Sun Valley Floral Group wants to cut forest adjacent to the Wild and Scenic Trinity River in an effort to expand Chemical intensive flower production. Families with children, fish and wildlife will all be impacted by these actions. This timber harvest and expansion should be stopped!

My petition is about the need to take the church arsons outside of Ferguson, MO seriously and investigate them as hate crimes. Although I don't live in Missouri, as a humanist and a Jew, I feel that we are all responsible for making the world a better place and that hate crimes always need to be investigated with rigor.

Everyday in Ohio, police officers are violating municipal “user participation agreements” with the Ohio Highway Patrol to spy on the state's citizens. They're driving behind motorists who've committed no crimes and using the Law Enforcement Access Data System (LEADS) computer to investigate their license plates. They're investigating the mayors, council members, safety directors and police chiefs who oversee them, and they're investigating members of these officials' families. They're investigating journalists and police critics, all in violation of state and federal laws. The LEADS computers are owned by the state under the supervision of the Ohio Highway Patrol. Governor Kasich appoints the Ohio Highway Patrol superintendent. The primary use of the LEADS database under Ohio law is the protection of the officer on the street, and use should be “maximized” for “officer safety,” pursuant to 4501:2-20-03(B)(1)(d) of the Ohio Administrative Code. Police in Ohio, however, are regularly abusing the computers every day and using them to make money for themselves and spy on other Ohioans. Thousands of Ohio women have complained that police officers who want to flirt with them use the computers to learn their names and addresses. Reports show they've even used them to gather information about people they don't like. The majority of LEADS use in Ohio has nothing to do with “officer safety” when police drive behind motorists whom they have no “reasonable or articulated suspicion” have committed a crime. In many instances small time city police are illegally accessing LEADS databases to help their mayors and council raise money. They're also violating the state's new anti-texting law by driving at high rates of speed on state highways with one hand while they type in license plate numbers with the other. Under 737.11 of the Ohio Revised Code, police have no other authority but to obey the same laws as every other Ohio citizen. There are no special exemptions in Ohio laws that allows police to violate their oaths of office. Ohio's LEADS database is also tied into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) managed by the FBI, and police in Ohio are violating federal privacy protection laws with their spying. It's no different than NSA spying on American citizens when federal employees illegally recorded their cellular phone communications. More specifically, under Title 28 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations, Section 20.1, the U.S. Congress added the protection of "individual privacy" as a mandate to the nation's police departments and law enforcement officers when they access the LEADS / NCIC databases. In cities like Akron, Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Canton, Youngstown and Warren, police are targeting minorities and low-income citizens in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is a violation of their constitutional rights because it causes them to bear the burden of separate and unequal enforcement under the law. NCIC regulations clearly require “probable cause” for another offense to be determined before the federal database is accessed, and every law enforcement agency in Ohio is supposed to follow the mandates of the NCIC manual. Governor Kasich can end the practice by ordering the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to issue an order that on the streets, police are only authorized to use the LEADS database “after” they have already initiated a traffic stop to write a citation, and before they approach the vehicle for officer safety. Governor Kasich can order the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to stop police departments from using automatic license plate readers that they're connecting, illegally, to the LEADS/NCIC databases. The bottom line is that Governor Kasich has the authority, without going to the General Assembly of Ohio, to right a wrong that is being done everyday by police officers who are spying on American citizens in violation of federal and state laws regarding the use of LEADS and NCIC databases. All he has to do is tell the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to end the practice, investigate the abusers and cause them to be prosecuted. Governor Kasich can also direct the Superintendent of the Ohio Highway Patrol to give every citizen the authority to ask for the information that's being stored on them without their knowledge, just to see what police have added to the LEADS database about them.

Privatizing is a union-busting, job destroying. and service destroying CUTBACK. We need to support our AFSCME brothers and sisters and stop privatization at RCC in the bud.

During the inaugural season in 2009, the Seattle Sounders FC front office said that the Sounders FC organization would be a team that is exemplified by "democracy in sports". However, the recent decision by the Sounders FC organization not to renew Ross Fletcher's contract for the sake of "change" goes entirely against this idea, especially when the vast majority of fans did not request this change to occur. Ross Fletcher has been a well known, well loved voice of the Seattle Sounders for the past 4 years now. He brings energy, flair, humor, passion, and love to every word he speaks on air!!! Sports teams around the world have their long-established and beloved voices that fans look forward to hearing week after week. The Sounders FC organization should stick behind Ross Fletcher and allow him the opportunity to be that voice for our team for years to come!!!

