Our “Do Nothing Congress”, particularly the obstructionist Republican party, implemented a Government shutdown policy last year. Amazingly it actually made it to the house floor, costing American taxpayers 24 billion dollars. This was according to a Standard and Poor’s estimate as reported by Time Magazine, Oct. 17, 2013. This cost can not be recovered! Our nation was founded on the principle of low taxes. No one likes higher taxes. We’re urging Congress to close the gap that tax loopholes create. For example, The Tax Haven Abuse Act is currently in Congress, Senate bill S1533 and House bill HR 1554. The bill would restrict the use of offshore tax havens and abusive tax shelters to inappropriately avoid Federal taxation, and for other purposes. A report issued by U.S. PIRG, released April 15, 2014, tells us “every year, corporations and wealthy individuals avoid paying an estimated $184 billion in state and federal income taxes by using complicated accounting tricks to shift their profits to offshore tax havens. Of that $184 billion, $110 billion is avoided specifically by corporations.” The report further notes, “The Senate Finance Committee squandered an opportunity to stand with regular taxpayers who can’t marshal armies of lawyers and lobbyists to bend the tax code to their whim. Unfortunately, they caved to special interest pressure.” “Many of America’s largest and best-known corporations use these complex tax avoidance schemes to shift their profits offshore and drastically shrink their tax bill. GE, Microsoft, and Pfizer boast the largest offshore cash hoards.” By closing these loopholes Congress can save billions of dollars for our country. Join us by signing this petition and hold Congress responsible to close tax loopholes rather than let average Americans struggle every year.

The State of GA elected to opt into the Common Core Standards, but did not opt in to the corresponding tests. Therefore, our children are taking tests to evaluate their knowledge of Algebra I that is based upon older teaching methods, while being taught under the new CCGPS standards. The tests are not portraying an accurate evaluation of what they have learned. Last year, approximately 70% of 9th grade students did not pass the EOCT in Algebra and the same thing is happening this year. Either the tests need to be changed to the Common Core tests or eliminate Common Core from the educational system.

I am starting this petition to protect all of our children & staff. Personally this is very close to my heart as a threat was made on my daughter . THE CONSQUENCES THAT THE ASSALANT HAD TO FACE WERE EXTREMELY LIGHT AND DID NOT EVEN HAVE TO FACE IN SCHOOL SUSPENSION.

My name is Confidence Omenai. I am a poet activist and mother of four. I spent the earliest years of my childhood in Nigeria where my father, siblings and half my family still reside. On April 14, a group of militants calling themselves Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian school girls ages 15-18 from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, located in Borno State. The group’s name directly translates as "Western education is sin." These girls have been missing for two weeks now with gruesome reports of them being married off in mass weddings. Their families are weary with grief over the rumors that their daughters were sold as brides for the nominal price of 2,000 naira, the equivalent of $12 in the United States. If 200 American girls were abducted, there would be round-the-clock coverage on every network. I cannot, as a mother and a woman with Nigerian blood in her veins, stand back idly and wait for the world at large to care. I am asking you to feel the pain and desperation of these women and children. Join me in urging President Obama to lend U.S. support toward returning their daughters to their homes. The mass weddings belie the horror these girls are enduring. These mothers want what so many of us want: an education and a better life for their children. We cannot let darkness overtake them. We cannot stand for this kind of wanton brutality. I am asking women, men, mothers and fathers around the globe that believe all our daughters have a right to an education to please stand with me as I stand for them. I will not rest. I will not stop fighting. I will not give up until we bring every single one of them home. We have the power to move mountains. Consider if this was your daughter. Human trafficking is real and we must fight it on every shore. As long as they are captive none of us is free.

Of the 6,514 families presently living in poverty—with many having to make the choice to pay bills before buying food—44 percent or 2,874 of those families have female heads of household without a contributing male present. These women aren’t just teenagers looking for extra money; they are mothers hoping to build a stable foundation for their children’s future. Yet, this simple dream—based on the premise that law-abiding and hardworking members of the community can give their children a better life—isn’t real for thousands of hardworking Guamanians. You see, some of island’s biggest businesses have made more money year after year—all the while holding wages flat. When indexed against the cost of housing, food, medical care, and electricity; today’s minimum wage would have to be $8.41 an hour just to have the same purchasing power as it did in 2007. This means that thousands of people who work full-time jobs still have to raise their families in poverty. Although Guam is blessed with many good corporate citizens, too many people—too many of our neighbors—are still weighed down by minimum wages that can never lift them out of indigence or allow them the opportunity to work their way out of the hard life. After more than six months of study and consultation with economists Dr. Claret Ruane, Dr. Rosanne Jones, Mr. Joe Bradley, Mr. Gary Hiles and Mr. Albert Perez, Vice Speaker BJ Cruz introduced legislation, Bill No. 316-32 (LS), to raise Guam’s Minimum Wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour over the next three years. According to federal and local labor figures, hourly wages, total employment, and the number of hours worked after the last three minimum wage increases in 2007, 2008, and 2009, either held steady or rose. Put simply, the Guam experience says increasing the minimum wage does not kill jobs, cut hours or cause the collapse of our economy. And our experience is also the experience of our nation. The federal government has raised the minimum wage 22 times since 1938, and every time the same counsels of doubt and cynicism have proclaimed that the economic sky would fall -- yet history has not been kind to their predictions. Here we are, still working, still building, still trying to expand the circle of opportunity for everyone willing to work for it. Many of you support this measure but will be too busy working a second shift, cooking dinner for your families, or helping your kids with their homework to attend public hearings. Or, even more concerning, many of you have been intimidated by employers, your voice suppressed by the climate of fear perpetuated by pro-business politics that is more concerned about the bottom line: profit margins. Regardless of your hourly wage or your station in life, your opinion matters. Express your support by calling your Senators, talking about the minimum wage issue with friends on Facebook, or simply signing this petition to stand up for fair wages for our fellow working-class Guamanians.

