Petition Tag - public

Hepatitis C is an incurable, non-preventable blood-borne virus which damages the liver. It can be fatal in almost 85% of infected persons, most from cirrhosis, others from liver cancer and autoimmune disease.

The many people who are infected are not sick, or are unaware that they even have it until, for instance, they donate blood. Some people have had it for 25 years.

Infection can not only be passed by blood transfusions or by sharing needles but, ALSO, by sharing razors, toothbrushes, or nail clippers, from nail salons, barber shops, and tattoo/piercing parlors.

During the Vietnam Era, military persons were vaccinated in assembly line fashion. It is now being debated whether or not the government should be responsible for testing, medicating, and counseling all Veterans.

Most people associate Hepatitis with IV drug use, unsafe and promiscuous sex, or by drinking unclean water. (It is extremely rare that Hepatitis C is passed on by sex).

The public needs to know ALL the facts.

Did you know that nearly 5 times as many people are infected with Hepatitis C than those infected with AIDS/HIV? And that experts believe that, this year, 9 million, in the U.S. alone are unaware that they are infected?

This petition asks that public service announcements be frequently heard and that the announcements should NOT only be targeted at blood transfusion recipients, IV drug users, or AIDS/HIV victims, but, to all Veterans and, ALSO, to the "Average Joe", who might share a razor with their spouse.

How many husbands shave their pregnant wive's legs because she cannot reach her ankles? How many teenagers decide to shave for the first time, using Dad or Mom's razor, unsuspecting that the razor may be contaminated by blood of a parent who, unknowingly, has been infected for at least 25 years?

The facts need to be heard about this epidemic.

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Many skate parks are being made in the United States, and many of them ban bikes. Many people state that bikes cause destruction to the parks. They cause no more destruction than the skateboards do. Please, help put an end to these stupid laws.

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Around October of 2000, the Anime Legacy UBB gave many many webmasters and graphics designers the edge they needed and experiences they would never forget. However early in 2001 these forums were lost forever from the public. The once administrator of the AL forums, Syphin, announced at Es-Two forums that he had the backup for the vbb, thus people wanted it back up.

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In the audience of appeal held in Montpellier, France, on November 22 and 23, 2001, the prosecutor pronounced very harsh punishments (prison sentences) against 3 French farmers judged for having neutralized, in June 1999 with Indian farmers, plantations of transgenic rice plants in a greenhouse of the CIRAD (Centre International de Recherche en Agriculture pour le Développement International Research Centre for Agriculture). The objective of this action was to seek public debate on a research program on transgenic rice.

The plants of rice were to be transplanted in Camargue, a nature reserve of world interest. The tests were designed to measure the productivity of a genetically manipulated variety of BT rice which produces its own systemic insecticide against the pyrale, and contains as gene marker a gene resistant to antibiotics. By destroying these rice plantations the Indian and French farmers wanted to protest against genetic manipulation of plants which put in danger their culture and their way of life.

For that demonstration of non-violent action, the prosecutor imposed 8 months of imprisonment against José Bové and a less harsh punishment for Dominique Soullier, Confederation paysanne's chairman for this French department. The court will make its final decision judgment on December 20, 2001.

But what is really being judged here?
For a number of years, seed and agribusiness transnationals have been trying to control the world market of seeds by using manipulated transgenic seeds to achieve this goal. The possibility of patenting discoveries on genes, the most elementary constituents of life, opens possibilities of realizing huge profits. These technologies strengthen farmers' dependence on the transnationals' inputs (seeds and pesticides). For these firms any delay in the distribution of their transgenic seeds is equal to financial loss. Thus any popular movement or any Farmers' Union that tries to prevent them from enslaving the world has to be destroyed or marginalized.

Greed and power ignore borders. French companies, just like other international firms, participate to this new 'golden seeds' rush. They lobby French scientific institutions to concentrate their work in genetic engineering while claiming that France should not delay its participation in this GMO commercial war.

Sad argument! If in France, like almost everywhere in the world, farmers and citizens fight against GMO, it is not a question of anti-patriotism or obscurantism. The problem is that this technology :

- allows the seed and agribusiness transnationals, thanks to patents on life, to deprive farmers of their ancestral right to plant their own seeds. Patents transform peasants in 'bio-pirates' if they plant GMO seeds without paying high royalties every year.
- is only a 'do-it-yourself' technology because honest researchers are still unable to explain scientifically the manipulation they are carrying out in their laboratories. They recognize that they do not master the result of their experiments and that they do not understand the complexity of genes interactions (for the moment it is only about a blind bombardment of genes on the chromosomes of reproductive cells whose result is totally unpredictable);
- has potentially irreversible hazards. It endangers biodiversity, animal and human health. For the moment there is terrible lacks of independent evaluation of the damages GMOs can cause to the environment. Those surveys are not carried out mainly because they are too long and too expensive, and because nobody seems willing to pay for them !
- is rejected massively by consumers when they are informed about its potential dangers on biodiversity and human health;
- whose short and medium-term economic interest for farmers both from rich and poor countries has yet to be demonstrated;
- will not contribute to solve malnutrition and reduce famine in the world which are not the result of a global shortage of food but rather of an unequal and unjust social and political system of distribution.

