Search query: oregon

“Voters in all jurisdictions -the nation, states, counties, localities, school boards, water districts, etc.- shall all have the right to propose and vote on legislation, including amendments to constitutions, charters, etc., in parallel with representatives. Improvements over existing initiative processes should be included, such as the ones incorporated in the National Initiative for Democracy and now in use in Oregon. - - - - - - - While tax reform might end earmarks and loopholes, the fact

The Republican primary race stretches on. None of the current candidates appear willing to drop out. At the same time, none of the candidates appear on track to accrue the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the party's nomination prior to the Republican National Convention in June. That leaves us on track for a contested and/or brokered convention. It's a politico's dream scenario and would be the first such event since 1952. Recall the television networks complaining during past election cycles

Voter registration systems in the United States are in need of serious reform. According to a new report from the Pew Center on the States, the voter registration process in states across the country is “plagued with errors and inefficiencies that waste taxpayer dollars, undermine voter confidence, and fuel partisan disputes over the integrity of our elections.” Among other things, researchers found that one out of every eight listings, totaling 24 million, were either invalid or inaccurate, th

As most of the GOP presidential candidates will be rallying the party base at next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Texas Congressman Ron Paul won’t be present at what’s billed as "the largest annual gathering of conservative activists." Instead, he’s hitting the campaign trail in the independent voter-populated state of Maine. “While we will miss Congressman Ron Paul, a perennial favorite among our attendees, we are honored to host Senator Rand Paul, a leader of the next

Has Kazakhstan, the oil- and uranium-rich former Soviet bloc nation that borders both the Caspian and Aral Seas, emerged from the shadows of satiric infamy to become one of the great growth engines of the world? Does this ninth-largest nation on the planet have what it takes to move into first-world status and exceed the United States in terms of economic expansion? The world is of two minds about this country that was once savaged in the film Borat as a backwards hellhole. According to a fawni

Despite the influence of small government advocates like those in the Tea Party movement, the size, role, and influence of government on a federal, state, and local level is set to grow significantly in 2012. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), about 40,000 new laws will go into effect in 2012, and that doesn't include laws and provisions within laws that will also take effect this year on a federal level. Though in some ways, some of the new laws to take effect mi

In a move sure to be controversial and which has already received national attention, Arizona legislators have redrafted legislation to allow guns to be carried at public colleges and universities. Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a previous attempt, not because she was particularly opposed to the idea, but because it was unclear and murky. She hasn't voiced an opinion on the new bill but is known to be pro-gun. Existing Arizona gun law says colleges and universities can allow guns but, so far, none

While they don't always appear to be related, statistics and modern agriculture go hand-in-hand. Industrial farmers rely on a myriad of statistical information from acreage usage numbers to data regarding conservation efforts in order to stay profitable and meet environmental mandates. That said, its natural that producers are nervous about a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal that would dramatically downsize the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The proposed plan would conso

As Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have continued across the nation for yet another week, a Google Trends analysis of online search patterns indicates that interest is higher in this more recent movement than in the Tea Party. "Search interest for [Occupy Wall Street] jumped ahead of the [Tea Party] on September 24 and hasn't looked back. In a historical context, when viewing the snapshot of their nasccent birth, we can see the peak of [Occupy Wall Street] has slighly more interest in America

Protesters  demonstrating against the excesses of crony capitalism and its  corrupting influence on our nation’s politics have occupied a park in  Manhattan’s financial district for over a week.  Their numbers are  growing and the movement appears to be spreading. On  September 17th, thousands of demonstrators descended on downtown  Manhattan in New York City to protest the all-too-cozy relationship  between Wall Street and Washington D.C.  Protesters have occupied  Liberty Plaza, a nearby park