Download a smarphone app to check voting rules in your state

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law and others have joined together “to deploy the Election Protection Smartphone Application to provide all information and resources, in English and Spanish (branded “Ya Es Hora”), that voters need to fully participate in the 2012 elections.” Download this free Android app to register to vote, verify your registration, see the voting rules for your state, and to get contact information to report a voting issue. (It does not appear that this app is available for iOS products.) Use this app to get voter ID information for your state, as well as voter registration and absentee voter information. The website also offers state voting information.

Election Protection
http://www.866ourvote.org

Out-of-state college students, ensure your voting status at Campus Vote Project

College students living away from their home state face particular challenges in some states when they try to register to vote. In Florida, for example, all voters must present proof of permanent residence, which is difficult for out-of-state university students. The Campus Vote Project is a non-profit organization that works “with students to remove barriers to voting on campuses across the country.” If you are an out-of-state college student, visit this site to see what you must do to make your vote count.

Campus Vote Project
http://www.campusvoteproject.org

Occupy Wall Street regroups

Occupy Wall Street remained in Zuccotti Park from September 17, 2011 until, shortly after midnight on November 15, police moved in and cleared it. They arrested protesters who did not leave willingly. Over the next two weeks, other cities moved in to clear similar encampments in their public spaces. The movement seemed to go quiet as the winter passed. Though it has dropped out of the media limelight, Occupy continues to plan marches and other actions leading up to the fall election. Here is a website that distributes information about their plans.

Occupy Together
http://www.occupytogether.org

The Occupy movement is anarchical, yet its 1400 groups coordinate with each other via this website. Search the Occupy Directory (http://directory.occupy.net) or browse its interactive with map with links to the web sites of individual groups. Click the “InterOccupy” link to find out about upcoming meetings between Occupy groups.

The Origins of the Occupy Movement

The Occupy movement kicked off with a march on Wall Street in New York on September 17, 2011. The planning for the demonstration began in June as a brainstorm of two Canadian advertising executives, Micah White and Kalle Lasn, who was originally from Estonia. The pair runs the anti-consumerist Adbusters Media Foundation.

Adbusters
http://www.adbusters.org

Vancouver’s Adbusters magazine urges awareness of, “the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces.” Inspired by the events of Arab Spring, the relatively peaceful overthrow of the Egyptian and Tunisian governments early in 2011, Adbusters organized and promoted the September march and “occupation” to speak out against the influence of money on politics, the lack of punishment for the perpetrators of the financial meltdown of 2008, and growing income inequality.

Although Adbusters does not run the Occupy movement, it does offer news of upcoming events on its website.

Liberal versus Conservative

David McCandless and Stephanie Prosavec created this infographic that contrasts the basic outlooks of liberals and conservatives on a variety of matters including child rearing and attitudes toward government.

Left vs. Right (World)
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/left-vs-right-world/

The Tea Party Seeks Volunteers in Los Angeles

My home town of Pasadena, California hosts this powerful #TeaParty affiliate. Their plan to win the next election is called “City Walk” in which volunteers are trained to contact Republican voters in Los Angeles to urge them to cast ballots. TeaPAC offers training, handouts, and precinct drop sheets to help their get-out-the-vote effort.

TeaPAC
http://www.teapac.net/TP_PROD/

The Tea Party Movement Organizes

Within hours of the Rick Santelli Santelli’s February 19 jeremiad against government help for distressed homeowners, San Diego activist Anthony Astolfi mounted this website to organize the first coordinated “tea party” protests. His was soon joined by dozens of other new websites and Facebook pages. In response, fifty conservative leaders participated in a conference call to organize a “Nationwide Chicago Tea Party” protest coordinated to occur in about forty cities on February 27, 2009.  The Tea Party movement was born.

RE Tea Party.com
http://www.reteaparty.com

What are your politics, exactly? Take this free quiz to find out.

As the election season starts up, it becomes important to be aware of the issues and how they are viewed by all parties. The Pew Research Center surveyed Americans about their political beliefs. They classified eight categories of “political typology” including Libertarians, Disaffecteds, and Hard-Pressed Democrats. Take this short quiz to see where you fall on the spectrum of American political philosophy.

http://people-press.org/typology/quiz/?src=typology-report

Sort out the truth in politics with Politifact

Did a politician make a sweeping pronouncement that sounds kind of fishy? The reporters from the St. Petersburg Times will research it and slap it up on their “Truth-O-Meter.” See whether a statement is true, half true, or simply a “pants on fire” blatant lie.
http://www.politifact.com/