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Politics and Elections

Also Try

1. American Presidents
2. Current Events
3. News
4. News
5. News by Subject
6. Presidential Election 2000
7. Presidential Election 2000

Discussions

1. -Contact Your Congressional Representatives (CapWeb)
   Provides the email address and other contact information about your federal and state legislators. Assists with writing a letter in the proper format. Assists with finding your legislators, either by zip code or state. 9-01
2. -Contact Your Congressional Representatives (Congress.org)
   Provides the email address and other contact information for legislators, by state or name. 1-00
3. -Voter Registration Online (CapWeb - VoetNet)
   Provides the information and forms necessary to register to vote in your state when online registration is permissable. 9-01
4. Contact Congress Members (VoteNet)
   Provides the email address and other information about your legislators. Includes search engines to find your legislators (you provide your zip code), find out who is contributing to political campaigns, learn more about specific political campaigns, and more. 1-00
5. Contact Legislators (Votenet.com)
   Provides information on U.S. senators and representatives, committees, state legislators, governors, federal government officials, and judicial members. 6-01

Lesson Plans

1. Analyzing the Use of Propaganda (New York Times - Hambouz and Khan)
   "In this lesson, students analyze the use of propaganda in the war against terrorism, focusing specifically on the attacks in Afghanistan, exploring the distinction between ideas spread to benefit a cause and those spread to damage an opposing cause." 2-02
2. Distinguishing Facts and Opinions (AskERIC)
   Provides a lesson. 2-01
3. Exploring the Roles of Fact and Opinion in Relaying the News (New York Times - DeKorne and Chin)
   "In this lesson, students evaluate how facts and opinions function in relaying the news and consider the media's responsibilities in reporting during wartime." 2-02
4. Government Lessons (AskERIC)
   Provides dozens of lessons by topic and grade. 2-01
5. Government and Civics Lessons (PBS - Teacher Source)
   Provides over two dozen lessons, by subject, related to governing, politics, budget making, the national debt, voting, political campaigning,and rules of citizenship. 2-01
6. Perfect President (PBS - Teacher Source)
   Provides a lesson for students to help them become clearer about qualifications for president of the United States. 2-01
7. Political Systems - Comparisons (AskERIC)
   Provides lessons by grade level. 2-01
8. Presidential Election Lesson Plans (bigchalk.com)
   Provides lessons by grade level to help students have a better grasp of the election process. 11-00

Lists

1. Political Leaders (ABC News)
   Provides a brief background on how each leader came into a position of power. Also provides quotes and a short biography.

Materials

1. Voting - Register to Vote (BeAVoter.org)
   Allows you to begin the voter registration process online. They will then send you the completed materials for you to sign and mail to the voter registration authorities. The address for the voter registration authorities will already be on your envelope. 5-00.

News

1. AllPolitics
2. Bush News Stories (1stHeadlines)
   Provides news stories from over 4 dozen news sources. 12-99
3. CNN Political News
4. Congress - News and Issues (Congress.org)
   Provides news. Also provides information on issues through links to organizations advocating for their views to be supported by Congress. 6-01
5. Conservative News and Information (Heritage Foundation - Townhall.com)
   Provides a conservative view of news events. 5-01
6. Government Accounting Office Tries to Gain White House Records (CBS News)
   Describes the reason that the Government Accounting Office (GAO) is suing the White House for information related to the energy task force that Vice President Dick Cheney chairs. 2-02
7. News for Students (McNeil-Lehrer Productions - PBS NewsHour)
   Provides news designed for teens regarding politics. 11-00
8. USA Reconsiders Use of Nuclear Weapons (Los Angeles Times - Savage)
   "Responding to new threats since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration now wants to consider using nuclear weapons to respond to biological and chemical attacks, as well as nuclear strikes, on the U.S. or its allies." "Administration officials went out of their way Sunday to assert that military planners have not targeted any nation for a nuclear attack but rather are preparing for how to respond if others resort to weapons of mass destruction."
   
   "News of the Pentagon's planning was met with amazement and anger in foreign capitals, according to news reports."  3-02

