Update 9/4/14, 1:20 PM PDT: Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced Thursday that Chad Taylor must remain on the ballot because he failed to declare that he would be unable to perform the job if elected.

Ironic, is it not?

In late August, economists, scholars, and central bankers from across the world gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to make sense of current economic indicators and to plot a path forward for monetary and economic policy in both the United States and the rest of the world.

According to RealClearPolitics, approximately 13.4 percent of Americans approve of Congress and 77.8 percent disapprove, taking the average of 6 major surveys on congressional approval.

Oscar the Grouch, the cranky Sesame Street character who lives in a garbage can, was used in reference to veterans who attended the mandated town-hall style events in Philadelphia, resulting in plenty of raised eyebrows from several VA employees, who themselves are veterans.

Wednesday, September 3 was a day of good news for independent U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman.

Orman picked up a key endorsement from the Traditional Republicans for Common Sense, a moderate Republican group. This endorsement adds to Orman's collection of Republican and Democratic endorsements for Senate -- demonstrating his overall viability as someone who can cross the political divide.

Candidate for California's Assembly District 4 Charlie Schaupp (R) shared his experience running in the state's new nonpartisan, top-two open primary and his plans for the district if elected in November.

Over 53,000 Decline-to-State voters live in the 4th Assembly District, which includes parts of Yolo, Napa, and Lake Counties. About half of voters in the district are not registered with the Democratic Party while nearly 26 percent are registered as Republicans.

'The New Economy' is striving to make capitalism local, moral, and green. Three main tenets will take us there, according to the New Economy Working Group: ecological balance, equitable distribution, and a living democracy.

I was on vacation in Europe recently when I experienced first-hand the extent to which the U.S. government will go to follow and track its citizens. It has made me very grateful that I hold dual citizenship and have a second passport.

This is what happened.

After relaxing along the Adriatic Sea in Dubrovnik for a week, my family and I decided to take a day trip to the Bay of Kotor in neighboring Montenegro. Feeling rather lazy, we opted for a group tour rather than driving south ourselves.

On August 1, independent U.S. Senate candidate Joy Allison filed a lawsuit against television stations KHNL and KGMB, collectively known as Hawaii News Now, for not allowing her to appear in a televised debate on the networks. Allison is running for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Brian Schatz.

When my friend and IVN colleague David Yee wrote a column suggesting that the Founding Fathers might have taken issue with the practice of torturing enemies, he faced a fairly predictable barrage of well-scripted criticism.