My son was abusing drugs as a teenager. When the Department of Children Family Services got involved with my family, I thought great my son is finally going to get help. Except I didn't know the law of the State of California that allows our children ages 13 to 17 even if they are abusing narcotics, alcohol or marijuana can choose if they want to go to Inpatient Drug Rehabilitation. As a parent I could not force my son into Drug Rehab. The Department of Children and family Services could not force my son into Drug Rehab. Drug Court for families and children could not force my son into a Drug Rehab. A judge is the only one if he or she feels the child is going to die. How long do parents like me have to suffer trying to help our children out of drug addiction?

Reactionary talk show host Bryan Fischer enjoys tax free status while spewing hate and vitriol into the American airwaves and pulling the Republican party further to the right. The continuation of this infringes upon the rights of all Americans who are not a member of the white anglo saxon protestant community.

I think we all can agree that Dolores Huerta, the UFW’s co-founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation is an exemplary role-model of a good American. Dolores has spent her life sacrificing to advocate for workers, immigrants, and women’s rights. She has a fierce determination to help the impoverished and make the world a better place. She has received numerous awards for her courageous community service and fittingly enough on May 29th President Obama awarded her the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was a very proud moment for all who believe in the power of nonviolent social change. However, nationally syndicated talk show host Rush Limbaugh showed his true colors by using this award as an excuse to go on the attack against women—again—by disparaging Dolores receiving it. On Russ’ May 30th Show he said, "The Presidential Medal of Freedom is now being rendered meaningless. It’s just a political award. That’s all it is. It’s been politicized. It’s another great tradition, institution down the tubes. " Not only that but he insultingly said, "As a young adult, Huerta taught school—though she never had an education degree—until 1955, when, as a single mother of seven children—she now has eleven—she launched her career as a political activist. " How typical of Rush. Scorning Dolores for being a single mother instead of recognizing that this amazing—and college educated woman—raised a remarkable family (Dolores’ children include a doctor, lawyer, teacher, chef, artist, executive director, etc) while pursuing a fierce determination to help people. Please help us teach Rush Limbaugh that disparaging women is not the status quo-a lesson he should have learned back in March from the backlash he’s faced for branding law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute,” and more recently in his personal attack on journalist Tracie McMillan’s while commenting on her book on the food industry when he referred to her as an “authorette.” Angie’s List—a popular source for information about local businesses—is a sponsor for the Rush Limbaugh show. Not only that, they pay for Rush to personally voice them over the air. E-mail them today and tell them that this is not acceptable. They should not be advertising on a show that disparages women. Please send your e-mail today by clicking on the green "participate" button to the top right. It will take you just minutes to help, but that help can have an enormous impact.

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act and Waterkeepers around the nation are working to achieve the central tenets of this important law: swimmable, drinkable, fishable waters for all. Unfortunately, our streams and rivers remain threatened by a variety of pollutants, many of our fisheries are near extinction and some members of the U.S Congress, pressured by polluting industries, are working hard to erode the protections of this important law. Wild salmon are a cultural and economic pillar in the Pacific Northwest and they are threatened with extinction. Industrial logging roads are a leading cause of sediment pollution, threatening water quality and native fish populations. Rogue Riverkeeper believes it is time for the logging industry to do its fair share to protect water quality. We oppose efforts underway to exempt the timber industry and logging roads from the Clean Water Act and we are asking for your help. For clean water and wild salmon, act now. www.rogueriverkeeper.org

I would like to find out what happen to the money for the small business that president Obama had approve for small business i have been waiting everytime i go to apply that give a lame excuse can you please help me with this issue? Thank you!

House & Senate officials gets healthcare, salary , & pension for life after leaving office & do not pay into the Social Security, & medicare programs. They should only get paid & have benefits while in office. They should pay into the programs that all other citizens support, have to get a job, purchase health insurance & save for retirement, just as they tell us we should do.

The drug cartel is coming to Texas to buy assault rifles to take back to Mexico. It is perfectly legal

I think we know what all this plastic is doing to our earth and our waters. What can we do about it? Why not put deposits on all plastic, at the very least, water bottles.

In 2009, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a landmark piece of civil rights legislation, the NC Racial Justice Act (RJA). The RJA allows people facing capital prosecution and execution to introduce evidence of racial bias, including statistical evidence, if it exists in their case. The Racial Justice Act implements the fundamental principles that nondiscrimination is the standard in North Carolina and that equal treatment under the law should be extended to every individual regardless of race. On April 20, 2012 Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks ruled in the first case to be heard under the RJA, finding intentional bias in the case of Marcus Robinson, both in the county and judicial division where he was tried, and across the state. As required by the RJA, Robinson was re-sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Since 2010, the new majority in the NC General Assembly has been trying to repeal the RJA. They passed a bill that did repeal it, the Governor vetoed that bill, and they were unable to muster the votes to override her veto. Early in June, 2012, House members introduced another bill that guts the RJA, despite the clear evidence of racial bias cited in Judge Weeks’ order, and it passed with a veto-proof majority. It now heads to the NC Senate for a vote. Regardless of ones views on the death penalty, we should all agree that racial discrimination has no place in our criminal justice system. This petition urges North Carolina policy makers to defend this necessary civil rights legislation against all efforts to undermine, weaken or repeal its strength.

We have been at war for most of the over 300 years we have been a self declared country. Our illegal and aggressive practices have caused millions of deaths the world over. It must stop. There are better ways to live and die. Caring for and nurturing and sharing solutions and trading equitably with the people of other countries is better than killing, maiming, poisoning, and generally destroying lives and cultures. Everyone wins like that. I would like to see signers in every state, hundreds at least from each State and Territory, and Washington D.C.

My petition is about returning to college to further my education. So I can help provide for my daughter and prepare for her future. I am a man of strong will and my daughter means everything to me. This petition should be sign because its not about me. It really about my three year old daughter ( Mikaela Miller).

I'm a public school teacher who has taught high school history for nine years in Chicago. Because of broad public support and overwhelming unity among teachers, I'm truly hopeful that we can achieve real gains for kids and teachers through our current contract negotiation--including adequate funding for art and music, school nurses, counselors, playgrounds, and libraries. That's why I was dismayed to learn that, in the middle of this delicate but honest negotiation, the social action website Change.org is taking money to promote a campaign attacking Chicago's public school teachers by a conservative anti-union organization. In any negotiation, it's essential to have trust and good-will on both sides. This kind of tired, old teacher-bashing by ideological conservatives only makes things more difficult, and I wish Change.org would stop taking money to promote it. 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. These are some of the important issues that teachers would like to discuss at the bargaining table not just to improve working conditions for teachers but to ensure that our students receive the education they deserve. As a teacher, I'm so proud to be on the right side of this fight, but it's disheartening to find teachers once again under attack by knee-jerk teacher-bashers. In this case, the attacks are coming from the anti-labor group Stand for Children, whose former leader Jonah Edelman recently bragged on video about how he was nearly able to "dupe" politicians into ending collective bargaining rights for Chicago teachers. By taking money to promote this anti-union campaign, Change.org is turning their backs on teachers and endangering our efforts to provide a world-class education to our children. The teachers of Chicago deserve a public apology from Change.org and assurances that you won't again promote conservative groups who oppose collective bargaining rights for teachers or other unions.