Some American corporations are essentially renouncing their citizenship so they can weasel out of paying taxes, even as they benefit from innumerable advantages of doing business, and making record profits, here. This corporate ploy is called “inversion.” A better word might be “evasion.” Inversion is when an American corporation seeks out and merges with a (usually smaller) foreign business, then uses the country where that business is located for tax purposes, thereby avoiding U.S. corporate taxes. President Obama recently spoke out against the practice of Big Business setting up sham headquarters in other countries to dodge their tax obligations here in America: “There are a whole range of benefits that have helped to build companies, create value, create profits. For you to continue to benefit from that entire architecture that helps you thrive, but move your technical address simply to avoid paying taxes, is neither fair, nor is it something that’s going to be good for the country over the long term. … You’re just gaming the system.” Sign the petition today to show President Obama that you support bold action to end the inversion evasion!

Surgeons cannot see the objects swallowed by pets because they are invisible to even x-rays. Thus the animals must undergo a bowel surgery as the surgeon searches for the object. Our class is sponsoring this. For one dog alone, it costs over $6000 to save its life. It would cost companies nothing.

Recreational Equipment, Inc., better known as REI, is one of the largest outdoor sports retailers in the country. Started in 1938 by a group of environmentalists, it was structured as a co-op so that members could be involved and invested in the practices and decisions of the company. But in recent years, REI has slowly begun to change. The company brought in a new CEO, apparel industry insider Jerry Stritzke, and started changing long-term policies that were once their biggest draws. Allegations of sexist practices in promotions have surfaced more frequently. And most recently, after once vowing that it would not carry clothing made in sweatshops, REI has rejected calls from students, workers, and its own members to stop selling clothes produced in sweatshops by The North Face, a brand owned by the world’s largest producer of branded apparel, VF Corporation. The North Face/VF has been embroiled in international controversy over its serial record of human rights abuses. In particular, REI members have expressed grave concerns about the safety of workers who produce apparel for The North Face/VF in factories that function as literal deathtraps. In 2010, The North Face/VF was responsible for 29 worker deaths and over 100 injuries when one of their factories in Bangladesh caught fire. Just last month, another VF factory caught fire, injuring and hospitalizing several workers. In-depth investigations have shown that The North Face/VF is operating equally unsafe factories in the country. Any of the 91 factories where they produce could easily become the next Rana Plaza. That’s 190,000 workers putting their lives on the line every day because of The North Face/VF’s greed. In the face of these repeated disasters, one would think that The North Face/VF would embrace a new approach to worker safety. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. The North Face/VF has staunchly refused to sign an innovative, legally-binding agreement between apparel brands and garment worker unions – now signed by over 175 brands – called the Bangladesh Safety Accord. Instead of signing the Accord, The North Face/VF has joined forces with its buddies at Wal-Mart to create a company-controlled, non-binding agreement called the “Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety,” which has been heavily criticized for its lack of meaningful inclusion of garment workers and their unions, and its failure to require brands to pay a single cent toward the repair and renovation of unsafe factories. Simply put, The North Face/VF’s refusal to accept legally-binding responsibility for worker safety has placed it among most backwards and regressive companies in the global apparel industry. Moreover, The North Face/VF’s violations in Bangladesh are the most egregious cases in the litany of other sweatshop abuses at its supplier factories, including stolen severance pay in Honduras, poverty wages in Cambodia that have led to massive worker strikes, and violence against union organizers across the globe. Since September, VF Corporation has lost at least 15 university licensing contracts over the company’s failure to comply with these university’s expectations for fair labor practices. These universities have taken a decisive stand for workers rights against the largest branded apparel company in the world. But instead of taking their own members' concerns about The North Face seriously, REI has chosen to defend The North Face, calling their refusal to sign the Accord a “legitimate choice,” while refusing to meet with students and REI members about our concerns. This irresponsible, cavalier response to member concerns demonstrates that REI has lost sight of its values to maximize profit at any cost. As concerned proponents of human rights, we urge REI to sever its business relationship with The North Face/VF unless the company signs the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. Workers around the world deserve better – and REI can do better. Learn more here: REIsweatshops.com

My petition is about the establishment clause in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Most of us can hold, see, smell and use the dollar bill, but not every American can agree on personal matters of Faith. Since the US dollar is the currency used to trade barrels of oil on the international markets, do we not place blind faith in it - that it will cure what ails us? We trust that the dollar will hold it's value and not plummet: or, more specifically, that corporations, who have the same rights as We the People under the Law, will continue a stranglehold on our free speech and civil liberties. We have lost our way as a country, where corporate media controls the masses, and politicians use religion as a convenient tool for further manipulation. Did you know, the first treaty that the US ever signed, the Treaty of Tripoli (1796), expressly states that: "...the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion." ? Our founders were rather Enlightened for their time, and having lived through the turmoil caused by Europe (where kings took a liking to sectarian religious matters), they knew this all too well: to get religion the hell out of government - and perhaps, more importantly, to keep government from contaminating religion! This is why, I believe it is time to take a stand against Citizens United. In Freedom We Trust! Will you sign my petition to change this outdated and inappropriate national motto?

I am starting this petition because Congress is not/will not do anything about unfair laws that benefit corporations at the expense of average people and the general welfare of our country. As individuals we have the power to make Walgreens reconsider this move.

