With the Republican National Committee's convention starting on Tuesday in Tampa, Mayor Buckhorn needs to protect free speech by making sure City of Tampa personnel do not interfere with peaceful protests in association with Republican National Convention events.

The University System of Georgia's policy regarding academic renewal requires students to attend the same institution they dropped out of in order to achieve academic renewal, a policy that allows one semester of grades to not count against a student's final GPA after not attending college for 5 years. As over 25% of students do not return for their second year of college, this policy has the ability to negatively affect a large percentage of the population who want to be able to achieve a good GPA upon their return for their education later in life, but have moved to different states or even different areas of Georgia as adults.

I would like to see Senate and congress with term limit with they can only be in office for two terms just like the President and no one is grandfathered in. Also they need to pay into retirement and health insurance just like the every day average working person.

Candidates should be given the same amount of money, set a budget and stay within it. This would be a way to demonstrate they could understand balancing the state and federal budgets

I have a cash buyer for my short sale, which I am losing today. NationStar asked for a certain amount from the buyer, which was met…in cash. Now NationStar and Fannie Mae demand we contribute money, we don't have. We have pleaded with them, to please accept this sale. They are throwing away nearly $90,000 in cash to penalize us. In these sobering economic times, it seems frivolous for a bank to do this. We honestly have no money to give them. Therefore they have started Foreclosure proceedings against us.

The real elephant in this Presidential Election is the blatant racism attached to blocking the vote of people of color. A concerted effort has been maliciously constructed since the election of President Obama in 2008, to develop and present road blocks that would inhibit the inalienable rights of those who have and would vote again for President Obama. Let's call a spade a spade - Stand with me to expose the racism that is previlent in this campaign, and to restore the dignity and the unimpeded right of All the American people to vote.

On August 9, Governor Kitzhaber committed to protected the 13 species of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin that are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. He pointed out that the use of non-tribal commercial gill nets in the mainstem of the Columbia is inconsistent with the long term goal of protecting the recovery of these endangered fish. This proposal is a win for endangered species; conservationists; and for commercial, sports and recreational fishers. Gill nets are an outdated fishing method, indiscriminately killing marine mammals, birds, and endangered native fish alongside hatchery-reared fish targeted for harvest. The Governor has proposed eliminating gill nets from the mainstem of the Columbia River while allowing their use in off channel sites like Young’s Bay. Under the Governor’s proposal, any commercial fishing in the mainstem would have to rely on selective fishing methods that minimize mortality to ESA-listed fish. Too many times before, special interests have undermined common-sense reforms for Columbia River fisheries management. Now, those same special interests are continuing to fight progress by misleading the public about this proposal. This isn’t about river access, harvest allocations or a battle between jobs versus the environment. This is a proposal to protect wild and endangered fish. We applaud Governor Kitzhaber for recognizing this key conservation issue and for initiating much-needed action to ensure a balanced and sustainable future for the Columbia River. Take action now and sign the petition.

For the senators who didn't work for the U.S.A. but tried to make sure Obama was a 1 term president; I suggest they be tried for treason.

My heart has been personally affected by the treatment of the animals in Circuses. Elephants are highly social,intelligent animals.The babies are stolen from their protective mothers in the wild. Their spirit is broken by electric prods,whips and chains. The public is totally unaware of the abuse-Ringling Bros has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for abuse. If we stop and think about it-have we ever seen tigers jumping through hoops of fire in the wild or elephants standing on their heads?The methods used to make these wild animals do such unnatural acts is horrifying in its cruelty. In chains they live and in chains they die. A former elephant trainer, Carol Buckley, realized the cruelty and opened the now famous Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The only animals that should be in a circus are those on 2 legs,until then we are all guilty of endorsing cruelty. We must expose this cruelty to an uniformed public.

Key GOP-controlled states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, and Ohio are using questionable methods of preventing probable democrat voters--young people, old people, minorities--from voting. This is un-Amarican and the press is not on top of it. Why not? They should be.

The Homeless Advocacy Project, a Philadelphia-based non-profit, runs a nationally acclaimed program to help obtain federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for disabled and/or mentally ill homeless people. The Corbett administration just slashed state funding to this program by $722,000, ostensibly to "redirect" funds to other Department of Public Welfare programs. Cutting a well-run program that brings in federal funds to help the homeless stay off the streets makes no sense...Philadelphia residents (but also others in the state) will end up paying more in crime, incarcerations, and hospitalizations, to say nothing of the human costs. See Philadelphia Inquirer article 8/24/12 for more information

Zoo World is an extremely small "zoo" located in the tourist destination of Panama City Beach. The "zoo" is much too small for large animals, the enclosures are extremely small, and the animals look miserable, depressed and bored. Recently I pushed for the giraffe, Sydney, to have a larger enclosure. I discussed the issue with numerous people at Zoo World. One of which was the project manager and designer of the enclosures, he laughed stating "Animals do not need to move!! They move only for food and sex. Do you think they would run if they didn't have to?" They expanded the poor giraffe's enclosure by 600 square feet. The giraffe died recently and now Zoo World is raising money from the public to purchase TWO baby giraffes. This needs to stop. Zoo World is too small and doesn't have enough funds to offer this herd animal a good environment. Animals DO need exercise to stay healthy, both physically and mentally. Join us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoo-World-is-Too-Small-for-Another-Lonely-Giraffe/407840125944961?ref=hl