You should support this petition is you think that the U.S. should get out of Afghanistan this year, not 2 1/2 years down the road (with training troops etc to remain for many more years), as proposed by President Obama. We can't afford the lives lost and damaged, the cost of the war, the effect of our continued presence there as an incentive for anti-American terrorism.

The federal government thinks they aren't doing their job unless they're creating new programs and agencies that rely on taxpayer funding. We're broke! The ability to spend money collected under force of law is a sacred trust which has been repeatedly and habitually violated for decades. Not only do they need to stop creating new programs, but they need to phase out everything that is not mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

You should support this petition is you think that the U.S. should get out of Afghanistan this year, not 2 1/2 years down the road (with training troops etc to remain for many more years), as proposed by President Obama. We can's afford the lives lost and damaged, the cost of the war, the effect of our continued presence there as an incentive for anti-American terrorism.

We need to follow Australia's lead ... make voting compulsory, with a fine for not voting ($250 there). It would guarantee that any elected representative has a REAL majority of support; it would negate any need for spending money to "get out the vote", which in turn negates any need for registering as a Party affiliate or "Independent" - and, it would minimize politicians pandering to small but "noisy" pressure groups, because he/she would have to appeal to the broadest section of the society ... the middle. .

Governor Paul LePage and the Republicans in the Maine State Legislature have decided they will pass a budget cutting key health and social welfare programs for the most vulnerable members of Maine society without input from the Democratic members of the Legislature. The Maine Democrats feel they have no alternative but to capitulate because Republicans have the majority and "Democrats don't fight." This petition would be sent to all of Move On Maine stakeholders to urge the Democrats in the state legislature to boycott the vote on the Maine House floor.

The Legal tender modernization act states that the penny and nickel be removed from the monetary system and one dollar bills be reintroduced as coins to make our monetary system better. The following is an explanation to why this should be done. You have probably heard through the grapevine by now that pennies are expensive to make and that we actually spend more producing them then they are actually worth and it is terrible that there is not more outrage about such a needless spending of tax dollar money. Not only that, they are polluting the world, zinc has a lot of byproducts that are harmful (but I will get more into that later on in this). In 2010 'Penny and Nickel Coints were produced at a loss of $42.6 million' according to US Mint Annual report which can be found here http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/about/annual_report/2010AnnualReport.pdf According to the report 1 Penny cost 1.7 Pennies to make last year with the changes they made to make it lighter, while the Nickel cost a overwhelmingly 9 cents to make. However there is not much of a movement to try to get pennies out of our system even though other countries have seen the advantages of not having pennies (Australia, and New Zealand being two of them). So what is taking so long for American's to change? Well we hate change. The Legal Tender Modernization Act (which would force the rounding off of all cash transactions to the nearest 10 cents, making the penny and nickel coin useless for everyday transactions) can be found here for more information on the terms of that bill please visit http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.2528: This petition is for pennies being out of production, when needed in cash transaction the transactions are rounded, and nothing changes for digital transfers. The penny according to the National Association of Convenience Stores has calculated that pennies cost people 2 to 3 seconds more per sale on average. It is also hurtful to the enviroment "making pennies wastes natural resources and is toxic to people and the environment – Pennies are 3 percent copper, and 97 percent zinc and are primarily made from virgin ore. Making pennies from zinc and copper means mining for those materials." One of the main contributors is Red Dog Mine, which is the largest zinc mine in the U.S and puts off a lot of pollution and is the top TRI producer in the United States (see first link for reference) because not only do they not follow regulations but they also put out "large quantities of heavy-metal and lead rich mining tailings. The process of refining both metals can release sulfur dioxide (SO2), lead and zinc into the environment" according to a conversation with Mike's Bikes (a company refusing to use pennies in the California area) to read more about that conversation it can be found at http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/pennies-make-sense-all/ and the facts about the current description of the mine by the EPA can be found here at http://www.epa.gov/region10/pdf/permits/npdes/ak/ak0038652-fs-1208.pdf or http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/MetalsMining/RedDogMine.html or http://www.epa.gov/TRI/tridata/tri08/national_analysis/pdr/2008%20TRI%20Workbook%20Section%20C.pdf or http://www.resourceinvestor.com/News/2010/2/Pages/Black-cloud-over-worlds-largest-zinc-mine.aspx or http://northern.org/news/epa-rescinds-key-red-dog-mine-permit-limits The major opposition to retiring the Penny is Americans for Common Cents, the pro-penny lobbying group funded by the zinc industry and penny distributors. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211567,00.html#ixzz1UjGJ3 Thank you for your time!

It is my understanding that partial Medicare drug coverage will end after 36 mos. following a organ transplant. These drugs are vital for life for all transplant patients and the idea that the inability to pay for these expensive drugs can result in organ rejection is appalling! Something must be done about this. For instance, it is 4 times more expensive for a patient to be on dialysis than for the continued coverage of these necessary drugs!

With very strict immigration laws, it is very difficult to obtain a visa to work and live in the US even for professionals and college graduates. In an age of international communication and commerce, we should arrange to trade visas with countries that Americans also wish to emigrate to. For example: If Britain (or any country) and the US were to increase the number of visa/green card applications accepted from one another's citizens by an equal number, both sides would benefit, and tens of thousands of people would see their dream of living or working in another country come true.

Help me by joining and sign this petition to the Massachussetts government officials and fight for the labeling of our GE or GMO foods. We have the right to choose what we eat and feed our families.

Why do pundits and politicians villainize Medicare/Medicade and SS while suppressing any discussion about the cost of this militarily ‘rule the world’ insanity since Viet Nam (Johnson’s Tonka Bay lies) that equals the $15 T rillion current deficit? U.S. troops are in 130 countries, 1000 military bases, and an annual military budget if a $1.44 Trillion a year....half the federal budget.. The U.S. is a Banana Republic...totally broke with a totally corrupt demo-publican dictatorship and depending on the kindness of strangers like China, Japan, etc. to pay our bills. The U.S. is financially worse off than Europe but our government can print money and Europe can’t so they need to clean up their act and the U.S. can kick the can down the road toward hyperinflation, high interest rates, and depression. Solution: Pull all the troops home from the thousand military bases and war zones as fast as they can pack their bags to employ them in building a Liquid Natural Gas infrastructure and take care of our own back yard like Mexico...etc. Tell Israel, Taiwan. Pakistan, South Korea, and Europe.. etc., they are on there own. No more giveaways to any such entities. Socialize the financial sector. Socialize the medical insurance sector into a single payer system. Socialize the Lawyers. The distribution of money should not be the domain of thieves. And add your own solution like much more draconian penalties for Medicaid /Medicare and SS fraud....etc.,

The idea that the Democrats should honor the State of North Carolina with their convention this Summer is absurd.

Loan money to States so that public employees, teachers, firemen, police can be rehired. This will help the economy to get rolling. We need more public employees not less as our population grows.