Adults with pre-existing health conditions continue to be denied health insurance until 2014. In the meantime, our health continues to decline unless we can afford to pay for expensive medications and treatment out of pocket. How many people could have led more productive lives just by receiving appropriate health care now, when it's needed? An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure!

I think we should ban leaf blowers. Because they blow up mold spores etc which severely affect asthma and allergy sufferers. They are also environmentally damaging, from both the kerosene fumes etc to the fact the also blow up new dirt and things birds & bugs eat and make cause for chemical fertilizers.

As the segment of society that uses Capitol Gains Tax to reduce their tax indebtedness is not of the typical wage earner class, it seems only equitable that the money derived from stock dividends, real estate appreciation, maturing bonds, and all revenues derived from such endeavors ought to be taxed at the NORMAL rate, not some super beneficial discounted rate.

Millions of hard working American who played by the rules have ended up with their economic survival threatened by the subprime mortgage/mortgage backed securities (CDOs)catastrophe. Foreclosures have killed the huge real estate sector of our economy with ripple effects that continue to drag the US economy down. Yet no one has seriously addressed this at a national level. Many experts in the real estate economy call for national relief to innocent bystanders with fully qualified, non speculative mortgages who are being dragged under. Congress needs to act. The lending institutions need to be forced by presidential decree to negotiate in good faith with mortgage holders who have held on, paid their bills but are going to become part of the foreclosure statistics without immediate help. Simply mandating that everyone with a conservative, long term mortgage be afforded an immediate, expedited and simple option to allow for a refinance at low current rates. The lender should be mandated to do this without red tape and without involving third party vendors seeking mainly personal profit. This has the potential to save millions of honest Americans from financial failure and ultimately help eryone else in America, by slowing or stopping the slide of the real estate market toward ever more underwater properties and further economic chaos. The big banks and others who caused this debacle have been given free money from our tax payments. It is not much to ask that honest, hard working citizens holding conservative, traditional mortgages be granted a simple chance to survive by taking part in the low mortgage rates available today. There is no downside to this. It has been ignored by congress and the president and the people of the United States need to stand up and demand mortgage relief from Washington DC.

The majority of Americans no longer support war in the Middle East. Time to bring our troops home from Afghanistan--because if we follow the path we are now on, more than 2,000 more Americans will be killed or blown up. Just as the guy in Utah who was pulled out from under the burnig behicle by 12 heroes--anyone who signs can possibly become a hero by saving America's finest.

Put a tax on fossil fuels at their source based on the amount of CO2 they would emit when burned. Return the revenue to US citzens or use part of it to pay down the national debt. Use a lot of fossil fuels, you pay more than your dividend. Use less fossil fuels and you get a check that's greater than your added cost due to the tax.

L.E.D.'s use less energy, are brighter, and have no toxic components, unlike incandescent and Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. This will save energy while providing a brighter and cleaner light with no environmental impact .

My sister was diagnosed with a condition Schizophrenia when she was 20 years old. She was under a medical psychiatric care and her doctor prescribed a wrong medication which caused severe bad side effects. She was at a store acting bizarre and the police were called and they arrested her. At the time of her guilty plea, she was not coherent to understand the consequences of her guilty plea. Therefore, she should not be punished for what she simply followed her doctor’s advise and she paid a heavy price by taking the wrong medicine. She lost her Section 8 housing Voucher and now she fears for the uncertainty of her future since she is unable to support herself. This decision has caused her to suffer emotionally and this has shattered her hopes for the future. Stress can trigger psychosis and make the symptoms of schizophrenia worse, so keeping it under control is extremely important. Wherefore, we requests that the Orange County Housing reconsider its decision and change how we treat mentally ill in this country. They need help not punishment

It appears President Obama is playing right into the hands of the Republicans and the Tea Party by trying to eliminate Social Security. They call it a reduction in taxes. Instead it is going to be a reduction to many peoples retirement funds. We all know or hear of people living on only Social Security or being homeless. We should be ashamed that something like this can happen in the richest country in the world. They take the average income for all Americans as $50,000. They should be taking the median of $36,000. Then they say this puts $1,000. in the average American pocket. That is $19.23 a week. Anyone I have asked never even noticed the difference in their weekly check. If you use the $36,000. the weekly amount is $13.84. According to the last Republican debate that is 1.2 BILLION DOLLARS that is not going into the the Social Security fund from the employees. Add to that the employors contribution and we have a total of 2.2 BILLION DOLLARS not going into the Social Security fund. Lets remove the cap and eliminate corruption in the system. Finally Let's restore Social Security so the poor and the middle class at least have something to live out their elderly years with.

On 60 Minutes (Dec 18) thousands of homes are being abandoned by owners who can no longer afford the mortgage payments. The bank takes possession and let the houses rot to the point they are no longer marketable. This is due to: 1. banks will not keep the property in in marketable condition (it costs money to do that) and 2. Scavengers break into the abandoned homes and take anything of value including copper wiring, plumbing fixtures, appliances, cabinetry, even aluminum siding. It seems to me that the banks, rather than causing folks to abandon their homes due to high mortgage rates, should refinance at the current market value to lower the payments so the folks can stay in their homes. This results in banks taking a lost in the equity, but when a home is abandoned and not cared for, the banks loses 100% of their loaned amount instead of 50 %. Homes in Ohio are being demolished, and banks are losing the entire cost. It was banks that caused the problem in the first place - even after TARP and another 7.7 trillion dollars loaned out to Wall Street/Banks at 0.01% interest.

Money is killing American politics because of campaign finance contributions by corporations and special interest groups. Congress passed campaign finance reform legislation, but the Supreme Court invalidated it. A Constitutional Amendment is needed to bypass the Supreme Court and enable reform.

We, as employers of the American Congress, should be the ones to determine the income, how it is acquired, and the healthcare, of our members/employees.