Welcome to STRUCKTOWER.COM
This is the STRUCKTOWER simple html page of annotated nonpartisan
information resources. For
discussion,
news, and views, go to http://blog.strucktower.com/.
Email contact: 
Categories: US News, World
News, Government, Economics and Corporate Accountability, Food Politics,
Our Digital World, Environment,
Alternative News,
Fun Facts
- The Moderate Voice was founded in December 2003 by journalist/entertainer Joe Gandelman as a personal weblog that would offer an independent voter’s irreverent comments, and serious analysis of events, issues and people in the news. A prime guiding principle was that differing ideas don’t give people brain cancer, so from the start TMV linked to Democratic, Republican, liberal, conservative and centrist blogs. It also put a special emphasis on linking to blogs written by “independent thinkers” of any (or no) party who sought to discuss issues and promote dialogue rather than hype specific candidates or repeat talk show (of the left and right) talking points.
- Open Congress OpenCongress
is
a free, open-source, not-for-profit, and non-partisan public resource
website. OpenCongress brings together official government data with
news coverage, blog posts, public comments, and more to give you the
real story behind what's happening in Congress.
- Public Agenda
Nonpartisan and nonprofit, Public Agenda was founded by social
scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance in 1975. Especially well-known
for efforts in education
K-12, higher
education, energy
issues and climate
change, public engagement on the problem of the federal
budget deficit and national debt, and public
views on foreign policy.
- OpenSecrets. The Center
for Responsive Politics is a research group tracking
money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the organization aims to create
a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more transparent and
responsive government.
- Open CRS American taxpayers
spend over $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research
Service, a "think tank" that provides reports to members of Congress on
a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these
reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be
easily obtained. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology
through the cooperation of several organizations and collectors of CRS
Reports, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports already in
the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to
all CRS Reports. Be sure to scroll down the page and click on Recent
Reports and Recently Added Reports.
- Sunlight Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation is dedicated to making government transparent
and accountable.
- Columbia Journalism Review
Founded in 1961 under the auspices of Columbia University’s Graduate
School of Journalism, CJR examines day-to-day press performance as well
as the forces that affect that performance. One interesting feature
when you scroll down the page is the CJR's online guide to what
major media companies
own- the "Who Owns What" search.
- The Center for Public Integrity Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest
- PolitiFact.com Sorting out
the truth in politics
- Fact
Checker - The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler checks the truth
behind political rhetoric.
- FactCheck.org
- The GPO- US Government Printing
OfficeThe U.S Government Printing Office (GPO) provides
publishing & dissemination services for the official &
authentic government publications to Congress, Federal agencies,
Federal depository libraries, & the American public. Transistioning
to the new FDsys- Federal Digital System.
- Federal
Government Directory at GovEngine.com provides a large list of
government
links, also courts and state government links
- The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a data gathering, data research and data distribution organization at Syracuse University. The purpose of TRAC is to provide the American people — and institutions of oversight such as Congress, news organizations, public interest groups, businesses, scholars and lawyers — with comprehensive information about staffing, spending, and enforcement activities of the federal government. Currently featured are separate TRAC Web sites describing the enforcement activities and staffing patterns of the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
- Libray of Congress THOMAS
database.
- Searches the text of legislation by word/phrase or bill
number, the full text of bills can be searched across multiple
Congresses
- Bill Summary & Status records for each bill that
became public law
- Roll call votes from the House of Representatives and
the Senate, legislation can be browsed by sponsor (senator or
representative) for the current Congress
- Provides a list of floor activity for the previous
legislative day, floor actions occurring in the House on the current
legislative day all listed in reverse chronological order
- Search the Congressional Record- The Daily Digest is a
summary of a day's activities in both chambers of Congress
- The "House Floor This Week" provides the date and time of the
House session, along with bills that are likely to be passed under
suspension of the rules or expected to receive floor action. This
feature is updated throughout the week when the House is in session.
- Committee Reports include the full text of House and Senate
committee
reports (including conference reports and joint committee reports)
printed by the Government Printing Office (GPO).
- SourceWatch
SourceWatch is a specialized encyclopedia of the corporate front groups, PR teams,
"experts," industry-friendly groups,
and think tanks trying to influence public opinion
on behalf of corporations or government agencies.
- American Antitrust Institute, or AAI, is an independent nonpartisan non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. with a mission to increase the role of competition, assure that competition works in the interests of consumers, and challenge abuses of concentrated economic power in the American and world economy. Be sure to check out their "Industires and Issues" tab, and use their search bar to find book reviews.
- Dollars & Sense publishes economic news and analysis, reports on economic justice activism, primers on economic topics, and critiques of the mainstream media's coverage of the economy.
