VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

Just a quick note on why the U.S. citizens vote on a Tuesday. Curtsey of whytuesday.org In 1845, before Florida, California, and Texas were states or slavery had been abolished, Congress needed to pick a time for Americans to vote. We were an agrarian society. We traveled by horse and buggy. Farmers needed a day to get to the county seat, a day to vote, and a day to get back, without interfering with the three days of worship. So that left Tuesday and Wednesday, but Wednesday was market day. So, Tuesday it was. In 1875 Congress extended the Tuesday date for national House elections and in 1914 for federal Senate elections. Today, we are an urban society, and we all know how hard it is to commute to our jobs, take care of the children, and get our work done, let alone stand on lines to vote. Indeed, Census data over the last decade clearly indicates that the inconvenience of voting is the primary reason Americans are not participating in our elections. If we can move Columbus Day, Pres...

I came across one of the new websites from Google labs, "In Quotes" . Although the site can become a huge quote bank, it has started by compering quotes from politicians in the U.S. UK, Canada and India. The spin feature (pun intended) selects random quotes from the candidates on a specific issue. Issues, so far, range from abortion to the war in Iraq and from human rights to nuclear proliferation. The sites offers people raw information, and frames news and opinion subjects, in specific 3 or 4 line answers. In doing so, visitors can compare and contrast, while reading quotes from statements made in news sites, press conferences, TV interviews, speeches and the Internet. Now YouTube includes speech recognition in searches for spoken content . A good move from Google (one of the few companies that didn't felt the credit crunch) P.S. 10 days to Election day.

Now Ralph Nader wants to share his mother's Apple Cake recipe... Seriously, he is in need of some sound campaigning advice, and not from his mother... Read the Email... October 20, 2008 www.votenader.org www.officialnaderstore.com It's that time of year again. Apple harvest time. I love apples. As a child, to help with the harvest in orchards, I picked lots of apples. And in New England, where I grew up, there were so many great varieties. Baldwin, Cortland, Golden Russet, Honey Crisp, Macintosh, Red Delicious, Rome, Shamrock. Honey Crisp was -- and still is -- my favorite. During apple harvest time, my mom would make a spectacular apple cake. It had lemons, and apples and cinnamon and butter. It remains to this day my favorite cake. And it got me to thinking -- with only two weeks left ...

Great Debate! I really enjoyed John McCain, he was really hitting all the points, his best performance yet. Barack Obama reiterated his talking points (which are really good) and the polls decided that he was the winner.  But the best part... the twitter election page ! It was awesome! the discussion was dynamic, and you really get a sense of the debate as it happens. You share your commentary with other people, you see attack twits, love twits, action commentary ... is a great experience, well better than the jiggly lines on CNN.  I really enjoyed the "Joe the Plumper" commentary... Check out my Twitter Posts during the debate: Final Thought: McCain differentiated, Joe the Plumper can play a big role, Obama needs to get more offensive. about 8 hours ago from Election 2008 My friends: McCain won the debate. about 8 hours ago from Election 2008 Obama: Change - McCain: Reform about 8 hours ago from Election 2008 Obama: stay into frame! about 8 hours ago from Election ...

I haven't commented on the Nader campaign so far, well, I didn't see anything interesting... but wait... Ralf Nader will share his mother Hummus recipe if you contribute any amount of money but it has to have at least one three in it. So what the Nader/Gonzalez campaign is saying is: contribute to the campaign, we will email you Nader's mom hummus recipe, and then please vote for us on election day. It is a rather interesting way to entice voters to donate to your campaign, but I must say, when I first saw it, I found it really funny. Would be very interesting to see how much money will be donated because of the Hummus... Ralph's Mom will be proud!

Hey Everybody, Maybe it was the Debates, maybe it was the huge amount of podcasts I had to listen to; or maybe it was me changing jobs that I didn't update my Blog… come to think of it I’m hooked on Bill O’Reilly’s “talking points memo” podcasts... So, now I know what I’m going to be doing during the 3rd and final debate: watch it and be logged on the Twitter election page . Its really sweet! This tool is great, an ongoing live opinion ticker. More importantly, the twitter election page gives politicians one very important information: direct FEEDBACK from active citizens. People who are active through social media and are in a position to be vital political advocates. So be there on October 15, 2008 !!!

The Republicans Abroad in Greece, invited the Democrats Abroad , Hard Rock Cafe provided the venue … and it was ON. The debate was played again and the crowd cheered for the President to be. United States Ambassador to Greece, Daniel V. Speckhard was there as well. I really enjoyed the whole atmosphere, it was an opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new people interested in the U.S. Elections. Debate wise, I want to say that the first debate didn’t really lived up to hype. Both candidates were well prepared, in a controlled setting. My opinion: No one won the 1st debate, Obama didn’t make the difference, McCain needed to do better. Looking forward to the town hall type debate. Thank you to Katerina and Ioanna for the coffee and brownies!

Just take a look at the last 8 YouTube videos from the 2 campaigns... see anything interesting? McCain's videos (by far) are the most popular... Now, why is that, well first of all the McCain campaign has uploaded videos creating TV buzz (most interesting the Celeb & The One video), second, all of the McCain videos are fun, specific, and single issued, Thirdly, the Obama campaign continues to work very hard to create viral videos with Barack backstage, and with the campaign eating at a diner. Now is the time to attack! YouTube can be fun and creative, but, most importantly, it can carry your message. The McCain videos do just that, they carry the message, that it why the are popular.

The Republican attack machine at it again. I must say I have really enjoyed the exchanges of negative ads between the two campaigns. One distinct difference though, and one that you wouldn’t expect, the ads from the McCain campaign are better! exposing Obama in attacking his strong points (fame, popularity, celebrity status). The McCain campaign compared Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears , in response the Obama campaign compared McCain to President George W. Bush . The McCain campaign attacked Obama’s values, the Obama campaign attacked the President. A daring move from the McCain camp, that worked! Now everyone is talking how the elections would be a referendum on Obama, and if he is fit to become President, while McCain is ready to be President!

Barack Obama launched  www.fightthesmears.com , a new webpage that: Informs the people about the rumors smearing Obama  Stating the truth around the issues, with video and links to support the argument Exposing the people that are behind the unjust attacks (with links to their sites and mainstream media reports) Urging people to report smears to the campaign and email them to watchdog@barackobama.com  It is a move that has got mainstream media publicity and a great tool to defend against Internet rumors becoming campaign issues.

Again, it seems that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton really need the money... on a recent email update they ask people to attend Mother's day celebration in NYC, depending on the amount you pay, a photo op awaits you... Check it out...

Barack Obama is the only U.S. Presidential candidate to fundraise through his YouTube channel. Obama’s YouTube channel is the most popular one among the 2008 Presidential candidates. Given that a YouTube user spends 30 seconds to 5 minutes watching a video clip, during this time the button urges people to make a contribution to the campaign. By clicking on the button you are prompt with the following: No doubt can become a significant fundraising tool

It seems to me that the upcoming 2008 US election has not only started early this time around, but it has been feeding the news with commentary about current issues, whilst criticizing President George W. Bush. Candidates take the role of the opposition while trying to differentiate between themselves. There is no gains in attacking the President, especially from the democratic candidates; by doing so they do not differentiate from one-another, they just repeat common values while having a safe opposition strategy. Hillary Clinton is attacking the President without differentiating from the rest of the bunch, while Edwards and Obama are talking about current affairs. The democratic candidates need to understand that their opponents right now are in their own party, there is plenty of time to attack the President, and the republican candidate, once there is a final Democratic candidate. Hillary's move not to differentiate from the others is setting her aside to be targeted. Obam...