Please out the draft Pacific trade deal (TPP) as the unfree and secretly written stinker that it is - unless you're a corporate CEO. We don't want to grant new patent privileges and restrict internet freedom, and we don't want private citizens negotiating or writing our trade agreements.

I feel that individuals smoking in vehicles are just as distracted as cell phone users. They are also responsible for numerous fires alongs our nations highways by flicking cigarettes and ashes out of the vehicle. There are also health concerns involving children and other people that ride in the same vehicle as a smoker. I have have been rear ended by a driver who dropped her cigarette and was trying to retreive it and hit me.

To get 9/11 and religious tolerance day a federal hoilday.

When Clint Eastwood delivered his "Prime Time" speech, he made more news for "talking to an empty chair" than his "Racist Lynching gesture" to President Obama. The Producers of the GOP convention did a great job of editing out his "Racist Lynching Gesture" but my DVR caught it. http://youtu.be/XRnRN69LK-c?hd=1 I am asking you to watch this video and demand Clint Eastwood apologize to President Obama and for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to stand up against RACISM and not condone it like they have with their SILENCE!! Sign this petition so we can send a message to Clint, Paul, and Mitt. Racism is not acceptable in any form.

On Sunday, the Chicago Teachers Union announced the first Chicago teacher's strike in almost 25 years. They are fighting against school privatization, closures, and stagnant wages. Ninety-eight of our Chicago schools don't have playgrounds, and 160 schools don't have libraries at all. Forty percent of our schools do not have full time art and music programs, and the entire system is desperately lacking support staff, including counselors and school nurses. The lack of investment in schools is bad for teachers—but it's devastating for our children. As the parent of two children in the Chicago Public Schools, I stand with the Chicago public school teachers.

Amazon.com, the largest online retailer in the world, stopped selling dolphin and whale meat. Why can't Yahoo put the same policy in place for all its sites around the world--including Japan? The Humane Society International and Environmental Investigation Agency have not been able to convince Yahoo to change despite evidence of meat contaminated with high levels of mercury and sometimes from animals protected by the International Whaling Commission.

Hurricane Isaac dumped nearly a foot of rain on New Orleans, but the system of levee pumps, walls, and gates appeared to withstand one of the stiffest challenges yet. Isaac arrived seven years after Hurricane Katrina and passed slightly to the west of New Orleans, where the city’s fortified levee system easily handled the assault. Meanwhile, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. needs $2.2 trillion in investments to bring its infrastructure into adequate shape, including $100 billion to repair levees. Extending the Bush tax breaks for the rich would make America’s already precarious infrastructure situation worse.

A reduction of 25% in the non-violent prison population would save Pennsylvania $400 million dollars a year. We are asking Governor Corbett and the Pennsylvania legislature to reduce the prison population by 25% in 2013 and then immediately utilize the savings to rehire teachers and public workers and fund vital social services.

To assist the local people in promoting eco-touristism in our Island without constrictive Methodologies or restrictive Regulatory policies for current and future generations.

The Founding Fathers of this country did not intend for elected representatives to be lifers in congress. We need a grass roots referendum that ALL elected officials, no matter what branch of the legislative community they serve, be allowed MORE than 12 years in their seat (that's two House of Representative terms and 3 Senatorial terms).

People who serve in the active military should not have to pay income tax. They pay with their lives, and there is no amount of money that this country can collect for such a sacrifice.

Due to the onslaught of political advertising in print, on air, and via TV commercials it appears that there should be some sort of guidelines set as to the truthfulness of their content. Many voters do not have the time to research whether the information contained within these ads are truthful, half-truths, or downright lies. Since determining who receives the trust of this country's voters depends greatly upon the information disseminated within these ads, it stands to reason that they should be held to the highest standards in terms of honesty.