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.

Most on-line purchases, and almost all TV commercial product orders, add on a charge in addition to shipping charges. These can be called "handling charges" or something similar, but they have nothing to do with the cost of getting the product shipped, and are arbitrarily applied based on how much the seller believes consumers will pay. We want a law that will restrict all shipped purchases to charging consumers only the true cost the seller pays to a shipping company for getting the product shipped.

There was never a public discussion nor a VOTE on the events that initiated the ALTERATION of our FARMLANDS to GMO crops. This ISLAND of KAUAI has been DUPED! OUR health, and the health of our CHILDREN have been DISCARDED as if we were just experimental TRASH! Of all places on EARTH! this is, and has been such a ....(can't find a strong enough word)....as if (and I'm not discounting the idea) that an ALIEN RACE has decided to change us by OUR FOOD! Or, to eliminate us altogether. Sounds pretty nutty doesn't it! KAUAI , at present , is still one of the most beautiful places on our planet....and because a group of obscenely rich industrialists want to "play GOD" with the UNPROVEN chemical genetics of our FOOD....they BOUGHT our local GOVERNMENT, and perhaps more. THIS IS NOT A HUMANE THING, and needs to be STOPPED and REVERSED! ( Why didn't they do this in THEIR BACKYARD) I bet their wives and children would think them CRAZY, and end up in divorce!

Recently, Democrats have accused Republicans of a conducting a war on women. Reintroducing the Equal Rights Amendment via this petition would either make it clear that Republicans are supportive of women or are not. Action on this petition would be a win-win for women and would help women to decide which candidates they might wish to support in 2012 and future elections. If Republican candidates for office support the amendment, more women would realize that Republicans will act in their interests; if these same Republican candidates do not support the amendment, then women would understand that their interests would be protected more effectively by Democrats.

We are starting a store to help develop better values and social behavior in our Black and Latin youth, as well as poor White youth as well... Other ethnic groups welcomed as well...

THE USE OF LEAF BLOWERS BRINGS IN NOXIOUS FUMES AND A BARRAGE OF OTHER TOXINS INTO OUR HOMES, APTS, LAWNS, CHILDREN AND PETS, BIRDS, BABY BIRD NESTS, TREES AND THE GARDENS THEY ARE "CLEANING -UP" ALL END UP IN DANGEROUS TERRITORY - WE CAN USE SOMETHING INSTEAD TO CLEAN UP LEAVES - RAKES AND BROOMS - BRING BACK THE BROOM