This country's engagement in its right and responsibility to vote and stay engaged in its politics is downright disgraceful, embarrassing and self destructive. If we cannot get more folks to vote we can kiss this country goodbye, because sociopaths with huge megaphones are taking over.

Monsanto’s genetically modified and pesticide-laden food is at an all-time high. Their creation of Round-up Ready crops have been directly responsible for the destruction of habitat of many species, including the Monarch Butterfly. Not only that, but Monsanto has the gall to sue states and countries who have stood up to this giant and passed legislation to ban or label GMOs -- draining tax-payer dollars in an attempt to financially overpower our democracy. It is time to take a stand and MAKE Monsanto listen -- and the only way to do that is with our wallets. Sign this petition to tell Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant that until Monsanto changes to become healthier, GMO-free, more eco-friendly, and more ethical, you will not purchase any of the products from any of these Monsanto companies or Allies: Aunt Jemima Aurora Foods Banquet Bayer Best Foods Betty Crocker Bisquick Cadbury Campbells Capri Sun Carnation Chef Boyardee Coca Cola ConAgra Delicious Brand Cookies Duncan Hines Famous Amos Frito Lay General Mills Green Giant Healthy Choice Heinz Hellmans Hershey's Nestle Holsum Hormel Hungry Jack Hunts Interstate Bakeries Jiffy KC Masterpiece Keebler/Flowers Industries Kelloggs Kid Cuisine Knorr Kool-Aid Kraft/Phillip Morris Lean Cuisine Lipton Loma Linda Marie Callenders Minute Maid Morningstar Ms. Butterworths Nabisco Nature Valley Ocean Spray Ore-Ida Orville Redenbacher Pasta-Roni Pepperidge Farms Pepsi Pillsbury Pop Secret Post Cereals Power Bar Brand Prego Pasta Sauce Pringles Procter and Gamble Quaker Ragu Sauce Rice-A-Roni Roundup Smart Ones Starbucks Stouffers Schweppes Tombstone Pizza Totinos Uncle Ben's Unilever V8

Nearly identical to the anti-gay legislation passed in Arizona, Georgia’s “religious freedom” bill would give individuals, businesses and other entities, including government employees, the right to discriminate against gay people or other groups currently protected by civil rights laws. The legislation would provide a free pass for business owners who believe homosexuality is a sin to openly deny gay Americans employment or service. This bill is a slap in the face to the LGBT community and everyone who believes in equality and civil rights. And the legislation would extend beyond protecting those who want to discriminate against gay Americans. According to the New Republic, under the new Arizona law, "a restaurateur could deny service to an out-of-wedlock mother, a cop could refuse to intervene in a domestic dispute if his religion allows for husbands beating their wives, and a hotel chain could refuse to rent rooms to Jews, Hindus, or Muslims." It would allow physicians and nurses to refuse medical care, such as blood transfusions, that they find religiously offensive and allow government employees who adhere to extremist religions to refuse service to a person of a particular race. It is shameful that this is a conversation that we need to have at all. The “Preservation of Religious Freedom Act” is a disgraceful misstep and an embarrassment to our state. Tell your lawmaker to support the rights of all Georgians and to reject legislation that promotes discrimination.

My child attends public school in Philadelphia. There are many people--teachers, administrators, parents and students--working very hard to improve public education in Philadelphia in the face of incredible funding shortages. Ms. Simms' actions are an unacceptable insult to genuine efforts to make things better for Philadelphia's students. Her behavior just makes things worse; in these difficult times, we don't need people like Sylvia Simms having any role in governing our city schools.

Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution declares that Japan will never again make war. Japan has not made war for 67 years. U.S. occupation forces re-wrote the Peace Constitution in 1946. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is campaigning to bring a version of Article 9 as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I am a member of WILPF and Veterans for Peace, working closely to make Article 9 a reality in the U.S. and ultimately to support the UN mandate to abolish war-making as a political-economic tool.

This is concerning the FBISD's recent proposal to rezone students, who live in Lake Olympia, from Elkins H.S. to Hightower H.S. We are asking the Board of Trustees to reconsider and keep Lake Olympia residents at Elkins . It is our neighborhood school and has been the high school for Lake Olympia since it opened 23 years ago. In addition, it is the closest high school, just 1 mile away, whereas Hightower is 6 miles away, down a major state highway or over a toll road with many natural and commercial barriers in between. Sign the petition and keep Lake Olympia residents at Elkins!

