Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards suffered the indignity of coming before Rep. Jason Chaffetz's Congressional committee supposedly to answer questions about Planned Parenthood. Instead, she was met with lies , unnecessary rudeness and continual interruptions. We demand that this man pay the price for being the GOP's whipping boy. Now it's time for Chaffetz to feel the heat of public opinion. Please sign!

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. As noted, the text of the petition should be modified to "Amelia Boynton Robinson" Bridge, who passed away in August 2015. "Amelia" is a much nicer sounding name than "Edmund." That she was beaten on this bridge by racists renders this an act of poetic justice.

People who responded to 9/11 have suffered since then with major illnesses including cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more. These heroes are entitled to care. On September 30, the bill to care and provide health care for these heroic people ran out. Please tell your Congresspeople to resign the bill. It's on their agendas but nothing is being done at their meetings concerning this major issue. The first responders should have immediate signatures on this bill. When they showed up immediately to volunteer, they didn't wait for a bill to be signed. Please sign.

(Mira este video para escuchar la historia de Rafael y firma la petición http://youtu.be/gR0lS_JS5d8) Rafael Gaytan, a loving father and a caring husband, is seeking to reunite with his family in the United States after leaving to Mexico in order to take care of his ailing sister and parents. His sister first left the convent to care for her parents and later was diagnosed with cancer, she unfortunately died once Rafael was there. Due to Rafael's undocumented status, he is now unable to return to his community, his U.S. citizen children, or his wife here in the United States. If DAPA wasn't stopped, Rafael could have traveled with a permit due to the emergency and come back to his family. As a family man, Rafael is the sole provider for his family in Florida. That is why we are asking that Rafael Gaytan is allowed to reunite with his wife and children and granted parole. We need your support in order to keep the Gaytan family together. Please sign this petition supporting Rafael, and asking that the Department of Homeland and Security allows him to reunite with his family.

Como empresarios de San Marcos, queremos incrementar el atractivo eco turistico de nuestra comunidad,limpiando el pueblo. Cuando las personas visitan nuestro pueblo, a menudo se dan cuenta de la abundancia de basura plástica en el suelo y la falta de recursos y servicios amientalmente amigables en nuestra comunidad y sus establecimientos. Creemos que al corregir estos problemas atraeremos más eco turismo, para así crear más empleos y recursos financieros localmente. Al firmar esta petición, nos comprometemos a seguir los principios empresariales de la Alianza Internacional de Basura Cero (ver http://zwia.org/standards/zw-business-principles/) para reducir la cantidad de basura que producimos. A través de esta peticion, también estamos pidiendole a la Municipalidad que establezca una meta Basura Cero para que de esta manera también se cree la infraestructura que necesitamos como comunidad para tener un mejor manejo de residuos, reciclaje y sistemas de re utilización para el beneficio de los negocios, las familias y sus hogares, y los turistas de San Marcos por igual. Definido por Alianza Internacional, Basura Cero es: “Basura Cero es una meta ética, económica, eficiente y visionaria, de guiar a las personas a cambiar sus vidas y hábitos al emular ciclos naturales sostenibles, donde todos aquellos materiales que descartamos puedan designarse y convertirse en recursos para otros. Basura Cero es un concepto y una política integral de manejo de residuos que apunta a reducir progresivamente el enterramiento y la incineración de residuos sólidos urbanos, hasta llegar a cero, adoptando una serie de medidas en cada etapa del circuito de los materiales: desde que se producen hasta que se consumen y desechan. Un plan de Basura Cero busca aplicar medidas en todo el circuito de los materiales, apuntando por un lado a reducir drásticamente la cantidad y toxicidad de los residuos que generamos y por otro a que todo lo que se deseche vuelva al circuito productivo o a la naturaleza de forma segura. Al implentar el Plan Basura Cero eliminaremos todas las descargas de desechos a la tierra, el agua y el aire, que son una amenza para la salud del planeta, los animals y los seres humanos. Una meta de reducción de basura municipal nos va a proeever de la infraestructura y el soporte que necesitamos para ganar reconocimiento internacional como Comunidad Basura Cero. Un reconocimiento de tal nivel nos va a permitir dar el ejemplo a otras comunidades alrededor del Lago, así como a todo el país. As San Marcos business owners, we want to increase our community's appeal to ecotourists by cleaning up our town. When visitors come to our community, they often notice the abundance of plastic trash on the ground and lack of earth-friendly items and services in our community and establishments. By correcting these problems, we believe we will attract more ecotourists, allowing us to create more jobs and economics for locals. By signing this petition, we are committing to follow Zero Waste International Alliance's business principles (see: http://zwia.org/standards/zw-business-principles/) to reduce the amount of trash we produce. Through this petition, we are also asking the municipality to set a Zero Waste goal, as well, so that the city will create the infrastructure we need as a community to have better waste disposal, recycling, and reuse systems for the benefit of San Marcos businesses, households, and travelers alike. Zero Waste, as defined by the Zero Waste international Alliance, means: “Zero Waste is a goal that is ethical, economical, efficient and visionary, to guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.” A municipal waste reduction goal will give us the infrastructure and support we need to gain international recognition as a Zero Waste community. Such recognition will allow us to set an example for the rest of the lake communities and the country-at-large.

