Barack = Peach

I almost forgot to post his picture. Barack 1. It was almost like a Hungarian prediction, but really it is a street sign. Barack is peach in Hungarian, while the u is short for utca meaning street. If you are curious, the small sign is a warning that the dog will bite. Perhaps, it is also a warning to Republicans that the dog Obama promised his girls when they get to the White House.

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America the Beautiful

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Fired It Up!

We went to a Democrats Abroad meeting last night. Our rep is going to a conference of all Dems Abroad committee chairs from around the world. The idea is to bring ideas of what we as Americans abroad can do for our government and what we want our government to be doing for the rest of the world. It has been a long time since I have been proud to say I am an American when traveling, but I can again hold my head high. We watched McCain's speech conceding the election. We were all moved yet again at his spirit and eloquence. This was followed by Obama's acceptance speech and his stirring ability to light the fire in our soul for a new America. Then we back tracked to watch a short, humorous Obama in the video now titled "Fire it up!" Enjoy!

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Yes We Did

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My Worst Nightmare

Last night, we had eight others from Hungary for Obama come over with their laptops and mobile phones. Using Jajah accounts, we called undecided voters in Ohio, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. We worked in teams with one person on the computer and one on the phone, each pair making about 50 calls. It was a great feeling of being involved. This election, I have been more involved than ever before. A friend of ours sent this video. This is my worst nightmare, but I have voted already, so I am safe. Don''t make it your worst nightmare.

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The Obama Song (World of Friends): Bridges for Obama

Click to play

Bridges for Obama: American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama have been staging rallies abroad at world-famous bridges to show support for the Democratic presidential candidate and his pledge to span old political divisions.

The Obama Song (World of Friends): Japan-based American musical artists created and performed this song to celebrate Sen. Obama's historic candidacy and to inspire us all to change the world. Hungary is here as well as Democrats Abroad from a number of countries. It gives me chills to see the support and love.

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The Final Stretch

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Mask My Political Views

The following is from Mother Jones online. Isn't it nice to see that we Americans are so transparent, even our Halloween purchases reflect our political leaning? "According to Fortune magazine, more than one Halloween mask retailer has claimed they can correctly predict who will win the White House. Spirit Halloween, the largest seasonal Halloween vendor in the US, says Bush outsold Kerry two to one in 2004, Gore sold 14 percent fewer masks in 2000, and Clinton masks won with 71 percent in 1996.

We decided to update Fortune's presidential mask findings for 2008 thus far; here's what we found.

At Buycostumes.com, which tracks the sales of its paper masks, Obama is currently ahead 54 to 46 percent against McCain, though Sarah Palin masks are outselling Joe Biden masks three to one. Buycostumes.com's poll page has a US map with state breakdowns, including a few noteworthy results: Texas and Mississippi have gone blue this year, while Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine favor Republican masks. The erratic results suggest that some are buying masks to support while others to mock the candidates, though in the past, total sales—regardless of motive—have predicted the winning candidate.

Over at Amazon.com a running tally updates each hour with the latest sales of vinyl and paper masks. Obama's ahead there, too, though his mask is slightly cheaper: $12.90 versus $12.95 for McCain.

Overall this year, Obama is ahead, with 66 percent of national sales. His mask has hefty margins in all of the swing states, though McCain's is close in Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

But nothing is set in stone: Most costume sales are made in the last two weeks before the holiday. Can your Halloween garb affect the election? Notes Buycostumes.com, "This poll can be bought!'"

—Brittney Andres

As you can see here, both candidates are a Head, so no clear winner.

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Schlep By Sarah Silverman

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The Candidates and Travel Concerns

This is reprinted from the Frommer's Newsletter http://www.frommers.com/articles/5526.html.

Obama and McCain Strike Out on Travelers' Issues

By Sascha Segan October 8, 2008

In this intense presidential campaign, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have talked about many issues. But as air travel gets more crowded, delayed and expensive, roads and bridges crumble, and fewer foreign travelers decide to brave our strict security procedures to enter the U.S., the two candidates have said very little about issues affecting travelers and the travel industry.

In tough economic times, travel industry issues are very relevant to Americans' pocketbooks. According to the Travel Industry Association, travel and tourism is a $1.6 trillion industry generating $110 billion in tax revenue a year. The industry employed 7.5 million people in 2006, and that's not counting all of the folks who work at stores, restaurants and other venues patronized by both travelers and locals.

We emailed each campaign twice with a list of questions; both declined to respond. We won't take it personally. The Travel Industry Association has also tried to ask the candidates what they're going to do for travelers, and they seem to have been ignored, too.

We've marshaled the candidates' position statements, press and third-party reports to try to suss out what the candidates think about our struggling airlines, our broken-down railways, our crumbling roads and the inbound travel industry.

Air Travel

Airlines are merging. Flight delays are rampant. Airfares are going up, and people are getting stuck on the tarmac for hours at a time. What do Obama and McCain think?

