Michael, another gem. Love reading your stuff.

im a big advocate for ‘vote with your feet’ style boycotting as well. If you truly feel opposed, it shouldn’t be very difficult to just say no

i dont think enough people are paying attention to student debt. it could be the next economic bubble

“not a single third party or non-partisan candidate actually won an election in the last 100 years in California.”

“Specifically, it is an example of perhaps the most common political fantasy in modern history: the fantasy of how wonderful the world would be if all of the people who disagreed with me ceased to exist.”
this […]

The claim in Rubin V Bowen is about the rights of voters but also of minor parties and minor party candidates. These are the terms used in the complaint.

It’s pretty surprising that the California state capital is a short drive from the tech capital of the world, and our technology is so behind many other states.

I do find the irony that parties have “constitutional rights” to participate in the general election; the same parties that have argued that voters do not have “constitutional rights” to participate in partisan […]

Actual legal penalties is a big deal. This should be a bigger story. Nice catch Shawn.

I think we’ll be seeing more and more candidates like Block in the future.

Problem with a top-two or a top-three system is that the two parties would continue to use the third parties as pawns, to siphon off votes…think we would end up in the same pre-top-two conundrum…not sure […]

that video is really intriguing. very indicative of the ‘grass’roots nature of how medical marijuana advocacy is working.

if they were to really play the ‘patriotic’ card wouldnt they bring the money stateside and take the tax hit? More along the lines of ‘i love my country so much, more than all these billions of dollars Im losing […]

many dont consider how this can cut both ways. Theoretically, men would be just as susceptible as women to abuse the provisions, rendering them utterly unenforceable

either way the schools go will have pros and cons, its just about what priorities are in what order

When we start seeing that these issues are not partisan but institutional and that they will exist regardless of whose in the White House, we might be able to start doing something about them.

Well said. While, aside from the Paulites and some other more libertarian Republicans, I think the defense of the First Amendment (and 4th and 5th, etc…) is largely a result of the political advantage … was […]

“The mainstream media is a little like Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility, except without the power, and without the responsibility.” Sadly, very true. With the upcoming Iranian elections, i […]

it’s astonishing how government can be both so far behind in some fields but right on the cutting edge in others

wow outspent almost three to one. interesting how sanchez didnt dig into personal funds much

I hope Stephen’s application for his 501(c)4 – The Making America a Better Place Tea Party Patriot 9-12 Place to Constitution America Tea Party Nominally Social Welfare Conservative Political Action Tea Party […]

I do like the addition of local elections administrators, but having the party national committee chairs leading the commission is underwhelming. Not saying they shouldn’t be at the table, but at the wheel? not so sure.

i think it’s really interesting how what constitutes a ‘moderate’ candidate has really been lost. The media only paints ‘fringe’ candidates as ones outside the party establishment, when both rep and dems can be […]

Jurors who hint that they may be for jury nullification generally don’t hang around the courtroom very long.

If any of the jurors hears Filner’s call fro nullification, would it not lead these jurors to be recused? I am wondering about the likelihood of such nullification happening.

Despite its mostly “symbolic nature”, i do think that such initiative clearly shows the popular discontent with Citizen United and could easily inspire other similar ballot propositions around the country in 2014.

get learned

I think that as long as we will have to use the word “graphic novel” just to make comic books look better, we will have trouble using them in different environment than pure entertainment. Once we will have […]

part of the curriculum for my undergrad included the graphic novel Maus, by Art Spiegelman. Really moving novel, I’d highly recommend it, even for a highschool audience.

Privacy will be the civil rights issue of the next generation. It is also an issue that is difficult to politicize as a partisan issue … biggest division is in the GOP between libertarians and neo-conservatives […]

I knew that they prosecuted whistle-blowers but not to that extent.

Very interesting the amount of aid given to Israel and Pakistan. I am sure that many american would agree that this money could be better spent in the US. But how to make these changes progressively, without […]

I just went to Google and tried it. You indeed only arrive on the Privacy policy page after going through the home page and the “stay safe and secure online” page. I don’t think it is a really big deal because […]

“However, the Obama administration has compiled a long record of prosecuting whistle-blowers.” This is really the underreported story here. Most media outlets take the admin’s side when examining prosecutions of […]

at a certain point having these federal exemptions makes it kind of pointless to institute federal standards in the first place, legislators spend all their time trying to get out of the federal regulations rather […]

I think this bill would be great for CA and should even be adopted in other border states.