Change you can download: a billion in secret Congressional reports - Wikileaks
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Change_you_can_download:_a_billion_in_secret_Congressional_reports

Congressional reports made public...

The 6,780 reports, current as of this month, comprise over 127,000 pages of material on some of the most contentious issues in the nation, from the U.S. relationship with Israel to the financial collapse. Nearly 2,300 of the reports were updated in the last 12 months, while the oldest report goes back to 1990. The release represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices. The CRS is Congress's analytical agency and has a budget in excess of $100M per year.

WA State Congressional delegation tracker

Legistalker combs a variety of news, social networking, and government sites to pool information about members of the U.S. Congress. Searching for a Senator or Representative will return mentions of that individual in the media, Twitter updates, YouTube videos, Capitol Words—a nifty weighted cloud of the words they've used in interviews and floor speeches—and their voting record which includes what they've introduced and votes yes or no on.

Breaks down references to U.S. representatives and senators in the news, on Twitter, and on YouTube.

An accountable government requires an informed citizenry. Every day, Congress relies more and more on the Internet to communicate with the world. Legistalker makes it easy for you to stay on top of what your elected officials say and how they vote. Legistalker was created by Forum One Communications as an entry for the Apps for America competition. The ever-growing database is updated every 20 seconds, and relies on data from Twitter, YouTube, Capitol Words, literally hundreds of different news sources, and others.

Jim Webb doing something decent.

criminal justice

It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

For the first time in 100 years, and contrary to a long-standing legal prohibition, an active duty military unit is permanently assigned inside the U.S.

2008/09/24

Nice flow chart for the Bill to Law process