Ted Cruz just chaired a hearing in the Senate about his idea to subject Supreme Court justices to retention elections, saying it'd curtail "judicial activism." But one look at the states that elect their Supreme Court justices shows the dangers of Cruz's proposal. Forcing judges to run for re-election puts them at the mercy of outside groups and special interest donors. It invites corporate front groups to flood the elections with money to stack the benches with judges who'll see cases their way -- regardless of what's right. Our founders intended for courts to be truly independent, able to make politically unpopular decisions -- like those that desegregated our schools, guaranteed a woman's right to choose and provided marriage equality -- and to operate outside of traditional electoral politics. Ted Cruz should abandon his extreme proposal and focus on proven reforms, like judicial codes of ethics and merit selection, to build a fair, impartial judiciary.

Water is a basic human right. The United Nations General Assembly recognizes that access to safe drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. The water in Flint, MI is not safe. In 2014, Flint's emergency manager disconnected residents from the clean, safe drinking water that they had been buying from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) and began providing them with water from the Flint River. Residents across the city have toxic water flowing from their taps. People have reported water with high levels of copper, lead and THMs (chemicals that result when chlorine mixes with organic matter). As a result, Flint residents are suffering from hair loss, lead poisoning and other health problems related to the chemicals in their drinking water. Water is a basic human right, and all people deserve access to safe, affordable drinking water and sanitation. In Flint, the solution is as simple as pushing a button and reconnecting to DWSD.

Being in recovery we have experienced firsthand the negative impacts on recovering addicts when not provided a sufficient amount of time in an inpatient treatment facility.

Sonoma County Libraries have been closed Mondays for more than four years, and there is no end in sight to the largest library funding crisis and hours cutback in history. Last month, as reported in The Sonoma Independent, the Campaign to Restore Library Hours delivered a petition with 1,271 names on it to the Board of Supervisors’ annual budget meeting. The Supervisors refused to allocate our requested funding from the County's surplus to reopen libraries on Mondays. But in an unusual public response, three of the County’s five Supervisors spoke of supporting a financing effort to restore Monday hours, provided that it came from the County’s Library Commission, and that local cities join with the County in co-funding the solution. Both the County and most local cities have sufficient contingency funds should they choose to do this, starting in the New Year. On July 6, the Sonoma Independent submitted to the Library Commission a $1.5 million interim funding proposal to be split between the County and seven cities, that would restore Monday and evening hours starting January 1, 2016. The County would contribute $600,000 annually, seven cities would share the other $600,000 (with Santa Rosa paying $200,000), and the Library budget would add $300,000 more. The Library Commission plans to explore the proposal in its Revenue Committee, and decide whether or not to move forward with a plan to restore hours in the next few months. We urge the Library Commissioners, Supervisors, and City Councils, to commit to resolving this funding crisis this year.

It's hard to believe – Sen. Ted Cruz just introduced a bill this week to ABOLISH the successful consumer protection agency! That’s the agency that brought Elizabeth Warren to prominence when she first proposed it in 2007. Sign the petition to tell Ted Cruz: Withdraw your reckless plan to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Ted Cruz is running for president, and the Wall Street executives funding his campaign *love* this scheme. Wall Street can't stand having an agency dedicated solely to protecting everyday people from getting ripped off by big banks, payday loan sharks, and credit card companies. In just under 4 years since being founded, the CFPB has: • Forced big banks to return more than $10 billion to consumers they had cheated. • Investigated for-profit colleges with deceptive advertising that has thrown hundreds of thousands of students deep into debt. • Just this week, CFPB forced Citigroup to return $770 million to consumers after pushing consumers into taking bad credit cards using deceptive practices. Ted Cruz calls abolishing the consumer protection agency “a step in the right direction.” The only direction it would take us is back to the ‘Wild West’ days of Wall Street bankers running wild and ripping off consumers. Sign the petition to tell Ted Cruz: Stop your attempts to undermine the consumer protection agency!

Tired of the people not trusting the voting process and all of the claims of fraud by the parties? This would guarantee a citizen's right to vote - always. It would also eliminate fraud by the parties and by the people.

As a Florida college student in an earth-friendly environment, this issue concerns me.

Net Neutrality is the belief in a free and open Internet, with no arbitrary fees or slow lanes for sites that can't pay. And that's what the FCC just voted for earlier this year. The FCC's Open Internet rules went into effect last month. But Big Cable's allies in Congress are trying to sneak language into a budget bill that would take away the FCC's ability to enforce the net neutrality rules we worked hard to pass, undermining everything we did to achieve this historic victory for the Internet. Congress should represent the interests of their constituents (who overwhelmingly support an open Internet), not companies like Comcast. Thousands of emails and phone calls can nip this sneak attack in the bud — sign the petition now!

I have a severely non-verbal autistic grandson who is not getting proper care for his needs! I also am afraid of what will happen to him when he becomes an adult with no benefits or safety plan in place.

When Face the Nation’s John Dickerson interviewed Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz about the Iran nuclear Deal, Dickerson brought up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaint that the deal didn’t allow immediate no-notice inspections anywhere in Iran. Dickerson asked Kerry, “What happened, Mr. Secretary, with anytime, anywhere?” implying that comments of deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes were tantamount to a promise of limitless inspections in Iran. In fact, as Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting points out, [1] Rhodes said the deal would grant inspectors “anywhere, anytime 24/7 access as it relates to the nuclear facilities that Iran has”, not wherever the U.S. might want to look. The deal ensures constant monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program while allowing Iran to protect its legitimate state secrets. Jon Schwarz, writing for the Intercept, [2] notes that when the U.S. last had limitless inspections access in 1990s Iraq, they “routinely abuse[d] the weapons inspections process in order to uncover such legitimate secrets—and use them to target the Iraqi military and try to overthrow the Iraqi government.” Tell Face the Nation to acknowledge the Obama Administration’s actual promises of nuclear monitoring and reasonable Iranian interests in not accepting inspections anywhere without notice by signing our petition. References: 1. http://fair.org/home/its-simple-face-the-nation-iran-doesnt-trust-us-inspectors-and-shouldnt/ 2. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/15/irans-refusal-allow-notice-inspections-legit-u-s-history-iraq/

A multi-national corporation that has taken initiatives for social justice should start at home with the waste it produces and managing it for a sustainable environment.

The morning following Mother’s Day 2015, the City of Newark awakened to news that the life of a young man had been taken the night before in a senseless act of violence. Mayor Ras J. Baraka had spent time at the crime scene that night, meeting with the victim’s family and the community. By the time he arrived at City Hall the next morning, he had designed a response to the city’s bloodshed. That response was a collaborative effort between the Mayor, employees of the City of Newark and citizens throughout various communities, which was designed to systematically dismantle those areas which have been most affected by crime. He called this effort ‘Occupy the Block’. ‘Occupy the Block’ is a community engagement tool modeled after the historic “Occupy” movement, which advocates social disruption of harmful or ineffective constructs. According to Mayor Baraka, he was inspired by the courageous stories of ordinary citizens across the country that have been effective in disturbing the drug trade by setting up lawn chairs and gathering on corners where there is illegal drug activity. The Mayor said as he sent out the clarion call: “We will hold court on this block. We will have an open discussion about our city, young people and violence. We will also bring out our folding chairs, tables and play chess and cards outside on the blocks where they usually hang out and get into trouble. We will take those blocks for a few hours. We will shut down the illegal trade at that time, and transform that block while we are there. I am asking every man that can, to stand up and get involved. I know some of us are better at complaining or wallowing in pessimism and hopelessness. But I don't have the luxury of defeat or cynicism. My heart is driven by hope and my action by faith.”