My husband is incarcerated in Michigan. Our family dearly misses him, and cherishes every moment we have together. He has started a petition for all inmates who would also like to have over night family contact visits approved. Anyone that does a Family Visit or stay over night has to pay. This is not just from me, this is about everyone in the United States that misses their loved ones. What would this do for the inmates or the visitors? First it will give them life again and not be so violent, second it will help with cost, third people will start doing what they have to do to come home. Inside the prison world it's hard to survive because you have to deal with so much. If you get time with your loved one and overnight stays, you're more worried about staying out of trouble so you can have your visit, and not get it taken away from you if you do get into trouble. I think this would be a great idea because it will help in funds and also give inmates more reason to work on their behavior issues as well as not giving up on themselves as they will have a chance to work toward spending time with their children and wife. All I'm asking is for you to consider this not only for the inmates but for the families who have a long time to be without their loved ones. Family is the most important thing when serving a sentence for a crime. Without communication by letters, phone calls, and visitation, inmates would be more aggressive and violent against each other and officers. I believe that if state prisons allow conjugal visits for married inmates that it would be logical to allow those types of visits in state and federal prisons as well. This type of bonding promotes healthy relationships and morale. Federal inmates have to serve around 85% of their entire prison sentence. Where as state prisons usually serve 50-65% and gain time sometimes for good behavior to get early release. Since this is not the case for State and Federal inmates, then why not pass a bill to allow conjugal visits for State and Federal inmates? The question of whether or not prison is intended to rehabilitate - rather than to merely punish - deserves the scrutiny of all Americans who might one day be affected by the answer. Yes, many agree that it would be a privilege to have these visits when incarcerated. For those who believe that isolation is a way of rehabilitation I would like to say there is absolutely nothing rehabilitating about restricting inmates from intimacy with their spouses. If the visits should require monitoring to be considered safe then, in my opinion, by all means monitor. Conjugal visits will allow for longer, faithful marriages and healthier relationships. Honestly, I think that every inmate's case is different and conjugal visits should be considered accordingly. Please sign, and share this very important petition, so that we can get as many signatures as possible. Thank you to all of you for your love/support/help.

As parents, educators and citizens concerned about violence in schools we demand repeal of the recently approved law allowing teachers to carry weapons in schools. Teachers should teach. Fully funding the school foundation formula, universal Pre-K and full-service, community based schools should be a higher priority than arming teachers.

Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its ivory. That’s over 30,000 a year. The illegal ivory trade is a cruel business. But it’s much more than that. Illegal ivory generates up to $10 billion a year for criminal and terrorists organizations. Crime syndicates involved in gun, drug, and human trafficking reap huge profits from the ivory trade. So do dangerous terrorist groups, including Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army and al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab. These terrorists threaten the safety and stability of Africa and the national security of the United States. Ivory smugglers thrive with the complicity of local authorities who have little incentive to stop them. Although the trade is outlawed, lax enforcement and bribes make it easy for smugglers to operate. It’s time for America to send a message: any country that facilitates the ivory trade will pay an economic price. I’ve introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would do just that, and I hope you’ll lend it your support. The Targeted Use of Sanctions for Killing Elephants in their Range (TUSKER) Act would impose trade sanctions on countries found to be complicit in facilitating ivory trade. With the TUSKER Act, local authorities would face a new calculus when dealing with ivory smugglers: either you enforce the law, or you face the fallout of tough economic sanctions. Sign the petition: tell Congress it’s time to pass the TUSKER Act and shut down the ivory trade! Thank you for taking action. Peter DeFazio

Luis Bravo a DREAMeR, community leader and immigrant rights advocate was picked up by the Department of Homeland Security during the early hours of September 18th. Thanks to quick community response Luis was released just 6 hours after being detained, but his release just serves as a testament to the power of the people united. Luis might be out now, but the fear is still very much real; he can still be deported at any moment. We still need your help to show that the community doesn't want him taken unjustly away from his family and community. We are still waiting for more information on when he will need to appear in front of a judge, but it will appear here as soon as we receive it. For those of you who don't know him, his name is Luis Israel Bravo Chamu. He is 22 years old and has lived in Costa Mesa, California for over 17 years. He, along with his family, have dedicated the last few years of their lives advocating for immigrant rights and trying to get the community to actively participate. Please sign and share this petition. Watch the video below to see the call to action that Luis' sister Jessica made out to the community just shortly after he was taken. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YArrHFKqdug&feature=youtu.be

My name is Kathy Henry. I am currently an unemployed college graduate. I have over twenty years of experience as an administrative support professional but I cannot find a job. My only source of income is food stamps. There are a lot of Kathys and Kevins in my position, older workers who cannot find employment. We need to feed our families. We are not lazy. We want to work but our current crop of politicians do not care. They tell us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but suppose you do not have any boots. We have paid taxes into the system and do not deserve this type of treatment. Something needs to be done.

I was born in NH, and live in NH. I want to hear what Representative Garcia's solution is, for residents of New Hampshire, to continue to have access to "affordable"health care.

We support keeping the Shrewsbury MA mail processing plant open and maintaining the strongest public post office in Massachusetts.

It's been over 30 years since Wayne Williams went to prison for crimes he did not commit. Please help us in our efforts to free Wayne and bring justice to all those impacted by this horrific tragedy. Go to www.waynewilliamsfreedomproject.com for more information. Thank you.

At the Boston School Committee meeting on September 17th, Interim Superintendent McDonough recommended that all students in grades 3-8 and in grade 11 take the PARCC this year in order to better prepare for the potential transition from MCAS to PARCC. Tenth graders will still be required to take and pass the MCAS as a graduation requirement. As teachers, students, family members, and administrators within Boston Public Schools, we do not support this recommendation. We refuse to subject ourselves to yet another high-stakes standardized assessment that negatively impacts our curricular and instructional choices. We have serious concerns about the increase of testing in all of our schools. To be clear, we do not necessarily believe that the MCAS is a better assessment than PARCC. As Lisa Guisbond, the executive director of Citizens for Public Schools, has stated, “With PARCC versus MCAS, districts have been given a false choice. They have to pick which of two flawed punitive systems will do the least harm to their efforts to engage and educate their students.” We, the undersigned, believe that using test scores to evaluate teaching and learning is unjust and inequitable. Rather than pouring time, energy, and money into a new testing program, we demand that the district and the state reevaluate the ways in which it measures school and student achievement. Boston students deserve better. For more information, check out the resources compiled here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vjg5BPfUWjBnttfbv-vqfbaNnT307BJaoDQoIaDjglA/edit?usp=sharing

Our government officials should be looking for ways to include every citizen in the voting process and not working to eliminate voters by making it harder for them to get to the polls by adding restrictions on early voting. When they demonstrate this kind of behavior they need to held criminally liable.

My children were taken from my home for domestic violence and drug use August 3rd 2013 and even tho I have completed my case service plan successfully I was told by the department and casa and the cps appointed therapist that I will have my parental rights striped from me on my final court date which is on October 10th 2014 in the llano county court house at 9:00am.

Do you like owning over 1/3 of America's real estate? The public lands of Montana - our national forests and rangelands - are owned by the People of the United States of America for the benefit of present and future generations. No other nation on earth has bestowed such a vast estate upon its citizens. America's public lands represent one of the world's greatest legacies to the citizens of any nation. Please sign the petition. Send it to friends. Meet with your local legislators and ask them to sign the petition to protect public ownership of public lands. Please act now!