News websites and political resources thread

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-04-13 10:44pm

I've made a short list of useful sites for anyone looking for political information. My area of expertise is mostly American, so most of these sites will be heavily biased towards America. If anyone else has any sites, feel free to add to it. Because I can't possibly cover all viewpoints, the sites I'm listing are just general-interest political sites, not partisan ones. Also, if possible, could a mod stickify this?

Politics 1: Bills itself as "The Most Comprehensive Online Guide to American Politics", a statement which may very well be accurate. Includes a list of every single American political party, from the Democrats and Republicans to the big third parties like the Libertarians and the Greens to tiny fringe parties (including what looks like a half dozen Socialist Parties, the American Nazi party, and the Pot Party) and links to their websites, a complete listing of every declared and potential 2004 presidential candidate, and links to lots of other useful political sites. Far more comprehensive list of links than anything that could be written here. A first rate site.

Politics 1 Guide to American Political Parties: Direct link to the political parties page.

PollingReport.com: Comprehensive compilation of dozens of public opinion poll results from nearly every legitimate polling organization on every major issue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com: While the New York Times is bigger, the Post is THE source for inside-the-beltway news. Registration is free.

http://www.whitehouse.gov: White House home page. Keep in mind all American government agencies except the military use .gov, not .com (the military uses .mil) for their official home pages. Typing in [government agency].com can produce some interesting results, especially if someone is reading over your shoulder.

http://www.senate.gov: Homepage of the United States Senate. Includes a listing of all current senators, their home states and their party affiliations. Also includes links to every senator's individual homepage, and contact information so constituents can e-mail, write, or call them (actually their offices, but most Congressmen at least read all their mail).

http://www.house.gov: Homepage of the Congress of the United States.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/: Homepage of the Supreme Court of the United States. A rather barren and poorly done site, actually, but it does have a feature for searching for cases currently in the docket.

http://www.loc.gov: Homepage of the Library of Congress. A fantastically useful collection of information on all subjects, including government. Includes two hundred years of records of Congressional proceedings (very useful for debates that hinge on interpretations of laws or Constitutional amendments). Also includes copies of the United States Constitution and other important documents.

http://thomas.loc.gov/: Records the activities of both houses of Congress, including the online version of the Congressional Record. Very useful for finding out the status of a particular bill. A service of the Library of Congress.

http://www.archives.gov: The National Archives, in College Park, MD. For when you just HAVE to win an argument--there's a copy of practically every piece of paper that ever crossed a bureaucrat's desk anywhere in the Federal government since 1787 here. Most of it is offline, but there's some material online. If you have history research to do that involves the U.S. government, this is the place to go.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-04-13 10:50pm

http://www.realchange.org

Essential; has the skeleton closet of just about every major American politician of recent years.

http://www.opensecrets.org

Contains info concerning campaign finance.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-04-13 11:02pm

I stickied this as I think it'll be something useful.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-04-13 11:05pm

Is this thread strictly for educational sources?
What kind of links can we provide up in this house?

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-04-13 11:08pm

Hamel wrote:Is this thread strictly for educational sources?
What kind of links can we provide up in this house?

I'd prefer to keep it informational rather than promoting one side or the other.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-04-13 11:11pm

Hamel wrote:Is this thread strictly for educational sources?
What kind of links can we provide up in this house?

If you want to throw up partisan links, I say be my guest. I just wanted to keep the first post neutral. Of course, this has been stickied now, so it's in the mods' capable hands now.

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2003-04-13 11:24pm

Okay then.

Freerepublic.com
Conservative discussion forums
Has a mix of libertarians, fundies, and everything else conservative

Lucianne.com
Conservative articles and discussion boards
Same as above. Site founded by Lucianne Goldberg, a famous conservative

Capitolgrilling.com
Political discussion board
You'll find conservatives and liberals discussing (and flaming) up in that house

Democraticunderground.com
Liberal discussion boards
The polar opposite of freerepublic.com. While there is a fundie problem at freerepublic, DU has its own problems, including pure melodrama from certain members that not even I can stomach

Bartcop.com
Moderately liberal satirical website
Also has a message board. Sometimes this guy just makes shit up on the spot, though he admits to it

Americanpolitics.com
Lefty editorials and news coverage
If you want some decent leftish material, give this site a spin

irishmick79 · Post by **irishmick79** » 2003-04-16 08:18pm

www.un.org

The United Nations homepage. Your one stop shop for every document on every topic you can damn well think of.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-04-17 03:26am

Spinsanity.org

From their about page:

We work to counter the increasing dominance of techniques of deception and irrationality in American politics by identifying and dissecting outrageous and important examples of this rhetoric in daily posts and longer columns that appear roughly once per week.

From Rush Limbaugh to Michael Moore, they cover both sides of the political spectrum and do a decent job of 'dissecting outrageous and important examples' of rhetoric and misinformation in politics.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-04-17 05:14am

www.fair.org

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Exposing the lies and twisting of the truth that occurs in the mainstream media, as well as downright shoddy journalism, since ... well I don't know since when but it's great stuff.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-04-19 04:40am

Everything you ever needed to know about communism:

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economic ... sframe.htm

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-04-21 07:39pm

Global Security.org and the Federation of American Scientists are excellent resources for defence, security, and intelligence-related information, especially with regard to the United States.

The Republican National Committee and the [url=http:www.democrats.org]Democratic National Committee[/url] are good sources for their respective positions on policy, and are usually good for providing criticism of the other party's positions, as well.

An excellent resource for American historical documents is The Federalist, which is a conservative, federalist website. Also an interesting source of information is the U.S. National Archives & Records Administration, and the U.S. Government Manual -- 2002/2003.

The official website of the [url=htttp://www.royal.gov.uk]British Monarchy[/url] provides mostly information about the Royal Family and its constitutional role in the United Kingdom, but is a good source for historical information, and provides links to pages on the British Government and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Publius

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-04-21 08:14pm

FAS's information on defense isn't actually that good. GlobalSecurity's is much better.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-06-06 05:43pm

This is so hillarious..

Libertarian National Socialist Green Party - Politically correct Nazis? These Libertarian Green Nazis are either the strangest conglomeration of diametrically opposed political ideologies of a political party I have ever seen -- or one of the most wry political practical jokes found anywhere on the net (I'm not certain which conclusion is correct, but I strongly suspect the latter). This party purports to be comprised of atheist, peaceful, pro-gay, pro-drug legalization, anti-racist, environmentalist Nazis who acknowledge the Holocaust likely occurred (but are neutral as to its justification) and oppose the government sponsored killing of Jews, Christians & gays and the disabled. The LNSGP "rejects Judeo-Christian moral standards, victim mentality political behavior, capital-centric value systems, and authority." While membership is open to anyone regardless of their race or sexual orientation, individuals who openly profess a belief in either Judaism or Christianity are denied party membership. Articles, platform, FAQ and graphics. Worth a visit -- even if only to decide for yourself if this is a joke or if it is serious. In the past -- and as an indicator that the LNSGP is probably a practical joke -- the LNSGP's site had sections dedeicated to claims of participation in a public service project named the "Jewish Community Brothership" (to "Communicate the modern interpretations of Nazism and its implications for Jews in today's multicultural Reich") and some links to very bizarre "news" articles (example: "Nazi Moon Bases Established in 1942").

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-06-19 12:21am

A fun new one for all you drug legalizers out there, the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy:

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/index.htm

Prozac the Robert · Post by **Prozac the Robert** » 2004-08-31 12:11pm

A couple of UK ones.

A Wikipedia article for anyone interested in how the system itself works:
Politics of the United Kingdom

The parliament website (including both the commons and the lords). Anything you want to know is likely in there somewhere.
http://www.parliament.uk/

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-12-30 11:15pm

http://europa.eu.int/ - the eu website
http://www.freedomhouse.org/ human rights organization

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2005-01-16 05:59pm

http://www.findlaw.org

You need the text of a specific Supreme Court case? How about a lower court ruling, which are harder to find online? Find it here.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2005-01-16 06:06pm

One Book that never grows old The Prince

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2005-02-11 02:50pm

http://slashdot.org/ internet related news

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2005-02-11 02:54pm

http://betterhumans.com/ politics re: new sciences, somewhat biased towards optimism
http://www.hrw.org/ human rights info

Jason · Post by **Jason** » 2005-06-03 08:10pm

Ludwig von Mises Institute - THE source for information on Austrian economics.

anti-state.com - Message board pertaining to market anarchism.

LewRockwell.com - Lew Rockwell's excellent web site devoted to radical libertarianism.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2005-11-28 04:51pm

http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/alpha Most every american govt dept.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2005-11-28 05:02pm

Jason wrote:LewRockwell.com - Lew Rockwell's excellent web site devoted to radical libertarianism.

Not to mention neo-Confederate drivel and essays saying we should have simply let the Holocaust happen.

http://gamepolitics.com/ News relating to politics and the gaming industry.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2005-12-06 04:46pm

Capitalism.org, resource explaining laissez-faire capitalism as a political system. They lean to far towards objectivism for my tastes, but it still explains the philosophy fairly well.