Mass Shootings in 2012: A Google Map Perspective

Following the shooting attack in Wisconsin and last month's massacre in Colorado, I felt it would be interesting to show how many shootings have been deemed significant by the press or by other gun safety advocates using a Google Map. A quick Google search revealed a report compiled by the largest gun control advocates in the county, The Brady Campaign for Gun Violence.

More and more people, including the bi-partisan media keep asking why voters, in general, are so sick of politics. Almost all the discussion and all the solutions center around political issues or ideology. But rarely does anyone ask: is the average voter an "issue-oriented" voter?  Does the average American go about their day thinking about what a staunch capitalist or awesome liberal they are?

Legislation requiring law enforcement notification of ammunition sales of more than 1,000 rounds was introduced by California state lawmakers on Wednesday.

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and Senator Loni Hancock (D-Oakland) co-authored AB 2512.

They came.  They saw.  They conquered.  The world met in London.  Athletes competed while under a flag of five rings... one for each continent (Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/Oceania, and the Americas).  In these days of competition, there has been a bigger understanding of our cultural differences and a bigger exchange of human understanding.  For these past couple of weeks, the nations of the world have been united in friendship, harmony, and peace.

I think of this game every time they raise the debt ceiling:

...and every time they pass a new appropriation without having the revenue to pay for it (which is currently every time they pass a new appropriation), every time there's a new round of monetary "easing," every time we get involved in a new country's conflict, and pretty much every time Congress is in session.

Is it just me?

Undecided voters are of course getting quite a bit of ink this election cycle, as both parties target their support.

The New York Times had a chat with an independent voter in Ohio.

Here's an open question for the entire IVN community:

When reporting news about a politician, should non-partisan media list their party affiliation as is customary in a lot of news reports?

I was thinking about this the other day. If what should matter is the person, their record, their platform, their credentials, and their character, not their party, then as new non-partisan media emerge, should we set a different journalistic convention and decline to offer up a politician's party affiliation unless it's somehow necessarily relevant to the story?

A border security bill has languished in Congress for months. It would provide much-needed tougher penalties for constructing and using underground border tunnels and seems a victim of our gridlocked politics.