This petition is to honor those children from Sandyhook Elementary whose dreams were shot dead on December 14, 2012~a very sad day across the country.

Genetically engineered foods are in almost all processed food products in the United States. A simple reading of the label will reveal one or more of the following ingredients in every one of them: corn or corn oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil (made from rapeseed oil, a GMO product), soy and/or soybean oil, and/or high fructose corn syrup. The FDA does not test the safety of GMO crops. Instead, all GMO foods are assumed to be safe unless there is already evidence to the contrary. The FDA relies on self-reported data from the companies that manufacture the crops as to their safety. Moreover, due to legal and copyright restrictions surrounding GMO patents, independent scientists must ask for the chemical companies’ permission before publishing research on their products. As a result, almost all of the long-term animal feeding studies that have ever been conducted on GMO feed have been carried out by the biotech companies themselves, with their own rules and using their own standards of reporting. What few independent studies have been conducted have shown a range of adverse health effects from reduced fertility to immune system dysfunction, liver failure, obesity and cancer. Genetically engineered corn and soy are used for most of the animal feed in the United States. And GMO sweet corn is now appearing in stores. There are no current federal labeling laws for GMO products, and two labeling measures in California and Washington have been defeated, in the wake of heavy spending of millions of dollars against the measures by Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Bayer, Coca Cola, Kellogg’s, and many others whose name you will see on products on your breakfast, lunch or dinner table. A member of the board of directors of Mc Donalds and one from Sara Lee sit on the board of directors of Monsanto. Peer reviewed studies are rare in the case of GMOs, as the only ones who have the desire or the budget to perform them are the same chemical companies which fund most of the scientific research. However, the few independent studies that have been done all point to the danger of GMOs.

As a teacher in Arizona, I've witnessed ALEC's dangerous agenda firsthand. The group has repeatedly tried to dismantle our public schools by rerouting taxpayer funds toward private and for-profit institutions, attacking the reduced price school lunch program and attempting an end-run around teachers' unions. On top of that, it's repeatedly pushed voter suppression efforts, discouraged policies that would expand alternative energy use and promoted the dangerous "Stand Your Ground" law. Google has a great reputation and I couldn't be happier about the recent investments my school made to bring tools like Chrome and Google Docs to my students - but that also makes Google's involvement with ALEC even more disappointing.

The consumer has the right to know the source or origin of the food that it is consumed. Not all food sources are regulated or follow standards of health and contamination prevention.

My three daughters love the cute colors and designs of Gymboree dresses and leggings. So I was dismayed to notice, a few months ago, that some items in Gymboree stores are "made in Bangladesh." In addition to poverty wages, Bangladesh garment factories offer some of the world's worst working conditions. In April, a factory collapse in Bangladesh killed more than 1,130 people. Despite the outcry over that accident, factory fires continue almost weekly in Bangladesh, injuring dozens and killing 10 people in October alone. How could cheap prices on kids' clothes possibly justify such suffering? When I wrote to Gymboree in September, ask what steps they were taking to ensure the safety of workers in Bangladesh's garment factories, they said they "have not yet decided" how to address the problem. When I wrote back in November, again, they were "still evaluating." With more than 1,200 deaths this year alone, and hundreds of injuries, the time for reflection has long since passed. Please join me in demanding that San Francisco-based Gymboree (which also operates Gymboree Outlet, Janie and Jack and Crazy 8 stores) immediately sign the binding international Bangladesh Fire Safety Accord.

I want Seaworld to be put out of business. The way they have been lying to the world about the fatal incidents involving Tilicum and other Killer Whales is absurd and heartbreaking. This cannot, and will not, go on.

Here in Colorado, our research has uncovered dozens of bills stemming from ALEC's model legislation. In the past few years, ALEC-manufactured bills to weaken Colorado's common sense gun laws, cripple public education, attack the rights of consumers, and limit access to voting have been repeatedly proposed--and unfortunately, some have become law. The exposure of ALEC’s unethical influence in state legislatures across America has led to scores of corporate sponsors and member legislators renouncing their ties to ALEC. In Colorado, it’s time for our elected officials to get the message: ALEC’s time is up.

I am disgusted by the amount of plastic and paper waste that is produced by Starbucks coffee shops, with no consistent recycling being offered. Stop making a profit off trashing my kids' planet!

New studies reveal links between GMO foods and numerous health issues: cancer, hormonal irregularities and infertility, fetal defects, diabetes. The office of Texas Senator Ted Cruz stated in a letter to me that he feels no need to support GMO food labeling because the "FDA has existing, science-based procedures for evaluating food safety, and... has found no demonstrated need to act." The sad truth is the FDA is part of the problem; moneyed interests prevent this body from acting in the best of interests of the American people. It's time for us to take back the control over individual health care.

Art Pope and his family for generations have strategically placed their bargain stores in low income and minority neighborhoods. Now Art Pope is using the same millions he made off of the poor to help elect GOP legislators that enact policies that adversely affect the poor in North Carolina.

Senator Elizabeth Warren says that secret corporate political spending is “fundamentally wrong. It undercuts the basic notions of corporate democracy, and ultimately all of democracy.” Stand with Senator Warren—demand that the SEC require disclosure of secret corporate political spending. Citizens United opened the door for corporations to inject unlimited money into our politics—but the Supreme Court assumed it would all be disclosed to shareholders and the public! Instead there’s been an explosion of dark money in our elections. Without a disclosure rule from the SEC, corporations can spend entirely behind closed doors. That’s why a record breaking 660,000 comments have called for the SEC to act to require disclosure of corporate political spending, from investors, public officials, securities experts, and citizens like you. Americans overwhelmingly oppose the rise of secret corporate political spending and understand that the SEC must act now to stop this new threat before even more dark corporate money floods our elections. However, SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White rejected these appeals and removed the rule from the SEC’s 2014 agenda. She’s getting pressure from powerful business groups who prefer to use shareholder money to exert political power without any accountability. Stand with Senator Warren and tell the SEC to act on the corporate political disclosure rule now! It is up to us to let the SEC know we need the corporate political disclosure rule back on their agenda to stop secret corporate political spending.

ALEC’s primary purpose is to influence legislation at the state level, yet for years it has disclaimed on its tax returns spending a penny on lobbying. As the Guardian reported, last summer ALEC informed legislators and corporate lobbyists that it has incorporated a new organization to seek non-profit status under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. In so doing, ALEC appears to acknowledge that the allegations of tax fraud in complaints from Common Cause, the Voters Legislative Transparency Project, and Clergy Voice, supplemented by evidence provided by the Center for Media and Democracy, helped spur this incorporation. These latest revelations about ALEC in the Guardian add weight to the argument that ALEC primarily operates like a trade group for its corporate funders, backing the bills sought by corporate lobbyists and buying lawmakers’ trips to meet with those lobbyists about bills.