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It turns out Ross Perot had not fallen off his rocker when he, as a 1992 3rd party presidential candidate, predicted that signing NAFTA would lead to the loss of American jobs to trade partners amid a “giant sucking sound.” An Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report says that California leads the nation in job-loss due to the treaty signed by former president Bill Clinton. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in combination with the Great Recession, has resulted in 692,900 lost jobs

With the confirmed death of Osama bin Laden, one of the masterminds behind the infamous September 11th terrorist attacks, authorities are stepping up security and calling for extra vigilance in the face of possible retaliatory terrorist attacks. A week before bin Laden's death was announced by President Barack Obama, leading to a triumphant gathering of cheering and celebrating crowds outside the White House in Washington D.C. and at Ground Zero, AFP-- the Paris-based, French news agency-- repo

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama stopped by the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto to hold a town hall meeting that was live streamed to an even broader audience.  As Facebook continues to play an integral role in American politics, it does prompt us to think about how a third party Facebook town hall forum could shake up the discourse. While some would like to paint Wednesday's meeting as highly partisan, I would remind critics that the company hosted George W. Bush back in November 2010 t

Today, the Assembly Public Safety Committee will take up AB 144, legislation introduced by Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena) to ban the open carry of a handgun in the state of California. The controversial legislation has reinvigorated the decades-long debate over the effects of gun legislation on public safety. Writing Monday at the California Progress Report, Dr. Dallas Stout, President of the California Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, argued that open carry laws actually make Californi

In the midst of America's perpetual campaign cycle, President Obama and a handful of GOP hopefuls aren't the only ones getting ready for 2012. Fresh off their 2010 attempt to legalize cannabis with a statewide ballot initiative called the "Tax Cannabis" act, advocates are regrouping, revisiting lessons from their 2010 failure, and building key political alliances to pull together enough votes in 2012 to make California the first state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis by adults since

Earlier this year with the revolution in Tunisia underway, I noticed a curious phenomenon, one that stuck out for me particularly as a self-described libertarian* -the Associated Press and other news sources were referring to the protesters there as "anti-government" forces, but they weren't using the term as a pejorative. There was even a marked tone of admiration for the "anti-government" forces in Tunisia and later in Egypt. As these anti-government revolutions have spread throughout Central

As I walked through the halls of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC Thursday, the feeling of excitement was palpable. It was the thrill of being at the largest yearly gathering of Americans who agree with your most deeply-cherished political beliefs- if you roughly identify as a conservative. But mingled with the excitement, was a very real, and very uncomfortable tension. The conservative movement in America is facing a truly dynamic internal struggle over its identity and values

Contrary to the perception that Republicans are the only ones desiring a return to strict workplace immigration enforcement, the Wall Street Journal and others are reporting that immigration authorities under President Obama are utilizing harsh measures with popular restaurant chains like Chipotle. According to The Wall Street Journal, the chain has been forced to let go of hundreds of workers in recent weeks after the company received many notices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

The Dream Act in its current form may have been stopped with a Democratic majority in the Senate, but along with President Obama's reaffirmed commitment to the issue this week comes the sense that Republicans in both of Houses of Congress will not be able to ignore immigration in the 112th session. Despite a record number of deportations under President Obama, he has called the Dream Act's death in the Senate the biggest disappointment of the year and promised to work in a bipartisan manner.  A

"I think it's eerily like 1994. Not much will change." That's what Rich Hamblen told me about the 2010 midterm elections on our way to a political conference sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Tenth Amendment Center. And Rich would know. With decades of political activism under his belt, and a year of hard time for civil disobedience pertaining to a Second Amendment issue dear to his heart, the man has some serious street cred when it comes to politics. I challenged him, ever the optimist, and