I ALMOST GOT ARRESTED !

I moved to Concord, North Carolina from New Jersey with my husband, 6 year old daughter and 3 year old son in 2009 for a better quality of life in general and to Cabarrus County in particular for its excellent public school system. Five years later, I am now worried that with North Carolina ranking 46th out of 50 States for teacher’s salaries, the quality of this system will decline and force caring and highly qualified teachers, Principals and staff out of the state or the profession. Studies show that a quality public school system correlates with high student achievement, which is directly dependent upon high quality teachers. Our teachers, Principals and staff have not received a raise in the past 6 years and as of July 1st, 2014; our Master’s level teachers coming out of school will no longer receive the 10% salary incentive. All of this sends the message that our legislators do not value our public school educators or the concerns of constituents with school-aged children. It is our hope that all of the Cabarrus County PTAs will work together to convince our legislators to give our educators a substantial raise and bring back the 10% salary incentive to our Master’s graduates. Our children’s education should be a top priority. One of the ways to accomplish this is by offering a competitive salary that allows us to attract and retain the best available educators. Please sign this petition by February 12th, 2014 so that I can bring it to the February 17th 2014 County Commissioner’s meeting to show our collective support and concern as parents for our educators; who’s hard work significantly impacts the future success of our children and should be compensated.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations found that some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers turn to genetically uniform, mass-produced crop varieties. In 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned that the loss of biodiversity will have “major impact on the ability of humankind to feed itself in the future.” Small farmers and grocers feed America and help to meet the growing demand for wholesome and organic foods. Without the transparency in labeling that, truth be told, many Americans expect from grocery manufacturers, small farmers and grocers are at an unfair disadvantage. We want to serve our customers on a level playing field. Misleading American consumers by failing to disclose controversial ingredients is anti-free market, and prevents Americans who want to avoid that ingredient from doing so. For example, many Americans prefer to purchase foods that contain less saturated fat, less sugar, or more fiber. Consumers are able to do so, but are left in the dark when it comes to GMOs. This is unacceptable for consumers, and unacceptable for farmers and grocers competing against huge agribusinesses and grocery manufacturers.

We have been working on children's vision issues for several years and are alarmed at the number of children and youth who are not doing as well as they should in school because they have never had a comprehensive vision examination that includes assessment of their binocular vision problems. SB 430 in the California Legislature would check all children for binocular vision issues by the third grade. All states should check children well before they start school, by the time they are in the third grade and every other year thereafter. This is a big year for National implementation of the ACA and state initiatives like SB 430 and the State Health Care Innovation Plan in Washington State, which should be paying attention to binocular vision problems of children and youth.

My daughter is in prison. She is not a criminal, has no prior criminal actions. She, and many others like her, would be better served by a shorter sentence in prison, and by earlier eligibility for programs such as fire camp and electronic monitoring.

I have family and friends that deserve get the benefits of an Immigration Reform, for get a valid Social Security Number, Work Permit, the right to get back to their countries and return to this country for built a strong nation. Time is now.

Nickelodeon is a giant advertiser to children, with 70% of its food ads selling junk food to kids. Unlike Disney, Nickelodeon has refused to adopt any nutritional guidelines on what they will advertise to kids. (1) Join us in telling Nickelodeon to do the right thing and adopt strong nutrition standards for advertisements and marketing through its entire child-directed media! Our children are more than big business. (1) Center for Science and the Public Interest, Nickelodeon: Marketing Obesity to Kids, 2012. http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/nickelodeon_brief_2013.pdf

The FDA does not require the labeling of GMO (genetically modified) food products, leaving consumers in the dark about the ingredients in their food. Without knowing, consumers in North Carolina and across the country regularly consume food that contains GMOs. Most of the food available on store shelves today contains GMOs—and they’re not without risk. For one thing, studies suggest that genetically modified crops require a dramatic increase in the use of pesticides and herbicides, which have been linked to serious health impacts. In addition, there may be other serious dangers, but we just don’t know - there is very little independent research done on the health implications of GMO consumption because the seeds are patented and the companies that own them prohibit their cultivation for research purposes. It’s time that we label all foods that contain GMOs so that consumers can make informed choices. However, some big food manufacturers, along with chemical companies like Monsanto, are spending millions of dollars to oppose labeling. Consumers overwhelmingly want to know what they’re eating, and grocery stores are beginning to heed the call – just last year, Whole Foods committed to labeling. Now, we’re calling on Kroger to side with its customers and label its brands too.

