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The Arizona Meth Project is trying hard, and succeeding at, reducing first-time meth usage by young people "through public service messaging, public policy, and community outreach."  It does so primarily by using modern advertising techniques to create extremely hard-hitting 30 second TV ads with a core message of "Not Even Once." In an ad titled Just Once, three teenage girls are giggling, snorting meth for the first time in a bedroom. The voiceover from one girl says "I'll going to try meth j

Coordinated protests were held in cities around the world over the weekend as the Occupy Wall Street demonstration entered its second full month.   On Saturday, people gathered by the thousands and tens of thousands in cities from California to New York, to Europe and Asia in a day of coordinated protests and demonstrations held in solidarity with the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstration that began in downtown Manhattan just over a month ago. Thousands of protesters marched from the Occupy

California is so geographically huge with such a large population, that problems which are sometimes more evident elsewhere are also problems here too, even if they may not get as much attention. One such problem is methamphetamine usage. Meth usage is more prevalent in rural areas than cities. Abandoned buildings in remote areas can be used for meth labs, plus one of the main precursors for cooking meth is anhydrous ammonia, a common fertilizer often stored in large quantities in tanks. But of

In a little-noticed move in late August, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation that would award all of California's electoral votes in presidential elections to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote, a solution that proponents say would make presidential elections more rational and fair. The bill is possible because the U.S. Constitution leaves the power of selecting electors for presidential elections to the individual states. Article II, Section 1 says: "The executive P

Governor Jerry Brown is expected to provide a huge boost to the progressive anti-Electoral College movement with his signature on AB 459, the National Popular Vote law. The highly controversial bill, passed by both the Assembly and the state Senate last Thursday would enroll California in an interstate agreement that obliges member states in presidential elections to give their electoral votes to the candidate with the most votes nationwide, regardless of the true tally of each state's electoral

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

On  Saturday, hundreds of Independents from across the country gathered in  New York City for the CUIP’s National Conference of Independents  entitled, “Can Independents Reform America?” The  conference was organized by the Committee for a Unified Independent  Party, which is perhaps better known by its online portal at IndependentVoting.org.   Founded in 1994 by independent community organizers and third party  activists, the organization now has local affiliates and chapters in  over thirty s

Even though the Dream Act failed in the Senate and is not likely to come up in the near future with Republicans taking the House, young proponents of the law are thinking that California could be one of the ripe states to pass provisions in the spirit of the shot-down federal bill. "With the highest number of undocumented young people in the nation, California is already the epicenter for student advocacy on the issue and for legal breakthroughs granting them in-state tuition. Now the students-

With the Boxer-Fiorina race continually veering between a toss-up and a slight Democratic leaning, the battle for who will be California’s next junior Senator should be heating up at a rate which could place it in comparable company with races such as the negativity-laden Illinois Senate Race and the acrimonious Ohio Gubernatorial Race, to say nothing of some of the more nasty crossfire which has recently begun percolating in the Governors’ race at home in California. But it isn’t. Fiorina and

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