This treaty (CEDAW) commits the nations which join it to grant women and girls equality in all fields, among others, education and careers, employment including maternity leave, health care, property and credit, marital status, and political participation. This treaty also commits member countries to eliminate all kinds of violence against women including trafficking of women and girls.

By joining the 186 other nations which are members of CEDAW, the US will leave the list of only 6 other non-members: Iran (Persian Gulf); Sudan and Somalia (northeast Africa); and Nauru, Palau, and Tonga (Pacific islands). The reports submitted every four years under the treaty will enhance US prestige by demonstrating US accomplishments and increase US moral authority to urge other nations to achieve similar equal rights for women.

We the undersigned citizens of North Carolina urge Senators Burr and Hagan to vote "yes" to ratify CEDAW when it is favorably reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate.

We the undersigned call on Gov. Beverly Perdue and the N.C. General Assembly to support comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level and to support state efforts that improve the quality of life for our state's immigrants.

Whereas there are about 350,000 undocumented immigrants, the majority Latino, residing in N.C., and about 12 million nationally, most of whom fled horrible poverty in their native countries, with the hope for a better life here;

Whereas US trade policies under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have led to increased poverty and unemployment in Latin America;

Whereas current enforcement-only policies, such as raids and deportations cause Latinos to live in fear and have broken up families;

and Whereas the U.S., a nation of immigrants, has a proud history of "welcoming the stranger;"

Therefore, we believe our state has a moral duty to enact policies that are respectful of undocumented immigrants, including access to higher education, the right to drive legally, due process under the law, an end to raids and a path to legalization.

To: President Barack Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Members of Congress,

We, the undersigned, strongly oppose either invasion or targeted bombing of nuclear development sites within Iran by the United States or its allies.

Thousands of innocents would suffer and die, and the United States would reap well-deserved animosity and international condemnation.

Attacking Iran would dramatically destabilize the Middle East, south-central Asia, and the global community.

Best intelligence shows no imminent threat of nuclear capacity. The United States has both the time and the obligation, to assume a leadership role within the international community to fashion a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

Therefore, we urge the United States to respond to concerns with an Iranian nuclear development program with direct negotiations rather than military intervention.

This is the only way to prevent yet another war, one that would be a calamity of truly global proportions.