Corporations are currently being treated as citizens - with all of the rights but none of the responsibility. This allows corporations to have undue power and has turned our Democratic Republic into a Corporatist Oligarchy. Let's make this THE ISSUE of the 2016 presidential election!

"Call my mama, oh God!" 15-year-old Dajerria Becton cried, as Eric Casebolt, an adult male police officer, forcefully swung her by her arm to the ground. "On your face!" he ordered, slamming her head into the grass face-first. He then pinned her to the ground with his knees—a child, who was crying for her mother. Watching the video of what happened at an end-of-the-year school pool party in McKinney, Texas, and hearing a young teen calling out for her mother to ease her fear and help her be safe, what mother's heart could take it? And Dajerria was not the only incident that day. Officer Casebolt singled out many other black teens for abuse, violently arresting, verbally assaulting and physically attacking a number of African-American young people, and even drawing his gun on teens who tried to intervene on Dajerria’s behalf. A white teen attending the party, who easily videotaped the attack, observed, “Everyone who was getting put on the ground was black, Mexican, Arabic... [The cop] didn’t even look at me. It was kind of like I was invisible.” In an interview, the teen further added, "He [Casebolt] skips over me and tells all my African American friends to go sit down." Officer Casebolt's actions reflect a deeply discriminatory and abusive culture of policing within McKinney law enforcement. Officer Casebolt has resigned, but it's not enough. He, as well as the other officers present that day who stood by and allowed this police violence to take place, must be held accountable.

I am starting this petition because I am sick and tired of politicians not listening to their constituents, politicians going AGAINST our constitution,

We need all of your signatures, we are trying to have 1500+ to take and present to the School Board. All in honor of a Good man and Great Coach. Where his legacy and name will always be remembered at each and every Starkville High Football game and Track Meet. Where generations will know and understand who Coach Hudson was and meant to the City Of Starkville, Thank You...! Believe me, every name matters.

Hi, Good men that are hard workers and the sole providers for their families should be given opportunities to reunite with their families. Some of the deportees are just waiting at the borders for laws to change, and meanwhile the single moms are becoming homeless even though they work two jobs. Children are suffering from this and some are struggling with emotional anxiety and depression. I am one of the many wives that became homeless, had to quit school and became depressed and sick from seeing my family suffer so much, especially because two of our five kids, the younger ones, have disabilities. I miss him so much, but because of financial hardship I can't go see him. I wish someone would just hear our voices.

Good men that are hard workers and the sole providers for their families should be given opportunities to reunite with their families. Some of the deportees are just waiting at the borders for laws to change, and meanwhile the single moms are becoming homeless even though they work two jobs. Children are suffering from this and some are struggling with emotional anxiety and depression. I am one of the many wives that became homeless, had to quit school, and became depressed and sick from seeing my family suffer so much. Especially because two of our five kids, the younger ones, have disabilities. I miss my husband so much, but because of financial hardship, I can't go see him. I wish someone would just hear our voices.

The wind industry, ignoring best science, is building turbines virtually any place they want. As an environmentalist, I am horrified by the needless slaughter and the associated cover-up of bird and bat deaths at the hands of the wind industry. That's not green!

This petition is about trying to stop the daily massive dumping of plastic bags into the oceans. I live down the block from the ocean and over the years have seen a dramatic increase in plastic bags both on the beach and in the ocean plastic never goes away

Senator Bernie Sanders has the longest history of supporting all forms of equality of any candidate running for president of the United States. He has opposed discrimination since he entered politics. He opposed DOMA in 1996, cosponsored a Constitutional Amendment for equal rights by gender in 2001. and has a 100% rating from the HRC and 93% from the ACLU. Senator Sanders has the longest history of supporting equality, and I believe all equality advocacy organizations should endorse Senator Sanders for president.

In the past four years, Diné College has not made academic progress and enrollment has dropped from 2,150 in fall 2009 to 1,242 in spring 2015. Furthermore, only one (1) Bachelors degree has been added in four years while Navajo Technical University has seen a lot of growth. NTU has added six (6) Bachelors and one (1)) Master's degree during the past four years and enrollment went from 900 students to 2,100.

