Watching what happened in Paris was a heartbreaking reminder of how important it is that we stand together as a country united against terrorism, and remember what makes America great. But far too many Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz have rushed to use those attacks as an excuse to block Syrian refugees from entering our country. He just introduced a bill that would block refugees from any country "that contains territory substantially controlled by a foreign terrorist organization." These individuals are escaping the very same terrorism that the world witnessed this week in Paris and Beirut. Thousands of Syrians have been killed, millions have been displaced, and countless livelihoods have been destroyed by the likes of ISIS (or "Daesh") and the Assad regime. Simply turning our backs on refugees fleeing political and religious persecution is not the American way. Sign the petition if you agree, and tell Congress to oppose Senator Cruz's misguided, reckless plan.

It is unbelievable that these companies are almost completely unregulated. While Californians are forced to face mandatory water restrictions, these plants don’t abide by any. In many cases, companies that bottle water, such as Nestle and Coca-Cola, buy their product straight from municipal supplies (essentially from the tap) - often at the same rate charged to residential or commercial customers (99 cents per 748 gallons from Sacramento municipal water district).[3] This type of business practice gives bottled water companies a financial incentive to draw as much water as they please, then in turn sell it back to customers for huge profits. A lack of statewide groundwater regulations means that anyone who builds a well can basically pump as much water as they like.[4] Water is a precious resource. Californians realize this now more than ever. According to NASA, California could potentially have less than a year left of water and then it’s gone. These companies don’t seem to understand this. They bottle up the limited amount of water we have and sell it back to us for a profit; a process that requires between 1.32 and 1.63 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.[5] [6]These companies take water from communities that rely on their wells. When their wells go dry as a result, they are forced to buy bottled water to survive. Nestle argues that they won't halt bottling production because “people need to drink water,” and because doing so “won't fix the drought.”[7] [8] Yes, people need water to survive. But do they need companies to pump water from their own state? No. These companies could move to other states, like Starbucks - who recently decided to move production of its Ethos bottled water to Pennsylvania.[9] So why don’t they? Because other states have more regulations. California is just a money-making scheme. For example, Crystal Geyser recently purchase a plant in Siskiyou County.[10] They could have moved to a new state that is not in a drought, but they chose to stay in California. Most likely due to the lack of regulation. One further example is the fact that Nestle has been piping spring water from the San Bernardino National Forest with a permit that expired 27 years ago, which is still pending renewal.[11] This process of piping spring water from a national forest is being carried out with little to no oversight from the US Forest service, which has resulted in rising concerns regarding potential impacts on the ecosystem and wildlife population.[12] Another entity (besides Nestle) who have come to the defense of bottled water companies is the IBWA (International Bottled Water Association). Their arguments include the fact that the water used by bottled water companies only amounts to 0.002% of the water used in California; a figure which pales in comparison to agriculture, which consumes 80%, and residential use, which consumes 13%.[13] However, we counter that these types of arguments amount to faulty logic. If all consumers of water used this line of reasoning and refused to do their fair share of conservation efforts, then California's drought woes will never be solved. Furthermore, the arguments used by Nestle and IBWA do not take into account the potential environmental and ecological impacts that their activity poses. Advocacy groups such as Courage Campaign have done a great job in raising awareness concerning the business and sourcing practices used by Walmart and Nestle through collecting petition signatures, organizing protests and pushing for legal action. For the purposes of our efforts, we wish to expand our focus to six major bottling companies, which continue to tap into California’s scarce resources in drought stricken regions. These bottlers/distributors are Arrowhead (Nestle), Crystal Geyser, Great Value (Walmart), Dasani (Coca-Cola), Aquafina (Pepsi), and Niagara. Join with us as we demand that California lawmakers impose stricter regulations on bottled water companies. Companies such as Coca-Cola should not be allowed to draw as they please from municipal supplies while the rest of California is forced to comply with mandatory restrictions, and companies such as Nestle and Crystal Geyser should not be allowed to draw spring water until the full impact their practices on the environment and wildlife are properly assessed. [1] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php [2] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/15/californians-pressure-retail-giants-to-stop-bottling-water-during-drought.html [3] http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought [4] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php [5] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/15/californians-pressure-retail-giants-to-stop-bottling-water-during-drought.html [6] http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/bottled-water-california-drought [7] http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/26/news/companies/california-bottled-water-drought/ [8] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/ban-bottled-water-industry-scrutinized-parched-california-n357256 [9] http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article21049293.html [10] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Crystal-Geyser-to-tap-Siskiyou-County-groundwater-6253314.php [11] http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/ban-bottled-water-industry-scrutinized-parched-california-n357256 [12] http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/03/05/bottling-water-california-drought/24389417/ [13] http://www.bottledwater.org/

Governor Walker has said that Wisconsin will not take any Syrian refugees. This is the greatest exodus of refugees since the end of World War ll.. Americans, except for Native Am. are all immigrants or the children or grandchildren of immigrants or refugees, it is our human duty to help.

People's lives are more important than the flow of money from gun manufacturers to the NRA to politicians.