Seventy union workers at Clifford-Jacobs Forging in Champaign were locked out of their jobs when they reported to work Tuesday morning. [1] The company has demanded a wage freeze for four years, plus reduced company health insurance and pension contributions. Urge Clifford-Jacobs Forging to end its lockout of union employees, return to negotiations with its unions, and bargain in good faith by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-09-29/updated-clifford-jacobs-workers-locked-out.html

If a chemical is known to cause cancer, we should be alerted about it so we know the dangers of using any product that is made with that chemical. That's why California is moving to declare the chemical glyphosate - commonly sold as Monsanto's Roundup - as a carcinogen. Glyphosate has been called a "probable human carcinogen" by the World Health Organization's Agency for Research on Cancer. In light of this finding, and since hundreds of millions of pounds of this herbicide is used every year on crops across the country, it should absolutely be classified as cancer-causing and Monsanto should be required to label it as such.

Documents released from the Pennsylvania Department of Health show that the agency has had a clear pattern of responding inadequately to fracking-related health complaints made by state residents. A recent study found that hospital admissions rates were significantly higher in counties with more fracking wells than in counties with no fracking wells.  Tell Governor Wolf he can no longer ignore the public health problems created by fracking in Pennsylvania. He must act immediately to halt fracking in Pennsylvania and put forward a plan to help individuals already adversely impacted by fracking.

We object to the creation of a two-tier, separate and unequal education system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Charters will divert an estimated $419 million in state education funding this year, meaning more and more public school students will lose access to services, supplies and enrichment programs. Moreover, charter schools are not accountable to their local communities. In Massachusetts, the state approves charter schools, often over the objections of local elected officials, parents, voters, and taxpayers. And charter schools are unlike public schools in that they do not serve all students. Through enrollment practices, hyper-discipline, and push-outs, charters serve far fewer high-need students than their sending districts.

The Dakota Access pipeline ends up in my watershed and my family depends on drinking water from the Mississippi River.

Dr. Ben Carson took it to a new low in a campaign fundraising email denouncing political correctness as “dangerous” while he resorted to fabrications and misinterpretations about Sharia law (Islamic Law) citing outlandish claims such as “women must be subservient and people following other religions must be killed.” He then asked folks to stand with him by funding more of his hate speech. We ask you to stand with us - to stand with approximately 8 million American Muslim neighbors. Together we demand that the GOP leadership Ban Ben Carson from future debates. Candidates intentionally and strategically raising money using fear tactics against an entire faith community should not be given a platform. Let’s send a message to Ben Carson and others, that the American people will no longer be silent. We want a real democracy. We want real conversations. We want to hear ideas and solutions to America’s most pressing issues. We don’t want hate. We don’t want the lies. Stand with us and demand GOP #BanBen.

Nueva York es el estado natal de Donald Trump, el hogar de más de 4 millones de inmigrantes y 2 millones de votantes inmigrantes. Sin embargo, los republicanos aquí tienen una historia reciente de seguir una estrategia electoral contra los inmigrantes muy parecida a la de Trump. En las elecciones para el Senado Estatal el año pasado, los Republicanos de Nueva York utilizaron una estrategia basada de gran medida en el extremismo contra los inmigrantes para motivar a votantes extremistas a salir a votar en elecciones reñidas. Y un candidato republicano en Long Island este año prometió que si sale elegido, pondrá a "ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] en marcado rápido." Algunos candidatos republicanos están hablando en contra de los comentarios anti-inmigrantes de Trump. El ex gobernador George Pataki dijo que Trump es "no está preparado para gobernar", y que no iba a votar por él, incluso si llegara a ganar la nominación. Pero hasta ahora, todo lo que hemos escuchado de líder de la mayoría Flanagan es el silencio. Ya es hora de que el líder de la mayoría Flanagan se una al exgobernador Pataki en denunciar los comentarios de Trump. Envíe un mensaje diciendo que el odio no tiene lugar en nuestro estado.