This hostility toward GMOs is a message addressed to politicians and researchers: public research and public money should not be invested to support private interests and make quick financial profits. On the contrary, public search should increase common knowledge, freely accessible to any scientist, and prevent technological risks.

Is French justice going to put in prison activists who contributed by their actions of passive resistance to alert politicians, citizens and researchers on the dangers of the GMO?

Justice is supposed to be administered in the name of the people. Supporting the actions of the Confederation Paysanne's activists, two of them being José Bové and Dominique Soullier, the signatories of this text ask that the activists who contributed to alert politicians and open public debate on the potential risks of GMOs not be punished for their action. We are opposed to the imposition of a prison sentence aimed at repressing this international movement against biotechnologies. Referring to the recent decisions of British courts for similar acts of GMO's neutralization, we ask that the court order the release of these activists on December 20 of this year.

I agree to sign the text to "Demand of release for the farmers charged for the non violent action of June, 1999 in the greenhouses of the CIRAD "

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For several decades the former Australian Atomic Energy Commission, now the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation has been making application to successive Commonwealth Governments for a replacement to the multipurpose reactor HIFAR at Lucas Heights.

In 1992 a public inquiry was conducted by the Commonwealth Government called the Research Reactor Review, or McKinnon Review. The Review recommended a 5-year pause on consideration of the case for a new reactor for further assessment of issues including questions on Australia's need for a new reactor.

In 1997 the current Commonwealth Government announced that a new nuclear reactor would be established at Lucas Heights pending assessment under the Environment Protection Impact of Proposals Act, 1974. An Environmental Impact Statement process was undertaken, resulting in a favourable report from the Commonwealth Minister for Health. Assessment included review of the proposal by three international peer review agencies. The Commonwealth Government confirmed its intention to proceed with the proposal in 1998. Tendering for the proposal was completed by June 2000 and the tender granted to Argentinian company INVAP. The licensing process for design and construction of the new reactor is currently under way, with approval to be granted by ARPANSA in February 2002. The new reactor, to be commissioned around 2006 will be twice the power rating of the existing reactor, which will be decommissioned at a date to be confirmed.

It is understood that a replacement reactor locational study employing international consultants was undertaken around 1996. The public and the councils were not included in this undertaking, which appears to have been performed by the Commonwealth Department of Industry Science and Tourism with advice from ANSTO. The locational study report remains a Cabinet-in-Confidence document.

A cost for the proposed reactor of $286 million has been estimated by ANSTO as part of the current development assessment process although secret government documents obtained via Freedom of Information requests made by Sutherland Shire Council have revealed that the government’s own cost estimate is around $500 million. No design for the reactor has yet been revealed, despite the international peer review stating that the safety arguments used to justify the proposal now impose specific design constraints on the reactor in order to achieve these promised safety levels.

In spite of polls, submissions, lobbying and the actions of several state governments to prohibit the development of the dumpsites which will be unavoidable with a new reactor, the Liberal Government is continuing it's blind charge towards a future contaminated with the nuclear waste produced by the proposed new reactor.

Please take this opportunity to voice your opposition to this project and to raise the call for a nuclear free future.

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The Bear Interest Group is working for an Ethical balance between Humans, Bears, and the Environment. This petition is to The Honorable Governor Jesse Ventura, Minnesota State Senators and House Representatives.

Please show your support by signing this petition to restrict Hunting to AFTER Labor Day in September, and before Fishing Opener in May !
It is high time that Minnesota initiates No Hunting during our Peak Tourism Season, to keep our summer time free from worry !

Summer is vacation time in Minnesota with Millions of tourists, 850,000 students out of school, and thousands of families visiting summer cabins.
Many people feel uncomfortable in the forest alongside hunters. Too many people have been mistaken for game, or hit by stray bullets. See our hunting accident report at www.BearInterestGroup.com.

In the year 2000, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) moved Bear Season Opener from September 1st to August 22nd. Hunting is increasing in summer and is particularly dangerous because leafy vegetation obscures visibility but does not stop bullets. Tourists need to be warned that over 20,000 bear hunters, some of them novices as young as twelve, will be sitting in the woods wearing camouflage, obscured by leaves, and carrying high-powered rifles. No one is required to wear orange.
Unsuspecting tourists may indeed be wearing black or brown.
Bullets can travel hundreds of yards through leaves and miles through the air.

