Key to resolving the so-called "fiscal cliff"/deficit crisis is telling Congress they must cut wasteful Pentagon spending. It is out of control, and defense contractor CEOs couldn’t be happier. Even though the Iraq War is over, and the draw down in Afghanistan continues, contractor CEOs making up to $26,000,000 a year are lobbying their friends on Capitol Hill to protect their exorbitant corporate salaries and profits, all at the expense of middle class and military families. Enough is enough. CUT THE PENTAGON WASTE and strengthen, not cut, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other real and pressing needs!

Use president's authority to order the IRS to ignore the tax increase for people making less than $250,000 / year.

Rumor has it the Obama White House is cutting a deal with Speaker Boehner on the "Fiscal Cliff" which includes cuts to future SS benefits. The plan is to reduce benefits over time which hurt the poor and veterans and leave Democrats open to obvious campaign attacks. So don't do it! Say NO to Social Security Cuts!!

Pres. Obama in negotiation with Boehner has offered Chained CPI on SS as part of the deal. Means LOWER benefits for us! Calculations for cost of living increases are done in way that LOWERS our benefits! PLEASE sign this Petition so he'll know we want that OUT of the deal!

Public programs and private charities treat child support recieved as income. They do not afford the paying parent an adjustment of gross income based on support paid out. SNAP does allow this gross income deduction but most other federal, state and private programs do not. For example school lunch programs. They need to be treated equally.

More than a month after Hurricane Sandy, thousands of families in New York neighborhoods are still without heat, light or hot water. The delays in getting repairs to hardest-hit neighborhoods have resulted in a mounting mold problem. (Current mold issues are compounded for public housing residents who have dealt with city neglect on this issue more broadly for years.) Despite promises by officials, the re-building effort is too small and too slow. As of last week, more than 10,000 homes were still without electricity, and more than 8,500 families were still waiting for home assessments to be completed so they could start repairs. Thousands of families need action. They need electricity, heat and help with mold clean-up – and they need it now. Please join our petition to ask Mayor Bloomberg to expand the Rapid Repairs Program to include getting the electricity and heat turned on for all families currently on the waiting list by December 31 and to expanding the program to cover mold remediation. Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN) Center for Popular Democracy Community Voices Heard The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island Make the Road New York New York Communities for Change Occupy Faith Occupy Sandy PICO National Network Queens Congregations United for Action SEIU 1199

We need police protecting our schools, parks and public spaces on a much larger scale than currently afforded. We are spending billions to protect foreign nations whilst leaving our people in harms way. Yes to more First Responders.

My Parents are on Disability and are on Medicare. If the Government decides to cut Benefits for those who need these or other Services like it, then it will hurt Millions.

While the heartbreaking school massacre in Connecticut has us all rightly thinking about gun-control laws, our psychologists, sociologists, and physicians should also be studying causes of violence in American society and possible means of prevention. And yet, because of pressure from the gun lobby, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC has been denied any funding that “may be used to advocate or promote gun control” since 1996. How can we allow a business lobby to prevent not only legislation on so important a topic but even study and debate on the subject?

There has been an obvious link to the mental health issue of young adults, particularly males ages teens to early twenties, and the escalating number of horrific, violent incidents currently in outbreak in our country. We must take serious and diligent stock of this crisis now, before any more lives are lost.

There is an epidemic of mass murders. Our prisons are overflowing with mentally ill patients. The number of mentally ill patients that are homeless is staggering. We have to do a lot more. But this is one politically acceptable solution that could be approved soon. This is a first step, a step you could take in the presence of a highly divided political environment.

This week we all grieve as a nation for the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Massacre that took place this week. We cannot make sense of this tragic loss of life. President Obama, you have called for meaningful action to prevent tragedies such as this, and I agree wholeheartedly. While gun control is an issue that should be addressed in due time, the more pressing issue is the paucity of access to adequate healthcare for the mentally ill.