppress voter turnout. These efforts need to be stopped. Newspapers across the Commonwealth have berated the Republicans’ attack on voting rights as "a throwback to the Jim Crow era," "an impediment to voting that would adversely affect poor, elderly and minority voters," and "a burden on citizens who are homebound, disabled, deployed in the military, away at college or otherwise unable to vote in person." These proposed laws would limit the forms of acceptable voter identification, adding obstacles for many voters. Governor McDonnell himself has acknowledged that the current system works. We should not make it more difficult for people to vote.

Please join me in asking the California Legislature to pass SB 323, ending tax breaks for youth groups like Boy Scouts of America that discriminate against members based on their sexual orientation. I grew up in the Boy Scout tradition. I started out as a Cub Scout, transitioned through Webelos, and ended my Boy Scout journey as a Life Scout, one rank below Eagle. My closest friends were other scouts. Scouting stands for the finest qualities of humanity: self-reliance, creativity, and an appreciation of nature. Most of all, we were taught how to act as responsible, respectful citizens. This is why the Boy Scouts’ continued policy of excluding members based on their sexual orientation is so upsetting to me. It flies in the face of the very values that the scouting tradition professes to teach. As a straight ally, I can't sit idle while the current leaders of the Boy Scouts disgrace this once-proud American institution with their personal bigotry. Boy Scouts of America needs to do the right thing and change their policy to allow openly gay members. Right now, SB 323, sponsored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles) aims to give the Boy Scouts a nudge in the right direction by eliminating tax exemptions for groups that practice discrimination. Please ask the California Legislature to help pass SB 323. California should lead on this issue if Congress won’t. Ending this tax break is the right thing to do, for the Boy Scouts and any other youth group in California which discriminates against members based on sexual orientation.