in the separation of Church and State there is no justification for ministers to act as agents of the State granting rights and privileges over which we have no say in their creation nor enforcement. Clergy should be free to marry whomever they feel have been brought together by God's love according to the faith and order of their tradition. Clergy should then advocate for equality in civil rights granted by civil processes.

Bullying doesn't just happen with kids, it can happen to adults, as well,especially in the workforce. All too often managers are getting away with bullying or harrassing their employees. Many States have laws or are trying to make laws banning this type of behavior. We need this behavior stopped in all 50 states, making bullying and harrassing employees illegal with consequences for the bullies.

Florida's Governor Rick Scott continues to wage a war on Florida voters. Not only has he cut the early voting days in half including the very popular Sunday before election day, but now he also is purging the voting rolls. This week, voter advocacy groups sued Florida, claiming that the purge disproportionately targets Latino voters. The majority of voters on the list are Latino while they comprise less than 14% of the state's total population, according to Tampa Bay Times.

This program needs to be reviewed and changed. The program was supposed to rehabilitate patients released from State Hospitals into the community and become self supporting but thats not the case specifically in the Los Angeles CONREP program. The patients are kept forever and no one has been recommended by the program to be restored to sanity. Those restored are through the Courts without the programs recomendation after costing them and the State hugh amounts of money to fight their cases. The funds utilised by the program is a waste of Dept of Mental Health Funds which is disproportionately spent on a small % of the mentally ill and could be effectively spent on a greater % of the mentally ill who are in need more than those receiving it. CONREP makes patients dependent on on SSI, Medical, and the Program etc eventhough they are ready to become independent. This Program needs to be investigated and reforms are needed sonner, to help the patients become independent. The actual Patients in the Program need to be interviewed and protected from any retaliation to really know the truth about the Program. Eliminate the waste of funds in this Program through proper investigations. The patients are intimidated and frightened to speak due to consequences if they speak out. The statistics about the program are also flawed and incorrect.

This petition is put in place to help end application discrimination. Race, ethnic, or criminal status should be removed from the job application process how ever it can be addressed upon interveiw. Everbody needs a equal chance from the start!!!

As a former Target worker I was a victim of Target Corp.'s ethics every day. My coworkers and I are shocked and disgusted to find them on Ethisphere's annual "World's Most Ethical Companies" list. In 2011 United States federal government charged Target Corp. for violating our rights and an Administrative Law Judge found that the company used intimidation, scare tactics and threats in order to keep us (the workers) from joining a union in Valley Stream N.Y. After the vote, Target closed the store for a convenient "remodeling", displacing us, over 250 employees. Target is far from one of the world's most ethical companies, they're not even the most ethical company in Valley Stream N.Y.. While I was working there I was harassed every day by managers because I stood up for my rights and my coworkers rights. With the United States Government finding Target violated its workers civil rights, how does Ethisphere still include Target on their annual list of World's Top Ethical Companies? Sign the petition and tell Ethisphere to remove Target from their annual list!

Our family has suffered immeasurably because a greedy stepmother, who'd promised that she would always love us and consider us part of her family, coerced my unwell father into leaving his entire estate to her and her daughter. Stepmom will not file Dad's will, nor will she probate his estate. We have no money to contest the will or to force Stepmom to open the estate. Therefore: WHEN CHILDREN ARE LEFT OUT OF A BLOOD PARENT'S WILL, OUR GOVERNMENT MUST REQUIRE AN INVESTIGATION OF THAT WILL AND ITS BENEFICIARIES. Sadly, our story is all too common. And no state-by-state measure will work. This must be a federal law, as Stepmom, in our case, may have committed felonies. One law for all states is needed to stop turning families, who are already suffering the loss of a blood parent, into real-life CINDERELLAS.

