Dear Senator McConnell, The bi-partisan intentions that you recently expressed after your victory in the mid-term elections were encouraging to those concerned about the world we will bequeath to our children. Therefore, we the undersigned implore you to reconsider nominating Senator Inhofe as chair of the Environment and Public Works committee. Inhofe’s extremist rhetoric –such as labeling those citizens concerned about climate change as Nazis, or claiming that climate change is not in alignment with the Christian world view—are at best divisive and have no place in a bipartisan dialogue. According to a recent survey conducted by the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, two out of every three Americans believe that global warming will harm future generations—their children and grandchildren. The Pentagon and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel released a report this past October pronouncing conclusively that climate change is an immediate and serious threat to national security with increased risks from terrorism, disease, global poverty and food shortages. One hundred percent of climate scientists, including the acclaimed Dr. James Hansen from NASA, and ninety-eight percent of all scientists have concluded that climate change is man-made, and we are well on our way to experiencing its consequences. We understand that our nation and your home state in particular are economically tied to the fossil fuel industry, and that difficult decisions will have to be made in order to transition to a new economy and energy independence; however, please be aware that there is a tremendous popular will to make that transition. You must consider the political ramifications of ignoring the concern of the majority of American voters. Victor Hugo stated, “Nothing is more important than an idea whose time has come.” President Obama has displayed true leadership in China this past week, and history will undoubtedly remember him favorably for it—his treaty with China will perhaps be remembered in a similar manner to the civil rights stances taken by JFK, whose memory is embedded in our American consciousness as a lasting hero. Governor George Wallace, however, failed to heed the signs of the times and is now remembered as a racist obstructionist. Will you be remembered as the man who used his political power so save our future at the critical moment by overcoming the current paralyzing polarization? Senator McConnell, you are truly a national figure and your decisions will make history-the choice is yours. Will you be condemned by future generations for spending your political life in a vain attempt to stem the tide of progress, leaving an obstructionist and non-existent legacy, or will you fulfill your bi-partisan promise by uniting the Senate and leading America toward a new epoch of sustainability and industry?

Dear Senator Harry Reid and the Senate Majority: With the Iraq War fabricators trying to rewrite history to excuse themselves for their calculated lies that the lead us wrongfully and immorally into the Iraq War...RIGHT NOW is the time for the Senate to convene a Senate Select Committee on Iraq and call those responsible (George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Condaleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer) forth to answer and prove their data and intelligence and sources that led up to the false war in Iraq. The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Wolfowitz/Bremer Administration must be held accountable for their acts of war that, if any other nation did what the Bush/Cheney Administration did in lying to the American people and to the United Nations for the express purpose of invading and destroying a sovereign nation, America would label that country as a terrorist state and its acts as acts of international terrorism; and we would demand accountability in front of The Hague for the war crimes by those nation’s leaders. It is time to hold those accountable who cost the lives of 4,485 of our service men and women, caused the maiming of tens of thousands of US service people, caused the deaths of up to 1 million innocent Iraqi women, children and men; and the displacement of another 2 million Iraqi families who had nothing to do with 9-11, Al Qaeda or Weapons of Mass Destruction as was falsely claimed by the Bush Administration and its co-conspirators. The Senate must do the job we pay them to do and hold those accountable who abused their powers in office and who fabricated and promoted a false war for their own narrow political and religious hatreds against a sovereign nation of innocent people. This should be done not just for America’s interests at home to insure such abuse of power doesn’t happen again, but also so that the world at large is shown that America does not live by a double-standard when it comes to international relations and policies in regard to acts of terrorism by one nation against another. We the People signed herein do hereby petition our Senate to convene a Select Committee on Iraq to get to the bottom of the cover up that was promulgated by the Bush/Cheney Administration and to make those who lied so systematically answer the important questions that led us into that false war, who caused America such great harm, and whose immoral and un-American actions were so devastating to our foreign military policy and credibility at home and abroad. Sincerely, Greg Reed

