Many people have a hard time adjusting to a time change! For some it takes weeks to get back on track. Statistics have also shown that the day following the change accidents and heart attacks increase.

We find ourselves with the rare opportunity to help others while also helping ourselves. According to www.drugpolicy.org the amount spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs is more than $51 billion and among nearly 275,000 prisoners released in 1994, 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years, and 51.8% were back in prison. (Langan, Patrick A.; Levin, David J., 2002). What if we could cut that down to 33%? How many lives would be changed? How much tax money would be saved? Drug offenders constitute 48% of all federal inmates, or some 94,600 inmates. Among state prisoners, drug offenders accounted for 17%, or slightly fewer than one out of five. That means some 235,000 were doing state prison time on drug charges at the end of 2011, bringing the combined state and federal total to 330,000. That's a slight decline over a decade ago, but still represents incalculable human costs, as well as easily calculable financial one.” (Washington, 2012). We believe that by requiring state and federal prisons to have a rehabilitation program we can change the lives of numerous inmates by not only rehabilitating them but also keeping them out of the prison system and ultimately saving you, the taxpayer, money.

We wanted to bring to your attention that animals are not treated well in captivity. Sea World is one example of a place that does not meet the needs for their sea life. With orcas SeaWorld encloses their orcas in a small amount of space and does not let the animals maintain their natural instincts. In order for orcas in captivity to meet their needs of swimming 100 miles a day, they will need to swim the circumference of their tanks 1,900 times. We just want to spread the news about how animals and sea life are treated in captivity.

Governor McAuliffe has made it a priority to expand Medicaid in Virginia. Unfortunately, leaders in the Virginia House are holding the expansion up. If Virginia rejects these funds, over 190,000 Virginians will be uninsured. Tell Governor McAuliffe and the Virginia Legislature to accept federal Medicaid dollars and protect the over 190,000 Virginians that would benefit.

Too many innocent people are the targets of irrational fears, such as Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride and Jordan Davis were. Ohio's HB 203 will allow the use of deadly force in more circumstances which may lead to more innocents dying for no cause. Ohio Law already allows people to defend themselves and their property. We should not give license to more people to used deadly force without real threat of harm or provocation.

Dave, a father of five children, has been in ICE detention for an unbelievable eight months. He desperately needs your help getting back home! Dave fled his native Jamaica after witnessing a crime committed by a powerful gang. He's lived in the safety of the U.S. for almost two decades now. He has a loving fiancé of 16 years and five wonderful kids. Dave should be at home with them, not in detention! Dave’s children, four of them U.S. citizens and one a permanent resident, depend on him. He's an active member of his church and has strong roots in his community. He's the kind of immigrant America should be welcoming, not expelling! Dave needs your help. If he's deported to Jamaica, he fears for his safety. Tell ICE immigration officials to stop Dave's deportation. He should be here with his family!

Free ranging cats and dogs kill more wildlife than our very fragile bobcat population ever could, yet we would consider it monstrous to open a hunting season on cats and dogs. The few bobcats we have are a valuable part of our ecosystem, feeding mostly on rodents, rabbits and squirrels and causing no harm to citizenry or hunting. Just because we "can" kill an animal, doesn't mean we should. Please help me try to protect bobcats in Illinois by signing this petition.

Our building complex sits two blocks from the East River in Manhattan and is in a class "1" flood zone. During Sandy we were inundated by flood waters reaching 3-5 feet, inflicting hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage which is home for nearly one thousand residents who are mostly working class families or retirees on fixed incomes. Our co-op is based on Mitchell-Lama laws that ensure it remains working and middle class housing, yet we bore all the costs of this disaster.

Because we owe everything to our veterans who have given us everything.

I am a small restaurant owner with 40 employees and I pay a minimum of $10.10 per hour to my employees. One staff member came to us after working for McDonald's for 10 years. She started in 1999 at $5.50 per hour and worked long hours just to get by. After 10 years she had to work overtime just to bring home $350 a week, and had no life and was exhausted every day. Now that she is making $12 per hour, she doesn't have to work overtime and feels that her work is valued when she gets a decent raise. She is able to pay her bills and is not worried every week about how she is going to make it. Raising the minimum wage means that people have more money to spend, and they will spend it at stores in the 23rd District on food, gas, books, music, electronics, entertainment and services. When I pay my employees more money, they also spend it in my restaurant. Keeping wages low does not make my business run better when my staff are stressed and worried about not being able to pay their bills. Increasing wages does not make me fire people, it provides me with a stable and satisfied workforce and low turnover. Increasing the minimum wage both helps workers and reduces the need for supplemental government assistance programs like food stamps -- goals that people favoring smaller government should support. In fact thousands of families in the poorest counties in the 23rd district would be lifted out of poverty with a minimum wage increase to $10.10.

FreeRealms has affected the lives of many kids(and teens) in the 5 years it's been running. Being one of the few original players that has stuck around to watch it change and grow, this hits me pretty hard. Myself and quite a few of my friends wish to see FreeRealms be around for the next generation to bring them the happiness and comfort it brought us.

Because puppy mills are in every way animal cruelty!!