Appointment of Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) disenfranchises Benton Harbor voters by stripping power away from officials they elected. Appointment of EFM places an onerous burden on the already stressed finances of Benton Harbor by forcing the city to pay $12,000 a month for EFM. Appointment of EFM creates an anti-democracy situation that further weakens the basic tenets of our free society.

America’s own worst enemy is its corpocracy, the Devil’s marriage between big business and our twin political parties. It is ruling and ruining America. Among advanced countries America has the greatest income inequality; highest unemployment; greatest insecurity over putting food on the table; lowest life expectancy at birth; and largest prison population (minus unaccountable corporate criminals). The corpocracy has also shrunk the middle class; catered to the wealthy elite; left millions of Americans without health insurance coverage; and has started endless, unwinnable, costly wars for profit and power that snuff out millions of lives, fuel terrorism against America, and sacrifice the general welfare. Our nation’s founders didn’t like corporations or political parties. Corporations were not mentioned in our Constitution. The America today is not what our founders envisioned, and they would be horrified if they were to return. The Constitution was meant to promote the general welfare of the American people, not corporate and political welfare. The corpocracy is extremely powerful and has powerful allies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The corpocracy’s opposition is weak and divided. The only way to end the corpocracy is to unite its opposition. There are many NGOs with millions of members opposed to the corpocracy, but they are not united.

We're calling on Dunmore Residents to show support of a Middle School Soccer Program

People are encountering unsafe drinking water as a result of the practice of fossil fuel extraction called "Hydrofracking". "Hydrofracking" is when a person pumps 250 chemicals into the ground water and then blows up the rock layers underground to get the gas. This releases natural gasses into the water which makes Toxic (unsafe) and Flaming (also unsafe) drinking water. We know this is not safe for the residents of any community. The Clean drinking water act is in place to protect us from exactly this kind of abuse and exploitation. Somehow gas and oil companies have bought themselves an exemption from this protection of all of our shared water , even with the evidence and the knowledge that they are corrupting our drinking water. See gasland the movie for more first hand eyewitness accounts Here is a link to questions and answers about fracking and hydrofracking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agEYLbUQAeI The exemption must be repealed. Our representatives must represent our interests and come together to protect Americans from this invasion by foreign or domestic resource exploitation or be replaced as incompetent or unable to represent our interests when faced with the fossil fuels industry and its coercive power.

This petition is about holding corporations CRIMINALLY liable as opposed to merely getting fined or paying off a lawsuit when they damage the health and finances of people and the environment but claim to have "not known" that their product could wreak such havoc when scientific or email evidence tells us otherwise.

Paul Ryan's budget proposal cuts programs that many people depend on while simultaneously cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations at a time when their taxes are already lower than they have been for the greater part of a century. This is quite simply taking from the poor to give to the rich and is unacceptable. The petition is not to request tax hikes or that programs not be cut, there are other petitions for those things. This petition is simply saying to all members of congress (Republican, Democrat, and Independent) that if they support a budget plan that cuts both taxes for the wealthy and programs for average Americans they will have forfeited our vote when they come up for reelection.

Congress Plan to change Medicare to a voucher system is very scary to say the least!! Medicare now functions better & more efficiently than any employer health insurance that I had during 40 years in workforce. So, Congress keep hands off!!

NYC Community Boards are advisory bodies which could benefit from the input of informed and engaged teens on youth related issues. At the present time, 16 and 17 year olds can participate as non-voting public members. Revision of the NYS Public Officers Law would allow them to become appointed, voting members, giving recognitiont to their contributions, and benefitting communities with enlightened youth contribution.

The long-term unemployed need help to survive now. We need to speak out with one voice to urge the President and Congress not to abandon those who have no income through no fault of their own. Foreclosure, homelessness, hunger, unmet medical needs and even suicide are our reality.

In the 1886 case between Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations had the same rights as natural person, by using the language in the 14th Amendment guaranteeing freed African Americans legal rights. This ruling has allowed for the courts to side with corporations in the Citizens United case to allow for unlimited corporate donations ot elections.

* * * * * * * * * * MAYOR TISDAHL Said NO! to Tilted Kilt! If you haven't thanked her yet, please do! * * * * * * * * * * Your voices have been heard! On Monday evening, May 2, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl issued a written opinion denying this liquor license application. Here's a link to the full text of her decision: http://www.cityofevanston.org/news/assets/titled%20kilt%20decison%205-2-11.pdf The Mayor's decision is final unless 6 of the 9 members of the Evanston City Council vote to reverse it or Ted Mavrakis files and wins an appeal to the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. Neither is likely. Still, we will keep this petition site up until June 3, after both deadlines for appeal have passed. Stay tuned! We've sent you three letters with more details and lots of links to news coverage. THANK YOU for your incredible efforts and CONGRATULATIONS on our victory! Kathleen Flaherty & Cynthia Farenga * * * * * * * * * * Do you want to see a Tilted Kilt "breastaurant" when you visit Fountain Square? Do you want to inhale secondhand smoke from clusters of its customers? Tilted Kilt poses as a family restaurant, but sells adult entertainment. "Kilt Girl" costumes and scripted behavior "cast" young women as naughty-but nice schoolgirls and invite grown men to be sexually aroused.  The tee shirts they sell show Kilt Girls draped on whiskey bottles, with slogans like "Goes Down Smooth" and "Soft Tail." Mayor Tisdahl, our local Liquor Commissioner, held a public hearing on April 26. We presented this petition, with almost 2,000 signers. We summarized petition comments and read some of them into the record. Dozens of "SAY NO!" citizens attended. Many testified about their reasons: protecting the physical and emotional well-being of our children, fostering respect and equality for women, rejecting businesses which "normalize" sex discrimination in hiring and sexual harassment, preserving our Fountain Square as a war memorial and town square. We explained why a Tilted Kilt would diminish the appeal of our downtown as a place to shop and dine. We noted it was likely to siphon business from existing bars and restaurants. We asked whether it would really bring new customers and, if so, what kind? Tilted Kilt's corporate reps assured the Mayor that there has never been a criminal incident at any Tilted Kilt. But a quick news search turned up 9 serious incidents, 4 at the Elgin Tilted Kilt since January -- including multiple stabbings. They insisted their costumes aren't very provocative, but the photos and videos on their website contradict them. They demanded that we not judge them by their website, but they control the content of that website. The Mayor has issued her decision. See top for this great news!

Taxpayers should not be paying 60 percent of every member of congress's health care costs. Anyone making $174,000 should be paying 100 percent of their health care costs unless the private company they work for is sharing the cost.