I Love Obama as a President. I voted for him. I believe in him.

Today When I saw Michelle with her dress I almost fainted.

How could the First Lady of such a Great Man miss such an occasion of  dressing with class and style  and venturing into something like that without even thinking that when shopping for a dress for a special event like this she should have made her shopping by Armani or Valentino.

I do not know Armani personally but as an Italian I love his dresses. He has sobriety and class and his dresses are never out of style or worst out of colour like the one sported by Michelle today.

I’m Sure that Giorgio would have been more than delighted to provide the First Lady with a state-of the art dress,if he was asked for, I’m sure he would have tailored a special one just for the occasion. An unique piece, for an unique First Lady, for an unique ceremony that would have sent Michelle into history as the “best dressed First Lady ever”.

I’m sorry that you didn’t think of it Michelle. I had to say this though, because your dress was a real failure.

I’m not venturing into critisizing your gloves because I feel I won’t be able to find the right adjectives and I will probably go to heavy on you.

Please remember next time you shop for a dress: Italian design.

“ Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.

Are you ready to make your voice heard? As the US elections approach, many of us here in the US are having to make some tough decisions. One of the things we here at allvoices hope to do is to help you think about and talk about all the issues. Everyone needs a place where they can hear all the voices – not just on the big issues, but on the small ones too. There is a great saying, “think globally, act locally”.

As you prepare to vote, the big issues will be the ones that everyone is talking about – that’s the “think  globally” part. I know that the coverage of the nominees for president and vice president takes up most of the time and effort of the traditional news sources.

So far, here at allvoices, that has been the case as well. But, there are many more issues and offices you need to decide on when you go to vote in November. I am hoping to hear your voices on those issues as well. After all, the local elections are the ones that impact your day to day life – that’s the “act locally” part.

To help encourage you to share you voice, allvoices is announcing the Voice of the Day. If your voice is chosen as the “Voice of the Day”, we will help you get heard. We will publicize your piece here on the blog and elsewhere around the web. We will work with you to make sure that what is in that piece gets heard.  We will be bi-partisan. We are not pushing any specific agenda. Instead we are going to push well thought out, well communicated ideas.

Share the ballot initiatives that are up for consideration in your town. Share the issues that are influencing your choice in the local and state offices.  Share how you have come to decide what spots you will mark on the ballot. Share which local elections were easy for you to decide on and which you haven’t been able to decide on. Share what matters to you in the election. Ask for input from others around you.

Voice of the Day Criteria

1. To be considered, you must attach at least one story, image, video, and blog entry to your piece. The items must all relate to the issue you are discussing. Make them interesting and insightful.
2. Content submitted must be original. While the links may be to items that exist elsewhere and have been written by others, the main content and all images must be yours alone. We want your voice, so that means give us your words and your images. 
3. Videos can be links to YouTube videos or videos uploaded to the site. However, if the video is not your video be sure to add value to it by putting information in the description that says why people should watch it. Original videos will get you extra credit!
4. The items must be clear and well written. Spelling counts. If you want to change the world with your words, your words must be understandable.
5. Conversation improves your odds. Get people talking and commenting on your news – expressions of both sides of the issue will help keep the conversation going and enhance the chance your piece is selected for promotion.
6. You must provide a link to the story on allvoices by Private Message  or email to Kathy Jacobs, allvoices community guru.
7.  You must tag your stories with Election2008  so that they can be found easily.
8. Stories will be considered on a daily news cycle. The story to be promoted will be picked based on stories submitted before 4:00 pm California time each day. One story a day will be picked from now through the 5th of November. Once the story of the day has been picked, it will be promoted by the allvoices team. You will be informed if your story is chosen.
9. Your news item must pertain to an issue or election that will be directly voted on during the elections on November 4, 2008.

 What do I get besides views?

Each allvoices member who has a story picked as a daily story will receive an allvoices t-shirt. These shirts are being designed and created now. After the election, we will choose one of the daily winners to receive a $50 gift card.

Any other hints?

When you create your pieces, be sure to tag them with “Election2008″ so that they are picked up for any special system wide promotion we may do.  Other good tags include your location, the election issue, the people involoved, etc.

