My neighbors pay their mortgage by donating plasma and yet do not qualify for Medicaid in Kansas. They have health conditions that need care but aren’t getting it. A friend goes without his insulin because he cannot afford to buy it but also does not qualify because he is too poor for Obamacare. Under the Affordable Care Act Kansans who are below 138% of the federal poverty level ($15,856 for an individual and $32,499 for a family of four) are not eligible. This leaves 240,000 Kansans uninsured. It was intended that the Medicaid Expansion would then cover these people but our Governor did not accept it for Kansas. A key provision of the Affordable Care Act is the expansion of the Medicaid program to these Kansans. The federal government will pay most of the costs of financing the Medicaid expansion.

In a nation and world grown weary of war, there remain -- within our own borders -- powerful voices opposed to peace. President Obama and Western nations have reached an interim agreement with Iran which would prevent another war by assuring the world that Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon. Diplomatic negotiations are ongoing; yet, tragically, the voices of intolerance are already seeking to undermine Obama's diplomatic progress before negotiations for a final resolution can conclude. By setting double standards and violating the spirit of the existing accord, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor has produced a bill which would undermine the interim agreement almost as soon as it was reached. I say: Give Peace a Chance! We must work cooperatively with the entire international community. Most ordinary Iranians love America and want peace. Those opposed to peace negotiations with Iran should recall that WMD's were not located in Iraq, but only in the hearts of those who were certain of their existence elsewhere. In this season of peace, let us remember that our greatest enemy is the fear and hatred in our own hearts. Our nation must demonstrate its true power by a willingness to first seek peace. Let's join our voices with the angel who said, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people…and on earth peace, good will toward men." Please sign my petition urging Virginia congressmen to support President Obama's negotiations for peace. Thank you! Herbert Fitzell *Hoyer Praised For Backing Off Eric Cantor’s Iran Resolution; Think Progress, December 12. Update 12/20/13: News reports indicate that VA Senator Mark Warner will support increased sanctions against Iran. A senior Obama administration official put it very succinctly to the Huffington Post: “The fact is, passing new sanctions now would split the international community, embolden Iranian hard-liners, and likely derail any prospect of a diplomatic resolution. Members of Congress pressing for this bill are effectively choosing to close the door on diplomacy, making it far more likely that we’ll be left only with a military option.” Update 1/14/14: As of this date only Congressman Forbes has submitted a formal response to my petition. In a letter dated January 3, Congressman Forbes responded: "The Iranian regime has also sought to disrupt our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq and continues to threaten our Israeli allies. Clearly a stable Middle East can only be realized when Iran stops supporting terrorism and ceases its pursuit of nuclear weapons." But it was the teenage Katniss Everdeen who got it right in Mockingjay when she said of these Hunger Games, "Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children's lives to settle its differences. You can spin it any way you like...The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen." (Collins 377). Update 1/24/14: It appears that congressional support for new Iran sanctions is growing weaker. Several days after my original petition, bipartisan legislation was introduced in the Senate. The Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act (S.1881) was introduced by Senator Menendez (D-NJ), which proposes new sanctions on Iran. This is a bad idea. See article below by Steven L. Spiegel. I received an e-mail today from Senator Mark Warner who said: "I believe that it is important to allow this interim agreement a chance to proceed as a verifiable diplomatic solution is the preferred outcome. Nonetheless, Iran must live up to the terms of the compact or risk additional sanctions." Senator Warner is cosponsoring S.1881, the Iran Nuclear Weapon Free Act of 2013. Fortunately, this bill does not have enough votes for a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Public pressure has turned the tide. According to Sara Haghdoosti of MoveOn.org, "...we made this happen. Over the last few weeks since this legislation was announced, over 150,000 people have taken action, we've made over 10,000 phone calls and had petition deliveries all across the country. What we're doing is working and that's exactly why we can't let up now. What we've achieved over the last few weeks is proof that not only can we fight back against war—we can help create the space for politicians to become champions for diplomacy." All we are saying is Give Peace A Chance! Thanks so much for signing my petition. Support for new Iran sanctions wanes —MSNBC. January 17 January 23, 2014, 02:00 pm Congress, don't pass the Nuclear Weapons Free Iran Act By Steven L. Spiegel Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/196154-congress-dont-pass-the-nuclear-weapons-free-iran-act#ixzz2rLiKsM6H 2/7/14 Update: Great News. Today i declare victory - for now. We Gave Peace a Chance and we won! See the details according to MoveOn: Starting in late November, after the interim deal with Iran was announced and reports surfaced that Congressman Cantor was trying to work with Congressman Hoyer on a sanctions bill, nearly 150,000 MoveOn members signed a petition calling on Democrats not to join with Republicans and torpedo negotiations. MoveOn members also made thousands of phone calls to the House and Senate prior to the holiday recess. · In January, when the Senate returned and new sanctions were on the table, MoveOn worked with progressive allies like Berim.org to generate more than 10,000 phone calls to Congress from MoveOn members demanding diplomacy, not new sanctions that could lead to a rush to war with Iran. · In early February, MoveOn, again working with Berim.org and progressive partners, flew MoveOn members from across the country to Washington for meetings with their representatives on Capitol Hill as Sen. Menendez held a Foreign Relations Committee hearing on sanctions legislation. · On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy partnered with MoveOn.org to continue to mobilize grassroots support for diplomacy by auth...

