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Hillary vs. ObamaThe primary presidential election heats up; democratic candidate Hillary and Obama are too close to end for the democratic presidential nomination. So far, Obama got more supe...

To get everyone in the mood for following voting returns from the Indiana and North Carolina Primaries, here are two musical selections. First, John Krondes singing “Indiana Girl”:

Second, Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers singing “If I Lose, I Don’t Care”:

Jon Stewart has some fun at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s expense as he mocks them for shamelessly pandering to North Carolina and Indiana voters before the primaries.

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“With a race this tight, the candidates are pulling out all the stops, and are forced to open….Panderer’s Box.”

Another Tuesday, another set of do-or-die contests for the Democratic nomination. And once again, PJM political expert Bill Bradley is on call and ready to break it all down for you.Latest: McCain Insight In Works...

When 18 year old Courtney was preparing for high school graduation, she knew she was about to receive gifts from family and friends. Something big from her parents. Courtney knew that she didn’t w...

No prizes for guessing what's filling the column inches of many a newspaper editorial here in France today. It's the first anniversary of the election of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the...

Well Darlings,The message the public has given to Gordon Brown could not be any clearer: "Go! Take your government with you and go now - we have had enough!"In little more than ten...

The 2008 calendar indicates that another spring has arrived in North America and the signs of the new season are everywhere. Buds have appeared on trees, heralding the arrival of new leaves. The incre...

Barack Obama won North Carolina's Democratic primary Tuesday, but a slow count in Indiana left the nation in suspense over whether Hillary Rodham Clinton would split the day's contests with a victory in Indiana..

Hilary Clinton supports that a billow is bare in Iraq. She affirmed this in her contempo speech. Lately, aback civic acquisition of veterans of war was organized, she addressed the admirers with Senat...

Facing criticism, Presidential hopefuls employ better email marketing strategies, but their emails are still not what everyone wants to read. -- Just another message to skip over. That's what Presid...

We have a few months to dream before the next presidential election. Or is it too late for a visionary to step forth? We had 24 candidates bidding for the...

Up until today it had not seemed to be a good week for news emanating from the Bank of England.
Firstly, we had the news that in March the number of mortgages approved had dropped from 72,000 in ...

FishbowlDC's Patrick Gavin did some polling of his own today. He found out how some of you Newsers will spend this Super Tuesday III evening. Some highlights:

• ABC News' Martha Raddatz: I will be on the treadmill as soon as the polls close — watching while I run. It helps with all the excitement! And if there is no prediction...and it looks like a long night...time to open the wine.

• Sam Feist, CNN Political Director: I'll be watching from the nerve center of the CNN Election Center — an undisclosed location deep inside the bowels of the Time Warner Center. This is where the Best Political Team on Television has gathered for the evening. From our perch, not only do we have access to John King's magic wall and Wolf Blitzer's giant pie charts, but we can also keep close tabs on our friends and competitors and their 'walls'. Because at the end of the day, election coverage is all about the walls, isn't it?

• Steve Chaggaris, CBS News Director of Political Coverage: I'll be hanging out with TV's hardest-working Political Unit in the cozy confines of our Unit's office in Studio 47 — the CBS Evening News studio in NY — where we'll be fully anticipating waking up tomorrow to yet another Groundhog Day that is this Democratic presidential campaign.

• NBC News' Norah O'Donnell: I'll be in New York watching and reporting the exit polls from our virtual green room on studio 3K.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

Many small businesses start their websites and put a "Links" page up as one of their first few pages--thinking that this will help them rank better.While it's a nice gesture to link to your ...

Hillary Rodham Clinton lost her last best chance to score an upset on Barack Obama's turf Tuesday, putting the Illinois senator a step closer to becoming the country's first black presidential nominee.

love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?' Pablo Casals...

With the Democratic convention getting closer and the general election just a few months away, all the remaining candidates have publicly released their income tax returns. It did take Senator Clinton...

The year 2008 started out so promising regarding healing racism in the United States. White voters in Iowa voted for Barack Obama and everything seemed as if it would be okay. White people thought ...

In countries such as Zimbabwe where media freedom is extremely restricted, new technologies have become powerful tools for political campaigning, communication, advocacy and mobilisation.