If people voice up your piece as a well written and insightful piece, that might influence the judges. Therefore, if you want us to pick your piece, you might consider having people vote it up. Remember – if  20  people register so they can voice up and comment on your piece – you could receive one of the Flips!

As Palin’s insidious attempts to smear Obama as a candidate who’s “pallin’ around with terrorists” [alluding to his living in the same neighborhood as Bill Ayers and their brief coinciding roles on a charity board, which has been addressed and rebutted (repeatedly)] are increasing, she’s fomenting hate, violence and racism.

In light of her close and deceptive interrogation of Obama’s past, one wonders about her own potential “domestic terrorist” connections, including

• The Kenyan pastor who laid hands on Palin and prayed her to be free from witchraft. And since we’re in the realm of associations, it’s salient to note that this pastor, Thomas Muthee, got his pastoral start when after six months of “spiritual mapping,” he and local townspeople ran a Kenyan woman out of town after accusing her of casting demonic spells and causing car accidents.

But for a far better exploration of Palin’s own far more substantive and questionable associations, please watch the following:

Transcript here.

- This election has never been about me. It has been about you-

- It is time that they own their failures, its time for a change in America, that is why I am running for America -

I made sure that tonight everything will be put on hold in my home, dishes will just have to wait until later – my daughter will get her bath and will be tucked in earlier than usual. I was going to get myself ready with my notepad, my husband’s laptop and zapped between, CNN, MSNBC and TVONE with anticipation of the culmination of the Democratic National Convention with the speech of the presumptive nominee Barack Obama.

Leading to this historical moment not only for the DNC but for all Americans – was a series of speeches, endorsements from Senator Edward Kennedy, Michelle Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton, and President Clinton. The roll-call drama on day 3, with the “official handing over” of delegates by Senator Clinton and officially “acclamation” of Obama and later that evening “sealed the deal” speech of President Clinton, assuring the “worrisome” Obama campaign and supporters with the fear that the former president won’t “go all the way” with his support.

Denver, Colorado, 8:56 p.m. Mile High Field – And under the cool, clear Denver skies with the 76273 seat INVESCO Field filled to the rafters of the democrats from all of the country, Barack Obama became the America’s promise!

On the 45th year anniversary of the “I have a Dream “ speech of Reverend Martin Luther King, the junior United States Senator from Illinois Barack Obama accepted the Democratic National Party’s nomination for the President of the United States.

The speech described by Reverend Jesse Jackson as a “liberating speech” or MSNBC Political Analyst and Republican Strategist Pat Buchanan, described Obama’s speech “genuinely outstanding speech – the greatest convention speech ever made” Buchanan added, “a speech came out of the heart of America and went to the American Heart”.

For the past four days in Denver, Colorado speculated whether America’s first African American Presidential Candidate what kind of a speech will he delivering on the final day. How much “meat” will he throw towards the Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain. Obama whose message of hope and change – reminded the Americans “we are the party of Roosevelt, the party of Kennedy’s”. He called on to the “reclaiming the American dream”. Or whether he will be able “out do” his keynote speech during the 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts.

“This election is not about me – it’s about you” he told the over seventy thousand supporters. “The change doesn’t come from Washington – it comes TO Washington”

Barack Obama in the past few months, who has been questioned, criticized for not being so “specifics” of his own platform – intelligently, explicitly, reiterate, clearly stated his 29 specific points when he will be president.

Political pundits and television commentators were completely awed and were lost for words for the well written – “you” oriented speech.

Tonight, I believe that if you are one of the eight million cracks in the glass ceiling Hillary supporters – you would have fallen down the ground and will be one of the obamatics chanting “Yes We Can” or if you are one of the independents who have not really decided whether Obama is ready for president on Day 1 or if you are one of those skeptics questioning his patriotism – well I guess after the fifty minute speech your questions have been answer and doubts have been reassured.

As the excitement dies down, cheers are silenced – the Democrats real work starts with the Obaiden (Obama-Biden) tandem taking the bus tour the battle states starting with Pennsylvania.

If there were any thoughts that the Clinton political dynasty had come to an end, you would be dead wrong. During the first Saturday of June of this year while on the steps of the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton officially suspended her presidential bid to the White House. But to everyone’s amazement, quiet talk had been going on about what Bill and especially Hillary planned to do in 2012 and beyond. So let me remind everyone…and I mean everyone…especially those who are talking about the “end” of the Clinton dynasty. I for one am not counting them out yet.