Benjamin Banneker is arguably America's most unsung hero. He is most often referred to as "America's First Black Man of Science." However, the Washington Interdependence Council, administrators of the Banneker Memorial, has elected to refer to him as "A Man of Many Firsts." Among Banneker's most notable achievements was serving on the team of the first presidential commission, established by President George Washington to help in the survey and design the “Federal City" as the new capitol of the nation; but this was just one of his many trailblazing contributions to America and the world. He also: Engineered the first all American made clock; Authored amongst America's first almanacs; Was America's first high profile Black Abolitionist; Was among the first to discuss the prospect of intelligent life forms existing on other planets; Was the first to document the 17 year locust cycle; Originated the formula for what is now called the "Reverse Mortgage," allowing the elderly to live out their lives in comfort; Served as the progenitor of the idea for a U.S. Dept. of Peace, which is currently being pursued by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and which led to the establishment of the U.S. Institute of Peace in the nation’s capitol; Authored America's first publicly documented Protest Letter to then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, condemning the Declaration of Independence as disingenuous as it did not include slaves and other oppressed persons; Was the first farmer noted for utilizing water irrigation and crop rotation as planting techniques; and Was America's first publicly known black astronomer; mathematician, scientist, publisher, surveyor, and planner. He was indeed "A Man of Many Firsts." Should you Google Mr. Banneker's name, you will find that millions of entries are propagated. To us this represents a groundswell of silent support and recognition which needs to culminate with a suitable world class memorial at the site already commemorating him along the L'Enfant Plaza/Banneker Overlook Park site in the nation's capitol. Please contact your members of Congress, President Obama and other official offices such as the National Capitol Memorial Commission to voice your support for this memorial. The Washington Interdependence Council has been stagnated by others who wish to desecrate his memorial by putting other memorials, museums and/or commercial interests there; and Americans need to voice our outrage at this egregious act of injustice. Only then will the Washington Interdependence Council be able to continue its now 15 year journey of meeting daunting milestones to succeed in upgrading the Banneker Memorial to a world class memorial, as he, and our children, so richly deserve.

We demand that American Federation of Musicians (AFM) president Ray Hair release a revised statement which includes the following: The American Federation of Musicians condemns police union tactics that not only enable the murder of Black people, musicians, and members, but actively defend state violence instead of supporting the interests of workers and the Labor Movement. The American Federation of Musicians, citing the process detailed in Article X, section 8(b) of the AFL-CIO constitution, calls upon AFL-CIO president Trumka to expel the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) and order all affiliates–including itself–to sever ties with all police unions. The American Federation of Musicians commits to vanquishing anti-Black and all forms of racism and discrimination not only with words, but with financial support for Black-led organizations and members using their platforms to fight racial and economic injustice.

Provide Economic Relief to Undocumented Immigrants, who are Excluded from the Stimulus Packages

Nominate Kamala Harris Vice President.

”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

We call on you, Governor Romney, to immediately release your tax returns dating back to 2000. Despite requests from your opponents, from your supporters, and from the general public, you have failed to do so, or even acknowledge the importance of doing so, and don’t intend to release any returns until April 15. High profile supporters of yours who have called on you to release these returns now include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown. The editors of the conservative National Review, and numerous other editors and writers, have also publicly urged you to disclose the records now, rather than in April. The release of your tax returns may not hurt you one bit. Or it could derail your candidacy. But either way, Americans deserve to know more about the man who’s likely to receive the Republican nomination. Republicans yet to vote in primaries should know now, instead of voting for you and waiting until April to find out facts that may have changed their vote. Governor Romney, you, who have “lived in the real streets of America,” need to get real, and release your tax returns now. As your opponent Newt Gingrich has done. As President Barack Obama has done. As many, many presidents and candidates have done. And as your father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, did during his 1968 presidential bid. Your dad said, "No presidential candidate should be afraid to confront the electorate with the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might be for either of them." You would be wise to heed his words. During his campaign, President Obama released eight years of tax returns, dating back to 2000, prior to releasing his 2007 tax return at the time of filing. He has continued to release his returns each year. At the very least, we demand that you similarly release your last 11 tax returns, dating back to 2000, like your potential opponent has done. In doing so, and releasing your 2011 return on April 15, you will also be following in the footsteps of your father, who released 12 of his tax returns. (Your dad paid a 37% tax rate, in case you can’t remember.) If you truly honor transparency, and put real value in presenting truth to your electorate, release your returns dating back to 1984, when you founded Bain Capital. We the people demand transparency in our government. If you continue to refuse disclosure, then you’ll be on record for ignoring bipartisan, popular sentiment. And if you do decide to release your returns, we’ll get the transparency we deserve, and you’ll get credit for being honest and open.

