But not as an elected officials, at least not literally. Instead, students all over the world have the opportunity to join the Model G8 Youth Summit held in Milan, Italy, March 15- 21, 2009. This simulation, to take place parallel to the G8 meeting in Italy, provides a great chance to get an inside look at the obscure working of the Big Eight, controversial as they may be. During the negotiations, participants will work out an official communiqué that will be handed over to government representatives from the G8 states.

With all the controversy and protest sorrounding the G8, the organizing NGO points out that the purpose of the youth summit is “to make the G8 summit more transparent and (…) introduce a younger generation’s goals, visions, ideas, and ways of solution into the G8 process.” Therefore, this is not a protest camp - but not a group of yes-sayers, either. Instead, an opportunity to learn more about G8, explore the workings and limits of negotiations in that setting, and voice constructive criticism.

All the while participants will get to know students from all over the world and their unique perspectives while staying in beautiful Milan.

The positions to be filled for each country are

• Head of State
• Sherpa
• Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Minister of Economics
• Minister of Finance
• Minister of Development
• Minister of Environment
• Minister of Defence
• Expert: climate change
• Expert: intellectual property rights vs. humanitarian aid
• Expert: Corporate Social Responsibility and financial instituitions: financial sustainability

Additionally to the G8 countries USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Japan, and Russia the so-called O5 Outreach States Brasil, China, Mexico, India, and South Africa will need representation as well as.

To apply, you need to have student status and proper English knowledge (which I guess is presumed if you are reading this blog right now). Send in a resume and the application form to your country’s committee. More info on the application process can be found here for the German delegation, and at g8youthsummit.org for all other countries.

But hurry, the deadline is Thursday, November 20, 2008 for the German team, and is approaching for the other countries’ teams, too. Don’t miss it!

The legal measure only temporarily outlaws the automated link from wikipedia.de to the de.wikipedia.org site, which is operated through the US mother company. By directly writing in that link, one still reaches the German wikipedia site, including the entry from which this story has taken its start: the one about Lutz Heilmann himself. Therefore, internet superbrain Heilmann has caused more trouble for himself than anyone else.

The Unfitting Past

The spark of controversy partly derives from the past of Heilmann, who was born in eastern Germany in 1966, when it was still the German Democratic Republic (GDR). A member of left-wing Die Linke, reports surfaced shortly after his election to the Bundestag in 2005 that he had been a member of the Ministry of State Security until its collapse after the German reunification in 1990. Encompassing qualities of a domestic intelligence service and a specialized police force, the Stasi was one of the elements used to surpress the eastern German population.

Officially Stated

Heilmann himself mentions a prolonged military service with the Ministry’s department for personal protection in his official biography. German magazine Spiegel reported on this matter back in 2005 and attributes to this deparment the “highly professional and armed protection” of the political elite of the GDR. The information about his work for the Stasi had made its way onto the German wikipedia site about Heilmann. By party regulations, he should’ve told his fellow party members about his past (the failure to do so he regretted yet kept his elected post).

Stasi Past and Short Message Present

Yet plain domestic trouble in sync with defamation seems to play the larger part in this. It was reported in the media this year that Heilmann had sent his former boyfriend threatening text messages after their separation - information that possibly surfaced during internal struggles of his home state’s party and which he maintains is incorrect. A court has already issued a cease-and-desist statement regarding these rumors, which were reportedly included in a former version of the wikipedia entry. The one online at this point does not refer to any short message situation and neither adresses other rumors.

Technically, this should mean that we might be able to reach the German site directly again soon, as Heilmann told Focus magazine that he “does not intend to infringe the right to free speech” and will retract the ban as soon as the passages in question are deleted.

Laugh Or Cry?

As a reader-blogger at Die Zeit puts it, one doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this incredible action. Before starting to feel sorry for Heilmann as the victim of the spreading of false information it must not be forgotten that if the Stasi existed today it would have a feast spying out information about its own citizens. I am inclined to lean towards crying that members of the oppresive government institutions of former GDR manage to go through life today seemingly without regret for any of their past actions, and without any sense of tact on top of that. It is ironic that someone who worked at such an institution now turns to the legal system to help him clear his own reputation of defamation.

Which leads to the laughing part: By the legal ban on the wikipedia link, anyone who tried to use the site today has read about Heilmann’s measure. Add the mainstream media reporting, and you have a much bigger damage to his public image than the information provided at the wikipedia site before. So now at least we have a good bit of Schadenfreude to go with our anger.