We have a right to make healthy, responsible, and informed choices about the food we eat and our families eat. But food and biotech giants like Monsanto, Dupont, and Pepsi are spending millions to keep consumers in the dark and block GMO labeling. GMOs aren't without risk and some are designed for increased pesticides, which have been linked to serious health and environmental effects. We can't wait for Congress to pass a national GMO labeling law, so instead we need Safeway to take the lead and start labeling their store-brand products that contain GMOs.

Seeking fairness and justice for my husband Dontre Johnson.

As clearly documented in the new short web video “Hearts on the Ground,” by Sundance award-winning director Kalyanee Mam (just released at www.LakotaLaw.org/action), the epidemic of child taking by the State of South Dakota is tearing thousands of Lakota Sioux families apart. Every day, Lakota grandmothers are illegally denied their right to foster their own grandchildren. The South Dakota Dept. of Social Services rejects grandmothers for such trivial reasons as too few rooms in a home, too small of a home, too old, decades old crimes, and even rumors. " South Dakota continues to violate the federal law by placing 90% of the 750 Lakota foster children it seizes each year into non-Native homes and facilities, instead of with relatives or tribal homes. Both federal law and the United Nations define this behavior as genocide. Only tribal programs are placing foster children with their relatives. President Obama has the authority to order three federal agencies (the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services), to provide resources to train and develop tribal family service programs and foster care systems for the nine Lakota Sioux tribal Councils. Within a short time, the $60 million in federal funds that currently go to the State of South Dakota’s Department of Social Services to illegally remove Indian children and force them into foster care can instead be spent and managed by the tribes, as they work to keep children with relatives, while restoring tribal sovereignty. Lakota children are more than ten times more likely to be forcibly removed from their parents than Caucasian children, and now comprise about 60% of all foster children in the state. In more than 90% of the cases, simply alleged “neglect,” as opposed to sexual or physical abuse, is given as the reason for the forced taking, sometimes at gunpoint, sometimes while at school, or in the middle of the night. Poverty equals “neglect' in the mind of the State workers. What is happening to Lakota children and families in South Dakota today is precisely the sort of activity that Congress intended to stop when it passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (“ICWA”) of 1978. The Act mandates that when states remove Native American children from their parents, they must be placed with relatives from their extended family, or with other members of their tribe, or with members of other tribes. Only when an active effort for such placements fail are states allowed to place Native Americans in White foster homes, or state run foster care facilities. The Department of Social Services in South Dakota continues to deny child placements to willing and capable relatives, while “stripping” parents of all parental rights to ever see their children again, for “violations” as trivial as failing to show up at parenting classes. South Dakota designates every Native child in its foster care system as “special needs,” receiving up to $79,000 from the federal government for their care annually, and then forcing many to take mind-altering drugs, even some as young at 18 months of age. Medicare spending for foster care child prescriptions in South Dakota increased more than 1,000 percent in the recent decade, while suicide rates for young Lakota children are 12 times the national average, and among the highest in the world. Some of the suicides are clearly related to the forced medications. More than a century after being forced from their ancestral lands onto reservations, the 70,000 members of the Lakota Sioux nation remain the poorest, most oppressed people in the United States. Let's turn around 150 years of cruel abuse to Lakota families. Please sign this petition and tell President Obama to instruct his agencies to help the tribes bring the Lakota children home!

After learning that Freedom Enterprises, (responsible for W. Virginia's massive chemical spill, leaving at risk more than 300 thousand Americans) has filed for bankruptcy protection long before the impacts are even known -- this was my final straw. While it's not shocking that a known dangerous company is attempting to shore-up its losses and duck financial responsibility after a catastrophe, what is shocking: is that American taxpayers will pickup the costs after the defunct company's immediate assets are exhausted. But the truth is: too many corporate protections block Americans from reaching the source of very deep and untrustworthy pockets. As a result: the injured; the taxpayer; the creditor; the worker; the investor; -all one in the same - without political divide - suffer while the same offenders launch another potentially deadly enterprise with impunity. This American urges you to exercise your constitutional right to petition our government. It's time to act responsibly and close the financial-escape-hatch for corporate wrongdoing.