Extreme partisanship among the big cable news networks has done its fair share in shaping the American political landscape. These days, a person’s preference in cable news networks can be a decent indicator of the party they affiliate with. However, trust in these networks has significantly dropped over the past few years.

The Wiki Weapon Project is raising money on the net to create open source 3D printing of weapons using technology available now. What changes everything is that all that is needed to 3D print a gun is the CAD file, which can be shared on the internet, and a 3D printer. Even more mind boggling, 3D printers are on the verge of being able to replicate themselves.

"I know what happens to people who only talk to people who agree with them. You end up not being exposed to alternative views. . . . If you never have your thoughts or your facts challenged . . . you live in an echo chamber."

-- Rush Limbaugh on how Congressman Todd Akin arrived at his explanation that a woman's body "shuts down" during rape.

After the highly controversial "legitimate rape" comments made by Rep. Todd Akin, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have made a conscious effort to distance themselves from the Republican Representative, calling for Akin to drop out of the Missouri Senate race.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of only two independents in the Senate, is known for being outspoken. This reputation is only aided by a prolific presence on social media. His office regularly posts video to YouTube. One of the latest is on the topic of deficit reduction, and what he views are inflexible Republicans. He speaks unguarded, straight to the camera, with no notes. It's a good example of how technology can spread his viewpoints to his constituents and a broader public with the stroke of a button.

Last week, the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation took a deep examination of the political parties and their constituents, the results of which were published on August 20. In this in-dept look at the independent voter, the Washington Post found that 7 out of 10 independent voters favor compromise to confrontation, suggesting that partisan politicians should cross party lines more often than not.

Mid-term elections are especially unique because voter turnout numbers tend to be much different than those during presidential elections. This year we are seeing low turnout in the primary elections and it's likely that more registered voters will refuse to vote instead of participating.

This is a pretty funny video that makes a libertarian argument:

That more regulation (i.e. more political involvement in the economy) does not reign in out-of-control corporations, but actually creates the incentive for corporations to capture control of the regulatory process through lobbying and campaign activism so they can use political management of the economy to their own benefit by setting rules and policies that exempt them from responsibility for their actions and overtly favor them over their customers and their smaller competitors.

Nevada ranks at the bottom for education and quality of life, and high for foreclosures and unemployment. It needs a renewed focus on education and libraries to turn things around because a well-educated public is the best jobs creator there is.

With both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions taking place in the coming weeks, it begs the question, is it much ado about nothing? From an independent perspective, the partisan presidential conventions can seem like a gigantic echo chamber.