By Jessica Binsch

This was the perfect occasion for LA’s hipster crowd to sport their “unique” vintage style, look pretentious, and to– needless to say – network. Thus, Gondry’s devotees lined up in hundreds to worship the #68 of Stuff White People Like and killed time sipping Fair Trade latte-to-go and trying to reach a FOAF on their iPhones to get into the museum without waiting in the line. Actually, if you wanted to see Gondry himself in person, you should have arrived at least three hours before; otherwise you had to be content to seat yourself in the telecast room (like me). At least you could feel a little cooler for arriving nonchalantly in the early evening… or not.

Gondry turned out to be a pretty entertaining interlocutor, unlike his awful interviewer who, by the way, worked for USA Today (sic!). He seemed to have attended a workshop called “How to interview an artsy French guy”, according to his terribly unfunny remarks. For instance, after showing the extraordinarily beautiful music video of Mad World by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules, apparently shot in wintry Brooklyn, he asked Gondry: “So, tell me about this shoot. I bet it was cold, huh?” being the only one laughing about this, err… joke. Overall, the USA Today contributor was dreadfully stiff and inflexible, and he couldn’t keep up with Gondry’s quick wit and charming quirkiness. However, Mr. USA Today had his funny moment when he couldn’t stop coughing after choking on his water, even when the next video had started, and it didn’t cross his mind to remove the microphone.

Explaining his work on Be Kind Rewind, the French director and screenwriter mentioned his tendency to “induce chaos” and create “those Ed Wood situations” in order to “make things smooth”. He explained how he would deliberately do unpredictable things on set to unsettle the actors and to make them less focused on their own performance. Gondry criticized American actors, interestingly enough, especially the male ones, for paying so much attention to their appearance on screen. A little imperfection doesn’t hurt. Yet, “as a director, you have to constantly pretend to know what you’re doing”, he added.

Since an estimated 90 percent of the audience were likely to be Björk-lovers, they showed the music video of Declare Independence and Gondry talked about his collaboration with the, let’s say, headstrong Icelandic artist. Though the musician is infamous for her resoluteness and considerable intransigence, Gondry assured that he enjoyed working with Björk and that he admires how “hardcore” she is. Moreover, they share a contempt for potheads: “Björk and I, we hate pot smokers.” He further complained about his weed-smoking friends who want to convince him of their habit : “I don’t wanna do it and then I get upset!” It would have been interesting to know how many in the audience agreed with him in that respect. Contrary to many people’s belief that his work is heavily influenced by substantial drug use, Gondry also added that he couldn’t have shot that video in two days if he had been on drugs.

Despite their slight irritation concerning the filmmaker’s disdain for drugs (we’re still in California), the crowd was predictably pleased with Gondry’s criticism of American corporate capitalism. He uttered his doubts concerning working with film distributors or publishers as they always try to imitate his style in terms of the production of album art, posters, and other pop culture items. When asked about the White Stripes’ appearance on The Simpsons – where Bart ‘battles’ Meg and Jack White in a scene referencing Gondry’s The Hardest Button to Button video – the director said he was flattered and tried to use that footage for his DVD, but they wouldn’t let him. With a lot of French drama, he exclaimed: “Tell me, how fair is that?”

The last question was asked by a guy in the audience who had attentively noted that Gondry’s work was influenced by dreams and who wanted to know whether the artist ever has lucid dreams. Gondry’s priceless answer: “Yeah… but I have to admit, it’s always about disgusting sex.”

By Melanie A. Wolske

Instead, applicants for seats within an Obama Administration have to bare it all, as the New York Times reports. Questions extend not only to all of one’s own past, but to the spouses’ as well. One can just imagine those in question wishing they hadn’t uploaded all those pictures of them getting wasted at a frat house onto facebook! Oh yeah, the glories of the communication age. Also, any pseudonyms that “might cause embarassement to you, your family, or the president-elect” need to be named (been chatting with Mandy lately?).

Note to anyone interested in a future job with the White House: Watch what you say, post, upload, or pass yourself of as. It’ll come back to haunt you one day.

Prop 8: Like Icing on the Change?

On September 21, 1996, a Republican Congress passed the bill, and then-President Bill Clinton signed into law the historic Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states. According to “About.com: Lesbian Life,” Obama opposed DOMA (however, not as a senator).

With the “yes”-vote on Prop 8 last week, Massachusetts and Connecticut thus remain the only two states in which same-sex marriage is legal. In 2000, Vermont became the first state to adopt a civil unions law, granting gay and lesbian couples the same state benefits, civil rights, and protections to same-sex couples as to married couples. Since, New Jersey (2006), and New Hampshire (2007) have followed suit. Domestic partnership bills, another way of extending legal rights to same-sex couples, have been passed in the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington.

