”The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” -Samuel Adams In an effort to keep our 2nd Amendment right intact and un-infringed upon, we the people sign this petition urging law makers to neither repeat any form of the ‘1994 Assault Weapons Ban,’ nor to sign into law any similar new legislation. There is very little meaningful evidence that the previous 10-year ban in the U.S. had any noticeable beneficial effects on society as a whole during and after its implementation. Most statistics show that an incredibly insignificant number of crimes are actually committed with so-called ‘assault weapons’ and that in almost every violent gun crime, fewer than 10 shots are ever fired regardless of magazine size. On the contrary, the evidence shows that the more lawful citizens are armed in a community, then the violent crimes trend downward. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” -Ben Franklin We stand fast with our forefathers and urge you to uphold our Bill of Rights, as you have sworn to do so, and to not succumb to the swarms of fear and panic of those who would wish to chisel down our rights as a free people in return for a fleeting false sense of personal and social security. There are, however several more logical and reasonable ideas on the table; Improved and available background check systems, stronger penalties for ‘gun crimes’ and illegal possession, and mandatory reporting of lost or stolen firearms may all be effective courses to help limit the availability of firearms to violent criminals and dissuade future gun violence. However, banning any further specific types, features, magazines, or ammunitions for firearms to law abiding Americans imposes unjustly on the 2nd Amendment rights promised to all free peoples by the founders of this great nation and is therefore unconstitutional and cannot be tolerated. ”A well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.” -James Madison The proposed ban of ‘assault rifles,’ semi-automatics, and 10+ round magazines will only serve to limit the people’s capacity to defend our rights and safety in our local communities. Furthermore it will only serve to provide a higher level of firepower to the criminal community, as well as the local and federal governments, all while limiting the power of the individual citizen – this is unquestionably contrary to all that the founders of this great nation fought for, and provided guarantees against. Any further limitation of firearms to the lawful citizens of America directly upsets the balance that our nation’s architects indomitably granted us, as a free people, the right and obligation to uphold. “Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth.” -George Maurice Washington

STOP DEPT OF ENERGY PLANS to dump 14,000 tons of radioactive scrap metals into the manufacturing of consumer products. There is no safe level of radiation. Keep nuclear waste out of my home and workplace!

In New York State, thousands of students are denied the right to receive a higher education due to their legal status. It is time for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to again lead by example and pass a comprehensive Dream Act here in New York, the national leader on progressive issues.

The environmental, health and economic impacts of hydrofracking our state have not been adequately studied by DEC. This needs to be done thoroughly to protect all New York residents. There must be no sacrifice zones in our state.

Old constitution is obsolete and way too long citizens and congressmen need to form an assembly to rewrite the AL constitution

gerrymandering is manipulating districts to gain political dominance has been used by the GOP to insure GOP wins even when a Democrat has a sizable lead in votes. Gerrymandering should be illegal. let's make it illegal or we will be subjected to GOP's extremism for most of the next decades.

