In Montgomery, Alabama, yesterday Republican state senator Charles Bishop, punched Democratic senator Lowell Barron in the face after Barron allegedly called him a "son of a [expletive]." Turns out, the subject of their dispute was election reform. This is just one more reason to officially reform elections in this country. With that out of the way, we'll have one less reason for our lawmakers to get all Rocky III on us.

If you're here, you probably already know how much money politicians must raise to run a campaign, right? We've heard many of the horror stories about where that money comes from, and thus who our politicians must feel accountable to: special interests, huge corporations, rich white guys, etc.

But how often do we stop and think about how often that money is coming from places outside of the United States? Just how accountable are our politicians to non-US companies and governments as well?

After some research on OpenSecrets.org, I found that in the 2006 congressional elections, foreign-connected PACs donated a total of $11,942,074 to candidates running for office. While this number seems extraordinarily large (God knows how long that'd take me to stuff in my freezer), it's also a little misleading. In fact, it's probably much larger.

PBS recently deemed the documentary, "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center" unacceptable for broadcasting because they find it to be "incomplete" and does not meet "editorial standards." The documentary is part of a $20 million series funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that examines problems facing the nation following the September 11 attacks. After spending $675,000 on the show and receiving a letter from eight members of Congress, CPB will not be letting the show be shelved despite PBS' concerns, and has decided to take matters into their own hands. CPB will be releasing "Islam vs. Islamists" to Oregon Public Broadcasting for distribution to other public stations.