Since Robert Mugabe turned the country into a dictatorship, bloggers and civic organisations have resorted to using new tools and applications such as blogs, Flickr, Facebook, SMS, YouTube and mashups to fight for democracy, media freedom and good governance.

SMS
If you are in Zimbabwe and your phone rings, you might be receiving news headline from SW Radio, election update from Kubatana.net or a political joke about Robert Mugabe. Widespread mobile phone access in Africa has made SMS a powerful and useful tool for activists.

Zimbabweans are using SMS to send each other political jokes. Comrade Fatso writes about this particular use of SMS:

Anyone know someone with a truck? There's a guy wanting to move all his stuff from State House to Zvimba. The jokes spread as text messages refer to our aged dictator relocating to his rural home. People really do believe this is a general election - because our generals decide who gets elected. Another joke walking the streets of Harare is that the only difference between an election and an erection is that you can't rig the latter.

The UK-based SW Radio uses SMS to send news headlines to mobile phones:

We now have an SMS news headline service sent to mobile phones.
If you have a friend or relative in Zimbabwe who would like to receive this service please email their mobile phone number to: talk@swradioafrica.com

Kubatana, an online community of Zimbabwean activists, uses FrontlineSMS to send election news to their SMS subscribers and facilitate conversations:

Join the Kubatana SMS Subscriber list!
Kubatana uses a variety of technologies to communicate with Zimbabweans - SMS is one of them. We send out notifications of public events, inspiring quotations, selected comments from current and past articles and statements and we convert some of our web site content into thought provoking tasty 160 character messages.
What we really value is getting to know what you think, and to facilitate this you can respond to any SMS we send out. Democracy is a two way thang!
Often we take some of what you say and share it on the Kubatana Blog Site so that more people benefit from the conversation.
Let's get together, and message together.

The organisation has also used FrontlineSMS to run its campaign, “What we want in Zimbabwe?” The organisation posts messages from subscribers on Kubatana blog so that more people can benefit:

In addition to inviting email contributions, we also asked our many SMS subscribers what a new Zimbabwe looks like to them. Read some of their ideas below, and text your dreams for a new Zimbabwe to +263912452201

Amanda Atwood writes, “Text messages for change”:

As announcements by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission have been trickling out, we’ve been forwarding them to our SMS subscribers, many of whom do not have access to television or radio, or who are hit by Zimbabwe’s persistent electricity shortage.

FrontlineSMS is a text messaging system designed to meet the needs of the non-profit sector. FrontlineSMS was also used by the Nigeria Mobile Election Monitors last year. Ken Banks, the creator of Frontline SMS writes:

Back in the summer of 2006 I was fortunate to spend three weeks in Zimbabwe working with them. A local NGO seeking to promote human rights and good governance, Kubatana were the very first users of FrontlineSMS when it launched back in 2005, starting a trend which has seen the software used for similar activities in a number of other countries around the world. In their own words, FrontlineSMS finally opened up the possibilities for text messaging in their work, and I knew they had plans to use it during the 2008 elections. This is what they've been doing.

Last year, Kubatana sent out an SMS soliciting public opionion about the the Stay Away, which was called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. They published some of the reponses on their blog:

In advance of the Stay Away called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) for Wednesday and Thursday, 19 and 20 September, we at Kubatana sent out a text message and email asking our subscribers what they thought of the stay away, whether their workplace would be participating, and what their friends and neighbours were saying about it.
We were flooded with emails and text messages expressing a range of opinions, from eager support for the stay away and a commitment to stay home even if their work place was open, to others who questioned the usefulness of the tactic or whether it would make any difference on the ground.
Here is just a small sampling of people’s responses:
Don’t think it will be a success. People are tired of stay aways.
———————————
Supporting it, not coming to work, enough is enough.
———————————
Yes and all my friends want to stay away in order to make a statement.

In addition to their SMS service, Kubatana uses listserv, email newsletter and electronic activism campaigns:

Our regular electronic activism campaigns encourage Zimbabweans and other visitors to our web site to mobilise, lobby and advocate. Being involved lessens one’s feeling of despair while helping us to keep inspired.
As Joan Baez said: Action is the antidote to despair.
Our email listserv and regular email newsletters keep thousands of Zimbabweans and regional and international subscribers informed. Kubatana also helps Zimbabwean civil society to strengthen their use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) through email, Internet and motivational training workshops. We often spend a day with a group of information activists teaching them how to use ICTs more effectively either in their organisations, or as individual activists.

