I started this petition to demand that our United States Government makes tougher laws on child abuse, including mandatory life in prison for dangerous child rapists, and that child murders include the death penalty. Child Protective Services needs to be investigated and reformed and tell them to stop making a profit of our children. We need better laws to protect our children from child abuse of all kinds especially child rape. Child abuse is getting out of control and it needs to be stopped once and for all!

CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the front lines to prevent the spread of Ebola in the United States. They coordinate safety standards for medical facilities and medical workers in the U.S., and recently have updated those standards to deal with the Ebola threat. They also have sent public health experts to help control the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which experts see as vitally important to keeping Ebola out of the United States. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority was created by a bipartisan effort in Congress in 2005 to develop partnerships between the drug industry and government agencies to streamline the development of medical measures and stockpiling of vaccines and medications to fight public health crises, including emerging epidemics such as Ebola. National Institutes of Health, the largest biomedical research institution in the world, has been responsible for numerous advances in medical science. It coordinates and funds health-related research in hundreds of universities and laboratories in the U.S. Wikipedia says the scientific community considers the current low level of NIH funding to be a crisis in America, including the possibility that our research scientists will be lured away by China. If you want more information on this subject, here are facts and figures from members of Congress who are on committees which oversee federal health policy: Representative Anna Eshoo, D-California, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, reported on CNN online on October 30 that “Despite the tireless efforts of many health professionals, progress against Ebola and other diseases has been slowed by federal budget cuts. To boost our efforts to prevent epidemics, federal investment in biomedical research should be revived. ... “The trouble is that investment in key agencies like NIH and CDC -- the world's foremost biomedical research and public health institutions -- has fallen dramatically in recent years. “Between 2010 and 2013, the CDC saw over a billion dollars slashed from its budget. The purchasing power at the NIH, meanwhile, has been cut 10% over the last four years. And since 2010, the Hospital Preparedness Program, which provides resources to community hospitals for public health emergencies, has been cut by 44%, when adjusted for inflation. U.S. global health programs alone have lost over $400 million. ... “A look further back reveals even deeper cuts to biomedical research budgets. As a percentage of the total federal budget, we spend two-thirds less on research and development today than we did in 1965. At NIH, the number of research grants the agency is able to fund has declined every year since 2004. ...” You can add your direct message to the Republican leaders in Congress in Comments as you sign the petition.

Little Havana residents require parking spaces but investors and developers want to circumvent established parking requirements in order to make a higher profit by building more units and NOT providing parking. This will create a hardship for hard working residents where parking is already scarce and add to their cost of living by having to pay for off-site parking. They will have to park their cars far from their homes and expose themselves to possible theft or vandalism.

This is a national and now international embarrassment,hundreds,perhaps thousands are trying to get that disgraceful court to listen to reason, but their arrogance and lack of intelligence does not allow them to see the public opinion is against this, instead of looking for a compassionate end of this tax payers waste of money, both the DA and the Judge Dean Dedmon in Dyersburg City Court instead are taking a confrontational position against the community ,the nation and animal lovers world wide. We are trying to save the dog from an unusual and cruel punishment by the city, this is the type of behavior that gets any community angry against the court system, and I ask, would not be more effective to listen to your community instead of confronting it?

In 2007, the citizens of San Francisco gave SFMTA authority to manage and update City parking policies, without ongoing oversight from the Board of Supervisors. SFMTA published the 'Policies for On-Street Parking Management' document in order to "provide transparency in how the agency makes decisions." The agency promised the document contained "no new policies" and only clarified "where we do (and do not) use parking meters and residential parking permits.” Public data, internal emails, and dissenting staff memos prove otherwise. SFMTA staff misled their own Board of Directors and violated the public trust by creating all new policies. Even after appeals from 20+ neighborhood and business associations and the agency's Citizen Advisory Committee to rescind the policies, the SFMTA Board has taken no action. The Board of Supervisors must step in to provide oversight and accountability.