Many federal bureau of prisons employees are being treated unfairly and have been intimidated into not exercising their employment rights. The agency has "adopted " a negligent employment practice of retaining and promoting management staff who willfully violate agency policies, rules, collective bargaining agreements and federal laws without fear of disciplinary action. Employee retaliation and/or career suicide is imminent for employees who file EEO or other complaints against management staff. These complaints are often ignored, unreported and worst of all uninvestigated. This is unconstitutional and does not promote the effieciency of service as required by federal agencies. This is a matter of great concern to the general public. I am proud to be a federal employee unfortunately I am also a current victim of the agency's unconstitutional negligent employment practices. I call upon members of congress and the white house to act swiftly to stop these negligent practices and accordingly discipline or charge not only those who have willfully committed these violations but those who knowingly abused their authority by condoning these violations and purposely failed to report them to the appropriate law enforcement agencies or officials. These negligent practices are ongoing at most federal prisons especially those located in Texas (South Central Region).

Once a felon has served and paid his or her debt to society, voting rights should be restored.

Dr. Mostafa Hefny is an Egyptian Nubain and a naturalized US citizen. He is a black man who is politically and ideologically Afrocentric Pan-African; however, he is legally classified as white by the US government. For the past 28 years he has been fighting to have his racial classification changed from white to black. He is currently organizing hundreds of other Egyptian Nubian's in the US who are also classified as white so that they will file a class action lawsuit against the US government to have their racial classification changed from white to black. Egyptian Nubian's are classified as white by the US government according to Directive No. 15 of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Dr. Hefny was a Bilingual Resource Teacher with Wayne County Regional Education Service Agency (Wayne County RESA) in Wayne, MI, USA for thirteen (13) years. When he stated on his employment records that he is black the Director of Human Resources sent him a letter which was copied to the Superintendent threatening him that his education career will be ruined if he did not change his racial classification on his employment records from black to white. A few days later one of the top administrators told him "If you ever say that you are black again no one will hire you and if hired you will be running from one job to the other for the rest of your life". Even though Wayne County RESA provides support and consultant services to all of Wayne County which is 30% black, the Superintendent was white, his four Associate Superintendents were white, and 95% of the administrators and consultants were white. Wayne County RESA did not fire Dr. Hefny, instead they denied him promotion twice, persecuted him, harassed him, called him nigger, and psychologically tortured him to the point that he left on social security psychiatric disability which lasted ten (10) years (1989-1998.) Additionally, he was hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals twice(1992 & 2000.) All the doctors who treated Dr. Hefny stated in their medical reports that his psychiatric injury was work related. When Dr. Hefny recovered and returned to the work force Wayne County RESA followed up on their threats and he was fired five times in one year. Dr. Hefny filed two EEOC discrimination charges against Wayne County RESA, but both of them were dismissed through ingenious manipulations without reviewing his evidence due to the high level connections of the leaders of Wayne County RESA. Dr. Hefny also filed five complaints with the US Attorney General against Wayne County RESA between 1989 to 1991, but no investigation was ever conducted due to the high level connection of the leaders of Wayne County RESA. In 1997, Dr. Hefny hired an attorney to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Government to have his racial classification changed from White to Black. His attorney prepared the complaint and had Dr. Hefny review and approve it. However, six months later his attorney refused to file the case in court alleging he was receiving tremendous pressure not to file it in court and that he risks being disbarred if he filed it. Dr. Hefny requested a refund for the retainer fee; however, his attorney refused to refund the retainer. Dr. Hefny no longer had the financial means to hire another lawyer, so he filed the complaint in court and represented himself and challenged the Federal Law directive No.15 that classifies Egyptian Nubian's as White. In 1998 this lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice and the court order stated "Plaintiff may file a new action once Standing is established." Between 2003 and 2004, Dr. Hefny sent the U.S. Government's Attorney for this case seven letters proposing an out of court settlement in which Dr. Hefny would Receive NO MONEY, or anything else except his Black Classification. The U.S. Government Attorney did not respond to any of the seven letters. Dr. Hefny sent President Obama a certified letter regarding the ordeal over Directive No. 15 classifying Egyptian Nubian's as White and not Black. This letter was received by the White House on July 12, 2012, but neither the President nor his staff responded to the letter. Additionally, Dr. Hefny sent a certified letter to First Lady Michelle Obama and a copy of the letter sent to President Obama requesting her to forward the letter to President . This letter was received by the White House on September 27, 2012, and no a response was received from neither the First Lady Michelle Obama or her staff. Furthermore, Dr. Hefny sent his congressman Mr. John Conyers five letters asking him to introduce a bill in congress to include the Egyptian Nubian's in the definition of "Black Person" in Directive No.15 of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Congressman Conyers nor his staff responded to Dr. Hefny's letters or the five phone calls made to the congressman's office. As a show of support in 2012 and in 2013, Dr. Hefny had over One Hundred African American Pastors write Congressman Conyers asking him to hand deliver Dr. Hefny's letter to President Obama. Congressman Conyers refused to hand deliver the letter. In 2014 Dr. Hefny had six African American civil rights leaders and pastors write congressman Conyers asking him to once more introduce a Bill in congress to include the Egyptian Nubian's in the definition of "Black Person" in directive No. 15 of the OMB; nonetheless, Congressman Conyers refused to do so once again. It is clear that both the Executive and the Legislative Branches of the U.S. government want to destroy the Nubian identity and Nubian Culture, by forcing Egyptian Nubian's to assimilate as Whites. Dr. Hefny desires the US government to reclassify all Egyptian Nubian's residing in the United States of America as a Blacks instead of White under Directive No. 15 of the OMB. He also wants his complaints against Wayne County RESA with the US Attorney General to be investigated by the book, as well as his two EEOC discrimination charges...

