Link lists are somewhat of an anachronism on the internet since search engine technology begin to really excel at delivering good results back in the early 2000s. This is especially true as search engines stopped requiring you to search in boolean terms in favor of the more colloquial search function today that allows you to type in words or phrases and Google (or Yahoo! or whatever you use) will try to figure out what you meant to search. However, search results are always limited by the natural effects of that process. Search results are normally organized by popularity, relevance and content (and with Google, also by your prior search history) which means search results may not deliver the best results first or the results that address your particular needs. A search for philosophy, for example, yields results for makeup and other beauty products over actual philosophy websites. So link lists can be very useful in aggregating useful websites, cutting out the useless websites and evaluating their worth to your needs.
Your Local Super-Secret Resources
Many libraries, including your school library, pay money to access EBSCO, HeinOnline, JSTOR and other high quality databases of academic, business and legal publications. Many of these journals and newsletters do not freely publish online. Also, check out your local public library (and if you live in the suburbs of a larger city, check out their public libraries, too). Local colleges, even community colleges, usually have free physical access to these databases. Local law schools may have free access to some resources and usually allow visitors to use the library. Many county and state courthouses also have free access to certain legal databases (such as Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw). As LD debaters, these databases will connect you with quality academic journals discussing philosophy and legal paradigms. For CX debaters, you can use the same sources for kritik material and finding factual information about your topic. You may find this research method clunky because many databases still require boolean searches and most people these days don't do a lot of boolean lookups. It is the most precise way to find what you are seeking, for but you will have to develop some boolean jedi skills to maximize the value of these databases. Searching for "foucault panopticon biopower after 2005" will probably yield too many irrelevant results to pour through but "foucault w/50 !power! /p panopticon AND date > 2005" will get you to your destination.
Ok, enough with the blabber. Here's some links.
Debate Links
National Forensics League - As if it isn't obvious...
Texas Forensics Association - This one too...
Debate Central - Debate Central might be the oldest debate-oriented website still operating. It's a sleek website full of good information for CX, LD, PF and more.
NDCA Wiki - Another website full of information but focused on coaches rather than competitors.
Cross-X.com - A CX-focused website with a forum and free files.
Forensics Online - Another good all-around debate-focused website.
Debate Links - Guess what this website has? Not the best site out there but it looks like there are some good links if you're willing to peruse the site.
News/Opinion Outlet Links
Google News - Who's better at aggregating news?
BBC Online - Great for international news.
New York Times - Love it or hate it, the NYT offers lots of in-depth stories and editorials that make a great addition to your CX or extemporaneous speaking files.
Wall Street Journal - Same can be said for the WSJ.
Washington Post - Or this one...
LA Times - Lambasted as another "liberal" newspaper, LA Times sources all the AP news wire stories you find everywhere else but from time to time features a useful editorial.
Washington Times - The Washington Times is the second tier newspaper in DC. The reporting is of lower quality and heavily editorialized by their conservative slant.
Al-Jazeera - A great source of Middle East news and perspective. An undervalued news source in this country.
All Africa - The same goes for this source when you need an update on Africa.
Business Week - Business Week presents mainstream business news. It's like Newsweek and WSJ had a baby.
Bloomberg News - A relatively new source but an excellent source of news from general current events to politics to business.
Christian Science Monitor - An old debate/extemporaneous speaking warhorse thanks to its daily publication and wide range of relevant stories.
The Economist - Probably the best mainstream analysis of economic affairs.
Financial Times - And if The Economist isn't the best, Financial Times is.
Foreign Policy - The best of mainstream academia and foreign policy experts publish here for all your foreign policy needs.
United Nations News - The UN publishes international news, too.
The Nation - A slightly left-of-center liberal magazine that publishes in-depth analysis from the mainstream liberal perspective.
ZNet - The web-center for Z Magazine, publishing all the radical Left news and analysis you could want.
Dollars and Sense - A leftist economic analysis website/magazine focusing on analyzing the economics over ideology.
The Progressive - A website and magazine for the progressive liberal.
Politico - America's favorite political fact-checker also does some news publishing.