This petition is to fight for stronger enforceable regulations and laws for the protection of Minor (children/teens) within and throughout the MUSIC INDUSTRY. Exploitation, over working, manipulation & bullying activity against performing/creative artists in the music industry has been going on for years, but now that the industry is LOSING MONEY to downloads and piracy, etc... the misconduct of many RECORD COMPANY Owners, execs, producers & their associates, have become criminal and beyond. Their titles/actions/positions are neither mandated by certification, monitored by a hierarchy of supervision, nor are they held accountable for their moral/criminal activities even when reported to authorities. Due to their 'celebrity' status, they are running free and rampant as they commit repeated counts of such criminal acts as sexual harassment, extreme intimidation, mind control activity, repeated drug/alcohol sharing and use while on the job with their employees & sexual misconduct activity on many levels, all of which seem to have NO ceiling or limits to stop them…including age. A 'minor’ child/ teen showing promising future stardom could mean more longevity & return of their investments, they see them as a way to help them maintain their status and lifestyle. With so many highly publicized reality TV talent shows allowing kids and teens of all ages to compete, these Music bosses seem to have discovered a new pool of talent to choose from continuing the same misconduct and will stop at nothing to DIVIDE these impressionable youth from their families as quickly as possible doing what they want with them. How? Using extreme intimidation on both child and parents, feeding the child lies & promising gifts as a pat on the back when these youth complain about their frustrations with the rules in their schools, home or amidst any other normal underage parent/child issues. These execs take advantage of these situations so that they turn these young kids against their own parents WAY before their frontal lobe has even developed the capacity to understand the long term effects of their interactions. Consequently, not only ruining & interfering with the development of the minor, but also ripping families apart at the core. Undoing their upbringing, using their IDOLIZED STATUS to guide these young artists in the direction of what they think is considered ‘cool’. YES, our personal experience drives this campaign! While employed by and under contract with a reputable record company, our kids were the victims of several wrong doings by this company and their associates. Hardest of all to stomach were those targeting our MINOR daughter who, upon turning 17, was gradually enticed into Statutory rape by her 35 yr old Record company CEO/Boss, and the person of authority in her new work world after months of secretly luring and transmitting and eventually exchanging pornographic text messages with her. This he did while simultaneously texting the rest of the family to say ‘how great’ we were for raising such a 'talented and amazing star' and complimenting each ‘banger’ or ‘hit’ she and her brother had recorded or created while at the studio, etc…and making promise after promise to everyone in the family. Strangely enough, we would never actually see or hear a finished music product come out of their studio, in spite of the near 40 + songs they recorded there throughout that time. What lead up to this? Our daughter, at age 16 and two of our sons, one 18 and the other 27, were ‘signed’ to what we thought was a BIG BAD (good) Record Deal. These very reputable Music execs made many promises to us all, especially repeated promises that THEIR record company was a FAMILY and so THEY could be TRUSTED, etc… We were all THRILLED to see that - after the years of hard work and musical/artistic/performance development exerted by all prior to this offer - our 'bundles of joy’ had finally landed THE BIG BAD RECORD DEAL they dreamed of! Sadly, this proved to be the worst decision we had ever made as a family! How could this have happened? We now know….it was the oldest method in the book…the 'divide-and-conquer’ method! This Record company team FIRST divided the family by pinning the three artists against each other, eventually dropping our oldest son to get him out of the way, stating many unfounded reasons and that he was asking too many questions. SOON after sent a threatening email to their Mom after she made reasonable requests for that which was best for our daughter, stating that our daughter would 'lose her opportunities' if she didn't do what she was told and if Mom didn't butt out...and Ccd our daughter! (and those were only a couple of the ways they attempted to divide the family) Soon after the CEO had his associates take our daughter to high end concerts without asking our parent permission first and then on fancy trips to 'inspire her music' as he adorned her with high end gifts. Later we learned that his sexual encounters with her mainly happened close to the times HE PLANNED FOR HER TO NEGOTIATE further business deals he wanted her to agree to or beg us to agree to. Since this was all new to her, she was so young and was secretly ‘in love’, she did not even realize that the adjoined activities were connected. As the months progressed his alluring text messages and smooth talks eventually influenced her to quit high school, sending her such messages while she was in class as, “I hate School”, “I want you laying next to me” and continued to adorn her with more gifts. All of this influenced her decisions to lie to us, her parents, as well as her brothers and others about her whereabouts, her newly acquired ’things’ and more. Over time he gradually provided her with drugs & alcohol and exposed her to guns & other criminal types of activity. All of these interactions continued up to her 18th birthday and beyond before we found out and could do anything to stop it. Unfortun...