Last week, news broke that Rupert Murdoch -- through his company, 21st Century Fox -- tried to buy Time Warner, the world's second-largest media conglomerate, for more than $75 billion. Time Warner rejected the initial offer, but Murdoch seems hellbent on pushing ahead and buying the company. [1] There's a real risk that he'll ultimately prevail. If Time Warner sells, Rupert Murdoch would own HBO (Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, etc...), Cinemax, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, DC Comics (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc...), and literally dozens of other companies, movie studios, and TV channels with which you're no doubt familiar. A combined Time Warner and 21st Century Fox would create a content company so large that it would radically transform the media landscape. Murdoch would control 40% of the cable market [2] -- eclipsing the 25% share of the nearest competitor, Disney. It would also mean that Murdoch would control about a 30% share of the movie market [3] -- a portion so staggeringly big that it'd be about twice the size of the nearest competitor. Giving one company this much control over our media would be terrible for consumers and the marketplace. According to Reuters, owning Time Warner would make Rupert Murdoch the undisputed "king" of the U.S. media.[4] And we've already seen the disastrous effects that come when Rupert Murdoch has unbridled media power. In the United Kingdom, Murdoch's dominating presence created a sense of impunity that, when combined with his culture of corruption, led to the now-infamous phone hacking scandal. There, Murdoch's papers engaged in telephone hacking at an industrial scale, ultimately stealing private information from thousands of people's phones over the course of several years. In Australia, Murdoch controls about 70% of the local newspaper market, which gives him an enormous amount of influence over the electoral process. That sheer size also creates an overall chilling effect. In 2013, Australia's largest progressive group attempted to run a TV ad that criticized Murdoch's extremely biased newspaper coverage. Every single major network refused to run the ad, with some reportedly citing fear of criticizing Murdoch as the reason for the decision. [5] These are just two of many examples of the harms that follow when Murdoch is allowed to concentrate media and irresponsibly wield the power that comes from it. --- [1] http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/07/rupert-murdoch-still-wants-time-warner-192517.html [2] As measured by cable subscriber fees. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/foxs-play-time-warner-pros-719231 [3] Based on average of studio market share of years 2011 - 2014. http://goo.gl/zxyU27 [4] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/17/us-time-warner-fox-idUSKBN0FL15T20140717 [5] http://mm4a.org/17FvTxY

As the largest drugstore chain in the country, I’d hope all the products Walgreens sells would be safe and free of harmful chemicals. They’re not. The chemicals found in some Walgreens' products (including unsafe levels of phthalates in children's toys and lead in pet toys) have been linked to developments disorders, cancer, hormone disruption and other negative health impacts. Please tell Walgreens: Protect your customers and get rid of products containing toxic chemicals.

It’s just sickening. A Subway worker in Freeport, Texas was just fired from her job because she was sick – drenched in sweat and running to the bathroom to vomit, in between making sandwiches. When she approached her boss, she was told “I don’t care. Get back on the line” and “just change shirts” to hide the vomit stains. She looked so bad that while on a break out back, a concerned person saw her and called an ambulance. She went to the hospital to be treated, and was promptly fired – for “poor performance and insubordination.” Add your name to our petition to Subway. Help Elizabeth get her job back and tell Subway to stop putting the public’s health at risk by forcing sick employees to make sandwiches – and spread the word far and wide after you have.

The public should be concerned about this issue because, their children are being targeted on this site. There are no concrete registration policies in place to be able to track anyone using the site for predatory purposes.

Whistleblowers are the eyes and ears to abuses by big banks and financial institutions, but they are becoming the targets of increased retaliation. Please stand by financial whistleblowers and ask the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strengthen and clarify its Whistleblower Program! In response to the Great Recession, Congress established the SEC Whistleblower Program as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act. While whistleblowers enjoy new avenues to disclose abuses, companies are using gag-orders and other retaliatory tactics to prevent these truth-tellers from coming forward. These tactics both punish the whistleblower and discourage others from coming forward, what is known as the “chilling effect.” Whistleblowers are invaluable to an open society because they hold institutions accountable and ensure that taxpayer money is spent wisely. Telling the truth should be valued and protected — not punished. Please sign the petition below asking the SEC to protect corporate whistleblowers!

21st Century Fox, the nation's largest media company, has announced plans to purchase Time Warner. But the FCC and the DOJ can still stop this monopolistic merger. The deal would cement 21st Century Fox's stranglehold over an industry in which consumers already have few options and face steep prices and unreliable customer service. This merger would mean even less competition over price and service. Cable News is the more important than ever, whether you want to get a job, start a business, get an education or just watch a movie. But the United States already trails every other developing nation in internet speeds and affordability. We need telecom companies to expand access and build out 21st century infrastructure -- instead of just gobbling up the competition -- to bring us up to speed with the world. Instead, telecom CEOs are only concerned with maximizing profit. President Teddy Roosevelt would roll over in his grave. This kind of monopolistic behavior must not be allowed. Tell the FCC and the DOJ to block the merger right now.

As a taxpayer and citizen of the United States I am concerned over the issues of campaign financing. specifically large corporate donations and super pacs like ALEC. I was alarmed to see that the Koch brothers were dumping exuberant amounts of money into states in an attempt to try to prevent the AFC act and medicaid funds, by influencing lawmakers. I am well aware of the Koch brothers agenda and their lack of respect for the environment, the laws of the land and humanity. Any politician or consumer who backs them is unAmerican.