Greg Dixon's Random Junk
This page contains links to resources for students. The basic idea is to have a place where you can find resources for a variety of uses. The links are loosely sorted into categories to make things a little easier.
Categories:
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Political
Parties in the USA |
Random
Stuff |
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News sources for those who want to stay up on events. Some are TV, some print, and some are radio. Some are also mixed format.
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National
Public Radio (NPR) is the "public" radio in the USA. They get
their money from memberships rather than advertising. They provide a
variety of news and information programs as well as hourly news updates. |
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The
internationally respected communications arm of the British Government.
It was originally started to link the British Empire together through
media. It is now one of the most respected sources of news and
information in the world. They are editorially independent from the
government (something they fiercely protect) and are generally considered as
unbiased as humans can be. |
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The
granddaddy of 24-hour cable news. They have become the center-left
version of US News |
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The
upstart 24-hour cable news company from Rupert Murcoch.
They are generally center-right in their news programs |
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A
more business oriented 24-hour cable news channel. They focus on the
business community and related news. |
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"All
the news that's fit to print" or so they claim. It is as close to
a national daily newspaper as we have in the US. They also have
extensive online information, although more and more of it costs money to
access. Generally considered center-left. |
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The
business daily for the US. Think New York Times for business
people. Generally considered center-right, but they cater to the
business world so this is a little harder to filter. |
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The
venerable British news magazine that covers the world. It is an
excellent weekly source of international news. I generally advise
students interested in international relations to subscribe as it is relatively
inexpensive and the weekly format is easier to handle than a daily for most
students. There is a discounted subscription link for students at www.economistacademic.com. |
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The
sister publication to the economist it is a daily newspaper for the
international business community. It is useful for economic and
financial news. It is a bit pricey and the subscription can be a little
odd depending on where you live, but the website is excellent. |
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France's
newly created wannabe BBC. It was created to promote a French
alternative to the BBC, Al-Jazeera, and CNN. They started an English
service to broaden their appeal. |
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The
Quatar based news organization that is the CNN for
the Arab and Islamic community around the world. The English service
provides world news in a format similar to that of the BBC's World Service,
but from the Middle Eastern Perspective. |
Places to go look for information for students doing research on international relations issues
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PRIO
collects a wide range of data on conflict around the world. They have a
number of datasets (collections of raw numbers) relating to conflict across
the globe. They also publish a large number or working papers related
to conflict in the world. |
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A
collection of data on conflict and conflict-related research. A good
place to find basic information on wars, what states were recognized (and
when) by the international community (within some limits: read the
codebooks). This is considered one of the most authoritative places to
find basic data on military conflict in the world. |
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A
think-tank that produces reports on civil liberties in the world each
year. You can find a "map of freedom" with color coded
countries based on the "free, partially free, not free"
framework. They also produce a civil liberties index for most countries
of the world. (see also the Polity Project) |
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An
academic research project that produces data on the institutional elements of
democracy. The look at the institutions that countries use to select
decision-makers. (See also Freedom House) |
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This
is the gateway to the online database of World Bank Publications. It
contains a searchable database of over 10,000 working papers and world bank
reports available free as .pdf files. |
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The
Census Bureau's data and information center. Lots of raw population
data and reports related to it. |
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The
White House office that produces budget data for use by the President and
Executive Agencies in their economic estimation and decision-making. A
good source of economic data relating to US policy debates. Also has
historical data for things like GDP, taxes, etc. |
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The
Congressional office that produces budget data for use by Congress.
They produce the official US government "scoring" (cost and budget
estimates) for proposed legislation. This is the closest thing we have
to a single authoritative source on cost estimates for projects within the
government. Other agencies create estimates, but CBO estimates are the
official baseline for budget purposes. |
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An
organization that tracks political leaders and candidates for office. They
look at voting records, campaign contributions, official positions on issues,
etc. They are a good source for raw information on candidates for
higher offices. They are mixed on state and local offices, but getting
more detailed every year. |
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A
think tank that researches specific policy topics. They produce reports
that range from a few pages to multi-volume books. Many of their
reports are available as free pdf downloads.
They do a lot of work for the US government, especially military and defense
agencies. They have thousands of reports related to policy issues in a
searchable database. |
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A
progressive think tank that focuses on a wide range of policy issues.