In both 2010 and 2012, at least half the students in the San Francisco Unified School District skipped classes to attend the Giants World Series victory parades. Because schools receive state funding based on daily attendance, these absences resulted in losses of over $160,00 in 2012 alone to the school district. This is a loss our schools can ill afford, and yet who can blame students for wanting to share in the Giants' victory? We call on Larry Baer, President and CEO of the Giants, to donate at least $160,000 to the SFUSD this year (2014) to compensate for the lost funding our schools will experience as their students join in celebrating our 2014 World Champion San Francisco Giants. Let the Giants and SFUSD BE STRONGER TOGETHER! BE CHAMPIONS TOGETHER! LET'S GO GIANTS! LET'S GO SFUSD!

We are starting this petition to help end human trafficking in the U.S. We also want to end the human trafficking in other countries to save woman and children from sexual abuse.

1. THE PROPERTIES TARGETED FOR THESE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS ARE SPECIFICALLY RECOMMENDED IN THE LEWES COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR PRESERVATION BECAUSE BUILDING ON THEM WILL NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE AREA. THE COMPREHENSIVE HAS THE FORCE OF LAW. 2. THE PROPERTIES TARGETED FOR THESE DEVELOPMENTS CONSIST OF WETLANDS AND THE ONLY REMAINING WOOD IN LEWES. DESTROYING THEM WILL CREATE HAZARDS FOR OUR CITIZENS AND LOWER PROPERTY VALUES 3. THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THIS VERY SMALL TOWN IS NOT IN PLACE TO ACCOMMODATE THESE DEVELOPMENTS AND WILL CREATE HAZARDS FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES, INCREASE FLOOD WATER RUNOFF, CLOG EVACUATION ROUTES, DECREASE PROPERTY VALUES, AND EVENTUALLY RAISE TAXES. 4. THEY VIOLATE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MITIGATION OF FLOOD WATER MANAGEMENT, THUS RAISING OUR FLOOD INSURANCE PREMIUMS. 5. THESE POORLY PLANNED DEVELOPMENTS IGNORE TENETS OF GOOD CITY PLANNING.

