Tired of the partisan gridlock in Washington? Well, it's a litle-known fact that the Speaker of the House does NOT need to actually be a member of Congress. In fact, anyone elected by a majority of the Representives can serve in this position. Given that the Speaker should represent ALL of us and not just the majority, this petition asks that our Congressional Representatives agree to support a non-partisan Speaker from outside the Congress the next time around.

On December 5, 2012, Andrew a sweet, gentle dog was out walking in the woods with his owner in a public place where many people walk and do recreational activities daily, when he targeted a smell that interested him. In minutes, Andrew was dead from a body grip trap that was less than 10 feet off a public walking trail. His owner tried desperately to get him out of the trap and could not and had to watch her dog die while she could not save him. We need to ban these cruel and inhumane traps.

Nothing has changed in the job market since Obama was re-elected. But since he was re-elected, it seems he doesn't care about all of the unemployed people still looking for work. He already received our votes, so it seems he doesn't feel the need to keep helping the unemployed. The federal extention for unemployment has been for 92 weeks. The extentions end on December 23, 2012. It should be the same for all unemployed people. I have been unemployed for 1 year and my benefits end on December 23, 2012. There are newly unemployed Americans that will get considerably less. We should all receive the same amount of weeks. 92 weeks like a lot of Americans have already received. This is unfair treatment. I have worked for 40 years and have paid into the unemployment program. I deserve to get what so many Americans have already be given.

Please Give us what we voted for

The genital mutilation of girls( a kind of circumsion) is both cruel and obscene and humiliating, an offense against humanity without any medical justification. The result causes serious physical complications in child birth and inhibits the natural act of procreation. I have seen documentaries of this crime against females and find it revolting.

I would like Starbucks to change its corporate policy and prohibt guns in all Starbucks coffee shops.

Our Government wants us yo finance the upper class. By paying more than our fair share in all taxes, fed. state, property and sale related[ includes gas and utilities. Tell your congressional representatives we need equity.

On Election Day, we thought we were voting for a Democrat, when we voted for State Senator David Carlucci. But Senator Carlucci has joined the Independent Democratic Caucus "coalition" government that will just keep Republicans in power. We voted for change. We elected Democrats to support our Democratic values: protecting reproductive health, improving gun control, ending the influence of big money on politics with public financing of elections, and raising the minimum wage and tying it to inflation. Putting Republicans in power means throwing the Democratic agenda under the bus. That's wrong. Senator Carlucci, please act like a REAL Democrat, end this phony "coalition" that just allows Republicans to stay in power, and vote for Democratic Leadership in Albany!

This removal of the cap would help social security remain solvent by bringing in more money from those wealthy individuals who have reached the limits and no longer pay in to it. Surely those whose income is high enough that $110,000 is taken out for social security, they can afford to continue to have it taken out once they go beyond that figure.

Between the 1940's and 1960's several boys were killed at this school, buried in unmarked graves, and their families were lied to about it. Here is the link to the story. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/13/us/florida-graves-mystery/index.html Shouldn't these children have a proper burial? Shouldn't the remaining family members have the truth about what happened to these kids? Is the state of Florida actually going to admit what may have actually happened and open themselves up to lawsuits? We all know that atrocities are committed every day, and we can't always find the truth, no matter how hard we try, but I feel this is important. If you agree, please sign.

Everyone in America should be concerned about these six banks which control close to 60 trillion U.S. dollars. Why? These banks are FDIC insured because they are now mortgage banks. No matter what laws have been written since there last collapse, the American tax payer is still on the hook. Secondly, they wield way too much power on Congress since insider trading is not illegal for our elected representatives. Thirdly, we need to now enforce the Volcker Rule and Glass Stiegall to protect Americans and hold the CEOs accountable for their hedge fund bets and derivative bundled packages. Investment banks should not be mortgage lending institutions.

It destroys American citizens' ability to take responsibility for their government and the way public officials are elected.