I've been a mother for 14 months now and a restaurant patron for a whole lot longer. Any parent of a baby will tell you that when you are eating out, there is a high probability that the baby will need a diaper change before the meal is over. Since my son was born, my husband and I have encountered numerous challenges when it comes to diaper changes because of a lack of changing stations in restaurant bathrooms. When there is a changing station, it is most likely only in the women's restroom, leaving the woman to be the only one to have to get up from the meal to change the baby or leaving a single dad without a place to go at all. The lack of changing stations is challenging and frustrating, especially when eating in a "family friendly" restaurant. And the location of diaper changing stations only being in the female restroom is not only extremely sexist, but also a hindrance to fathers. If a father is single, widowed, gay, or just out to eat with his child alone, he has nowhere to change the baby's diaper. My suggestion is to require that all restaurants, especially family friendly ones, install diaper changing stations in both the women's and men's restrooms. They don't take up a lot of space and they might even bring in more business, making it a truly family-friendly establishment.

Student loans are owned by the United States government and should be free of interest. Now that this form of debt has topped $1,000,000,000 (Trillion) it hardly seems like a good way to reward those who seek the education required to compete in today's global markets. Students and their families are profoundly affected by this debt and it is affecting the futures of our youth and their families by saddling them with untenable debt before they even get out of the starting gate. With no interest these debts will vanish earlier and put these dollars to work on building families. This should be done immediately and retroactively.

There is only one way to solve the gay marriage issue. We need to separate marriage from the government. Let churches marry whom the may according to their beliefs, but get government out of the marriage business altogether. Religious issues and civil rights cannot and should not be decided by vote, thus both sides of the gay marriage argument have nothing further to argue about.

As a Mom of four grown children raised without vaccines & allopathic medicines prescribed by conventional MD's, I know that people can & will be healthier through natural means: holistic nutrition for prevention and natural treatments by qualified professionals would eliminate 90% of dis-eases afflicting too many people including children. It pains me to see young parents dealing with chronic illness in their children that could so easily be prevented or treated with natural means. Millions of Americans already choose holistic professionals & treatments because they work better with no harmful side effects. This "better" medicine should be a choice available to all.

We've been watching jobs get outsourced overseas for decades by the very same companies that are getting tax breaks and bailouts to keep them competitive. We need to incentivize domestic job creation, and remove incentives not tied to job creation.

The Republicans have stated that we need to be energy independent, but then want to export our non-renewable energy supplies.

Since passed by a Republican Congress and President Bush, it has been illegal to get FDA approved cheaper brand name medications from Canadian pharmacies. $900,000,000 in lobbying costs have rewarded international pharmacies billions of dollars in revenue at the expense of Americans needing meds and taxpayers paying the health insurance of millions of federal,state and local workers. As a physician, I know the financial burden is too high for Americans.

Paul Ryan lied about the closing of the GM plant in Janesville, saying Obama was responsible when it happened before Obama even took office.

Energy companies that are pulling out natural gas using hydraulic fracturing leave behind known cancer causing chemicals. These companies need to justify the use of these chemicals in the process and be held accountable when this time bomb goes off.

It's about providing SEED MONEY to Americans who come up with bright, new ideas that will profit the individual, the community and the Nation.

All local, state and national elections should be limited to 6 months maximum from the date a candidate announces his/her candidacy to the date of the actual election. This limited amount of time would emphasize the issues instead of denigrating the opponent's character. Elected officials would have more time to actually govern.

From André Mulligan a very important a must read, can I live? The days of being a black man in Louisville, KY is now at a point of fearing for your life. Where the police can do as they please! Last night, some friends and I were sitting outside of Club 116 located between 1st and 2nd on Main St. When a police car drove past speeding, I yelled out ”slow down”, right then and there the officer stopped and asked me to put my hands on top of his squad car. As I walk up to do as he asked while placing my hands on top of the car I asked “what did I do”? He then asked did I have an ID, now taken I had just took it out of my pocket and it was sitting in my vehicle I stated “no”. He then said you’re under arrest for public intoxication, not knowing I had not had a drink at all. While placing my hands behind my back, several in the crowded yelled give him a Breathalyzer test. He then yelled" your resisting arrest and I was like sir I’m not and he stepped over with his right leg and drove me to the pavement. Once on the ground he yelled let your hands go, but I didn’t have them anymore they were behind my back but he wasn’t reaching for my hands and he then reached over and punched me in my face with his right hand. Placing a knee over my neck, he waited until another officer ran up, who began trying to push the crowd back who was watching this injustice happen right there in their face. However, he then began threatening the crowd to be tased if they didn’t put away their cells phones. They the officers than picked me up and smashed my head in the back window of the trunk and grabbed me and threw me in on my face in the squad car. Once I was in, I yelled to the officer, "You’re a sorry ass cop” and he then says “Oh yell”. Opens the car door back up and jumped in on top of me and began to punch me in my face again. The second officer with a gray shirt then ran on the other side grabbing my neck and began to twist it. Once I noticed what was going on, I yelled to him why are you trying to break my neck, yelling out loud as he twisted and cranked for 45 sec before reaching under my head as him and the other office played tug of war with one grabbing my feet and one my head trying to hurt me as much as possible. However coming to an end the officer with the gray shirt walked around to the other side and put a seat belt on me and both officer drove up to the light at 2nd in main and one yells in the car window to the other and says “This nigga is crazy" the officer in the other car said “Hey, you wanna take him somewhere” and knowing that they were being tailed the officer driving me declined the offer. Pulling up to lock up, i was met by some 5 white police officers that all rushed to aid of their Klan style beating that their officers did to me only to be met by the sergeant who began taking pictures of me and asking some questions of what happen. Declaring it will now be an internal affairs case. Black people in Louisville, I feared for my life last night, I really thought that I wasn’t going to live another day at the hands of the police and if they had their way I would be dead! I have a mild head concussion, a broken nose and a sprained thumb. I’m a great citizen and I love my city, but we have to get these police out. They are suppose to serve and protect, they are supposed to read you your rights? Which I received none. I’m sick of this hurt, I’m of being treated like a nobody, like a nigga, like an ant. Well it’s time to start voting these mayors and judges and captains out of office. We are the citizens and us as blacks need to come together, build together, and stop this injustice.