Facebook, MySpace, and Social Networking – Will it affect the election like it does business?

Millions of people regularly use social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Skyrock Blog, StudiVZ, Hi5, Orkut ,Friendster, and Cyworld. Big audiences. Although often they are “Segmentable” and “Targetable”, no one has been able to monetize the audience.

Banners. Interstitials. Widgets. Surveys. Blogs. Etc. There is a ton of participation but little purchasing and transactions for businesses. Facebook PPC (for example) has been a disappointment to advertisers. Click-throughs and conversions are low.

It will be interesting to see if it will be the same for the U.S. Presidential Election. There are many Obama groups across all the platforms. Members of the groups are almost fanatical. Comments galore.

It will be interesting to see if these people get out to the polls and vote… or will it be a disappointment like the businesses experiences in the social networking world.

Supreme Court upholds 2nd Amendment - Right to bear arms

Th Supreme Court upholds 2nd Amendment - Right to bear arms…

What does our friend Bob have to say?

Tapped: My sister is a soldier in Iraq

Here is a chat with a young man from the west coast. The only information that has been changed is to protect the people’s identity. friend_of_TopOfTheThread’s sister is stationed in Iraq. His sister plans on attending medical school upon her return.

It is interesting to get a soldier’s family member’s opinions… (Stay with it. It is a chat so it may seem out of order at times.) Date of chat 6/21/08

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topofthethread: Does she get American news or newspapers?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: i think so

topofthethread: I admire everyone over there. I think they are doing a great job.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : do you have any relatives there?

topofthethread: No but a buddy of mine is in the marines. He was overseas and now is back in quantico.

topofthethread: Whether people agree or disagree with the “actions” overseas, it is important that our people feel supported

topofthethread: Does your sister and her group feel supported by us?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : I agree! I think that they know we’re behind them. It might be a bit disconcerting to hear the spiteful remarks of self-proclaimed liberals though.

topofthethread: I agree.

topofthethread: I can’t stand to hear it.

topofthethread: Does she feel like she’s in danger?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : it would be pretty naive if she didnt

topofthethread: Overall yes. But constantly.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: what I don’t get is the sheer number of people claiming how f—ing supportive they are of the war but never dared join up. most people have no clue what being deployed actually means. its so hypocritical.

topofthethread: yep

topofthethread: I would never imagine, pretend, to have any clue as to what it is like. We should simply 100% support the people.

topofthethread: And we should have a real strategy.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : being a relative of someone over there, I’m in favor of pulling the troops out as soon as possible. But everyone keeps telling me that this attitude would be destructive. how the heck would they know what’s best in this situation? noone does.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: the war is a fact. all we can do now is try to make the best of it.

topofthethread: Good point. The only fact is we have real, americans over there doing their jobs and risking their lives for us. That’s it. We do not know what would happen in any of the scenarios being presented.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: exactly. but apparently, these real people have become a politcal toy.

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topofthethread: Does your sister’s superiors give her any indication as to how long this action will last?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : nothing definite

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : in the end, it comes down to gov policy

topofthethread: how long is she enlisted for?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : for X years. XX months to go.

topofthethread: You and your folks must be counting the minutes

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: : yeah

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: i tried to talk her out of it, but she’s serious about studying, and we could never afford uni (we’re ‘XXXXXXXXXXees’), so…

topofthethread: So she enlisted purely for the money for college?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: no, if so, there would have been alternatives, the money offered kinda settled the discussion

topofthethread: Is she your younger sister?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: nope, older

topofthethread: what would she say if you told her you were going to enlist?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: I think she’d try to persuade me not to do it.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: after all, if all this was really for our country, and not just in the interest of it, I probably wouldn’t hesitate.

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: i don’t think the military would want me, though. I’m ….XXXXXXX

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: so…who are you gonna vote for?

topofthethread: Not sure. For such a great country, the choices are… McCain has more experience but I am afraid he will follow the current administration’s path. (If they had a plan it would have helped. Obama…

topofthethread: is this man of change but I have not seen any substance or answers.

topofthethread: My decision has not been made… yet…

topofthethread: And you?

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: not sure either. I don’t think experience is that important, after all, the president

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: is hardly gonna make any decisions without consulting his staff. And we live in a democratic system, so he doesn’t have that much power anyway. From the very start I was inclined to vote for Clinton, but she behaved crappily during the primaries.

topofthethread: i g2g. I wish you and your sister all the best and her speedy / healthy return to you and your family. ……………………….

friend_of_TopOfTheThread: ok

*** window is closed

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Regardless of the political climate in the U.S. please support our troops.

