If Congress fails to reach agreement on the spending part of the so-called "fiscal cliff" negotiations by late February 2013, private universities such as Princeton, MIT, JHU, and others will face significant losses in federal research funding due to sequestration. This is a serious problem, for in fiscal year 2011, almost 75% of Princeton University's, 72% of Johns Hopkins Medicine's, and 71% of MIT's sponsored research funding came from government sources. Scientific research is the driving force behind today's technology-based economy; significant budget cuts to research institutions will affect everyone. For instance, scientific research at MIT has allowed for discoveries ranging from the first chemical synthesis of penicillin to an invention that duplicates the biological plant process of photosynthesis. Scientific research conducted at Johns Hopkins University has elucidated many cellular and biochemical mechanisms important for understanding human development and disease. Meanwhile, very recent scientific research at Princeton ranged from progress in particle physics, crucial to last summer's discovery of the long-sought Higgs boson at CERN, to finding a potential new chemotherapeutic approach for treating cancers. Most of this was possible to achieve through funding provided by federal agencies. Sequestration will have dire consequences for the future of scientific research at private institutions. Our elected officials must prevent these cuts from taking place! Co-authors: Pavel Shibayev, Ted Brundage (Princeton); Jason Choi (MIT); Evan Hess (JHU) Sources: 1. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2012/12/09/32119/ 2. http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N49/funding.html 3. http://www.wusa9.com/health/article/232572/28/The-Fiscal-Cliff-Medical-Research-On--The-Precipice 4. http://web.mit.edu/facts/research-expend.html 5. http://web.mit.edu/facts/research.html 6. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/institute_basic_biomedical_sciences/news_events/articles_and_stories/funding_science/2011_11_Federal_funding.html 7. http://neuroscience.jhu.edu/research.php 8. http://www.princeton.edu/research/ 9. http://discovery.princeton.edu/?portfolio=discovery-research-at-princeton 10. http://www.princeton.edu/research/docs/2010-2011-URB-REPORT.pdf (pg. A-3)

Greetings. I have personally been affected by gun violence (I was shot in the head in the 80s). Since then I have been passionate about stopping gun violence in the US. My idea will work. Please sign my petition.

Many people have lost their homes due to speculation and lack of transparancy in lending.The public is already functioning as the lender of last resort for homes, but is not benefiting. Consumer friendly terms and rates are possible with a non-profit approach.

We should be concerned about the less fortunate in this country. The Republicans are demanding that benefits for the poor and the elderly be cut significantly before they will agree to a tax increase for the top 1 percent. They refuse to vote for a tax cut on the top 2 percent. The salaries for all Senators and Congressmen should be cut by 30% and they should not be allowed to draw retirement benefits until they reach the age of 70, unless they are still serving as a Senator or a Representative. Then, they should not be allowed to. Their retirement package should be no better than the average government worker.

I have co-signed a student loan with Sally Mae. It is hard to believe with goverment backing that they would be allowed to out source their customer service calls. We have college graduates on the main land that cannot pay their student loans because they have no jobs and the jobs have been out sourced to the Phillipines??? I also caught Sprint with the same issue. I believe if customers on the main land refuse to speak with out sourced customer service representatives (just hang up and call back until you get someone with a job in America) then these companies will close their out sourced offices and bring these jobs back home!!!

The "paramount duty" of Washington State is to fully fund public education, yet we rank 49th in the nation in proportion to state incomes. Wealthy, predominantly white districts do better, but even these struggle when property tax levies fail. The wealthiest individuals insulate themselves and hide behind the smokescreen of charter schools. It's time to stop finger pointing, and to get this issue solved.

A talking head said that there is only about 3-4 years of ammunition out there. We call on Congress to put a prohibitive tax on ammunition for assault, military grade weapons sold to the public. In time, this tax will reserve this ammunition for our police SWAT teams and our military. We can fight to curb mass murder in America.

In Maine, if you are looking to get your license for the first time, and you are over 18, you must wait an entire year, during which time you are required to drive with another person in the car, who is over the age of 20, for 35 hours. This is called getting your "drivers permit." You must do 35 hours of driving, 5 of which must be during the night. After that time is up, you can send in for a drivers license test date . If you are under 18, you must do this, and also a number of other stipulations are placed on you when you do get your license, which I encourage due to them being under 18. I luckily got my drivers permit before this rule switched from 6 months to a year, but sadly I will not be getting my license until probably April. Not having my license means for me that I couldn't go to school this semester while working, and after my 5PM to 1AM shift, I have to walk home in an area that is unlit, and a large portion of which does not have sidewalks. The sidewalks that are there are not always plowed after a snowstorm. Making legal, taxpaying adults not able to pursue improving their situations in life, due to a lack of public transportation in a lot of the state, and an inability to get a drivers license in a timely manner, is wrong. I say that people should be able to prove that they are road-ready drivers WITHOUT spending a year of their lives to do it.

Create a Public Bank of Colorado that operates in the public interest, remove our tax monies from private banks, and deposit them in the Public Bank of Colorado, so that we can benefit as the original 13 colonies did, and the State of North Dakota does, by not giving away our money to the failed and corrupt Wall Street banks and their subsidiaries.

In order to rebuild our country's infrastructure, re-evaluate our taxpayer spending priorities, and reduce the deficit, let's start with the billions of taxpayer dollars now being spent on waging wars abroad.

We pay for the Salaries and Benefits of the DO NOTHING CONGRESS. They are trying to kill our Unions, Social Security and Medicare in addition to privatizing teachers, firefighters, all prisons, policemen, Social Security, Medicare in an effort make themselves richer and institute slave wages in America. This goal is only topped by their unwillingness make their benefactors pay taxes and support this country that made them rich in the first place. Congress members are all MILLIONAIRES and your tax dollars made them such.

We need to reduce Pentagon spending by 1/3 to reasonably address our national debt.