In December 2012 Amgen pleaded guilty to improper marketing of its anemia drug to cancer patients. They agreed to pay a fine of $762 million in a civil settlement and criminal fines. Amgen lobbyists had an idea to inject a $500 million tax credit into the Fiscal Cliff bill with the help of some Senators. There was no rationale in providing this huge tax credit other than politics as usual. The Fiscal Cliff bill passed and Amgen received a non-deserved $500 million tax credit.

Retired. Cancer survivor. Disabled. Single mother. Senior. And Wells Fargo is about to steal my home. My name is Bernetta Adolph, a retired employee of the City of San Francisco, and I’ve lived in my home for almost 20 years. My trouble with Wells Fargo started when I took out a loan against my house in order to ensure my only son could afford a good education. It turns out the loan to provide for my son’s future was designed to ruin my own. It was predatory, calculated to strip my equity and set me up for failure. When I tried to work with Wells to fix the loan, they offered a modification so small it didn’t make any difference. Then they started trying to take my house. The stress hastened my blindness and continues to aggravate my health problems. But I’m far from the only one to have suffered at the hands of Wells Fargo bankers. Here’s what I’ve found out: --Wells Fargo is foreclosing on more people in California than any other bank. [1] --Wells Fargo paid $175 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that it targeted African-American and Latino borrowers for high-cost loans. [2] --From 2008-2010 Wells Fargo received $17.9 Billion in tax subsidies from you and me. [3] These reasons plus stopping the theft of my home are why I’m joining with other members of the Home Defenders League and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment to take on Wells Fargo directly by demonstrating at their branches and headquarters all over the state on Wednesday, February 27. Not only that, but we’re also teaming up with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Occupy Homes MN, and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy to make the message as powerful as possible. Those groups are leading a huge day of action against Wells in Minneapolis the same time we’ll be taking them on in California. Here’s what we’re demanding: --Keep me in my home. --Deliver on promised relief through full implementation of AG settlement and other programs. --Broad implementation of loan modifications by resetting mortgages to fair market value. --Restore our stolen wealth by ending predatory practices, ending discriminatory lending and paying your fair share of taxes. Since his inauguration in January, I've joined with Home Defenders and ACCE members to push President Obama to use the first 100 days of his second term to finally hold Wall Street banks like Wells Fargo accountable for breaking our economy. Well, this week, we're taking that fight directly to Wall Street criminals themselves. They are the ones who stole our savings and our homes. It’s time for them to pay us back. Starting with Wells Fargo. [1] Based on statistics found in Foreclosure Radar, www.foreclosureradar.com [2] http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/July/12-dag-869.html [3] http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/2011/11/tax_dodger_wells_fargo.php#.USfd0zDWi3w

Wage theft affects millions of Americans across this country. From Blue collar workers to white collar executives. It is also a subject many want to ignore. Many of these employers like to cut corners competing and don't want to pay taxes. They also don't want to take financial responsibility and go down with the ship when they start having problems with their business. Oftentimes they need all the help they can get so they get their employees to invest into the company without the employees permission. They don't pay their employees on a regular basis. They continuously lie to their employees. Many of these employers belong in jail. I know because I was one of those employees. Make these employers pay because the employees shouldn't have too. It is just good business.

Verizon routinely steals the PAID-FOR data of its customers simply because they can't use their data without going over their allotment plan. For instance, I regularly must NOT use about 350 Megabytes of my PAID-FOR data at the end of the month, in order to avoid getting charged a $15 penalty for going even 1 kilobyte over my plan. This data disappears forever because Verizon does not rollover this unused data to the next month. This is made worse because Verizon's data reporting is delayed by over 12 hours, and a customer can only roughly estimate their actual data usage.

Honorable Governor We, the consumers, are dumbfounded by the continuous rise in Gas Prices. The world supply suddenly has not shrunk nor did our President declare a war in the Middle East. The only explanation we have is price gouging. Please finish your inquiry on the last Gas Price Rise and make the inquiry results public. Also please start a new Inquiry on the recent up swing in Gas Price.

Everyone here in Michigan is affected. With many just barely making above minimum wage, why is the Gov. not doing something to lower it!! We live on a fixed income and at almost $4.00 per gallon, we cannot afford these prices. It is also winter so that means gas to heat our homes so we are all affected. You must help Michigan residents Governor!!

