As immigration reform stalls in the U.S. Congress with little hope of any movement in the 2014 election year, immigration reform advocates have shifted tactics to both state-level legislation and broad grassroots activism to stop the narrow goal of deportation.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”—Thomas Jefferson

The world’s largest democracy has recently begun its 5-week election cycle. The sheer length and size of India's elections are astounding: six weeks and nine stages encompass an estimated 815 million eligible voters.

The Baby Boomers: we now find ourselves approaching the exit side of the revolving door. But, we didn't just enter the theater as passive viewers. Rather, we heartily participated in, and directly influenced the most spectacular of all shows -- life.

A generation of astonishing idealists who brought about the Civil Rights Movement, the feminist movement and anti-establishment in one of the country’s most influential cultural eras, we are the possessors of wisdom and the harbingers of hope.

The California primary elections are less than two months away, June 3, and a tight race in the state's 52nd Congressional District (San Diego) is expected between the Democratic incumbent, Scott Peters, and Republican Carl DeMaio.

Other candidates in the race include Kirk Jorgensen, a Republican, and Fred Simon, also a Republican.

"To help liberals understand (and be civil to) conservatives."

"To help conservatives understand (and be civil to) liberals."

"To help everyone understand libertarians, who are often ignored because they don't fit on the left-right spectrum."

Politico reports that Democratic incumbent Rep. Raul Ruiz (CD-36) raised $430,000 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2014 and has $1.5 million on hand. This gives him a major financial advantage over Assemblymember Brian Nestande (R-Palm Desert), who is Ruiz's biggest opponent going into the June primary.

When one hears of genocide, most often the Holocaust comes to mind first. Some of us are old enough, though, to remember such atrocities in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda in the 1990s. The latter marked 20 years just recently. Each time we hear of such things, we always say, "never again." But each time it happens, we tend to turn a blind eye to it as if ignoring the situation will make it better or go away.

Alleged targeting by the Internal Revenue Service may still rile some conservative groups, but the real scandal could lie with a sophisticated phone scam that has bilked taxpayers out of a combined $1 million.

The agency’s internal watchdog group called the nationwide scheme “the largest… of its kind that we have ever seen,” with some 20,000 taxpayers reporting being duped this year into providing credit card payments to third-party groups over the phone.

Not to sound cliché, but it’s that time of year again. The Tax Man is coming to take a portion of your hard-earned money and put it toward improving the nation. Taxes are inextricably linked to the size of government and what the federal power brokers hope to accomplish in the following fiscal year.