Go vote your conscience or shut it…

Project Vote Smart is one of the best sites I’ve found during my ongoing investigation and education of the political system. It offers information on our elected officials and candidates as well as an excellent overview of our government and it’s history.

In an ironic twist yesterday, the senate passed a bill on mammography and agreed to Res 295, which congratulated the New England Patriots on their victory in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Maybe Football and boobs just go hand in hand…

It’s been a long time since my last History class. I recently found myself unsure of some basic knowledge in regards to our government. See how you fare with the following questions:

• How may Senators does your state have?
• How may Representatives does your state have?
• Who are your State’s Senators and Representatives?

If you found those easy (smarty pants), here’s one for extra credit:

• What is a Delegate and/or Resident Commissioner?

Well, as it turns out, each state has two Senators as well as one Representative for every 30k people living in the state. In California, our Senators are Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. I am represented in congress by Anna Eshoo, which is designated by my address.

Delegates and Resident Commissioners are members of congress that represent their constituents in the same way other Representatives do. They debate and serve on comities but they are not allowed to vote on legislation. There is currently a Delegate for the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam and America Samoa; as well as a resident commissioner from Puerto Rico.

If you know all this and are having a hard time believing that others don’t, why don’t you have a web site with this information? You could have saved me some time…