Government : Editor's Choice
by Dan Kelly

Bob Dole for President
www.dole96.org/
The presidential race is over? Doesn't matter, they're still going bananas for Bob Dole at this "official World Wide Web Internet site." Title and URL aside, this one's just for yuks. If the line at the top of the page -- "Bob Dole for president, the ripe man for the job" -- doesn't tip it off for you, the first paragraph certainly will: "Bob Dole, of course, is the founder of the Dole Fruit Company and a popular senator.

Bob Dole loves tropical fruits, especially slightly over-ripe bananas which are just starting to turn black and mushy, but not so black and mushy as to be inedible." The site has plenty of other laughs, most of them at the expense of everybody's favorite aging, esteemed former senator from Kansas. Check out his "courageous stands" on issues like war, terrorism and peace. Read about the "disrespectful weenies" who dared to challenge him. And, before you go, check out an assortment of links to other fruit and vegetable lovers. Hey, we know it's not polite to make fun of our elders, but funny is as funny does.

The Directorate of Time, U.S. Naval Observatory
tycho.usno.navy.mil/time.html
Does anybody really ever know what time it is? Why, yes. As a matter of fact, someone does -- right down to the nanosecond. Big deal, you say? When you take a little time to consider how few certainties life has to offer, this nifty little Web gadget may begin to take on a certain allure.

The main feature, of course, is the USNO Master Clock, which visitors can adjust to various time zones and which is updated each time the page is refreshed. As a little bonus, the U.S. Naval Observatory clockmasters explain how the time is determined (it involves an ensemble of 55 clocks, no less) and further captivate time gazers with calculations for sunrise, moonset and everything in between. One thing's for certain: You'll never have to guess again.

The Jefferson Project
www.voxpop.org/jefferson/
We were a little wary at first of a product from Stardot Consulting Ltd., trumpeting the assertion that it's "The Comprehensive Guide to On-Line Politics." After all, who *isn't* the comprehensive guide to online (insert your favorite subject) these days. But then we started fiddling with the thing and fell prey to its Zipper, which, when fed a ZIP code, spits out the names of corresponding senators and representatives along with addresses (street and e-mail) and numbers for phone and fax.

Next we discovered Netgrams, which, for a small fee, allow you to blast a red-hot message to Congress via fax or Western Union. Of course, the same service is free via e-mail, but most of these guys are far too busy trying to regulate the Internet to actually get on it, so Netgrams turn out to be quite the bargain.

Finally, we couldn't resist casting our five free presidential votes in the site's Vox Pop Strawpoll. As for that guide, well, we won't go so far as to say that it's the comprehensive guide to online politics; simply that it is a comprehensive guide to politics and that it is arranged in delightfully user-friendly categories such as "personalities," "do-it-yourself politics" and "political humor." And it is definitely online, which makes this baby well worth the price of admission.

Library of Congress World Wide Web Home Page
www.loc.gov/
It's easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of information available at the Library of Congress Web site, which, frankly, needs a better librarian. But with THOMAS, LOCIS, MARVEL and the Law Library of Congress all under one roof, this has to be the ultimate stop-off for all of that messy government stuff you'll inevitably have to dig up someday. Big bad THOMAS supplies full-text legislative info, including the Congressional Record and the status and summary of each bill. LOCIS (Library of Congress Information System) contains legislative databases available via telnet.

MARVEL (Machine-Assisted Realization of the Virtual Electronic Library) is a gopher-based system that provides access to still more resources over the Net. And the Law Library packs a database with the national laws of more than 35 countries. Plenty more where all that came from, too, but do yourself a favor and get acquainted with the site's search mechanism first. You'll need it.

National Lawn Care Now!
www.athenet.net/~jlindsay /NLCN.shtml
If you love puns ("We are a grassroots organization ..."), plays on words ("... staking out new turf in the field of social justice ...") and downright silliness ("... plant seeds of reform by telling your friends and neighbors about us, and by writing congressmen to demand nationalized lawn care now!"), you probably will find this site amusing.

However, if you are a serious sort of person who objects to the ribbing of conservatives ("Picture a home surrounded by dry, yellow weeds that haven't been mowed or watered ever since the era of hate and greed began under Reagan/Bush ...") and corporate America ("...the greed of the money-hungry Big Lawn Care Companies, which act like vacuums sucking up money like loose grass clippings ..."), you'll definitely want to weed this one out of your virtual garden. Libertarians who oppose more government ("Our charter calls for nationalization of all lawn care industries into a single provider run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and funded through a revitalized House Bank") are most likely to be offended. But, hey, the grass is always greener ...

