Our members include some of 100's of people stuck in payday loans as high as 459%!!! Faith and Community groups want protections from this kind of interest rate but we are nervous that the bill might not get heard. Interest rates like this trap hardworking people into a terrible debt cycle, and keep local families down.

Benjamin Netanyahu has been one of the chief architects of ethnic cleansing in the occupied Palestinian territories. He has conspired with the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to violate U.S. law, specifically the Logan Act and he has attempted to sabotage negotiations with Iran.

The American people need to realize that we have been bamboozled out of our rights and we need to stand up and take them back. It's been proven in several Supreme Court cases to be unconstitutional to say that a driver's license inspection, sticker registration, and insurance are required for your personal private property. Reference ex-parte Dickey supra Where the West Virginia Supreme Court defines the difference between the right of the people to use their property on the highway and the privilege of using it for private gain.

AAO Leadership and HOD members, For some time now a growing number of AAO members have worried about the direction of our member organization. The areas of particular concern are: 1) The primary and overwhelming focus of the AAO should be on aggressively differentiating Orthodontic Specialists from Primary Care Dentists a. We feel the CAP, while well intentioned, is not getting the job done i. Telling patients that orthodontists go to more school is not useful when most patients do not know what an orthodontist is ii. We believe that we must educate patients on how to tell the difference between PCDs and Orthodontic Specialists iii. Stating facts about credentials is not negative advertising b. We believe patient education can easily be accomplished by encouraging patients to ask some simple questions of the person claiming to be an expert in orthodontics i. How many cases like mine have you done? ii. Did you go to a full time, accredited orthodontic residency program or to a part time/weekend CE course? iii. Have you or your family ever been treated by an Orthodontic Specialist? iv. Have you ever had to ask an Orthodontic Specialist for help with orthodontic treatment in braces or aligners? c. We are proud of orthodontists who have chosen to become ABO certified but feel it is silly to aggressively promote one orthodontists above another while we are unwilling to promote orthodontists above Primary Care Dentists. i. The majority of dues paying AAO members are not ABO certified ii. Once we win the orthodontists-PCD battle we can worry about promoting ABO certification iii. This is not anti-ABO this is pro-orthodontist in an attempt to present a united front to the public 2) We believe that those of us who still need to practice orthodontics and make a living for the next 20-40 years must act now to protect and preserve the orthodontic profession and we know we need the help of the older generations to insure the orthodontic profession survives. a. We feel the AAO leadership, by and large, do not have this same sense of urgency given the age difference and that this difference can cause disharmony among the age groups in the association if not addressed b. We believe that the AAO leadership wants to do what is right for the profession and the membership but may not realize the jeopardy that younger members are in or the speed at which change is taking place. c. We feel the AAO is THE membership organization that will save the profession or let it die depending on how the leadership and the HOD chooses to act now and in the long term. There are no viable alternative membership organizations and we do not see that changing 3) We believe this is a critical time for the orthodontic profession and that drastic measures are needed. a. We feel it appropriate to suspend/cease all non-essential expenditures and reallocate all possible funds towards educating the public. Here are suggestions – certainly not all inclusive. i. Dispense with in person meetings and utilize technology to hold virtual meetings ii. Dispense with non-essential staff iii. Minimize travel, food and lodging costs iv. Stop holding regional meetings that lose money or break even v. Have the House of Delegates meet, debate and vote via the technology that is available vi. Dispense with receptions, parties and volunteer “thank-you” gatherings like the ones at the annual session vii. Spin off nonessential holdings/organizations/businesses that could be run more efficiently by contracting with others b. It may be time to reassess the mission of the AAOF and its funding in the current reality c. We must reallocate any and all funds available to aggressively promote orthodontists as THE dental specialist to see for all orthodontic needs d. We feel that well over half of the AAO’s 20-25 million dollar annual budget should go to effective patient education and would like to see north of two-thirds spent on educating the public 4) Because most orthodontists still rely on PCDs for patients, it is essential that our member organization shoulder the load when promoting orthodontists over PCDs. Members cannot speak up in their local areas by and large for fear of recrimination from PCDs but our national organization can. It is time to start looking at ways the AAO can do this instead of counting the reasons the AAO should not do so 5) The ADA and Primary Care Dentists are looking out for their best interests – and that is smart for them to do so. It is time for the AAO to aggressively look out for the needs of member orthodontists. a. We understand that the AAO wants dentistry to present a “united front” and that we need the ADA and this is why the AAO Leadership fears upsetting the ADA b. However, if this is the case then the ADA needs the AAO as much as the AAO needs the ADA c. The ADA looks out for Primary Care Dentists with no regard for specialists – one need only look at what is allowed when it comes to specialty designation to see this. d. The AAO must take the same stance and look out for orthodontist members. 6) The AAO must become more active on the state level. The vast majority of legislation that controls dentistry happens at the state level and the AAO must become influential in state politics – even if that means re-organization of the AAO to do so. We, the undersigned, respectfully present this list of concerns for consideration by the AAO leadership and HOD. We are appreciative of what has been done by the AAO volunteers in the past and understand that major change is a major obstacle. However, we need our member organization now more than ever and hope that the AAO will step up and be the defender of the specialty that we so desperately need in the face of the new reality.

