The cherry tree drops petals on us as we walk under it. It is in a small very beautiful green area enjoyed by many people. In the spring its blossoms light the way to Seahurst park.

While the entire state is urged to conserve water and is potentially facing mandatory water usage restrictions, Nestlé is bottling the scarce resource straight from the heart of California’s drought and selling it for profit -- according to a recent Desert Sun report. Since Nestlé’s bottling plant -- which extracts water for its Arrowhead and Pure Life brands -- is located on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians’ reservation, it is exempt from oversight by local water agencies and is able to keep information about its groundwater levels and usage confidential. Therefore, it’s impossible to know just how much of the limited resource the plant is extracting to export and sell elsewhere. And to top it off, the bottling plant is located in one of the most drought-stricken areas of the state. With a recent report showing that California only has enough water to last the state one more year, we must put an end to this madness at Nestlé before it’s too late. Join us!

Issues: Climate Change, Environment, Human Rights, and the effects on the health of all living things. Aluminum is toxic, yet there is an increasing amount of aluminum being found in ground water, soils and even freshly fallen rain and snow world wide. The spraying of Chemical trails are witnessed being sprayed world wide. These Chemical trails are seen being sprayed via white unmarked aircraft at very high altitude at often steep trajectories leaving an aerosol trail that does not dissipate, and spreads out across the sky throughout the course of the day. The spraying of undisclosed substances by these planes coincides with the rise in aluminum amongst various other toxic substances being found to contaminate the soils, ground water, rain, and snow. We need to stop this secret program to ensure the safety of the American public, global community, and all living things on this planet.

I'm 82. My wife is 70. We want to stop the war treadmill we've been on since Viet Nam. Now is the time.

Even though Maine passed a mandatory GMO labeling law in 2013, Maine citizens, myself included, still don't have the right to know if our food has been genetically engineered--thanks to a trigger clause in the original law. That's about to change, if we convince Maine lawmakers to support a bipartisan bill introduced this year.

My son is an addict . I have friends that have lost their children to heroin addiction. My cousin was found dead from an overdose, and another one is also an addict. This drug destroys lives and families. And even when you have insurance, you still can't get help without a making a big down payment to save your child's life. It is the most painful thing to watch your child die slowly.

Vaping has made me a healthier person and has shown lung and health improvements in several people. These bills threaten the very existance of this smoking cessation that have helped thousands of people quit smoking!

On February 12, those making a million dollars a year reached the annual tax cap. After that day, none of their income will be taxed to pay for Social Security. Meanwhile, 94% of Americans -- those who make less than $118,500 a year -- will chip in a portion of every single paycheck, all year long. That’s right. A single mother working as an ER nurse pays 6.2% of every paycheck toward Social Security, 12 months out of the year. Meanwhile, a wealthy investment banker on Wall Street isn’t paying a dime into the system for the rest of 2015. They say we can’t afford Social Security. No. We can’t afford to keep giving unfair tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires! Add your name. Sign the petition and tell Congress it’s time to end the Social Security tax break for millionaires!

Nearly $2 billion of US taxpayers’ money has been committed to the New Alliance, which was supposed to inject much-needed money into rural communities in Africa. But the New Alliance is threatening communities’ land rights. Right now, up to 1,300 people are set to lose their land and livelihoods in Tanzania, where an area of land the size of Washington D.C. is being grabbed for a plantation to produce sugar for biofuels. Unless it’s stopped, the New Alliance will continue to push poor farmers off their land so big agribusinesses can take their place. That’s why we need your help to put pressure on the Obama Administration to scrap the New Alliance in the run up to the G8 Summit in June. The Obama administration should be funding initiatives that help poor farmers in Africa, not ones that take away their land and livelihood!

Already, 37 states allow Same Sex Marriage. Any ban on the subject is one of pure discrimination, with no logical reasoning behind it. Being one of many affected by this matter, knowing my freedoms and rights are restricted because of something I have no say in, makes me feel as if I did something to deserve this, when instead I should be proud of who I am. When the day comes, I want to have the choice of marriage. I have friends and family who want this same choice, and why not? If Michigan wishes to grow, we have to realize our mistakes, with this banning being one of them. The marriage between any two people is of no concern to anyone but those two, and the only reason people have denied us this right is because they fear it will hinder the integrity of all marriages. This point of view is based on nothing but blind hate. It's time we progressed and march on as a state. Let all citizens be given the same rights, no matter the race, gender, national origin, religious views, or sexuality.

to stop all the world's media calling Al-Hashed Al Shaabi Militia, and stop accusing them of disrespecting human rights, they are the most loyal fighters to their country, and they respect human rights.

The governor's decision to pause executions is the right decision for our state. In 2011, the Pennsylvania Senate passed Senate Resolution No. 6, “Directing the Joint State Government Commission to establish a bipartisan task force and an advisory committee to conduct a study of capital punishment in this Commonwealth and to report their findings and recommendations.” The results of the study will be presented to the legislature and the governor. It is only right to pause executions while awaiting this report. In a series of articles published in December 2014, the Reading Eagle found that Pennsylvania taxpayers have spent over $350 million on the death penalty over a period in which the state has carried out just three executions. All three executions involved inmates who had dropped their appeals. Our system is clearly costly and broken, the governor is right to take a closer look. Read HR 143: http://openstates.org/pa/bills/2015-2016/HR143/