60 years ago today, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations. The 30 articles contained within it would prove to become the foundation for international human rights law. The following is a video from Amnesty International UK and Protect the Human:

Posted via email from James Britton’s Interwebs Firehose

As I posted on twitter before, President-elect Barack Obama will be posting his weekly radio addresses on YouTube. It looks like he’s not wasting anytime getting started.

It’s exciting to see Obama continue his exlpoitation of technology to diffuse his message. Be sure to check out change.gov and become a part of the political process.

The following is my message to Barack Obama. Submitted to Change.gov. Submit your message today.

My wife, son, and I live in Ireland while attending graduate school in NUI, Galway and Trinity College Dublin. We visited our home state of Indiana this past August and it was a priority for us to register to vote by absentee ballot. I had faith that Mr. Obama would be our next president as long as everyone did their part to participate in the democratic process on November 4th. I also knew from elections past, that every vote DOES matter.

Indiana is historically a Republican state, but I knew this time things were different. Mr. Obama has the unprecedented ability to unite both sides. As an example, my step-father, a man that has never voted for a Democrat in his life, pledged his support for Obama.

I knew that this would be a special year, for a special man.

I was so excited the day we received our absentee ballots in the Irish post that I could hardly wait to send it back to my election board in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.

I knew that this would be a special year.

I was jealous of those back home that got to experience the excitement of the campaign while I tried my best to watch from afar. I felt helpless that I couldn’t knock on the doors of my fellow Hoosiers, or participate in the early voting drives. Nevertheless, I sent emails to friends and family on ‘both sides of the aisle’ urging them to take part. I posted on twitter, facebook, digg, and my blog. I was a part of Democracy 2.0.

I knew that this would be a special year.

A week before the election I received a letter without a return address at my school department office. I thought, “who could be sending mail to me here?” I opened the envelope to find a card with the cover:
‘US ELECTION 2008′ along with festive pictures of donkey, elephants and American flag balloons. At first I thought it was a card confirming my absentee ballot had been received. Then I opened it to find it in fact was an invitation to the Election Results Party in Guinness Storehouse, Dublin hosted by US Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley.

I knew that this would be a special year.

I was beside myself. “WOW! Me? Invited to a party given by the US Ambassador to Ireland? No!” On Tuesday afternoon, my wife and I found a child minder for our son and headed on the train from Galway to Dublin, hardly able to contain our excitement. The Guinness Brewery at St James’ Gate is a special place nestled in the old western outskirts of Dublin CIty. It was a foggy night as we made our way from Heuston Station, passing very near Kilmainham Gaol, a place steeped in the civil rights history of the Irish people.

I knew that this would be a special year.

We partied in style as we watched the election results slowly come in on the big screen, surrounded by more than 2000 Americans, Irish, Africans, Politicians, Celebrities, and lowly graduate students such as ourselves. The Guinness flowed freely and was served up with American hot dogs and doughnuts. It was a truly some great Irish craic with American flair. Music played, TV and radio crews interviewed us, and great political discussions were had while periodically interrupted by a CNN anchor calling states for Obama. The crowd cheered. The blue states piled up on the map and the battleground states were promising.

I knew that this would be a special year.

Then, the balance started to tip as it became quickly evident that Americans were making themselves heard at the polls. Late in the evening, a CNN anchor noted that even if McCain was able to pull off wins in all of the states that were leaning for Obama, he would not be able to win Washington, Oregon, and California. The crowd roared. As the clock was showing 3:30 am, we decided to go back to our hotel and get some rest. We had faith that America had chosen its next president.

I knew that this would be a special year.

We woke up a few hours later to find that just a few minutes before we had gone to bed, the networks had called it for Obama. We were ecstatic! We grabbed breakfast with coffee, but it was easy to forget about the party induced headaches. We headed back to Galway on the 11:00 am train in order to collect our son from school.

I knew that this would be a special year.

Then, another phone call from a friend: “Obama has won Indiana!” Only a few thousand votes and less than a percentage point separated the two candidates. All the stats started flying through my head: The first time Indiana has voted for a Democrat President in over 40 years, the first African-American President-elect of the United States. WOW! Our absentee ballots sent from Ireland, people like my stepfather ready for a brighter future, young people twittering, facebooking and blogging, ALL of this helped make a difference in 2008.

I know that this IS a special year.

Thank you Barack Obama and Joe Biden, thank you Indiana, and thank you America! You have made me proud to be an American again. You have made my footsteps lighter today knowing that little people DO make a big impact.

We DO have hope for change in our country.
We DO have hope for change in the world’s eyes.

YES WE DID!

Please spread the word to everyone you know. Let’s get the numbers up for Obama in Indiana and elect a Democrat for president [in our state] for the first time since JFK!!!

