Blah Blah Flowers

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to enact legislation to change English libel law which has for too long been used to stifle free expression.

Labels: law, libel, petitions

The use of the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence discourages debate, denies the public access to the full picture and encourages use of the courts to silence critics. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel. The scientific community would have preferred that it had defended its position about chiropractic through an open discussion in the medical literature or mainstream media.

Today Simon Singh announces that he is applying to appeal the judge's recent pre-trial ruling in this case, in conjunction with the launch of this support campaign to defend the right of the pubic to read the views of scientists and writers.

Join the campaign! In a statement published today, over 100 people from the worlds of science, journalism, publishing, comedy, literature and law have joined together to express support for Simon and call for an urgent review of English law of libel. Please help us with this campaign, sign the statement and tell everyone you know to sign it.

Labels: alternative 'medicine', chiropractic, health, law, petitions

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to resign.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to declassify scientology as a reglion. I think ze possibly means religion.

Labels: Gordon Brown, Labour, petitions, Scientology

< scrobbled from other places >

For people in the UK:

Oxfordshire PCT has decided that just having gender dysphoria and demonstrating the criteria that any other PCT would need to start treatment isn't enough. Exceptional circumstances are needed, and other illnesses have to have been caused by this condition. The bar is set very high, far higher than it is in other UK areas. There's a detailed paper on this here but in (very brief) summary:

* Oxfordshire PCT has decided to classify this illness as merely a low priority 'psychological state', which needs not have treatment funded until it has caused other severe health problems. These actually disbar surgery, so if you get a referral then you won't get the surgery.

* It is unlawful to make this kind of policy decision as it effectively bars transsexualism from treatment (as per The Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism)

* Other PCTs in the region do not require "exceptional circumstances" to be proved before authorising treatment for this.

So this effectively amounts to instituionalised transphobia. Please take a moment to read this petition on the subject. You do need to be in the UK and give your name and address to sign it, but that is a standard part of all official UK e-petitions: Petition at number10.gov.uk (oh, and it can take a while for the signature list to be refreshed, so don't panic!)

FOR EVERYONE:

Spreading this far and wide will help the cause, so please feel free to link to this post or cut/paste bits into your own journals and blogs.

Labels: gender dysphoria, health, petitions, transgenderism, United Kingdom

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from filtering content for UK users.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to commission a momument to Oliver Postgate, Peter Firmin and the children's TV characters they created.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to acknowledge that a large proportion of the workforce in this country is single, and that reference should be made to 'the hard-working population' of this country rather than the constant references to 'hard-working families'.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to scrap ID cards. (again!)

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to cancel the 2012 Olympics in the face of the current recession and the country's existing debt burden.

Labels: censorship, children, Government, ID cards, internet, Internet Service Providers, Olympics, petitions, Television

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to condemn the media witch hunt of social workers.

Labels: child abuse, children, petitions, scapegoating

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to urgently review the way LGBT asylum seekers are treated.

Labels: asylum seekers, bisexual, gay, Government, homophobia, immigration, lesbians, LGBT, petitions, transgenderism, transphobia

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish the Position of Home Secretary.

Labels: Government, petitions, United Kingdom

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop making guns and selling them to people so that they can use them to kill us when we illegally invade their countries.

Labels: Afghanistan, arms industry, Iraq, petitions, The War Against Terror

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to update harassment laws to prohibit religious bullying aimed at children.

The current laws on harassment are not sufficient to protect children from the sort of bullying that religious groups use every day to coerce children into obedience and belief. Threatening an adult with eternal torture may be distasteful but is not likely to result in psychological damage. This is not the case with children. The effects of religious bullying can be long-term and serious, from nightmares and depression to anxiety disorders and even suicide.

The fact that threats of damnation, torture and other extreme punishment are used routinely is clear evidence that existing laws are insufficient. We call on the Prime Minister to clarify the existing harassment laws by adding clauses outlawing any form of threat, supernatural or otherwise, aimed at children; and to provide guidance to the police and other authorities on the enforcement of these laws.

Labels: children, Christianity, petitions

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop the introduction of the National Staff Dismissal Register.

