My Republican senator, Rand Paul, just signed onto Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's call for removing military sexual assault prosecutions from the chain of command. This is huge, and it motivates me even more to continue my fight to get other senators on board.

*Note: Ken Lacoste is now acting First Warden. Names and titles can not be changed once signatures have been accumulated, and this petition has been in place with titles from 2013. Plastic pollution is categorized as one of the greatest threats to our marine environment, notably called a global environmental catastrophe . Plastic bags, straws, cups, wrappers, utensils and more scatter the beaches and float in the waters never to biodegrade or disappear. It is estimated that 6 million pieces of trash enter the ocean every day. This trash affects over 600 species that depend on the ocean for survival . Plankton, urchins, crabs, shrimp, mollusks, sea birds, marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, sharks and many more have been victims of entanglement or plastic ingestion, leading to death. Further, plastics contain persistent organic pollutants, toxic chemicals that affect both animal and human health. These chemicals have been shown to negatively affect animals who have unknowingly consumed ocean plastic, making its way up the food chain, and perhaps to your dinner plate. We can help solve this problem by eliminating unnecessary plastic from our daily lives such as plastic bags, water bottles, straws, disposable cutlery, cups, plates and more. Block Island is a pristine island 13 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, and we have a duty to protect this island and it's surrounding waters. Plastic bags are pervasive and detrimental to our environment. Hundreds of other cities around the world have banned plastic bags, including Barrington, the first city in Rhode Island to pass a plastic bag ban. If Block Island does the same, they could set an example for other island and coastal communities striving to make a positive environmental impact. In a trip to the western coast of Australia, I visited a small coastal community called Exmouth. The local grocery store noted that plastic bags were banned in the community. You either brought your own bag or bought a reusable one at checkout - the town's primary care was their environment and conserving the ocean around them. Block Island should have the same concern. I urge you to stand with me to ban plastic bags on Block Island. It's time to take a stand to protect our environment and keep our ocean and beaches clean. The ocean is in hurting, and we can make a difference by reducing and eliminating our plastic waste. Next step is plastic cups and straws, but for now, lets BLOCK THE BAG!

When Edie Windsor challenged the federal Defense of Marriage Act, President Obama refused to defend it. When Kristin Perry and Sandy Stier challenged California’s Prop 8, Governor Brown refused to defend it. And when two Santa Fe men challenged New Mexico’s ban on same-sex marriage, SF County Clerk Geraldine Salazar said she supported them. Now she's filed a 20+ page brief with the state Supreme Court with a rambling list of reasons for denying a marriage license to committed same-sex couples.

For Juanita and Frank James the bills were piling up. Steel Company closures sent them in a panic as Juanita's health deteriorated. Without Medicare, they could have lost everything. But the high cost of prescriptions forced by Pharmaceutical lobbyists are threatening that relief. Medicare Parte D está siendo cautivo por grupos de cabildeo representando a intereses farmacéuticos, amenazando aún más la crisis financiera de Juanita, Frank, y millones de personas mayores. Nuestros ancianos no deberían estar haciendo la difícil elección entre comprar sus medicamentos o mantener un techo sobre sus cabezas. Ellos merecen su dignidad cuando se jubilen. ¡Es hora de que Medicare sea liberado para negociar precios de los medicamentos con receta!

Governor Martinez spent $3,000,000 on a secret audit of behavioral health providers then cut off funding for services to 30,000 patients because she claims the audit showed problems. Now she's spending another $17,000,000 to turn those services over to for-profit companies in Arizona. But the New Mexico companies say they did nothing wrong and the out-of-state company doing the audit has been accused of faulty audits before. A judge ordered Martinez, by subpoena, to turn over the secret audit to the State Auditor but she refused.

