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I am deviating from the rule of only sending
messages regarding local things. I apologize. I just read about a
web site that could be very useful to you or others you live with or work with
regarding tracking what national government does.
In the October issue of Discovery Magazine on page
24 there is an article "Watching the Watchers".
[The Oct. issue isn't on line yet but should be
soon.]
The article introduces the new web site
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It let's you see who gave a member of Congress the
most money and then see all those that contributor gave money to. If you
want to track what someone is saying or when a hot topic is being mentioned,
there is a way to get an email alert for things like when that person or that
topic will be on CSPAN. I don't really know what all it can do and it is
just in the beginning stages of development out of MIT.
I did a quick test by looking for Norm
Coleman. Right away I see he is age 53 and his major contributor is the
Target Corp. I clicked on Target Corp. and found that he got $69,650 from
them and that the next biggest contribution they gave someone was $9,500 to John
Kline. Then I went back and clicked on his name. Up popped a
screen with way too much information to list here. The Postal Worker Union
contribution caught my eye - didn't expect it. They list all the major
contributors to his campaign. Club for Growth was listed and I just had to
try to find out what it is. Found it is a single issue, Republican,
conservative group. Going into it further to see what was listed for type
of Industry and type of Sector contributing money got to be too much information
for me right now anyway.
I then tried their search feature and tried
"prescription drugs" AND "Norm Coleman". That didn't work. But, I
could have downloaded something called Code Orange which would monitor a person
or an issue. I could have set it up to monitor what Norm is doing and when
the prescription drug issue was going to be on CSPAN. I didn't do that but
it might come in handy if I have an issue I really want to track.
Gene -- This site, if you haven't seen it all
ready, would be great for your students.
Craig Brooks
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