Pete Rose has been banned from Baseball for Gambling on games during his career. He has admitted this and has expressed remorse repeatedly for his moral failure in this regard. The Commissioner of Baseball refuses to consider reinstatement to the game. Pete had a storied career, including holding the record for most hits by a major league player, 4,256. Reinstatement would allow Pete to take his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame

In the fall of 2011 the Chicago City Council will debate whether or not it will pass a resolution against torture. The resolution calls on the City of Chicago to “hereby stand against all forms of torture and inhumane treatment and does proclaim Chicago to be a torture free city.”

We no longer need 2 Senators from each State. This was reasonable when the constitution was written. With 50 states, one Senator per state is ample. It's time to cut back on the senate's expenditures.

If you stood up at a town hall meeting to ask your elected representative about a congressional vote, would you expect your photo to show up on a "citizen watch list" flyer in another state? That's just what happened to six Florida residents who questioned Rep. Dan Webster (R -FL 8) at his town halls earlier this year. Will you stand with the "Watch List 6" and other "blacklisted" citizens and demand Rep. Webster stop harassing and intimidating his constituents? His shocking abuse of power in creating and distributing a "watch list" those who dared to publicly question his votes to cut life-saving programs like Medicare and Medicaid will not be tolerated. Rep. Webster actually sent this list to other members of Congress who distributed them at their own town halls. Intimidating people for speaking at town halls is unconscionable in a public servant. Rep. Webster must immediately apologize directly to the private citizens he targeted in these watch lists, and to his entire district, in order to mend the broken confidence of his constituents. He must commit to immediately stop creating and distributing "watch lists" and to recognize the rights of all his constituents--not just his supporters. Town hall meetings are an important tool for constituents to communicate with their elected representatives. We cannot allow Rep. Webster to intimidate people for asking questions and demanding accountability from members of Congress.

On Friday the 29th of July, 2011 during C-Span’s Washington Journal1 it was revealed that the Social Security Trust Fund has a surplus of $22 Trillion while various politicians have indicated there is only $2.6 Trillion in the trust. This is a difference of $19.4 Trillion and would indicate all the rhetoric of how Social Security is a ponzi scam, is going broke, needs to be overhauled or done away with all together is not true at all, but rather it is a robust federal run insurance policy for the American people to ensure their livelihood during retirement. (See: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/OpenPhones7411) In 1983 while Ronald Reagan was President, the Greenspan Commission came up with a plan to save Social Security; this plan was agreed to by the Congress and became Law. Under the plan excess monies where to be made available to the US Treasury in the form of bonds to be paid back through the raising of revenue by tax increases to the wealthy when the baby boomers started to retire. The repayment was to begin in 2018 or sooner if necessary. Obviously things have happened that now require monies begin being paid back sooner, i.e.; the financial crisis of 2009, two unpaid for wars, military operations going on in 120 different countries, unpaid for Bush tax rates, etc. It is apparent that even monies were spent from the trust fund above the surplus as well since President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner both said they could not promise Social Security checks would go out after August the second unless the debt ceiling was raised. The only way Social Security checks wouldn’t be able to be paid would be if the money wasn’t in the fund to cover them or if they were lying. Washington is now posturing on reneging on the contract with the American people even though they have upheld their end of the contract by paying into the fund their entire working careers. It is evident the only reason for cutting Social Security would be if Washington didn’t want to pay the trust fund money back and continue using it to pay for wars, tax cuts to the wealthy and other pet projects. We cannot allow our representatives to sell us out to Wall Street and the Mega-Corporations again. Please sign and help promote this petition to audit and demand repayment of our money. Recommended Reading And Source Material: 1.C-Span Washington Journal – a. (07292011) – Telephone lines were open for questions and comments on news of the day. Bob Cusack and Peter Coy spoke about debt and deficit reduction legislation that was withdrawn from confederation in the House late the previous evening. (http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/OpenPhones7411) b. (08042011) – Peter Coy, Bloomberg Businessweek, Economics Editor discusses his recent Bloomberg Businessweek cover story entitled “Why The Debt Crisis is Even Worse Than You Think.” ( http://www.c-span.org/Events/Washington-Journal-for-Thursday-August-4/10737423287-3/ ) 2. The Forest – Where is the Missing 22 Trillion? ( http://theforestappb.org/?p=1875 ) 3. Daily Kos - $22 trillion Social Security surplus revealed on C-SPAN ( http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/29/1000366/-$22-trillion-Social-Security-surplus-revealed-on-C-SPAN?via=siderec ) 4. Democratic Underground – $22 trillion Social Security surplus revealed on C-SPAN ( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1606963 ) 5. Sherrie Questioning All - Washington Journal - Social Security is very well funded - Peter Coy of Bloomberg calls it an entitlement and says cuts need to be made - but is set straight by truth in Video! ( http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.com/2011/07/washington-journal-social-security-is.html ) 6. Sibel Edmonds' Boiling Frogs Post - The Unanswered Question of “Social Security Surplus” ( http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/08/14/bfp-independent-perspective-social-security-math-doesn%E2%80%99t-add-up-2/ ) 7. The Christian Science MOnitor - Social Security crisis? Not if wealthy pay their way ( http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0127/p09s01-coop.html ) 8. Social Security Online - a. Greenspan Commission: Report of the National Commission on Social Security Reform, January 1983. ( http://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/gspan.html ) b. Research Note #20: The Social Security Trust Funds and the Federal Budget. http://www.ssa.gov/history/BudgetTreatment.html ) c. News Release Social Security Board of Trustees: Projected Trust Fund Exhaustion One Year Sooner. ( http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/trustee11-pr.htm ) 9. Forbes - What Happened to the $2.6 Trillion Social Security Trust Fund? ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/07/13/what-happened-to-the-2-6-trillion-social-security-trust-fund/ ) 10. Mother Jones - Alan Simpson, Social Security Illiterate ( http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/05/alan-simpson-social-security-illiterate ) 11. AlterNet - Our Commando War in 120 Countries: Uncovering the Military's Secret Operations In the Obama Era. ( http://www.alternet.org/investigations/151904/our_commando_war_in_120_countries%3A_uncovering_the_military%27s_secret_operations_in_the_obama_era ) 12. FAIR (Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting) - Pete Peterson’s Media Empire Conflicts are OK when you have an anti-entitlement agenda ( http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4106%E2%80%9D ) 13. Center For Economic And Policy Research - Tell Market Place, Peter Peterson Spent $1 billion of His Own Money to Cut Social Security. ( http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/tell-market-place-peter-peterson-spend-1-billion-of-his-own-money-to-cut-social-security ) 14. Ratigan Blasts Banking Ties; "Corrupt Congress" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYhUuYjxbjQ )

Banks are foreclosing on veterans - one story last week told of B of A foreclosing the day the veteran returned home from Iraq. This is unacceptable! The Administration, Congress and the VA should work together NOW to STOP all foreclosures on our veterans and create a program to allow veterans to refinance their existing mortgages or require lenders to modify existing mortgages to allow veterans to stay in their homes if they choose to.

If taxes upon the wealthy are not included in the Super Committee's final work that is due by mid-November 2011, $1.4 trillion dollars worth of federal program cuts will automatically occur. A recent economic study found that the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts have stolen $1.3 TRILLION from our US Treasury due to lost income taxes! Super Committee members, we know that the wealthy have not paid their fair share, and it is past time for you do so. In America, the wealthy do not live off the middle-class and poor communities by not paying your fair share!

This petition is to protect chained dogs. Most all states allow dogs to be chained or tethered unfortunately. What we want is to make it a law that only chains or leashes designed for a dog are allowed to be used when tethering a dog. The use of heavier chains designed for logging, load lifting or other non-animal use are abusive, inhumane and unethical. Please help put an end to the use of heavy chains and padlocks on tethered or chained dogs

In the first six months of 2011, the Pennsylvania legislature made it a top priority to attack women's right to access safe, legal abortion care. Over 30% of legislative days were spent on reproductive rights attacks. The most egregious of the dozens of bills is one nearly identical to the Kansas law that will close two-thirds of the centers in the state. It requires major construction overhauls that are completely unrelated to patient safety and so onerous that it is unclear if any of the 20 free-standing abortion providers will be able to stay open, leaving women with few safe and legal options. Join us in telling our elected officials that WE'VE HAD ENOUGH of the attacks on women's healthcare, and it is imperative that they vote against these dangerous bills! Find out more about the attacks and watch a video of why other Pennsylvanians have HAD ENOUGH at www.wevehadenoughpa.org!

President Stanley's strategic initiative, Project 50 Forward, aims to position Stony Brook University as one of the top 20 public research universities in the country. The steering committee for this project will imminently implement shared service centers, meaning that the administrative staff will be removed from their home departments and localized into a general pool that services the building instead of its students. Not only do the data overwhelmingly demonstrate that this corporate strategy rarely, if ever, saves as much money as it costs to implement, but such a process is plagued with transitional woes that put a stop to efficient work. Ultimately, shared service centers result in a loss of services to the client or customer (e.g., the students paying tuition). In a year where student tuition and fees are rising and will continue to rise over the next academic year, Stony Brook University is proposing a plan that will drastically alter the support, services and specialized advising available to its students. Please sign the petition and help stop the shared services centers at Stony Brook University.

There has been data that anti-gay rhetoric is harmful to gays (especially gay youth). The two seem to be connected as evidenced by an increase in hate crimes involving 'perceived' gay teens and gay adults.

Fix our Federal Government. Limit our US and State Congressmen to two consecutive terms in office. This would end corruption and cronyism. Term limits downgrade seniority, favors meritocracy. Increases competition, encourages new challengers. Builds a ‘citizen’ Congress, drives out career politicians. Breaks ties to special interests. Improves tendency to vote on principle. Introduces fresh thinking, new ideas, eliminates 'old bulls'. Reduces power of staff, bureaucracy, lobbies. It will create a natural reduction in wasteful federal spending. Encourages lower taxes, smaller government, greater voter participation in elections. While this will require a constitutional amendment that we should all support.