A Food Fight to End Them All

Mary — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:04:14 -0300

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.

Prison Blogging: Making Invisible People Visible

Mary — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:05:00 -0300

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 solution to any problem and I am wondering if having inmates blog might be a good idea.

Certainly this

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Why I Support Barack Obama

Mary — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:04:47 -0400

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 felt that I was part of a movement greater than myself, surrounded by idealists who wanted to make America a

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Show Your Love for Barack

Mary — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:58:04 -0300

Show your love for Barack this Valentine's Day. Post this on your blog and send it to your friends.

blog embed code:

href="http://www.barackobama.com/">"

Viral Video for Obama: Yes We Can

Mary — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:07:00 -0300

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 tight, so please take a moment out of your work day to participate in our democracy. We

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Obama Wins!

Mary — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:37:00 -0300

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

Teaching Candidates How the Internet Works

Mary — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:44:49 -0300

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 feat because his campaign... became channeled by people he had never met.... In the new and evolving online world,

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New from Pew: Citizen 2.0

Mary — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:22:00 -0300

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 are more engaged with searching and sharing political information with friends and family
- They search for information online when

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Grassroots Fundraising Hits $4 Million

Mary — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:44:21 -0300

Now we know why Ron Paul is smiling.

UPDATE: See the YouTube video below

Trevor 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 rather sent site visitors on the the official campaign site, RonPaul2008.com, to make their donation.

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Nobody for President

Mary — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 12:35:00 -0400

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. Sounds like a great candidate. I'm in.

I wasn't always this cynical. In 1999 and 2000 I actually spent several

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