Our country's 'war on drugs' has been a miserable failure. Every year we spend billions of taxpayer dollars prosecuting people guilty of victim-less non-violent drug crimes, and every year the prevalence of drugs in our society only increases. Mexican drug cartels grip our border with violence that comes from the marketability of their illegal drug trade. Today, this Thursday, June 23rd, 2011, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) will introduce legislation to end the federal ban on marijuana. Sign this petition to show your support for the end of the federal ban on marijuana.

In Montana a father who made his 5 year old clean up his own vomit was evaluated by a psycholgist as being fit to parent his child. He was given equal parenting time even with firm objection by the mother. A mother has little right to protect her child from such damaging offenses because such a horrific action is not illegal.

The petition is about the new radiation scanners at airport that will soon be coming to Austin. I am bothered that I still seem to get liquids and leathermans that are located IN my bag (by accident) through carry-on scanners undetected. Even though TSA hasn't perfected those scanners to make us more safe, they are adding onto it with more expensive machinery, succumbing us to more radiation as well as a violating situation. I wish they would perfect one thing before moving onto a more complicated/expensive/invasive one. These new radiation scanners that spot everything under your clothing (producing a shiny nude image of everyone) are replacing old-fashioned magnetic scanners. Cancer risks correlate with the number of exposure to radiation, so no dose of radiation is too small to matter. The amount of radiation that you are exposed to is not as much as a doctor’s, BUT the cumulative effect of radiation may take a toll (especially if children 12+ are exposed to this routine at such a young age then continue through their adult years). If you chose to opt out of being scanned, you will instead have an intimate pat-down from a TSA agent – you end up being touched in places previously reserved for significant others or your Gynecologist/Urologist. When you experience this, you will realize how violating it truly is - I have and it's quite invasive.

Gov. John Kasich and his political allies know what’s at stake in 2012: Ohio could be the state that decides whether Barack Obama wins or loses the election. And SB 5 will be on the ballot. So they will stop at nothing–no matter how brazen or unethical–to stack the deck in their favor. Recently, Ohio Republicans passed HB 194, a voter suppression bill that cuts down on early voting and makes it harder for Ohio voters to cast their ballots. Not satisfied with making it more difficult to vote, extreme senators are now saying they will take up a voter ID bill that would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Ohioans. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has called HB 159 the “most restrictive” measure of its kind in the country. Adding a photo ID requirement would only serve to further disenfranchise young people, seniors, people of color, people with disabilities and the poor.

Vaccines are not without risk. Many risks are unknown even to manufacturers. Vaccinated people sometimes spread the disease to the unvaccinated. We must all have the opportunity to investigate about vaccines and to choose whether or not to be vaccinated. We own our bodies!

15 months ago my husband and I became the proud foster parents of a 3 day old baby. He was born addicted to crack, alchohol and nicotine. We both still had to go to work each day. We were lucky enough that our bosses let us split the day til he was 6 weeks and old enough for daycare, but we were literally exhausted. There is no law that states our employers should give us any maternity leave. We would have lost our jobs if one of us didn't show up. Foster parents should have the same rights as any parents. This is just one of them.

On January 13, 2011, The Abington Township Board of Commissioners made history by voting down a Non-discrimination Ordinance. For the first time in Pennsylvania, a suburban municipality failed to pass a civil rights law. The ordinance would have protected all people who live, work, or conduct business in Abington. By a vote of 10 against (Commissioners John Carlin, Carol DiJoseph, Carol Gillespie, Wayne Luker, Bill Lynott, Peggy Meyers, James Ring, Robert Wachter, and Dennis Zappone) to 5 in favor (Commissioners Ernie Peacock, Les Benzak, Michael O’Connor, Steven Kline and Lori Schreiber), the audience was tearful as the ordinance failed to pass. Please become a civil rights champion to ensure that everyone in Abington is protected against housing, employment, and public accommodation (e.g. being served in a restaurant) discrimination. Our township's reputation, property values, educational system, children's safety, and citizenry are at stake. We're all in this together!

