The Obama Administration is establishing a new precedent by implementing sanctions against Russian officials for violations of international law in the wake of Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea. Civil society organizations in the United States and around the world should invoke this precedent in calling U.S. officials to account for the U.S.'s own violations of international law. John Brennan, head of the Central Intelligence Agency, is playing a central role in shielding the agency from accountability to international law on three key issues: the CIA's use of torture during the Bush Administration; the CIA’s use of drone strikes; and the CIA’s arming of Syria rebels, which the Obama Administration has acknowledged is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty under international law, just as Russia’s actions in Crimea violate Ukraine’s sovereignty under international law.

Rick Santorum's political career may be largely behind him, but incredibly, a secret deal between Pennsylvania Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey may lead President Obama to hand one of Rick Santorum's former lawyers a lifetime job as a federal judge. If the Western Pennsylvania District Court in Pittsburgh goes to David J. Porter, it's probably as close as conservatives can get to having Rick Santorum himself on the federal bench. One more conservative activist judge who wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. One more extremist in the federal judiciary who loves discriminating against women, immigrants and LGBT people as much as he loves doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association. To complete the conservative extremist packaging, Porter even opposes bilingual education and environmental health protections. [1] David J. Porter's hateful political extremism is an outrageous and unacceptable legacy for the Obama administration to leave behind in the federal judiciary. [1] - "Sens. Casey and Toomey plot secret deal to nominate Tea Party Judge for Western PA District Court," Keystone Progress, March 25, 2014 http://keystoneprogressblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/sens-casey-and-toomey-plot-secret-deal.html

This petition has been started to curtail the unfair advantage churches and religious agencies have in our politics and return much needed money to the communities that these organizations reside in.

The House is moving on a terrible new bill that will effectively say: No new national parks. The vote is Wednesday -- and if you don't raise your voice today, it could actually pass! Here are the facts: This bill, H.R. 1459, would gut the historic Antiquities Act, undermining the president's power to create national monuments -- but nearly half of our national parks started out as monuments. The bill's author is named Rep. Rob Bishop, whose biggest contributor in the last election was the oil and gas industry. Bishop even says national parks are unconstitutional! This is about so much more than oil profits -- this is about our American legacy. Without the Antiquities Act, we might never have had the Grand Canyon or Acadia National Parks. We certainly wouldn't have Muir Woods or President Obama's brand-new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument!

An acquaintance of mine was involved in an accident with a drunk driver. She topped the million dollar total before her third year of treatment. It took five years before she could walk again. Why should she, or others like her lose everything? What do we gain by having insurance?

Ever since the Supreme Court’s outrageous Citizens United decision, corporate spending on political campaigns has skyrocketed. But much of that spending never gets disclosed anywhere. We have no idea who is attempting to influence our elections. Republicans in Congress may have blocked action, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has the power to do something about it. They can create a rule that requires corporations to disclose to their shareholders (and thus, to the public) whether and how much they are spending to influence voters. But so far, the SEC has opted to do nothing. That’s not OK. Sign our petition and tell the SEC it’s time to stand up and take action. If we’re going to fix our democracy, we have to make sure that voters know who is trying to pick winners and losers in our elections.

“In the name of tort reform, a conspiracy of corporate interests and elected officials has thrown obstacles in the path of victims even getting their day in court, let alone financial judgments: gutted consumer protection laws, capped financial compensation, and drastically limited attorney's fees — to the point that they cannot afford to take cases. The justification for (what they call) reform is that runaway juries swayed by heart-wrenching cases award mega-millions in punitive damages that can hurt their bottom line — the dead, maimed, and injured be damned! In the name of all injured Americans past, present, and future, it’s time to reform tort reform — and call it what it is. “ Stephen L. Goldstein

Washington is awash in Big Money and it’s time we do something about it. From creating jobs to the budget, Big Money warps Congress’ priorities and erodes public trust. Both parties are guilty. We must break the dependence on huge campaign donations so that Congress can focus on the people’s priorities -- not special interests. The Government by the People Act will help give a voice to everyday people. We need you to become a citizen co-sponsor of the Government by the People Act (H.R. 20). The fact is, Capitol Hill is full of well-intentioned people who came to Washington with noble goals and deeply held principles - most chose this path out of a strong desire to better their community and the broader American public. But the need for non-stop fundraising corrupts our system of government. It forces good people to shift their focus away from their constituents and towards finding the next big campaign check. If we are to reclaim our Republic for the people, we need a movement by those people -- it's up to you to start it.

