Watch this incredibly smart short film, called "Food Fight". It is the history of modern warfare from WWII to the present as re-enacted by food (Japanese are sushi, Americans are hamburgers, etc.). The director, Stefan Nadelman, describes it as a "smorgasbord of aggression" and you'll see why. (The end is particularly effective.) You might have to watch it more than once to successfully identify all the battles, but it's worth the effort.
Today I read in the New York Times that 1 in 100 American adults is in prison. This is the highest incarceration rate in America's history and I believe it is also one of the highest in the world. This is really shameful, not to mention horrible social policy, given what we know about high recidivism rates and the crimilnalizing effects of being in jail.Because of the way my mind works, I am always wondering if there is grassroots digital
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I first became interested in politics through a civics class in my New Jersey high school. I learned that there are institutions in America that allow ordinary citizens to have a say in the direction of their country, fighting injustice, and having a positive presence in the world. I volunteered for my first Democratic presidential campaign when I was a senior in high school. While my candidate, Bill Bradley, didn't win the nomination, I loved working for his campaign. I
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Show your love for Barack this Valentine's Day. Post this on your blog and send it to your friends. blog embed code:<a href="http://www.barackobama.com/"><img style="width: 455px; height: 585px;" src=""http://bligoo.com/media/users/0/908/images/barack_obama_valentine.jpg" /></a>"
A recent video made by some celebs for Obama. Certainly elegant, hopefully inspirationl (of course, I was already inspired before I saw it). This version on the video has been viewed over 500,000 times and it was posted 2 days ago.If you are an American citizen and a resident of any of the following states, please vote in your state primary on Tuesday, February 5 (Super Duper Tuesday). Particularly for the Democrats, the race between the presidential candidates is very
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Obama's 8-point win in Iowa has made me excited and optimistic about US politics for the first time in a long time. photo credit: AP
candidates treat the Internet as a soapbox and tip jar, but it's so much more Matt Bai writes in this week's New York Times Magazine about how the presidential candidates still don't understand how the Internet works, even after Howard Dean:...It seems clear that the candidates and their advisers absorbed the wrong lessons from Dean’s moment...these things can’t really be orchestrated. Dean’s campaign didn’t explode online because he somehow figured out a way to channel online politics; he managed this
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Here's a nice slide show about how the Internet is effecting the political activities of American citizens. The information is based on new research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It's more about information-gathering and deliberation than organizing and activism, but I guess you gotta start somewhere. Here are the key findings: Citizen 2.0 voters represent 51% of American voters Citizen 2.0 voters are no different demographically they considerably different in terms of skepticism towards traditional media and
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Now we know why Ron Paul is smiling.UPDATE: See the YouTube video belowTrevor Lyman, a supporter of libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, decided to help his preferred candidate raise money. He bought the domain ThisNovember5th.com, the purpose of which was to encourage people to make a small donation on that day. The campaign was ridiculously successful. This past Monday, the site raised $4 million for Ron Paul's presidential campaign.Interestingly enough, the site itself did not even collect the donations, but
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It's not even 2008 yet and already I'm disillusioned with every presidential candidate. But, thanks to Facebook, I've found a new candidate I can get behind: Nobody. According to the Nobody for President group page on Facebook, Nobody will end the war in Iraq, Nobody will clean up George Bush's mess, Nobody will fix the education system, Nobody will make us energy independent, Nobody will protect us against terrorist threats, and Nobody will restore ethical behavior to the White House.
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