Benjamin Franklin insisted that a free society needed a free postal service that allowed the ease of exchange of ideas and information. Hobbling it with an over burden of unreasonable debt is the antithesis to that goal.

Congress is expected to leave for the holiday in mid-December. But before they do, they’re expected to vote on a plan to fund the government and stop another GOP shutdown of our country from happening as well as an extension of unemployment insurance. But, no surprise, Rep. Paul Ryan and other Republicans are using working people as punching bags to get their way. Instead of focusing on investing in jobs and infrastructure programs to get people back to work and ending tax loopholes for the wealthy corporations that ship jobs overseas, Republicans are demanding that Democrats agree to a $20 billion cut to federal workers’ retirement over ten years. On top of that, they may not allow an extension of unemployment insurance to happen before the end of the year, leaving millions of unemployed Americans out in the cold. This is not the first time federal employees and unemployed workers have been put on the chopping block. Over the last two years, federal employees have sacrificed more than $30,000 each, $113 billion total for all workers, for deficit reduction--and that doesn’t even include lost wages from furloughs. Republicans were able to get cuts to unemployment insurance for workers in the sequester and have let extensions for unemployment insurance lapse to get cuts for other vital programs. Unfortunately, some Democrats are showing signs that they might go along with these terrible ideas. We can’t let that happen. Sign the petition to Congress to oppose attacks on the retirement security of federal workers and to fight for an extension of insurance for unemployed workers.

The PAEA has caused post office and plant closures and reductions in service and employment. This stopped the longstanding practice of the USPS hiring large numbers of veterans to career jobs. Stop the slowing down of the mail to the American people and the closure of post offices and processing facilities nationwide.

My son has a little 9 month old baby at home with his wife. He gets by on his salary. He counts on his employer to pay in for part of his pension for when he retires. With some cities and states looking to use these pension funds to help run their municipalities, workers like my son will have a very difficult time when they retire. Please do not use pensions as a source of municipal income. Big corporations can handle an extra fee much more easily than the individual working man.

This petition hopes to solve the problem of gridlock in the House of Representatives today. I am a long-time political activist, and I've fought, for forty years, to elect a president from the progressive wing of the Democratic party. In 2008 I finally achieved that goal. And yet, when progressives lost the House in 2010, that was the start of three long years of gridlock and inaction. My hopes were dashed, those of my fellow progressive Democrats were dashed, the hopes of immigration reformers were dashed, the hopes of gun violence reformers were dashed, etc. etc. The shutdown just concluded definitively demonstrated that Tea Party Republicans are at the root of the problem. A Speaker needs to be elected by a majority of the House who will lead us away from Tea Party-style governing by crisis. It is time to form consensus. It is time to achieve.

The U.S. Supreme Court is gutting federal and state campaign finance laws and paving the way for a complete corporate takeover of our democracy. We need to fight back, and the first step is for CT to join other states in demanding a Constitutional Amendment protecting our ability at both the federal and state level to set limits on campaign contributions and spending by outside groups.