What are the District of Columbia Public Schools and some in the city government trying to hide?   On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C., City Council will vote on a stunning new rule that would make it impossible for educators, parents and the general public to judge whether some of DCPS core instructional strategies and policies are really helping District children succeed.   Here’s the background: Over a year ago, the Washington Teachers’ Union filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to see the data from the school district’s IMPACT evaluation system—a system that’s used for big choices, like the firing of 563 teachers in just the past four years, curriculum decisions, school closures and more. The FOIA request was filed because DCPS refused to provide the data.   The data is essential for the union to be able to represent our members and serve our students. It’s essential to understanding and addressing the DCPS policies and practices that impact our members’ daily work. We requested the data with all personal information removed to protect teachers’ privacy. Now, the district not only has rejected our request, it is also trying to override the FOIA laws through a radical new secrecy provision to hide the information that’s being used to make big decisions that impact our kids, our teachers and our schools.   And to top it all off, the language in the law is so poorly written, no one’s even sure what it says. The mayor’s office claims it would only apply to certain schools, but open-government advocates say that—as written—it would apply to all schools. This confusion alone is enough reason to reject this bad idea.   Without access to this data, there’s no way for the public or our union to tell whether the strategies DCPS uses—like mayoral control—are helping students or simply creating school closures and high teacher turnover. And just last week, the National Academy of Sciences released a report that raises a lot of questions about whether those strategies have really moved the needle of student achievement.   Transparency shines a light on whether the District’s policies are helping kids, supporting teachers and improving schools. Hiding this data takes us in the wrong direction.

As reported, the Clinton campaign “isn’t just taking on college students with political science degrees but expecting political veterans to gamble their careers on her without pay.” This is a reflection of how desirable and advantageous working on her campaign can be for anyone interested in a political career. And when college students do it during the summer, it feels appropriate. But hiring experienced college graduates ‘for free’ means that those college kids won’t be getting that experience after all, while those who can afford the risk of not having income or giving up an existing job are rewarded with the chance of making it onto the campaign. This is the kind of filter we’ve seen used by other high-status sectors in the economy - arts, entertainment, media, fashion - that result in a smaller pool of new entrants. When a Democratic candidate uses internships in this way while talking about the need to address inequality, we need to point out the hypocrisy. I’m taking the time to write this petition as a woman excited about the possibility that a woman will become President for the first time in our history. But it matters what kind of values her campaign represents; I’m also a Democrat and an experienced political campaigner who has worked with interns and low-paid staff. The media will be scrutinizing her campaign for evidence of hypocrisy, and looking at how it reflects - or fails to reflect - the core values of the Democratic Party. Some of the people I met working on campaigns would never have had that opportunity if they were competing to work for free years after entering the field. I know I couldn’t have. What does America lose when the barrier to entry for an experienced political professional when you have to quit a job and work for free just to have a shot at a low paid job so that someday, you can win big? It's everything wrong with DC today and an example of how inequality becomes entrenched in the very fabric of our political systems. The issue of inappropriate or exploitative unpaid internships has been given a lot of attention in recent years. There have been a number of successful lawsuits by former interns. [2] One of the sources for the Guardian story is Mikey Franklin, founder of the Fair Pay Campaign [3], an admirable effort to address the exploitation of ‘unpaid interns’ that also addresses how they make inequality worse in general, even if the interns are ‘eager to be exploited.’ While political campaigns and nonprofits sometimes think they are exempt from this logic, the reality is that both are pyramids of a sort where layers of low-paid or unpaid people help support very large salaries at the top, access to wealthy donors and corporate partners, and inclusion in the ‘old-boy’ networks used for recruiting well-paid positions down the road. I hope that everyone who cares about the composition of the next generation of idealistic yet experienced campaign operatives to descend on Washington DC isn’t made up exclusively of those who can afford to work for free. Sign this petition and share it on social media, and together we can make a difference. (If we hear that any other Democratic campaign is engaged in similar practices, we’ll add them to this petition.) Footnotes [1] Hillary Clinton's unpaid intern limbo: a grassroots campaign of 'free help'. The Guardian, 6/14/15. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/13/hillary-clinton-unpaid-summer-intern-campaign [2]Unpaid interns: An endangered species? Politico, 2/1/15 http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/unpaid-interns-114783.html [3] Equal Pay Campaign: http://www.fairpaycampaign.com/ We are Mari Engelhardt BA, LNHA & Sarah Cave BFA, MA MARI: I am the mother of two grown feminist boys from the battleground state of Ohio. My commitment to democratic politics was instilled by my grandmother and informs my daily life. I care about the future of our democracy, our nation, our planet. My children are the first generation that is not better off than the last, I want better for my grandchildren. I am currently a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator. My Interest in politics began in high school, I was a volunteer for Jimmy Carter. Since then, my political career has included: campaign staffer for a progressive presidential candidate, a U.S. Congressman (now a U.S. Senator), the county Democratic party, campaign management for advocacy groups and LGBT equality campaigns as well as for local school levies. SARAH: I’m a creative professional and progressive. I freelance as a prop stylist, set designer, and creative director and I’ve worked mostly in fashion and print publishing for the last fifteen years. Over many years of hiring assistants and PA crews, I’ve always rejected the idea of using interns in what should be paid positions. Too many companies in my industry expect their entry-level hires to have some kind of independent income as is. A college graduate interning in NYC means a college graduate whose parents are able to pay their rent and all their bills, every last drink at a bar. Not many parents can afford this and it perpetuates a system I don’t like or agree with.