By: Student Loan Counselors at R&B Solutions With $67 billion of student loans in default, the Department of Education has turned to private debt-collection companies to pursue borrowers. The Department of Education spent a billion dollars last year to collection agencies that collect on defaulted student loans. The reality is that almost no one should default if adequate default prevention and aversion strategies were put into effect. Delinquencies and default rates are rising as indebted student loan borrowers struggle to repay hefty student loans. Americans are still recovering from the mortgage crisis, which resulted in millions of Americans losing their jobs and homes. Now a new crisis is affecting students as they have large loan debt, and they cannot find jobs or earn a high enough income to repay the debt causing them to default on their loans. There is a solution though; most students would never enter the collection process to begin with if the Department of Education focused on assisting students with repayment options already available. We urge you to sign our petition and share it with everyone you know to protect student loan borrowers from collection agencies by providing students with the assistance necessary to guide them through the loan repayment process. Sources: Bloomberg, Department of Education, LA Times and NY Times.

When elected as a government official, you are automatically guaranteed a life-long pension- even if you only served a two year term. Yet, as a middle class American receiving barely above minimum wage, you are lucky to find a job that offers a 401k or even health benefits. It is important that these outrageous pensions- which are more than the average American's yearly salary!- be abolished...especially since they come out of OUR tax dollars.

Our troops in Okinawa and nearby places are exposed to increased level of radiation after the nuclear accident in Japan. This petition calls for withdrawal of all the personnel that is not absolutely necessary from the locations that may be exposed to increased level of radiation until it is safely proven that the risk has returned to normal.

Most of us realize that the Presidential elections in 2000 as well as 2004 were both stolen. The best way to protect against this from happening again is to pass a national law that supersedes all state election laws in that, any state wherein the results of a n election of any kind would be subject to an automatic recount if the results fell outside of the margin of error. Any wrongdoing discovered in the process of the recount would subject those charged to be charged legally & if found guilty to be subjected to a minimum prison sentence of 5 years up to 50 years.

In view of the increased anonymous gun violence in the US, and the fact that the Supreme Court has prohibited limits on gun ownership, we need to take a new tack to stem this violent tide.

Joe Courtney's Bill, H.R. 3826, calls for maintaining interest rates on Subsidized Stafford Direct Student Loans(federal loans) at 3.4%. If this bill is not passed by July 1, interest rates will double to 6.8%. For students who take out the maximum yearly loan of 23,000, they will incur an additional $11,300 of student loan debt if the loan repayment period is 20 years. In a time when higher education is extremely important in finding a secure job, students who challenge themselves and value education should not be punished with higher interest rates and greater student loan debt. In 2007, the College Cost Reduction Act slowly decreased the interest rate on Subsidized Stafford Direct Student Loans from 6.8% to 3.4%. This was an outstanding achievement, providing relief for the 10 million students who take out Stafford Student Loans each year. This was a 5 year plan and is set to expire on July 1st 2012. Students all around the U.S. will be hurt, unless congress acts. A college education is a worthwhile investment and the data supports this conclusion: Unemployment rate of people not finishing High School: 16.5% Unemployment rate of people finishing High School:10.7% Unemployment rate of people completing some college: 8.5% Unemployment rate of people completing college or higher: 4.5% Keeping kids in school and allowing them to pursue their potential will promote a more solid work force. Increased college dropout rates directly correlate with the threat of student loan debt. College dropouts face reality without a degree or a way to pay off their student loan debt. In 2011, student loan debt exceeded credit card debt, the first time in history. This unprecedented landmark serves as an indication of the struggle that middle and working class families are going through for wanting to give their children a quality education. Being denied the advantageous possibility of attending college has its lifelong negative effects. Without financial support, students are left behind, not encouraged to strive for excellence. In the 1980's the U.S. was first in college graduation rates, but now has fallen to 12th internationally. After college, people are overwhelmingly indebted. In a time when high paying jobs are not easy to land, recent graduates settle for lower paying jobs. These graduates, getting paid less than what their college degree should earn them, are unable pay off their debt. What happened to the “American Dream” in which all citizens could succeed? Passing this bill would allow students to feel less worried about their student loan debt following their studies. This is a step to prevent an even wider achievement gap between the very wealthy and the rest of the population. Please help congress make the right decision as it is in our nation’s best welfare.

In Boston, residents can put all their recycling outside together, without separating it. Machines do the sorting for them. This makes people much more likely to recycle, and it saves time. New York should do the same!

In 1998 The State of Maryland awarded the limits in civil damages because court ordered criminal records were determined to not have been complied with, then used in a subsequent criminal prosecution. In year 2004, again the same Court Ordered Expunged Criminal Records was used to detain Leslie Vass without bail for one year, resulting in the lost of employment, custody of his 3 minor children and additional confinement.

H.R. 1113 would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against the chronically unemployed by making the unemployed a protected class under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The war on drugs is causing more harm than the drug itself. The US is building ore prisons than schools. The prisons are mostly privatized so they need the prisoners to make money. More people are killed by drunk drivers than people on drugs

Current state and local funding creates vast inequality and underfunding of K-12 education. Funding will be leveled and the same per capita, regardless of local property values, and significantly increased to reverse the precipitous decline in American public education. Equality in education and therefore opportunity will be greatly enhanced towards an educational system second to none in the world.

Canadian oil giant Enbridge has applied for fast-track approval of the first stage of a proposed project to bring tar sands oil from eastern Canada to Portland, using a 1950s oil pipeline that passes next to Sebago Lake. Sign our petition to the Canadian National Energy Board to protect Sebago Lake from dirty tar sands oil.