Africa as a continent is often viewed in a singular economic lens in global politics. This simplistic view of the second largest continent on earth paints over the diversity of challenges that face each country within Africa's shores. Some countries like Maruitius and Cape Verde are significantly outperforming others like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Independent Women's Forum, a nonpartisan research an education institution takes a unique approach to gender politics that citizens today would expect, placing alternative views to the media's dominant ideological slants of women in politics. IWF states on its website:

Earlier this week I wrote about the misinformation, and misleading by various law enforcement, media, and bloggers about the Zimmerman Verdict Protesters.  We saw it in LA, with false claims from the LAPD and NBC, claiming $15k in damage to the Hollywood W Hotel.

No Labels, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans committed to "a new politics of problem solving," held an event on the Capitol Lawn in Washington on Thursday to unveil a 9 bill reform package called, "Make Government Work.' The group says the initiative will make government more efficient and effective while cutting wasteful spending.

The 9 Proposals:

Rule number one in effective communication is to establish the relevancy of the topic to the audience. Why should they care? How does it affect their quality of life?

Truthful accounting might do just that.

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This week, the Internet Association unveiled a redesigned website, equipped with the tools necessary for online political participation in the decision-making process for citizens.

By clicking on the "Leave Your Mark" option under the website's "Take Action" tab, users can add their input on proposed legislation by commenting, editing, or adding suggestions to specific passages of the bill.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8hE3b-djW0&feature=youtu.be

Former FEC Chair and Nonresident Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings institute, Trevor Potter spoke at the Chautauqua 2013 lecture series on 'Markets, Morals and the Social Contract.' The lecture focused on the ever expanding role of money in politics and the unique challenges America faces in a post-Citizens United world.