Research Blog : politics

The Health Care Reform Act turmoil

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:33:00 GMT

Opinions and concerns abound about this issue, sometimes to the point that the facts get obscured. Can I separate all the facts from the fiction? Nope, I can be duped and sucked in as easily as the next person. But I can tell you where to go to form your own opinions undiluted by anyone else with an agenda. Thomas from the Library of Congress is an excellent site for following legislation and the workings of Congress. As a matter of fact, Thomas has made it easy for people right now. You don't even have to search for the House's health care bill. They've put up a direct link on the very front of their website. From that link, you can then read a summary of the bill, see what Committees it's been referred to, see who is sponsoring it, and read the bill word for word yourself. Be warned, the bill's over 1,000 pages long and very dense to read! That doesn't mean I think it's not worth reading; I'm just saying don't expect to skim through it on your lunch hour unless you belong to Mensa. :)

You can also get some very useful links from Congressman Brad Ellsworth's "Online Office." He has the PDF of the full bill, just as Thomas does, but he additionally has links to the committee work being done on the bill.

And while we're talking Congressmen, if you want to share your opinion, do you know who to share yours with? Indiana's Senators are Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, while Evansville's Congressman is Brad Ellsworth.

Lastly, here's on other place I like to go when I'm inundated with opinions, http://factcheck.org/. They appear non-partisan to me. They've debunked pro and con statements surrounding the health care debate. And, their website/services don't exist solely for the health care debate (it just looks that way right now :). Take a look at their Archives or Ask Factcheck to see some of the other political issues they address.

Speak your mind…opinions welcome, wanted, and appreciated

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Hello out there to everyone in EVPL blogland,

I have a dilemma that I could use your help with. Every year I sit down to plan a workshop on useful government documents and websites (more websites than actual documents now-a-days) and every year I get overwhelmed with the glut of information I could offer… Do I focus on how to find useful health and nutrition information? Or on how to find those interesting statistics you always hear quoted from the Census and Labor Departments? Or what about consumer safety information? Or how to navigate Social Security’s website? Or how about following legislation? The list can go on and on. So, I’m opening the floor to all of you, the people that the government is trying to reach with all of this information. What do you most want to know about? What do you need help discovering? Let me know how best to help you.

Official ".gov" web site of the office of the President Elect

Bufkinite@evpl — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:18:00 GMT

It's been said that Barack Obama ran a transformational campaign, and is a transformational political figure. Now, with the advent of www.change.gov, we have what looks like the beginning of a transformational Presidency. This is the official ".gov" website of the office of the President-elect. Not politics, but policy.

Top-of-page informational links include a Newsroom and Blog, a "Learn" link to biographical information on the Presidential and Vice-Presidential families, and an "Agenda" link with Obama adminstration policy statements in 25 different policy areas.

But the truly "transformational" part are the remaining top-of-page links. The "American Moment" link invites you to share your vision for the direction America needs to go. The "America Serves" link currently is not very fleshed out, but looks to become a clearinghouse to opportunities for citizens to volunteer for the Peace Corps, Americorps, and projected new government orchestrated volunteer organizations: Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. The "Jobs" link encourages anyone to begin the process of applying for a job in the Obama administration. Finally, the "About" link contains links for contacting the transition team, and a link to the GSA's "Transition Directory," a very interesting document which was developed to assist in-coming administrations work with the current administration to smooth the transfer of power.

Thanks to googler@evpl for bringing this site to my attention.

What do you think about this level of transparency? What is your vision for the first 100 days of an Obama administration?

The candidates on the issues

googler@evpl — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:44:00 GMT

There are a couple of good websites that outline the Sen. McCain's and Sen. Obama's stands on the issues. First, of course, are their own websites:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Recommended third-party sites include:

http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

http://uspolitics.america.gov/uspolitics/elections/issues.html

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/economy.html

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/

http://congress.org/election/home/

Fact vs Fiction in Political Campaigns

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:34:00 GMT

As elections approach, decisions about how to vote are being made. And political campaigns and candidates have been known to bend the truth in their efforts to get the votes. The PBS blog, Media Shift, had a helpful article this week, Political Fact-Check Sites Proliferate, But Can They Break Through the Muck? The non-partisan, fact-checking sites recommended are Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org, the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly's PolitiFact and the Washington Post's Fact Checker blog. The title of the Media Shift article refers to their observation that the partisan fact-checking sites are being used more that these non-partisan sites. Links to those more biased sites are also part of the article, but I'm not going post them here.

