Our environment, community and security is at risk when it comes to Tugboat Companies that escort Cargo Ships and Fuel Oil Barges within the busy Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach California. Some Tugboat companies choose to severely reduce crewing levels on Tugboats to only a 2 person crew while escorting Cargo Ships and transporting Barges loaded with thousands of gallons of fuel oil used to fuel ships for their next leg of their voyage. While performing these complex tasks, some companies choose to operate with only 1 Captain onboard the tugboat by his or herself to navigate our busy harbors, while the Deckhand boards the Fuel Oil Barge to serve lookout duties and provide the Captain valuable information about any impeding traffic or other hazards while navigating inside our busy harbors. This practice of leaving the Captain on the Tugboat alone is a recipe for disaster. A engineer or equivalent should always remain on Tugboat during these operations, thus reducing the risk of a environmental hazard and danger to the crew members. Please tell these companies to stop endangering our community, environment and port security, and put safety first instead of profit.

The proposal to base F-35 jet fighters at Burlington International Airport will have a devastating impact on the surrounding communities and the people who live in them, as is documented in the Air Force's own Environmental Impact Statement. Being the airport's owner and landlord, the City of Burlington has a legal and moral responsibility to prevent this harm. On Monday, October 28th, the Burlington City Council will vote on a binding resolution to bar the basing of the F-35 at BIA. This is our best chance to stop the basing and protect our communities. Please sign the petition urging city councilors to support the resolution. And if you live in Burlington, please contact your ward representative today! http://www.burlingtonvt.gov/CityCouncil/City-Councilors/ More info, including on Monday's Burlington City Council meeting: http://www.stopthef35.com/calltoaction/

My family, and especially my 12 year old son, eats a lot of pasta. We often choose Barilla Pasta because of the wide variety available at our local grocery store. No more. Today Barilla Pasta President Guido Barilla made it clear how he felt about families like mine by saying that he'd never show gay families in advertisements for Barilla. He said that gays could eat another pasta if they didn't like his message. I'm taking him up on that and so should you. Sign the petition to tell Guido Barilla that you stand with gay families and won't buy Barilla.

As one of the Moms for Labeling who supports Yes on 522 and labeling genetically engineered food in Washington State, when we found out Monsanto and the other giant corporations trying to hide what’s in our food were also hiding donors and skirting our state laws, we decided to challenge them. But now Monsanto and their corporate allies are suing our small group of Moms, because they don’t want to reveal their donors, or what’s in our food. Please stand with our small group of moms and urge the state’s campaign finance watchdog, the Public Disclosure Commission, to act now and enforce our laws before the campaign is over, so voters will have the information they need about the food they feed their families.

The aim of this petition is to minimize and/or stop repeated wrongful evictions by Kingston Gardens Apartments Management and also to create awareness about landlord harassment of tenants and tenant’s guests. These instances of harassment have been in the form of retaliation/bullying, victimization, threats, warnings, and orders to refrain from protected activities and/or exercising rights by Kingston Gardens Tenants. This conduct on Management’s behalf establishes actions of interference, intimidation, and coercion which are a direct violation of Kingston Garden’s lease. Management’s constant interference with the tenant’s right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises as a tenant also has created a hostile living environment with low morale for the Kingston Gardens Apartment community. This behavior has not only affected the tenants mentally and emotionally but tenant's families as well, which include innocent children. Landlord harassment is the willing creation, by a landlord or his agents, of conditions that are uncomfortable for one or more tenants in order to induce willing abandonment of a rental contract. Victimization is the unfavorable treatment of someone because they have taken (or might be taking) action under the Equality Act or supporting somebody who is doing so. There have been many kinds of harassment and intimidation on Kingston Gardens Management’s behalf, including illegal evictions, utility shut-offs, and illegal entry into apartments without permission. Based on Kingston Gardens repeated failure of non-compliance with rental agreement and obligation to maintain premises, my family as well as other families have endured undue hardships. The landlord/tenant relationships have been demolished, because of the continued fear of Kingston Gardens Management reprisal. The relationship is now a Landlord’s domination over Tenant and management has refused to exercise business practices in good faith. Kingston Gardens Tenants' fears and isolation from one another have allowed management to continue the harassment. The effects of landlord harassment can be devastating. Reporting harassment, victimization, and bullying requires courage and determination. Those who have suffered harassment, victimization and/or bullying may feel: A lack of confidence, loss of self¬-esteem, anxious, intimidated, threatened and humiliated, unable to deal with the situation, frustrated and angry, isolated and stressed, traumatized, loss of motivation, and depressed or physically ill. We, the tenants of Kingston Gardens Apartment Community, request that management take action to correct these issues as well as take full responsibility for your actions. We would like to emphasize the frustration and agony that this has caused so many families due to Kingston Garden’s Apartments Management poor business practices and lack of responsibility to the tenants. Kingston Gardens Management has repeatedly failed to comply and adhere with HUD policies and procedures as well as regulations of their rental agreement. We would like you to understand the repercussions that you will face as a result of your misconduct that has caused devastating setbacks to the family dynamics of so many low-income families. We request the assurance from management of a collective bargain in our effort to reclaim a restored positive tenant/landlord relationship. Hopefully, the tenants of Kingston Gardens can regain trust in Management as well as a better quality of life.