(Click here for a rundown on state-by-state marriage license laws)

Change in Sight?

In his 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, a young Senator Obama proclaimed:

“There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America – there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.”

It was this speech, which rocketed Obama to the higher echelons of US politics, and secured him a seat at the table of great American political orators. But is Obama all talk?

Under the official Obama homepage section, “Issues,” a clear stance on gay marriage is nowhere to be found - not under “Family,” or “Faith,” nor under “Education,” “Civil Rights” or “Ethics.”

However, as this video shows, Obama is not for gay marriage, he is for civil union.

Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, yesterday, Nov. 10th, made this appeal:

“On or about December 1910,” Virginia Woolf wrote, “human character changed.” We can be much more specific: “On November 4, 2008, just after 11 pm Eastern, America changed” (human character remains rather intransigent).

The change was driven by two things: our country’s remarkable capacity for regeneration, and Barack Obama’s remarkable ability to tap into the better angels of our nature.

A country can change only to the extent that the individuals within it change (and some changes come slower than others, as evidenced by Prop 8 and the other gay marriage bans that passed on Tuesday). […] Now it’s Obama’s turn to pull off this rare presidential double play.

15 years ago, in 1993, former President Clinton rolled out another gay policy, which should become known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” What was meant to “[relax] the long-standing bar against gay men and women serving in the U.S. military,” notes a 2008 TIME article, today is seen as a “liability.” “It boiled down to this: the government would no longer ‘ask’ recruits if they were gay, and so long as military personnel didn’t ‘tell’ anyone of their sexual preference — and didn’t engage in homosexual acts — they were free to serve,” TIME writes. 

Then, Congress found:

The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.

But with so many challenges ahead, the questions remains, whether or not that is a debate Obama is going to be willing to take; and if yes, when? And while exit polls showed 96% of black voters voting for Obama during the recent election, exit polls from California’s Proposition 8 showed 70% of African American, and 53% of Latino, voters voting for the proposition that would ban same-sex minorities equal rights. 

Obama will need as big a wave as he can get riding into the White House, and there is already pressure on him to move swiftly once in there. But he needs to come out standing. No matter what he does, he could end up losing valuable support. For someone who has stressed the need, and ability, to reach across the table, this could prove as good a test as any.

In the Media: watch as Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann give their take on gay rights

Keith Olbermann: “If this country hadn’t redefined marriage, black people couldn’t marry white people”

Bill O’Reilly:

By Peter Dahl

Reconstructing Washington

Yesterday, Thursday 6^th, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (R-IL) accepted president-elect Obama’s offer to become White House chief of staff. Emanuel is the fourth-ranking member of the House, and has worked on President Clinton’s first campaign, as well as served as his White House adviser. Though highly esteemed for his political skills, his Chicago-style has earned him a reputation on the Hill. “He is that rare breed who can engage in a back-alley fight but also understands that there’s a time to set aside bare-knuckle fights and attempt to move an agenda,” said Rep. Putnam (R-Fla.) to the Washington Post. This same quality has led some pundits to question the message of change, Obama had promised during his campaign. With Biden already on board as VP, who will bring “new” to the White House?

Obama and Biden have already announced the co-chairs of the presidential transition team, Obama-Biden Transition Project: David Axelrod, top adviser to Obama – first in his 2004 Campaign for US Senator, and more currently as chief strategist of the Obama 2008 presidential campaign; John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and trusted Obama adviser; Pete Rouse, a Capitol Hill insider, and chief of staff to Obama; and, finally, Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser, and long-time friend, to Obama and family, as well as a Chicago lawyer.

Appointments for the new Cabinet are still unannounced, and uncertain, but, so far, speculation about top positions indicate a mix of “Washington insiders and high-profile business executives”:

• Secretary of State: Sen. John Kerry (MA) is currently considered to lead the race; but the list also included Sen. Chris Dodd (CT), Governor Bill Richardson (NW), and U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrook. Also, Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE) has been mentioned.
• Defense Secretary: Robert Gates, current defense chief, will be expected to stay for “a certain period”
• Secretary of Commerce: Leon Panetta, former Clinton White House chief of staff; Rick Parsons, Time Warner Chairman Dick Parsons
• Obama’s Business Brain Trust (aka “the economic team”): Warren Buffet, investor and businessman, and Forbes Richest Man in the World during first half of 2008; Robert Rubin, former U.S. Treasury Secretary; Larry Summers, Harvard University professor; Eric Schmidt, CEO and chairman of Google; Indra Nooyi, CEO and chairman of Pepsi

The news today of rising unemployment rates puts pressure on Obama to appoint an administration that will instill trust in the new government’s ability to tackle the problem.