Pledge your support for NYS Senate bill S542. If enacted, this bill would require public high schools and colleges in New York State to provide voter registration forms and changes the minimum age for pre-registering to vote to 17.

Please do not repeal the 38-year tradition of Election Day Registration or add a new requirement to present a photo ID every time you vote. Maine has had 2 cases of voter fraud in more than three decades, and our elections run remarkably smoothly. There is no need to roll back our voting rights simply so Gov. LePage can get re-elected.

Greetings: We need your help, as conscientious citizens, to stop impediments to having Banneker Overlook Park from being upgraded to a world class memorial by the Washington Interdependence Council. Our non-profit civic agency was authorized to establish the Banneker Memorial within the monumental core of the nation's capitol on November 6, 1998, with the enactment of P.L. 105-355. In September, 2010, Senator Roland Burris introduced bill S.3886, as an amended re-authorization to the original bill, with the only changes being two caveats calling for: 1) the statue of Banneker to be placed inside of Banneker Overlook Circle, and 2) the Benjamin Banneker Institute of Math & Science to be also placed inside of Banneker Overlook Park, aka, U.S. Reservation 719, at the southern terminus of the L'Enfant Plaza corridor. This site is sandwiched between the Mall and the southwest waterfront, with the waterfront undergoing a $2 billion renovation; and the Mall a $140 million renovation, all due for completion circa 2016. This is also the target date for the completion of the Banneker Memorial, in concert with the overall redesign of the area which has been renamed the new EcoDistrict. The reason the legislation made these two amendments to its original language is because everyone now wants to usurp this commemorative park for their own designs now that the area is being totally overhauled to become the new Cultural Center of the nation's capitol, tying the Mall and the new multi-billion dollar tri-state waterfronts together, with new and exciting cultural and real estate developments underway. Our organization worked arduously to secure a $138 million U.S. Dept. of Transp., TEA21 grant, disbursed entirely to DDOT, underwriting the basic renovation of the subject area to "make way for the Banneker Memorial" as stated in our Memorandum of Agreement with us and the partnering governmental agencies in January, 2000. However, the conspiracy by developers and others wishing to usurp the site is to sabotage, malign and destroy our agency, rendering us incapable of continuing our mission, so that we may walk away quietly into the night; enabling others to benefit from our 15 years of work and to siege the coveted site. In doing so, after more than two centuries of exclusion from proper recognition as a Founding Father, Mr. Banneker would continue to not receive the accolades he deserves as a colonial American hero, and our years of sacrifices and meeting daunting milestones will be lost forever. Our agency has also aspired to have Banneker's legacy serve to inspire our youth to believe that they can master the STEM disciplines; and for the Benjamin Banneker Institute of Math & Science Technology to serve as a prestigious academy to train our youth as leaders in the STEM disciplines at this coveted location, across from the new waterfront. Banneker Overlook Park is now 40 years old. It was established in 1971 when it was officially named in his honor as a result of the advocacy work of noted historian, Louise Hutchinson. We recently honored her, and commemorated the 40th Anniversary of this park during Black History Month. We can only continue on this commemorative path by having bill S.3886 redropped and passed by Congress or for President Obama to exercise his power of Executive Order by passing it into law. The bill does not call for funding, and with the continued support of conscientious American citizens, we can succeed with this important initiative. We thank you in advance for your support.

The Indiana Supreme Court recently passed a bill that states we the citizens do not have the right to resist unlawful police entry; this is obviously a right given to all Americans under the fourth amendment and this bill is blatantly unconstitutional.

24/7, our American media[TV/Radio/internet/Papers/etc] & some radically-extremist politicians in our USA, are promoting Hatred[99 % with Lies] against Americans[Muslims. Recall that more than 95% of Blacks were Muslims when brought as slaves. Mr President was born as Muslim & his Father's family today is 100% Muslim]