The purpose of the petition is to emphasize the importance of fatherhood in the building of strong communities. The impact fathers make in the lives of their children cannot be emphasized enough! Statistics show that children raised in a father-absent home are: 1) Four Times More Likely to Live in Poverty 2) More Likely to Suffer Emotional and Behavioral Problems 3) Two Times Greater Risk of Infant Mortality 4) More Likely to go to Prison 5) More Likely to Commit Crime 6) Seven Times More Likely to Become Pregnant as a Teen 7) More Likely to Face Abuse and Neglect 8) More Likely to Abuse Drugs and Alcohol 9) Two Times More Likely to Suffer Obesity 10) Two Times More Likely to Drop Out of High School Therefore, the Men's Empowering Resource Center, Inc. (www.mercinc.org) and the people of North Carolina strongly urge you to stress the importance of fatherhood by declaring the month of June as Fatherhood Awareness Month!

We enjoy the openness of our harbor. Please do not build a fishing pier off Stacy Boulevard. It is our opinion that this is not a sensible place to have a fishing pier -- as climate change and storm surges would make it a very risky spot. Many of us feel that a pier in this location would be a stain on the beauty of the outer harbor, the location of schooner races, many paintings and photographs by talented artists and photos from our own visitors who cherish Gloucester for what it is now: historic and not "built up" in the name of "progress." Noise on the boulevard is sometimes a problem late at night in the summertime. A pier would bring in more people who will be up all night fishing. Also, parking and the added traffic congestion during busy summer months when both vehicles and vessels are competing for bridge access would be made much worse in that location. Please don't ruin what has been a peaceful retreat for residents and an attraction to tourists for hundreds of years. Please vote no on this proposal.

The future of Dallas ISD hangs in the balance with Support Our Public Schools' (SOPS) effort to change DISD into a Home Rule school district, a step that has never been attempted in a Texas school district. As the elected leaders of DISD, we call on you to verify that all signatures submitted on Home Rule petitions represent current registered voters in the school district, as required by state law. Our parents, students, teachers, and taxpayers all deserve this verification before the Home Rule effort advances any further. It is your obligation to ensure that this process is carried out transparently and completely. Our community is counting on you!

We, as the Student Body of River City Science Academy are concerned about our fellow teacher and mentor, Gabriel Quant. Through talk of the Student Body, we have come to a conclusion. We have been taught throughout numerous years at River City Science Academy that "perfect numbers like perfect men, are very rare." The quality of a man is nothing compared to the quality of his education. Señor Quant, as he is called, presents each and every one of his students with top-notch quality education. Whether they be essays, projects, field trips, or casual talk, everything is always tied back to Spanish. Spanish is the #2 language in the world in terms of popularity. Señor Quant has taught his students at RCSA everything he knows about Spanish; the language, the culture, the food, the jokes, the fables, and even the very basics of its ancestors. Without Señor Quant, the whole institution is taking a large-scale risk of losing one of the most fluent native Spanish-speaking teachers there is. On a regular basis, the students are presented with a "Calentamiento" ('Warm-Up' in Spanish) and a daily lesson. Any other teacher in his spot is basically a comparison to Mr. Quant. There is nobody that teaches like Mr. Quant does. His teaching goes beyond quality, his education introduces meaning, something that high school students have trouble finding in any subject. So, as a friendly, fair compromise, we, the Student Body of River City Science Academy refuse to participate in any other Spanish Elective offered. We will not conduct any violent acts, destroy or damage any school property, or alter the image of any school-backed items. All that we ask is if Señor Quant can come back next year.

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions opened the floodgates of unlimited campaign spending by the 1%, which threatens our democracy. And the Court will keep ruling this way, as long as we subscribe to the absurd notion that money is “speech.” However, Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) has sponsored a constitutional amendment to give Congress the power to pass campaign contribution limits and spending limits. A vote is expected in the coming months. Sign the petition to the U.S. Senate: Support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and McCutcheon.

My name is Josh Christmon and I am a Purple Heart recipient and U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq. You can see my story here : www.stp-sf.org/bad-paper Vets like myself are coming home with PTSD and physical injuries and are in need of medical care and disability benefits. But the military’s practice of considering symptoms of PTSD and TBI to be misconduct, instead of symptoms of medical conditions that require treatment, are stripping vets of the benefits they have earned. In my case, when I returned home from Iraq, I smoked marijuana once as a way to escape my PTSD. Instead of getting medical treatment for my conditions, I was given an Other than Honorable discharge. This left me unemployed, without benefits, and without needed medical care for the injuries sustained during my time in Iraq.