While the VA has increased recognition of mental health issues, the time it takes to process claims and to provide treatment often takes far to long. In many instances it takes 6-9 months for our veterans to get the help they need, and up to two years for claims that have been denied due to non-specific dates and times of their mental health claim. The VA admits to being overwhelmed, and in some areas, they are literally "buried" in paperwork. Our government foolishly sent our soldiers into harms way, without anticipating the overall costs, both financially and physically. We owe our veterans the very best, and Congress needs to allocate as much funding as is necessary to greatly improve these problems. With 22 veteran committing suicide each day in 2010, and with more deaths from suicide than there were in combat in 2012, we are failing in our responsibilities to our veterans. . As a nation, we owe a debt to those that have served this nation, now is the time to demand better from our government.

VICTORY! Governor Brown has now signed SB 27, the bill to force Dark Money non-profits to reveal their secret funders in California elections! To their credit, after bill author Senator Lou Correa made a reasonable amendment to ensure that people who made donations before SB 27 goes into effect on July 1st aren't surprised by being disclosed, three Senate Republicans voted Yes, adding to the 25 Democrats who voted Yes and giving it the margin of victory it needed to get to Governor Brown's desk. The three Republican Senators who deserve praise for voting Yes on SB 27 are Senator Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres), Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), and Andy Vidak (R-Hanford). Other Republicans voted No or didn't vote. As California Clean Money Campaign President Trent Lange said afterwards in the Sacramento Bee: “Governor Brown’s signature of SB 27 marks a turning point in the fight to reveal secret funders of political campaigns. It starts to shed light on dark money in California and serves as an example for the entire nation." Your petitions and calls worked! SB 27 became law after more than 40,000 people like you signed petitions. More than a thousand people applied extra pressure by calling their legislator. SB 27 was a great coalition effort in which the California Clean Money Action Fund worked with not only the bill author Senator Lou Correa, the sponsor FPPC, and our CA campaign finance friends at California Common Cause, California Forward, and the League of Women Voters of California; but also with national organizations like Public Citizen, CREDO Mobile, Courage Campaign, Progressives United, Represent.Us, causes.com, MoveOn.org, Money Out Voters In Coalition, MapLight, Label GMOs: California's Grassroots, Lutheran Office of Public Policy - California, Moms Across America, and others. Thanks to everybody who signed and helped us achieve this historic victory! PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TO THE PETITION and we'll tell you how you can help pass other crucial bills to end the dominance of Big Money in politics, like SB 52, the California DISCLOSE Act and SB 1272, the Overturn Citizens United Act. -- Your friends at the California Clean Money Campaign (www.CAdisclose.org)

I reside in the community that is serviced by Harlem's Hellgate station post office. For years, this post office has been allowed to operate in a manner of gross disregard for acceptable customer service to the overall community at large. The post office staff creates an established culture of hostility, unprofessional behavior, disrespectful communication and a blatant attitude of refusal to perform their duties. There is no managerial level personnel that cares to correct this. They believe there is nothing the community can do to bring about change and so we are expected to endure. Let's put an end to the way this station has operated for years and demand a complete overhaul of Hellgate post office by bringing this to the attention of Mr. Richard P. Uluski, Vice President, Area Operations, North East Area for immediate action.

Because of FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), many American citizens who reside abroad have been denied bank accounts (or had them closed) by banks which don't want the hassle of responding to this U.S. law. This makes it very hard to conduct normal life. Americans who are also citizens of another country may also naturally retain bank accounts in their former home country, because they might vacation there, have a business there, etc. FATCA should be closely targeted on tax evaders (and terrorism supporters), not on middle class citizens living normal lives. Besides signing the petition, you can also help by submitting stories and especially documentation of problems (e.g., letters from banks denying new accounts or closing old ones) to Stanley Grossman at THANKS!!!