Senate Bill 1161, authored by Senator Padilla, threatens to weaken the many of the protections phone customers have under the California Public Utilities Commission. Without oversight, big telecommunications corporations can take advantage of consumers by hiking rates and decreasing quality and reliability of phone service.

From June 1, 2012 to June 7, 2012, an online election will take place and the American People will elect two Delegates from each of the 435 Congressional Districts. The online election will be run by the People, not the government, and therefore each voter must register to vote (http://www.the99declaration.org/voter_registration) even if already registered to vote in government-run elections. The Delegates who are elected will represent the People at a CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 2.0 in Philadelphia the week of July 4, 2012. Everyone who registers as a voter at http://www.the99declaration.org/voter_registration will have an "e-ballot" emailed to them when the polls open on June 1, 2012. During the week of July 4, 2012, the 878 elected delegates will meet in Philadelphia at CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 2.0 to ratify a Petition for Redress of Grievances, a legal document authorized by the Petition Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Once signed and ratified, the Petition will be read at a rally at Independence Hall the afternoon of July 4, 2012. A press conference, speakers including Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig and author Catherine Crier, and live music are planned. The Petition for Redress of Grievances will then be served upon all 535 members of the 112th Congress, the nine members of the Supreme Court and the President of the United States. These politicians will be asked to publicly take AN ANTI-CORRUPTION PLEDGE to redress the grievances contained in the petition and demand an end to money corrupting our politics. Following the 2012 general election, the Delegates will give the 113th Congress, the President and the Supreme Court a reasonable time to redress the grievances listed in the ratified petition. If the grievances are not redressed to the satisfaction of the Delegates, they will reconvene in their respective districts and begin to organize a grassroots campaign to elect independent candidates to Congress in the mid-term election of 2014. The Petition will also create a legal basis for a lawsuit against the government to compel it to redress the grievances.

The City of Long Beach is cutting funding for a daily hot lunch program which feeds approximately 100+ elderly residents at local parks. This will cause a hardship for many who are not able to travel long distances to get a meal and often are on a fixed income with limited food resources. This will lead to more senior citizens experiencing unnecessary hunger. I have heard from a reliable source that the more phone calls that go to the City council regarding this issue, the more likely that funding will not be cut for this particular program, at this time the elderly clients do not picket or lobby to encourage council to vote for a continuance in City support. AHS is the non profit who is losing funding for four daily park feeding centers. If funding is cut more than 120+ seniors may go without a hot meal each day.

Banks and there relationship with their clients.

We live in Dorchester; a community that for some is full of danger and to others is full of hope and peace. To those of us who live with this in constant fear, peace of mind is a must. Today, many teens feel unsafe, and are looking for a means of protection. So far they have turned to blades (also known as a hawk, shank, shiv, blade, or the most common term knife). We fear that this is only a stepping-stone towards acquiring a gun. This is an important issue because aside from the Trayvon Martin controversy, many teens are looking for protection, and are liable to turn to a gun because it offers easier protection. Now some Massachusetts state legislators are working on adopting the "Stand Your Ground" law, which in simple terms states that a person may use force if needed in self-defense without any responsibility to retreat. This law would allow anybody (including already paranoid teens) to justifiably use deadly force to protect him or herself. By signing this petition to reject "Stand Your Ground" law, you would be doing your part in helping not only Dorchester but also Massachusetts move one step closer towards obtaining peace and hope through reasonable and sound gun control laws.

PMG Donohoe wants authority from Congress to reduce days of mail delivery. He says from 6 to 5 now, but once given that authority it could be reduced to 4 or 3 days. The PMG strategy of "cut,cut,cut" is wrong and takes away an essential sevice to all Americans. The US Postal Service is in financial difficulty because of a 2006 PAEA law that mandates pre-funding retiree health benefits 75 years into future at a cost of $5 Billion a year. No other Federal agency or company suffers from this burden. The US Postal Service was created by our Constitution and serves to bind all of our citizens together nationwide. Many elderly, poor, and rural citizens depend on 6 day delivery of mail. Many mailers, such as the VA or Netflix also depend on 6 day delivery. We should require the PMG to retain 6 day delivery for the benefit of all.

Governor Fallin and top legislators are seeking to further reduce and eliminate Oklahoma’s personal income tax. Meanwhile, Oklahoma is already 49th in the nation in education funding per student, and our children’s class sizes are larger than they have been in years. In addition, our roads and bridges are crumbling, higher education tuition continues to escalate, and we’re not caring for many with mental illness and disabilities. It’s especially unfair to cut the top income tax rate while doing away with the child tax credit and sales tax relief, forcing poor and middle class families to shoulder an increased burden at a time when many are already struggling.

In 1984 most states changed the legal drinking age to 21 to not lose out on federal highway funds. Twenty eight years have passed and it is time to revisit the issue. It seems that a consequence of changing the drinking age to 21 is that underage drinking has been pushed underground and binge drinking is now on the rise. Kids “pregame” (drink as much as they can), before they go out because they can’t drink once they get to where they are going. When the drinking age was 18, there was no urgency to drink mass quantities before going out. College students are going to drink no matter what the law says, but now they are doing it undercover and unsupervised. Kids are not learning how to drink socially, they are learning how to binge drink and are dying of alcohol poisoning. Alcohol will always be in our society, we have the opportunity to teach kids how to drink responsibly instead of forcing them underground. Eighteen year olds are treated as adults in most all other cases: they can marry, males must register for the draft, they can smoke vote and be charged as an adult in the court system. They only thing they can’t do is purchase and drink alcohol. If society has decided that 18 year olds are adults, they should also be allowed to drink. Kids are also getting blemishes on their records making it harder to get into college and more difficult to be hired into the work force. In many colleges they can be kicked out if they are caught drinking. The law also costs parents and kids financially, legal and court fees for underage drinking tickets can run hundreds to thousands of dollars. We hear that there are fewer alcohol related car accidents now, many believe that is due to the fact that drinking and driving is no longer tolerated at any age. Kids take turns being the designated driver or get in a taxi. In that respect they are much smarter than previous generations. It seems that we spend a lot of time, effort and money trying to make sure kids under 21 don’t drink. It would be more constructive to to educate the public about the problems of binge drinking. Changing the drinking age to 21 has not deterred drinking and has triggered many other problems.

The US tax law has gotten so out of hand, it offers too many loopholes to the wealthy and priveledged.

This petition is about the historical bullying and unethical behavior that has taken place at Verizon, for too long now. Verizon receives over 100,000 EEO complaints a year, which is 400 a day. Many ignored, covered-up and too many are slipped under the rug. It is now time to demand change in behaviors at Verizon, in the best interest of the Company and the Country.

Because of Republican obstruction in Congress, interest rates on college loans are set to double this July—pouring even more debt on a generation already drowning in student loans. President Obama is pushing Congress to stop it, but as usual Republicans have dug in their heels. Doubling interest rates would be devastating to students and working families. Since 1999, student loan debt has increased by more than 500%, and total student debt is over $1 trillion dollars. But Republicans are so out of touch that their point person on higher education, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, says she has "little tolerance" for people who graduate with lots of debt because "there's no reason for that." It's not just Virginia Foxx. Mitt Romney says he wants to slash Pell Grants by $170 billion. Republican governors like Scott Walker have been slashing funding for higher education for years, forcing increases in tuition. Students and working families need to send a clear message to the Republicans in Congress: If you allow interest rates to double, we're voting you out.

We keep hearing that Social Security and Medicare are too expensive to maintain at current ages and payout. For most of us, Social Security and Medicare are safety nets we need as we grow older, and most of us want the same safety nets for our children and grandchildren.