Congressional Reform Act of 2012 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and Participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

Congressional Reform Act of 2012 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and Participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

Changing the US Congress

"Do not close Speedworld, It serves our community"

Call or write your Congressperson and the President and ask them to re-introduce HB235 for 2011.

If we are to serve as an example to the rest of the world, then we must counter-balance the harshness exhibited by certain Arab regimes towards non-violent protestors. We must demonstrate that leniency is the proper approach to deal with those who protest peacefully, even when they violate the laws. Presumably, the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and now more despicably, Syria and Libya, were acting in accordance with their own rules of law when they rounded up peaceful protestors- the protestors likely were violating laws about assembly and public criticism of the government. The recent convictions of 12 persons for trespass at the nuclear weapons facility, Y-12 National Security Complex, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (The United States of America vs. Jean T. Gump et al.), similarly is an example where peaceful protestors have been arrested, tried and convicted, this time for violating laws governing trespass on federal property. The difference is that this has occurred in our own democratic country. And what kind of riff-raff are these defendants? They include 4 nuns, 3 priest, 1 great grandmother, and two younger parents of small children. Several of the defendants are over 80, all have extensive histories of working with the poor and helpless, and a number were actively involved in the civil rights marches of the early 1960’s with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the freedom rides. Whether one feels that these defendants should be reviled as willful lawbreakers or lauded as saints, what should be clear in this case is that imprisonment for such offenders will serve no useful purpose for them or for society. Clearly society would not be protected by putting them in jail and they will not be “rehabilitated” by their stay in the state’s accommodations. Some might argue that their trespass on a nuclear weapons site makes them a threat to our national security. But if our national security can be threatened by such people, then we have a much more serious problem with our national security than anyone would care to admit. If 80-something priests and nuns are a threat to our national security, maybe we need to re-evaluate what it means to be “secure.” But that is a matter for a separate discussion. Meanwhile, we the undersigned, respectfully request that the convicted defendants be handled with the utmost leniency in this (and any future similar) case. Please do not have them serve any more time in prison or fine them. If you still feel they owe a debt to society, then, in accordance with their characters, consciences, and the needs of society, sentence them to community service. Mr. President, if Magistrate Judge Guyton is unable to follow our request, then, it is your duty in your capacity as leader of this country, to use your authority and power, to pardon these sincere and dedicated members of our country. Nothing that was seriously wrong in this country has ever changed without the actions of people like these- from slavery, to the rights of laborers, to civil rights and an end to “separate but equal.” They, in the tradition of the Reverend Dr. King, have been willing to risk prosecution and jail, to fight against situations and actions in our country that they perceive as unjust and immoral. All of the defendants have now spent some time in jail for their arrest. No good will be served by their extended imprisonment for non-violent protest. Even if you disagree with the moral imperatives of their actions, in this time of constant arguments about the need to trim waste from government budgets, this is clearly an example where a great deal of government resources can be saved- by not wasting the excessive outlays of tax dollars from the criminal justice system to lock up defendants such as these. In sum, please free the Oak Ridge 12 defendants.

