The administration's current plan for cutting carbon emissions does not go far enough. We need a plan for initiating a nationwide, comprehensive, renewable energy infrastructure now.

February 5, 2014 would have been the nineteenth birthday of slain teenager Trayvon Martin. While many recognized his birthday by recalling the sadness of another young Black male killed for no reason other than his skin color, promoter Damon Feldman marked the occasion by promoting a so called Celebrity Boxing Match between Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman and controversial gangster rapper DMX in poor taste. Instead of simply complaining about the injustices of the legal system and the exploitation of this young man’s murder, Sistas Inspiring Sistas would like to petition for the cancellation of Feldman’s insensitive attempt at entertainment.

Lost opportunities for farmers and businesses have real consequences. With over $419 million in estimated U.S. retail sales, American companies making hemp products have no choice but to import their raw materials because American farmers continue to fear they will be prosecuted due to an outdated federal policy which confuses non-drug industrial hemp with drug varieties of Cannabis.We urge you to allow U.S. farmers to follow in the footsteps of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, all who were hemp farmers, and once again grow this sustainable and profitable non-drug crop.

We, the American people of these United States, demand that a Special Prosecutor be appointed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate former President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for high crimes and misdemeanors such as torture, falsifying and distorting facts to justify war against the Iraqi people, outing a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame-Wilson, and many other crimes, and to have the case prosecuted accordingly under the fullest extent of the law, both domestically and internationally.

Houston's COVID-19 case count surges, and yet a 6000 person indoor (until late last week, mask optional) gathering of the Texas GOP moves full steam ahead. The George R. Brown (GRB) Convention Center meeting on July 16-18 can easily shift to a virtual convening. Demand that the Texas GOP act in service to the health of all Houstonians. If they cannot govern themselves, the Mayor of Houston should restore his own authority to cancel the event with the support of Houston City Council, and the Houston First Corporation, contracted to manage GRB, should comply.

Fullfil your 2008 campaign promise to submit the international WHO FCTC Tobacco treaty to the full US Senate for ratification. 168 countries have already ratified the treaty. The United States are one of nine remaining countries that still needs to ratify it. Please demand that President Obama submit the treaty to the US Senate for ratification today.

Jeb Bush was the Republican Governor of the State of Florida and brother of the Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush during and prior to the 2000 Presidential election. Republican Secretary of State, Katherine Harris was also co-chair of Bush’s Florida campaign, clearly a conflict of interest in conducting a fair and impartial election. Jeb Bush promised to “Deliver Florida” to his brother, George W. Bush as reported in numerous newspaper articles. Secretary of State, Katherine Harris and Governor Jeb Bush had the motive and the means to make sure Florida’s decisive electoral votes were “delivered” to George W. Bush. Video regarding the 2000 election can be viewed at https://youtu.be/FJopOtIa5Xo According to Wikipedia, “Harris’s purge of voters in Florida removed both ineligible and eligible voters. Harris, along with state division of elections director Clay Roberts, and Governor Jeb Bush used an inaccurate ineligible-voter list that eliminated a disproportionate number of eligible African Americans from Florida voter rolls”. 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. ChoicePoint / DBT was given a $4 million no-bid contract under the Jeb Bush administration which purged thousands of African Americans from the Florida voter rolls. Jame Lee, Vice President of Choicepoint / DBT testified to a panel called by US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney that the State of Florida Division of Elections stated they only wanted 80% accuracy on the list. In other words, to be identified as a convicted felon, one only need to have a similar name to that as someone listed on a Texas convicted felon’s list. According to the Brennan Center for Justice: “Florida registrants were purged from the rolls if 80 percent of the letters of their last names were the same as those of persons with criminal convictions. Those wrongly purged included Reverend Willie D. Whiting Jr., who, under the matching criteria, was considered the same person as Willie J. Whiting. Without specific guidelines for or limitations on the authority of election officials conducting purges, eligible voters are regularly made unnecessarily vulnerable”. You can view the testimony of Jame Lee, Vice President of Choicepoint / DBT in a documentary called American Blackout (around 12 minutes into the film). As a result, ChoicePoint identified thousands Florida residents as convicted felons, which caused them to be illegally and wrongfully purged from the voter rolls. As it turned out, almost everyone on the Florida purged voters list had the right to vote. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 2000 Election Investigation Report The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights conducted an extensive public investigation of allegations of voting irregularities during the 2000 presidential election in Florida. To follow is some of the text from the report at http://usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch9.htm “Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election” “The investigation, utilizing the Commission’s subpoena power, included three days of hearings, more than 30 hours of testimony, 100 witnesses, and a systematic review of more than 118,000 pages of pertinent documents Findings: Despite the closeness of the election, it was widespread voter disenfranchisement, not the dead-heat contest, that was the extraordinary feature in the Florida election. Disenfranchisement of Florida voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of African Americans. Statewide, based on county-level statistical estimates, African American voters were nearly 10 times more likely than white voters to have their ballots rejected in the November 2000 election. Recommendations: The U.S. Department of Justice should immediately initiate the litigation process against the governor, secretary of state, director of the Division of Elections, specific supervisors of elections, and other state and local officials responsible for the execution of election laws, practices, and procedures, regarding their contributions, if any, to the extraordinary racial disparity in the rate that votes were rejected, through their actions or failure to act before and during the 2000 presidential election, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended. Appropriate enforcement action should be initiated to ensure full compliance with the election laws. The Civil Rights Division in the Office of the Florida Attorney General should initiate the litigation process against state election officials who violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, and/or Title IX of the Florida statutes through their actions or failure to act before, during, ...

