(by 2 people)
The Reality-based community is a loose, informal, non-traditional alliance of blogs and resources that adhere to old-fashioned journalistic standards of factual support for stories and opinion pieces. Therefore, a "Reality-Based" website may be found anywhere on the political spectrum, but no matter where they are along that spectrum, they will agree for the most part with other such sites about the factuality or facticiousness of certain ideas.
Graphictruth.com (my site) is a good example of such a site. My personal politics are "Left-Libertarian" when judged by "Official libs", but I consider myself as much a tradiditonal, small "c" Conservative as anything.
The following resources are intended to give an overview of sources I find reliable. It's unfortunate, but there are few truly reliable US-Based Center-Right or Right-Leaning sources for news at this point. There are a few, and I suggest that you support them religously, even if you are a flaming Liberal in terms of personal bias.
Reality and fact checking is not just for the other guy.
Recognising someone from the Community of Deluded Idiologues is not difficult:
Here is a famous quote from a "senior advisor to Bush" reported in Ron Suskind's article in the Times:
The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.
Now, had I said that, or you had said that, and either of us were within earshot of a mental health professional, the best possible outcome would have been a 72 hour observation.
Please note that the quote doesn't refer to any idiology or belief system. They are above all that, save as a means to the end of creating their own reality, whatever that may be. And I truly doubt that it matters. Our Leaders rely on appeals to jingoistic patriotism, to authoritarian religious values and to fear, but if they thought that Mao's Little Red Book would persuade 15 percent of the electorate to swing their way, why, you'd see George Bush wearing a quilted jacket on the Great Wall of China.
This whole "reality is what we say it is" approach is very appealing to those who wish to be deluded and assured that comfortable old truisms are really true, it's very reassuring that wish to have power without doing the hard thinking real leadership and governance demands - but it tends to pop like a low grade of soap bubble when exposed to the truth.
That is why media control is so important in controlling the masses, and it's why our current media is so spineless and insipid. There are a lot of reality-based profiteers who see the profit in leaving the electorate, the consumer base, the leadership and the labor pool blind, deaf and dumb.
For in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Graphictruth Feed
Truth Hurts; Treasure the Thorns
Frequent and often long essays into the world of politics and culture viewed through a lens comprised in part of aspie insight, an informed sense of ethics and a solid understanding of what the bible says, in contrast to what Conservatives say it says.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byNew Salon
Vital Sources
News from real journalists
In other words, Real Journalism is rarely found in US Mainstream Media.
- Lew Dobbs Tonight
- Lew is the real thing. Unapologetically Republican and conservative and yet unafraid of the truth or it's logical implications.
- Capitol Hill Blue: The Oldest Political News Site on the Internet
- Capitol Hill Blue is a not-for-profit, non-commercial, non-partisan experiment in on-line journalism published as an information resource for our readers. We don't play favorites and we don't shill for any political party, philosophical group or ideological point-of-view. We don't indulge in flights of fancy or indulge in the conspiracy theory du jour.
- Reuters AlertNet - Homepage
- AlertNet provides news, information and analysis for everyone interested in emergency relief. AlertNet is run by Reuters Foundation.
- BuzzFlash - Daily Headlines and Breaking News
- BuzzFlash.com is a pro-democracy, anti-hypocrisy Web site featuring daily headlines, breaking news, and weekly features, editorials, and cartoons for democrats, progressives, independents and liberals.
And, no, they don't hide their editiorial bias. Not at all. - FactCheck.org - Annenberg Political Fact Check
- a non-partisan eye on political spin. Essential.
- Full Court Press
- Full Court Press will keep you up-to-date about the rapidly increasing number of judicial opinions that unjustifiably restrict rights, undermine legal protections, and adversely affect real people.
- C-SPAN
- C-SPAN is a private, non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. Our mission is to provide public access to the political process. C-SPAN receives no government funding; operations are funded by fees paid by cable and satellite affiliates who carry C-SPAN programming.
- Proviso Probe: HC & M, Yarbrough introduces impeachment resolution
- HC & M, Yarbrough introduces impeachment resolution
Today, Thursday, April 20, 2006, Rep. Karen Yarbrough introduced into the Illinois General Assembly House Joint Resolution 125, which calls for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. - Media Matters
- Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
- Washington Wire
- Political Insight and Analysis From The Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau.
- Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald
- "For the past 10 years, I was a litigator in NYC specializing in First Amendment challenges (including some of the highest-profile free speech cases over the past few years), civil rights cases, and corporate and security fraud matters."
Thoughtful center-left perspective based on deeply informed opinion and practical experience. - The Randi Rhodes Show on Air America Radio
- 1.866.303.2270 Randi does her homework - and she has some for you. Don't call in unless you've done yours.
- Free Press : media reform through outreach, activism, lobbying and networking
- Free Press is national media reform organization promoting policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.
- Baghdad Burning
- Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and occupation.
An authoritative first person narritive of the civilian perspective of the Iraq War. - Greg Palast
- A good old fashioned investigative reporter, who gets the real goods often enough to be condidered a threat to George Bush's "Notional Security."
- Right Wing Watch
- PFAW's Right Wing Watch Blog
- FactCheck.org - Annenberg Political Fact Check
- Time Magazine calls it one of the 25 websites they cannot do without.
