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Demonstrators gathered in downtown Manhattan on Saturday to protest the influence of Wall St. and corporate interests in our nation's politics.  The assembly, which has occupied a park in the financial district for the last two days, has yet to disperse, and protesters say they're in it for the long haul. Protests are, of course, not an unusual occurrence in lower Manhattan.  This year, there have already been a number of demonstrations in which people gathered by the tens of thousands in oppos

A top lobbying group for the arms industry has announced its intentions to lobby the new Congressional Supercommittee against defense spending cuts.   According to the Aerospace Industries Association, the Pentagon's  budget  has already been “cut to the bone.” Supercommittee member Sen.  Jon Kyl  (R-AZ) isn't waiting for the military-industrial-complex's  pitch. Kyl  has started his own internal protest,   demanding that no one on the committee ever mention military spending   reduction. He eve

The fate of the California Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus remains uncertain following its passage of a resolution calling for a primary challenge to President Obama late last month.  Could the growing rift within the Democratic Party signal the emergence of an Independent progressive movement in California and nationwide? On July 30th, as the White House and Congressional leaders were engaged in last minute negotiations that ended the first round of the debt ceiling debacle, the Executiv

Could the CEO of Starbucks have just injected a bit of caffeine into the traditional two-party system, caffeine which could give its members the jitters? That just might have happened as a result of his call to fellow business leaders to cease political contributions to Washington politicians who've put party above people. "I am asking that all of us forgo political contributions until the Congress and the president return to Washington and deliver a fiscally disciplined long-term debt and defi

As polarized budget negotiations have become commonplace in Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown slammed Republicans for the fiscal crisis, comparing them to the Catholic church in his younger days as a seminarian. "This budget reminds me of doctrines, from back when I was in seminary. If you're 15 minutes late to church, you could burn in hell. That's how Republicans are about taxes. There's a fanaticism. They are deeply stuck in a no-tax identity that is almost now, on the national level, a religion,

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has announced several biofuel projects for Pacific states that he says will eventually create thousands of jobs and break the nation's dependence on foreign oil. Farmers in 17 California counties and 18 in Washington state will be given the chance to grow camelina – an oilseed usually planted as a rotation crop for wheat – for conversion into a jet fuel substitute. Oregon farmers in 5 counties and Washington's Whitman County will be able to grow camelina

With the special election for California's 36th congressional district seat rapidly approaching on July 12th, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn is branding herself as one who has never held partisan office. "Janice Hahn is different. A local city councilwoman who has never held partisan office, Janice Hahn will fight for our agenda. A real plan to create green jobs in our communities, take on Washington spending, make the right cuts while protecting Medicare," says the announcer in one

Washington DC, and the institution of government in general, have lived up to their reputation of being an isolated island lost in a sea of reality. While this was especially evident as House Speaker John Boehner fiddled away at a round of golf with President Barack Obama this weekend, the political duopoly that establishment Democrats and Republicans have imposed over the American electorate appears to be headed toward a whirlpool of irrelevance. The impetus stirring this whirlpool, as Reason

On Friday June 17th, exactly 40 years after President Richard Nixon declared a "War on Drugs," Internet activists organizing from the social news and activism website, Reddit.com, called the White House en masse to demand an end to the War on Drugs, calling it a "trillion dollar incarceration machine" with a measurable failure to reduce drug use, or harm from drug use. The original posting on Reddit came earlier this week and quickly rocketed to the website's front page, receiving nearly 2000 v

The list of plaintiffs engaged in an ambitious lawsuit against Monsanto – the chemical company turned biotech/seed firm – just grew. The case has profound implications for farmers across the United States and the world, but you probably haven't heard about it. In March, the Public Patent Foundation (PubPat), a not-for-profit legal services organization dedicated to protecting the public's interest in the patenting system, filed suit against Monsanto on behalf of 60 organic farmers and a bevy of