Civil Society Statement on Concern for the “New Citizens’ Movement” in China July 24, 2013 Taipei, Taiwan Since earlier this year, many activists involved in the “New Citizens’ Movement” in China have been successively persecuted by the Chinese government. In March and April, at least 15 anti-corruption activists, including Yuan Dong, Chang Baocheng, Ma Xingli, Ho Xin, Ding Jiaxi, Zhao Changqing, Sun Hanhui, Wang Yonghong, Li Wei, and Qi Yueying in Beijing, and Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, Li Sihua, Li Xuemei, and Zou Guiqin in Jiangxi were arrested; Xu Zhiyong, founder of the Beijing-based nongovernmental organization Gongmeng, and three of his colleagues, Li Huanjun, Li Gang, and Song Ze, have been detained or forcibly disappearance since mid-July; dissident Chang Lin was detained in July after waging a nonviolent protest for his daughter’s rights to education. While all these people had been peacefully exercising their rights protected by international laws as well as Chinese domestic laws, the government prosecuted them for crimes including illegal assembly, provoking disorder, disturbing social order, disturbing order at public spaces, and even inciting subversion of state power. In the mean time, many other activists have been under illegal house arrest, such as Liu Xia, the wife of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo; Hu Jia, the Sakharov Prize winner; and Tsering Woeser, a renowned Tibetan writer, to name but a few. Furthermore, in the past months, many nongovernmental organizations have been harassed or clamped down. It appears that these are not only threats to the freedom and personal security of these individuals, but also demonstrates that Chinese civil society is facing a severe and systematic crackdown. Emerging out of the past decade of increasing rights activism, the Chinese “New Citizens’ Movement” is not a formally organized social movement, but rather an open collaborating platform for the pursuit of democracy, the rule of law, liberty, human rights, and civil society, based on a common identity of “citizens.” According to one of its initiators, Xu Zhiyong, its founding values are “freedom, righteousness, and love,” and it shall “proceed from individual citizen’s actions, and then, through solidarity and collaboration, promote a transition of political civilization towards a fair, righteous, free, and happy civil society in China.” As experiences in various part of the world have proved, a strong civil society is not only a key to redress social conflicts. It is also an important factor in peaceful social transformation as well as a necessary condition of democratic consolidation. The raising of civic awareness and rational political participation are healthy developments in Chinese civil society. However, the healthy social forces have faced relentlessly hostile treatment by the government. The situation appears quite bleak. As long as human rights remain unprotected, we believe that not only will the Chinese people suffer continuously, but the democracy and freedom in Hong Kong cannot be enhanced and the relations between China and Taiwan cannot develop healthily. Moreover, even regional peace and the global human rights regime will be threatened. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China provides that citizens “enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration” (Article 35), that “[t]he freedom of person of citizens… is inviolable… Unlawful deprivation or restriction of citizens’ freedom of person by detention or other means is prohibited; and unlawful search of the person of citizens is prohibited” (Article 37), that “[c]itizens… have the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or functionary. Citizens have the right to make to relevant state organs complaints and charges against, or exposures of, violation of the law or dereliction of duty by any state organ or functionary” (Article 41). China has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and it is a state party to Convention Against Torture and many other human rights treaties. An article stipulating “[T]he state respects and protects human rights” has been written into the Constitution. Therefore, under both international and domestic laws, the Chinese government is obliged to protect basic rights and liberties. This is indisputable. As the new Chinese leadership is busy consolidating its authority, we urge the Chinese government to honor its own promise “to rule the country according to the laws” and “to protect human rights.” Specifically, it should respect civil rights and expand space for civil society activities and start political reforms, leading the country towards democracy and constitutionalism. Therefore, we call on the Chinese government to: 1. release immediately and unconditionally all those detained for peacefully exercis...

We are asking Congress to mandate the creation of this website voting tool to help our representative government become better at representing and responding to the American people. Each voter needs access to at least three websites--one for each of these: national issues , state issues , and local issues. Each website should be run by a non-government, non-profit, non-partisan facilitating group sworn to assist the voter’s voices. Members of the registered voting public will have a particular password identity (obtained as part of their voter registration process). With the password, registered voters will have access to the website tools so they can vote on issues, as well as submit their own issue of preference on the website. If a citizen decides to submit their issue to the website, they will have a limited time to gather enough support to remain on that website. Once the issue is “on the table” it will remain for a limited period of time, allowing the broader public a chance to vote on the issue. Each website can reveal the cumulative votes, similar to a poll, but it will be much more accurate-- because it is tallying the vote of registered voters only. The websites can also sort the votes according to their district and the representatives and/or government agencies that the vote must be sent to, revealing the support levels within each city, or district, or state directly to the public. A website like this will reveal when there is a bipartisan or even a nonpartisan issue that deserves the support and attention of our representatives. It will also simplify the voter’s participation process, a public tool like this should help the public begin to have more power over setting the issues that our representatives handle, and how they handle them. Please mandate the creation of this tool for a more perfect democracy in which the public is not kept in the dark, but in which the public has a chance to gain a more respected, effective, and active role in this democracy. Congress, it is time you allow us to grow up.

Congressional gridlock is blocking action on many important issues including Social Security, Medicare, immigration, education, gun control, climate change, and health care. Direct citizen participation in Congress is now possible with Internet voting, similar to adding your name to a MoveOn.org petition.

The New Britain to Hartford Busway will increase local pollution due to an increase in the number of fossil fuel burning buses. This increases asthma and other diseases, and worsens climate change. The busway will cost nearly a billion tax-payer dollars, and is totally unnecessary, because it travels the same corridor and makes the same stops as the soon to be refurbished New Haven-Hartford-Springfield line. Stop the Busway!