The FY2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill includes a rider which would require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for Monsanto and other biotech companies to plant or cultivate genetically engineered crops without an Environmental Impact Statement being completed. This ceding of authority to a private corporation puts our farmers and food supply at risk.

Elected government officials should be made to purchase health care on the open market like they think self employed Americans should. Whether you are in favor of the health care bill passed by congress or not, certainly temporary government servants do not deserve to get better health care than most working Americans who must pay their bills..

At LeCroy Career Technical Center where I work in Clanton, AL, I collect all the plastic, aluminum, paper, glass and cardboard that I can. My husband and I recycle all of it at a recycling center near us. Still, plastic is the largest problem. This is not just a local problem or a national problem; this is a GLOBAL problem. As I write this, the number of water bottles used in the U.S. each year encircle the Earth 150 times if laid end-to-end. Less than 25% of them are recycled. There are patches of plastic the size of Texas floating around in our oceans AND each bottle takes 500 million years to decompose.

There are NO technical or functional barriers to Residential solar in Washington State. Red tape and competing bureaucracies add significant costs. The process must be streamlined to reduce costs. As it stands Utilities, Labor and Industries, and local governments are the major impediments to clean energy and green jobs in this sector of Washington's economy.

In Columbus, Ohio, there are camera "lights" where a picture of your car is being taken when you "go through" yellow and then red lights. The objective would seem to be safety of drivers -- this rule has made me completely paranoid -- I now do not go through yellow and (therefore) red lights -- I refuse to cross the restricted area (notices are provided where camera lights appear); in other words, I refuse to cross where the time is not given when the light will be changing. I don't feel I am the only one getting very upset not only with the money being paid out from citizens, but also the fact that there is little, if any, learning taking place. I have received two tickets in the past four years and with either ticket did I know what I did wrong or how to correct the situation to make my driving safer for myself and others.

I am a child of holocaust survivors whose family was decimated by the German government. In 1933, the German government started to limit minorities' civil liberties including their right to vote. It was a dangerous path then as it is today. Our Democracy can not survive if the GOP's efforts to exclude peoples right to vote is ignored. Every American should be alarmed.

Right now, my state is spending millions of dollars to steal companies from your state, while your state is doing the same thing to mine. This bizarre system is called "economic development," and its sole beneficiary is big corporations, which use it to extort further tax breaks from local communities, the state and the nation. And if the corporations play their cards right and wangle enough goodies, they may not have to pay any tax at all, as we have seen in recent years. Unfortunately, no state can afford to unilaterally disarm in this sick game for fear of losing. Meanwhile, the public doesn't seem to realize how much of its funds are being eaten up in this corporate welfare shell game. People tend to believe our public money goes to welfare cheats, unproductive poor people and crack addicts, when the truth is that our tax monies are simply lining the pockets of greedy robber barons -- a half a million to this corporation to build a plant here, and another to that one to do the same over there -- supposedly to gain new jobs that are really just being stolen from neighboring states, while those states are stealing an equal number from us, for a net gain of zero for everybody. There is nothing wrong with local chambers of commerce passing the hat amongst local business communities to attract new businesses, but it is wrong to do it with public funds derived from taxes and fees. We need a national response to this problem, probably a constitutional amendment, but it probably won't happen because our legislators appear to be slaves of the wealthy corporations that are robbing us blind. Please, legislators, prove that statement wrong!

Bringing attention and a strong voice to the dangers and harms that malicious and very skillful online hacking can and does cause.

If the KeystoneXL pipeline is completed no fed taxes will be charged on oil, gas, or gasoline shipped from TEXAS

The newest "rules" that went into effect allow access to the forest for a 14 day period. Then, you must leave the forest and not return for 16 days. These are public lands and we want our access 24/7. I should be able to take my children to camp every day if I choose and change locations as many times as I choose to allow them to see the most of our states. They tell me that it is a privilege not a right. They have it backwards it is the public's right to access OUR lands OUR tax dollars pay for.

Professional athletes are regarded as an exclusive group of people, blessed with the ability to compete in sporting events for a living, earn substantial sums of money doing so, and serve as role models for millions worldwide. Ron Artest, a.k.a. "Metta World Peace", is everything wrong with professional sports today, and needs to have his career ended, once and for all, by the very people who, in numbers, can do it - you and me. From his "in the stands fan-punchfest" with the Pacers to his blatant elbowing of James Harden this past season, this man needs to be removed from the NBA.

The most effective first step towards reducing the overwhelming influence of money in elections is to prohibit election campaign ads from television, radio, and large, stationary signs such as billboards. Two-thirds of all campaign funds produce TV ads, targeting a "captive" audience. Eliminating those ads will greatly reduce the power of big money, e.g., corporate money.