Webster defines the word “dynasty” as the succession of powerful families. Chelsea Clinton maybe an only child…she maybe your sweet unsuspecting daughter who would stand in the background and let her mother and father rise to the occasion, but her succession still has yet to be determined. So don’t just write the Clinton names onto a political tombstone. The Clinton’s were magnanimous at the end and they left their political footprints in the sand of the political beaches.

The Clintons are like the Carringtons or the Ewings in politics. The media loves every minute of them. BTW…I stand corrected…WE all love every minute of them. You either love them, or hate them. However, with the kind of campaign that Senator Hillary Clinton ran, she deserves to be considered for Emmy nominations.

By far, the Clintons did bring a lot of excitement, intrigue, and drama for many of us in the media. The media were all reporting about it right up until the very last minute just before former President Clinton took center stage yesterday evening in what is being described as adding the “cherry on the top” for the Democratic National Convention. The journalists, reporters, bloggers, pundits, and the satirists/comics…whether you agree with them or not…whether you had busted your butt to cover their campaign or not, all have to admit that the Clintons’ “made-for-television mini series” created a lot of discussion and furor during these past eighteen months. We all drooled over them, took time to watch them, took time to write or fight about them, and took well over twenty thousand hours worth of media coverage to present them to the public.

After tonight’s acceptance speech by the newly nominated Democratic Nominee, Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic National Convention will be able to claim two historic moments under it’s belt – having the first African American (Barak Obama) nominated for the highest position in this country and having the first woman (Hillary Rodham Clinton) ever to place second as a candidate for POTUS.

Just in the past 48 hours, the Clintons, with elegance, style and magnanimity showed not only the people inside the Pepsi Convention Center, the nation, and also the world why they “are THE Clintons.” In a supposedly “surprise” appearance by the presidential nominee himself last night, Barack Obama reminded an excited crowd of thousands inside the center how Senator Clinton “rocked” the house the night before, then gave accolades about how President Clinton, during his administration as a democratic president, had put the “American People” first.

When everything is said and done…after all of the debates are over…when political ads are no longer airing…after Americans have cast their votes…and when you have another president elected (provided we don’t have to go through another recount) the Clintons will still be THE Clintons. They are a permanent fixture on every life of every American. After this year, we may ask ourselves if the Clintons still have political clout. In some political circles, that belief is slowly diminishing. We all saw a glimpse of that during the democratic rules committee meeting. The Clinton supporters did not get their way, but had to make compromises.

When President Clinton took office in 1993, many of his “enemies” constantly tried to find things that would question his integrity and his administration. Whitewater surfaced and everyone including Hillary knew about Bill’s past philandering. However, when it came time to address his critics and the public, the pointing/wagging of President Clinton’s finger and the categorical denials were repeatedly played over by the media. The squelched impeachment is historic and will become connected to his legacy.

People are now asking about the legacy of Senator Hillary Clinton. Many will say that her run for the White House, along with the garnering of over 18 million votes, and the way that she exited, suggests that she will endeavor to keep her clout and her political future possibilities open. And let’s not forget about Chelsea in 2020.

We have heard probably some of the most phenomenal speeches ever delivered during this convention – the combination of the pen, paper and minds – with goals from humanizing Barack Obama, taking back the White House, how John McCain and George Bush were “twins” (twin cities) – sound bites like “power of our examples not example of our power” – “18 million cracks in the glass ceiling” – “living the dream” – yet still these are all just a prelude of what is yet to come later on tonight when Senator Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Nomination from his party.

It would seem that the speeches done by candidates should convey more about themselves and what they personally think than what is pleasing to hear or what is “politically correct” to say to the public. Politicians are graded more on how they say it, than what they say…but to an extent, when politicians say something that is considered incorrect they become “meat” and truly victims of media scavengers and other media “birds of prey” looking for a juicy story.

Let’s face it…the public loves to hear about someone falling from grace…right????

Hillary’s second 3:00am ad. Actually this is the first time she mentioned her opponent’s name (i.e. John McCain) in the video.

