Those of us who have contributed FICA taxes throughout our working years would be very disappointed if Social Security benefits (not entitlements) are a part of ANY negotiations before you. Remember, WE WORKED HARD TO HAVE YOU RE-ELECTED. Do not let us down by bowing to the losers.

Too many members of congress have been cowed for far too long by the powerful gun lobby – we must join together to give them the encouragement and the backbone to do the right thing. We proved in the last election that when we stand together and speak out, YES WE CAN defeat the big money interests in this country.

Any senior with assets over $1,000,000 can afford not to receive $15,000 year in SS benefits. Let them pass that money back into Social Security to keep the fund alive for senior to come.

It has been estimated that 30-40% of the money we pay for goods goes to interest, which goes directly to banks. With a publicly owned bank, the interest would go to the State of Oregon, creating more funding for services like roads and schools and opening the possibility of lowering property taxes and/or state income taxes. The publicly owned bank model has proved effective in North Dakota, the only state to escape the 2008 banking crisis, with sizable budget surpluses every year since then.

A dangerous TV show that promotes violence and fear.

This petition is about limiting those who serve as Congressmen and Senators to two terms. That will force whoever runs to get things done instead of only working for their own gain. No pensions, no crazy medical coverage. Let them come out and work like the rest of us and pay for their own health insurance and pension plans. No more career politicians. Enough is enough. People who run should work for the good of their country and not their own personal gain.

Every opportunity to air the video of Anthony Abbate beating Karolina Obrycka, WGN TV News airs it over and over again. Whether it relates to the case itself (on any small level) or if one or the other of the Abuser or Victim is in the news, WGN continues to show it. This incident occured in September of 2007. It is emotionally offensive to anyone who has been effected by Domestic Violence and is no longer necessary to visually be subjected to watching her brutal beating..

In November 2012, more Americans voted for Democrats than for Republicans for United States House of Representatives. Yet Republicans retain control of the majority of seats in the House. This is because of the way boundaries were drawn, giving more safe seats to one party and wasting more votes for another party, while excluding small parties like Greens and Libertarians. It is time for democracy in the United States of America.

The citizens of the United States of America have the right to know who owns guns in their communities. Whether it be the apartment above you or the neighbor across the street, we have the right to know that a deadly weapon exists within our comfort zone. School officials also have the right to know if a student's family has an arsenal in their home. Police have the right to know if a family member is armed when they approach a home, especially in cases of domestic violence. We have the right to know if a home is safe before we send our children over to a friend's house to play.

Being one of the many retirees in this age, we have paid into this system all our lives, since we began working some of us as early as 16 yrs old while in school. We deserve to be able to have SS and Medicare available for us when we need it! All of us were not as fortunate as others to retire from a high paying job with benefits to have enough to live on and have medical care. This is what we paid for to have SS & Medicare! It should not be cut at all! Find the cuts elsewhere.

Home owners today are encouraged to refinance their mortgages to the new, lower rates in the 3% range. I am a homeowner with a 30 year near perfect credit rating and a 30 year exemplary work history. My job was eliminated due to a corporate global restructure. I have been denied the lower interest rate even though I am not even close to being underwater (I made a substantial down payment). Most people takes jobs at a lower wage once they get a new job, or some are boomers (that's me) hoping to embark on a second career which requires going back to school to learn something new. It makes no sense at all for banks to deny a refinance as they already have a loan with me. I am not a new risk, I'm not even a credit risk. Banks say they do not consider severance pay as income, unless you are an executive and get a 3 year severance package, and they do not consider unemployment as income, nor will they consider money saved in a 401IK Plan as collateral. This is unfair. Banks have used my tax dollars for their bail out and they should be required to refinance existing mortgages when their is no risk of loss to them. Fact is, banks make money off of foreclosing on people, so rather than help homeowners, thereby helping the USA to get out of this recession, they lay in wait like vultures. Sign my petition and let's require banks to refinance mortgages when it can be proved that there is no risk of loss for them.

Wal-Mart can make a good-faith effort to help stop the kind of violence we saw in Newtown, CT: by joining Dick's Sporting Goods in voluntarily stopping sales of assault weapons, which belong in war, not in our communities. As reported by Bloomberg News on December 19, 2012, "Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, said yesterday that it would continue to sell guns, including rifles like the one used at Newtown, where 26 people, most of them children, were killed on Dec. 14. Searches of five kinds of semi-automatic rifles on Wal-Mart’s website showed them to be out of stock at stores in five states, including Pennsylvania, Kansas and Alabama...Wal-Mart has about 10 modern sporting rifles, the gun industry’s term for firearms that look like an M-16 military rifle, listed on its website. The retailer removed a description and picture of the Bushmaster AR-15, which was the model used in Newtown, after the shootings." Why not remove the rest of these other dangerous models? Please do put public safety ahead of profit, and stop selling assault weapons.