Community Education Task Force (CETF) members have asked that the Rochester Board of Education compel Comissioner Mary Adams to issue an apology for behavior unbecoming of an elected official. I urge you to sign this letter in support of Commissioner Adams' right to due process and in opposition to the the dubious tactics employed by CETF in pursuing their grievance.

RESOLUTION OF U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS WHEREAS, Americans believe that women should be able to consult with their doctor, family, and faith about personal, private medical decisions; and WHEREAS, states enacted twice as many anti-choice laws in 2011 as they did in the previous year, including laws that force women who choose abortion care to undergo a forced ultrasound procedure against their will and even if their doctors do not recommend one; and WHEREAS, eight states since 2010 have enacted laws that ban abortion at 20 weeks, regardless of the women’s situation, without exceptions to protect her health, and in violation of the right to privacy guaranteed under Roe v. Wade; and WHEREAS, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to defund Title X, the only federal program exclusively dedicated to family-planning and reproductive-health care, and Planned Parenthood, jeopardizing access to birth control, cancer screenings, and other basic health care for millions of Americans; and WHEREAS, the U.S. House of Representatives also passed a bill that could spur the Internal Revenue Service to audit rape survivors who choose abortion care and another bill that would allow hospitals to refuse emergency abortion care to women who could die without it; and WHEREAS, the debate around women’s access to reproductive-health services, like contraception, has drawn offensive rhetoric; and WHEREAS, reproductive-health care and the overwhelming majority of services provided by Planned Parenthood health centers is basic health care for women, including cancer screenings and breast exams; and WHEREAS, for many women with limited incomes, Planned Parenthood clinics are their point of entry into the health care system and their ongoing source of primary care services; and WHEREAS, if these services disappear, more women are likely to contract diseases that will imperil their lives and lead to highly expensive Medicaid and Medicare bills borne by taxpayers; and WHEREAS, these programs are essential to reducing rates of unintended pregnancy and preventing the increase of the number of women with cervical and breast cancers who are not diagnosed until the cancers are in the late stages; and NOW THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors affirms the importance of women’s reproductive rights; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors urges Congress and the states to pursue a positive agenda that reaffirms fundamental rights and improves women’s access to safe and comprehensive reproductive-health care. RESOLUTION ADOPTED JUNE 2012

There is no polite way to avoid it. Our waters are in need of some straight talk about an unsavory subject: Chicken poop. And lots of it. Polluting the Chesapeake Bay. Every single year. We can't avoid it because every year, factory farms raise hundreds of millions of chickens in Maryland. The millions of pounds of manure from those birds continue to be one of the biggest sources of pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. Pollution from all those chickens and other sources creates a vast dead zone in the Bay each year where fish and wildlife perish. Use this petition to send a message to the EPA telling them to keep factory farm manure from polluting Maryland's waters and the Chesapeake Bay. Right now, agricultural runoff containing nitrogen, phosphorous, pathogens and hormones is contaminating the Bay's tributaries like the Choptank River and threatening Marylanders' health. That's why we're calling on the EPA to require that all giant factory farms (or concentrated animal feeding operations, aka "CAFOs") be held accountable for their runoff and obtain a permit to pollute. Sign our petition now and keep Big Ag's waste out of our waters. You'd think giant agribusiness polluters like Perdue wouldn't be chicken about taking responsibility for their waste. But Big Ag and mega-chicken and hog operations across the Bay’s watershed are fighting tooth and nail to use our waterways as their personal sewer system. Thanks to the polluters' squawking, the EPA halted a measure earlier this year to better identify and monitor giant factory farms. This was a big set back for the recovery of the Chesapeake Bay. We can't let that happen again. If enough people send the EPA the message to limit pollution from factory farms, we can take a huge step forward towards protecting the health of our waters. It's going to take your help, but I'm confident we can cut the chicken crud and keep the Chesapeake Bay on a path to restoration.

Staffer's partaking in the Tomahawk" rally after the debate between the Senator and Elizabeth Warren should be fired. They are government employees, consequently paid by taxpayers. Their actions were intolerable as government employees of a US senator- no matter the political party of a member of the US Congress.

Theodore Scott won Gold Peak Tea's Take The Year Off Contest for $100,000. Theodore was later disqualified by Gold Peak Tea/Coca Cola because they alleged that Theodore violated a particular section of their contest rules which was to say at least ambiguous, vague, and overly broad (in which one Coca Cola high level personnel admitted to the ambiguity). Theodore refuted the claim that he violated the rule in question, however, Gold Peak Tea/Coca Cola did not relinquish their position because they wanted to protect the image of their company. When Theodore pointed out to Gold Peak Tea/Coca Cola officials that the other contestants including the new designated winner violated explicit and expressed rules, Gold Peak Tea did not act on this information and did not disqualify these contestants for their rule violations. Many people have been extremely hurt and outraged over the way Theodore Scott was mistreated by Gold Peak Tea/Coca Cola and are now calling for justice. We're asking people to sign this petition and stand up to the injustice that was done to Theodore Scott. Follow our cause at https://www.twitter.com/GoTeamTheodore.

The Gulf Coast didn’t need another reminder of the critical need for coastal restoration as Hurricane Isaac rolled through–but the emergence of BP oil along our coastlines provided that reminder. It’s been 16 months since the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees and BP announced an agreement to provide $1 billion towards early restoration projects, yet the trustees have only allocated $60 million to projects. We’d like to know–what is taking so long? Keep BP accountable–tell them to move forward with restoration of our coast! Currently, the project selection has been occurring in a black box with little opportunity for public input. In November 2011, the Gulf Future Coalition released Sunshine on the Gulf, a report that outlines the need for transparency and public participation in the restoration project selection process, as well as putting forth a framework for evaluating many of the proposed early restoration projects. This report has been lost on BP as they continue to drag their heels, and stall the path to the restoration of our coast. Send a message to BP that we need transparency and public input to ensure the full repair of the damage to our coast.

After more than a century as a colony of the U.S., Puerto Rico deserves a serious approach in the part of the President and Congress to solve our political status. We are tired of the the usual spiel or litany that we have to take action first and decide what we want. No, we need to know what are you willing to accept as a non-territorial status to conform the policy of the United Nations. Then we will conduct a plebiscite with the options acceptable to you. Results will be transmitted immediately for final action.

My friend, Rachel Ronan, was wrongfully terminated after telling her work, Super Cuts in Mandeville, LA, that she would need time off to say goodbye to her son, a US Marine- who was to be deployed to Libya.

my petition is about the 120,000 black and Latino boys of ages 14-18 stopped and searched that many times by New York police

Stop the pipeline at the border. DO NOT install it piecemeal inside the U.S. DO NOT destroy our country to make a Canadian corporation more wealthy.

Stop the pipeline at the border. DO NOT install it piecemeal inside the U.S. DO NOT distroy our country to make a Canadian corporation more wealthy.

"Some" candidates ads have no regard for the truth, in their efforts to win at ANY cost. This attitude undermines democracy and serves the interests of dishonest people, at the expense of "the 99%" of the American Public. Before the next presidential election, we need to handle this situation. The League of Women Voters sponsors presidential "debates". Let's petition them to sponsor a "Responsible for Your Ads" event in which the candidates address EACH of their opponents' ads -- and defend their ads -- with fact-checkers present. "I approved this message," is not enough. An "accountable for your ads" event will compel political campaigns to clean up their act and so help clean up politics.