The fight for third party candidates to gain ballot access can be a difficult one, especially when met with fierce opposition. After a hard fought legal battle, the Libertarian Party in Pennsylvania is one step closer to gaining access to the state’s general election ballot in November.

On the eleventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomats left the American people and press reeling. The diplomats were killed amid demonstrations in Benghazi, Libya, the symbolic center of the 2011 resistance to dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget plan read like most budgetary analyses, a mostly dry explanation of projected revenue and expenditures. However, this line stood out:

The U.S. Census Bureau released its report on income, poverty, and health for 2011 this past week. The information in it will likely have an impact on how candidates on the campaign trail focus their message on the economy, job creation, and healthcare as we get closer to November.

While the contention pertaining to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya occupies the front pages, another overseas front,  President Barack Obama's so-called Asian Pivot, may be entering a major stage as a potential diplomatic rift surfaces in the south Pacific.

In what some are calling a pointless and overreaching case of government intrusion, the California Fair Political Practices Committee is proposing that political campaigns be required to document and report payments to bloggers and social media users.