This Register (NSDR), is a gross violation of human rights and allows employers to place people on it without any formal hearing, conviction or involvement of the police or justice system at all. The accused can only complain via the Information Commissioner and any changes or removal could take years. Employers have been given complete control of it and can basically put any name they want on it.

Labels: petitions, worker's rights

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to give the disabled the same benefits as the pensioners get each year especially the fuel allowance.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Uphold the principle of 'Net Neutrality'.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to force isp's to abandon plans to make content providers pay for elevated speeds on there network.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to support the campaign by Terry Pratchett and the Alzheimer's Research Trust for a drastic increase in public funding for dementia research.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Revoke the VAT-exempt status of the Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc.

Labels: Alzheimers, disability, internet, Internet Service Providers, petitions, Scientology, Terry Pratchett

Uwe Boll Will Quit Making Movies with One Million Signatures.

Ladies and Gentleman, we finally have a chance to rid the cinematic world of a cancer. Uwe Boll the German director behind such horrid video game adaptations as House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Dungeon Siege and Postal, has recently admitted that he would retire from making movies if enough people want him to stop. When FearNet mentioned to Boll a petition online signed by 18,000 people requesting that he cease making films, Boll responded that "18,000 is not enough to convince me." So how much would be enough? "One million," Boll said.

Labels: movies, petitions

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to (1) Introduce a time limit within which the HMRC (aka Inland Revenue) is required to advise employers to cease making student loan deductions once repayment is complete and (2) for HMRC to be charged the same interest rate on excess deductions as they charge on student loans..

Proper content coming soon. Right now I am tired and must sleep. Go 'way.

Labels: education, petitions

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Replace the current national anthem with "The National Anthem" by Radiohead.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop deporting gays and lesbians to countries where they may be imprisoned, tortured or executed because of their sexuality.

Labels: gay, homophobia, immigration, lesbians, music, petitions, Radiohead, United Kingdom

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop ISP's from breaching customers privacy via advertising technologies.

More specific information, involving the mysterious Phorm, here.

Labels: Government, Internet Service Providers, petitions, privacy

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Ensure equity of access to NHS treatment for gender dysphoria.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to enable people whose gender identity is neither male or female to have the opportunity to assign their legal gender as 'other' or 'intersex' if they so wish.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to to investigate Scientology organisations operating in the UK to ensure the National Minimum Wage is being paid to their employees.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop the right of MP's to vote on their own pay awards. MP's pay award to be made in line with the lowest awarded to public servants.

I especially like how the name for this petition in the No. 10 database is 'leaches'.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to instruct the Foreign Secretary to urge the United Nations to include gender as an issue on which people can claim asylum due to fears of persecution.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Force Southfield School For Girls to allow us to retake our GCSE AQA Additonal Biology 2 paper, taken 15th January 2008.

After months of hard revision and rememebering (sic) complex teories (sic) on proteins, amino acids, osmosis and genetic diseases, we were presented with an irrelevant paper for our GCSE AQA Additional Biology. The questions were ridiculous, and all of our careful revision was wasted. Our school is refusing to let us resit, whereas other local school are. We feel this is unfair and that the paper we took does not genuinely reflect our knowledge of the topic.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stamp Out Anti Social Behaviour Using the Following 20 point plan:

There is a plan. It's worrying how much thought he's put into this.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to immediately acknowledge the plight of the palestinian's in Gaza and to do as much as is humanly possible to get food, clothing, medication and diesel to those who desperately need it.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Sever the links between the Church of Scientology and the Police, also to prevent further links similar to these.

Labels: anti-social behaviour, Government, Israel, Palestine, petitions, school, Scientology, sex/gender, United Kingdom

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to include Stephen Fry, actor, comedian, writer, director, all round good egg, in the Queen's Honours List.

Labels: petitions, Stephen Fry

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop seeking to further extend pre-charge detention.

Anyone suspected of having committed an extremely serious offence, such as murder, can be held without charge for a maximum of 4 days. Police can already detain people under anti-terrorism legislation for seven times as long (28 days). Prolonged detention without charge or trial undermines fair trial rights, including the right to be promptly informed of any charges, the right to be free from arbitrary detention and the presumption of innocence.

