As foster parents in Winneshiek County, my husband and I have first-hand experience of Iowa DHS Director Charles Palmer's lack of effective oversight of his department and his unresponsiveness to complaints we made concerning unethical behavior of some DHS employees and some employees of agencies with whom DHS contracts. Mr. Palmer has not responded to a single letter or email and has, instead, allowed problems to persist at our expense and to the detriment of the human services profession as a whole. Every Iowan should be concerned when social workers lie (in court and elsewhere), fail to fulfill the terms of their contracts with foster parents, insinuate their personal lives into their professional relationships, gossip about clients and co-workers, and retaliate toward those that file complaints-- problems which Palmer has been made aware of but to which he has not offered a response of any kind. It is well known that Palmer has failed to communicate or work appropriately with the Iowa legislature. It is our experience that his performance with Iowa citizens is equally abysmal, despite his self-description as a "problem solver and a bridge builder." He may consider himself "very open to input," but his actions speak otherwise. Iowa deserves better. Please vote Mr. Palmer out and protect foster children, foster parents and all those dependent upon the professional integrity of the Department of Human Services. DHS needs a good house-cleaning and Charles Palmer should be the first to go. Iowa tax-dollars should not support work of such poor quality, and Iowa's most vulnerable need a state agency that is accountable at every level.

On Friday, 3/20/15 Frederick Ippolito, Town of Oyster Bay Planning Commissioner, was arrested for six counts of tax evasion. Court papers say he failed to report more than $2 million in consulting fees from Hicksville-based Lizza and Sons from 2008 through 2013. Failure to report income to the IRS is tax evasion and a criminal offense. Acting as an agent of a contractor that performs work for the Town while also being employed by the Town is a violation of the Town’s code of ethics, section 30-4 Conflicts of Interest. Supervisor Venditto must terminate Frederick Ippolito from Town employment and must explain his and other town employee's knowledge of this ethics violation.

America is built on a people's democracy theory; in order to know where our country needs to be heading we have to know what the people want. The only way to do this is to keep voter protocol as simple and convenient as possible! Say no to Voter ID Bills!

36 states have terms limits on the office of governor. Often governors run for President during their second term. If the voters in a governor's home state are disappointed by that governor, they may be conflicted by their wish to be rid of their governor and their responsibility to help the rest of the nation avoid similar disappointment.

Genetically engineered foods, also known as GMOs, are popping up more and more, but because they're not labeled, we don't know where they are. Farmers, processors, packagers and distributors are already segregating and labeling GMOs for international sale in the 64 countries that require labeling. I believe we should be offered the same information in Illinois. Without labels for GMOs, we're not getting the full story on foods at my grocery store. Just as fat, calories, sodium, potential allergens like peanuts, and expiration dates appear on labels, so too should genetically engineered ingredients. The Illinois Senate introduced the Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Bill — SB734 — and we need to make sure there is a long list of supporting lawmakers. But just as quickly as we're securing support for labels, Monsanto is working to stack up opponents. That's why we need you to speak up. If enough Illinoisans make enough noise, our representatives will have to listen.

The private prison industry is a fast growing industry, with companies such as GEO group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) posting profits of 2.9 billion by the end of 2010. These profits are at the expense of people of color. Private prison corporations, such as GEO Group and CCA, also lobby hard for anti-immigrant legislation, such as seen in Arizona with SB 1070 and Georgia with SB 87. Private prisons are also responsible for neglect and abuse in prisons. Such legislation and examples of abuse and neglect directly contradict our moral consensus as people of faith and as tax payers of the United States of America. Jesus so identified with those in prison that he told his followers that to visit someone in prison is to visit him. The prophet, Amos, thundered against the people of God for dehumanizing the poor and vulnerable to the extent that they sold the poor for a pair of sandals. As people of faith, we are called to speak out against making profits from the mistreatment of the poor. We are called to care for the vulnerable in society and not profit from their marginalization. On the day after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem—Palm Sunday—Jesus disrupted the profiteering of the poor, by driving the money changers from one of the People's most sacred institutions. Therefore, we urge our political leaders to symbolically drive the money changers from the People's Government, by denying the People's tax dollars to prison profiteers. #FaithPrisonDivest Learn More at: http://www.holyweekofresistance.net/blog-posts/faith-prisondivest-reclaimholyweek

The governor is destroying our state. He needs to be stopped. He must be recalled.

