Arizona Republicans are ripping away the meager benefits nearly 1 million people rely on to survive. Wisconsin Republicans are mandating drug testing and outlawing junk food. A bill in Missouri would ban food stamp users from buying seafood. Junk food bans and mandatory drug testing have popped up across the nation. Kansas might be the worst, with Republicans there pushing unprecedented restrictions on where and how people who receive public help can spend it. These efforts would be silly if they weren't so mean-spirited. A USDA survey found that people who receive nutrition assistance have a very similar diet to those who don't, and it doesn't include frequent luxury food. Most of the concern about fraud and abuse can be traced back to one misleading FOX News report. States that actually test for drug use found that those who receive public assistance use drugs at a lower rate than the rest of the population. This is nothing more than cruel, racially-tinged demagoguery. It is an attempt to demean the poor in order to excuse the failure of conservative economics to bring about shared prosperity. Perhaps worst of all, it is hypocritical: The biggest financial institutions, the so-called "too big to fail" banks officially designated for more oversight by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, receive an implicit subsidy of as much as $102 billion dollars. If our leaders are going to be mean to people who are able to survive because of public help, they should start with the big banks.

Douglas Hughes represents us-99-percent. We detest money in politics. We detest government serving the corporate interests. We-99-percent also thank Mr. Hughes for bringing the issue of air space security to light. Lax federal oversight is the problem, not Mr. Hughes. Government works for us. We shall not be enslaved to our government. GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. Years of imprisonment for Mr. Hughes for simply exercising our First Amendment Right, The Right to Free Speech, is WRONG. We respectfully ask that you will free DOUGLAS HUGHES -- the people's hero -- now. Thank you.

The roads in this town, Streator, IL, are already damaged and disintegrating. So why would you want kids skating and biking on already cruddy roads that are hard to drive on?? Wouldn't it make more sense to build a skatepark, rather than 20 more softball fields? The skaters and bikers NEED somewhere to go!!! We're tired of having to go to Ottawa just to ride my board or bike. It's about time this place got serious.

Corporate welfare is just wrong. U.S. citizens pay our fair share of taxes, and when Congress does anything concerning the budget, they want to eliminate programs that benefit ordinary citizens while many corporations pay no taxes. Corporations use our roads and other resources to make profits while we pay them subsidies. That makes no sense to me.

Every Detroit homeowner paying the 18 mills in property school taxes, is affected, because there is a 2 Billion deficit created by the Governor, and taxpayers get nothing for their taxes. Taxation without representation.

The diversity makeup on the 46th Ward Zoning & Development Committee is unacceptable in this day and age, period. For updates & more info: http://UptownChicago.Rocks

I'm a member of Point Fermin Residents Group, and opening up Sunken City for public use would enable all residents to enjoy the area legally. It's time for the community to take back this treasure. Opening the area would assist with cutting down on the problems that plague the area, along with support by law enforcement.

I serve on the board of a CASA program that serves foster children by providing them with volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates. Many foster kids have no relative who can take them in when they have been abused or neglected by their loved ones and/or perpetrators, so they become wards of the state. They "age out" of the foster care system at 18 years of age. When foster parents are no longer paid monthly stipends to keep these kids, then many foster kids can become homeless while still attending high school. If foster kids know they will be eligible for at least 2 years of college or trade school, it will give them hope for the future and incentive to complete high school.

I feel continuing to allow the show to be filmed and aired, even if Josh Duggar were to be removed, is rewarding the Duggars for criminal activity.

The city of Tucson, which once gave Access Tucson more than a million dollars a year from cable franchise fees, had whittled that amount to just $150,000 this year. Even with staff taking pay cuts, the money has simply run out. Plans for a City sponsored "community media center" do not offer currently offer enough funding to keep the lights on. In the meantime, there is no funding at all to bridge the time between the end of existing funds and the awarding of a city contract. Without a last minute increase in funding, Access Tucson will close for good. Please join us in asking the city for a reasonable transition plan and a proposal that will keep community media alive in the Old Pueblo!

The oil spill caused by the negligence of Plains All American Pipeline has now reached as far as Sands Beach (near Isla Vista, CA). The beaches are now covered with oil, threatening the endangered snowy plover population, the wildlife and environmental study area in and around Devereaux Slough, and the overall health and well-being of our communities. The county should be reimbursed for all cleanup costs, wildlife deaths and injuries, damage to public health, and loss of tourism revenues, and it should take whatever steps are necessary to shut down oil drilling in this vulnerable and important area.

In a historic and momentous vote, the Nebraska Legislature voted 32-15 on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, to repeal the death penalty, but Gov. Ricketts has vetoed the bill. Enough senators voted for the bill to override the governor's veto if they all stand together. Let's thank the senators for their vote, and urge them to stand firm for justice, by overriding the veto.