At $1.5 trillion, Lockheed Martin's boondoggle F-35 fighter plane is the most expensive weapons program in world history. It doesn't work as promised and steals money from urgent priorities. Fat cat Pentagon contractor Lockheed Martin is trying to protect its taxpayer-funded gravy train by pressuring Senator Durbin to keep the F-35 alive. Tell Senator Durbin not to cave to Lockheed's pressure. Senator Durbin has likened the F-35 to a corrupt Wall Street megabank, questioning whether the F-35 is "too big to fail." We'll create more jobs in Illinois and people in Illinois will be better off if we kill the F-35, return the money to Illinois taxpayers, and use the money for Illinois priorities.

Arguing for a drastic cut to the food stamp program (SNAP) Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) had said, "If you're a healthy adult and don't have someone relying on you to care for them, you ought to earn the benefits you receive. Look for work. Start job training to improve your skills or do community service. But you can no longer sit on your couch or ride a surfboard like Jason in California and expect the federal taxpayer to feed you." Here's a message to Rep. Tim Huelskamp from millions of long-term unemployed Americans (including the 99ers and older workers) who are no longer counted in the unemployment rate, as well as the other 11.3 million jobless Americans who are still being counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dear Mister Congress Man Huelskamp: As you very well know, because of very strict "means testing", SNAP benefits are not just given away to anyone who applies for them. Americans who receive food stamps don't have incomes to meet a basic standard-of-living. They either have low-paid jobs, are unemployed, or are elderly (and/or disabled) and rely on a small Social Security income (People such as your friend Jason are a tiny minority). You know all this, or at the very least, you should. Obviously you like to use anecdotal stories from Fox News to back up your arguments and use tainted studies from right-wing think tanks to enforce your ideological beliefs. But please try to expand your intellectual horizons a little more. As a representative of THE PEOPLE, try to see both sides of the food stamp debate. As for most of us, we did earn our food stamp benefits --- many of us have worked and paid taxes for 30 years or longer before being laid off during the Great Recession. And we have looked for work (for the past 5 years) since the mass layoffs. In case you're incapable of doing simple arithmetic, there still are not enough jobs (and even if there were, would you hire Jason?) And speaking of jobs, how many job bills have you voted for or introduced to Congress, and how many have you voted against? And please, tell us where 11.3 million (counted) unemployed Americans can sign up for job training? Most of the corporations that you represent no longer offer on-the-job training; and any form of government-sponsored job training would only defeat your purpose of "smaller government". You said "improve your skills", but please tell us --- what specific skills do 11.3 million unemployed Americans need to fill 3.7 million job openings? The "lacking job skills" argument has been proven to be a corporate myth to expand the guestworker program to hire more foreigners (for less money) in an already over-saturated job market --- a labor market that already pays stagnant wages. And besides, we already have plenty of skills. College graduates (saddled with debt) and those with advanced tech and engineering skills, are still working at places like Walmart and McDonalds (if they're lucky). Either that or they're unemployed. And if people like you and others hadn't allowed for the outsourcing of all our good-paying jobs with "free trade agreements" --- and also stopped insourcing foreign workers with H-1B visas --- maybe then we'd have enough jobs for everyone (jobs that paid a "living wage"). And maybe then, all us "takers" wouldn't need any "government hand-outs" from all the other hard-working Americans who were lucky and managed to keep their jobs. Also, most of us do not ride surfboards. And we also don't "expect" that you personally would have to feed us (just like we don't expect the churches to bail out the big banks) --- but it sure would be nice to eat food after we've exhausted all our resources while looking for all those non-existent jobs that you keep ignorantly babbling about --- jobs that you never helped to create. Instead, you and your ilk repealed Obamacare 40 times! Talk about a waste of time, how moronic is that? Maybe it's people like you who should first be drug tested before collecting your government check. So who's the real pimple on the posterior of our society? Blow-hards like you Mister Congress Man Huelskamp, who receives $174,000-a-year (as a government worker) from hard-working American taxpayers for doing little-to-nothing; or the poor and unemployed people like us, who might only receive a measly $150 a month to eat? And most people who do work pay Social Security taxes on 100% of their earnings (50% of all workers only earn $27,000 a year or less). You however, do not --- your Social Security taxes are "capped", as well as for your wealthiest political donors --- those who earn millions of dollars every single year with capital gains and don't pay any Social Security taxes at all. And they also pay a lower tax rate than does a factory worker who's only earning $40,000 a year in hourly wages. So who is it that's really "gaming the system" --- people like you and your corporate sponsors, or people like us (who are poor) and were forced out of work --- and now need food stamps just to eat? We think it's very repugnant and tasteless that you and your God-fearing Tea Party brethren find it so easy to hurl insults at the abject poor (calling us drug addicts, cheats, alcoholics, liars and lazy), while collecting your "unearned" campaign donations at swanky fundraisers from your "upper-class" supporters --- because if it were not for them, you'd have no class at all. Especially while everybody else is paying for your generous salary, your healthcare insurance and for your congressional expense accounts. And that also includes those who receive an unemployment check, because they too have to pay federal income taxes (depending on their annual adjusted gross income at the end of the fiscal tax year). Mister Congress Man Huelskamp...why don't you do millions of struggling unemployed Americans a really big favor: Either introduce a REAL job bill (without any earmarks, pork, or any other unrelated amendment --- such as more tax cuts for the ultra-rich)...

We want to thank the six council members who publicly supported Measure N--which raised the minimum wage for hotel workers in Long Beach--and encourage them to take leadership to raise the minimum wage at the Long Beach Airport and Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center.