By signing this petition you will be signing two letters: One to the Editor and Associate Editors at Cognition and one to the Editorial Board. The text of these letters appears below, and will be sent on Wednesday, January 27. Whether you are a faculty member, postdoctoral fellow, graduate student, undergraduate, or consumer of research in the cognitive sciences, we ask you to sign this letter if you believe that the time is right for discussing the future of Open Access in the cognitive sciences. --- Recently the editorial team of the journal Lingua, led by Johan Rooryck, petitioned Elsevier to support a transition to a Fair Open Access model of publishing. When Elsevier rejected their proposal, the 6 Editors of Lingua resigned en masse, and created a new Fair Open Access journal, Glossa. The 31 members of the Lingua editorial board followed suit, joining the editorial board of Glossa. This turn of events has captured the interest of researchers throughout academia, including in the cognitive sciences, and has brought attention to the high fees we currently pay to make our work available to the public. We hope that Cognition will benefit from this episode and use the opportunity to transition to a Fair Open Access model, making knowledge available to all researchers, and to the public that funds it. We believe that Fair Open Access is the future of publishing not only in linguistics, but also in cognitive science and academia more generally. Whereas most research in the cognitive sciences is funded by public money, almost none of this research is available to the general public, nor to researchers at many international institutions. Currently, the cost of openly sharing the research that we have created and collectively funded is $2150 / article at Cognition, whereas fees at Glossa are now approximately $400 USD (waived for those who lack access to funds). This is a full $1400 less than at Lingua. While there may be reasons why costs at a larger journal like Cognition would be higher, we would like to request that this value equation be investigated by the Cognition Editorial team, and that significantly lower fees be pursued. More generally, we ask the Editorial team at Cognition to pursue a transition to Fair Open Access in collaboration with Elsevier. This request naturally raises a number of important challenges, both logistic and financial. But we now know that these challenges are not insurmountable. We hope that together we can capitalize on the current excitement regarding Fair Open Access to renew the legacy of Cognition. Most important, we support Cognition, its mission, and its editorial team, which together have made Cognition a premier journal in the cognitive sciences and a model for the field as a whole. [Version for the editors: We ask you to consider this proposal, as an editorial team, to determine whether it is in the best interests of the Cognition community. If you find that it is, we ask that you present your requests - whatever form they take - to Elsevier for formal consideration.] [Version for the editorial board: If you believe that these concerns are valid and a discussion of Open Access would benefit the Cognition community, we ask you to send a note to the Editor or Associate Editor that you work with most, expressing your views.] Sincere regards, Jesse Snedeker David Barner Faculty Lila Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania Tania Lombrozo, University of California, Berkeley LouAnn Gerken, University of Arizona Amy Perfors, Adelaide University Sarah Creel, University of California, San Diego Susan Carey, Harvard University Lisa Feigenson, Johns Hopkins University Jenny Saffran, University of Wisconsin, Madison Elizabeth Spelke, Harvard University Laurie Santos, Yale University Johan Rooryck, Leiden University Noam Chomsky, MIT Randy Gallistel, Rutgers University Rochel Gelman Rutgers University Stan Dehaene, INSERM Dorothy Bishop, University of Oxford Roger Levy, University of California, San Diego Adele E. Goldberg, Princeton Josh McDermott, MIT Michael Tanenhaus, Rochester University Tom Bever, University of Arizona Alison Gopnik, University of California, Berkeley Gary Marcus, NYU Simon Fisher, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Hilary Barth, Wesleyan University Ben Bergen, University of California, San Diego Hal Pashler, University of California, San Diego Daniel Ansari, University of Western Ontario Florian Jaeger, Rochester University Cristine Legare, UT Austin Noah Goodman, Stanford University Lera Boroditsky, University of California, San Diego Kristen Syrett, Rutgers University Franck Ramus, Ecole Normale Supérieure Ed Vul, University of California, San Diego Hyowon Gweon, Stanford University Gergely Csibra, Central European University Rebecca Saxe, MIT Steve Piantadosi, Rochester Tim Brady, University of California, San Diego Yarrow Dunham, Yale University Charles Kemp, Carnegie Mellon University Linda Smith, Indiana University Marlene Behrmann, Ca...

Just days before July 4, police in Akron, Ohio, brutally executed Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man. In solidarity with his family, the Akron community, and The Freedom BLOC, we demand transparency and accountability from Akron’s elected officials, as well as a full independent investigation. Akron's city and elected officials must immediately end the use of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and excessive force against protesters demanding justice for Jayland, and release all protesters from jail, expunge their records and eliminate all fines and fees. Akron must fund an unarmed traffic enforcement unit, a separate unit to respond to mental health calls and programs that prioritize violence prevention. The city must also invest in real, community-led public safety solutions, that keep Black communities safe, such as housing, public transportation, food security, health care, reparations and community-controlled public safety alternatives.