Huffington Post - HuffPo is a strain to call news because they are so sensationalist with their stories and really pack in the useless celebrity drivel but there are some legitimate op-eds out there.
CNN - Well, the website does a better job of reporting news than the network seems to these days.
Fox News - At least they don't spend all day playing YouTube videos all day like a certain other cable network.
MSNBC - Once a network nobody watched, they finally found a niche as a mainstream liberal version of the angry yelling and punditry that made Fox so successful.
Philosophy Links
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - A source of general information about every philosopher you might be looking for and a good place to begin research.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - And if the above resource didn't get the job done, this is another good one.
Philosophy Pages - not as in-depth as the resources above but presents some more digestible resources that may be a good place to start
Yahoo! Directory of Humanities - yeah, ok, Yahoo! hasn't been cool since I debated in the 90s but there's some good links in the directory
Foucault.Info - Very specific to the works of Michael Foucault
Beyng.com - Very specific to the works of Martin Heidegger
AynRand.org - I'm not a fan of her objectivist philosophy but many are, so here's some insight when you need it
Think Tanks/Research Firms/Advocacy Groups
American Civil Liberties Union - love or hate them, they will talk your ear off about free speech, so it's the place to go to research free speech issues
Argumentative Topics - I'm not entirely sure what this website is but they have some essays on Bioethics, computing issues, constitutional issues, social issues and education. Maybe a site that once catered to high school debaters?
Brookings Institute - A liberal think tank that covers all the typical policy issues
OpenSecrets - Mostly focuses on exposing campaign funding but the website also has some resources discussing campaign finance laws
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Focuses on global policy issues
Heritage Foundation - Conservative think tank with strong connections to the mainstream GOP
Hoover Institution - Another conservative think tank that focuses on a more conservative-libertarian approach.
St. Ambrose University Library - Not a think tank itself but this page is a huge directory for less obvious sources of information on big policy/ethics issues
Annenberg Classroom - Focuses on the teaching of civics in the classroom. A good starting point to brush up on your knowledge of American government
National Center for Policy Analysis - A pro-capitalist, anti-regulatory advocacy group that publishes information on policy issues
ProCon.org - This website pairs up arguments on both sides of popular issues. Not a bad place to look for some generic arguments/counter-arguments
Progressive Policy Institute - A progressive think tank addressing this issues
RAND Corporation - The research firm of all research firms. Most of their content is paid content but you can usually find most of it available through school/college libraries by way of databases like JSTOR or HeinOnline
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists - If you want to talk nuclear war, talk to them
American Enterprise Institute - Another right-wing institute that addresses major policy issues
FactCheck.org - Trying to keep politics honest
CATO - Self-described libertarian think tank that churns out a large library of fresh analytical content
Center for America Progress - Another progressive policy think tank
The Century Foundation - More progressive policy analysis
Federation of American Scientists - Think tank focusing on science-related issues but offers some great detailed analysis on policy issues
Project for the New American Century - PNAC is sort of the mothership for neoconservative dogma, especially for foreign policy
Public Citizen - A liberal advocacy group
Economic Policy Institute - One of my trusted resources for economic and employment analysis but it's fair to say their approach is more to the left
Legal Links
THOMAS Library of Congress - Excellent resource for the text of Congressional everything; you can find the text of bills, enacted legislation, committee reports, etc.
House.gov - Home for House Representatives
Senate.gov - Same for Senators
WhiteHouse.gov - You can figure that one out on your own...
USA.gov - Main website for the federal government, you can find all the agencies and their research reports through this website
LSU Libraries Directory of Federal Agencies - Here's another way to find the federal agencies
Supreme Court of the United States - Yep, they have a website, too
SCOTUSblog - A great blog following SCOTUS activity
Texas Supreme Court - Here's its website
American Bar Association - Most of the ABA's materials require payment but there's some free resources
FindLaw - Has both paid and free resources available, some decent legal information and access to some judicial opinions
Nolo - Nolo publishes legal material for lawyers and non-lawyers; most of it is paid content but they do have some decent free information available
The Kielich Law Firm - of course the best place to learn about employment law.