Hi! Welcome to my web site devoted to all those Americans who, like me, find themselves away from home. I hope we can not only share our feelings, thoughts, hopes and fears, but also pass on advice about living abroad in a strange land - whichever land it may be. This is just the beginning, so please send suggestions if you like.
Please click here to send me an email.
| John Viescas finds the choicest tidbits of information buried away in the deepest recesses of the Internet and lets you know about them here. We hope you find them interesting. |
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John was born and raised in "The West-Texas Town of El Paso" (apologies to Marty Robbins) - son of a first generation Mexican-American and an immigrant from England. He went off to the University of Chicago in the late 1960s to study mathematics. Yes, he was there for the 1968 convention.
It was at the Lab for Astrophysics and Space Research that he discovered his talent with computers and left college to become one of the early computer "geeks." He later settled on databases as a specialty (he can show you how to perform searches in the Federal Election Commission donations database) and went on to become a best-selling author of books about Microsoft Access and the SQL database language. As a life-long Democrat, he's always been involved in politics in small to big ways. He worked for the local party in downstate Illinois (Republican country) in the early 70s, and campaigned vigorously for Howard Dean from Hawaii to Iowa in 2003 and 2004. He currently lives part of the year in Paris, France.
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Estimates range from six to seven million Americans live abroad (including military). If just 80% of them are of voting age, that's more than five million votes. The campaign hasn't publicized it much, but Obama's is the first campaign to ever have campaign staff working abroad. He has "precinct captains" appointed in several countries, including Great Britain, France, Canada, and the far east.
To help rake in these votes, Democrats Abroad has just produced a new ad on the internet.
Yes, that's Gwyneth Paltrow in the video!
Remember, there are potentially FIVE MILLION votes hanging around out there. Only 23,105 of them voted in the primary election - overwhelmingly (65.8%) for Obama.
According to the Huffington Post:
.. there are a variety of roadblocks, from the legal to the superficial, that dissuade people from registering. There were approximately 1 million requested ballots for the 2006 midterm election and more than 6 million estimated Democrats abroad.
If that gap can be closed, even slightly, it could be a boon for Obama. According to the group, four of the biggest swing states -- Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania -- receive among the highest number of requests for overseas ballots.
If any of you have friends living abroad, send them the video and this link to get registered and get a ballot.
Cross-posted on KOS.
So the pundits' verdict is in: Obama is too confident. It all would be funny if many people didn't seem to be inhaling this multimedia stink bomb as if it were fragrant truth.Read the entire article here.
Just for a start, industry types say the ad is wrong: In the Hollywood lexicon, Obama is not a celebrity. He's a rock star. (Note to McCain strategists: That's the difference between Jessica Simpson and Bono.)Oh, and the article in the LA Times wonders whether Paris' parents are concerned - they donated the max amount to McSame's primary campaign. No word on whether they'll contribute further or ask for their money back!
Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world.You can read the entire article here.
There aren’t nearly enough African-American voters in Waco to elect a Mayor without the support of White voters. When Mae was first elected, you might not have been able to find many White voters in Waco who would have admitted to voting for her. And yet, in the privacy of the voting booth, they did just that.Read the entire inspiring story here. By the way, Waco, Texas is my "home" voting location.