They produce books and reports on a range of issues. Some of these are
available as free downloads, others must be purchased. They also have a
range of leadership programs for young people as well as seminars on policy
topics. |
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A
think tank that focuses on foreign policy issues. They publish the
journal Foreign Affairs. They produce a range of reports and books,
some of which are available as pdf files and others
which must be purchased. |
International Governmental Organizations
The official web-pages for various
international organizations across the world
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The
main international organization for collective security and collective action
in the world today. It does a little bit of everything. |
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The
main development bank for the world |
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The
body that oversees global trade rules |
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The
organization that manages international monetary policy coordination |
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Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) |
A
club of rich countries that shares information |
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The
group of European states working towards a gradual economic and political
integration of European social democracies |
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The
African regional grouping (the successor to the Organization of African
Unity) |
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The
"Southern Cone Common Market": a customs union in the South America
(Spanish and Portuguese only) |
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The
free trade agreement binding the USA, Mexico, and Canada |
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The
collective security organization for the North Atlantic States |
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A
regional group intended to promote European regional security |
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A grouping
of Southeast Asian nations. Originally a trade group, it has branched
out in the last decade. |
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A
developing country trade and economic integration organization in West Africa |
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A
grouping of Islamic states |
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The
Southern African economic community. |
Non-Governmental Organizations
The official
web-pages for various international non-governmental organizations across the
world. There are tens of thousands of these, so this is just a
taste of what can be found. These were selected deliberately to give a
wide range of NGO's from the serious to the ridiculous (or at least
funny). This list was chosen almost completely at random, so
organizations on this list should not be considered to have any affiliation
with anybody or anything having to do with the Dr. Dixon, the University of
West Georgia, the state of Georgia, the United States of America, the
Illuminati, or any other organization that may get mad that they are or are not
on this list.
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The main international organization for collective
security and collective action in the world today. It does a little bit
of everything. |
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A global human rights watchdog organization. |
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A global development organization based in the UK |
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Promotes development by providing animals to poor countries
and persons to promote self-sufficiency |
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Global environmental NGO |
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The World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations |
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An organization that promotes Christianity and fights
persecution of Christians throughout the World |
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Feeding kids through Christian charity. Formerly
Christian Children's Fund. |
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A global medical NGO that brings developed world doctors
to areas of the developing world that need them |
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A global NGO dedicated to press freedom and the protection
of journalists |
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A parody site set up by an anti-neoliberal NGO to poke fun
at the World Bank vision of the world. THIS IS A PARODY SITE, DO NOT
TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. Except that it is seriously funny in places, even if
you like neoliberal economics. Come on, even if you think they're
crazy, this is clever. |
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Another parody site set up by a group that defies easy
description. THIS IS A PARODY SITE, DO NOT TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
They have fooled people with this site into thinking that they were from the
real WTO (the GATT was replaced before the internet became widespread so the
WTO people never thought to register gatt.org). There is some classic
video of a business group being told that "slavery is the way of the future"
just before the speaker demonstrates that his business suit was made with
tear-away Velcro. He tears off his suit and runs out of the room
swinging it over his head. |
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A list of groups for and against globalization |
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. People
who promote a wide range of policies geared towards animal rights
globally. These range from the elimination of animal testing in science
to ending the use of meat as food. |
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Like PETA, only they also include plants. They also
have a strong emphasis on the preservation of threatened species. |
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A center for the study of terrorism, security, and
freedom. This is one of the major promoters of the concept of "Islamofascism" as a force for evil in the
world. David Horowitz also famously created a list of the "101
Most Dangerous Academics in America". Dr. Dixon did not make the
list. Perhaps Mr. Horowitz should have talked to Dixon's students about
the reading lists for his classes or the Presidents Quiz in his American
government class. |
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The student group formed to promote conservative ideas on
college campuses in opposition to perceived "radical bias" among
college professors. This is the source of one of the "Students'
Bill of Rights" movements among conservative students. |
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Basically this organization promotes the idea of jury
nullification: that any juror sitting on any jury has the right to judge the
constitutionality and/or reasonableness of the law under which a person is
prosecuted as well as the facts of a case. |
Libertarians have established lots of free information that includes libertarian ideas, but often also gives free access to classic works in economics. The following are links that relate to this subject matter.
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This
is the online arm of the Liberty Fund Inc. Basically they are dedicated
to producing and disseminating books on liberty and economics. You can
buy some good quality books from the Liberty Fund (although the same books
are often cheaper on Amazon). This site is very useful because they
have over 900 texts in searchable pdf format.
