Health problems, medical bills, loss of pay due to time missed due to sickness caused by mold and mold spors in air

Honorable Members of the PA State House Judiciary Committee PA House Bill 683 was referred to your committee Feb. 12, 2013 PA House Bill 683 (HB683: Haluska, Metzgar, Barrar, M. K. Keller, Hess, Moul, Fleck, C. Harris And Murt, February 12, 2013), like similar legislation in other US states, is not well-thought out. It will limit whistle-blowing, and keep the public unaware of food safety problems, animal abuse and poor/dangerous working conditions on factory farms. It's benefit to our food safety and farm workers is unclear. Remember the 2008 investigation of a dairy cow slaughter plant in Chino, California? It prompted the largest meat recall in U.S. history, identified fraud on the federal government’s school lunch program, and resulted in criminal convictions. HB683 would criminalize only the workers who expose such crimes. HB683 would do nothing to protect We The People from the cruelty, contaminants, and fraud. Further, with the increase in gas drilling in PA, HB683 is doubly troubling: Line 9 on page 1 defines the proposed second and third degree felonies as those "Interfering with agricultural operations." But Lines 9-11 on page 3 too broadly define "Agricultural operations" as "Any public or private property where an agricultural activity or farming is conducted or takes place." This includes the sites of much of PA's gas drilling, storage and transfer activities. Citizen activism is an increasingly important tool for We The People to find out about gas-related crimes and pollution. HB683 would seemingly outlaw reporting on these threats to our air, water and dirt. Please voted NO on HB683. Thank you for your time.

Nothing gets done in Congress because the elected body maintains support politcally to the money not the PEOPLE's welfare. Money=Power whereas moral values and truth = doing what is right for America.

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.