Since the disastrous Citizens United ruling, billionaires and other special interests are funneling record amounts of money through secretive non-profits, trying to buy our elections. Federal prosecutors even say that a foreign tycoon exploited loopholes to try to rig the outcome. This kind of dangerous secrecy must stop. Assemblymember Dahle just voted against S.B. 27 -- the bill that will make sure billionaires, foreign tycoons, and other special interests can't hide behind dark money non-profits – even though polls show 84% of Californians want more disclosure. Outrageous! Fortunately, S.B. 27 passed the Assembly anyway, and is now in the Senate. But we have to make sure legislators know their constituents are watching. So, sign our petition asking Assemblymember Dahle how he could vote against S.B. 27, and demanding that he vote Yes on two other crucial disclosure bills: the Sunshine in Campaigns Act and California DISCLOSE Act.

Since the disastrous Citizens United ruling, billionaires and other special interests are funneling record amounts of money through secretive non-profits, trying to buy our elections. Federal prosecutors even say that a foreign tycoon exploited loopholes to try to rig the outcome. This kind of dangerous secrecy must stop. Assemblymember Chavez just voted against S.B. 27 -- the bill that will make sure billionaires, foreign tycoons, and other special interests can't hide behind dark money non-profits – even though polls show 84% of Californians want more disclosure. Outrageous! Fortunately, S.B. 27 passed the Assembly anyway, and is now in the Senate. But we have to make sure legislators know their constituents are watching. So, sign our petition asking Assemblymember Chavez how he could vote against S.B. 27, and demanding that he vote Yes on two other crucial disclosure bills: the Sunshine in Campaigns Act and California DISCLOSE Act.

To ensure that funding is available to maintain the level of service currently provided by the United States Park Police Aviation Unit.

Because I believe gerrymandering makes our government less representative and is a threat to our democracy.

We as humans cause more harm then good. I believe if a wild animal is injured or orphaned by human fault that there should be people who can care for these creatures am release them .. The state of WV does not allow this action by anyone and if caught doing so you can be prosecuted .. I want the leader of the state to open there hearts and see that these animals are not pet Los but do deserve a second chance .. Please sign show them out leaders that this matter is important ..

Right now we are in the middle of the last official public comment period for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. This project is a climate disaster, bringing 830,000 barrels per day of tar sands oil from Canada across the US to be refined and burned. The State Department is accepting comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement -- this is the last chance to comment on the project before President Obama makes his decision about the pipeline.

Without the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act borrowers cannot get their loans modified. This will lead to increases in defaults and foreclosures at a time when the housing market is still recovering. Please help our neighbors, friends, and communities by urging your congressional representative to get this law extended!

In 2012, the Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons, sent letters to 48 states offering to buy their prisons as a remedy for "challenging corrections budgets." In exchange, the company asked for a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance that the prison would remain at least 90% full. If the state does not maintain the 90% capacity requirement for the next 20 years, taxpayers will be forced to pay for unused prison beds as a “low-crime tax” that essentially penalizes taxpayers when prison incarceration rates fall. For more information, check out this article appearing in Salon.com: 6 Shocking Revelations About How Private Prisons Make Money http://www.salon.com/2013/09/23/6_shocking_revelations_about_how_private_prisons_make_money_partner/

If you have been affected by the American hostage situation that started TWO MONTHS ago on Dec 28th when Congress voted against an Unemployment Extension get out this Tuesday March 4th, 2014!! 1 PM eastern time. Contact local media, get friends and family and be SEEN somewhere! DC would be great but not possible for all so head to your Capital, a local Government office, Office of a Nay Senator in your area. No one in America should be punished for Working, paying taxes and losing their job. For all the assistance we provide for the WORLD I am baffled that our leaders would vote against putting food on their neighbors table. They don't agree with the time frame to recover from the loss. Whats next telling someone with a disease they did not recover in time so no more medical treatment? Understand some may have taken advantage. All should not be punished because of some! I will never believe if one of their children came home from school stating cafeteria is closed until further notice due to some children stealing, they would send them to school the next day. No they would fight for them to eat as they deserve! They forget the 2 million Individuals effected are a part of a family. Making that number so much higher, INCLUDING CHILDREN. Those children now feeling their parents worry, seeing them sick with stress, selling items from their home because its the only choice to get a couple dollars. No internet for school work. Its been turned off. No phone to make emergency calls when someone falls over with a panic attack its been disconnected. The car is gone! Family pet has been turned over to a shelter because they can't be taken care of either. The list goes on and on and in American this should not be happening and definitely not this long. This is real, we are human lives, that live in a Country that Pledges we are ONE NATION and there is Liberty and Justice FOR ALL but we haven't seen it so they need to see us and see how real we are!