Basically you can get many of the most influential books in economics (think
original works by Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Lord Acton, etc.) as free pdf's. They also have an online economics
encyclopedia. |
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An
online repository of readings on economics and liberty. They have a
range of useful reference information related to economics and to questions
of liberty. There are many free articles and ebooks
on these subjects. It is a useful source for discussions of political
economy. They also have links to related sites. |
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An
organization dedicated to promoting the ideas of liberty and Austrian
economics. They offer free seminars over the summer in the ideas of
libertarianism and Austrian economics. Publishers of the Freeman
newsletter. |
You probably never knew it, but there are dozens of political parties in the USA. Here is a sampling. Enjoy.
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The Big Two: |
These
are the two "mainstream" centrist parties in the USA. They
are on the ballot in all 50 states |
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The
center-left (if you think they're radical left, click on a few of the other
parties on this page) big-tent party. |
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The
center-right (if you think they're radical right, click on a few of the other
parties on this page) big-tent party. |
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The Three National "Third" Parties: |
These
parties have a national presence and are on the ballot in most states |
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A
party whose core principles are environmental protection and social justice |
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A
party whose core principles are the preservation of individual liberty |
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Originally
creates as the US Taxpayers party, this is the modern party most closely
related to traditional populism. They follow a platform that is
strongly pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-tax, anti-immigration, trade
protectionist, "anti-New World Order," anti-United Nations,
anti-gay rights, anti-welfare, and pro-school prayer. |
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The other "Third" Parties: |
These
parties have mixed ballot access, meaning that they are only on the ballots
in some (in some cases only a few) states. Some of them show that
people will believe just about anything and form parties to promote those
ideas. |
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A
party based on what it articulates as s holistic natural law of peace and
harmony and the policies that derive from it. The national offices of
the party closed in 2004 after forming a "US Peace Government" so now
only state party offices are operating. |
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Founded
in 2002 to do something. We forget what. Anybody got some Cheetos? Just kidding. They advocate the
legalization of pot. Seriously, anybody got some Cheetos? |
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A
party based on the core principles of socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism
and racial equality |
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The
traditional socialist party in the US. |
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Formed
originally as a vehicle for the populist ideas of Pat Buchannon,
this is now a party focused on "putting America first" in almost
every policy area. It is basically a party promoting a populist agenda
somewhat different from that the of the Constitution
Party. |
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Originally
part of George Wallace's efforts to secure election in 1968 it is a populist
party whose main distinction used to be its anti-integration stance, although
that has been abandoned. They are sometimes listed as a state branch of
the Constitution Party, but they do have a separate set of institutions. |
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No,
this is not a joke. Well, maybe not, its kind of hard to tell. They are a party
based on what they claim are Wiccan principles of sexual liberation, equality,
and the embrace of the Erisian Principle (disorder
is the natural order). Their motto is the Wiccan Rede
("An it harm none, do as ye will").
They don't actually field any candidates for office, but they do sell
T-shirts. |
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Hey,
aren't the Greens listed above? Yep, but those Greens are different
from these Greens. This is the older and smaller Green Party.
This is the American manifestation of the same movement that led to the
creation of Green Parties in Europe in the 1960's and 1970's.
Confusingly the larger Green Party (the one above) is now the one that we
normally associate with the Greens in Europe. Confused? The Green
Party USA stuck to its roots as a radical environmental and social justice
party. They could loosely be described as eco-communist or
eco-socialist, although neither really covers it. Basically, if the
Green Party of the US seems too mainstream for you,
check out Green Party USA. |
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A
splinter libertarian party. They are founded on the idea that liberty
should be the first and only concern in politics. If the libertarian
party is too statist for you, you'll love the BTP. They are not to be
confused with the larger tea-party movement that emerged in 2008. The
BTP was formed in 2006. |
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The
traditional communist party in the USA |
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Wanna ban demon rum? Have a short memory for
history? Then this party is for you. They advocate the banning of
intoxicating liquors in the USA. |
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Yes,
its true. This is
real. Some people really do believe this. |
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Are
the American Communist Party and the Socialist Party, USA too capitalist for
you? Then look for the real revolutionaries of the PSL! |
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This
is another Nazi party. But they apparently think that if they just
borrow the names of every other party ever created and lump them all together
no one will notice. |
Stuff that just doesn't fit anywhere else
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This
is the online arm of the Liberty Fund Inc. Basically they are dedicated
to producing and disseminating books on liberty and economics. You can
buy some good quality books |