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Here are the words which John McCain and Barack Obama used most frequently in their acceptance speeches they delivered at their party’s conventions. Draw your own conclusions (but be so nice and tell us about them in the comments).

John McCain

Barack Obama

The wordclouds were created with the help of wordle.net.

In the US, every little district has several public positions which are filled by electing candidates. So you want to be elected Judge, County Commissioner or Sheriff in your community? Drawing from my intimate knowledge of local elections from a recent internship at the Democratic Party Office in a county in Michigan, here is what you need to know to start canvassing.

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The US Presidential elections are finally entering the homestretch after a seemingly endless qualify season. USA Today has laid out the last meters in great detail. They describe how the campaigns try to prepare in advance for the events they know about and how they react to all the unscripted surprises that might happen before it’s all over November 4th. Prime example are the Olympic Games, during which both candidates will find it hard to generate substantial press coverage of their campaigns.

Here’s what fills the calendars of both John McCain and Barack Obama.

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Today, July 5, is the Day of the Kiss. It’s like Christmas time, only without the mistletoe! Kiss your love, your crush, and whoever you feel the need to- when better to do that than today?

And when you’re done (and in Berlin), head to Brandenburg Gate to celebrate the opening of the U.S. Embassy. The tapmag team will be there!

In Germany and many other European countries, these past weeks have been spent in a state of emergency, with all social activities focused on one thing: Soccer! Find out why the American Embassy is giving out travel warnings after the jump.

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Ever since the HBO series Sex and the City ended four years ago, its fans have been waiting for the announced movie. Now, it has finally arrived. Finally? Something has gotten lost on the way.

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If you’re free on Friday night and you are in Berlin, head down to the Skizum Studios, for the free screening of the Vietnam documentary “Sir! No Sir!” The movie tells the – relatively unknown – story of the underground GI resistance movement during the Vietnam War.

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When future generations are going to judge the presidency of George W. Bush, they will base their decision to a large degree on the Iraq war and the false pretenses under which it has been started. By now, it is clear that President Bush and his aides – Rumsfeld, Powell, Rize, Cheney – proved themselves wrong about the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, about Saddam Hussein’s co-operation with Al Qaeda, about the publicly announced reasons to invade Iraq.

The following video called “Leading To War” collects TV appearances of members of the Bush administration before the American troops began their march towards Bagdad, so that they can be held accountable for their statements. It is comprised entirely of news footage, presented chronologically from President Bush’s State of the Union address in January 2002, when he proclaimed an “Axis of Evil,” and ends with the announcement of U.S. military action in Iraq on March 19, 2003. The video is completely left uncommented, which makes the cold rhetoric sound even more chilling.

The video was produced by Walden Woods, where it can also be downloaded in its entire length. Another comprehensive resource for statements of the Bush administration is The War Card; the project aims to build up a searchable database of all relevant expressions of views and facts which led to the war. All in the hope that a more informed public will make the right judgment about this administration, as well as its successors.

In the late Palezoic and Mesozoic times, a supercontinent is said to have existed, which was comprised of all the continental crust of the earth. It’s name is a composition of the Greek words for all and earth – Pangea.

Pangea Day – tomorrow – is a joined effort to turn this supercontinent into reality again. It will bring together an audience of 500 million or more people in a worldwide filmfest, which you can follow in thousands of venues around the globe, or simply on your PC screen. The festival features two dozen outstanding short films, the crème de la crème of more than 2,500 entries worldwide.

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If you are interested in American politics – of course you are, why bother reading this blog if not? – here are two dates to mark in your calendar: [Read more]