Members of the Australian Senate often seem remote compared to House of Representatives members — in part because they represent a whole state rather than a more tightly-defined area — but in the current Federal Parliament the lack of a dominant party means that the Senate’s review function is more active than ever. Project Democracy makes it easier to track the activities of the Senators that represent you, offering news coverage, extracts from Hansard, electronic contact forms and discussion boards for every member of the Senate. The site is running an email campaign to try and encourage people to “track a senator” (you get a weekly email update, they get told how many people are watching them). I suspect a lot more people will be looking at Senator Nick Xenophon and Senator Barnaby Joyce — but it’s still good to see Internet-era political information sites with a more sophisticated approach than adopting Facebook as a campaign tool but then banning your staff from using it. [Project Democracy]
Keep a watchful eye on the results of tonight’s primary results with a Google Map mashup directly from the folks at Google. The map displays the results of already held primaries and will help you stay up-to-date with tonight’s primaries (which, given the close race, are very important). Google Maps Primaries [via Mashable]
US-centric: Not so sure about the claims a candidate’s making in that 30-second television spot or mailer? Hit up FactCheck.org, a web site for voters set up to debunk myths, fact check politicians, and educate before you hit the polling place. Non-partisan and non-profit, FactCheck.org is run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, and doesn’t accept funding from political interests. Kind of sad, really, to see how much candidates twist and obscure facts to get your vote. Handy RSS feed is available at the site. FactCheck.org
US centric: A new Google Earth layer keeps tabs on political spending by pinpointing where and for what projects U.S. government officials are budgeting funds for across the country: Members of Congress know where the money is going: now citizens can, too. The Sunlight Foundation today released a Google Earth application that plots the locations for almost 1,500 earmarks in the House Defense Appropriations bill. This graphic illustration of defence earmarks gives anyone with an internet connection a bird’s-eye view of exactly where Congress is directing federal spending—and the ability to investigate whether the earmarks address pressing needs, favour political contributors or are simply pure pork.
CNet news reports that the map’s points, attached to the U.S. House of Representatives defence spending bill is heavy on military tech projects like “ubiquitous RFID chem/bio detection” and “semi-autonomous robotic manipulation and sensing.” You’ll need Google Earth running on your desktop to open the freely downloadable map layer file.
Navigate House Defense Earmarks on Google Earth [Sunlight Foundation via CNET News.com]
