Anthony is a 20 year old male, who works,drives,and attends college. He has passed the fire academy and EMT physical and cognitive tests. He was born with a birth defect that affects his right eye and it cannot be treated. His doctor has signed off that he is 100% capable of doing his job as a fireman/emt since his left eye from birth has learned to work for both eyes. If you met him you cannot tell anything is different and he is fully capable of doing anthing. Anthony was recently hired as a firemen and then fired a day later because of the NFPA regulations to have 20/20-20/40 vision. This regulation needs to be changed to help people with birth defects that CANNOT be corrected. Please sign if you agree that the regulations should be changed and help us help people like Anthony.

Timberline Stables and its management have been commited to bringing the gift of horses specifically to troubled and struggling youth, as well as the general public. The owners have continually provided support and networking to surrounding businesses and helped turn a struggling small town resort community into a viable place for business. They support programs for Troubled teens like Applewood house and The Journey both pioneered by Q & A associates of Canaan Valley, WV. They recently opened a new restaurant called Deerfield to help support these fantastic programs and bring jobs to Canaan Valley only to be told by Timberline Four Seasons Resort and Lodge AFTER opening their doors that if they were going to open a Resaurant they were no longer welcome to run the horse program on their property because they feared it would take away business and compete with the thriving lodge restaurant. PLEASE help me save this wonderful farm so that it can continue to enrich the lives of so many people!

Gov. Abercrombie has pulled the nominations. GOOD WORK!!!

Transient lodging services in non-hotels endanger their users and harm New York City. Unlike hotels, these services offer no effective recourse for property damage or personal injury and promote accommodations that lack basic fire safety and security systems. Using so-called shared economy websites results in breaking New York State law. These services encourage landlords to create illegal, ad hoc “hotels” in residential buildings where an influx of visitors may decrease building and tenant safety, and may violate: • Zoning laws • Condominium, co-op board and rental management rules • Fire safety codes and noise restrictions New York City tourism is a $55BN industry generating $3BN in city tax revenue and employing over 356,000 New Yorkers. So-called shared economy websites siphon city tax revenue and encourage: • Landlords to withhold available rental properties • Disruption of residential neighborhoods • Absentee apartment ownership • Illegal rental of “rent controlled” properties Despite their popularity, short-term lodging services do not protect their users nor benefit the communities they claim to support. Stop illegal room rentals now.

We oppose Walmart taking away from our community. We support more responsible commercial business.

Here in America, more than 16 million children live in poverty. During these hard economic times, America's children are some of the most vulnerable and hard hit by this rough recession. Children who are hungry can't concentrate in school because they are too worried about their next meal. Congress has the power and the duty to make sure that every child in America is fed; however, they have only cut benefits for SNAP. Please stand with Fair Share by signing this petition to support more funding for SNAP.

For too long, Congress has made important decisions behind closed doors. On such an important issue as the budget, Americans have the right to see and hear all discussions regarding the role of government and the positions of each member on what programs they want to fund. Will Republicans hold to their position of no new taxes for the wealthy and corporations? Will Democrats stand strong against cuts to Social Security and Medicare or will they cave to the President's plan for chained CPI and let the Republicans blame Dems while claiming to protect Social Security? Who will fund jobs creation, repairs to infrastructure, more funding for education? Nine of the Republican members voted NO on the bill to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. Will they do it again? We have a right to know!

I'm a superfan of TLC's family-friendly show, “19 Kids and Counting,” which follows the Duggar family, Michelle, Jim Bob, and their 19 J-named children[1]. Though their conservative Christian views are very different from my own (I'm a pro-choice, observant Jew,) I like following the antics of a big rowdy family. But this time, their right wing views have gone too far. In a recent speech at the Values Voter Summit Jim Bob Duggar compared America today to Nazi Germany. Why? Because of abortion. When asked to explain, he said that the millions of legal abortions that have occurred since Roe v. Wade was decided are an ongoing "baby holocaust." I take this seriously, because my grandfather was very nearly a victim of the Holocaust. He fled Austria after the Nazis had come to power, making his way to the United States, a land of freedom. He was also a lifelong progressive, who supported a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. Let's be clear: America today is nothing like Nazi Germany, and a woman who decides to have an abortion is not taking part in a Holocaust. Please join me in telling TLC and Discovery Media to cancel the Duggars' show, "19 Kids and Counting," and stop rewarding people who misuse the history of the Holocaust to play politics with women's rights. __________ [1] Josh, Jana, John David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie.