Over 200 female secondary school students were abducted from their boarding school by a group of people who are believed to be a part of the Boko Haram sect in Chibok, Northeastern Nigeria. In recent years, countries which have experienced insurgencies, wars, conflicts and internal turbulence record that the most devastating impacts of these crises are experienced by children, girls and young women, who are left vulnerable to extensive attacks and dehumanizing conditions. The abducted young girls are being affected by a conflict they did not create, and their voices need to be heard. It can only be imagined what they have undergone in these past weeks or what they are bring subjected to at hand. Please sign this petition so that this situation can be given the right level of coverage in international media and be addressed as a priority issue by UNICEF, UNWomen and other international organizations that can put significant pressure on the Nigerian Government to intensify its search efforts. These 234 girls need to be found and returned to the safety of their families and homes.

On MTV in 2007, I asked Barack Obama a question about Net Neutrality. And he gave me a fantastic promise. Obama said, "The answer is yes. I am a strong supporter of net neutrality... As president, I'm going to make sure that that is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying." But now, Net Neutrality is under attack. Obama's new FCC Chair -- a cable industry lobbyist -- may break the president's promise to Joe and all of us. Watch the president promise to protect Internet freedom. And join me in demanding that promise be kept. http://noslowlane.com

Many of our parents and grandparents served their country proudly for their entire tour, at-the-ready should conflict arise. Most of them were drafted. Yet they are denied veterans benefits based on their dates of service. You can help to change the rules governing eligibility for veterans benefits to cover all veterans who served for more than 180 days. Many veterans served between Feb. 1, 1955 and Aug. 4, 1964. They are considered "peacetime" veterans and are, therefore, not eligible for the same benefits as a vet who served only ONE day, but during wartime. There is no equity in denial of benefits to those who served a full tour during the Cold War ("peacetime") and affording full veterans benefits to those who served just one day during wartime, even if they never saw combat or were never deployed to a combat arena. All veterans who served, at the ready, should be afforded equal benefits, regardless of their dates of service. It is by the sheer manpower of "peacetime" vets that we HAD peace. Please help us by sponsoring a bill to change the federal rules governing eligibility for Veterans Benefits.

To request that the Alameda Recreation and Parks Dept. will repair a damaged bench of historical interest in one of its city parks.

This petition is being set forth to give Alexandria Dawn Cromwell, also known as "Allie", a fighting chance at life. Too many lives, have been ripped to shreds, and too many (parents, children, families), shiver or have shivered at the very sound of the word CPS here, in Tucson, Arizona, when we should have never feared CPS. Give these children a fighting chance to make a better society for all. Don't allow any child, without Just reason, to become another statistic, CPS covered up mistake, and or a financial gain for Cps (or for anyone else either). The removal of this child and many others have been overlooked and have "slipped through the cracks" due to "high case loads", and whatever new inadequate excuse CPS manages to come up with next or has came up with in the past. No more lies. I am asking that Alexandra Dawn Cromwell immediately be removed from CPS custody and placed back into My, Thea Marie Cromwell, custody, without any further precious time is wasted. She needs her mother her sister and all of her family. She is better off with me. Me and my family were lied to, bullied, taken advantage of Allie has not been protected, instead she was removed from my custody and has been unprotected by even her lawyer. Let me give my children the life they deserve and the life I see fit for them. I am capable. Allow us the ability to put our family back together As Well as a chance for Allie To have hope once again. Please sign if, you believe Alexandra Cromwell should immediately be placed back into the custody of her mother Thea Marie Cromwell, if you and or your family, here in Tucson, Arizona or anywhere else, have fallen victim to CPS neglect, or have witnessed CPS' failure, to provide sufficient reasoning, as to why a child or children, were or will soon be, removed from the custody of a suitable, willing, and capable parent, or guardian. Stand up for your rights, stand up for Alexandria.

Mental Illness can be connected to everything from rape, child molestation, domestic violence to mass shootings. I have a loved one whom I watched go from an easy-going girl to a severely mentally ill woman whom I barely recognize...for lack of programs and support to diagnose and treat her. Please sign my petition to start pushing in a better direction with Mental Health on a national scale.

The very large number of home foreclosures have reduced our home values by ~ 40% which has eliminated most, if not all, of our citizens' home equity, has precipitated 3 home property tax increases within 3 years, caused vacant and looted homes, increased crime, caused large budget cuts to our schools, etc. The actions requested in our Petition plus our non-profit's Foreclosure Prevention activities help from our Federal and Georgia Government Foreclosure Prevention Units will prevent and eliminate most of the pending, present, and future foreclosures in Douglas County. These actions have proven to be very successful in doing that across the nation. When the Foreclosures are prevented and removed, our Home values will increase 40% or more and then the county can reduce our home property tax rates. As a result of our Home Values increasing by 30%-40%, 60% of our home owners will no longer owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. All their Home Equity will be restored + some. They'll be able to use their new-found home equity as they did before, i.e. for emergencies, to pay high cost medical bills, pay their kid's college tuition, consolidate their bills, buy "big ticket items" i.e. a boat, RV, new furniture, luxury vacation, etc. or be able to sell their home and use their equity to buy another one. Please help us to make those things a reality for all of Douglas County homeowners by signing this Petition and getting everyone you know to do the same.