I am starting this Petition because I have been personally affected by the Issue. I am also starting this Petition because there are some recent Indications that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has started seeing the Fallacy of this Practice. People should be concerned about this Issue because, if they are involved in Litigation, there may be an Interim Ruling by the Court against them and then they would not be able to challenge the Interim Ruling even if they believe it is wrong, even if it is wrong, until the entire Proceeding has been completed. This has the Effect of weakening a Party which may lose intermediate Steps in a Legal Proceeding although, Overall, the Party may have a valid overall Position.

Corporations are not individuals; otherwise, they would be subject to the same laws as the rest of us. Setting up offshore accounts to avoid paying income tax is outright stealing from the government. Money is not speech and should never be equated to free speech. Yet, the Supreme Court has stated otherwise.

Family judicial system benefits and profits by increasing and prolonging family disputes with absolute disregard to the children's and parents' wellbeing. Preponderance of evidence nationwide shows that family courts and CPS are the biggest and most serious obstacles and danger families and children have to suffer from during separation process. Children and innocent parents are permanently scarred and damaged emotionally, mentally financially, etc. while judges and attorneys are scavenging and feeding on their struggle. The family court judges are taking advantage of their judicial immunity and discretion that they are disregarding the Constitution, federal laws, state laws and they even have the discretion to violate any and all laws including the court's own local rules. A second in a baby's or child's life is a long time, yet they have to go through the most critical, stressful, burdensome and damaging stage of their lives. A stage that is so serious that is sufficient to damage and collapse the most intelligent and educated professional in the society. The situation is so sever that leads parents to the cliff and often times it destroyed many hardworking, decent and innocent parents and children. This practice of family courts is because there are federal incentives in the social security act called Title 4-D funding. It guarantees rewarding sums for the states, family courts judges, Social Services, etc. and it guarantees huge financial securities for private attorneys. Let's not forget that judges and attorneys are siblings in the craft, the longer the litigation takes, the more money attorneys make. If you don't have an attorney, you have opened up a can of worms and you and your children are not going to see a happy sunny day in your entire life. 80% of the cases are based on gender and financial discrimination in favor of the mother. Our children are the most fragile, they are the future parents and the safety of our society, if they grow up scarred and damaged, expect to have the same kind of society.

From the Councilor: "Since April 17, 2014, I have been performing my duties as a City Councilor without pay while I examined an apparent conflict in state regulations (MGL Ch. 39, Sec.6A.) regarding compensation of public employees as it concerns my career as a public educator and my public service as an elected official of Ward 3. In March of 2014, I received a call from the state, followed by a letter from the Ethics Commission, which stated in a legally complex manner that I unknowingly had a “conflict of interest.” Somehow my career as an educator at Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech was in conflict with my duties as a city councilor. The conflict is not in the work I do, but because of the fact that I receive a salary from both positions and they are from the same municipality. It stated I had 30 days to choose one salary only. Apparently, because of a court ruling the ethics law conflicted in definition in such a way that I and my employers were unaware: based on the phrasing of the law, it seems regional school district employees and its teachers are municipal employees. Despite the fact that no “actual, material conflict exists” I am not allowed to collect the pay I have earned." That is not right. If you believe the councilor should get what he rightfully works for, please sign this petition today!

Good and decent people know that the deplorable conditions of puppy mills are not humanely acceptable. Yet, they continue by folks who care nothing of animal welfare but see it as a way to make some dollars. The people who mistreat animals to make money by breeding them endlessly, lack of food/water and medical care, can be considered disrespectful and dishonest, but many get away with it because of the lack of consequences due to weak and unenforceable laws. Its time to either outlaw inhumane puppy mills, or regulate them.