My nephew and all other aviators connected with his mission fly KC 135 Tankers (Boeing 707) which, since 2008, do not include parachutes for the crew. Our aviators and our airmen are at risk of intentionally being sacrificed! How can this be?

North Carolina is enjoying unprecedented growth in Feature Film, TV series and Commercial productions as a direct result of our competitive, easy-to-navigate, profitable and sustainable Film Incentive Program. Thousands of jobs have been created and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in North Carolina towns from the Atlantic coast to the mountains in the West. Now, our Program is under DIRECT THREAT as lawmakers consider pulling the Film Incentive under a sweeping "reform" platform that will literally drive a billion dollar industry to neighboring states like Georgia, where a stable program has helped to build a billion-dollar industry. If our Film Incentive Program is allowed to lapse or if it is capped and bogged-down in bureaucracy, productions will simply find friendlier markets (like Atlanta) for their work. The departure will be nearly instantaneous. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS SPENT ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA... Since the Film Incentive Program started in 2010, nearly $500M has already been driven directly into every corner of North Carolina. These taxable production dollars immediately benefit vendors who supply goods and services to the productions wherever they work throughout the state. Restaurants, hotels, antique shops, catering interests, clothing stores, furniture outlets, car rental agencies, lumber and hardware companies are just a few examples of the established brick-and-mortar businesses that directly benefit from increased business due to the current Film Incentive Program. See annual reports here: http://www.ncfilm.com/incentive-reports.html JOBS... Since 2010, thousands of crew positions have been created, along with many more acting roles. With over 14,000 jobs and positions recorded in 2012, more North Carolinians are at work than ever before in the filmed-entertainment industry. Entertainment jobs are REAL JOBS. As it is in other industries (like construction or the IT Industry), producers, directors, actors, actresses and trades professionals may have more employers in a given year than their neighbors do. And they're working hard - it isn't uncommon for these creative professionals to log more than 2400 cumulative hours in a given year (compared to about 2,000 for an office employee)! Filmed-entertainment employees pay taxes and buy homes and put their kids in local schools. AND... THEY VOTE. The only difference is that they just happen to work around a camera instead of in a cubicle or behind a counter. LURING PERMANENT BUSINESS AND JOBS BY CREATING THE MARKET... Repealing the January 1, 2015 Sunset from our current Film Incentive Program will tell producers, studios and networks that North Carolina is truly (and permanently) open for their business. Once our program is finally stable, North Carolina will see infrastructure improvements (studios, post-production houses, et-cetera) and permanent jobs as companies flock to our state to service the incoming productions. No meaningful investment and infrastructure improvements will come to our State (solid-line business) if the productions (dotted-line business) taking advantage of the Film Incentive Program stop working in North Carolina. That is a cold, hard FACT. DON'T FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN... It is very important that North Carolina lawmakers know that the current Film Incentive Program is effective and that THE SPIRIT OF THE EXISTING LEGISLATION (HB 1973; HB 713) MUST NOT BE ALTERED. Adding caps and unnecessary bureaucracy (project oversight, script approvals, et-cetera) would immediately make our popular (yet by most measures, conservative), Film Incentive Program less competitive and would drive business to other markets. In places like Michigan and Florida, unnecessary hurdles and false ceilings repel production business. North Carolina is SMARTER and our message to lawmakers is simple: Film Incentives Put North Carolina To Work - REPEAL THE JANUARY 1, 2015 SUNSET TODAY!!! Friend Us. Tag Yourself in Our Banner. Share! https://www.facebook.com/KeepNCFilmIncentives

I live in Washington, DC, not a state, not part of a state. I have no representation in the Senate or House and my vote can be over-ruled by representatives of states with fewer voters than DC. I live in the only country in the world where the citizens of the capital have fewer rights than people outside the capital. Many of us feel like we have been sidelined and have no voice in the current political discourse.

I am apalled to learn how horrible the fur industry really is. Its bad enough that animals are legally trapped, a slow and painful death, because some desire the 'clothes' off their backs. Now, I have learned that the fur industry condones the skinning of LIVE animals! I recently saw a video from PETA, which made me literally ill. Animals kept in cages and brought out, tied to a pole and the skin pulled off of them while they scream with the pain. A gruesome death, for sure. They don't deserve that. How is this allowed? Please tell our leaders to outlaw torturing animals for ANY reason!

Free Trade is not Fair Trade, it sends dollars abroad.

When we complain about the pollution of our Global environment by the fossil-fuel-burning manufacturers, are we willing to examine our contribution to this when we purchase what they produce?!

Having to wait on benefits for Medical Insurance 25 months before insurance is granted for people who are on disability . we should be concerned because many can not afford insurance and can not go to all treatments needed. I am personally affected by this issue . and several other people I know. Pre exising condition insurance very high . some I am sure die . and if we can get treatment sooner some people may be able to go back to work and save a lot of Government money in the long run. waiting to long for the treatments can be very risky to many ! Thank You and God Bless America .

You have signed a bill that closed all the Arcades in Florida this put 18000 people out of work and possibly on unemployment, he did not help the working class or the employers, also the senior citizens that enjoyed their happy moments with their friends at these arcades. What was he thinking helping the Casinos and his crowneys in Talahasee,

On July 1, 2013 any college student taking out a new, federally subsidized student loan will pay an interest rate of 6.8%; that is double the 3.4% interest rate students now pay and more than 9 times the rates big banks pay for their loans. Senator Warren’s bill would reduce student loan interest rates to 0.75%, the same level the Federal Reserve offers to big banks. US students already hold more than $1 trillion in student loan debt and the amount of student loan debt for students under age 25 has doubled in less than a decade, from $10,649 in 2003 to $20,326 in 2012. Average student loan debt for New Mexico students is in line with national averages – between $22,000 & $25,000 per student. New Mexico’s student loan delinquency rate, however, was 14.1% in the first quarter of 2012 – seventh highest among states. Students at New Mexico’s top universities have also seen their tuitions increase by over 120% during the last 15 years.

H&M is opening a new store in Boulder, Colorado at the 29th Street shopping center. Recently, a factory making clothes for H&M collapsed in Bangladesh, crushing more than 900 people to death. H&M's corporate values do not match our local values. Keep them out of Boulder.

Big banks pay a rock-bottom interest rate of 0.75 percent on loans from the Federal Reserve. That's in comparison to student loan rates, which are set to double to 6.8 percent this summer. The same big banks that were responsible for our nation's financial collapse are being rewarded by the Federal Reserve, while students who want to invest in themselves are being punished. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced The Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act to help address this inequality and make it easier for students to pay for college. Sign the petition now and stand with Senator Warren.

When visiting a few memorials the weekend.. it's becoming very obvious that security is few and far between. They have even closed a few of the tourist attractions due to NO security. We need our monuments open and the public to feel safe when visiting the Nations Capitol or anywhere else. We want an end to the Sequestration.