I asked the governor to come have dinner with me -- because he needs to know what it's like to be a retiree trying to get by in Detroit. He needs to see my face, to know I'm here and that I'm a human being -- and that I'm not the only one. I worked for the city of Detroit for 29 years. I showed up for work every day. I poured my heart into serving my community. I just feel like an old jacket. You use me up and then throw me away. In my condition no one's going to hire me. I'm 68 years old...but I gave the city the best year's of my life. Some Detroit retirees don't even get social security -- and we can barely scrape by on the $19,000/year that most pensions are after a lifetime of work. I am starting this petition because I think it is more than unconstitutional to take away the pensions of those who worked their entire lives for a city they love. It is wrong. I was told when I started with the city, "If you worked hard and did honest things, you would have a pension." Our pensions should be protected, and long before Governor Snyder pays back his wealthy Wall Street banker friends. That's why I asked the governor to come have dinner with me -- he needs to know what it's like to be a retiree trying to get by in Detroit. In fact, a local TV news crew came to my apartment the other day to hear me invite the governor to dinner. You can watch the clip here: http://www.upworthy.com/what-theyre-trying-to-do-to-this-man-is-rough-but-what-he-says-at-the-end-is-devastating

We are concerned about the direction our schools have taken. The states growing reliance on standardized testing is adversely affecting students across all spectrums and the morale of our teachers. These tests are taking time away from real teaching. They are narrowing our curriculum, fostering an environment of teaching to the test and test prep. Science and social studies are getting less time in the classroom while art, music, and gym are taking a back seat to pre-tests, post-tests, and field tests. Love of learning is being stifled and our teachers’ morale is suffering. This resolution will send a message to our elected officials that we want them to reduce testing mandates, and allow our teachers and schools to do what they do best.

Across the country, 6 cities have already passed paid sick leave. But in Pennsylvania, Republican State House Rep. Seth Grove has introduced legislation from the Koch brothers-backed group ALEC to block paid sick days in Pennsylvania. Tell the state legislators not to support right-wing Koch brothers legislation and instead support workers. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/24/2828431/pennsylvania-paid-sick-days-preemption/

The parents of students at Davis Elementary have brought a serious concern to the attention of the Cobb County School Board. Because of budget cuts, the inclusion classrooms in first, second, third and fifth grade do not have a dedicated special education teacher. The general classroom teachers are trying to make-do with one special education teacher (and a recently added half-time teacher) shared between Kindergarten, First, Second and Third grades and some support from paraprofessionals. We are writing to ask that immediate action is taken to address this situation. Our general classroom teachers, special education teachers, and paraprofessional are all gifted and well qualified to serve our students. The parents at Davis Elementary greatly appreciate the efforts that go above and beyond their job descriptions. However, one general classroom teacher, no matter her abilities, experience, and education, cannot be expected to do the job of two people. With special education support moving in and out of the classroom, no one is able to teach or consistently track the progress and performance of students with special needs. The general classroom teacher cannot be asked to do so and effectively teach her class, which includes general education students needing as much of her attention as would be received in another general education classroom. We ask that Cobb County fully restore this funding so that you are in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and our children are provided a Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE). We have learned that many IEPs have been written to reflect the level of reduced services, which is also a violation of State and Federal Special Education Law. Other schools in Cobb County have inclusion classrooms staffed with a general classroom teacher and a co-teacher, as did Davis until this year. For the sake of the overall student achievement at Davis Elementary, we hope this matter can be resolved quickly and amicably at the county level. Please respond to our concerns in writing. We appreciate your attention and response.