Announcement Sign petition to insist on flowers at Obama's inauguration!

Gina B Kellogg

Pro Member
Sep 30, 2011
310
164
43
Overland Park
www.hottcornflakes.com
State / Prov
KS
No flowers at Obama's inauguration? That's the word on the street. But not if we can help it! We've created a petition on the White House's official website.

We have 30 days to get 25,000 signatures in order for our petition to be reviewed by the White House. We know! That's a LOT! So get this info on your Facebook page! Tweet it! Email it!

Here's the link: http://wh.gov/PK5H.

We have to get the word out ASAP!

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Below is some info generated by creating the petition with tips on getting the word out. Please read and then follow the suggestions. THANKS!

[FONT=&amp]Here are a few tips tohelp you promote your petition and get to 25,000 [/FONT]signatures:

1. Email: Email your petition to your friends, family and others who care about this issue. Below is a sample email you can forward to your friends right now.
2. Facebook: Post your petition to your Facebook wall to let folks know about it. Here's a sample message you can cut and paste into your Facebook status:
[FONT=&amp]I just started a petition on the White House petitions site, We the [/FONT]People. Will you sign it? Help us convince them to include flowers at the inauguration! http://wh.gov/PK5H


[FONT=&amp]3. Twitter: Tweet about your petition. Here's a sample [/FONT]tweet you can use:


[FONT=&amp]I just started a petition on the White House Petitions site, We the [/FONT]People. Will you sign it? http://wh.gov/PK5H
[FONT=&amp]
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EMAIL TEXT YOU CAN COPY AND PASTE INTO THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE:


[FONT=&amp]Dear friends,<o:p></o:p>[/FONT]

I wanted to let you know about a new petition on We the People, a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 25,000 signatures by Feb. 6, 2013, the White House will review it and respond!

We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama
Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response. [FONT=&amp]You can view and sign the petition here: [/FONT]http://wh.gov/PK5H

Here's some more information about this petition:
[FONT=&amp]include flowers at the inauguration in support of florists who [/FONT][FONT=&amp]rely on such exposure & will travel/work at no cost.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]The floral industry relies on exposure of major events to showcase the [/FONT][FONT=&amp]beauty and ambiance of flowers. The small businesses that make up this [/FONT][FONT=&amp]industry have little money for marketing, and even though Harvard and Rutgers [/FONT][FONT=&amp]research proves the scientific benefits of flowers on people's mental [/FONT][FONT=&amp]health and well-being, too few consumers are aware of flowers' [/FONT][FONT=&amp]importance. Hundreds of florists are willing to travel to D.C. and volunteer [/FONT][FONT=&amp]their time/skills at the inaugural events, and the industry is offering the [/FONT][FONT=&amp]flowers at cost. Please help support the hard work that florists and [/FONT][FONT=&amp]agricultural flower growers provide in bringing beauty to our lives. These [/FONT][FONT=&amp]retailers and farmers are particularly vulnerable to fragile economies and [/FONT][FONT=&amp]need your support to keep America's small businesses thriving.<o:p></o:p>[/FONT]
 
The note I received about the petition said:

Your petition “include flowers at the inauguration in support of florists who rely on such exposure & will travel/work at no cost.” has been removed from the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov because it was in violation of the We the People Terms of Participation.

This petition was removed for the following reason:
o The petition was outside the scope of We the People.

Learn more about the We the People Terms of Participation:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/how-why/terms-participation

Learn more about the We the People Moderation Policy:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/how-why/moderation-policy

If you would like to request reconsideration of this decision, please reply to this email with an explanation why your petition is not in violation of the Terms of Participation.

Sincerely,

We the People Moderator


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The best I could guess, after reading the "terms and conditions," was in relation to this paragraph:

"You agree to only create petitions consistent with the limited purpose of the We the People platform, which is to allow individuals to petition the Administration to take action on a range of issues — to address a problem, support or oppose a proposal, or otherwise change or continue federal government policy or actions. To focus discussion, the platform is limited to a discrete set of topics, which may be adjusted over time.

"You agree not to create petitions that fall outside this limited purpose—for example, petitions that advertise or call for the endorsement or purchase of commercial goods or services, petitions that expressly urge the support or opposition of candidates for elected office, petitions that do not address the current or potential actions or policies of the federal government, or petitions that address a topic not included in We the People at the time the petition was created."

So my guess is that the petition "endorsed" the "purchase of commercial goods or services." I guess, yeah, technically, that's what it did. Plus, perhaps since it had nothing to do with "federal government policy or actions."

Anyway, it was worth a shot!