Electronic Cards
Sokwanele-Zvakwana is another pro-democracy civic organisation using new media tools to fight for democracy and rule of law. Its website offers free e-cards as part of its non-violent campaigns for change.

Sokwanele's Zimbabwean e-cards can be used, for FREE, to help Zimbabweans campaign for non violent peaceful change in Zimbabwe.

The cards are organised around different themes:
Bob Must Go:

Bob Must Go! It's as simple as that.

Elections and democracy:

Parliamentary and presidential elections are set for 2008. You can get ready and start campaigning using our e-cards. Zimbabweans want elections that are genuinely free and fair, and we want a return to the rule of law, and a life free of violence and intimidation.

Memories of Zimbabwe:

A set of e-cards evoking whimsical and fond memories of our beloved Zimbabwe. Use these for any occasion, or simply to send quick notes to friends and colleagues. Do you have an image that would make a great memory e-card? If you'd like to share your special memory with everyone by turning it into an e-card - contact us and let us know.

Economy e-cards:

Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall and it's no laughing matter. Spread a bit of cheer by sending a humorous e-card, or send a card to alert someone of the reality of our country's economic state.

They have posted a video of the e-cards on Jumpcut.

Mashup
Sokwanele created a Google map for mapping election rigging using data from their Zimbabwean Election Watch series:

Explore the map and then consider whether elections held in this context can ever be considered ‘free and fair'. Information on how to use the map, the map data limitations, and the background to how we mapped the data is provided below the map. Please visit our Zimbabwe Election Watch section, and explore our database for a comprehensive look at the many ways the articles listed in the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections have been breached by the Zimbabwean government.

YouTube and Flickr
Sokwanele has a channel on the popular video-sharing site, YouTube and a Flickr account. Visit their Album of Terror to see the extent of state brutality against the opposition.

There is a Flickr account with Zimbabwe Playing Cards:

On the outside this looks like an ordinary set of playing cards. But take them out, it is a fantastic political weapon - against hte murderous, corrupt, hypocritical regime of ‘Robber Mugabe'.

Facebook and MySpace
Various groups have established their presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. There is “Remove Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe” group on Facebook:

Creating international awareness of how one man is completely destroying an incredible nation, causing millions to suffer. For everyone who believes Mugabe should no longer be in power.

And “Revive Zimbabwe”:

1. To Keep the Nation of Zimbabwe strong even without the Boundaries of the Country
2. Boycott the Hippocracies
3. Stand together to make the affliction more widely known, in order for the people to be freed, by the notification of others (world publicicty)!

There is also a group supporting Dr. Simba Makoni.

Sokwanele is also on Facebook. A cultural activist network, Magamba!, has a MySpace page where they publish blog posts about the situation in Zimbabwe. The most visible member of the group is Comrade Fatso who keeps a personal blog at Vox.
Magamba!

MAGAMBA! THE CULTURAL ACTIVIST NETWORK is a movement of Zimbabwean spoken word activists and creative rebels who use the word as a weapon.

Mobile Phones

The South African based election result monitoring group, The Independent Result Center, set up a website to publish independent election results. During the elections, their trained agents in Zimbabwe were sending information to South Africa via satellite and mobile phones.

This is how their agents obtained information:

In terms of Zimbabwean election law upon closure of the polling station counting must begin immediately, and the result must be displayed outside the polling stations to public view. Candidates and their polling agents should be in attendance during the counting process.
ZimElectionResults.com obtained the results using polling agents who were specially trained to obtain data officially displayed. This information was transmitted to a results centre in South Africa using cell­phones and satellite phones to the centre which was manned by call centre operators.

Since election results were displayed publicly the agents were able to take photos of the actual results:

Polling agents were also equipped with a camera to photograph the actual official results posted by the ZEC. These will be archived on this web site later as forensic evidence. The polling agents also counted the number of people entering each polling station.

Blogs
Immediately after Mugabe started muzzling the media, Zimbabwean bloggers became one of the key sources of information and commentary on the political and economic situation in the country. Visit our Zimbabwe Elections 2008 page for links to posts written by Zimbabwean bloggers.