The medical field is making and keeping the nation sick. The public needs to be informed about what's behind all this sickness.

The world is digressing into the pit of hell.

Why am I starting this? I'm an Architect / Engineer by trade, who often looks at statistics and numbers, as well as massive amounts of data for my customers. Although the data supports the recklessness of "sport hunting" of the American Grey Wolf, as a human, I'm struck by the cold, calculated way that we approach hunting of wolves. This is not "sport." This is not survival of "need," for Americans to feed their families on wolf meat. This is only the importing of hunters into various states for the purpose of shooting animals with heavy weapons. My analytical mind is giving me a "gut check." This is wrong. As we wait to slaughter wolves that may have accidentally wandered off the Yellowstone Property, I believe we need to work to re-educate and put a pause to wolf hunting.

Fat shaming is harmful and only serves to stigmatize and humiliate, yet it continues on national TV with no remorse or accountability. For over 4 years Charles Barkley on TNT's Inside the NBA attacks the women of San Antonio, simply because we let him. He tells us to turn off the show if we don't think he's funny, but we need to do more. Barkley's bashing rants should be stopped.

We are Yves Louis, Denise Vines & Cheryl Skakel, and we are all homeowners in Irvington. Because of the economic crash and the housing bubble created by Wall Street, we are fighting to save our homes from foreclosure and keep a roof over our families’ heads –but the NJ Association of Realtors is threatening to undermine our effort. In fact, the NJ Realtors Association just issued a mailer to residents of Irvington in an attempt to intimidate us with misinformation and lies about Irvington’s efforts to fight the foreclosure crisis. The truth is that Irvington’s plan will help 199 homeowners stuck with toxic mortgages that are locked in Private Label Securities (or PLS loans). With the consent of the homeowners, Irvington will condemn these 199 mortgages (not the homes), taking them from the banks by paying fair market value for them. The mortgages will then go back to the homeowner with a principal reduction and a fixed, low interest rate that will keep families in their homes. There will be no cost to already cash-strapped taxpayers. The plan will include provisions that the investors must pay fair market value for the toxic mortgages and cover all legal costs that are incurred. In their mailer to Irvington residents the NJ Association of Realtors threatened that mortgage companies – and their Wall Street backers - will not do business in Irvington if the township adopts this plan. That’s illegal! The truth is that the banks are the ones foreclosing on Irvington homeowners and devastating our communities, preventing the economic recovery we desperately need. The Mayor and Town Council want to keep families in their homes – and this program will do just that! Stopping foreclosures raises property values for all Irvington residents and will help turn the tide against the blight created by foreclosed, abandon and vacant homes. Residents of Irvington know firsthand just how badly the foreclosure crisis has hit our township. A simple walk down Ellis Avenue is all the evidence anyone needs to see what predatory and abusive lending by the banks have done to our town. Boarded up, vacant and abandon homes litter this once beautiful block. And we wish we could say Irvington is experiencing the worst of the crisis, but we haven’t. In fact, if Irvington doesn’t take action now, the blight created by foreclosures will only get worse. But the NJ Association of Realtors thinks we should sit idly by while our township continues into a downward spiral – but we believe in Irvington and we’re ready to fight! We are proud that the Mayor and Town Council in Irvington are standing up to Wall Street, the Big Banks and the NJ Association of Realtors – and we are going to stand with them in this fight! Join us! In Solidarity Yves Louis, Denise Vines & Cheryl Skakel Irvington Residents & Members of NJ Communities United

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) thinks he's ready to be President of the United States, and he thinks global warming is a hoax. Florida Power & Light wants to build a "clean energy tomorrow for future generations," but is one of Rubio's biggest campaign contributors. To be a clean-energy company, FPL needs to stop supplying Rubio with dirty money. "I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it," Rubio told ABC News on Mother's Day 2014. "I don’t agree with the notion that some are putting out there, including scientists, that somehow there are actions we can take today that would actually have an impact on what’s happening in our climate. Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that’s directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activity, I do not agree with that." Florida Power & Light is the largest electric utility in Florida. In 2007, FPL's parent company, NextEra Energy, Inc. signed the Joint Statement by the Global Roundtable on Climate Change, which begins: "Climate change is an urgent problem requiring global action to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases." Under the leadership of CEO James L. Robo, NextEra Energy's PAC and employees have contributed $79,490 to Rubio in campaign donations, even more than Koch Industries has given. Robo himself has given at least $6900 to Sen. Rubio's campaign coffers. Given that Rubio rejects NextEra Energy's basic understanding of the danger carbon pollution poses to Florida, the nation, and the world, it's time for Mr. Robo's company to live by their stated values and stop contributing to Rubio.