When the words 'Monsanto Company' and 'lawsuit' converge in a news story, you can expect to hear about the biotechnology/chemical giant pursuing a patent infringement case against a farmer. Now, the tables have turned.

A recent article from The Economist provided a compelling explanation for the California Republican Party's poor performance over the past several years.  Namely, it has failed to reach out to independent voters, as well as to minorities. 

There is an oddly populist aura to Prop 13 that hides the reality of corporate control that appears to drive the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and its supporters.  Look at the players and the organization's endorsements, and you'll see pure Red State Republicanism behind a thin veneer of fair-tax populism.

CoolPlanetBiofuels has received $20 million in funding from Google Ventures and other venture capital funds. This Camarillo-based business is developing innovative mobile refineries that turn biomass, agricultural leftovers, and wood processing byproducts into useful biofuel.

As the Independent movement gains strength and momentum, it is only logical to expect a backlash from the partisans in the major parties.  In Oregon, Independents are fighting for the very right to represent themselves as Independents. 

Naturally, spending cuts are an essential part of resolving a $25 billion budget deficit. Governor Jerry Brown has already decreased funding for education, healthcare and environmental programs, but when it comes to bankrolling California's immense prison-industrial complex, he appears to have no interest in frugality.

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.