Press reports [1] indicate that Hillary Clinton's "shortlist" for Vice-President includes retired Navy admiral James Stavridis, who was the supreme allied commander of NATO. Stavridis was a vocal public opponent of the Iran nuclear agreement. [2] Urge Senate Democrats who supported the Iran nuclear deal to use their influence to support a candidate for Vice-President who publicly supported the Iran nuclear agreement by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/hillary-clinton-vice-president.html 2. http://www.jta.org/2016/07/13/news-opinion/politics/possible-clinton-vp-choice-an-ex-nato-chief-slammed-iran-deal-and-has-close-israel-ties

I am a parent of a child in after school care. I believe all children at all schools should have convenient, affordable and high quality after school care at the school. #BCSAdvocacy

Time to rein in the banks.

Our economy (along with those of the rest of the world) has suffered greatly from the absence of this law. Efforts to control the damage from the Great Recession STILL keep bank's depositor interest rates so low that many people are depleting their accounts' principal, since what passes for interest returns these days is really an insult.

To ensure the DNC does not waste it's opportunity to destroy Donald Trump on national television

This will help improve relations between the public and law enforcement. It will also make officers aware of the communities they work in and teach them how to embrace people in those communities and not fear them.

We, a coalition of concerned citizens, “We the people” of the twin cities of Hildale UT, and Colorado City AZ, who are otherwise not represented as Plaintiff to the case nor represented by the Defendants; nor members of the FLDS church; are concerned that the remedies proposed by the Department of Justice in this case are both inadequate and harmful. We want to see justice and change in our community, and plead to have our petition and resolution heard by the court. https://goo.gl/xE4X39

Waryas Skate Park is highly valued by our community as it provides a space for constructive recreational activity, vibrant youth culture, and peaceful interaction between people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We, the undersigned, request that the City of Poughkeepsie work with the community to repair and reopen Waryas Skate Park as soon as possible at the same location where it has existed for decades. Thank you for your consideration and please join the discussion on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1557572311214860/ We are also having a community-wide meeting on Monday, July 25. Please rsvp! https://www.facebook.com/events/1783036561927507/

As Madison community members, we all value playing fair and by the rules. This is one of the reasons our City has become respected for being such a great place to live. When we respect each other, we can accomplish great things for our community. But when a City leader acts with disrespect, doesn't play fair, and breaks all the rules, it can tear our community apart. During his time as Chief of the Madison Police Department, Mike Koval has repeatedly violated the Madison Police Department Code of Conduct and other Madison Police Department rules, as well as City of Madison rules (policies and ordinances) that must be obeyed by all city employees. 1. He has repeatedly violated rules against bullying, disrespectful, threatening, or intimidating behavior. Madison policy for city employees absolutely prohibits “abusive, …, bullying, or other threatening or intimidating behavior”. The Madison Police Department Code of Conduct mandates that officers must on all occasions be “courteous and respectful”. 2. He has repeatedly violated rules against making false or misleading public statements. Two examples: In an apparent attempt to sway public opinion, he untruthfully claimed that at the City-County Building protest after the shooting of Tony Robinson, “Comments such as ‘kill the cops’ and ‘we have guns too’ were yelled frequently”. Full video of the protest (and all witness accounts) shows this statement to be blatantly false. Likewise, he has provided the public with false statistics on the rate of use of force by MPD officers. 3. He has violated rules against political involvement. Policy notes “police should not use their authority or the indicia of office, such as the uniform or title, for this purpose because of its inherently coercive nature.” 4. He has violated City of Madison and Madison Police Department rules against insubordination. 5. And he has violated Madison Police Department Code of Conduct rules that explicitly prohibit any public criticism of specific orders. Under state statute, in the chain of command, the Common Council stands above the police chief, and he must obey all their lawful orders. The Chief has set up a false dichotomy between concern for the well-being of police officers as human beings, and any criticism whatsoever of police conduct. He has encouraged an atmosphere in which people can justify the brutal treatment of a young black woman, Genele Laird, because to do otherwise is "anti-police”. From the beginning, Chief Koval has demonstrated an inability to listen, displaying a "my way or the highway" approach to leadership. In one instance early on in his tenure as Chief, he screamed at a community member who politely asked a question, then cited “passion” as the culprit for his inappropriate behavior, but with no intention of addressing that culprit. This has been an ongoing pattern. His threatening and inflammatory blog post and behavior with the Common Council this past month was only the most recent such event. His blatant disrespect, erratic physical behavior and out of hand dismissals of the concerns of our elected officials, his table pounding, petulant pacing about, and outright bigoted mockery of the few non-white alders in the room reveals a man who believes his own departmental policy and Code of Conduct as well as the city rules governing the professional behavior of Madison Police Officers are beneath him. As former Chief Couper said at the press conference on Tuesday, “It is never, never appropriate for the Chief to be angry, sarcastic or bullying. Period.” He followed it up with the question “Does the chief's public emotional display on his blog and at the June 6 [it was actually the 7th] Council meeting send a bad signal to some of his officers? If the chief doesn’t have to be emotionally controlled and sensitive to others, maybe they don’t either?” In a multi-institutional and multi-constituency setting, a leader can only be good if he or she is a skilled and compassionate communicator--adept at presenting a position, listening to others, negotiating compromises and nurturing relationships that will facilitate those compromises. Chief Koval has a serious problem with anger and with disrespect for the political process. Like many people these days, he seems to view politics with disdain, as something beneath him. In fact, the political process is the mechanism with which democracy operates. Insofar as he shares his disgust with the political process with MPD officers--as he has--he is dangerous. He is widening the "Us vs. Them" gap when one of his first objectives as a chief should be to narrow it. We, the undersigned, respectfully request that members of the Common Council file a complaint with the Police and Fire Commission against Madison Police Chief Mike Koval and that the Common Council censure him for his actions. Regarding Chief Koval's actions and statements in his blog of June 5th and at the June 7th Common Council meeting, we are unable to file a complaint due to lack of "standing" before the Police and Fire Commission. However, you, as alders, were directly impacted by his actions. We ask that you, as our elected representatives and voice in local government, file a complaint as impacted individuals on behalf of our entire community. We expect our elected officials and the public to be treated with dignity and respect from department managers and leaders within our city. For our community to function, it is important that all be held accountable – that no-one is above the law.

This Petition is opposed to the petition to change our Blue Bag system to garbage bins. Plantation is a beautiful place to live and shouldn't look like a slum.

The language of the platform of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions calls for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, a law that supported a more level economic playing field and a six-decade rise of a more egalitarian financial system and strong middle class. Luckily, there is already a bill in Congress to do just that: The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act (S. 1709)! This bill is a modern version of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall that is sponsored by Senators Warren, Cantwell, King, McCain, Sanders, Baldwin, Whitehouse, Mikulski, Markey, and Merkley. The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act will help tackle “Too Big to Fail” by shrinking and simplifying the banking system, ensuring that the riskiest banking activities are no longer supported by the public safety net, and regulators can more easily oversee banks that are central to financial stability. Restoring Glass-Steagall wouldn’t just make our financial system safer, it would diminish the influence of big bank money in politics – by introducing more competition among investment banks and commercial banks. Stability in America depends upon a viable middle class. The 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act provided excellent protections for that class and the economy as a whole. Its reinstatement will go a long way to providing a powerful economic safety net that will more reliably limit ongoing risk to the strongest economy in the world.

In August 2013, Florida Rep. Alan Grayson was a vocal opponent of plans to bomb the Syrian government. Those plans were blocked by bipartisan Congressional opposition, invoking the power of Congress to authorize - or not authorize - the use of military force according to the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution. Instead, President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry negotiated a diplomatic agreement with Russia that avoided war. Now Alan Grayson is running for Senate. If elected to the Senate, Grayson would participate in confirmation hearings for the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State. Under current Senate rules, any Senator can place a hold on a nomination or attempt to lead a filibuster against it. That gives individual Senators tremendous leverage to insist on answers from Administration nominees, such as when Senator Rand Paul used the nomination of John Brennan to insist that the Administration clarify its claims concerning its authority to target U.S. citizens with drone strikes. Alan Grayson should publicly pledge that if elected to the Senate, he'll oppose confirmation of any national security nominee unless they affirm under oath that they will respect the Constitutional role of Congress in authorizing the use of force. Specifically, unless they pledge under oath that they will not support, advocate, or participate in any military action in Syria against Russian, Iranian, or Syrian government forces, unless that action is 1) in immediate self-defense against direct armed attack on U.S. forces or imminent threat of direct armed attack on U.S. forces or 2) such action has been explicitly authorized by the U.S. Congress. Lying to Congress under oath is a serious federal crime; people have been prosecuted for it in the past. Urge Representative Grayson to make this pledge to hold national security nominees accountable to the Constitution by signing our petition.