My friends and I are concerned about the Bureau of Reclamation (Mid-Pacific Region) plan to raise Shasta Dam. The raising of Shasta Dam will flood sacred native sites, destroy existing resorts and marinas, dislocate the town of Lakehead, CA and impact our local economy in a negative manner.

Just weeks ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech. But even as we look back on the achievements of the civil rights movement, our fundamental right to vote is under attack. A recent Supreme Court decision dismantled a key part of the Voting Rights Act, giving many states the green light to enact discriminatory voting restrictions designed to suppress the votes of people of color and low-income citizens. With this recent ruling, the Department of Justice lost its power to deny restrictions some states would make on who can vote where, when and with what ID. Already, states such as Texas and North Carolina have started implementing voter ID laws that will make it harder for many people to vote in future elections. It's bad enough that this decision rolls back decades of civil rights progress, but it's also an early Christmas present to politicians in the pockets of Big Oil and other polluters. Our elections need to be as fair and accessible as possible so all of us can vote for candidates who will fight for clear air, water and energy. Luckily, Attorney General Eric Holder has the power to sue states that enact voter suppression laws. We're calling on him to promise to challenge any state that tries to pass one of these voter suppression laws. Lend us your voice below by telling Attorney General Holder to stand up to any state and protect our voting rights.

The office of the Secretary of State makes a random sampling of drivers and requests copies of insurance policies to ensure that motorists are in compliance with the Illinois mandatory insurance law. However, this requires the burden of proof, without cause, on Illinois taxpayers. Penalties for not responding can include plate suspension and a $100 fine. Additionally, most DMV offices cannot assist or accept proof of insurance to satisfy the sampling requirements. Motorists have reported having to resend documentation multiple times because of office inefficiencies. This random questionnaire sampling process should be stopped and replaced with a less intrusive means of determining if Illinois motorists are complying with the law.

Kent Lambert went on a Christian internet radio show and said that legalizing civil unions is "....a mind control experiment by the majority party." He is spreading lies and fear among the radical wing of the Republican party in Colorado.

We are asking Kelly's Pub in Clarksville, TN to remove their heavily promoted drink "Date Grape" from their list of drinks. This drink trivializes rape and we are asking that the bar listen to the concerns of the people and fix this issue immediately.

My Homeowners association, Courtyards at Avalon, filed foreclosure proceedings for .47 cents, and now the HOA's attorney is claiming attorney's fees exceeding $8400 from February of 2013. HOA can foreclose faster, has more rights over your property than you and your lenders. The HOA and their attorney's can file defective liens with the intent to steal your property and the legislators allow this due to the vague and ambiguous language of the Florida Statute governing Condominiums and HOA (720). There needs to be a change to the Statute to protect homeowners.

In an interview published on Monday Sept. 23 in the Wall Street Journal, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche claimed that the criticism aimed at AIG for awarding its employees bonuses after it and other Wall Street firms crashed the economy and were rewarded with bailouts was "intended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there with their pitch forks and their hangman nooses, and all that–sort of like what we did in the Deep South [decades ago]. And I think it was just as bad and just as wrong." Aside from its shocking insensitivity, this statement reveals the insularity, arrogance, and breathtaking entitlement that pervades Wall Street institutions. These attitudes, when combined with their economic and political power, led to the Wall Street bankers’ criminal behavior that destroyed our economy and stole our homes. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) put Benmosche’s words in stark context on Tuesday Sept 24 saying, “[A]s the son of sharecroppers who actually experienced lynchings in their communities—I find it unbelievably appalling that Mr. Benmosche equates the violent repression of the African American people with congressional efforts to prevent the waste of taxpayer dollars. If these statements are true, I believe he has demonstrated a fundamental inability to lead this modern global company in a responsible manner—a company that exists today only because it was rescued by the American taxpayers—and that he should resign his position as CEO immediately.” We could not agree more. We call on AIG CEO Robert Benmosche to apologize clearly and unequivocally, especially to African Americans and members of communities that have been targets of racial violence, and to resign his position as CEO of a firm that only exists today thanks to an $85 billion bailout. (For more information on the extent of lynchings in American history, the Charles Chestnutt Digital Archive at Berea College is a good source of statistics. http://faculty.berea.edu/browners/chesnutt/classroom/lynchingstat.html)