Recently, Republican members of the state legislature censured two Democratic female legislators and refused them the right to speak on the house floor. Their offense? Using the word "vagina." By refusing to let representatives Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum speak, Republicans have effectively denied thousands of Michigan citizens the right to a voice in government. This cynical, mean-spirited action erodes the very foundation of representative democracy. Join me in demanding an end to such undemocratic, and ultimately unpatriotic, actions and in demanding an apology to the women legislators and their constituents. Let the Republicans know that if they refuse to do so, we will seek further redress. Specifically, they have by their actions unquestionably violated their oath of office: to protect and defend the constitution.

My name is Norman and I'm African American and a senior citizen on June 2nd 2012 I was driving from Chicago, IL to Ohio to visit a sick relative. While driving thru Indiana I was pulled over by an police officer in Plymouth, Indiana. He claimed I was speeding, he asked for my credentials, drivers license, registration and insurance. I gave all documents which were current and up to date. Even though I knew I was not speeding I still remained courteous and polite. I was then informed I was going to be arrested for reckless driving. Since the other passengers in the car did not have a valid drivers license my vehicle was towed and impounded. Officer stated that if I had $250.00 dollars I could bond out within the hour, and to retreive my vehicle would be $100.00. after a lot of harrassment I then bounded out and was informed my bond would be $1,650.00 because people from out of state never come back. After paying the bond, I went to retreived my vehicle and was informed that I had to pay $300.00 to get my car, even though it was less than 2 hours later I was charged a storage fee, a gate fee and an extra $100.00 for Monday even though it was saturday at 3:45pm, because the tow/impound person stated he could be at home and we would have waited until monday anyway and he was doing us a favor. He also stated that he was surprised I was arrested because usually they let people go with a warning. I was traumatized as well my 79 year old mother who was also in the vehicle we are both senior citizens. Even though they never said the "N" word it was written all over the faces of everyone we came in contact with. We felt a lot of anger and hate. I was never read my rights and I had no warrants out for my arrest. This has got to stop, many african americans are harassed while driving thru Indiana. My court date is coming up and I'm very reluctant to return to this location. I felt like I went back in time and never expected to encounter anything like this in this current day and age.