While ALEC's extreme agenda, which includes pushing "Stand Your Ground" and "Voter ID" laws in the states, has caused many of its corporate sponsors to abandon the organization — including Coca-Cola, Kraft, McDonalds, Walmart, and just this week, VISA — TransCanada is still a proud supporter of ALEC. Resolutions urging the President and Congress to approve Keystone XL that were written by ALEC and include paragraphs lifted directly from TransCanada's own public relations talking points were introduced in six states by legislators beholden to ALEC. In Nebraska, Sen. Jim Smith did the bidding of ALEC and TransCanada by introducing LB 1161, the bill that fast-tracked the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline route in Nebraska. Smith is also the subject of an outstanding state ethics board complaint, over his extravagant ALEC-funded trip up to the tarsands of Alberta, where he toured TransCanada's headquarters and was wined and dined by the lobby group at a venue called (we're not joking) "The Petroleum Club." Tell Sen. Jim Smith to represent his constituents, not Big Oil and corporations, and resign as chair of ALEC in Nebraska. Please add your name to the petition. REFERENCES: "ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row," TheGuardian.com, 12/3/13. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/alec-funding-crisis-big-donors-trayvon-martin "ALEC stands its ground," The Washington Post, 12/4/13 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-alec-stands-its-ground/2013/12/04/ad593320-5d2c-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html "ALEC's troubles continue as VISA leaves ," DailyKos, 12/4/13 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/04/1260186/-ALEC-s-trouble-continues-as-Visa-leaves "Lawmakers lash out at conservative business group ," Lincoln Journal Star, 12/4/13 http://journalstar.com/legislature/lawmakers-lash-out-at-conservative-business-group/article_6296512d-6adb-5cfb-9762-98c7ee0a0ddd.html "Four States Introduce Keystone XL Resolutions, Lifting Language from ALEC and TransCanada Itself," PRWatch.org, 2/5/13. http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/02/11982/four-states-introduce-keystone-xl-resolutions-lifting-language-alec-and-transcana "CMD Calls for Nebraska Ethics Investigation over ALEC Keystone 'Academy'Junket," PRWatch.org, 6/3/13. http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/07/12164/cmd-calls-nebraska-ethics-investigation-over-alec-keystone-%E2%80%9Cacademy%E2%80%9D-junket

Senate Democrats successfully ended the filibuster on judicial nominations, but that alone won’t stop rampant GOP obstruction. The next tactic Republicans can turn to is the arcane procedure of “blue slips.” When the president nominates a judge from a particular state, the Senate Judiciary Committee sends a “blue slip” to the state’s two senators—asking for their opinion. If one or both senators do not approve, it effectively kills the nomination by blocking a hearing. Blue slips are neither in the Constitution nor even an official rule of the Senate. This is a tradition the Senate Judiciary chair can do away with at any time, as Republicans frequently did when they last controlled both the Senate and the White House. Our federal judiciary is in crisis, and most court vacancies President Obama must fill are from red states—including seven in Texas alone. We cannot give Ted Cruz veto power over judicial nominees. Tell Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy: It’s time to end the “blue slips.”

Women in Sudan are being flogged for reasons such as not covering their hair or choosing to wear pants. Article 152 is a vague Sudanese law that disproportionately affects women. Here is the Article in full: "(1) Whoever commits, in a public space, an act, or conducts himself in an indecent manner, or a manner contrary to public morality, or wears an indecent or immoral dress, which causes annoyance to public feelings, shall be punished, with whipping, not exceeding forty lashes, or with a fine, or with both (2) The act shall be contrary to public morals if it is regarded as such according to the standard of the person's religion or the custom of the country where the act takes place." In solidarity with Amnesty International's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, please sign this petition to end this barbaric practice and help women in Sudan freely choose what they wear.

Stop the Postmaster General and the US Postal Service from closing any more small town post offices. We believe the financial crisis in the postal service is manufactured, and Americans are suffering because of it. Americans deserve their mail in hours of daylight.

When not under oath, there is no penalty for VA lying to Congress. This encourages VA to lie, and saves Congress the trouble of prosecuting them. This is the root cause of the culture of lies at the VA. Swear them all in, prosecute the ones who lie.

Please sign this recall petition. We only need 300 signatures from registered voters to initiate the recall process. See Virginia Election Law code 24.2-233. "Upon petition, a circuit court may remove from office any elected officer or officer who has been appointed to fill an elective office, residing within the jurisdiction of the court: 1. For neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties when that neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties has a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office," The petition must be signed by a number of registered voters who reside within the jurisdiction of the officer equal to ten percent of the total number of votes cast at the last election for the office that the officer holds. We only need 300 signatures to start the process. Your support is appreciated. This has to stop here and now. We need Bob Middaugh back ASAP.