Note: Barack Obama has just given his first briefing as president-elect, and did not expound on further appointments, nor answered questions about possible candidates

No Recovery Till 2010?

Today, Friday, the U.S. government announced the highest unemployment rate (6.5%) since 1994. October marked the 10^th consecutive month of decline on the job market. Since August, the U.S. economy has lost 651,000 jobs, October accounting for 240,000 jobs alone, totaling 1.2 million lost jobs so far this year.

Meanwhile, “[wages] have effectively shrunk for most workers, as rising costs for food and fuel have more than absorbed meager increases in pay. That has further crimped American proclivities to spend,” the New York Times reported today.

On Monday, Nov. 3, Marketwatch.com reported that the auto industry had its darkest day in 25 years, making October, “probably the worst industry sales month in the post-WWII era.” A possible merger with Chrysler on the horizon, General Motors have announced massive cuts to contain financial losses. But even with new and more eco-friendly cars slated for a 2009 release, credit still remains tight despite the taxpayer-financed $700 billion bailout.

However, it is not just the stagnation on the big-items market that has taken its toll on unemployment rates. As consumers have become more budget-minded, even general merchandise stores laid off 18,000 workers last month. And though the season for Christmas shopping is fast approaching, skeptics believe, those numbers are not looking to improve.

Facing almost unreasonably high expectations, this is sure to pose one of the biggest immediate challenges to P

president-elect Barack Obama’s new administration, which is bound to disappoint some high-hope voters. President Obama has laid out a detailed plan to stimulate growth, anticipating to generate 5 million so-called “green collar” jobs over the next 10 years. However, experts predict that the short-term effects of his plan will be minimal, and that the US will likely lose another 500,000 jobs between now and inauguration day, January 20th, 2009, ascending unemployment rates to 7% - numbers not seen since 1993. Some experts warn that the US will not see a recovery until 2010 – alarming news for the world’s most important economy. “Superman couldn’t change what’s in store for the U.S. economy. It’s going to be ugly,” said Rich Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research, to CNN on Wed. 5^th.

In comparison, EU (EU27 ) unemployment rates remained stable at 7%; while the so-called Euro-zone (countries using the Euro) saw rates stabilize at 7.5% - a .2% increase since September 2007. In Germany, a 15-year low was reached in October, when the unemployment rate fell to just under 3 million people, despite the financial crisis. This is a 2 million decrease since 2005, when Chancellor Angela Merkel took office.

Peter Dahl

At U Street Corridor, Reps Won't Find Rest

Black Broadway
3:40 p.m. Green line from College Park, Maryland, to Washington, D.C.
Greenbelt metro station: the beginning and end. I’m struggling to find a symbolism more befitting this day, Nov. 4th. “The beginning and end.” The train is almost empty, save the few voices announcing their soon arrival at friends’ or families’, set to watch as the nation turns the page on a new chapter of American (political) history. It’s rainy and gray as I squint my eyes, trying to turn the gloomy downpour into drops of catharsis. In America, today is the day of reckoning; the “final verdict on eight years [of failed policies],” as Obama likes to call it. Regardless of where one stands, November 4th, 2008, will be a day of either gloom of catharsis; the beginning or end. Some things not even man can control, no matter how hard we try. But today, that won’t keep people from at least trying.

4:00 p.m. Arrival at the U Street Corridor. “Black Broadway,” as it was known in its heyday during the first half of the 20th century. The home of legends: jazz greats “Duke” Ellington (a DC native), Sarah Vaughn, Billy Holiday, and Miles Davis were U Street staples, and, as the story goes, it’s where Dr. Martin Luther King grabbed a spoon at Ben’s Chili Bowl after his “I Have a Dream” speech.

After the assassination of Dr. King on April 4th, 1968, U Street erupted into 4 days of riots, destroying businesses, and causing both unemployment and insurance rates to reach for the sky. Meanwhile, the gates to an inferno of drugs and prostitution seemed to open ever wider with each door closing on “Black Broadway.” The winds of change first swept through the Corridor with the onset of the 1990s, and today is considered to have just the right degree of luring-but-safe ruggedness to make it hip, in a city which, on the surface, tends to get lost in suits, ties and pearly whites.

