Previously:
White House: petitions – We the People (September 22, 2011)
White House – petitions: removing “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance (September 24, 2011)
White House – petitions: almost something for everyone (September 28, 2011)
The White House started an online petition process on September 22nd, with an initial staff review threshold of five thousand signatures for petitions submitted through the process.
There certainly are a number of petitions worth signing, like this one:
Restore democracy by ending corporate personhood.
Citizens United dramatically altered the political dynamic of our country. Never before have corporations had so much sway over our country’s politics, and as a result our nation looks less and less like a democracy every day. By calling corporations “people” and deeming money to be “free speech,” we are allowing the richest Americans to influence politics in a way that the vast majority of us can never dream of. By ending corporate personhood we can restore our country’s democratic vision and create an America that answers to people rather than to money.
Stop the top 1% of Americans from drowning out the voices of the 99%. End corporate personhood and stop giving an unfair advantage to the wealthy few before it’s too late.
Created: Sep 22, 2011
Issues: Government ReformTotal signatures on this petition
10,846
And, of course, there are seemingly disparate petitions that, given another look, would appear to make a great deal of sense if they were paired:
Allow BASE Jumping in National Parks
We the people believe that BASE Jumping is not an illegal activity when participated in on public property. It should be treated as other sports are when they are active in designated areas. BASE Jumping has been banned by the NPS, and that should be addressed. The United States of America should be a place of personal liberty and freedom that allows BASE Jumpers to pursue their passions like all other citizens.
Created: Sep 23, 2011
Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Government Reform, Natural ResourcesTotal signatures on this petition
1,389
Promote / Enforce the teaching of Evolution over Creationism
Evolution has been unquestionably supported by scientific evidence, and is universally accepted in the scientific community, While it may run contrary to personally held religious beliefs, it is not the purpose of our publicly funded education system to teach religious dogma as fact, or even controversy, in a biology class.
It makes as much sense to teach creationism in a science class as it would to teach that the sun rotates around the earth in an astronomy class, or that lightning and storms are created by the the gods in a weather science lecture.
Evolutionary theory is the basis for much of modern biology, and to accept creationism is to reject modern knowledge of geology, carbon dating, genetics, and history. Depriving or confusing students about Evolution is unacceptable.
Created: Sep 24, 2011
Issues: Education, Innovation, Science and Space PolicyTotal signatures on this petition
3,486
There’s probably a less dramatic way to demonstrate natural selection to school children.