Vote411, a service of the 
Where Conviction Meets Action
So What Do We Do About it?
Upset that your friend has no health care insurance? Worried that your mother is hitting the "doughnut hole" in her Medicare drug plan and she doesn't have the money to pay for her essential medication? Angry that the Bush administration's policies have caused birth control prices to escalate at college health centers, putting the pill out of reach for many students? So what are you going to do about it?
Getting information is the first step. On this Political Action Tools page, you'll find links to information to help you take action. For example, Thomas ("in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson")has websites for members of Congress so you can find how to contact them, the status of all bills, and much more. Every member has constituent service staff as well, and their job is to assist you to unsnarl bureaucracies and otherwise get what you need from government offices. I've just added Media Matters to the blogroll for its excellent research and analysis of political media that I don't have time to do on my own and doubt that you do either--because it doesn't matter what the facts are if they aren't reported accurately and fairly.
Come back to this page often for tips on effective advocacy.
How Amazing Is This? Find 375 Over 400 Women Political Bloggers Here!
Political Action Tools at Your Fingertips: The Sunlight Foundation Sheds Light on Political Issues
by Taryn Kutujian
We live in an age where credibility and quality of information, particularly on the Internet, is our primary concern. We want to be able to find no-nonsense, non-biased information, and we want to receive it from reliable sources that won’t try and tell us how to think, and why.
With the tagline "Sunlight is the best disinfectant, The Sunlight Foundation uses technology to give each of us an opportunity to find exactly what our elected representatives are doing and to make government transparent.
The Foundation's resources explain the layers of political jargon in a way that unearths the potential benefits and consequences to the average constituent. On their website, you can find links to Congresspedia.org, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and the Library of Unified Information Sources (LOUIS), among others.
While many people feel burdened and intimidated by the endless information that technology has provided, the Sunlight Foundation has devoted its entire existence to coaching us through every bit of bad information and redirecting us towards resources that are user-friendly and written in “plain English”.
Want to know what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been up to? Interested in which lobbyists have the ear of your favorite presidential candidate? How about a glance at the most recent policy decisions in your home state? Find out at The Sunlight Foundation.
Here I am with Hamilton College pro-choice student leaders.
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