Post production costs are taken out of royalties, gouging landowners.

There are many Alabamians and citizens of other states who take pride in being among the people of our nation who do not baselessly judge others based on color, race, religion and/or national origin. Please hear our pleas and support a position that is in accord with the American tradition of being open to people of the world who are in need. Only through tolerance, kindness, and support can we defeat the rise of hatred and violence that is occurring in the world today.

My daughter Angela attends Maryhaven Center of Hope, which does a wonderful job providing disabled adults a place to work along with supportive education and counseling. The Federal Government is trying to take away Medicaid funding for these Sheltered Workshops, and close down all Sheltered Workshops for the disabled in the United States.

In July, 2014, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) found that New Hope Crushed Stone (NHCS)’s mining activities are creating a public nuisance, and that the PA DEP has a duty to abate and remove public nuisances. On September 11, 2014, the department issued a Technical Deficiency to NHCS, and subsequently issued additional requests for detailed reclamation plans. NHCS has repeatedly failed to comply with this directive. In the last 13 months, NHCS has proposed a reclamation plan which was based on minable reserves rather than addressing the public nuisance issue; this was deemed unacceptable by the DEP. NHCS then claimed they were in compliance; also rejected by the DEP. After several back-and-forth correspondence and meetings, the DEP took the unusual step of issuing a Compliance Order, requiring compliance by October 30. Days before that deadline, NHCS claimed that a change in their management necessitated an extension, despite the fact that over 13 months had passed since DEP initially directed them to comply. The DEP yet again granted them another extension to November 30. Meanwhile the quarry continues to operate, new sinkholes continue to form, and the safety of the public is at risk. Just this week (11/16/15), an emergency permit was issued to repair a sinkhole in Primrose Creek. So far no one has been injured or killed, but the township and its residents simply can’t afford to continue to take these risks. The time for concrete and specific action is here – no more extensions – the quarry must be ordered to comply or halt operations. Enough is enough!

The United States is expected to receive 1,400 to 2,000 Syrian refugees for the year 2015, and 5,000 to 8,000 in 2016. There are over 4 million refugees that have fled Syria, and this number grows everyday. The United States is better equipped than most states to resettle the outpour of Syrian citizens. However, in the wake of the attacks on Beirut and Paris, several politicians are attempting to reject Syrian refugees with misinformed claims of fearing for national security. Thirty-one governors have issued statements expressing opposition to resettling Syrian refugees in their respective states, citing security concerns. To our grave disappointment, Governor Susana Martinez is one of them. While the final decision regarding the immigration of Syrian refugees to the United States will fall to the federal government, Governor Susana Martinez's official opposition to the settlement of refugees in New Mexico is indicative of a greater, reactionary and discriminatory mindset. In the words of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, “These proposals are motivated by fear, not by the facts….We have always been a generous nation, and we have in place a rigorous process for refugee resettlement that that balances our generosity with our need for security. It works, and it should not be stopped or paused." In light of the terrorist attacks that have rocked the international community, it is important to stand in solidarity with the victims of these attacks. But we must remember that the refugees fleeing Syria are victims of this very same terrorism themselves. We must not scorn the refugees seeking safety in a misguided and misinformed attempt to secure our own safety. Instead, we must extend our sympathy.

The children in RVSD have been negatively affected for many years from the existence of the MAP program in our district. Our district has spent over $100,000 in legal fees in the last year alone and countless hours of board time on the MAP program which consists of approximately 5 % of the total children in RVSD. The current leaders of RVC are the same people that are the leaders of MAP including former RVSD trustees, all the MAP teachers, and the MAP leadership committee. A third party investigator found that MAP program (during its 19 years run by the current RVC leaders) had policies which created the effects of discrimination on protected classes of children. They have had virtually no ELL in MAP and have not translated the petition into Spanish. The existing leaders have known about the inequities with the protected classes of children as far back as 2005 and have done nothing to recruit these children into MAP. Documents exist from 2005 that identify MAP was responsible to translate their materials into Spanish. Now after 19 years of discrimination, these same people are claiming they want to become a charter to reach these children. The ACLU in a letter written to MCOE dated October 9th, 2015 stated that "it appears that the leaders of MAP wish to export the exact program (and its students and teachers) that an independent investigator found was operating in a discriminatory manner into a Charter School which will necessarily have greater autonomy from District oversight (their emphasis)." We will be sending a separate detailed letter to support many more reasons for denial that the people who signed this petition read and support. (http://www.saverossvalleyschools.com/letter-to-state/). Please deny the appeal and support high quality education for ALL the children in RVSD.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?

Human life is valuable. Our top priority in this life is to preserve the sanctity of it, and maintain a valuable and meaningful one for all those we are able to help. Helping our own citizens, and integrating others into our melting pot is what this country is founded on. As a first world country, it is our responsibility to help those that we can. If we do not ease some of the burden of refugee acceptance from Europe, we will create enemies. Refugee families who do not receive help when Europe's borders close, and they will close, may consider joining Isis just to survive. They will have no other choice. We can create more worldwide allies by doing our duty.