Judges recuse themselves from cases where they have conflicts of interest. Why don't legislators?

Recent news reports on MSNBC say that the long-term unemployed face a new hurdle that is legal - discrimination by hiring employers against people who, because of the recession, have been and continue to be unemployed through no fault of their own. We all need jobs to survive and thrive in the U.S. Let's outlaw this hurdle that the long-term unemployed desperately need to have removed so we can all get back to work.

Football referees in the State of Washington have been subjected to loss of revenue and suspensions due to their support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.

I would like to see both the Republicans and Democrats come together to support reasonable compromises on both sides to resolve our debt crisis. Specifically, I would like to see the Republicans consider revisions to the tax system so the wealthy and corporations pay a fair share, and I would like to see the Democrats look at reasonable entitlement revision such as means-testing. I think the bipartisan Debt Reduction Commission is a good starting point.

Just checking to make sure create is working.

We do not have an elite that is above the law. American law should apply equally to all of it's citizens!!! For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform.... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical.

The conversion of non-profit health insurance companies to for-profit insurers has required there be profits payable to shareholders. The equation should only include providers, health care costs and patients. Require health insurers to be non profit companies and replace the interest of shareholders with the interests of stakeholders: patients and their providers.

Campaign finance reform would ensure that money will not "buy" an election. All candidates would operate from an equal playing field, with no one "owing" favors to any special interest group or corporation.

It's time to end the overly invasive violations of our freedoms imposed on us by the TSA. The scanners and invasive pat downs are not making us any safer, their effectiveness has not been illustrated at all. Our right to travel has now become a 'privilege' granted by the government. This loss of dignity imposed on us has severely damaged our moral character. We need to tell our elected representatives to stand up to this abuse and make it stop.

I love my iPhone, but hate giving over $1000 a year to AT&T or Verizon -- both of which donate to right-wing candidates and lobby against issues important to me. Now that Apple no longer has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S., it's time for them to extend a partnership deal to the only progressive phone company.

Mayor Bloomberg proposes to cut $350 million directly from the classroom by removing 6,000 teachers from our schools through attrition and layoffs. In addition, the Mayor is proposing $79 million in cuts to early childhood education and $34 million in cuts to community-based after school programs. This would mean cuts to all schools and would lead to the sharpest rises in class size in over thirty years. There are clear alternatives Arts, music, performing arts, physical education, career and technical education, libraries and intervention services would also be hard hit. The Mayor's budget represents a major step backwards in New York's commitment to quality education and is morally unconscionable. We are calling on Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council to invest in school improvement, not cut programs, increase class sizes or take teachers out of the classroom.

Rape is not like getting a flat tire--it's a horrific crime.