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Most people would probably choose California as the state with the highest percentage of electricity generation from wind power. As it turns out, California isn’t even close as it gets about 4% of its power from wind. The top honor goes South Dakota, with a whopping 22% of its power generation from wind. Iowa was next with 19%. North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wyoming followed, all with more than 10%. The top ten was rounded out by Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Oregon, and Oklahoma with more than 5%. T

[Update - US Department of Health and Human Services website is now healthcare.gov] The Affordable Care Act, before the Supreme Court this week, includes partial elimination for “gender rating”, a practice that costs women $1 billion a year. According to statistics, women between the ages of 19 to 55 tend to use more health care services than men of the same age. They are more likely to visit doctors for regular checkups, have certain chronic illnesses and take prescription drugs. Because of t

The US Supreme Court will hold hearings this week on a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obama’s health care plan. The lawsuit was filed by twenty six states, four small business owners, and the proudly ferocious National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB.)  The lawsuit contends the federal government does not have the authority to order people and businesses to buy health insurance (and face fines if they don’t.)  The hearings will surely be closely watched. Indeed, the future

With the Kansas and Wyoming caucuses behind them, the Republican presidential hopefuls look towards tomorrow's primaries in Alabama, Mississippi, and Hawaii for delegates, offering 101 collectively. Picking up 33 of the state's 40 delegates, Rick Santorum received 51% support in Kansas this weekend, while Mitt Romney picked up seven of the 12 delegates at stake in Wyoming. Romney's performance in the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands added 22 delegates to his count, but it w

While the Catholic Church may be dominating U.S. religious headlines as of right now, six of the top ten religious stories of 2011 were about Islam. With national focus on religious freedom this election cycle centered on the hot-button issue of contraception and the right of conscience, a leading American Muslim organization is gearing up to promote their own religious rights through a nationwide outreach campaign to combat Islamophobia. The initiative, headed by the Islamic Circle of North Am

Republicans held their Super Tuesday election contests earlier this week and despite media build-up, it was a decidedly split decision. As IVN reported earlier, this split means the Republican primary season is likely to stretch much longer. With the results of 10 races, four facts were re-established. Ohio Primary Voters Reject Extremism Senator Santorum is losing because he has major and substantial on-going problems with Catholic voters – particularly Catholic women voters who are turned of

Winning 6 states, including the critical state of Ohio, Mitt Romney won the most Super Tuesday contests last night, followed by Santorum's 3 wins, Gingrich's single win in his home state of Georgia, while Ron Paul still awaits his first primary win. The combative nature of the primary season, however, is taking a toll on the Republican Party.  Speaking of the elongated primary race, pollster Peter Hart states, “The primaries have not raised the stature of the party, nor enhanced the appeal of th

The Canadian Tar Sands have become a hot topic on the campaign trail this year especially since President Obama rejected the proposed Keystone Oil Pipeline extension.  Yes, I said extension because there already exists one Keystone Oil Pipeline running from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, but because of increased production, there now needs to be a second pipeline.  But this extension has environmentalists raising their voices, and even some throughout the country not so sure about it.  The issue,

Voter turnout in the United States is disturbingly low. In the 2008 presidential election, voter turnout was higher than it had been in a generation, but barely 60% of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot. In non-presidential election years, the numbers are even worse, with over 60% of eligible voters opting not to vote. Given these dismal numbers, one would think that states across the country would seek to implement policies that would encourage participation in the electoral process. Ins

Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office January 20, 2009. The challenges he inherited on that historic occasion were as great as any president has faced – including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt; any assessment of Mr. Obama’s presidency not accounting for those challenges would be incomplete – and, more telling, dishonest. With that as preface let me note I have written before about our president and have done so absent undue praise – but I yield to no one in my personal r