Obama's transportation position paper blames "a record number of flight delays" on "an outdated air-traffic control system and overscheduling at airports already operating at full capacity ... Moreover, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has failed to work well with our nation's air traffic controllers, neglecting to treat them with the respect they deserve. Obama will work with Congress to modernize the nation's air traffic control system and he will direct the new FAA Administrator to work cooperatively with the frontline air traffic controllers to restore morale and improve working conditions and operations at the agency." According to Popular Mechanics Obama favors hiring more air traffic controllers.

If you read between the lines of a highly polemic AFL-CIO page on McCain's aviation policies you'll find that McCain is interested in privatizing or contracting out air traffic control. He's for allowing foreign airlines to compete on U.S. routes, and for more foreign investment in the U.S. airline industry. The AFL-CIO opposes these things, but needless to say, many other people support these ideas.

Neither candidate has stepped forward for travelers on "passenger rights" issues, including regulating whether airlines should provide comfort or compensation to passengers affected by delays and cancellations.

Rail Travel

Bring up the subject of Amtrak, and you'll find some of the starkest differences in the candidates' positions.

McCain has been one of Amtrak's greatest opponents for years. He has opposed increasing Amtrak funding and referred to Amtrak as a symbol of government waste, according to the Boston Globe. “Amtrak should be restructured to eliminate its reliance on the American taxpayers and to allow for its privatization," he said in 2002, according to a Brookings Institution report from August 25.

Obama says he is "a strong supporter of federal financial support for Amtrak. Obama believes we need to reform Amtrak to improve accountability. As president, Barack Obama will continue to fight for Amtrak funding and reform so that individuals, families and businesses throughout the country have safe and reliable transportation options. Barack Obama supports development of high-speed rail networks across the country. Providing passengers with safe high-speed rail will have significant environmental and metropolitan planning advantages and help diversify our nation's transportation infrastructure. Our domestic rail freight capacity must also be strengthened because our demand for rail transportation has never been greater, leaving many key transportation hubs stretched to capacity."

Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, is known as "Amtrak Joe" for his daily commute between Washington, D.C. and Delaware on Amtrak and his staunch support for increased funding for passenger rail.

Road Travel

For John McCain, energy policy and infrastructure policy are inseparable. "The nation cannot reduce its dependency on oil unless we change how we power our transportation sector," his Web site says.

McCain will offer a $5,000 tax credit for anyone who buys a zero-emission car; a $300 million prize for developing a viable electric car; a "rapid and complete" switch to "flex-fuel" ethanol-compatible vehicles; and enforcing mileage standards on carmakers.

McCain opposes a larger federal role in the transportation sector, according to the Brookings Institution.

Obama wants to increase those fuel-efficiency standards by 4 percent each year, provide a $7,000 tax credit for buying plug-in hybrid cars, and mandate that all new cars be "flex-fuel." In his transportation plan, he also discusses investing heavily in roads, highways and bridges with a "National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank" that will finance projects to the tune of $60 billion over 10 years.

Inbound Tourism

Even as tourism to the US declines, the two candidates have been totally silent on issues affecting the huge inbound tourism industry. As Arthur Frommer recounts here on our site, "While other foreign countries are enjoying regular and substantial increases in their incoming tourism, the U.S.A. is welcoming fewer tourists in 2008 than visited our country in 2000. Recently, a Senior Vice President of the Travel Industry Association testified before a congressional committee that the shortfall in incoming foreign tourism had cost America "46 million visitors, $140 billion in lost visitor spending, $23 billion in lost tax revenueÂ… and 340,000 jobs."

The Travel Industry Association tried to get answers from the candidates, but got nothing.

"We have confidence that both could be leaders in striking the best balance between security and travel facilitation, but to date neither campaign has addressed travel issues in-depth," TIA senior vice president Geoff Freeman said diplomatically via e-mail.

In a blog post in the Orlando Sentinel, Obama criticized a potential government-sponsored tourism advertising campaign. "Because, look, money's tight right now. And there are a lot of potential uses for that money. And I think people know where South Beach is."

McCain has stayed mum on the issue of declining tourism to the U.S. On his Web site, he says he wants to "continue implementation of the US-VISIT comprehensive visitor security program." US-VISIT is an umbrella term for a bunch of controversial border security measures including fingerprinting visitors both as they enter and as they leave the country.

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One Picture is Worth...

a thousand words.

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Education of Candidates

Educational background of the Presidential candidates Barack Obama: Occidental College - Two years. Columbia University - B.A. political science, majored in international relations. Harvard - Juris Doctorate (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude Law Degree Joe Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctorate (J.D.) Law Degree John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899 Sarah Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A in journalism

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Tim Russert - We Miss You R.I.P.

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Obama's Vision with Pointer Sister: Yes We Can Can

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A Peach of a Guy

Barack means 'peach' in Hungarian.

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