NBA players know that unions are important for protecting workers on the job. The National Basketball Players' Association has a long history of keeping players safe, and the National Basketball Referees' Association ensures fair compensation for the unsung heroes of the game. All workers deserve the same protections. James Dolan doesn't believe that. His company (Cablevision-Optimum) has done everything from illegally locking out and firing workers, to refusing to negotiate a fair contract with his workers. The NBA shouldn't reward his union busting behavior.

I am an affordable housing advocate who has lived in Cambridge, MA for over 30 years, and I am deeply worried about the future of my home town. Big real estate developers like Forest City are asking the Cambridge City Council to change zoning laws to allow much taller and bigger buildings all over Cambridge, so the developers can make more money. I think allowing high-rise office, lab, and market-rate apartment buildings in Kendall Square, Central Square, Alewife, and Northpoint will continue to drive rents and housing prices up. The tens of thousands of additional auto, bus and truck trips per day will intensify traffic congestion, worsen air quality, and make the streets less safe. High-rise buildings threaten to create shadows and wind tunnels, block sky views, increase noise pollution, and remove green space. The city of Cambridge does not have a current and complete Master Plan to guide equitable development.

The United States incarcerates more people, by all measures, than any other country in the world. State correctional systems and for-profit prisons create financial incentives for local sheriff and police departments to keep prisons full, and the economic and sociological impact of having 2.2 million men and women behind bars is profound. The GEO Group, which runs a network of private prisons, is about to become the namesake of Florida Atlantic University's football stadium. The GEO Group should be prevented from advertising their business this way.

Over the past few months, outsourcing and subcontracting at Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC) has threatened the jobs of dozens of workers. SHC has recently laid off over a dozen janitorial workers and plans to lay off more by the end of this year. At the School of Medicine, SHC laid off thirteen of its original thirty-eight housekeeping assistants. Of the remaining twenty-five workers, sixteen have been given provisional employment until October 2013 (at which point they will most likely be laid off), and nine have been converted to “float workers” with no guarantee of permanent employment. These layoffs have forced severe work speed-ups and paved the way for jobs to be outsourced to a subcontractor, despite the fact that subcontractors on campus consistently provide fewer benefits, lower wages, and worse working conditions. SHC also maintains that it cannot find positions for the “float pool” workers despite continuing to hire workers through subcontractors and temp agencies. In addition, workers at the Clark Center, a research facility affiliated with SHC, have also experienced cuts starting in November 2012. Six of the nine Clark Center janitors no longer work directly for SHC, and were instead hired by the subcontractor UGL. The process of being laid off and subsequently re-hired in virtually the same positions meant that they lost their seniority and benefits, experienced significant pay cuts and are now required to do even more work. For example, one worker who has worked at the Clark Center for over a decade had his salary cut by over a third after being hired by UGL. In addition, some workers were offered part-time jobs with SHC, but the part-time status meant a significant pay decrease and lost benefits. These recent events follow a longstanding pattern at SHC and other Stanford facilities of subcontracting services in order to release Stanford of responsibility for maintaining safe and abuse-free working environments. UGL Unicco and Flagship Facilities & Services (another subcontractor) have gradually taken over the services of many Med School and Stanford Hospital buildings for four years now, reducing the number of direct hires. In addition, and perhaps more insidiously, since 2007, SHC subcontracted management of housekeeping assistants to Sodexo, Inc., a company internationally notorious for labor abuses. Managers employed by Sodexo have increased workloads, liberally fired workers, and implemented excessive surveillance. Sodexo managers have mandated speedups so steep as to make it impossible for workers to properly sanitize hospital rooms, making the hospital unsafe for workers and patients alike. Overall, subcontracting has reduced the quality of services provided at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, made jobs insecure and working environments abusive for workers. Please sign this petition to halt the recent surge of subcontracting and demand security for the jobs of the remaining direct hires.

Herbalife shops in the city of las cruces new mexico are taking advantage of many people by lying, breaking rules, and even going to the extent of saying that their product has cured their diseases. There lies need to stop because peoples lives are being put in danger. Families are spending all their savings when they buy in for 4k with the belief they are going to live a life of luxury by taking what is said to be the best product in the world according to enrique carrillo.

I am tired of paying for TV on which half the time is taken up by commercials. Pay TV stated out as "commercial free cable." That changed to shows having 2 minutes commercial blocks and now 4 to 6 minutes blocks for every five minutes of show. The average half hour show has approximately 15 minutes to 17 minutes of entertainment.