As with many other professions, the State of California should require all law enforcement officers to obtain and maintain a license granted by the State to practice their profession. The license application process should require college education including criminal justice, extensive job training, standardized testing, and psychiatric evaluation. Licenses could be suspended or revoked for misconduct, in which case an officer would not be able to work as such in the state. Additionally, ALL police misconduct records should be publicly available. Currently, in order to obtain a badge in California, a police cadet needs only a high school diploma or GED and 664 hours of academy training, while a licensed cosmetologist needs 1,600 hours of training. An incomplete list of State licensed professions includes: Teachers, Accountants, Acupuncturists, Architects, Landscape Architects, Automotive Repair, Barbers and Cosmetologists, Contractors, Social Workers and Therapists, Funeral Directors, Chiropractors, Court Reporters, Dentists and Hygienists, Bedding or Furniture Retailers, Doctors, Nurses, Engineers, Optometrists, Physical Therapists, Fiduciaries, Psychologists, Midwives, Private Investigators, Security Guards, Veterinarians... As with other professions, it should be the applicant's responsibility to obtain the education, experience, and testing required to obtain the license before being employed as a law enforcement officer - NOT the local department's financial responsibility. Currently, California is one of only five states in the country that doesn’t “decertify” an officer for misconduct — or essentially take away a license to work in law enforcement. Instead, almost all hiring and firing decisions are up to local departments.

Petition: Whereas the Constitution of the United States declares that it and treaties ratified by Congress and signed by the president are the law of the land; and Whereas Congress ratified and the president signed the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and Whereas some soldiers were prosecuted, defamed, dishonored and imprisoned for torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and Whereas their Commander in Chief, George W. Bush, deserted those soldiers who were accused of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, calling them a “few bad apples,” seeing them prosecuted, defamed and imprisoned while lying that “We do not torture”; and Whereas their Commander in Chief, George W. Bush, confessed to authorizing torture; and Whereas Vice President Cheney and other members of the administration participated or permitted torture; and Whereas those who have sworn to defend or to uphold the Constitution are derelict in duty in not prosecuting those who authorized, participated or permitted torture; Therefore: we the following petition for the reinstatement of those low-ranking soldiers who were prosecuted and punished for deeds that their military and civilian authorities authorized, participated in or permitted without prosecution; that they be returned to duty if they so desire or be given honorable discharges and back pay for time they spent in prison for serving their country in the manner authorized and permitted by superior military and civilian authorities who were not prosecuted and punished; and that they be honored by all those who do honor, defend and uphold the Constitution.

We call on you to ensure the safety and security of Ricardo Esquivia Ballestas, and to investigate the political persecution of the peace movement of the High Mountain Zone of El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia.