Congress.org - Become an informed citizen

Congress.org is a website that provides daily coverage of issues being discussed by Congress. It provides news and information while making it easy for citizens to find out how their elected officials are voting. If you are unhappy with the direction of our country then start Congress.org and become a more active citizen.

History, Congress, and Funny laws

We humans are such creatures of habit. We tend to eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same stores, and visit the same websites. I am certainly guilty of being overly "brand loyal." My blog has really opened my eyes to how many amazing websites are out there on the world wide web. I really hope you have found some of the websites I share to be both useful and interesting.

First on the agenda is Congress.org. This website provides daily coverage of issues being discussed by Congress. It provides news and information while making it easy for citizens to find out how their elected officials are voting. If you are unhappy with the direction of our country then start visiting this site and become a more active citizen.

Next is History Pin, an online collection of photographs, videos, audio files, and text that have been shared by people from around the world. Their tag line is "a global community collaborating around history." Users can post their documents or search a map to find things in their area or search by collection, channel, and project. This site is great for educators as well as anyone interested in history.

Last is the lighter side of the law from Lawyers.com. This collection has pages of dumb criminals, kooky court cases, and crazy laws that are sure to entertain. No matter how you feel about Lawyers, you will most likely enjoy these stories from the funny side of the law.

The 2012 Election

I have two reactions to the fact that the election is only two days away. My first reaction is "thank God!" because this process is exhausting to watch. My other reaction is one of excitement and anticipation because it is historical, as are all elections. With that in mind I have a few election resources to share.

For anyone who is a political junkie or is interested in finding out more about this election there is 270 to Win which offers the latest in electoral projections, state by state polling, and more including election simulations.

At this website you will find videos of election coverage based on the three basic political points of view. The videos are sorted into collections with one labeled conservative, another is labeled liberal, and a third is labeled politically neutral. There is a fourth choice which is "watch it all" and videos from all three points of view will play. The videos come from various news and information sources, many of which are known for their strong political leanings.

The last of the three new resources is called Legistalker which sounds creepy but it is actually a useful site. This site tracks the Tweets, YouTube videos and other online activity of legislators from around the country. Just type your zip code in the search bar and it is supposed to show the three members of Congress that represent you (2 Senators, 1 House member). It got my Senators correct but it was wrong for my member of the House of Representatives. While the site clearly has some bugs to work out it is actually a good way for someone to keep tabs on what your elected representatives are doing. Many members of Congress use Twitter to communicate and if you aren't part of the Twitterverse, this site allows you to follow what they are saying.

Then there are some resources that I have shared before but they may be new to some such as I Side With which is a survey you take and it matches you with the candidate with whom you have the most in common. Try it and you may be surprised.

Lastly, I shared other resources in a previous post which can be found here.