solanasaurus.com

My colleague Georgia thinks it wasn’t our fault, but I find it just a little conspicuous that the power went out in all of Southern Florida the moment 10 Global Voices bloggers all plugged their laptops into power sockets in the Miami house we rented for the week. See Georgia’s photos here.

You can watch the a live webcast of this conference here: http://gvu.cc.gatech.edu/what/live.php
I am speaking around 3pm.

Are they rigging the competition? The conclusion seems to be we have low expectations. But the social welfare system is also given due credit. Welcome to Denmark, the advice of the student to American viewers at the end of this clip is quite telling: “Don’t believe in the American dream, I think you might get disappointed.” Here’s another clip.

It’s masterly how Obama’s campaign has managed to claim the word “change”. Months ago, it would have seemed that Hillary could have been just as entitled to claiming that motto. She is a woman after all. And not Bush – among other favorable attributes that formerly made her seem like the surefire candidate.

I had Obama-supporting friends visiting over the weekend, and it became clearer to me how Hillary is stuck with the unfortunate image of a politician who will compromise on any ideal to get ahead.

The week before, I had a friend visiting from out of the country who horrified a group of Democrats over dinner by suggesting that Hillary should have left Bill after the Lewinsky affair. Never mind what ordinary wives do in this situation, she said – how can a female public figure just keep holding up appearances? (That great scene in the Sopranos, when the mafia-wives sympathise with Hillary comes to mind)

I personally don’t care very strongly what Hillary does or doesn’t do. I am just making a frivolous point. From a PR-perspective, I can’t help thinking a little separation or divorce is exactly what it would take to short circuit the current media trajectory. Bill hasn’t exactly been helping her image much in the last weeks of campaigning (with the race baiting and sleeping), so maybe now would be a good time to get that revenge for the Lewinsky affair!

People could no longer claim she wasn’t strong and independent, or into “change”. She would steal all the headlines. Other divorcées and women with faithful husbands would vote for her, and once she was elected, the media could engage in a long Brad and Angelina-type coverage of them getting back together. Sweet.

On a more serious note (also arising from this weekend’s conversations), wouldn’t it have been awesome to have a female candidate who made single mothers her campaign issue? She could have touched on education, health care, reproductive rights, poverty, family, gender, labor, immigration, welfare, and peace, all at once.

By now, you must have seen the musical tribute Obama on YouTube, “Yes, you can”. As a parody/homage (“parage”) Andrew Boyd and friends have made this video with a slightly different message. You’ll recognize the humor from the 2004 election-activism-hit, Billionaires for Bush.

Ever since I became co-managing editor of Global Voices, I’ve had the honor of being asked to talk to people about the website. I love doing it and am really proud of everything we do. As a representative of the organization I sometimes get more credit than I feel comfortable with. In an exceptionally flattering article in Contribute Magazine (where I am profiled alongside Samantha Power), Global Voices bloggers are referred to as “Solana’s bloggers”. I wish this hadn’t happened. Over 100 people scattered all over the world come together to do something cool, creative and important in this project – and they did it before I arrived too. There are several other miscommunications in this piece including my age, nationality, profession, quotes, and nuances of how Global Voices works. But I am thankful to Contribute for recognizing our work and presenting it in such a positive light.

It’s the season for viral videos about the elections. It’s hard to believe YouTube wasn’t around for the last presidential election in 2004.

MoveOn’s ad is scary enough.

But check this out:

Who are these crazy people? Huckabee on evolution and Giuliani on foreign policy are particularly hair raising.

Today, Global Voices is launching a new website with Reuters that opens a window on the global conversation about the 2008 presidential election in the USA. It’s called… Voices without Votes.

There are few subjects that spark the imagination of bloggers worldwide – and United States foreign policy is one of them.

Global Voices challenges people to listen to people beyond their own borders. We translate back and forth from blogospheres in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe in hopes that people may come to understand and care for one another across borders.

We also encourage international media to talk to and report on the concerns of ordinary citizens around the world. Hopefully, looking at US politics more closely through a kaleidoscope of world blogs will be a compelling and thought-provoking experience. Send us links to blogs you would like us to link to, including your own.

Global Voices Middle East and North Africa Editor, Amira Al Hussaini is going to be editing the website with help from other Global Voices editors and volunteers. Check in regularly at Voices Without Votes until Americans finally hit the polls and elect a president in November 2008.

Meanwhile, the world is still talking! Are you listening?

With so many temptations on the internet, it’s no wonder the students at a training camp for Mormon missionaries are required to use a special monitored email service. This is just a minor detail of a longer article in GOOD Magazine about young people who are trained like soldiers by the church and sent out into the world to convert people.

As the little white Missionary Handbook reads, for email “use only MyLDSMail.net, the filtered service established by the Church.… While using computers, always stay next to your companion so that you can see each other’s monitors.”

I visited the link, and thought the website was kind of funny. I mean I know nothing is totally secret on the internet, but imagine choosing to open an email account specifically because you know you will be watched. Is there a business model there? Maybe Facebook should pretend they are spying on us for our own good.