The IRS isn’t doing its job. It’s looking the other way while secret spending overwhelms our democracy and lets a few million-dollar front groups influence our elections but hide their donors by claiming “social welfare” tax status. The agency says it wants to write new rules around political spending, but won’t enact them until after next year’s election. That's no excuse for not enforcing the rules we have now. If the IRS thinks the American people aren’t paying attention, or worse, is too afraid of the backlash to enforce their own rules, then they won’t do anything. Tell the IRS -- we're watching, and we demand action.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 12,000 eligible voters, a number twenty-two times larger than George W. Bush’s 537 vote triumph over Al Gore, were wrongly identified as convicted felons and purged from the voting rolls in Florida. African Americans, who favored Gore over Bush by 86 points, accounted for 11 percent of the state’s electorate but 41 percent of those purged. We are asking that the Jed Bush administration be fully investigated for it's involvement in violating citizens rights by purging thousands of African Americans from the Florida voter rolls and the appropriate legal action be taken against those responsible for illegally influencing the outcome of the 2000 election.

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present, and future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/1/15. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work.

Legislators today constantly submit amendments to legislation under consideration that have nothing to do with the bill they are working on, hoping to slip something through. This happens frequently with 'must pass' bills so things that would have no chance of passing on their own get through. This seriously subverts the democratic process and must be stopped.

PETITION BACKGROUND I have first hand knowledge that most if not all judges in both state and federal level, across this great country of ours, have systematically invested in bogus mortgage and asset backed so called securities and bonds. I also have first hand knowledge that most if not all judges are literally stealing people's assets and properties for their own greed and label those theft of our assets as foreclosures when the banksters who are in partnership with judges, have not invested a single cent into these bogus bonds. For example, according to a research, every California county court employee at any and all levels participates in a benefit system that is minimum 60% invested in mortgage and asset backed securities, other bank and financial products tied to mortgage and asset backed securities. [Ref: http://www.scribd.com/doc/99125513/Calpers-Annual-Investment-Report-2010#scribd] which confirm judges' bias and court's clear conflict of interest, violating all 6 Canons of CALIFORNIA CODE OF JUDICIAL ETHICS which essentially means there is no difference between most California county court judges and the debt collectors, they both have consistently terrorized this nation. THIS CRIMINAL CONDUCT MUST STOP NOW.

Working families are represented and protected by the unions. The benefits gained during the collective bargaining process positively affects working families directly. Collecting union dues does not violate our first amendment rights.

We have a right to know whether our food contains genetically modified organisms. But the so-called Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act would do nothing to make our food safer and would prevent consumers from getting more accurate information by blocking states from labeling GMO foods. That’s why it’s so alarming that the U.S. House just passed a bill intended to keep consumers in the dark. Among the public, a strong bipartisan majority favors GMO labeling. Blocking state labeling laws is not only anti-consumer; it’s undemocratic as well. We have the right to know what we're eating. Tell the Senate to block the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act.

Our political parties should run their conventions on donations from "we, the people," not lobbyists and PACs. Democrats did that in 2012, but the Democratic National Committee just announced it will take money from PACs and lobbyists to fund its 2016 convention. Common Cause is calling on every candidate for president to demand a ban on PAC and lobbyist convention funding as a necessary step to change Washington's pay-to-play culture. With money taking more and more control of our system, any candidate who wants to be president needs a plan to put We The People back in charge — standing by in silence while PACs and lobbyists buy the national conventions would show a lack of commitment to this needed goal. But a candidate who took a bold stance against the party insiders, would distinguish himself or herself as a champion for reform. Democratic candidates should pressure on the DNC to reverse this capitulation to special interests. Republican candidates should demand that their party join in rejecting PAC and lobbyist money at their convention.

North Carolina could benefit so much from legalization of cannabis... we have the 8th, 3rd, and 1st poorest cities in all of America according to the last few years of census data. Unemployment is ridiculously high in the state. Legalizing cannabis would create thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in revenue, and most importantly, save or greatly improve lives. Even if you're against complete legalization so that anybody could use it (like alcohol which has been proven in countless studies to be significantly more damaging than marijuana) at least allow people who have genuine medical conditions who could benefit from it to have access to it. At least give North Carolina hope for a better tomorrow.

Remove the Confederate flag from public places throughout the city and break racial barriers among all people in and around Greenwood.

Ted Cruz just chaired a hearing in the Senate about his idea to subject Supreme Court justices to retention elections, saying it'd curtail "judicial activism." But one look at the states that elect their Supreme Court justices shows the dangers of Cruz's proposal. Forcing judges to run for re-election puts them at the mercy of outside groups and special interest donors. It invites corporate front groups to flood the elections with money to stack the benches with judges who'll see cases their way -- regardless of what's right. Our founders intended for courts to be truly independent, able to make politically unpopular decisions -- like those that desegregated our schools, guaranteed a woman's right to choose and provided marriage equality -- and to operate outside of traditional electoral politics. Ted Cruz should abandon his extreme proposal and focus on proven reforms, like judicial codes of ethics and merit selection, to build a fair, impartial judiciary.

On July 16, 2015, the Australian government unveiled its plan to kill two million feral cats by 2020. While the problem they are targeting is real and serious (scientists say that they are a primary factor behind the extinction of at least 29 indigenous mammal species in Australia), the solution of poisioning the cats is barbaric to say the least. Efforts should be made to find a more humane solution, working with animal rights advocates, agencies, shelters, and rescues to spay/neuter and adopt out those that are healthy and spare as many as possible from a horrible death. This holocaust should be stopped.