Politics is for people, by people; a perpetual negotiation of grants – of trust, of power, and of liberty. Win some, lose some. While former D.C. mayor Marion Barry was shunned for being caught smoking crack cocaine at downtown Vista International Hotel in 1990, black Washingtonians assured his 1995 reelection despite a 6 months prison stint: Barry had reached out to the black community, he had created jobs. As gentrification has pushed housing prices up, and the prostitutes down a few blocks, many of the neighborhood’s black residents fear to be pushed away.

U Street is all about politics. And here, as in the rest of country, the people have learned about the proteanism of politics the hard way. And yet, on this rainy day, no one squints. On Black Broadway, everyone’s eagerly anticipating the biggest show in town: the 2008 Presidential Election. Judgment Day is here.

The Other Bradley Effect
“If my people, which are called by my name,” 50-year-old Bradley replies in a boisterous voice, when I ask him, whether he’s anxious about tonight. He has just voted for Obama, and has been voting since he was 18. Bradley halts in the rain outside of Garnett Patterson Jr. High School, doubling today as “Precinct 22” polling station. “2 Chronicles, 7:14…,” he adds for emphasis, recognizing that I am still perplexed by his first answer.

To Bradley, this election is about redemption; he has said his final prayer in the voting booth, and now it’s in God’s hands. We both ponder the scene before us in bemusement: I, 26, white, and ever so European; Bradley, 50, black, DC native, telling me that the fate of the nation is in the hands of God.

“They could put both in office, for all I care,” says a withered voice behind me. A short man passes me, and joins Bradley in contained excitement. He is easily in his late-60s, with keen eyes behind tinted glasses in brown plastic rims, gleaming from under a red baseball cap. They shake hands, and nod consentient. “But you just voted, so you must believe there is something you can do, right?” I try. “Well, I’m voting for everybody else; for the future generation. Obama, a black person, that’s historical,” says Bradley, and shakes my hand goodbye.

Captain Crystal
Inside, a speech-impaired woman greets me warmly over a steaming Styrofoam box. Admittedly, reports of endless lines and long waiting hours had me bracing for a long, busy day “in the field.” “It’s been crazy out here,” Captain Crystal, three-time Precinct Captain, reassures me, as I, to my great surprise, discover a meager line of 6 people waiting to vote – in 5 minutes, it’ll be down to 2, tops.  “It’s the rain,” the Captain insists, “just give it another hour.”

Crystal boasts how this year, they’ve done their best to accommodate the large turn-out by providing Optical Scan screens to ensure that impaired voters, too, get to cast their ballot. “Everybody wants to vote,” Captain Crystal tells a small team of local young journalists from Howard University and myself, “so we’ve trained volunteers, line control workers, and hired management to make sure to help them – the elderly, the illiterate, disabled people, and the deaf and blind. We’ll help them vote, but we’re not going to tell them who to vote for.”

Captain Crystal is markedly proud. She and her team has been at the station since 6 a.m., and don’t expect to leave Precinct 22 before 10 p.m. She bolts to and fro.

“International man! Over there, that’s the press area,” the Captain demands, pointing to a green paper patch stretched along one side of the polling room floor. “International man,” that’s me. I hear the budding journalists from Howard U giggle behind me, strutting their notebooks and digital cameras. They’re not a day over 20. Meanwhile, I try to “capture the moment” with my 2 megapixel camera on my Nokia phone. My digital camera ditched me last weekend at the Beauty Bar in NYC, and has probably been living it up with Cosmo-sipping hipsters ever since.

Precinct 22: No irregularities, no nothing. No 2004 voter suppression scenario, no dirt to dig up. This ship won’t sink on Captain Crystal’s watch.

The Promise
It’s rainy still. A stocky, middle-aged man greets me with a gratified smile, and calmly seeks shelter under his umbrella. He lends an air of class to the grayness – no squinting necessary. Trivial exchanges give way to conversation. Meet Robert Harp, self-proclaimed long-time Democrat (with the exception of Gerald Ford in 1974).

“What’s your proudest moment during this election?” I ask him. “Obama has run a noble campaign. He’s stuck with the issues, and stated them clearly. And he’s provided comprehensive solutions,” Robert begins. “He could’ve played the race-card, but he didn’t,” he continues, signaling a silent nod to the historicity of U Street, and the polling station behind me, where a majority of the voters I have witnessed today are African American.

