"Woman Stabbed Multiple Times in Middletown Bed Bath & Beyond" "16-year-old, was found shot to death in her Belgrove Avenue home in Kearny." "27-year-old Newark man, was shot on Hawthorne Avenue in Newark, six hours later, Andrew Allen, a 29-year-old from Irvington, was shot and killed on Crescent Lane in Irvington" "Authorities identify 19-year-old Jersey City man who was gunned down" "Two shot in Newark bodega on Christmas" "Police station shooting: person grabs gun and shoots 3 officers, is killed in return fire in Gloucester Township" "Front door of Jersey City man's home blasted with gun after parking dispute: police" "Report: 1 dead in Asbury Park shooting" "Drive-by shooting, robbery leave two shot in Asbury Park" THIS IS JUST A SMALL FRACTION OF THE VIOLENCE THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE HERE IN NJ IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS. PLEASE HELP TO STOP THE VIOLENCE IN NJ BY SIGNING THIS PETITION, URGING OUR STATE LEGISLATORS TO SUPPORT SENATOR RAY LESNIAK / SENATOR SHIRLEY TURNER ANTI-VIOLENCE BILL #S2340 NJ Anti-Violence Coalition / National United Youth Council Chairman Salaam Ismial (215) 316-7952

For years now Portland Public Schools has been systematically closing down its neighborhood schools, primarily those serving students and families of color. Last year they closed 2 schools. This year they are preparing to close yet another one. This practice undermines public education, segregates schools and tears neighborhoods apart. If PPS truly believes in equity like it claims to, school closures are NOT a solution!

Yes, I am affected, we need a raise. We work hard for our students and have not had a raise in 5 years. Please help us.

I believe my home went to foreclosure in an unethical/illegal term.

Can we open a window at the DMV for Firearms Licenses? Require gun owners to take a written and practical firearms safety test? Renew these licenses every 5 years?

I am a user of the chat network IMVU, which recently implemented a restriction on links in the Pulse feed. This is a direct violation of freedom of expression and should be reconsidered.

Flame Retardants are toxic industrial products used in furniture, mattress, toys, electronics and clothes. These products are toxic and carcinogenic. Kids are especially vulnerable to the toxic effects of these industrial chemicals.

It is time to have a person like this as we are coming out of our adolescence and need to begin defining what American culture is about, instead of letting others tell us what we are. So many of our friends even have a negative attitude about our culture, or lack of it. This is the proper area for the discussion of whether we are or are not a violent nation and do we now need to define ourselves in a new light. Everyone assumes they know what culture is, but I doubt everyone can define it, at least in our American context. The nation needs to focus on our life here and now as well as the future, and what we would like it to be. I think we need a lot of small discussion groups about this topic and then begin to support/educate ourselves.

There must be safe and legal access to medicine (cannabis) for qualified medical patients. Please support patient's rights and create a brokerage and clearing house system which will offer this safe access that is so desperately needed. This system would entail a state-run clearing house which will collect taxes from growers that day, and be able to offer product to qualified dispensaries that day. Please consider this during this upcoming legislative session.

Although the gun legislation proposed by President Obama would ban the sale of assault weapons, many people already own such weapons which could be used in criminal activities. The complete second amendment states "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In the absence of a "well-regulated militia" the right to own any kind of "gun" is clearly questionable.

Due to the lack of action from the 112th Congress on postal reform legislation, The United States Postal Service is fast-tracking closing processing centers across the U.S. There will be employee lay-offs at a time when the U.S. is in need of good paying jobs, and it will slow down the processing of mail throughout the United States.

This petition is in regard to the fact that nowhere in the Federal Constitution does it explictly indicate that the people have a right to a government that operates in an effective and efficient manner which achieves the intended porpose of the program. This not an attempt at Jeffersonian little government, rather, a mandate for responsible government.