Independents Make Up 40% of American Electorate

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."-Martin Luther King, Jr.


INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Analysis: Bin Laden-fed unity may be short-lived (AP Google) Congress and the nation have grown so partisan and polarized in recent decades that even a universally embraced feat — the death of the chief terrorist behind the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans — has little ability to influence other aspects of public life. There are many reasons. Americans have settled into more rigidly defined political sectors. The nation remains almost evenly split between the two major parties, with a relatively modest number of independent voters deciding recent elections.

OPEN PRIMARIES
Surprises still await as laws go into effect (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette) One reason primaries don’t have better turnout is many independent voters are loath to identify themselves as members of either party. Under state law, if you voted for more Democrats than Republicans in the last general election, you are supposed to vote Democratic. If you didn’t vote in the last election, you should plan to vote for more Republicans than Democrats this November if you want to vote in the GOP primary. (And vice versa, of course.) But election officials don’t know who you voted for last time, much less who you plan to vote for next time. So the law is largely unenforceable and a matter of conscience.

NEW YORK

• Anthony Gallucci Runs for Mayor of Ithaca as Member of People's Emancipation Party (BY TAJWAR MAZHAR, The Cornell Daily Sun) “We want the immediate abolishment of the economic exploitation of our communities by wealthy Capitalists (i.e. Golden Sax Bailout scheme & College town Consolidation),” Gallucci states on his website.
• Stonewall Democrats Push City Council Speaker Christine Quinn To Get Behind Living Wage Law (BY CELESTE KATZ, Daily News) Stonewall Dems President Joseph Hagelmann told the Daily News that "although some may believe that we are all white Chelsea boys earning lots of disposable income to spend on exotic Atlantis cruises and haute couture, the reality is that most LGBT New Yorkers are not on the A-List.

EDUCATION REFORM
Salem Community Charter School receives its charter (Posted by Sean Teehan, Boston Globe) The new Salem school plans to begin serving up to 50 students between the ages of 15 and 21 who dropped out of school. Doors are scheduled to open to students in September, and within three years attendance may grow to a maximum of 125 students who either dropped out or are in danger of dropping out.