(photo blogs.sltrib.com)

America needs a one-term, bust-chops President

We all know this won’t happen because a first term president immediately starts his initial term with an eye on getting reelected…

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More than ever, America needs a tough, strategic leader.

We need a “person” who will get in office, not be afraid to ruffle feathers, and get things done. He / she needs to be soley focused on selflessly stopping the current tailspin of the U.S.

We need that SOB CEO-type person who is going to get the country from point A to point B… reagardless of all obstacles… join him, help him, or get out of the way.

Unfortunately, The President always need the backing of one of the parties in order to get legislation and action completed. For this exercise, let’s make believe he can be that hard-ass CEO and needs to get these 3 things accomplished in his one and only term in office.

1. Oil and Drilling

If the economy is good, and people feel financially confident, everyone feels better about life. The economy is revolving around oil.

Oil has dramatically affected the U.S. We are so dependent on imported oil, we are at the world’s mercy.

China has started slant drilling off of Florida. They have also reopened old refineries in Cuba. Venezuela doesn’t exactly love the U.S. and is planning on selling “previously destined to the U.S. oil”, to China. Mexcio has elections in July and it is expected the new Mexican leadership will not favor selling crude oil to the U.S.

Simply put, we need to (a) learn to conserve while (b) drilling of the coast of Florida and in Alaska. Many people won’t like it. It just needs to get done. Let all the nature groups scream. Tough. And yes, Mr. President, it may prevent you from getting reelected but you will be helping to save our once-great country. (See http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/china_starts_oil_drilling.html )

2. Terrorism

Let the world know we won’t stand for terrorism and we’re willing to fight. But we need to have a plan. Think strategically not tactically. We want the U.S. (and the world) to be free of terrorism. We are fine with sending in troops and planes. We just need a plan. Who. What. Where…. What is our exit strategy? What is a success? failure?

We know the plan will be modifed from time to time. We need a plan.

We need to fight. Opponents will scream. Mr. President, it may prevent you from getting reelected but you will be helping to save our once-great country.

3. Unify the country (party lines)

Democrats. Republicans. Indendents. There has never been such party lines as we have today. There seems to be out and out hatred of the other party. This is the hardest and easiest of the three items here.

I wish I knew the answer to this one. Perhaps we should dissolve the party system.

If we dissolve the parties, the “party power mongers” will rally the troops. Protests will occur. Mr. President, it may prevent you from getting reelected but you will be helping to save our once-great country.

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In this imaginery scenario, if our president accomplished these three items, He would definitely make a lot of enemies and not get reelected. He probably would not even get his party’s nomination (if there were parties).

… but we would be on our way to again being the greatest country on earth.

Wishful thinking.

(photo h2o.enr.state.nc.us)

Illegal immigrants - a Californian’s View - who are they?

This post came after a conversation with a friend who would make a better presidential candidate than Obama or McCain. Too bad it’s too late to get him on the ballot.

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We all know illegal immigration is a hot buttons in the 2008 Presidential Election. I am not an expert on the details of this immigration crisis. I do not pretend to be an expert on the subject.

I DO know what is fair. I DO know what I like and dislike.

I believe everyone has the right to provide for their family. In many cases it even admirable that these people are risking getting arrested, and at times their health, to come into the U.S. to provide for their family (even if it formally is a crime). (For today, let’s not argue about whether they are taking U.S. citizens’ jobs.)

Note: I do resent it when they use resources without paying taxes. I do resent it when they get free healthcare. An illegal immigrant in our neighborhoood just had her baby delivered, expense free. We have health insurance. We still had to pay deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. Not fair. But that’s a topic for another day… Oh yeah, her delivery was on my, and my fellow taxpayers dimes…

We recently spent a week at Moon Palace in Cancun. Great vacation. Great service. Every employee was helpful, polite, and courteous. Very impressive. Thousand of hard working Mexicans. Wow. What a great resource for employees.

When I mentioned it to my friend, who had just gotten back from Mexico (on pleasure) and California (on business), he told me he shared a similar experience with the excellent staff during his stay in Mexico.

His comments from his colleagues in Southern California were interesting.

“There are thousands of illegal aliens here in Southern California. Who are the people sneaking across the border? They are not the high quality people. The good people are getting the jobs in Mexico. The good ones ARE working in Mexico. Who are we getting here? Think about it.”

I never thought of it from that angle. I personally don’t know if there is any merit in these statements. I imagine it is a case-by-case situation…. but it is food for thought… and perhaps should be thrown into the debate…

(photo images.quickblogcast.com)
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Bill please be quiet - Let Hillary tell us she is exiting the race

Perhaps not having “Billary” in The White House will be a benefit to us. He can’t seem to take a back seat and let Hillary have the uninterrupted spotlight. It’s her campaign, let her tell us she is exiting the race.