Unless we act now, vital funding for clean wind power could disappear on December 31. The Koch brothers and dirty energy companies have been lobbying our elected officials to kill an important tax credit program vital to the success of wind power and other sources of renewable energy. We can't let them succeed. I am a state senator from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As an elected official and Climate Parents member, I am an advocate for kid-safe, climate-safe energy. Wind currently provides 25% of Iowa’s electricity generation, a feat made possible by the wind power tax credit. Congress must take action to keep this credit and continue to grow our renewable energy industries. If this tax credit expires, it paves the way for more unsustainable dirty energy that puts our climate and our kids in danger. What happens with climate change in our children's lives depends on the climate action our generation takes. Are we going to increase carbon pollution, fueling climate-related disasters? Or, will we take action to promote safe, clean energy that will allow us to stabilize the climate? To give our children and grandchildren a chance to live in a healthy world with 100% renewable electricity, Congress must extend this vital tax credit for wind energy. The Production Tax Credit (PTC) helps wind energy compete with highly subsidized fossil fuel industries. It helps attracts investors for new wind projects. The PTC fosters innovation and employs tens of thousands of Americans in the clean energy economy. The PTC is a winner for jobs, innovation, children's health, and the climate. Because of wind energy's growing success, dirty energy billionaires, like the Koch brothers, are trying to kill it. According to the Huffington Post (12/9/13), they have "enlisted their extensive network of think tanks, advocacy groups, and friends on Capitol Hill to spearhead a campaign to pull the plug on the PTC." That's why it's so important we send a strong message to Congress that the Koch brothers and their dirty energy friends don't represent us. They certainly don’t represent the best interests of our kids and grandkids. Congress has already heard from dirty energy industry lobbyists -- now they have to hear from us. Families across the country need to speak up and tell Congress to save the renewable energy production tax credit for our children, our economy, our health, and our future.

Twenty-year old Morium Begum lost her baby in her seventh month because of the unsafe working conditions she was forced into by Next Collections, a company that gives 70 percent of its output to Gap and Old Navy. Begum was forced to work over 100 hours a week, even while pregnant and ill. Her wage? Twenty-four cents an hour or less. The horror stories about the Next Collections factory are too numerous to count. According to a report released on 10/3/13 by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, physical punishment -- including beatings -- are standard practice, as is illegal firing. Workers are paid in cash so that they can be cheated out of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Women are denied maternity leave. By the third week in a month, most workers do not have any money left to pay for food. Gap has allowed these abuses to continue, even though they are in violation of its official code of conduct. But Gap depends on our business to be successful. As a Gap customer, you have the power to stop this abuse. Tell Gap that you will boycott their stores until they adopt safe and fair labor practices. If enough people stop giving Gap business, the company will be forced to re-evaluate. It’s time the public stopped accepting sweatshop labor. We cannot in good conscience buy cheap clothes at the expense of human lives. Please join me in boycotting Gap until they end the abuses and beatings at the Next Collections factory. To learn more about Gap’s human rights abuses, please visit: http://www.globallabourrights.org/reports?id=0658 http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/company.cfm?id=229 https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/04-2

