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.

Every four years we hear that we may lose social security, that we can't afford it ect. I ,for one, don't want all the money I paid to just dissappear, I am 50 and have worked since I was 14. I have paid a lot. But congress and the house are not worried as they have a pension that will not be touched. I think that that pensionshould be dissolved if anything happens to social security. If the people who have paid so much of their small wages can not be compensated for the money they put in, then congress and the house should not be allowed to use our tax money to pay themselves a pension, it is all "our" tax money, why should they get to keep it when we don't. These people cannot even do a good enoough job to not be fired in four years, why should someone who may have worked for 30 years and not been replaced loose they money they put in. If our social security cannot be paid, then neither should the pension for the govt employees.

I would like to see statewide petitions_ particularly here in Missouri and Kansas_ to ban reparitive gay therapy. Hundreds, if not thousands, of gay teens have been forced_ in most cases, by their own parents_ to be treated by quack therapists in hopes of praying away their homosexuality. I find this barbaric and often wonder how many youths have committed suicide because their parents reacted in such a way to their sexual orientation. As an aside, it is an issue that would really piss of the Religious Right because I think it could win at the polls.

With patriotism comes the responsibility of all American citizens to care for the ones in need. We should bring up the issue of taxation as a shared responsibility by all alike. The United States was built on the backs of ALL Americans who would risk their education, their health and their capital. The taxation system has helped those who failed through, bannkruptcy laws and such. Those that succeeded did so with the help of a work force that contributed to the dream. With this shared sacrifice of the worker and the investor, taxation then becomes a patriotic right for all, not only for the middle class.

Many people will be slow to advocate such a wonderful opportunity to help and serve as this because they feel that crimes like these only happen in foreign countries and territories; certainly not as domestic and close to home as their own city. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Victims can easily be your child, or a child of someone close to you, if precautions are not taken to stop the traffickers and abductors. But how CAN you help? The goal, as you have read, is to start the process of getting pieces of legislation into the law books in our state. When that happens, we can start using the law to prosecute criminals and bring to them the justice that they are evading. To get state lawmakers to notice our efforts, we need to show a concern of the people, and in order to do that we need to have pledges- signatures that show a support for the cause. For this reason, ONE BY ONE, INC, its founder, and its supporters need YOU to sign the petition to help enable us to get noticed. You do make a difference because every signature matters!

This is a petition to reinstate provisions 16 and 20 of the Glass Steagall Act and to support Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker's Volcker Rule and Barack Obama's push for it regarding financial regulatory reform.

President Obama's campaign co-chair, Caroline Kennedy, advocated adding marriage equality as a platform plank for the Democratic National Committee's convention. The convention will be held in Charlotte, NC in September 2012. Support Marriage Equality and Caroline Kennedy's push to have this issue included in the official DNC platform.

Robert Howard grew up in the 12th Ward in New Orleans. His mother died when he was a young boy. At eleven, after leaving the foster care system to live with his father, Robert dropped out of school to work in a restaurant as a dishwasher and substitute cook. His cooking was so good, he was offered a job. This angered the current cook and he came after Robert with a knife. Robert defended himself and the man eventually died. Without adequate counsel, Robert pled to manslaughter and was admitted into Louisiana's infamous Angola Prison. For the next 45 years, he endured violent assalts. Recommended for release repeatedly by the LA Board of Pardons and Appeals, Robert's release is denied by sitting governors concerned with their political standing. Now sick and 60 years old, the friends of Robert Howard ask you to stand up for this model citizen. For decades Robert Howard has mentored young men in chosing a moral life. He has tutored, run rehabilitation groups, prayer groups, revivals and legal clinics. His recommendations for prison reform are sought out by wardens across the state - yet he remains behind bars. Why? What kind of country imprisons its children and leaves them to die behind bars for nearly five decades?