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In a blog post Wednesday, famed actor Jeff Bridges announced his intention to attend both the Republican and Democratic National conventions to raise awareness about childhood hunger in the US. He will be there representing No Kid Hungry, an organization devoted to ending child food insecurity. Mr Bridges will be meeting with leaders and raising awareness about the issue, bringing the message that hunger knows no party affiliation. Mr. Bridges founded the End Hunger Network in 1983. The non-pro

As a constitutional republic, the US system of government is designed on the principles of federalism. In our federalist system the federal government is one of enumerated powers and those powers not explicitly granted to the federal government are reserved to the states. The framers of the Constitution established this system through the Tenth Amendment, which reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the stat

In honor of the National Governors' Association meeting taking place through Sunday, the question, "Who is your favorite current governor, and why?", was posed to the office this week. Here are a few of our responses. Chad Peace: "I would have to say Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island because after reading the article [IVN intern] Michael wrote on our site, it sounds like he stands up to the GOP a lot...I like that" Matt Metzner: "I have a lot of respect for Montana's Governor Brian Sch

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never – in  nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in, except  to convictions of honour and good sense.-Winston Churchill To the students at Harrow, 1941 I had breakfast recently with Padres president Tom Garfinkel and former state finance director Steve Peace. Normally the talk is baseball talk, not the state of the universe. But this time baseball was a footnote and the state of our country and world were the objects of our atte

In a ruling released on Monday, the Supreme Court overturned a Montana state law banning corporate political expenditures and affirmed their decision on Citizens United, that political contributions fall under First Amendment speech rights. Montana's Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer and Lieutenant Governor John Bohlinger, a Republican, recently responded to the Court's action invalidating the 100-year-old Corrupt Practices Act. In short, they will continue to challenge the precedent set by t

Today's News Tips. Your Independent News Tip Sheet. IVN – Prison Population Grows by 700%, How Much Does it Cost? With a startling increase in the national prison population it should be no surprise that the Bureau of Prisons is one of only a few agencies not to have its budget cut. The FY 2013 budget will likely be over $6.8B to house close to 2 million inmates. TIME – Waldo Canyon Fire Rages on in Colorado In Colorado Springs a wildfire that has been burning for 4 days has forced over 32,0

Last week, IVN commented on a lawsuit brought by alleged delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Republican National Committee, while stating that suit was frivolous at the same time organized all the named defendants into a united defense against this litigation. There is no indication yet that the complaint in the action was served on any defendant or that the RNC has voluntarily appeared and moved to take any pretrial actions. What is clear: Ron Paul's delegate count continues to

Today's News Tips. Your Independent tip sheet. SCOTUS Blog – Citizens United Solidified Montana’s 100 year old anti-corruption law that banned corporate campaign spending has been struck down. The State’s Supreme Court held that a long history of corrupt corporate spending justified the law. The US Supreme Court reversed without hearing oral arguments or receiving briefs from either side. SCOTUS Blog – Most of AZ Immigration Law Struck Down The US Supreme Court struck down much to Arizona’s

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on the side of three corporations, reversing Montana's 1912 limit on corporate campaign spending.  Today's decision not only strengthens the 2010 Citizens United decision, but also affirms that it applies to the state of Montana. In defense of the corporations, lead attorney James Bopp stated: "If Montana can ban core political speech because of Montana's unique characteristics, free speech will be seriously harmed. Speakers will be silenced because of

As non sequiturs go, Dana Milbank's selective outrage in his June 19 editorial, "Debasing the Presidency" may go down as one of the great howlers in journalism history. Published in my paper on Friday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave it the title, "Tucker Carlson and the Montana outhouse." In it, Milbank cries foul over the awful partisanship taking place in politics today and makes a silly, unconvincing attempt to link a scatological prank in Montana to Daily Caller editor and cable news pers