A fast rebuttal from John McCain’s camp, their version of 3:00am.

This one is extra, from jedreport.

Source – hillaryclintondotcom, JohnMcCaindotcom and JedReport.

Die “Deutsch-Chinesische Gesellschaft e.V. – Freunde Taiwans” (leider ohne Internetseite) liefert im unregelmäßig erscheinenden “Taiwan-Info-Blitz” Nr. 163 das offizielle amtliche Wahlergebnis zur Wahl vom letzten Samstag. Wir erlauben uns die Mail hier wiederzugeben.

Kandidaten / Partei : Stimmen / Stimmenanteil

Ma Ying-jeou und Vincent C. Siew / Kuomindang (KMT): 7.658.724 / 58,45 %

Frank Chang-ting Hsieh und Su Tseng-chang / Demokratisch-progressive Partei (DPP): 5.445.239 / 41,55 %

Wahlberechtigt waren 17.321.622 Personen, die Wahlbeteiligung lag bei 76,33 %.

Damit ist Herr Ma zum Präsidenten der Republik China (Taiwan) und Herr Siew zum Vizepräsidenten gewählt. Der Amtsantritt ist am 20. Mai.

Außerdem konnte in Verbindung mit den Wahlen in zwei Referenden abgestimmt werden. Die Frage im ersten (von der regierenden Partei DPP initiierten) Referendum an die Wähler lautete, ob sie einen Beitritt zu den Vereinten Nationen unter dem Namen Taiwan unterstützen. An diesem Referendum beteiligten sich 35,82% (6.201.677 Wähler). Davon waren 94,01 % dafür.

Im zweiten (von der Oppositionspartei KMT initiierten) Referendum lautete die an die Wähler gestellte Frage, ob sie eine Wiederaufnahme der Mitgliedschaft in den Vereinten Nationen unter dem Namen Republik China, Taiwan oder einer anderen angemessenen Bezeichnung befürworten. An diesem Referendum beteiligten sich 35,74 % (6.187.118 Wähler). Davon waren 87,27 % dafür.

Vom Referendumsgesetz ist für einen einzelnen Referendumsantrag eine Mindestbeteiligung von 50 % der für die Referenden zugelassenen Wahlberechtigten vorgeschrieben. Weil folglich keines der beiden Referenden die gesetzlichen Voraussetzungen erfüllt, wurden beide abgelehnt.

Weitere Informationen zum Wahlergebnis können hier abgefragt werden:

http://www.cec.gov.tw (in Chinesisch) bzw. http://www.gio.gov.tw/elect2008/ und http://vote2008-3.nat.gov.tw/en (in Englisch)

The last time our country held elections, not even one person asked me whether I was a registered voter. This year, before Simba announced no one asked. In the last six days alone, almost everyone is interested in whether I’m going to vote this year! I don’t see why anyone would not want to go and vote. It’s free, in a country infamously known for its extremely high inflation rates, anything that goes for free I’m getting. I saw condoms in some shop the other day, with a big sticker that said FREE but no one was taking any, so I walk to the assistant and I ask are they really free or do I have to buy something first? She says they are free totally, and so everytime I walk into that shop, I really have to resist the urge to keep getting more and more!

But anyway, back to elections. I’m really hoping that this year we will have a bigger turnout at the polls, like I was saying, I don’t see why people shouldn’t. In a country where queues are everywhere, I’m not going to mind queuing for a while to cast my vote. I can even see big business at the polls, vendors now target queues like you’ve never seen before.

My worry however is the rural folks. And the media. And our Presidential Candidates. I was kumusha last week and I was very disappointed to see that people were not even aware our darling Simba is in the race. With such few days to go, this is bad news. Rural folks are good at going to the poll, they almost always exercise that right in large numbers (or so we’ve been told), and if one candidate is not known to them, I don’t see how that candidate can win, seriously. And since our media tend to have a bias towards the usual candidate, the others just have to do way much more. Really if they could go around the country in 20 days they should, and visit every homestead, in every village of every province. The media is really being a condom to progress, I wish I could reach every corner of this country with this blog.

But still, Zimbabwe, lets go and vote.

Tags: Zimbabwe, Harare, Elections