The House Select Committee on Benghazi interrogated Hillary Clinton for 11 hours the other day. They learned nothing. Now they're planning a new Committee on Planned Parenthood. How much more of our money are they going to waste? Benghazi was a tragedy, but they didn't spend any time trying to prevent the next tragedy -- just trying to score more political points. You know what would be a good use of our taxpayer dollars instead? Hearings on Umpqua, Sandy Hook, Charleston and all the mass shootings. References: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/10/23/house-benghazi-committee-fails-reveal-anything-new/fqU72ce9Dt0BsafJm44drN/story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/10/23/boehners-next-select-committee-focusing-on-planned-parenthood-to-be-led-by-marsha-blackburn/

Serious, realistic negotiations with Iran produced a political agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that thwarted the Republican push for war. Now, while most Republican presidential candidates and Hillary Clinton have called for escalating the war in Syria by imposing a “no fly zone,” [1] fifty-five House Democrats, led by Rep. Jim Himes, have called for international talks to end the war, including Russia and Iran. [2] While we work to end the war through diplomacy, helping refugees will cost less money and better protect human life than military escalation. [3] Urge President Obama and Congress to push to end the war through realistic diplomacy with Russia and Iran and do more to help refugees in the meantime by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/us/politics/gop-candidates-leading-charge-in-call-for-syrian-no-fly-zone.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/world/syria-exposes-split-between-obama-and-clinton.html; http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/19/us/elections/presidential-candidates-on-syria-no-fly-zone.html 2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/rep-jim-himes--54-house-d_b_8222622.html 3. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/syrian-refugees-resettlement-us/411178/

Please join me in signing this petition to leadership of the International Union of Geological Sciences. Although this may seem like an obscure professional committee issue, the decision of the IUGS could have chilling implications for all of us, for they hold in their hands the ability to declare that Earth itself is in a new and irreversible physical phase. We do not accept the idea that the Holocene is over, or that some essential "human" quality has caused the severe destruction of nuclear war, strip mining, ocean acidification and species extinction. The term "anthropocene" masks the work of capitalism, colonialism and other systems of domination in creating climate change and current global ecological hardships. It therefore misidentifies the problem, and misdirects attempts to address it.