Dear Mr. President: The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prisons serving two life sentences and 96 years, collectively, after being wrongly convicted in the U.S. federal district court in Miami on June 8, 200l. The Cuban Five were accused by the US government of committing espionage consipracy aganist the US and other related changes. However, as the Five argued at their trial. they were only engaged in monitoring the actions of Miami-based anti-Cuba terrorist groups in order to prevent terroist attacks against Cuba. For more than 40 years, anti-Cuban terrorists groups based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist actions against Cuba and against anyone who advocates normalization of relations between the US and Cuba. As a result of these actions, more than 3,000 Cubans have died. The Cuban Five's activities were never directed at the US government. Mr. President: Free the Cuban Five. . Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar, René González Sehwerert, Fernando González Llort and Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, collectively and popularly known as the Cuban 5. As a Professor of Constitutional Law and a student of the African American civil rights movement, we trust that you will appreciate that the trial, convictions, sentencing and continued imprisonment of the Cuban Five makes a mockery of the United States Constitution guarantee of due process of law, particularly the right to a fair trial. Time and time again, the Supreme Court, has reiterated that: “A fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process,” requiring not only “absence of actual bias,” but also an effort to “prevent even the probability of unfairness.” In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136 (1955). Over their objections, the Cuban Five’s trial was held in Miami, Florida, a city infamous as home to the most virulent and violent anti-Cuban organizations and activists in the United States. From their arrest throughout their trial, local newspapers and the airwaves, carried nearly daily reports by journalists proclaiming the Cuban Five’s guilt and linking them to plots as horrific as they were fictional. Even more egregiously, it has recently been revealed that many of the journalists who authored these reports were in the employ of the United States government. Moreover, during the time of the pre-trial and trial proceedings for the Cuban Five, Miami was also the site of several other high profile legal proceedings and events that generated massive publicity unfavorable to the Cuban Five, among them a city county-ban on doing business with Cuba, the arrest of a United States Immigration agent, Mariano Faget, who was accused of spying for Cuba, and most infamously the Elian Gonzalez case. Indeed, the atmosphere was such that the United States in Ramirez v. Ashcroft, No. 01-cv-4835 (S.D. Fla.) moved for a change of venue “outside of Miami Dade County to ensure that. . .[then U.S. Attorney Ashcroft] . . . receive a fair trial on the merits of the case. “ In Ramirez, the plaintiff, an INS employee, alleged a hostile work environment, unlawful retaliation and intimidation from his non-Latino fellow employees’ resulting from the April 22, 2002 removal of Elian Gonzalez from the United States and his return to his father in Cuba. In support of its motion for a change of venue, the government argued: “the inhabitants of Miami-Dade-County are so infected by knowledge of the incident and accompanying prejudice, bias, and preconceived opinions that jurors could not possibly put these matters out of their minds and try the instant case solely on the evidence presented in the courtroom.” In short, like the defendants in Moore v. Dempsey, 261 U.S. 86 (1935), the Scottsboro Nine and countless other, known and unknown Black activists, tried in the South during the Jim Crow era, the Cuban Five were compelled to stand trial in a city and before a jury pervasively infected with political hatred and prejudice against supporters of the Cuban government. Much like the Russian spies who were almost immediately deported from the United States rather than tried, the Cuban Five were in essence accused of various offenses relating to their acting as unregistered Cuban intelligence agents within the United States. No evidence was presented and none exists that the Cuban Five ever intended to or did pose a threat to the national security of the United States. Rather, their primary concern was uncovering and disrupting the activities of anti-Cuban groups such as Alpha 66, the Ex Club, Commandos L, that are committed to the overthrow of the Cuban government by any means necessary. For example, Alpha 66 was involved in terrorist attacks on Cuban hotels in 1992, 1994 and 1995, attempted to smuggle hand grenades into Cuba in March 1993 and issued death threats against Cuban tourists and installations in November 1993. In 1997, members of Alpha 66 were intercepted on their way to assassinate former Cuban President Fidel Castro. Cuba had advised the...

Please shut down all non-essential businesses in Palm Beach County immediately so we can slow the community spread of COVID and get our students back in school. We must ramp up our testing and contact tracing. We must provide financial and community support for furloughed workers.

- Allow professional, licensed Tattoo Studios to reopen along with Personal Care Services on May 15th. - Add Tattoo Artists, Piercers, and other Body Modification Specialists to the Personal Services Advisory Group. - Tattoo Artists as well as other Body Modification Professionals should not be singled out and eliminated from reopening their businesses due to lack of understanding of the industry.

A single tube of face wash can contain over 330,000 microbeads and well over 1,000 personal cleansing products contain microbeads. Most treatment plants do not have filters that are fine enough to filter and capture these 0.5mm beads, causing them to slip through and into our waterways. Please place an immediate ban the use and sale of microbeads.