Online Political Jokes

Robert Mugabe is twittering! He joins the Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki, on the popular microblogging site, Twitter:

meetings, meetings, meetings. very boring. 12:03 PM April 04, 2008 from web
Ooooo, nervous morning. Sending the wife shopping. She is getting on my nerves. Thinking of shutting the electricity down for laughs. 09:21 AM April 01, 2008 from web
Thinking of live blogging the election results. Good idea? 06:42 PM March 31, 2008 from web
Forcing people to eat election posters. Hey, at least they get fed this week. :) 01:49 PM March 29, 2008 from web
just voted. Guess who I voted for? 01:49 PM March 29, 2008 from web

Zimbabwe Democracy Now has a Zimbabwe Humour page on its website:

A selection of cartoons, movie posters and e-cards about Zimbabwe. These images are presented in the belief that the designers want to reach a wider audience. Thanks to everyone who contributed, you know who you are…

Either you are simply starting in Forex or have a expertise in it, but it's very important you stay on top with all the Forex news happening in the industry. Staying intact with what happens around th...

For political, demographic and mathematical reasons, Tuesday’s primaries could reshape the Democratic race.

On April 9, ABC News reported that in 2002, President Bush’s most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he “approved” of the tactics. Since the ABC report, the media have largely ignored the story. Morever, it took 14 days for a reporter to raise the issue in a White House press briefing.

During an interview this morning on NPR, former Vice President Al Gore criticized Bush for approving the techniques, calling it “obscene,” adding that his use of signing statements is “a raw assertion of authority outside the boundaries of the law”:

GORE: Ultimately the guarantor of our freedoms are the people. And these kinds of outrages, a president saying that he has the right turn George Washington’s 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants with his assistants gathering in the basement of the White House — according to recent revelations — personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner, its obscene.

Listen here:

Highlighting Bush’s “arrogation of authority,” Gore also noted that the Bush administration has “refused to comply with the Supreme Court decision” requiring it to regulate“global warming pollution” under the Clean Air Act.

While Gore called Bush’s abuses of power “outrages,” the media does not seem to be as concerned. However, the House Judiciary Committee provided a bright spot today, voting to subpoena David Addington, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, to compel him to testify about the administration’s interrogation programs.

Transcript:

TERRY GROSS: So say John McCain was elected president. What would his options be in terms of dealing with President Bush’s signing statement?

GORE: the reason you’re having trouble with it is that it’s contrary to the American system. In my view, not only would that signing statement not bind the next president, it is not legal as a statement of law where the current president is concerned. It is a raw assertion of authority outside the boundaries of the law.

GROSS: But who would decide if it’s officially legal or illegal? Nobody’s officially thrown it out saying “this is illegal.”

GORE: Well that’s correct, and in our system the ultimate arbiter of what is constitutional, since Marbury versus Madison in the first decades of our republic, has been the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court does not take all cases, and has been often timid where this president’s arrogation of authority to himself is concerned.

But even where they have not been timid, where for example they ruled that the Clean Air Act requires President Bush and his EPA administrator to regulate global warming pollution as pollution under the Clean Air Act. And the executive branch has nonetheless refused to comply with the Supreme Court decision. And ultimately the guarantor of our freedoms are the people.

And these kinds of outrages — a president saying that he has the right to overturn George Washington’s 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants, with his assistants gathered in the basement of the White House, according to recent revelations, personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner — it’s obscene!

You may remember when Madonna crowned Britney Spears as the queen of pop with a kiss. In similar fashion, President Bill Clinton and the Democratic elite passed the presidential baton to

Here are the biggest news, sport and entertainment stories of 1997...Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris having apparently being pursued at high speed by photographers on motorbike...

The Town That DiedDuring the late 1800's the area surrounding (the future site of the Town of Upland) this section of desert land was apart of Tom Green County. At...

Yesterday on Hardball, Chris Matthews went after Rush Limbaugh’s so-called “Operation Chaos” — the right-wing pill addictblowhard talk-show host’s plan to prolong the Democratic primary fight by urging his brainless listeners to vote in open primaries– and whether it’s actually having any effect.

 Download | Play Download | Play

It’s doesn’t surprise me that Rush Limbaugh and his dopey listeners are stooping to such levels. They’re desperate, after all, considering their party’s nominee is promising to extend the policies of the most unpopular President in history…a President they have championed all along. The thought of the conservative beast dying terrifies them. And what better way to prevent that than making a mockery of American democracy and sabotaging the other party? It makes perfect sense in their twisted, little minds.

