Control of assault rifles and handguns that are easily concealed and easily obtained.

Charging a fee ($8.95/mo+) for over the air transmission and HD service to TV's bought with HD ready capabilities.

As the nation grieves for twenty schoolchildren gunned down in Connecticut, the religious right has the audacity to blame America's public schools for protecting students' religious freedom. The American Family Association's leading spokesman used his radio show to argue that God allows violence in public schools because the Supreme Court has prohibited mandatory school prayers. And speaking live on Fox News, Mike Huckabee said that this shooting happened because "we've systematically removed God from our schools." He added, "Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end, and we wouldn't have to call him to show up when it's all said and done." These words are an insult to the victims, an embarrassment to sincere Christians, and a dangerous distraction from the national scourge of gun violence. Hateful and unchristian rhetoric like this has no place on a major television news network.

The guns like the .223 rifle, 9mm Glock and Sig Saur used at recent Sandy Hook Massacre and Colorado Theater tragedies were legally purchased semi-automatic or automatic guns. These guns are made for combat - i.e., killing human beings, and in the case of Sandy Hook Elementary, kindergarten aged children. Without an easily-obtainable automatic or semi-automatic weapon, there is no way 18-20 innocent five year old children and 6 parents would have been brutally murdered in just a few short minutes yesterday. Not only do we need to petition our leaders for gun control and supporting mental services but we need to take an active part as citizens to end this violence. We need to petition our corporations, like Walmart and others to take accountability - to stop supplying these type of weapons and enabling this type of tragedy. I thought last night after crying my eyes out - As a mother of elementary school children, what *action* can I take in protest to this violence in addition to petitioning to change gun laws? (see Staci Sarkin's SignOn Petition "Gun Contol.Now" http://signon.org/sign/gun-control-now-1?source=s.fwd&r_by=2262167) I realized I can also petition and personally go to Walmart, or other local gun shop and legally purchase one of these hideous assault weapons and with my sledgehammer in hand destroy it right then and there in front of the store. I can also ask Walmart to remove and keep them off the shelves. If every non-violent citizen in this country did this, we could get rid of them ourselves, and send a message - enough.

THE JENNI RIVERA LAW http://www.thejenniriveralaw.com In light of facts now known about the plane, its owner and its pilots, we propose the passage of the following... The proposed Jenni Rivera Law states : " All passengers of airplanes, be it public or private must be provided upon request before ticket is purchased or flight contracted for, complete details of year make and model of airplane, its crash / incident history, its repair and maintenance history and its mileage. Also to be provided is crash history of other planes of the same make and model. Furthermore, airline manufacturers are to provide in the report a recommend mileage / year lifespan of each plane model they have sold and how often what type of maintenance should be undertaken. " IN ADDITION: " Backgrounds on pilots are to be provided specifically in regards to their age, experience, performance and any disciplinary action. " " Falsification of aviation records must be made a serious felony and the guilty company and its officer/s of the corporation or business entity should be permanently banned from the aviation industry. "

Amazon.com is gathering large amounts of money to fight in courts reasonable laws that have been passed by our representatives. Laws such as those that permit people to carry concealed handguns. This is a threat to everyone in society.

The latest tragic shooting at the Connecticut elementary school today makes me wonder if there will ever be appropriate and effective gun control. It occurred to me that the way the tobacco industry was made to pay for some of its costs could be applied to the gun industry.

How can we live in a country where employees of large corporations like HSBC commit felonies drug money laundering and traffic with terrorists for 15 years and escape with a fine? During the same period the US imprisoned thousands of poor people for terrorism and drug related crimes. The rich should not go free a fine while the poor get prison sentences.

The Connecticut School Shooting this morning is the final nail in the coffin of this national tragedy of escalating gun violence. The Citizens must act, because our national leaders are showing no leadership. . Our national leaders must stand up to the gun lobby and not just ignore the latest escalation in this brutal and random gun violence. Ending the gun show loophole, creating manifests of the mentally ill who own guns, etc. must be implemented.

Have you ever been a patient or had a love one admitted to Alta Bates? Have you ever delivered a baby at Alta Bates? If you SUPPORT your local community hospital then please come out and support our 8th strike against Sutter Health's Cutbacks to BOTH the community and the nurses on: Monday Dec 24th, 2012 2450 Ashby Ave in Berkeley, CA 7am-3pm. Please bring a canned food item or a new toy to those in need that will be donated following our picket line. Key concession demands at various Sutter hospitals (partial list): •Eliminating paid sick leave, effectively forcing nurses to work when ill, exposing already frail and vulnerable patients to further infection. •Forcing RNs to work in hospital areas for which they do not have appropriate clinical expertise, again a safety risk for patients. •Huge increases in nurses’ out-of-pocket costs for health coverage for themselves and family members. •Limits on the ability of charge nurses, who make clinical assignments for nurses, to address staffing shortages, subjecting patients to the danger of unsafe staffing. •Forcing RNs to work overtime, exposing patients to care from fatigued nurses who are more prone to making medical errors. •Cutting the rest time between shifts to 6 hours, an unsafe precedent for patients and the hospital workforce. •Eliminating all health coverage for nurses who work less than 30 hours per week and slashing the pay in lieu of benefits for all non-benefited nurses.-- 435 RNs and 31 Techs would lose all health coverage at Alta Bates Summit, and 100 RNs at Eden and San Leandro. •Reduced pregnancy and family medical leave, undermining RN families. Sutter does not need to make these drastic cuts: •Sutter has accumulated nearly $4.2 billion in profits since 2005, according to its own audited financial statements. •Sutter is among the wealthiest hospital chains in the U.S. – and has the highest net patient revenue per employees among U.S. hospital systems, according to a Modern Healthcare survey •Sutter paid 28 top executives more than $1 million in compensation, an agregate $46.7 million in 2010 alone, by far the most lavish spending on executives among all California hospital systems. •Sutter is presently building a massive new, 300,000 square foot administrative office center in Roseville, another sign of its expansive wealth, and spending away from the bedside. •Sutter is spending tens of millions of dollars on a questionable computerized electronic medical system, Epic Systems, the same controversial system that has been charged with putting patients at risk at Contra Costa County’s correctional facility Sutter’s record of abandoning communities and patients (partial list): •End breast cancer screening for women with disabilities and most bone marrow transplant services for cancer patients at Alta Bates Summit in Oakland and Berkeley. •Stop providing psychiatric services under contract with Sacramento County for more than 225 Sacramento children. •Close acute rehabilitation services, skilled nursing care, and psychiatric services, and substantially downgrade nursery care for sick children at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley. •Sharply cut psychiatric care at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley. •Close a birthing center at Sutter Auburn Faith, forcing new mothers and families to travel up to 75 miles for obstetrics care, while giving a $1 million gift to the Sacramento Kings

Bank of America agreed in 2008 to phase out loans to coal companies that fund Mountaintop Removal. However, they underwrote "loans to companies that are responsible for 40% of all the mountaintop removal coal that was mined in 2010” (iLoveMountains.org). Mountaintop Removal is dangerous to communities that live near mountains. Bank of America needs to make active measures to follow through and defund Mountaintop Removal!

Walmart is another example of a large American corporation that outsources to other countries and makes large profits in the USA, but still does not pay their own employees the competitive wages or offer long-term benefits so that these employees can live above the poverty level.