Currently, hunting in Minnesota is conducted all 12 months of the year. During the summer, the animals being hunted are crow, fox and raccoon. Now add bear. These animals could easily be harvested with better pelts, during the other nine months of the year.
Our Bill will help all animals that need quiet summers to raise their young. When gun shots ring through the air, animals go on the run ! They are deprived of sufficient food and are denied the opportunity to teach their young how to survive.

We support hunting in the fall after the Labor Day weekend, but during the warm months we support safety for the millions of tourists and residents who want to enjoy Minnesota's vacationland without worry.

We, at the Bear Interest Group (BIG), have met with the DNR four times, to try to understand their position and learned that the DNR has no plan to mitigate the danger. They have not mentioned any plans to put up signs to warn tourists that hunters are in the woods during this time, and they are not requiring anyone to wear blaze orange.
Most tourists and residents are unaware that bear season opens this early.

This change also effects the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Yes, bear hunting is allowed in the BWCAW.
This change in the hunting season enables hunters to Shoot Big Game in the BWCAW with Shot Guns, Rifles and Pistols starting August 23rd and for the following 7 weeks of the Bear Season.
Boat Motors' are NOT allowed, but Guns are !!

You need to be informed of this significant change in the Hunting Season dates. Once you know, then it becomes your choice to be outdoors during the hunting seasons !

BIG has spent two years researching the economical, environmental, and safety concerns of allowing hunting during the summer and we are finding strong support among the public and the legislature for our bill. Nevertheless, the DNR is unwilling to delay the opening of bear hunting to after Labor Day. If the DNR is correct that there is a growing bear population, the reason they stated for issuing the early opener, there are other ways to control bears without threatening public safety.

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Reptiles should not be sold as pets. Keeping these animals exposes owners to salmonella infections and often results in the suffering and death of the reptile.

More and more people are buying reptiles as pets, causing both an increase in salmonella poisoning cases as well as a growing market for these wild animals, who frequently suffer and die due to incorrect handling and improper care.

Due to contact, both direct and indirect, with pet reptiles, 93,000 people in the United States are infected with salmonella each year, and thousands are hospitalized. Unfortunately children, ages 5 years and under, make up the majority of cases because of their developing immune systems. In fact, reptile-associated salmonellosis can be fatal. It is responsible for the death of 20 people each year and has caused several infant deaths in recent years.

Reptiles, such as turtles, lizards, and snakes, are non-domesticated animals, unlike other companion animals such as dogs and cats, requiring very special care. Frequently these animals are purchased and mistreated due to the new owner's unfamiliarity with a reptile's unique food and care requirements.

Reptiles sold as pets are both caught in the wild and raised in captive environments. While concerns with human health and animal welfare remain whether the animal is wild-caught or captive-bred, there is additional stress and suffering for the wild-caught animals who have to endure capture and transportation from their natural environments. Prohibiting the sale of reptiles as pets will help reduce occurrences of reptile-associated salmonellosis and allow the animals to live out their natural life-spans without the pain or distress brought about by the reptile trade.

History: Between 1970 and 1975 hatchling red-eared slider turtles were a popular pet for children in the US. During this time, 250,000 cases of reptile-associated salmonellosis in children and infants were reported to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In response to this, in 1975 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration enacted a ban on the sale of turtles with a shell of less than four inches in length. This led to a 77% decrease in the number of annual cases of reptile-associated salmonellosis reported to the CDC.

The number of pet reptiles in the U.S. is again increasing. According to the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association 2000 survey on pet ownership, 3.9 million American households have one or more pet reptiles. This is a shocking 44% increase since 1998. Reptile-associated salmonellosis cases have risen along with the current pet reptile trend.

It is clear that current public education efforts and media attention on this issue have been ineffective in preventing this illness since the number of annual reptile-associated salmonellosis cases reported to the CDC have nearly doubled since 1995. In a 1999 public advisory the CDC stated that reptile-associated salmonellosis poses a "substantial health threat to humans."

In addition, reptiles are subject to serious abuse and neglect in the reptile trade. In fact, it is estimated that 90% of reptiles caught in the wild die within their first year of captivity due to mistreatment and neglect suffered during their capture and transport. Many reptiles, both wild-caught and capitive-bred, also perish at the hands of reptile owners who are unprepared to meet the specialized care requirements of these animals.

The sale of reptiles as pets should be banned in order to protect the American public, and in particular children, from reptile-associated salmonellosis. This action will also eliminate the needless animal suffering and mortality brought about by the reptile trade.