National church leaders gathered in Johannesburg from 21-22 October 2015 for the annual National Church Leaders’ Consultation (NCLC) and issued the following special statement on the student fee crisis. • We the Church leaders of South Africa lament the student fee crisis engulfing the country. We declare this a national crisis. • We lament that we have not discerned the signs of the times. We have failed our students and not heard their voices. • We lament and strongly condemn the unnecessary use of violence and police brutality against our students and children. We call for the immediate release of all detained under these circumstances. • We further lament the exclusion of the poor from our spaces of higher education because of un-affordability. We recognise that the majority of these students are black and this entrenches inequality in our nation and denies educational opportunity. Our sacred texts call us to identify with the poor and marginalised. The Church and faith leaders therefore have an obligation to stand in solidarity with the students on campuses around the nation. • Consequently, Church and faith leaders have visited the WITS campus on Thursday, 22 October to symbolically express our solidarity. We are committing ourselves to creating courageous spaces where South Africans are able to listen to one another and to the voice of God. • We call on university authorities and government to join us in listening to students and avoiding violent behaviour that shuts down dialogue. Only through deep dialogue, listening and courageous action will we be able to find lasting long-term solutions. • We especially call on the government to provide adequate resources to redress the evils of the past and to allow the poor to access tertiary education. We further call on the minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr. Blade Nzimande, and the President of the Republic of South Africa to undertake immediate and appropriate measures to address the situation more than they have currently displayed. • As Church and faith leaders we commit to engage and journey with all concerned with these issues and we will call on other church and faith leaders to do the same at campuses across the country. • We also assure university executives of our prayers at this time of crisis. Participants: 1. Archbishop Dr. Thabo Makgoba – Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Chairperson of the NCLC 2. Archbishop Dr. Zandisile Magxwalisa – Jerusalem Church in South Africa 3. Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo – Roman Catholic Church 4. Rev. Mukondeleli Ramulondi – Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa 5. The Most Revd Bishop Lunga ka Siboto – Ethiopian Episcopal Church 6. Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa – Methodist Church of Southern Africa / SACC 7. Bishop Nkosekhaya Dikana – Word of Life 8. Bishop Sonwabo Dlula – Reformed Apostolic Mission of South Africa 9. Prof. Jerry Pillay – World Communion of Reformed Churches 10. Bishop Melumzi Norhushu – Ebenezer Christian Church 11. Dr. Emmanuel Tshilenga – International Church of Pretoria 12. Prof Mary-Anne Plaatjies Van Huffel – Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa 13. Dr. David Phaladi Tswaedi – Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa 14. Dr. Abraham Hanekom – Commission For Witness 15. Dr. Kobus Gerber - Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa 16. Rev. Lulama Sibeko – Reformed Apostolic Mission of South Africa 17. Rev. Garrett Möller – Volkskerk van Afrika 18. Dr. Frank Chikane – AFM International / SACC 19. Dr. Renier Koegelenberg – NRASD 20. Dr. Welile Mazamisa – NRASD 21. Rev. Lungile Mpetsheni – Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa 22. Rev. Bonisile Moses Ngcayisa – Presbyterian Church of Africa 23. Dr. Gustav Claassen – Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa 24. Dr. William Van Der Merwe – Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa 25. Rev. Charmaine Morgan – Methodist Church of Southern Africa 26. Rev. Moss Ntlha – The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa 27. Rev. Canon Desmond Lambrechts – Anglican Church of Southern Africa 28. Pastor. Hermy Damons – International Federation of Christian Churches 29. Rev. Senamo Molisiwa – Council of African Instituted Churches 30. Bishop. Horst Muller - Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (N-T) 31. Bishop. Isaiah Canny Mpofu – Council of African Instituted Churches 32. Pastor Xola Skosana – Way of Life 33. Mr. Marcus Van Wyk – SACLI 34. Mr. Miles Giljam – SACLI 35. Mr. Henry Jeffreys – Journalist and analyst 36. Rev. Loyiso Jonga – Baptist Church 37. Rev. Edwin Arrison – Kairos Southern Africa 38. Rev. Miranda Magxwalisa - Jerusalem Church in South Africa 39. Rev. Cornelis Janse van Rensburg - Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa 40. Rev. Cornelis Du Toit - Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa 41. Dr. Sipho Mahokoto – NRASD 42. Dr. Garth Japhet – Heartlines 43. Sheikh Achmat Sedick - Muslim Judicial Council

On October 18th, 2015 at approximately 3:00 a.m. Corey Jones was sitting in his vehicle on an exit ramp off of I-95 awaiting road side assistance because his car broke down as he was leaving a gig as a musician. Officer Nouman K. Raja who was in plain clothes in an unmarked van approached Corey's car with his lights turned off and driving near the drivers front side. Officer Raja exited the vehicle and approached Corey in a very unprofessional way and created a hostile situation and ultimately shot at Corey 6 times striking him 3 times and killing him. Corey was legally armed with a firearm and never fired a shot as he ran for his life to no avail. Corey was a peaceful young man who lost his life simply because his car broke down. Officer Raja needs to be fired from Palm Beach Gardens Police Department and Palm Beach State College as a police instructor. Fire Officer Nouman K. Raja Now!

The American gun control system is broken. The debate on gun control is divisive and little is being accomplished. Laws are being passed in some areas that restrict gun ownership, but don't prevent mass shootings. In other areas, good laws are being repealed like training requirements in order to carry concealed firearms. I propose that a new system be instated that requires citizens to obtain license, like a driver's license, before being able to purchase any firearm, or enter any establishment, event, or website where firearms or ammunition are commonly sold. Requirements to obtain such a license would be a basic psychological evaluation, federal background check, firearms safety, proper storage, maintenance, and skills training, subsidized out of the national defense budget. This would significantly encourage responsibility among firearms owners and, if coupled by a firearms buyback program conducted at the federal level, would also significantly reduce the number of firearms in circulation in the United States.

To get California and the nation on emission-free, proven, clean power and off dirty, earth-killing fossil fuel. Global warming is worsening. We must lead the world away from fossil fuel energy.