In the state of Vermont, a competent mother or father can too easily be stripped of rights to parent their children. The state will "pick one parent" for legal rights and responsibilities, yet will often award the children to both parents for physical custody--because both parents are, in fact, competent. Where both parents are competent, the courts must be directed to award legal custody to both parents. The current policy encourages dissent by offering divorcing parents too many reasons not to work together. A parent with no commitment to working together has only to prove him- or herself "better" to strip the other parent of legal rights --and "better" is defined differently each time a judge sits the bench because the statute is too complex. Automatically awarding legal custody to both competent parents will clear the courts of specious custody cases and create an atmosphere in which the only choice parents have is to work together to make decisions. Only parents who are clearly incompetent should be stripped of legal rights to guide their children. Not only is parenting a basic human right, but so is having both competent parents actively involved when one is young.

Members of Congress have been trading on insider knowledge, engorging themselves like pigs at a trough, not just on stocks, but on real estate and other money-making vehicles.

All American should have the right to travel to Cuba and have people to people exchange of ideas and be freinds. Cuba is making adjustment and changes and we need to give them ideas how to better themselves. Americans should be able to be free to find out about Cuba and the Cuban people and make their own mind if Cuba is or not a hostile country as our Government claims. We are friends with China. VietNam and many other countries and can travel to them. Why our Government have to hide about Cuba?

Money in our political process has corrupted government. We have legalized bribery presently. Corporations and the very rich use their wealth to consolidate their power to the detriment of working Americans. All elections should be publicly financed. The Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court has exacerbated this problem.

The best healthcare coverage must include preventative care. But not all private policies cover basic care uniformly or appropriate to age, ethnicity and gender. A taxpayer based single payor coverage (SPC) would provide everyone all tests, inoculations and medications through their doctor or clinic making us a healther nation. In turn we should expect and mandate lower private healthcare insurance premiums for individuals and businesses.

my petition is too stop the DC BACKPAGE escourt advirtisements because thats were my daughter and hundreds more women go to sell there body my daughters name is paris please lets shut them down all escourts a worried mother.

Congressional and Senatorial representatives should collect salaries and benefits only while they are serving their elected term. No salary, health care benefit or pension should be paid to any non-current elected official or any official who is recalled, fired, or quits. Once the job ends, so does the money. Just like everybody else.

The Cobb County Police Department has a conspiracy against the black man and all other non white races.

The National Defense Authorization Act contains language which allows the United States Government to detain prisoners without trial.

Establishing (2) 6 year term limits on all elected members of congress. Continue to pay them their current 172,000.00 salary, but do not give them a pension at the end of their term.

One of the chief arguments used as an argument against legalizing same sex marriage is that there exists a certain "sanctity" that will be lessened by recognizing same sex marriages as legally binding. I propose that all language used in the public forum regarding the union of two people in the eyes of the state should be called civil unions. This would mean that the term marriage is reserved solely for use by individuals and churches. This would mean that marriage licenses in all states would be civil union licenses and would make no reference to the gender of either member of the union.

With 6 members of the Walton (Walmart) family owning more wealth than the combined wealth of the bottom 30% of the American Population (6>100,000,000), the time has come to tax wealth, not income.