White House Follows UK Lead With E-Petition System

12,000 sign anti extradition petition for Tooting terror suspect Babar Ahmad
(Your Local Guardian, September 30, 2011)

More than 12,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Government to halt the extradition of a terror suspect from Tooting and put him on trial in the UK.

Supporters of Babar Ahmad, of Fountain Road, have also released a three-minute video on YouTube about his case entitled Life is One Big Road - encouraging people to sign the e-petition.

It is currently the highest ranked e-petition about a single person, according to campaign group Free Babar Ahmad.

Members are now hoping to collect 100,000 signatures by November 10 this year to force Parliament to respond to their demand of putting him on trial in the UK.

His father, Ashfaq, said: "As a result of the UK's extradition laws, Babar has been imprisoned without trial since the August 5, 2004.

"More than 12,000 people have recently signed the e-petition for him to be tried in the UK. All of these people believe that our extradition laws should be amended to prevent bundling my son, Gary Mckinnon and others like them onto a plane to America.

"The Government has undertaken its extradition review - the time for action is now."

This appeared on one of the right-wing threads here on a2k, posted by georgeob, a couple weeks ago. He had some convoluted suspicion that it was a White House ploy to ferret out antiDemocratic opinion and deny them government contracts. Or something like that. And it was Finn, I think, who agreed with him and thought we should definitely keep an eye on it. Now it looks like most of the democratic governments in the world have already been doing it for some time. Why does the right wing think that finding out people's opinions is really a conspiracy, rather than what democracy is all about?

I have been in business for a long time but have never seen anything as blatant as this coming from an agency of the Federal Government.

I'm assuming that some form of government coersion is involved with georgeob1's thinking.

It might also be a way of finding out who is thinking what and who is lying low.

This is a good idea, and one initiative of the Obama Administration that I can support.

I don't think it will prove to be anything more than a PR gesture, but I would think the same thing if anyone else were president.

If I'm not mistaken

urge to join in one of izzy's quilting bees.

Petitioners ask White House to End Patents
(By Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld, October 2, 2011)

The White House this month began allowing people to create petitions on its website, and an early favorite asks the president to "direct the patent office to cease issuing software patents."

The petition has more than 12,000 signatures, which puts it among the top 10 petitions on the White House website.

The leading petition, at the moment, concerns legalizing marijuana, with more than 41,000 signatures.

The White House has set up a relatively simple process for people to create or sign a petition. It asks for a name and e-mail address, and then verifies the email.

The White House is promising a response for any petition that meets a 5000-signature threshold within 30 days. It has not yet responded to any petition.

The software patent petition argues that patents have become a way "to stifle innovation and prevent competition rather than to support innovation and competitive markets. They've become an antitrust tool employed by large companies against small ones."

The petition's author is not disclosed, but the argument that the petition raises is longstanding.

In 2009, for instance, Red Hat filed a brief in a case that looked at the software patent issue and argued that software patents "form a minefield that slows and discourages software innovation."

Red Hat went on to explain that "because software products may involve thousands of patentable components, developers face the risk of having to defend weak but costly patent infringement lawsuits. A new class of business enterprise -- patent trolls -- has developed to file lawsuits to exploit this system."

Software developers can copyright their software, preventing people from making copies of their work without authorization. A patent gives the holder the right to stop someone from making, using or selling whatever has been proclaimed in the patent, said Leigh Martinson, a patent attorney at McDermott Will & Emery in Boston.

While a copyright prevents someone from making a copy of something, it doesn't stop someone from applying a method that is a feature of a software system. The patents are applied to these methods. Patents provide companies with "a competitive advantage, and it keeps people employed," said Martinson. What's hard for the developer working out of his garage is knowing whether what they are working on has a patent, he said.

A new provision in a patent law, recently approved by Congress, gives a "micro entity" as much as a 75 percent discount on a patent application.

Whether the White House petition site has any influence on patents or on any other issue is questionable.

Anthony Figliola, vice president of Empire Government Strategies, a New York-based grassroots lobbying and government relations firm, said the White House's petition site could be corrupted if professional advocacy groups "just bombard" the site with petitions and signatures.

we petition the obama administration to:
TO ENFORCE THE MANDATE OF GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT

We, providers of indigent defense, petition our Government to enforce the mandate set by our U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 in the Gideon decision. Gideon’s mandate that everyone accused of a crime must be afforded the right to counsel remains unfulfilled. Adequate funding and oversight by the Federal Government is necessary to enforce Gideon’s promise by addressing burgeoning caseloads and inadequate resources. We must do so to provide “the most basic constitutional protection – the right to have truly effective defense counsel.”- U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder 11/17/09

We petition our Federal Government to pass legislation requiring parity in funding and resources with the prosecution, and the assurance of indigent defense systems independent of the legislative, judicial and executive branches.

Four in 10 disabled young living in poverty, report says
(U-TV News, October 7, 2011)

More than 30 charities have launched an e-petition called "Don't let disabled children pay the price of welfare reform" on the government's website, which has so far received more than 5,000 signatures.

The petition argues that cutting benefits removes a vital lifeline for many disabled families who could be pushed below the poverty line.

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, said: "These findings are staggering and very worrying. It seems that all forms of support for disabled children are seriously hampered when families live on a low income. Hidden costs, such as transport, heating and learning aids, are forcing more disabled children and young people and their families into poverty.

"It is essential that the government does not cut rates of support for disabled children under the universal credit. We believe that this cut in support can only lead to more disabled children being pushed into poverty and we are urging the government to review it."

The Department for Work and Pensions said: "The government will continue to spend over £40bn on supporting disabled people. The changes we will introduce through universal credit will mean that severely disabled children will receive more support than they presently do under existing rules. Under universal credit there will be no cash losers for existing claimants."

Hillsborough files: Clegg backs full papers release
(BBC News Liverpool, October 11, 2011)

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has backed the full release of cabinet papers relating to the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Mr Clegg said he supported the release of "all, unredacted and uncensored government documents", over the tragedy in which 96 Liverpool FC fans died.

He was responding to a question from Labour Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis.

"It is very important we get to see all the relevant papers," the deputy prime minister told the Commons.

MPs are to debate an e-petition on 17 October which demands the full release of documents relating to the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster.

The petition, which was backed by Liverpool Manager Kenny Dalglish, will be debated because it gathered the support of more than 100,000 people.

It followed a ruling by Information Commissioner Christopher Graham that the papers should be published.

Ninety-five Liverpool fans died in the disaster at the FA cup semi-final tie against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium on 15 April, 1989. The 96th victim died two years later after doctors obtained a court ruling to withdraw tube feeding.

We petition the Obama Administration to:
Remove Racial and Ethnic Classifications from the U.S. Census

Fully one-quarter of the space on the 2010 census form was taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government’s business. Questions about race and ethnicity encourage the division of Americans into hostile tribes, and alienate Americans who consider themselves multiracial. It is the 21st century, and our multiracial President should take the lead in putting a stop to this.