California continues to witness a steady rise in the number of voters who choose not to affiliate with any political party. According to the most recent numbers released by the Secretary of State, 21.2% of California voters are now registered as having no party preference, a new high. The previous record was set in March of last year when 20.4% of all registered voters declined to state a party affiliation on their registration forms.

The confluence of the Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood debacle and the growth in anonymous corporate donations to presidential candidates serves as a reminder that the nation’s spending priorities are seriously skewed from the common good because of politics.

Even though he strongly supported high speed rail (HSR) in his recent State of the State speech, Gov. Jerry Brown is now hedging that support. He says the cost will not be anywhere near $100 billion and that alternative forms of funding can be found. However, he’s not given much in the way of details as to how this might be accomplished.

The Canadian Tar Sands have become a hot topic on the campaign trail this year especially since President Obama rejected the proposed Keystone Oil Pipeline extension.  Yes, I said extension because there already exists one Keystone Oil Pipeline running from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, but because of increased production, there now needs to be a second pipeline.  But this extension has environmentalists raising their voices, and even some throughout the country not so sure about it.  The issue, though, is more than just about the environment.

As most of the GOP presidential candidates will be rallying the party base at next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Texas Congressman Ron Paul won’t be present at what’s billed as "the largest annual gathering of conservative activists." Instead, he’s hitting the campaign trail in the independent voter-populated state of Maine.