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Please take the time to read and sign our petition to have youth wrestling instated into the Chesterfield County athletics program. It is our attempt to collect as many signatures as possible, to present these signatures to the county school board as a show of support for wrestling in our middle schools.

What effect can wrestling have on our children's character development? Success factors in sports, or anything for that matter, are part God-given (i.e. height and size) and part acquired (i.e. endurance).

Success in wrestling depends most on acquired factors, and unlike most other sports, wrestling does not favor athletes of any particular height, size, weight, muscle type, race or social class, and does not rely on superior vision or hearing. Wrestlers learn, by the nature of the sport, that long-term success has much more to do with the investment made than the 'natural' gifts one is given. Wrestlers learn the value of reparation and hard work, and the role it plays in achieving one's goals. Wrestling provides real-life experiences that build and strengthen character.

Is wrestling a dangerous sport? There is a common misperception among the non-wrestling public that wrestling is a very dangerous sport. Perhaps it's the aggressive nature of the sport, association with 'Pro Wrestling', or perhaps fear of the unknown. Several studies have been conducted in recent years that show wrestling to be safer than many more common sports including football, ice hockey and gymnastics. Most notable in these reports, is wrestling's low percentage of serious, permanent and life-threatening injury in relation to other sports. A quote from USA Wrestling Club Organizing Guide has the following to say
about Risk of Injury: In summary, of the many sports your child can participate in, wrestling is perhaps the most misrepresented, misunderstood, and underrated. The ratio of participation to public awareness is remarkably lopsided. Each year hundreds of thousands of kids participate in this sport, yet the average person knows as much about wrestling as they might know about rugby or polo -- which combined, involve far fewer athletes.

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This petition is on matters concerning the International Transfer of Offenders Treaty. American prison authorities, both federal and state, have for years violated the Transfer of Offender Treaty rights, including the letter of the treaty, with discrimination, denials, injustices, lack of medical treatment, the list is not exhaustive. Our men and women are suffering so much so, that even their family and friends are feeling the atrocities caused by these prison administrators.

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a) The protection of California's most vulnerable citizens, its children, should be the most important objective of government.

b) Although providing an important public service, current programs designed to protect children often times do more harm than good. Far too many tragedies, including serious physical and emotional injury to children and the unnecessary destruction of families, have occurred in recent years. The system must be reformed to restore fundamental fairness and promote protection of children and preservation of families.

c)California law requires cases where a child has been removed from his or her family due to alleged abuse or neglect to be heard within 15 days in order to bring speedy resolution to the matter and to minimize trauma to the child. However, thousands of children are kept away from their families for months on end by unnecessary government delays, resulting in tremendous costs to parents and taxpayers. In many cases, other family members are willing and able to care for these children, yet the current system does not promote preservation of the family.

d) The right to a jury trial is fundamental in our system of government. However, under existing law, a child can be removed from the care of his or her parents based only on allegations of abuse or neglect without the government having to present evidence justifying removal to a judge and jury.

e)This system, designed by politicians to protect children, instead often results in delay, excessive costs, mistakes, and family break-ups. IT IS IMPORTANT TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM ABUSE AND NEGLECT, BUT IT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT CHILDREN ARE NOT WRONGFULLY REMOVED FROM THEIR PARENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

f) Abuse of the process is cloaked in secrecy because such juvenile proceedings are not open to the public.

g) Recently, several studies, grand jury investigations, and oversight hearings have brought these problems into clear focus. However, our elected representatives have failed to take action.

h) In order to protect the health and well-being of children, the people of the state of California hereby enact the Child and Family Protection Act to establish the right to a jury in juvenile dependency hearings, the right to a public hearing, the right to a speedy resolution and the promotion of family over government-sponsored care whenever possible.

If you would like more information or would like to assist in our efforts, please send an email to neff@cavalier-assoc.com.

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April 07, 2001

The head of the National Education Association (NEA), Bob Chase, officially endorsed gay activism in public schools at the 2000 gathering of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education network.

We stand against this as parents of children in public schools and concerned citizens.

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The Orlando sentinel in Florida are trying to get Dale Earnhardt's autopsy photos released to the public and the family and fans are trying to stop this.

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In November the Australian Senate will vote on the Howard Government's new schools' funding bill. There will be no real increase for the public schools that educate 70% of the Australia's students.

The States Grants Bill -
- Delivers funding increases to already privileged private schools
- Provides no real increases for public schools
- provides 70% of students with only 32% of the funding
- fails to provide an accurate measure of a schools need
- allows unregulated expansion of private schools at the expense of public schools
- makes it so much harder for public schools to continue to offer the high quality education.

This petition will be forwared to the Democrats, and the ALP senators along the the Greens and Independants from other states who have majority in the senate.

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