On December 5th, workers at the 181st Street Domino’s in New York City’s Washington Heights participated in a nationwide walkout to support underpaid fast-food employees. Management’s response was to have delivery workers—who only make $6/hour and must rely on tips—staff the store instead, but refused to pay them minimum wage for their time. After bringing this issue to management’s attention, the 20 delivery workers were fired. Sign our petition, urging Domino’s Pizza to immediately reinstate these workers.

Sonar used for military technology negatively affects whales and other aquatic mammals. This includes: strandings, illnesses, and even death. This can potentially hurt our aquatic ecosystems.

THIS PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED TO EVERY NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE AND EVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NEW YORK WHO HAS NOT TAKEN STEPS TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN’S PRIVACY. We, the undersigned concerned citizens, have taken the step of writing this open appeal for action to all of our elected representatives (federal – state – municipal) because our children are our future, they are not a commodity to be used and sold to corporations and private investors. When public education accepts private funding, there is a price tag and that price tag is called influence. The impending collection of personally identifiable student information by school districts, its storage on corporate Internet accessible data cloud servers, particularly its transfer by the state education department to inBloom, Inc. and its various corporate partners without parental/student knowledge, permission or review, violates the letter and intent of The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). The Electronic Privacy Information Center brought an action against the Department of Education. U.S. Representative John Kline, Chairman of the House Committee on Education, rebuked the action and requested that Education Secretary Arne Duncan not proceed with the revisions but instead work with the Congress to remove impediments to effective education through legislation. The Department of Education failed to do so. On October 23, 2013, U.S. Senator Edward Markey wrote Education Secretary Duncan seeking explanations for the purpose and potential implications of the revisions. The critical questions posed in the civil action and congressional queries remain unanswered. The Department of Education guidance regarding State Longitudinal Data Systems contains the suggestion that states collect sensitive personal information including: (QUOTE) “political affiliations or beliefs of the student or parent; mental and psychological problems of the student or the student’s family, sex behavior or attitudes; illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, and demeaning behaviour; critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships; legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers; religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent; or income.” The U.S. Department of Education and inBloom insist that the individual states and school districts determine what data is collected and to whom it is provided. The State DOE and the school district have yet to provide a comprehensive list of data points collected or of the entities that it will be provided to. The NY State DOE is unable to specify what information will be made available to for-profit corporations for data mining, marketing and advertising purposes. The Sachem Central School District engaged college prep website service NAVIANCE by Hobsons, owned by DMGT, and AMPLIFY (formerly Wireless Generation), a Wi-Fi enabled tablet provider, owned by Rupert Murdoch (News Corp). So, who is NAVIANCE? The following excerpts from DMGT’s 2013 corporate brochure are instructive: (QUOTED from their website) Data, especially big data, is becoming far more valuable. Businesses are hungry for contextualized information Applications connect with social networking services as a matter of course And it’s a two-way street. More and more businesses want to provide valuable services to customers to win their loyalty and mine their data NAVIANCE encourages school districts to link social media services to the family page to drive student activity through their service. AMPLIFY’s tablets are pre-loaded with Google applications and entertainment applications. Google’s data mining is renowned. Its revelation in August that users have no expectation of confidentiality of information when using their services is sobering. DMGT’s Chief Executive acknowledged the need to develop hybrid clouds to assuage the sensitive data security concerns of the insurance industry to secure their business and Jeff Bezos of Amazon is building a private Cloud for the CIA. So how can their systems be secure enough for our children’s most personal and sensitive data? The recently disclosed Sachem Central School District data system breaches resulted in the compromise of personally identifiable student information and illuminated the nature of the risk. Childhood is the age of exploration. Indiscretion and mischief are functions of exploration. The effort to digitize and record every youthful activity and communication in perpetuity and share it with third parties is pernicious. Imagine if every one of your youthful indiscretions had been recorded and potentially made available to recruiters, admissions personnel and prospective employers. Might your life have turned out differently? Corporations refer to data as the new oil. Apart from the venality of offering up children to corporate data miners, the unprecedented aggregation of such sensitive personally identifiable information exposes children to exploitation by untold number of bad actors into whose hands the data might fall (pedophiles, extortionists, rival peers, etc.). Childhood is also a period of considerable fragility. The incidence of cyber-bullying and resultant suicides is troubling. Responsible policy anticipates and mitigates such risks. Every other state that contracted with inBloom has honored the concerns of parents, acknowledged the gravity of privacy concerns and cancelled their engagement. New York is the only state that is moving forward in spite of the concerns of its citizens and the surfeit of unanswered questions. More than 120 New York School Districts have opted out of Race to the Top yet Sachem Central School District remains enrolled, expanded the NAVIANCE “college prep” service from high schools to the middle schools and intends to issue News Corp owned Google loaded Wi-F...

I believe Flickr can compete with Photoshop one day even have there own hand hend Flickr cam. Poeple just have to believe and stop crying that they are moving forward not still, look what happened when they sat still reaping all the money and fame, there is this little company called Google that came around and well lest just say stole there base and double that.

This petition is to make aware and disassemble the entanglement of the unethical and immoral relationship between Monsanto and our United States government. We the people stand in solidarity to remove capitalist member's of our government who are involved in the largest corporate conspiracy in our nation's history. We the people choose to not be led by a government who's agenda does not protect it's people as is our right. We stand to hold accountable member's of both parties who have neglected their responsibilities as representatives to the people. The sickness and death's this corporation's agenda is causing and this government is allowing, will not stand. Our declaration of independence states we have the right when a government becomes destructive, to alter it as this country belongs to us!

Don't lead us down a path that could lead to another senseless war in the Middle East. This is not the time to play Russian roulette with American foreign policy in Iran. The Stakes are high for the United States to remain steadfast in its efforts to give diplomacy a real chance of success. Placing more sanctions on Iran will not solve anything, it will only continue the stalemate and will delay true reconciliation for decades and will hurt the Iranian people through years of senseless suffering. Failing to promote diplomacy with Iran will hurt the American people. Another major Iraq style war will create a meltdown of the economy. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/09/attacking-syria-or-iran-would-destroy-the-american-economy.html

My husband is a person with a disability: an amputee.. We have a NYC DOT Handicap Tag, we went to Yonkers Raceway and parked in the handicap parking spot at the casino. When we returned to our vehicle we had a $230 dollar ticket issued because we parked in the handicap with a NYC HANDICAP TAG and were found guilty because we were not residents of Yonkers(Though it did not specify Handicap parking for Yonkers residents only). Persons with Disabilities should be able to Park on any NYS casino grounds even if they are not residents of that City.

Solar and wind power have seen an explosion of growth in recent years, due in large part to tax credits. Tax credits for solar give individuals and business incentives to install solar panels. The Production Tax Credit for wind gives investors an incentive to install wind turbines. These credits have helped wind and solar energy become mainstream technologies that create jobs and move us closer to a clean energy economy. But unless Congress acts by December 31, The Production Tax Credit will expire. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change here in the U.S. and we are running out of time to take action. Transitioning to a clean energy economy powered by renewable energy is essential to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. Unfortunately Congress threatens to undermine the progress that has been made by letting this essential credit expire. We simply can't afford to pass on a chance to gain a competitive edge in the energy economy of the future. Tell your senators not to let critical funding for renewable energy expire on December 31.