More than 40 percent of private-sector workers and 70 percent of low wage workers do not have a single paid sick day off of work to take care of themselves or family when ill. In many cases, workers have to make the decision to stay home and take care of a child when sick, or paying bills. No one should have to risk their paycheck and job because they're sick. The city of Tacoma, Washington is considering a new law that will help working people across the country by making sure that all workers have paid sick time off of work to use when sick. Send a message to Mayor Marilyn Strickland and the Tacoma City Council now.

My local post office was forced to cut back to 4 hour per day service, and a good full time, secure job was lost. The problems the USPS faces were created by the passing of the PAEA, and they can be solved by the repeal of this measure. The postal service is not broken, and worked well and economically until they were forced to prepay retirement for 75 years, for future employees not yet born. This bill is destroying this wonderful 235 year old institution that we all love. And for those of us in the wonderful villages of New Mexico, the post office is the center of the community. Let's save it!!

As a first year Ph.D. student in the chemistry department at the University at Buffalo, the impending negative ramifications of federal budget sequestration as a result of Public Law 112-25 are of paramount interest to me. This issue directly impacts all fields of science, including my profession. Being an entry level scientist in an academic setting, I am deeply concerned about the longevity and availability of governmental scientific funding for public universities and national laboratories.

Lift Every Voice - It's Time To Un-Stack The Deck Favoring Corporations: 1. Demand corporate tax dodgers pay their fair share of federal taxes 2. Demand companies return the $2 trillion in offshore funds to the USA 3. Demand congress acts to alleviate the huge wealth gap among Americans The Problem According to the Wall Street Journal, U. S. companies are making record profits; but too much of the money is staying offshore where it is lightly taxed. JPMorgan Chase and Bloomberg News report that offshore investing is increasing because of special incentives in the U. S. tax code for taking profits out of the USA. It is now estimated that these company offshore funds total almost $2 trillion. Worse yet is that companies gain tax savings and subsidies by moving and outsourcing jobs offshore, denying American workers employment and entrepreneurial opportunities. They place money in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Singapore and Belgium. Clearly, such companies are the "takers" from the American taxpayers and are not true "makers" in building our economy. Over 280 of America's largest and most profitable corporations don't pay federal corporate income tax. Although the federal government is struggling for cash, many corporations are still manipulating within the tax-code to sidestep paying their fair share. As many Americans are experiencing layoffs and difficulty in finding jobs that pay livable wages, coupled with painful termination of police, fire, sanitation and educational services, large corporations on average are paying their CEOs 354 times the average worker's salaries. According to the Office of Management and Budget, since 1952 the decline in the rate corporations pay in taxes has gone from 35% to 9%. Many corporations do not pay even 9% as they receive such enormous government subsidies that they end up with billions in credits from taxpayers, thereby totally without any tax obligations. Advocates for the business community state that the corporate gross tax rate of 35% is unusually high, but they neglect to tell you that in practice, they pay much less or nothing due to many exemptions and subsidies won from Congress at the behest of corporate lobbyists. Many companies have purchased lobbying services, spending more than $1 billion to influence Washington lawmakers over the last decade to have their taxes slashed. The Solution This petition demands that a specified tax haven/tax zone is established her in the United States, denying tax credits to all companies investing elsewhere. This tax haven will serve as the approved tax zone/haven allowing companies to gain from a structure within the established tax code that is transparent and basically equal to all. Companies will be required to report to the IRS all funds now offshore ($2 trillion) and pay a fair offshore repatriation tax rate. This authorized tax haven should help return to the USA more than 582,000 jobs now offshore as a result of offshore investing. This specified U.S. tax haven will generate new revenue that is channeled into expanded initiatives to create more opportunities to achieve the "American Dream" of upward mobility through gainful employment or entrepreneurial advancement.

This steadily up and coming part of houston and it's surrounding areas, home to over 100,000 residents in just a 15 mile radius, (more than all of Baytown Tx of whom has a Target) deserve a top quality superstore within our vicinity and Target deserves our abundance of business.

Thanks to outsourcing and corporate consolidation, and especially because of increasing technology, productivity per worker has increased dramatically over the past century, while (real) wages have stagnated for several decades. This is the primary reason why income inequality is increasing, unemployment has gotten so high, the rich have grown super rich, and the poor and middle class are hurting - when productivity is raised, the labor supply increases, and companies lay people off while keeping the same output. When jobs are scarce, companies can offer lower wages, because competition is high. We need to lower hours now for the same reason we needed to after the industrial revolution - and all the same excuses for why it wouldn't work were said then, and they all proved to be wrong. More here: http://biodieselhauling.blogspot.com/2011/10/dramatically-reduce-unemployment-by.html

Millions of Americans have been unable to realise their potential as a result of greed. When approximately 90% of the wealth is in the hands of less than 10% of the population the system has broken down. Consider a cap if only as a temporary measure. If not, what is your solution? More of the same? It is time to talk!

Congress has 9 days scheduled before the Sep. 30 budget deadline to avoid a government shutdown. But some Republicans won't even negotiate unless Obamacare is defunded — and they're using the deadline to gain leverage. We need Rep. Rodney Davis to prioritize expanding the middle class during the budget debate. Unless we act quickly, he may join with Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan and support more cuts to education, healthcare, and other vital services.

The Jersey City City Council is set to consider legislation that would make it the first city in New Jersey – and the 6th city nationwide – to guarantee earned sick days for its residents. This is a chance for Jersey City to take a lead role in the nationwide fight for what should be a fundamental right – the right of workers to take time off when they or their family members gets sick. Tell the City Council to pass the earned sick days ordinance!