We discuss McCain and the early primary debates. “He could have made a good president,” Robert says, “but then he started bolting from one position to another,” reiterating the claims that McCain has appeared “erratic” in the final stages of the campaign. VP pick Palin, the negativity, and then the economic meltdown: “the darkest moments of the campaign.”

My jacket turns a darker shade of grey, as our conversation continues under the drizzling DC sky. From a working-class upbringing in Brooklyn, NY, through making peace with one’s roots, to a successful life in Boston and DC; Robert’s life reaffirms that the appeal of Obama’s story, in many ways, rests in the shared experience of the American people.

Our conversation makes a last stop at the debate over “Barack the Wealth Spreader,” as Palin dubbed him, in what seemed a blatant attempt to invoke fears so effectively aroused during the Red Scare of the 1940s and 50s.

“What about the American promise? Do you suspect that’s why there’s so much talk of the middle-class? And if there’s an upper- and a middle-, then there must also be a lower-class,” I reason. “The ideal of individual liberty ranks high with Americans. Are they afraid to constrain that liberty by identifying with the lower-class?” Robert’s eyes light up. “That’s a keen insight,” he says. “What I’ve learned from this election is that we are one nation. But in the last years, that has been constrained.”

For millions of Americans like Robert, the 2008 Election is not just about reclaiming Washington, but about reclaiming the nation – the promise. Or as Obama would have it: reclaim the audacity of hope.

I bid Robert farewell, and head down U Street. Still rain. I squint my eyes as I pass a barbershop. 4 kids are lined up, getting groomed for the moon landing of our time - a new frontier - while their parents are out trying to guide the hand of God.

Peter Dahl

[Show as slideshow]

We remember watching the New Hamsphire primary and I’m sure government teachers around the world rejoice at how much students and the general public have learned this year about the US- election system. Also, pundits have regained credibility, if boringness, too, by spoiling the fun and calling the winner already before election day.

But for us - No more scanning the net for funny skits of candidates’ lapses, no more wondering how expensive a couple of suits need to be, or if a middle name has any implication for leadership qualities. Really, what now?

Tapmag will give you a roundup of election night in Berlin soon, but for the moment, we second what German media journalist and blogger Stefan Niggemeier has posted here.

And of course, not to forget more election fun coming up next year, this time in Germany. We only need Frank- Walter Steinmeier to be a little more like Barack Obama and it might actually be interesting.

This headline appeared in the New York Times on November 7, 1908. The paper had organized an election watch party (watching people read telegrams that is, of course) at Hotel Adlon. Around 200 American ex-pats partied the night away. When at 2 in the morning the victory of William Howard Taft was announced, a giant American flag was lowered and enthusiasm among the apparently heavily Republican crowd “rose to fever heat”. “Such scenes had never been witnessed in the memory of the oldest Berlin inhabitants,” the Times proclaimed.

While the Adlon for some reason won’t hold a gay party this election night, there are other options to have a gay good time on November 4:

Democrats Abroad Berlin
Public Multi-Media Viewing of Election Results
10.30 pm till Sunrise on the 5th
Advance tickets €3.50  Reservations: 0049 30 242 5969
Tickets €5 at the Door. All tickets include:
Obama button, DJ, Live Music, TV, etc. For Sale: Food and Sunrise Drinks, Raffle
Babylon Theater, Rosa Luxemburg Strasse 30, 10178 Berlin
U Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz

Republicans Abroad Berlin
“November Surprise Election Party”.  “Watch live how the Republican ticket McCain/Palin comes from behind and leaves the ‘liberal elite media’ in Europe and the United States puzzled.”
Wahlkreis Café, Reinhardtstraße 37, 10117 Berlin
S+U Friedrichstraße
Note: RSVP to Jan Burdinski (jburdinski{ät}republicansabroad.de; 0049 170 440 3333)

John-F.-Kennedy-Institute for North American Studies.
Student-run election watch party, with film screenings and discussions.
Starts at 6 pm.
Free admittance
Lansstraße 7-9, 14195 Berlin
U Dahlem Dorf

Election Night Lounge of the U.S. Embassy and the German Marshall Fund
Starts at 11.45 pm
Hauptstadtrepräsentanz Deutsche Telekom AG, Französische Straße 33, 10117 Berlin
U Hausvogteiplatz
Note: By invitation only

Amerikahaus Berlin
with interviews and discussions
Starts at 6pm
Hardenbergstraße 22-24, 10623 Berlin
S+U Zoologischer Garten
Note: Appears to be sold out!

Got more places to be? Write a comment or email us at editors{ät}tapmag.net