Dear Attorney General Holder: Young people across this country need you to take strong action to improve the delivery of legal services to children who come into contact with the juvenile delinquency system. As the 50th anniversary of the seminal United States Supreme Court case In re Gault fast approaches, juvenile indigent defense systems across this nation remain under-developed, under-resourced, and fundamentally unfair to the children they are designed to serve. Although Gault extended due process rights to juveniles in delinquency proceedings and acknowledged the high stakes and collateral consequences associated with a juvenile court adjudication, the promises of Gault and due process are merely illusory for far too many youth. The juvenile defense field is tainted by a history of neglect and disregard of the role of the juvenile defender in the delinquency process. Wrought with systemic barriers inhibiting access to counsel, the harm associated with juvenile court involvement continues to grow exponentially. An alarming number of youth appear in court unrepresented, and youth are entering plea agreements and waiving counsel at an extremely high rate. On the front end, most states fail to appoint counsel early enough to ensure meaningful client assistance, and on the back end, a disturbing number of youth do not have access to counsel during the post-disposition phase, leaving critical legal needs unmet. Very few states deem children truly indigent, and youth and families are often saddled with costly fees, fines, surcharges, and other expenses that make representation prohibitive and can lead to future court involvement or incarceration for failure to pay. Many juvenile defenders are overburdened with heavy caseloads and work within offices that have extremely limited resources, restricting access to investigators, social workers, and even the most basic tools of legal practice such as LexisNexis or Westlaw. Nearly 20 years ago, these and other horrific systemic deficiencies were documented in A Call for Justice—a national assessment of access to counsel and quality of representation in delinquency proceedings. The National Juvenile Defender Center’s (NJDC) subsequent assessments of 21 state juvenile indigent defense systems confirm these unsettling problems and demonstrate that there is still much work to do. Recognizing the dire need to overhaul juvenile indigent defense systems and advance reform nationally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) established the Juvenile Indigent Defense Special Initiative—a collaborative project between NJDC and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to create a roadmap to fully develop the field. With this charge, NJDC intensely engaged juvenile defense experts and stakeholders across the country arming OJJDP and DOJ with substantive information and recommendations to lift juvenile defense practice. Now it is time to act. We, the undersigned, call upon you to: Promote Specialization in Juvenile Defense Practice The failure to recognize juvenile defense as a highly specialized practice has resulted in inadequate representation. Juvenile defense requires a unique skill set and knowledge base that is considerably different and broader than what is needed for adult criminal defense. The practice is equally as intellectually challenging and akin to appellate or capital work. Establishing training programs and promulgating standards that are specific to juvenile defense and incorporate adolescent development, such as the Juvenile Training Immersion Program (JTIP) and the National Juvenile Defense Standards, is imperative to promote specialization and regulate the practice. Establish Solid Infrastructure to Deliver High Quality Juvenile Defense A system is only as strong as its foundation. As it stands, there is little to no infrastructure in place to support high quality juvenile defense practice. However, the array of juvenile indigent defense delivery systems that currently exist across the country present vast opportunities for reform and innovation. High quality systems will necessarily be structured differently, but each must provide: (1) a comprehensive scope of representation, including appointment beginning no later than the first court appearance and continuing until the client is discharged from the system; (2) intentional leadership such as juvenile chiefs; (3) a commitment to specialization that is rooted in sound developmental practices; (4) access to high quality training and standards that guide and uniform practice; and (5) specialized units within the practice to handle complex juvenile defense issues, such as appeals, post-disposition advocacy, sex offenses, and juvenile transfer to adult court. Without the building blocks of a well-functioning juvenile indigent defense system that embraces the Ten Core Principles for Providing Quality Delinquency Representation Through Public Defense Delivery Systems, it is exceedingly difficult to ensure due process in juvenile court. Resource the Juvenile Defense Field to Support Widespread Innovation Advancing and sustaining meaningful juvenile defense reform requires resources. The juvenile defense community is ripe with ideas to ensure access to counsel, enhance juvenile defense practice, and expand the capacity of juvenile defenders to provide high quality representation to youth. It is imperative to resource this work at the federal, state, and local levels and invest in widespread innovation across all of the 50 states and territories to advance reform. In spite of the lack of resources and the daily challenges facing front-line juvenile defenders, the juvenile defense community works tirelessly to innovate and zealously advocate for policy and practice reforms to uphold Gault. The juvenile defense community has the expertise and talent to advance reform, and has demonstrated readiness to take on this important work; however, we cannot tackle this we...

Our Congress is under the thumb of big money courtesy of the United States Supreme Court, and of stale, defeated leadership in the United States Senate. The result of this defeated leadership is the stalemate big money so cherishes because it perpetuates their unfettered right to pollute, impoverish, outsource, tax dodge, foreclose, unemploy, deploy and otherwise enrich itself at the expense of the rest of us,

For our collective future