O.J. Simpson Trial Court Transcripts
www.islandnet.com/~wa lraven/simpson.html
Now showing at a Web site near you -- "O.J. and the Magic Knife." This action-packed thriller stars Hall of Fame football player O.J. Simpson as himself. Watch as O.J. is drawn into a web of jealousy and hate, provoked by the pain of divorce and victimized by a jurisprudence system that would rather prosecute a guilty man than give an innocent bystander an even break. Follow the efforts of the family of O.J.'s murdered ex-wife to bring our hero to justice when all about them have given up interest. Immerse yourself in this compelling drama of police incompetence and legal bumbling, where a pair of ill-fitting gloves play a larger role than truth, justice and the American way. Enjoy it all from the comfort of your computer, where every word of testimony, every piece of evidence and every judge's decision is presented in a browsable index and downloadable files. Don't miss the spectacle of this ongoing tragedy. It can't last forever. Can it?

Slate
www.slate.com/
This socio-political zine was brand-spankin' new when we compiled our list of top government-related sites. We felt compelled to include it here if for no other reason than the fact that we so thoroughly enjoyed the greeting audio clip of Fats Waller music. Make no mistake, Slate isn't about music; it's the pet project of Microsoft's Bill Gates, who really needed a pet project, we're sure. Actually, Gates did a good thing by enlisting esteemed journalist Michael Kinsley to run the show, available free when it debuted, although the once-you're-hooked yearly subscription rate of $19.95 was creeping.

Based on what we saw of the weekly --magazine-style articles, analyses and commentary from, in Kinsley's words, "various perspectives" -- that's a pretty good deal. Owner considered, we were impressed that the first issue featured a Committee of Correspondence discussion on "Does Microsoft play fair?" Political cartoons and a daily diary by David O. Russell round out the mix, and the tasteful visual presentation makes reading lengthy articles online seem almost palatable.

Statistical Abstract of the United States
www.census.gov/stat_abstract/
What's the largest city in the United States? Wrong! The "largest" city is Anchorage, Ala. -- and it's not even close. Geography buffs, demographic fans and statistical nuts could spend all day perusing the charts and graphs from the Statistical Abstract of the United States. It's a hefty chunk off of the U.S. Census Bureau site, which has plenty of factoids to offer on its own.

Amuse yourself for hours with population tables, budget summaries, crime rates, sales figures, weather statistics, etc. Okay, okay: New York is No. 1 in population, but the Big Apple rates a sorry 13th in land area. Anchorage, at 1,697.6 square miles, is tops in that category; nearly 1,000 square miles ahead of the second-largest city. Which is ... ?

WashLaw WEB
lawlib.wuacc.edu/washlaw /washlaw.html
Washburn is a public university in Topeka, Kan., with an enrollment of 6,000 and an athletic mascot called the Ichabod. Ivy League it ain't, but suffice it to say that, if the Ichabods were the sports equivalent of the WashLaw WEB, they'd be NCAA champions almost every year. The Net is just crawling with comprehensive law directories, and this one, with its excellent organization, takes the prize.

The welcome page contains a chart with categories ranging from bar associations and law firms to professional journals and state law. Other features include video-conferencing rooms and a page of full-text search resources such as the Federal Register, the U.S. Tax Code and circuit court decisions. The site also incorporates RefLaw, which focuses on legal reference material found on the Net. Chalk one up for the Ichabods.

World Citizen Web
www.worldcitizen.org/home.html
Merely living in the world doesn't qualify one for world citizenship. At least not according to the World Citizen Web, which brings its international movement for peace and harmony to the Internet. From the WC credo: "A World Citizen accepts the dynamic fact that the planetary human community is interdependent and whole, that humankind is essentially one."

Wannabe WCs will find plenty of movement rhetoric here, and, if they can cough up $20 U.S., can even sign up to become a member, er, a Citizen. The site also contains loads of World Citizen news, reference materials, project information and cartoons (with a message, of course). Learn all about the World Syntegrity Project and about Mundialization, "The declaration of specified territory -- a city, town, or state, for example -- as world territory, with responsibilities and rights on a world scale." Those who shimmy for Pat Buchanan may be offended.