Papers

1. Bush Acceptance Speech (Washington Post)
   Provides the full text of Governor Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. 8-00
2. Bush, George W. (Republican National Committee)
   Provides information on President Bush's positions and achievements. 2-01
3. Candidate Information (Vote-Smart)
   Provides information on candidates for public office. 11-01
4. Chaney, Dick (Biography.com)
   Provides highlights of Chaney's career. 8-00.
5. Impeachable Offense - What is it (New York Times - Glaberson)
   Provides a discussion of the Constitutional basis for impeaching the President of the United States.
6. Jeffords - Senator Jim Jeffords (U.S. Senate)
   Provides a profile of the Vermont Senator whose switch from Republican to Independent changes the power of the Senate from Republican to Democrat. 5-01
7. LaDuke - Native Activists and the Future (Massa and Cascadia Planet - LaDuke)
   Provides statements from Winona LaDuke about "White" views of the environment compared to the Native views. She also discusses the difference between Native Activists and Environmentalists.
8. Lobbying Efforts - Public Records (US Senate Office of Public Records)
   Provides information on the amount of money provided by lobbyists. 10-01
9. News from the U.S. Congress (FedNet)
10. Newseum - Interactive Museum of News
    Provides information from high visibility journalists and politicians about news-related issues of the day. Designed partly to inform children about the role of news in government.
11. Political Campaigns (League of Women Voters Education Fund and the Center for Government Studies - Democracy Network)
    Provides information on political campaigns and issues of candidates. 5-00
12. Political Campaigns by State (ElectNet)
    Provides information on political campaigns and issues by state. Provides contact information for political offices at the bottoms of pages. 5-00
13. Political Leaders (Derksen)
    Provides a recent history of political leaders of the world, with an emphasis on parliaments. Also provides dates of elections for parliaments.
14. Political Parties - Senators Switching Parties Since 1890 (United States Senate)
    Provides a discussion of the political climate that caused each senator to change parties, as well as a biography of each. Includes Jim Jeffords. 5-01
15. Political Parties in the United States (United States Senate)
    Provides a history of majority and minority political parties in the United States. 5-01
16. Political Position - Assess Your Political Position (PoliticalCompass.org)
    Provides questions to position you on a political graph, ranging from "left wing" to "right wing" and "authoritarian" to "libertarian." Also positions prominent British politicians on the chart. 7-01
17. Politics - Marketplace of Political Ideas (University of Houston Libraries)
    Provides information on the political parties. (Not updated frequently.) 9-01
18. President Bush Ends ABA's Role - ABA Response (American Bar Association - Barnett)
    Provides a rebuttal to President Bush's rationale for excluding the ABA from the process of assessing the professional qualifications of nominees for federal judge. 3-01
19. Presidential Candidates - Bush (AOL)
    Provides George W. Bush's position on gun control. 10-00.
20. Rice, Condoleeza - Biography (National Review - Nordlinger)
    Provides a biography of Rice, Bush's National Security Advisor. 2-01
21. Rice, Condoleeza - Biography (Salon.com - Kettmann)
    Provides limited biographical information on Rice, Bush's National Security Advisor. 2-01
22. Senate - History of the United States Senate (United States Senate)
    Provides a history of the Senate, including key officers of the past and present, such as President of the Senate, President pro tempore, Secretary of the Senate, Sargeant at Arms, Senate Chaplain, Legislative Counsel, and more. 5-01
23. Senate - Women Senators (United States Senate)
    Provides biographies of the women who have served in the United States Senate, including Rebecca Latimer Felton, Hattie Wyatt Caraway, Rose McConnell Long, Dixie Bibb Graves, Gladys Pyle, Vera Cahalan Bushfield, Margaret Chase Smith, Eva Kelley Bowring, Hazel Hempel Abel, Maurine Brown Neuberger, Elaine S. Edwards, Muriel Humphrey, Maryon Allen, Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Paula Hawkins, Barbara Mikulski, Jocelyn Burdick, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Carol Moseley-Braun, Patty Murray, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Olympia Jean Snowe, Sheila Frahm, Mary Landrieu, Susan Collins, Blanche Lincoln, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Deborah Stabenow, Maria E. Cantwell, and Jean Carnahan. 5-01
24. Shadow Government for Emergencies (Seattle Times - Gellman and Schmidt)
    "President Bush has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation's capital." 2-02
25. Teens Views From Britain and Italy (McNeil-Lehrer Productions)
    Provides views of teens about the presidential election in the United States and their own countries. Also describes elections in Britain and Italy. 11-00
26. The White House for Kids (White House)
    Provides information about kids in the White House, pets in the White House, and the history of the White House. 1-01
27. U. S. Supreme Court Members (BBC)
    Provides a British view of the U.S. Supreme Court members. 11-00
28. USA and China - Relationship Since the 1950's (CNN)
    Provides a short summary of each key event that changed the relationship between the USA and China since the 1950's. 5-01
29. Voting - Candidate Finder (Capitol Advantage)
    Provides information on elections and candidates by state. 2-01
30. Who Owns What in the Media (Columbia Journalism Review)
    Provides a listing of companies owned by each of the largest media companies to show who controls what we see and how we see it. 6-01

Projects

1. Elections News (Votelink)
   Provides news on elections and politics. 2-00
2. Finance Reform - Your Way (PBS)
   Provides an opportunity for you to clarify you own position about how elections should be financed. 7-01
3. Kids Views - I Have a Dream (Walnut Heights Elementary)
   Provides reports of Mrs. Wagner's 20 students in second or third grade on what the world should be like, "I have a dream."
4. Kids Views - If I Were President (Walnut Heights Elementary)
   Provides reports of 20 students in second or third grade on what they would do if they were the President of the United States.
5. Political News (Salon.com - Politics)
   Provides news on elections and politics. 4-00
6. Presidential Campaign Simulation Game (Pres96.com) 11-00
7. Voting - Kids Participate on Election Day (Kids Voting USA)
   Provides an opportunity for kids to participate in the voting process with adults.

Research

1. Welfare Reform Not Much Help (applesforhealth)
   Researchers at UC Berkeley and Yale University have determined that life has not gotten better for children whose families have gone from welfare to work. The researchers found that arranging proper child care is still too challenging for most welfare moms. 02-11-00.

Worksheets

1. Elections Worksheets (AbcTeach)
   Provides dozens of worksheets to help children have a better understanding of the elections process. 8-01