Are you a Negro? Would you be shocked by the question "Are you a Negro?" if you were called to serve your jury duty in New York? I was, when I initially read it on the NY juror information card while answering my jury summon. That happened to me on November 13, 2013. Fast forward to November 15, 2014, when I received an email with the subject "Army Drops Use of Term 'Negro in Document" that had me thinking: The army agrees with me that the word 'Negro' has a historical negativity attached to it even when, or where, negativity is not intended. After all, the ultimate test of whether something is offensive lies not in an intention but in a perception of it. While searching further on the issue, I discovered this issue stirs occasional strong reactions similar to this story: New York (CNN) - "Yes, I identify as black or African-American, but I am not a Negro," wrote a young lady in a CNN article on the issue. I have not encountered any organized movement targeting elimination of this unnecessary nuisance from the New York State court system while many other states have done it already. Will you please join me in making this happen by spreading the word and by signing this petition to appeal to the New York State Office of Court Administration to immediately remove the term "Negro" from the New York State court forms? Thank you for standing with me on making New York a better place for all of us.

The full ordinance is posted below. Student housing for Kennesaw State University students is extremely high whether on or off campus. The off campus apartments that aim toward college students have the ability to charge so much because more than 2 college students can't rent a house together. This ordinance is outdated and should be removed to discontinue the unintended effects it has on college students. Sec. 134-1 Family means two or more persons related by blood, legal adoption, or marriage, occupying a dwelling. Related means persons are all related to each other within the fourth degree, as defined in O.C.G.A. § 53-2-1, which includes parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers and sisters. State of Georgia authorized foster children of a family member shall also be deemed a member of the family for this purpose. Single-family dwelling unit. A single-family dwelling unit consists of one or more rooms which are arranged, designed or used as living quarters for one family or two or fewer unrelated adults and their children and/or grandchildren. (1) A single-family dwelling unit shall have an interior bathroom and complete kitchen facilities, permanently installed. (2) A single-family dwelling unit shall have at least 390 square feet of living building square footage (as determined and maintained in the records of the Cobb County Tax Assessor) per each adult occupant. (3) No more than one vehicle per 390 square feet of living building square footage may be parked regularly overnight on the property upon which the single-family dwelling unit exists. Of the total number of vehicles allowed per 390 square feet of living building square footage, there shall be a maximum of three or less (of the total) parked outside of a garage, carport or the like for properties zoned RA-5, R-15 and R-20. Of the total number of vehicles allowed per 390 square feet of living building square footage, there shall be a maximum of four or less (of the total) parked outside of a garage, carport or the like for properties zoned R-30 and R-40. Of the total number of vehicles allowed per 390 square feet of living building square footage, there shall be a maximum of five or less (of the total) parked outside of a garage, carport or the like for properties zoned R-80 and RR. This includes vehicles parked within the right-of-way adjacent to a dwelling unit. "Regularly" means a majority of nights in any seven-day period

I am starting this because I don't believe that Bo Pelini should be fired after the loss to the Wisconsin Badgers on 11/15/2014.

Election Day Registration allows eligible residents to register or update their registration and cast a ballot on Election Day. This fall, Illinois voters had the opportunity to use Election Day Registration for the first time. It was a success: thousands of Illinois voters who otherwise could not have voted were able to. Election Day Registration this fall was a pilot program which means that unless the Illinois Legislature acts, we will revert back to arbitrary deadlines that prevent eligible Illinois voters from exercising their right to vote. Election Day Registration increases voter turnout. Illinois voter turnout rates are second-lowest in the Midwest. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa all offer Election Day Registration. In the 2010 midterm election, about 10 percent of the total votes were cast by voters registering on Election Day in these three states. The great demand for Election Day Registration was demonstrated by the long lines at some Chicago registration sites. To make the Election Day Registration more efficient and accessible, it should be available in all polling locations, rather than in a limited number of sites like it was this fall.

I think that allowing TransCanada's Keystone XL to cross a sovereign nation's land against their wishes is a dangerous step down a political and humanitarian slippery slope. If a nation's rights are of so little consequence in the face of corporate interests, what then of individual rights?

We are coming up on the holiday season. As we all know, the holidays are about giving, and in the process of us giving to our loved ones, retailers and big box stores make millions of dollars over a single weekend. So with 1 in 6 Americans facing hunger, and 1 in 4 children living in a food unstable home (meaning they are not guaranteed to be able to eat three meals a day), I'm asking those companies that make millions to do something. I'm asking each and every retailer and big box store, those like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Macy's, Belk's, JC Penny, Target, K-Mart, Amazon.com and many others to take the One Penny Promise. The One Penny Promise is a pledge that for every dollar they make during the biggest shopping days of the year--Black Friday thru Cyber Monday--they will donate one penny to poverty/hunger-ending charities. Charities like KIDS, and Concern Worldwide US, and others.