Our country's public defenders (PDs) are already grossly underpaid and overworked and our poor are already significantly over-represented in our criminal justice system. Because our legislators will not approve a federal budget, federal PDs are being forced to take pay cuts and furlough days and the poor are not receiving the representation provided in the Constitution. PDs are the only hope our poor have when they are arrested - often falsely - for a crime. I cannot be silent while once again the poor suffer, often sitting in prison while legislators play political games. Please intervene and see to it that budgets are restored to our federal public defender's offices immediately.

Eviction for the use of Marijuana is stupid when people actually die from alcohol every year and there are two strikes for that.

Everyone I know regardless of political affiliation is fed up with Washington. No one feels that they are represented. Without reform, we keep electing more of the same and the cycle continues.

According to credible sources, Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas, Director of Asociación Sembrando Semillas de Paz (Sembrandopaz),faces the threat of detention by the Colombian authorities. Ricardo and Sembrandopaz work with conflict-affected communities of the Caribbean Coast in Colombia to peacefully reconcile differences and build a better future. This threat to Ricardo Esquivia constitutes political persecution and must not stand unchallenged by defenders of democracy and human rights. Ricardo Esquivia has been a driver of peace and community development in the region for over 40 years, as evidenced by international peace awards from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He is Co-founder and Director of the Commission for Restoration, Life and Peace of the Evangelical Council of Churches of Colombia (CEDECOL). He is also the founder and former Director of Justapaz, the Christian Center for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action of the Mennonite Church of Colombia. For many years he represented all non-Catholic religious groups on the National Council of Peace, which advises the President of Colombia. Despite his record (or because of it), Ricardo has been repeatedly threatened, baselessly, with detention or legal action. It is time to end this harassment of a proven servant of the Colombian people. Public pressure has been effective in detering the detention of Ricardo Esquivia in the past. Add your voice to help end this harrassment so that Ricardo and his colleagues can continue the pursuit of peace in Colombia without threat. Join us in calling on President Santos and other officials to ensure the safety and security of Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas, and to investigate the political persecution of the peace movement of the High Mountain Zone of El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia.

For three years, a group of some 600 multinational corporations and trade associations have been quietly negotiating a trade pact IN SECRET that could void American laws that protect workers, jobs, health, and the environment. During negotiations in Washington last summer, news leaked of some of the provisions U.S. trade officials were prepared to approve, and a public outcry derailed the talks. Trade Representative Ron Kirk resigned. Now that Michael Froman has been confirmed as the new U.S. Trade Representative he is pushing to renew "fast track" authority so President Barack Obama -- a DEMOCRAT -- can sign the agreement first, and then force a quick vote in Congress without any public scrutiny, floor debate, or revisions.

Burning mouth syndrome doesn't discriminate. It affects people all over the world and is called the suicide illness because of how painful it is. I have had BMS for 14 years and don't know how much longer I and others I've spoken to can take it. It's like having a red hot poker set on your tongue all day long, year after year. We DESPERATELY NEED RESEARCH to stop the pain and find a cure.

Your spin-off, Matson Shipping carelessly pumped 1,400 tons of molasses in Honolulu harbor causing the worst marine disaster in Hawaii's history. Fish are dead. There's no way to clean it up. The entire ecosystem has been destroyed. For decades your subsidiary, HC&S, has ignored the lung disease your daily sugarcane burning has caused. Maui has the second highest asthma rate in the nation. HC&S burns 9 months out of the year and let smoke fill our homes and schools on a regular basis. You refuse to no-burn harvest which you can do (and do on some days) because you would have to hire more workers and it would decrease your profit. You operate 3 coal-fired boilers with no continuous monitoring, which spew SO2 and heavy metals on to the towns where the biggest population of our local children reside. You spread Diuron herbicide on your cane fields which runs into the ocean and is killing our reefs. You take more than your share of Maui's scarce water away from the Hawaiian taro farmers and dry up the streams of East Maui. Your operations have polluted the groundwater aquifers under your fields. You've bought out our politicians and no laws exist to control your bad environmental behavior. STOP your greedy destruction of our beautiful islands. 10/27 Update: Another molasses spill. This time Maui's Kahului Harbor. Same HC&S sugar. Same A&B infrastructure.

Sojourners is looking for people of faith who want to encourage the President to continue to pursue diplomatic alternatives in Syria. Pursuing peace is hard and long work. But our country needs to break out of the old habits of war. President Obama's renewed focus on diplomatic options is a step in the right direction. Please sign the petition below to let him know that Christians across the country stand for peace and support diplomatic solutions to the crisis in Syria.

with only 9 days of work scheduled in September, 4 of which have already been used, what do the House Republicans decide to focus on? the looming government shutdown? debt ceiling? farm bill, immigration reform, a fix to the Voting Rights Act? jobs? nope. they spent their time yesterday voting on the number one priority on their list: GOP lawmakers voted for the 41st time to gut the Affordable Care Act. this has gone beyond amusing, this has become madness, a vendetta against the President of this country that has consumed them to the point where they don't care if the country goes down in flames. they will fiddle while it does. this needs to stop.

Walking or riding a bike to work is dangerous in Atlanta. There is no more dangerous area of pedestrian crossing than the corner of Monroe Dr NE and 10th Street where Beltline traffic is high and pedestrians are entering and exiting Piedmont Park. I walk or bike this route daily and everyday a driver runs the red light nearly hitting a pedestrian crossing the street well within the time of the crosswalk light. It's only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed at this intersection. Today, 11/13/13, there were five police officers sitting at Park Tavern watching people set up stuff for Music Midtown while two cars ran the red light nearly killing six pedestrians. The officers did nothing. We, the pedestrians of Atlanta, demand for ticketing cameras be installed at the corner of 10th St and Monroe Drive NE with increase fines for running the red light to protect the pedestrians near Piedmont Park and the Beltline.

to bring back smoke breaks.

Many ad content writers for the site are not getting paid after receiving this email message from Arvind J. Dixit, "Greetings, Your payment will be sent by xxxday. Thank you for your patience and cooperation!" Payments are not being made and any further attempts at getting a resolution are ignored. Those people who have complained adamantly, their accounts have been deleted.