Administration of this meaningless test means students will lose hours of valuable classroom instruction time, disrupting as many as ten school days. The ISAT is not used for any valid purpose and will not be given after the 2013-2014 school year. CPS plans to force this test on students at the same time that students also are required to take NWEA MAP tests, new Interim Benchmark Tests, REACH Performance Tasks, ACCESS tests, NAEP tests, pilot Common Core tests and more. Over-testing of students has come with real costs to their education. Students need fewer tests and more access to arts, languages and a broad, rich curriculum. Students need meaningful and educationally appropriate assessments, not more standardized tests. The concerns of parents and educators have been ignored for too long! We support the parents, teachers and students who have taken action for better schools and against over-testing.

Don’t let South Dakota pass a racist anti-Asian abortion ban! Last week the South Dakota House voted 60 to 10 to pass an abortion ban which they say is necessary because of Asian immigrants in the state. Stace Nelson, one of the Representatives that voted in favor of the bill, warned of an invasion of abortion-seeking Asians in South Dakota: “Let me tell you, our population in South Dakota is a lot more diverse than it ever was. There are cultures that look at a sex-selection abortion as being culturally okay. And I will suggest to you that we are embracing individuals from some of those cultures in this country, or in this state.” This measure, like other similar measures we are seeing across the country, are nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The people behind these bans have never been friends to women and they are simply trying to underhandedly pass an anti-choice measure on the backs of Asian American women. Don’t let this kind of racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric go unanswered. Tell the South Dakota Legislature NOT to pass HR 1162.

UPDATE: The NYT published a correction, which is why we have flagged this campaign as a victory. FAIR wrote up the story here: http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/02/27/nyt-corrects-venezuela-tv-falsehood/ ======= In the lead paragraph of an article on protests in Venezuela, the New York Times falsely reported: "The only television station that regularly broadcast voices critical of the government was sold last year, and the new owners have softened its news coverage." Evidence demonstrating that voices critical of the government are regularly broadcast in Venezuelan media is a matter of public record. The New York Times should run a correction of its false report. Urge New York Times editors to run a correction by signing our petition. On February 24, CEPR Co-director Mark Weisbrot noted [2] that data on television coverage during last year's presidential campaign published by the Carter Center [3] indicated that the two candidates were fairly evenly represented. Weisbrot also noted that there are plenty of examples in the recent coverage of Venevisión, the biggest broadcast television station, where “voices critical of the government” have been “regularly broadcast.” In particular, there was an interview on Venevisión news with Tomás Guanipa, leader of the opposition Primero Justicia (Justice First) party and a representative in the National Assembly, who defended the protests. [4] Weisbrot also noted that Globovisión, the station that the Times report complained had “softened its news coverage,” recently broadcast a long interview with opposition leader María Corina Machado in which she argued that the opposition has the right to overthrow the democratically elected government. [5] Given the current situation in Venezuela, falsely claiming that mass media are closed to critics of the government is a dangerous mistake, similar to reporting that "we know that Iran is building a nuclear weapon." The false claim about Venezuela emboldens the faction of the opposition—and its supporters abroad—that is advocating the use of violence to oppose the government. Urge the New York Times to fulfill its responsibility to publish a correction to its false report. References: 1. "Protests Swell in Venezuela as Places to Rally Disappear," William Neuman, New York Times, February 20, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/world/americas/protests-swell-in-venezuela-as-places-to-rally-disappear.html 2. "Does Venezuelan Television Provide Coverage That Opposes the Government?" Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research, February 24, 2014, http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/does-venezuelan-television-provide-coverage-that-opposes-the-government 3. "Carter Center Issues Report on Venezuela Election," July 3, 2013 http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/venezuela-070313.html 4. “Entrevista Venevisión: Tomás Guanipa, secretario general de Primero Justicia,” Venevisión, February 20, 2014, http://www.noticierovenevision.net/politica/2014/febrero/20/89967=entrevista-venevision-tomas-guanipa,-secretario-general-de-primero-justicia 5. “María Corina Machado: El pueblo ha salido a la calle a expresar su derecho a la justicia,” Globovisión, February 17, 2014, http://globovision.com/articulo/maria-corina-machado-ofrecera-detalles-sobre-convocatoria-para-este-martes