Perspective.com
Someone should publish comparative background information that would put dramatic statements in perspective.
For example, “In the United States, every 9½ minutes, someone is infected with HIV.” That sounds bad, and certainly anyone becoming infected with HIV is bad, but how bad is it compared to other infection rates or other things that happen every 9½ minutes?
Another example: we know that no Republican congressperson has voted “yes” on a number of high-profile bills proposed by Democrats. Other legislation, however, is co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats and passed into law without controversy. We don’t hear about that legislation, because uncontroversial legislation is presumably not newsworthy. The upshot is that the public perception is that there is no common ground between the parties. It would be useful to put that in perspective.
Perhaps there is a website that already performs this service. If you know of one, please let me know: tim@culvahouse.net.