Vital History
Links to historical context
- Maureen Farrell: Tired of Being Lied to? Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore
- Part 1 of a 3-Part Series
Maureen Farrell at BuzzFlash.com
2005 MAUREEN FARRELL ARCHIVES
US foreign policy history and it's relationship to current world affairs. You probably don't know most of this unless you took History and Foreign Policy at a university level. - Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed - Center for Media and Democracy
- Over a ten-month period, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) documented television newsrooms' use of 36 video news releases (VNRs)?a small sample of the thousands produced each year.
Vital Perspectives
Blogs and associations with useful perspectives.
- Neolibertarian.Net - The Neolibertarian Blogosphere
- Questions and Observations Blog, a weblog containing commentary & essays on politics, economics, and military & foreign affairs
- Big Brass Alliance
- The Big Brass Alliance was formed in May 2005 as a collective of progressive bloggers who support After Downing Street, a coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups formed to urge that the U.S. Congress launch a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials.
- American Bloggers For Inclusive Debates
- We believe ALL Americans must be represented in our important, national debates. We intend to force our Republican and Democrat leaders to answer the tough questions and debate the tough issues that only 3rd party candidates have the guts to address in our national elections. Visit for more information and join our alliance now!
- Neil Young - Living With War
- Raw, impassioned, immediate; Niel Young's "Living with War" - the whole thing, streaming live.
- Little Green Footballs.
- "Anti-Idiotarian Headquarters."
An "idiotarian" is anyone who has the slightest, tiny resevation about the Revealed Truth of the a authoritarian social conservative viewpoint.
The equally informal "anti-idiotarian" movement is fairly much the opposite of the Reality-Based Community. In My Humble Opinion, of course. While most "anti-idiotarian" sites claim conservative alliegences, it's often the case that in espousing their conservative social agendas, they advocate truly radical means - such as gulags, slavery, forced labor and on the odd occasion, nuclear war.
The abovementioned perspective is mine own, and is not meant to imply that the contents, ideas and perspectives of LGF are dismissable, or entirely the result of stupidity having illicit congress with opportunity. As much as I would like to suggest this, the regulars on LGF are neither entirely foolish, unintelligent or incapable of recognising real problems.
They represent a very, very pervasive stream of American Cultural thought, one that it would be dangerous indeed to ignore, as well as unwise and unfair. Their ideas of how to correct problems may be somewhat simplistic, as are their ideas of the causes of some of the problems that concern them - but their concerns are widespread.
Better pay attention.
Speaking your Mind
Places where you can, and should share your views.
- Congress.org
- E-mail, call or write the President, Congress or state and local government based on your ZIP code. Find groups'
- Tips on Contacting Members of Congress
- The parameter is incorrect.
- Whitehouse.gov
- Whitehouse.gov is the official web site for the White House and President George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States. This site is a source for information about the President, White House news and policies, White House history, the federal government
- Sacred Cow Dung: All Things Web 2.0 - "THE LIST"
- Sacred Cow Dung
All things interactive and participatory; a whole huge list of social bookmarking, RSS and user-driven - Nevada Blogs
- Nevada Blogs Directory and aggrigator.
Immigration on Del.icio.us
Perspectives on Immigration
Reality Based Feedback
Come on, we need YOUR perspective too!
Please drop your "reality based" link here. All that means is that for you is that facts come before opinion. Not only can we argue all day about what the facts imply, we should - because from that intense and frank discusson comes consensus on what to do about the facts.
We'd be pleased if you drop this tile on your website or a post you are linking here. You can copy this and drop it into many editors as is, or you can use the following html.
<a href="http://linktiles.com/?tile=2017" target="LT_PROFILE"><img src="http://linktiles.com/Images/Tile/2017.jpg" width="56" height="56" border="0" title="The Reality-Based Community - a Lens focusing on informed opinion and the resources for informing yours" /></a>
Please let me know about relevent squiddo lenses and rss feeds to add. I want this to become a reliable, wide-spectrum resource.
To All My Scattered Pages Go
I've many sites for many purposes
- Graphictruth.com
- My main blog and home page.
Graphictruth is just what it says; an unapologetic, unpretentious, Anglo-Saxon perspective on US culture, politics and the direction our leaders seem to wish to go. - Graphictruth Free Classifieds
- Find Arts, Crafts, Prints, Posters and T-Shirts by individuals and small groups that support useful sites, and Personal Ads to bring such folk together.
- My Spreadshirts - so far.
- My spreadshirt site is still experimental and tentative - but contains such classics as "Keep Nevada Green: Gamble Irresponsibly!"
- GraphicDesign - My Cafepress Site.
- Anti-bush bumperstickers, boobs (In and out of office) Libertarian Politics, Sex, Drugs & Religion, Teen gear, club Tee-Shirts, dissent, Patriotic T-Shirts, dogs, cartoons and more on cards, mugs, prints and posters.
- My art prints and cards
- My art ranges from light and fluffy to heavy and sexually-oriented. But unless you prove to Zazzle that you are a Grownup, you won't see anything that would offend Mrs. Grundy.
- bonebox.info
- My Livejournal is mainly intended to focus on my intrest in "wetware" issues and the general public perception that a mental difference is a defect by definition.