But no!!!

Bill Clinton today: “I want to say also that this may be the last day I’m ever involved in a campaign of this kind,” former president Bill Clinton told a rally of his wife’s supporters in South Dakota, ABC and NBC reported.” (Courtesy of article called “Bill hints it’s the end for Hillary Clinton”, from the heraldsun.com.au)

Ok. Now we know. Why did Bill have to say anything?

If Hillary did win, could you imagine what we would have in store for us for the next 4 years?

Scenario #1: Hillary approves the CIA assassination of a known terrorist; scheduled for tomorrow. Bill Clinton would tell the press today: “I want to say also that this may be the last day I’m ever involved in the assassination of a known terrorist of this kind,”
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Scenario #2: Hillary approves the moving of a spy submarine off the coast of a middle eastern country. Bill Clinton would tell the press today: “I want to say also that this may be the last day I’m ever involved in the moving of a spy submarine off the coast of a middle eastern country of this kind.”

Hillary, Sorry to see You go.

(photo www.uncovertheinternet.com)

Politics - New definition(s) - The Wright Stuff, The Wright Thing

Here is a new definition that should be used throughout politics (and anywhere else appropriate):

The Wright Stuff * or * The Wright Thing: To run from, avoid, distance onself from a person or item that may hurt you. Related to Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s relationship to Barack Obama. Ex: A political candidate who is endorsed or befriended by someone who may hurt their campaign. Usage(1): The Democrats’ strategy should be to do The Wright Stuff. Usage(2): When McCain refused the endorsement, he was doing The Wright Thing.

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(photo: oboerista.files.wordpress.com)

The Wright Stuff (c) Copyright 2008 TopOfTheThread.com and MarkA.

The Wright Thing (c) Copyright 2008 TopOfTheThread.com and MarkA.

America’s First Female President - the winning democratic ticket

We’re going through tough times. The economy. Terrorism. War. And one of the most horrendous administrations in U.S. history.

As I had written earlier, the 2004 presidential election was a slam dunk for the democrats. Bush had a poor term and the democrats, with a “decent” candidate and “decent” campaign strategy, should have won the office.

But it didn’t happen.

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So now we have McCain, Obama, and Clinton vying for the top office in our land. Not too much to cheer about.

• A republican distancing himself from the republican president (rightfully so)
• A Chicago extreme liberal who is inexperienced and making inroads because of the web 2.0 generation.
• A democrat who is hated by the left and the republicans

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The American public loves seeing and knowing celebrities. That is why we have people like Susan Sarandon, Alec Balwin, and other famous people on their soapboxes in politics.

The public sees them on TV and movies and, for some reason, thinks their opinions count more than other people’s opinions. Some of them are intelligent and knowledgeable. Others not.

During the run of “West Wing”, Martin Sheen would have received many votes for the presidency.

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In all seriousness, there is someone on TV who is intelligent and would do a good job in politics; Oprah WInfrey. She is sincere, extremely intelligent and has a strong following.

If Oprah ran for congress, she would win. After a few terms, she could win the presidential nomination. Imagine a Oprah and Obama ticket where Obama was the VP.

Silly? Think about Arnold.

Obama and Hillary wear each other out — McCain wins

The last election should have been a slam dunk for the Democrats. They couldn’t get a “satisfactory” candidate to beat George W. Bush. Bush had a horrendous first term. The election was there for the taking. (Martin Sheen would have probably won that election.)

Is the same thing going to happen again?

We’re in the midst of a historically poor administration. It happens to be Bush and Republican.

If the democrats cannot win this general election, perhaps they should fold.

What’s the big deal? California Superdelegate Wants $20 Million for vote

What’s the big deal? California Superdelegate Wants $20 Million for vote

Superdelegeates seem to be the key to the Democratic Presidential nomination contest between Obama and Clinton.

Steven Ybarra, a California lawyer in Sacramento, says he wants $20 million for his endorsement. He says it is not for him but to register Mexican-Americans voters in various states. He also says that registering these people can assist the Democrats in the General Election.


Given that Mr. Ybarra does use the money for that purpose and does not pocket it, why is this news? Politicians do this type of politicking all the time. They vote for a bill because it is good for his district or state.

The only difference here is Mr. Ybarra asked for cash for the purpose.

As long as Mr. Ybarra believes that either Obama or Clinton would be good candidates, he is not really selling out.

Next story.