Want to see how our voting preferences have changed over the last 160 years?

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:36:00 GMT

Visit Voting America, United States Politics 1840-2008. A project from the University of Richmond, Voting America offers interactive maps, with data to the county level, of our Presidential elections. Along with this, the project offers expert video analysis of our voting trends and special periods in our voting history.

Over 100 people running for President in 2008!

SuDocQueen@evpl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:51:00 GMT

So far over one hundred people have announced or filed for candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. Visit Project Vote Smart to learn about them and the front runners McCain and Obama. Project Vote Smart is a non-partisan organization endorsed by leading newspapers and journals, the United States Government, and organizations such as the American Political Science Association. The organization provides information on candidates and government officials from the national to the local level. You can access information on your elected officials from voting records to campaign finances.

New Electronic Books available via the Databases site

Bufkinite@evpl — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:28:00 GMT

Twenty new electronic books have been added to the EVPL catalog that are available through the Credo Reference database. Some of the titles include:

Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics / edited by Rajend Mesthrie ; consulting editor, R.E. Asher
Encyclopedia of Urban Legends / Jan Harold Brunvand ; artwork by Randy Hickman
Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law / edited by Gregg Lee Carter
Martial Arts of the World: an Encyclopedia / edited by Thomas A. Green
Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History / Don M. Coerver, Suzanne B. Pasztor, and Robert M. Buffington
Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present / Nicholas J. Cull, David Culbert, David Welch
Public Opinion and Polling Around the World: A Historical Encyclopedia / John G. Geer, editor

Credo Reference is a database of fully searchable digital reference books, where search results are relevancy-ranked and displayed alongside related entries from other works in their collection. Search results include images and audio and can optionally be displayed as a concept map. Credo Reference is available on the Databases page of our Research tab.

New Local Newspaper

lotech@evpl — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:31:00 GMT

Free copies of a new local newspaper have appeared in our libraries: "The City County Observer". The paper describes itseilf as "A Non-Partisan Publication Dedicated to the Reporting of Your Local Government at Work". This is the first issue, August, 2008, volume 1, issue 1; the paper appears to aim for a monthly publication. Besides several articles about local government, this first issue has two pages of local candidates for the upcoming general election; the page includes thier photos and comments. A calendar of some of this month's governmental meetings appears on another page. The paper's website, http://www.citycountyobserver.com , also has a full copy of this month's paper, links to both city and county governement websites, and an archives which will apparently have past issues as new issues are published.

Life behind ... coffee bars?

E-Ville Librarian@evpl — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:41:00 GMT

An interesting article on the Mother Jones website is quite eye opening. Many times I have heard people say, "We should make prisoners work for their keep. All they do is watch TV and smoke cigarettes." It would appear that in some states, they do just that. The last entry in the list seems to be the funniest, yet cruelest of the bunch.

Fact-checking the election ads and coverage

googler@evpl — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:41:00 GMT

There are a number of nonpartisan websites that can assist in determining what's true, what's misleading, and what's just plain wrong in both the media's election coverage and the candidates' own ads.

FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They do fairly in-depth analyses, explaining fully why something is misleading, and frequently provide audio and video links to the content being checked.

PolitiFact is a service of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly Inc. This site features a "truth-o-meter," a graphic that rates the truthfulness of the ad or claim. While usually not as in-depth as FactCheck, the content on this site is well-organized and accessible in a variety of ways (you can browse by candidate or subject, among other things).

The Center for Public Integrity is a "nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy, independent journalism organization" that uses examines political and campaign issues in depth. These folks also have a Buying of the President site which looks at how money influences presidential campaigns.

The Fact Checker is a blog from the Washington Post that analyzes campaign statements in a similar way to FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, prompted by reader suggestions. Submit a question there if you're wondering about a claim that isn't being addressed on the other sites.