Allowing corporate officials to get bonuses for selling off the company is not much different than allowing cashiers to pocket cash. Their job is to guide the company, I think we have been missing that point since the 80's and the mission is developing into 'how can I personally enrich myself?". Since the top executives and boards seem often to be entertwined and self-serving we need a law to pervent this to protect this country's industry, our workers and our future.

Jack In The Box, who has the lowest rating possible with the Human Rights Campaign, currently is showing an ad on television showing a man marrying a piece of bacon. The ad clearly begins with the homophobic concept of a man gently telling his mother that the object of his love is not a woman, then proceeds to show him wanting to marry bacon. This plays directly into the hands of homophobic fears that if you allow same sex couples to marry, then next will come wanting to marry your pet, or even wanting to marry bacon. This fear-mongering advertising should end. Also, Jack In The Box should strive to add more diversity training and protections within their institution to raise their Human Rights Campaign score and further correctly align with modern human rights.

Mayor Dean Maxwell of Anacortes is pushing through a deal to sell five million gallons of municipal water per day from the Skagit River through the year 2040 with extensions through 2050 to Tethys Enterprises, Inc. This ill-proposed one million square foot plant would be the largest bottled water/beverage and food manufacturing plant in the United States. Although citizens personally requested a public hearing before the signing of the contract, Mayor Dean Maxwell turned them down. The people have been given no input on this issue. Please oppose this plant. The water of the Skagit River belongs to the public, not to the city of Anacortes. It should not be sold to the highest bidder. This contract does not take into account projections of Anacortes' future water needs, nor does it take into account the effect global warming is having and will continue to have on the Skagit River, i.e. increasing the likelihood of floods and decreasing its flow in the summertime. Will the people of Anacortes and the rest of the Skagit Valley have enough water in the future after Tethys gets its five million gallons? The plant will produce huge amounts of plastic waste, which will massively impact the environment. It will also add huge amounts of wastewater, which in addition to negatively impacting the environment will require an expansion of Anacortes' wastewater plant, the cost of which is not included in the contract with Tethys. According to Matt Kelly of Tethys, the plant will increase rail traffic by 400 rail cars a day – four unit trains–and may affect access to the Skagit Airport and other businesses on that side of State Route 20. These will add tremendously to the air and noise pollution and traffic congestion of the area. The contract with Tethys does not guarantee jobs from the water plant for local citizens, and what jobs it would bring are not worth the environmental impacts of the plant. At a time when we are struggling with global climate change and environmental degradation, it would be irresponsible and enormously counterproductive to add wastewater pollution and plastic pollution from the manufacturing, and the noise pollution, traffic congestion, and train diesel exhaust pollution that will be produced from the operation of this water plant. Not to mention how it will encourage the continued use of bottled water which involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels for production and transportation of the product and contributes tremendously to our garbage stream since 86% of plastic water bottles used in the U.S. become garbage or litter. Please stop this plant from becoming a reality. Please contact Mayor Maxwell, your legislators, and Governor Gregoire about this issue. Thanks. Mayor Dean Maxwell P.O. Box 547 904 6th Street Anacortes, WA 98221 (360) 299-1950 (360) 293-1938 – fax [email protected] to find your WA state legislator: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ Governor Gregoire: Office of the Governor PO Box 40002 Olympia, WA 98504-0002 360-902-4111 http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/ Sources: 1. Address to Anacortes City Council By Steve Winter, CEO, Tethys Enterprises September 13, 2010 2. Request to the City of Anacortes for extension of their water contract By Steve Winter, CEO, Tethys Enterprises August 29, 2011 3. Economic & Fiscal Benefits Memorandum: economic and fiscal effects of a bottling facility in Skagit County By E.D. Hovee & Company, LLD May 31, 2011 4. City of Anacortes, Washington and Tethys Enterprises, Inc. Agreement Regarding Water Service October 1, 2010 5. Bottle the Skagit River? By Defending Water in the Skagit River Basin: Sandra Spargo http://readthedirt.org/2012/02/10/bottle-the-skagit-river/ February 10, 2012

Fracking is unregulated and destroying or health and environment . Government is giving drilling companies a free pass. They are exempt from clean water act and are now can't be regulated by local communities it impacts. This must stop.

Bank and securities regulators are required by the Dodd-Frank Act, written in response to the financial crisis of 2008, to approve a unified rule on the subject. The rule must go into effect by July, according to the statute. At issue is a measure that would prohibit big insured banks’ from trading stocks and derivatives with their own money, known as proprietary trading. It also limits banks’ investments in hedge- and private-equity funds in an effort to reduce risks to the broader financial system.

Currently the deduction for student loan interest is capped. Many of us pay thousands more in interest than we are able to deduct. The idea of getting an education to get ahead both personally and as a nation has become a fallacy for the middle class.

End the Wars, Now!

Sen. Baucus figures it will take 10 years to grab $4.6 Billion of our hard earned IRA money initially earmarked for our heirs. The “stretch IRA”, an outstanding estate planning tool, will be doomed if lawmakers get their way. In the latest transportation funding bill, language is buried deep within that would kill the “stretch IRA” for most non-spouse inheritors, primarily our kids. Those families who have established multi-generational IRAs to stretch out the tax burden over the life expectancy of a child or grandchild, thereby allowing those accounts to continue to grow, will see those accounts uprooted. These heirs will be forced to withdraw all funds and pay taxes over a 5 year period. For many, this will force heirs into top tax rates, causing them to lose 35 to 80% in income and/or estate taxes. The “stretch IRA” allows distributions to be controlled, thereby maintaining low tax rates over the years and allowing heirs use of this money over a period of up to two generations. Left alone, congress would actually receive more taxes over the long run while these accounts continue to grow and small annual required minimum distributions are taken, but unfortunately lawmakers are looking for a quick fix and don’t care about how this law will sabotage a lifetime of family saving and planning.

Last night at the Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy allowed Chris Brown, a convicted perpetrator of domestic violence, to take the stage and perform twice. Allowing this to happen on music's biggest night shows a lack of empathy and regard for victims of domestic abuse. ICYMI: Here's why Chris Brown shouldn't have been asked to perform at the Grammy Awards last night: http://on.mtv.com/n3eVlh

Scott Walker & JB Van Hollen have plans to redirect HOMEOWNER assistance funds to the coffers of the State budget.

Tired of hearing older males either in politics or religion deciding what a woman should or not do with her own body. It is just outrageous that women are still subjected to this thinking. Our country is so backward from other civilized nations on this topic. Contact all law makers and let your opinion be known. Shelly Gowen

The FCC's Fairness Doctrine must be reinstated to prevent the news media from being exempt from telling the truth. Truth should always be the top priority of any news media as they have a responsibility to the public.