- The Center for Corporate Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest organization working to curb corporate abuses and make corporations publicly accountable. Also, search the Internet for "Charlie Cray".
- The CATO Institute is a libertarian think tank, definitely NOT nonpartisan. While endorsing much of the corporate agenda, CATO has the ideological consistency to oppose most corporate welfare and government favoritism. Try entering "corporate welfare" into their search engine.
- The Center for Media and Democracy/PR Watch is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan media and consumer watchdog group that focuses on investigating and countering P.R. campaigns and spin by corporations, industries, and government agencies about issues and products that affect our health, liberty, economic opportunities, environment, and the vitality of the democratic process.
- Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media.
- ReclaimDemocracy! See their "primers" and their issue on Corporate Personhood.
- GreenFacts's mission is "To bring complex scientific consensus reports on health and the environment to the reach of non-specialists." They are an independent source for Clear Summaries of International Scientific Documents, Peer-reviewed by independent experts. Although much of the information is old, they do provide solid summaries and background information for controversial subjects such as flouridation, genetically modified foods, diet and nutrition, etc.
- PubMed, a National Institutes of Health site that catalogs scientific articles on medical topics from around the world is the best place to search for the latest peer-reviewed information on any health topic. PubMed comprises more than 20 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.
- USDA ERS Farm Bill
Resources The ERS analysts examine the economic effects of current
farm programs on producers, consumers, taxpayers, and rural
communities, and evaluate potential effects of alternative policies and
programs. ERS also provides a comparison of new and previous farm
bills, provision by key provision.
- National Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition The National Sustainable Agriculture
Coalition (NSAC) is an alliance of grassroots organizations
that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability
of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities.
Be sure to go to the "blog" and select from the "categories" on the
left of the page.
- The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is a non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy membership organization established in 1997 by its sister organization, International Center for Technology Assessment, for the purpose of challenging harmful food production technologies and promoting sustainable alternatives.
- Food Politics Website
and blog run by Marion Nestle, author of " Food Politics: How the Food
Industry Influences Nutrition and
Health" (2002, paperback 2003, revised edition 2007) as well as several
other books. She is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of
Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (the department she chaired
from 1988-2003) and Professor of Sociology at New York University. Her
degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public
health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Be
sure to check out her "Links" link at the top of the header.
- FarmPolicy.com is
a daily summary of news relating to U.S. farm policy. Updates highlight
news items dealing with the U.S. and global agricultural economy,
including the Farm Bill, production agriculture, trade, biofuels and
crop insurance. Not a lot of editorial comment.
- Agricultural Law This
blog discusses agricultural law as well as issues of food safety and
sustainability.
- Daily Bread
The food business blog at Slate’s site, The Big Money.
- Fooducate Blog
Providing practical advice for buying healthy food at the supermarket.
NOT selling pills, supplements, or diets. NO industry affiliations.
- La Vida
Locavore A stream of news and policy commentary from a local food
perspective.
- Food & Water Watch is a non-profit organization that advocates for common sense policies that will result in healthy, safe food and access to safe and affordable drinking water. Be sure to check out their Tools and Resources guides.
- Public Knowledge
is a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group
working to defend citizens' rights in the emerging digital culture.
- Slashdot: News for Nerds,
stuff that matters
- Techdirt offers
analysis and insight into
news stories about changes in government
policy, technology and legal issues.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
The EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit defending free speech, privacy,
innovation, and consumer rights relating to technology.
- GreenFacts's mission is "To bring complex scientific consensus reports on health and the environment to the reach of non-specialists." They are an independent source for Clear Summaries of International Scientific Documents, Peer-reviewed by independent experts. Although much of the information is old, they do provide solid summaries and background information for controversial subjects such as climate change, chemicals, energy, biodersity, risks of new technologies, etc.
- Environmental
Health News The mission of Environmental Health News is to advance
the public’s understanding of environmental health issues by publishing
its own journalism and providing access to worldwide news about a
variety of subjects related to the health of humans, wildlife and
ecosystems. Be sure to check out the Archive and Science sections.
- AlterNet
- Adbusters
CultureJammersHeadquarters
- CounterPunch
muckraking with a radical attitude, headquartered in California
- Dark Politricks Dark
Politricks is a site dedicated to investigating the dark side of
politics including corruption, propoganda, the police state, war on
terror, the intelligence services and their misdeeds, false flag
attacks and much more. Based in the UK.
- The Straight Dope
- Scopes.com Urban Legends
Reference Page. The definitive
Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors,
and misinformation.
- Boing Boing
- Ask a
Scientist
search engine and index to questions posed by K-12 students and
teachers to the NEWTON project.