Unfortunately for them, whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will mop the floor with John McCain.

Indiana voters explain who they're voting for and why on the day of the state's hotly contested Democratic primary.

The latest round in the Clinton v. Obama battle continues, this time in the primary contests in both North Carolina and Indiana. NC has a total of 115 delegates up for grabs, while Indiana has 72. The most recent poll numbers for NC show Barack Obama still leading, but no longer by double digits, while in Indiana, Hillary leads by double digits in some polls, singles in others.

NC polls opened at 6:30 this morning and will close at 7:30 PM ET. CNN detailed last night the poll opening and closing times for the eastern and western halves of Indiana (the state is in two time zones). Record turnout is predicted for bothstates.

Thanks to early voting, 8% of NC’s votes have already been cast (the Boston Globe says it’s more like 13%). In Indiana, early voting is 3 times what it was in 2004. North Carolina’s primary is “semi-open.” Indiana’s primary is an “open primary.”

You can find out much more about the primaries in both NC and Indiana (including demographics and key areas to watch as the results come in) by reading Fox News’ “Brainroom Briefing Book.”

For results from both primaries, bookmark this link for North Carolina and this one for Indiana, and refresh often after poll closing times for updates.

I’ll also be covering some local races here in NC, in addition to the presidential primary (namely, the governor and lt. governor nomination races). For more in-depth coverage of local races around North Carolina, my good friend and fellow NC blogger Lorie Byrd has posted a list of links to local bloggers you should visit for up to date info.

It’ll be a busy day for yours truly, but I will check in when I can. Unless I have to work late, I should be around this evening to blog the results from each primary.

Update 1 - 8:54 AM: I wrote this post last night and set it to post at 8:27 this morning. Wanted to give you an update on what I’ve seen today so far. There were long lines at my precinct, much longer than normal (I’ll have a couple of pix to post later tonight). I stood in line for about 30 minutes before I was able to vote. Very unusual. Black turnout is heavy. The Charlotte Observer reports long lines in other precincts as well.

Update 2 - 12:35 PM: Via Drudge, a Hillary campaign source has said that the campaign fears she could lose by as much as 15% today in NC.

My sources are also telling me that black voter turnout is high across this city as well as the rest of the state. Fellow NC blogger Bob Owens is hearing record turnout numbers for Durham (via MM).

And via Hot Air, Indiana Republicans are reportedly crossing over “in droves.”

With the US Presidential Election in full swing it is hardly surprising to discover that health care and health insurance is at the head of the agenda and, for a lot of us, the potential for finding a...

With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama still slugging it out in the Democratic primaries, John McCain has already cleared the way to the Republican nomination. Glenn Reynolds and Helen Smith were lucky enough to catch up with McCain's friend Fred Thompson, who talked with them about McCain's positions, the current and possible future states of [...]

One strategy companies have used in recent years is to reward employees with options to purchase a certain amount of the company's stock for a fixed price after a defined period of time. The employee ...

С 5 по 14 мая в lj_election_ru проходит процесс выдвижения кандидатов, которые затем будут баллотироваться в Наблюдательный совет ЖЖ и представлять там голос пользователей.
Чтобы номинироваться для участия в выборах, нужно на данном этапе собрать 100 голосов пользователей в поддержку своей кандидатуры, разместив пост о самовыдвижении в указанном сообществе. В результате выборов будут определены два представителя пользователей ЖЖ в Наблюдательном совете: один от русскоязычной части, другой — от нерусскоязычной (hint: нигде не сказано, что этому другому возбраняется владеть русским языком).

К сожалению, выдвигать можно только себя. Зато поддерживать — любого из уже выдвинувшихся.
Подробности по процедуре доступны вот здесь.
Там же и код баннерка в поддержку своего кандидата, слабо функциональный в этом виде, но доступный лёгкой модификации:

Выборы в Наблюдательный совет Живого Журнала

Я хочу, чтобы avva стал моим представителем в Наблюдательном совете.

Скажи свое слово в поддержку в lj_election_ru.

avva

The Labour Party were trounced in this weeks council elections with the Conservative party making huge gains. Gordon Brown must act swiftly to repair some of the damage before some of the parties memb...