1. SB 44 calls for a reduction in clean energy source power generation by 50 percent for large utilities and 25 percent for rural cooperatives . 2. 76 percent of Coloradans indicate that they are more likely to support candidates who promote the use of clean energy sources. The same survey found that 59 percent are less likely to vote for a candidate who votes to stop taxpayer support of wind and solar energy production. 3. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, when Ohio passes a similar law, it lost millions of dollars in investments, which led to the loss of thousands of clean energy jobs. 4. According to the Beacon Hill Institute, SB 44 would cost consumers approximately $8.6 billion between 2016 and 2025 due to the use of less efficient energy generation sources.

PennEast commissioned Drexel University to co-author an economic impact analysis of its proposed pipeline. Not one economic downside was taken into consideration in the report. Instead, the analysts provided only wildly exaggerated job creation numbers and vastly overstated economic benefits to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. When questioned by the press, PennEast refused to disclose the amount they paid for the analysis. Suffice it to say, however, that they got the best economic impact analysis money can buy. Deliberate attempts to mislead the public may be how PennEast does business, but should not be the way a university does.

David Corn of Mother Jones published a scathing article exposing Bill O'Reilly's lies that he was involved in combat in the Falklands. In 2013, Bill O'Reilly stated: "I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, where my photographer got run down and then hit his head and was bleeding from the ear on the concrete. And the army was chasing us." Yet in his own memoir O'Reilly doesn't describe even being anywhere near the Falkland Islands. After the Mother Jones piece was published, O'Reilly lashed out at David Corn by calling him a "despicable guttersnipe." Journalists should be held to standards. Brian Williams was suspended from NBC News for 6 months for lying about being in combat. Why should it be any different for Bill O'Reilly? Sign the petition and tell Fox News to suspend Bill O'Reilly for his Falklands combat lies.

Karla Brada was 26 years old. She met a man who she did not know was a violent offender. After moving in with him he killed her. Many members of AA have Asperger's syndrome. They get preyed on as well. I have Asperger's syndrome and I and others like me have been preyed upon and threatened and used by others in AA. I have watched girls get sexually harassed by people in AA. And I have seen teenagers get molested. After the death of Karla Brada, many of us have had enough. We are tired we are angry and we want some rules and boundaries.

I. The Problem: Our expensive, inefficient health insurance system - Between 1991 and 2014, health care spending in RI per person rose by over 250% – rising much faster than income – greatly reducing disposable income. - 62% of personal bankruptcies were medical cost related and of these, 78% had health insurance at the time of their bankruptcy. - Health care is “rationed” under our current multi-payer system, despite the fact that Rhode Islanders already pay enough money to have comprehensive and universal health insurance under a single-payer system. - The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) cannot control rising premiums, co-pays, deductibles and medical cost related bankruptcies, nor prevent private insurance companies from continuing to limit available providers and coverage. - Fully implemented, the ACA will still leave 4% of Rhode Islanders without insurance – resulting in as many as 116 Rhode Islanders dying unnecessarily from lack of insurance each year. II. The Solution: H. 5378 – Single Payer RI Comprehensive Health Insurance Program - Provide comprehensive health care coverage to all Rhode Island residents. - Improve access to health care. - Save approximately $4000 per resident per year by 2024 and put more money into the Rhode Island economy. - Significantly reduce administrative costs (almost $1 billion in the first year) and shift these dollars to actual provision of health care. - Decrease provider administrative burdens and allow them to spend more time providing health care. - Establish a funding system that is public and progressive. - Eliminate health insurance costs and administrative obligations on Rhode Island businesses and make them more competitive and profitable (e.g., in the first year, payroll contributions to a single payer plan would be over $1.2 billion less than current private health insurance premiums). - Contain health care costs (reduced administration and control over monopolistic pricing) and save 23% of current expenditures in the first year with larger savings in subsequent years. - Create a significant economic stimulus for the state by attracting businesses to and keeping businesses in Rhode Island because of reduced health insurance costs. Read the legislation: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText15/HouseText15/H5387.pdf

Deal claims Georgia can't afford Medicaid Expansion. Sure we can, we're already paying for it, but other states are reaping the benefits of our tax dollars. What we can't afford is uninsured people needlessly suffering due to political posturing. I want Georgia Legislators to do the right thing.

To fire Kristi Capel for using Jigaboo to describe music on Fox 8 News for her ignorance and insensitivity! And then claiming on twitter that she didnt know what the word meant.

Recently Jan Mickelson called one of the most prominent Latino members of Congress an "open borders Hispanic zealot" and an "open borders and amnesty con artist." He even said that DREAMers shouldn't be allowed to attend public schools. This is a big problem because Jan Mickelson is one of the most influential morning radio show hosts in Iowa. Bloomberg News recently called him one of the "Most Powerful Republicans You've Never Heard Of." Studies have found that Republican voters are more than three times as likely to trust their talk radio hosts than to trust their local reporters. That's why Presidential candidates flock to their shows. But Jan Mickelson doesn't use this influence for the good of others, he uses his spotlight to spread anti-immigrant and anti-Latino messages. That is why we're demanding that all 2016 presidential candidates boycott his show. No respectable public servant should reinforce these harmful messages. Please join with us by adding your name to this petition.