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Independents nationwide will surely be following the race for US Senate in Maine very closely this year. On Monday, the state's former Independent Governor Angus King announced that he will seek the office currently held by US Senator Olympia Snowe. Snowe revealed last week that she would not seek re-election this year. Snowe explained the reasoning for her decision in an op-ed for the Washington Post, citing increasing political polarization and the Senate's increasing dysfunction under the co

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) launched national "I'm a Fan of Birth Control" campaign today in response to "extremist groups" using religion as "a cover to discriminate against women". Credit: RCRC-Connecticut The campaign "I'm a Fan of Birth Control" launched today, involving hundreds of clergy, activists and religious leaders from a variety of backgrounds aimed at demonstrating widespread support among people of faith for access to birth control and contraception. The Re

This week’s internet community protests against congressional anti-piracy legislation was monumental. In a crucial election year- as Congress already faces unprecedented public disgust- they couldn’t have happened at a more opportune time. Wednesday’s protests against the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA) made headlines for facilitating deep citizen engagement. The tangible results are based on reliable online metrics and not on a controlled sample. T

Ordinarily, if a large corporation has a physical presence in a state, then that state can charge sales tax on transactions. California, in a desperate attempt to raise more money, has decreed that Internet transactions are now taxable even if the company has no physical presence in California and the goods were shipped from, say, Nevada to Missouri. Yes, the great minds of the California legislature have decided that if you or a charity or a little mom-and-pop business use affiliate marketing

A Democratic budget package approved by the state legislature last week has rekindled the nationwide debate over state regulation of internet-based retailers. The so-called “Amazon Tax” has made it to Governor Jerry Brown's desk and supporters of ABX1 28 say that his signature will “level the playing field” for brick-and-mortar retailers whose prices are undercut by online stores that do not charge for sales taxes. In order to meet the June 15th budget deadline, state lawmakers have passed a se

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has published an update and a revision of a 2007 study entitled “Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom”. The report analyzed three primary “freedom variables” for each state, determining the overall burden that local and state policies place on individual residents. So how did California stack up? Frankly, not so good. In fact, California was only underperformed by New Jersey and New York. The authors, William Ruger a

Fueled by a growing demand for locally produced food year-round, the number of farmers' markets extending their operations into winter months is on the rise, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Northern states are leading the charge by pioneering techniques to extend growing seasons with indoor gardening methods. Nationwide, at least 900 farmers' markets run between November and March, a 17 percent increase from 2008. Traditional, weekly farmers' markets typically begin in the spr

Though  the mainstream political press has naturally focused on the stinging  Democratic losses and sweeping Republican gains in last week's  elections, 2010 has proven to be an historic year for third party and  Independent politics in the United States. One  of the primary motifs in media coverage of this year's elections has  been the public’s deep discontent with both the Democratic and  Republican parties.  In poll after poll, record numbers of  Americans opted to identify themselves as In

On Wednesday, third party gubernatorial candidates came together to discuss Proposition 19 and the need for all-inclusive debates as part of a press conference convened by an organization that speaks out against exclusion in California's electoral process. Fittingly, both Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown declined to participate, indicating once again that Democrats and Republicans have more in common than is popularly believed. Members of the two-party system are rarely willing to talk about non-par

The most heated debate in Sacramento during the past two years hasn’t been budget cuts depriving poor children of health care or awarding billion-dollar tax breaks to corporations.  It hasn’t even been California’s massive multi-billion dollar budget shortfalls. Generating far more public outcry is the mandatory spaying and neutering of cats and dogs. In 2008, unsuccessful spay/neuter legislation logged some 32,000 letters and e-mails either in support or opposition -- many thousands more th