The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights, a coalition of 56 organizations, on behalf of itself and parents, students, teachers, community members, and the many civil society organizations, sent a Letter of Allegation to United Nations asking that they investigate and prevent human rights violations in Chicago. Tell the United Nations to take action to investigate and prevent human rights violations in Chicago by signing your name to the Letter of Allegation to the United Nations. A copy of the Letter of Allegation can be found at:https://www.dropbox.com/s/z6lql1l92m986s7/Letter%20of%20Allegation.docx

Schools are the heart of any town. They're what keep neighborhoods strong and bring communities together. Without adequate funding from the state, many of these schools will be shut down, and many teachers will be laid off. Tell Governor Brownback you want this to change by signing this petition.

The July 2013 military coup in Egypt and the kidnapping of a democratically-elected president and his wife represents a critical setback for democratic progress in the region and the world.If the United States is committed to democracy and respect for the rule of law, it will insist that Fatah El-Sisi and his tyrannical cohorts act in accordance with the democratic process, release all the political prisoners, stop the violence and the use of force currently being exerted without regard for human rights and modern diplomacy. In addition, we ask that all military aid be halted.

Our lawmakers should be encouraging more North Carolinians to vote, not limiting them. Under a new proposed voter ID bill, the North Carolina Legislature wants to make it harder for voters to get to the polls. On top of strict new voter ID requirements, this bill would: *shorten early voting by one week *eliminate same-day registration and provisional voting if at wrong precinct *prevent counties from offering voting on the last Saturday before the election beyond 1 p.m. *prevent counties from extending poll hours by one hour on Election Day in extraordinary circumstances (such as lengthy lines) *eliminate state-supported voter registration drives and preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds *repeal voter-owned judicial elections and straight party voting *increase the number of people who can challenge voters inside the precinct *purge voter rolls more often

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed a historic milestone in July, garnering all Democrats and three Republican votes to pass from the Senate Judiciary committee to the floor in a 15-7 vote. Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid is committed to putting the legislation on the floor. With the bill poised to face the floor, there remain but three uncommitted Democrats, Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Sen. BIll Nelson of Florida and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The time is now for these Democrats to join their colleagues across the aisle and take a strong stand in support of Federal legislation affirming all Americans deserve the Freedom to Work, no matter who they are, or who they love.

Yes i Have Been Personally Effected by This Issue My Son And I

Recently revealed massive secret surveillance programs have been defended on the grounds that national security requires them. The vast expenditures for these programs, together with the even vaster outlays for homeland security, weapons, military deployment, and clandestine activities, necessitate austerity in basic domestic programs like education, employment, environmental protection, pension support, etc. Reminding ourselves of the consequences of past delusions advanced in the name of National Security may help to drain the term of some of its ability to instill irrational fear. This would enable us to appraise more coolly claims that we surrender our civil liberties, invade other countries, make enemies, and spend ourselves into national poverty in order to ward off the specter of terrorism. The world knows about what we did in Viet Nam, but unlike the Germans who looked closely at themselves in the mirror after the fall of the Third Reich, America has never examined the moral implications of what we did to the Vietnamese, or to other nations we have invaded or subverted. The disparity between what others saw us do and what we allow ourselves to believe lies at the root of most hatred and mistrust we encounter abroad. It allows us to continue believing in the beneficence of our actions as we send young men and women into cultures they know nothing of to commit atrocities they are unable to avoid. A Truth Commission, modeled after the South African one, would lay bare what has been done in our name. Enough time has passed since the Viet Nam War for a dispassionate examination that would shed light on current calls for secrecy, clandestine activity, and war. The insights of Viet Nam veterans were often ignored when they returned home; but the vets are still with us, as are survivors of the holocaust that we inflicted on a peaceful peasant population where an estimated three million people or more died.. Although our war effort was unsuccessful, the propaganda of the National Security State was successful in many ways, and it shapes our fears, our budgets, our willingness to go to war again, and our willingness to surrender our Bill of Rights even today. We owe it to ourselves, our children, and the rest of the world to do as the Germans, South Africans, and others have done: to face the truth and allow it to slay the demons which would lead us to kill innocent people again.