Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission resumed work yesterday, a month after the Commission was thrown into disarray when Gov. Jan Brewer and State Senate Republicans launched a full frontal assault against the commission, temporarily removing its Chairwoman, Colleen Mathis, the lone Independent on the Commission.

The U.S. Senate defeated an amendment on Tuesday that would have stripped the pending defense spending bill of language that critics charge would allow the U.S. military to make arrests of American citizens on U.S. soil and detain them indefinitely without charges or trial.

A new ballot initiative, painstakingly written by a pair of Stanford University law professors, seeks to reform the Three Strikes Law in California by restoring it to its original intent, which supporters argue was to keep truly dangerous criminals like murderers and rapists in prison for life without forcing non-violent offenders to spend years behind bars.

Usually clashing over the state budget, both the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the California Republican Party have taken aim at a recently introduced proposal put forth by the Think Long Committee- a bipartisan group of business leaders and former politicians.

When faced with difficult problems that pose unclear solutions, we often delegate the duty of governing to our politicians.

On November 21st, the Libertarian Party of California, the Peace and Freedom Party of California, and the Green Party of Alameda County joined a handful of voters and third party candidates for elected office to file a lawsuit alleging that California's top-two open primary system is unconstitutional.  The suit argues that the top-two primary system disenfranchises minor parties as well as their voters and candidates for elected office by precluding them from participation in California's general elections.

Our ignorance of the budget has made the challenge of deficit reduction nearly intractable.  What we don’t know is a gaping hole in our psyches that is filled daily with junk information entertainingly wielded by performers with books, television and radio shows to hawk.  What we don’t know is killing us.

Americans torn between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street would back an independent for President

Over long periods, the involvement of the public in planning or implementation of public policy has been quite marginal. This is a business-run society. The political parties have reflected business interests for a long time.
Noam Chomsky (via noam-chomsky)

Just a week after President John Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon Johnson addresses Americans on Thanksgiving Day, 1963: