by Randy Miller, Utah League of Independent Voters Well, I was born that way. We all were. Partisanship, like its cousin Prejudice, is learned. I was 20 years old serving as a Mormon missionary in North Dakota when Ross Perot ran for (and nearly won) President of the United States. I did not vote that [...]

Of course you always want to be in power, right? Well…not according to an editorial in the Wall Street Journal…and I have to say that the points are intriguing if the GOP wants to win the White House in 2011. From WSJ: If Republicans win control of the House, which is the big prize this [...]

Slightly below economists’ estimates of 3.3%, but 3.2% isn’t anything to sneeze at. And while this Q1′s growth was smaller than Q4′s 5.6%, CNN Money explains why these numbers might be more important to our long term economic outlook: In the fourth quarter, most of the growth was due to businesses no longer making the [...]

Do know that without the health care legislation…this wouldn’t have happened. From Politico: “While many health plans already abide by the standards outlined in the new law, our community is committed to implementing the new standards in May 2010 to ensure that individuals and families will have greater peace of mind when purchasing coverage on [...]

The equivalent of 5,000 barrels of oil are being dumped into the gulf…every…single…day. Folks, we’re looking at a disaster bigger than Exxon Valdez. It’s that serious. And that could have devastating effects on our economy. From Fox News: The shrimp season begins in early May, as the shrimp move from estuaries out to sea, Long [...]

“The donklephant is a genetic monstrosity whose every moment of existence is unbearable agony.” – Jon Stewart

Listen, you’ll get no arguments from me that, on the whole, capitalism has been a positive force. But the problem is it’s an amoral system when gone unchecked and it just continues to find new and inventive ways to make money until something like 2008 happens. And today…even though they didn’t need to be…Goldman Sachs [...]

Finally, bipartisan cooperation! From CNN: Washington (CNN) – With midterm elections on the horizon and the nation’s unemployment rate at 9.7 percent, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to block pay raises for members of Congress for the next fiscal year. The vote was 402-15. Rules approved by Congress in 1989 provide for an [...]

All week I’ve watched GM CEO Ed Whitacre walking down a factory floor in a GM advertisement, crowing about repaying government loans while saying he could respect the opinion of those who did not want to give GM a “second chance”. It is good to know that Ed can respect my opinion of the bailout. He might be interested to know that my current opinion is that his claim that GM repaid the loan from the US Government in full and ahead of schedule is more than a little disingenuous. I hope Ed still respects me.

Forgive me, but right now all I can think of is this. You can almost hear the meeting that this was cooked up in… “All those in favor of paying homage to a terrorist to rally the anti-government right so they’ll vote for us in November say aye!” Now, before you claim the same thing [...]

Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, is back with his take on the Abramoff scandal and it seems like it’ll be illuminating…and scary. Check out this featurette… Basically…Money + Power = Problems. Especially when it comes to the upcoming financial reform legislation. Which is why I’m heartened that the [...]

Independent activist news this week was def centered on young people. See John Opdycke’s piece “Going Indy” and consider the fact that “fully 50 percent of voters aged 18-29 now identify as independents…” (Opdycke is the Chief of Staff forIndependentVoting.org/CUIP.) Let that sink in for a moment. Then pivot back towards the triangulationists featured in [...]

And they could break even this year. So while they won’t be paying back the government loans as soon as GM, they’re still on track to meet their obligations in the future. More from Wash Post: Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy last June, reported Wednesday that it lost $3.8 billion through the end of the [...]

An entire channel dedicated to pushing Republican talking points? Don’t we already have that? Still, I’m willing to give Right Network a chance if they provide some genuine debate about the issues. But their mission statement doesn’t give me much hope… RIGHTNETWORK, an independently-owned media company, launches on television, web and mobile in 2010. Our [...]

The gap has shrunk a bit, but the economy is turning around so in a year’s time it’s unlikely we’ll have the problems we’re having today. Basically, the question will then be… “Who is responsible for the economic growth in this country?” Gallup has more on that… Obama has stated that he “inherited the most [...]

Yep. We’ll never see that money again. And certainly not 5 years ahead of schedule. Just like we’ll never see the TARP money again. From the AP: GM got a total of $52 billion from the U.S. government and $9.5 billion from the Canadian and Ontario governments as it went through bankruptcy protection last year. [...]

Looks like some Republicans are beginning to line up behind the Dodd legislation. So, lo and behold, compromises can be reached! From Wash Post: Key Senate Republicans on Tuesday began to back away from their sharp criticism of proposed new financial regulations and expressed optimism that a bipartisan deal on a bill that would drastically [...]

It’s official…he’s turning into a cult leader. And no, I’m not kidding. He’s turning politics isn’t a religious movement. Listen to the ENTIRE audio clip down here or read the partial transcript I provided below. It’s scary how much he’s mixing the intentions of the Founders with those of God. And here’s a partial transcript… [...]

Last week was a busy one here in NYC for independents and youth, and independent youth: 2 public hearings for the NYC Charter Revision Commission, one in ‘da Bronx on Monday and one on Staten Island on Tuesday, where young independent activists are speaking out in favor of nonpartisan elections. Then off to the National Action Network conference [...]

Apart from bombing the hell out of them, there’s really nothing we can do to stop Iran from gaining enhanced nuclear capabilities. Sure, sanctions help, but if China won’t play ball and stop importing their oil, we’ll never be able to control their actions. And Robert Gates echoes this… [...] in his memo, Mr. Gates [...]