Everybody arrested is entitled to be charged promptly and tried within a reasonable time, in proceedings that fully comply with fair trial standards, or to be released. The UK already has by far the longest period of pre-charge detention of any Common Law country. Any further extension of pre-charge detention risks being counterproductive, damaging community relations and undermining the UK’s moral authority around the world.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Close Charring [sic] Cross Gender Indentity [sic] Clinic.

Charring [sic] Cross G.I.C. should be closed down due to it's failiure to comply to the standards as laid out by Harry Benjiman [sic]. They bring thier [sic] own personal wiews [sic] into work with them and only select those who fit thier [sic] idea of what a woman / female is and should be each person is different, no two people are the same, we should therefore not be treated as stereotypes in one catagory [sic].

(Aside: As all the petitions are supposedly personally vetted by someone before they are posted for people to vote on you'd think they'd run them through a spell-check first)

Notice the first person to sign this petition seems less interested in Miss Sommer's thrust and is just against the surgery for anyone.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Hold a referendum on ID cards and the National Identity Register.

There are any number of ID Card petitions up on the site there, yet supposedly one of the criteria for turning down a new petition is if it covers the same ground as other petitions. I got one turned down a few months back which asked Gordon Brown specifically to give up the scheme.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to to not allow the import of biofuel from countries which are destroying rain forest to grow the crops..

We need to cut down on the current forms of travel, rather than transfer to using up a different natural resource.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Hold a public referendum on Trident and the defence of our country.

Labels: Government, ID cards, petitions, sex/gender, The War Against Terror, transport

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop [sic] making gcses [sic] a necsessity [sic] to get into college so home-educated people like myself can attend colleges.

I've been home-educated for 3 years due to bullying and because of being home-schooled i airnt [sic] been able to take my gcses [sic]. Its [sic] now hard for me to get into college. I think colleges should have a entry exam for home-schooled people instead of banning us completly [sic] from going college.

It's mean and hypocritical of me to laugh at the mistakes of another, if you believe the news reports this person has managed better than most school children, four whole sentences without lapsing into txtspk. But really, if you're going to try and prove you're smart, use a spellchecker.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Put Free Masonry on the National Curriculum for all Britains Schools.

Making the topic of Free Masonry compulsory in Religious Education, will help promote tollerance towards The Ancient practise of Free Masonry and the Temple of Solomon's connections to The All Seeing Eye.

Already signed by Secretive, Decietfull, lying Craft-Led by the "father of Lies"& continues to damage people and Show-boating, 'oh look i'm a freemason y'know' twaddle. No intolerance - most just not interested! who must be hell to introduce to people at parties.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow laser hair removal to be available for free on the NHS for the Transgendered.

Laser hair removal is an absolutely necessary step for all people born transsexual/transgendered who wish to live their life as a female. Currently this treatment is only available in the private sector and usually costs around £3000 for the entire body. We the undersigned believe this to be completely unfair as the vast majority of people born with this condition do not have the financial resources for this treatment. We pay huge amounts of tax for free treatment on the NHS, however the male-to-female transgendered community is being discriminated against because the treatment we require most is not available on the NHS.

Hmmm, do female-born-women get free laser hair removal on the NHS? Admittedly they may not get it as thick or prevelent as men but I'm sure it's not a concern of just the transsexual female?

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Remove Ian Blair as Commisioner of Police for London.

In the light of the finding of guilt against the Metropolitan Police in the shooting of a young Brazilian man on Health and Safety grounds, and his incompetent handling of the matter, Sir Ian Blair ought to be dismissed if he will not resign.

I'm in two minds about this. While Blair needs to go the rest of his team seem to have been forgotten, Cressida Dick botched it up, the armed officers on the ground made a pigs ear of it and then someone tried to cover up the whole affair and smear the victim with fabrication after fabrication about his behaviour.

Labels: education, Independent Police Complaints Commission, metropolitan police, petitions, police, Sir Ian Blair, transgenderism