I live among many homeless in downtown Seattle-poets, artists, vets, and those less known. Many are friends. ER is a rescue for them but at a terrible cost to their continued health and to the economy. They are not "the poor" or any other "category". There are us!

Verizon's corporate leadership is interested in one thing only - lining their own pockets and those of their Wall Street investors. Their lack of commitment to building FiOS in Upstate cities like Buffalo and Syracuse and their subsequent worker layoffs hurt our local communities. Tell Verizon STOP THE LAY OFFS AND INVEST IN UPSTATE!

We the undersigned, wish to have Domanick Hunter Law returned home and placed into the care of his Aunt Tammy and Uncle Jim Shultz. Domanick was taken from his home on August 1,2013 and we have not be able to talk to him and see him since this date. We are worried about what this is all doing to him. His whole family loves and misses him immensely and want him home where he belongs. We all agree that Tammy and Jim Shultz are good people with good values and we know that they will see that he gets the best care and love he possibly can. His family is behind them and supporting them every step of the way as well. Please help bring Domanick home. The Holidays ,or any days, are not the same without him.

We can end student loans. I have an awful amount of student loan debt and I am angry that student loan debt keeps growing for current students and folks in repayment. I don't want any other student to ever experience the problem's I've had with high student loan debt. It's time that banks quit profiting from students quest for high education. It's time for college tuition to quit being a barrier for low and middle income students. Oregon(1) has already shown that there is another way to pay for college. Instead of colleges setting tuition, all alumni should pay a small portion of income for 15 years to enable the next generation of students to attend college. Pay 5% for 15 years- all the money back to your school, none of it to the banks. If Oregonians can pay it forward, why can't every college seeking student also pay it forward? Let' s use next years Higher Education Reauthorization Act to end student loans once and for all. Sen. Harkin (IA) is the Chair of the Senate's Health,Education,Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee and has the power to include Pay It Forward as part of this bill. Tell Sen. Harkin to help us end student loans in 2014. We can end student loans. Really, we can end student loans. Let's end student loans. (1) http://abcnews.go.com/Business/oregon-legislature-approves-tuition-free-college-pilot-program/story?id=19577994

To give respect and appreciation to those who served in Vietnam, and those who are suffering and have died from this Chemical

The suffering these animals endure to gain data that is for the most part inconclusive at best, is cruel unnecessary & barbaric. It is also funded with taxpayers dollars who HAVE NO SAY to thier ethical objection to these practices. SHAME ON YOU!!!

ubject: Post911 GI bill. The bill has served many active duty members and their dependents well. Unfortunately, the bill falls short of offering the retired veteran the same degree of appreciation. The current version of the bill prohibits veterans from transferring their educational benefit. In part, the law states that the transfer of benefits from individuals eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill to certain family members is allowed if you are currently a member of the Armed Forces (active duty or Selected Reserve) on or after August 1, 2009. This wording effectively eliminates the retiree from making the transfer. In the end, this prohibition is unnecessary and unfair to the veterans who have served and defended this great nation. This bill is permanently authorized and supported through mandatory funding. And it requires no additional appropriations for a retiree like me to hand the benefit to my child just as a service member. Recently, I read that the U.S. spent $34 million to build a facility in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan that will never be used. And more than $770 million was spent on aircrafts that the Afghan forces will never fly. Not to mention, the $350 million bridge to nowhere. I could go on giving examples like this. Nevertheless, people can’t understand how we can give so much aid to other countries and balk at allowing vets to transfer their earned benefit. Especially, since additional funds are not required. By allowing this transfer, thousands of our American children will have the opportunity to receive a college education. And without it, many will unnecessarily struggle to attend and even more will not be able to afford it. Who can be against that? All the while being in support of giving billions to other countries to feed and educate their children. The monies from the 3 examples above could have educated more children than what the mind could imagine. So, the questioned asked by all of us is why prohibit it? Congress modify the Post911 GI bill to read: “Veterans who qualify for the Post911 GI bill is allowed to transfer their educational benefit to their spouse or dependent children”. It is the only and the right thing to do.

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is about to take office. He has spoken out in support of so many fantastic education policies. We’re hopeful that as he starts to put his policies in place, he can work to lower the high stakes of the New York State tests for New York City students and teachers. We have put together this petition urging him to do just that. And we need your help to spread the word. Time is of the essence, as we anticipate many of the new educational policies that will ensue under this new administration will start to go into effect shortly following the transition. We believe that valid assessments used thoughtfully by teachers and schools can be extremely useful. But we also believe New York’s testing program – as currently designed and practiced in grades 3-8 – is not educationally sound and should not be used to make high stakes decisions for students, teachers, principals, or schools. While there are many things about the high stakes tests that we would eventually like to see changed, there are three specific aspects that Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has direct control over and will be able to change: 1. Ending promotion tied to test scores 2. Ending middle and high school admissions tied exclusively to test scores 3. Ending school report cards based primarily on student test scores These changes won’t fix everything. But they’re a great start – and they represent changes Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio would be able to make himself. So join us in reaching out to him and urging him to help us lower the stakes surrounding testing in NYC… and lowering the weight they are currently placing on our teachers and our students by signing this petition.

Join us as we embark on this quest to bring about cerebral change. Too many texts, calls, and snapchats have expressed discontent with Enrique's grooming habits. Help us, help Enrique. He needs you, all of you.

Newspapers need to stop publishing letters that deny climate change.

Poor desperate immigrants try and come to the United States to earn money for their families back home, but are instead taken advantage of and sold as sex slaves. They are extremely traumatized and have no where to turn to for financial and psychological help.

To help fund the U.S. Army JROTC program at Fort Hamilton High School