Some people very close to me have lived in the shadows for over fifteen years.

Partisan extremists in the General Assembly have just rammed through legislation designed to make it harder for Virginians to vote. The proposed legislation does nothing to combat voter fraud and is nothing more than an attempt to suppress voter turnout. These efforts need to be stopped. Newspapers across the Commonwealth have berated the Republicans’ attack on voting rights as "a throwback to the Jim Crow era," "an impediment to voting that would adversely affect poor, elderly and minority voters," and "a burden on citizens who are homebound, disabled, deployed in the military, away at college or otherwise unable to vote in person." These proposed laws would limit the forms of acceptable voter identification, adding obstacles for many voters. Governor McDonnell himself has acknowledged that the current system works. We should not make it more difficult for people to vote.

On one Friday night in the United States more people are killed by firearms than are killed in a whole year in Japan where guns in the general public are illegal. It is time to catch up with the more modern countries of the world by passing a Constitutional Amendment that would ban firearms in the general public. Law enforcement officers, guards and people serving in the military would be exempt. Let's find out where America really stands on this issue.

The House of Representatives has held President Barack Obama and America hostage for the two terms of his Presidency. They should no-longer be allowed to be paid their salaries or compensation out of the Treasury of the United States: they are not doing their job, therefore the taxpayers should not be responsible for paying their salaries. House Representatives are in-violation of our constitutional rights. The Constitution says: "We the people of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and extablish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The House of Representatives has held President Barack Obama and America hostage for the two terms of his Presidency. They should no-longer be allowed to be paid their salaries or compensation out of the Treasury of the United States: they are not doing their job, therefore the taxpayers should not be resposible for paying their salaries. House Representatives are in-violation of our constitutional rights. The Constitution says: "We the people of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and extablish this Constitution for the United States of America."

A very dear friend of mine Jillian Holder was charged and convicted with complicity of murder and complicity to attempted murder in 2001. She was sentenced under the Ohio Revised Code 2923.03 (sub section (F) that states, “Whoever violates this section is guilty of complicity in the commission of an offense, and shall be prosecuted and punished as if he were a principal offender. A charge of complicity may be stated in terms of this section or in terms of the principal offense”. Though she did not murder no one or attempt to murder anyone she was given a punishment just as sever. This is not a question of punishment but one of what is the right punishment. Laws are made to protect us and a fare sentence of punishment should be a priority.

The effects of chained CPI benefit cuts will be cumulative. They will be felt at an age when women most need the help. As our other meager resources have diminished or been spent down, our Social Security benefits will be critical to our ability to live independently. But our Social Security benefits will not have keep pace with inflation. Married women outlive their spouses and may be on their own when the effects of the chained CPI kick in. Therefore, these cuts to Social Security will fall disproportionately on elderly women - single, divorced, widowed, .

NO PROTECTION FOR THOSE WITH A DEFAULTED PRIVATE STUDENT LOAN.

When 20 kids were murdered December 14 at Sandy Hook, six teachers died trying to shield them from a Bushmaster XM15-E assault-type rifle with 30-round clips. Guns like this shouldn’t be available to just anyone. Our safety is at stake: Statistics show that more Americans have lost their lives to gun violence – just since 1968 -- than in all American wars combined. In the U.S. 200 people go to emergency rooms every day for gun shot wounds, and 85 people are killed, 53 through suicide. Bloomberg (Dec. 19, 2012) predicts that by 2015, firearms deaths in the U.S. will exceed traffic deaths. Cars are licensed and required to have safety feature, and we train new drivers. Guns are deadly. This is serious business. That’s why I want you to sign my petition to our Kansas Representatives. They need to hear your position on enforcing existing gun regulations and be open to new measures to assure that gun buying, selling, and operating are done responsibly and taken as seriously as we take our lives.

Keep guns away from irresponsible and crazy people

The Florida Legislature is meeting today to vote on privatization of Medicaid. This will have a serious detrimental effect on those who rely on these programs for health care. In addition, this may be the "pilot program" to privatization of other programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Over the last two decades there’s been a steady shift in the tax burden in Philly from the rich to the poor. Business taxes have been cut for giant corporations, including many that aren’t even located in Philadelphia. The wage tax has been cut in a way that makes benefits bigger the richer you are. Meanwhile City Council has repealed a wage tax cut for the working poor. Also the sales tax has increased to 8%, badly hurting ordinary working people. And property taxes have increased 3 times since 2010. Those hikes have hurt poor homeowners and have been passed on to tenants throughout the City. Next year homeowners and tenants may get hit by another big tax increase while many of the biggest commercial property owners like Franklin Mills and Liberty Place actually get tax cuts. The large non-profit universities and hospitals –- like Penn, Temple, Drexel and the big hospitals—get the biggest breaks of all. They own many of the 10.3% of tax-exempt properties in Philly, a proportion larger than in any other US city, and they will continue paying nothing, not even for commercial activities and properties that they rent out for profit. The Mayor and Council must shift the burden of taxes away from poor and working people to make big business, and big “nonprofits” pay for the services that all the city residents need.