Refuse to settle more of the same failed policies for the next 4 years. Refuse to accept a VP that knows nothing about foreign policy, can’t even name one single newspaper or news magazine she reads, went to 5 different schools before receiving a degree in Communications, believes the Earth is 6,000 years old, tried to ban books in Alaska, and doesn’t believe in man made climate change. Refuse to settle on a president that has voted for Bush’s failed policies over 90% of the time while calling himself a ‘maverick.’

DO accept a ticket that brings years of community, state and national leadership, experience teaching constitutional law, civil rights law experience, foreign policy experience, promises to withdraw troops from Iraq, strives for energy independence, shuns lobbyists, and will reform the health care system as well as guaranteeing that all children have access to it.

Let’s take back our country and regain the respect that we used to have with our peers in the world.
Click here to register, it takes 3 minutes!

Here’s an inspiring blog post about Retired US Senator Birch Bayh on the ground in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.

Register to vote, request an absentee ballot, or check your polling place here.

Do it now and spread this around to your friends in Indiana!

Obama-Biden 2008

*UPDATE*
Check this link for YOUR state’s voter registration deadlines and procedures [25 KB PDF]
There’s still time to register in a few states!

I just voted for Barack Obama. There may still be hope for America…

Northern Ireland Assembly

Yesterday marked an historic day in Irish history marking the start of a power sharing agreement in the Northern Ireland Assembly which devolves, or restores home rule, the government of the region. New First Minister Dr. Ian Paisley (left in picture), member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said, “I believe that Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule.” Sinn Féin member and new deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (right in picture) and Paisley were not seen shaking hands during the swearing-in but according to the Irish Times, “their relationship appeared relaxed and cordial.”

Peace in the North long in the making

As one of my Irish friends once told me, the struggle between Ireland (the Republic) and “The North” is one of the longest wars in history, dating back to the 12th century during the rule of Henry II. A journalist I met while on a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland this January suggested that there will never be peace in Ireland until the six counties in Ulster are restored to form a full 32 county Republic. Since the beginning of The Troubles from 1969, over 3,500 people have died through 2001. The Good Friday agreement, signed on that day in 1998, established the Northern Ireland Assembly and devolved government. There have been several suspensions of the Assembly since 1998, and yesterday’s restoration marked a new era with agreement in the Executive to share political power amongst both Unionists and Nationalists.

As I’ve said before, I’m not in a very good position to form an opinion one way or another about the Northern Ireland Assembly, but I do know that May 8 is an historic day that hopefully will restore peace to Ireland.

I took this while in Belfast, Northern Ireland and submitted it to the “America” theme on JPG magazine.

read more | digg story

They finally managed to do it. The DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams have managed to reach an accord that restores self government to Northern Ireland and divides the power in the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive after an hour long meeting in Stormont’s Parliament Buildings dining room. Rev Paisley will take the First Minister position while Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin will hold the Executive office of Deputy First Minister.

Today marked the deadline of reaching an agreement between the loyalists and the Irish Republicans in the Executive, otherwise the newly elected Assembly would have been dissolved as it has been since October 2002.

Rev Ian Paisley

“Our goal has been to see devolution returned in a context where it can make a real, meaningful improvement in the lives of all the people of this part of the United Kingdom.”

Gerry Adams

“I believe the agreement reached between Sinn Féin and the DUP - including the unequivocal commitment made by their party executive and reiterated today - to the restoration of political institutions on 8 May marks the beginning of a new era of politics on this island.”

Devolution of Government

The two sides voted on a resolution to form the new administration on Saturday as Paisley and McGuinness pledged a six week test of Sinn Féin’s support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The parties certainly have much work ahead to mend wounds and settle differences, but this historic agreement is a big step forward. I write all of this as a bystander, so if you have grown up in Ireland I would love to hear what you think about this new found power sharing agreement.

*UPDATE*
Take part in the poll for this post at the right…

It’s bum rush the charts day:

If you believe in the power of new media, on March 22nd, 2007, take 99 cents and 2 minutes of your time to join the revolution and make iTunes “Mine Again”. If you’re a content producer (blogger, podcaster, etc.), we’re asking you to join up with us and help spread the word to your audience. Nothing would prove the power of new media more than showing corporate media that not only can we exceed their reach and match their purchasing power, but that we can also do it AND make a positive difference in the world. If we can succeed with this small example, then there’s no telling what can do next.

The track we’ve chosen is “Mine Again” by the band Black Lab. A band that was dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic) and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril.

Support independent artists with your wallet today (make sure to buy “Mine Again,” the first track on the album) I just bought mine and listening to it now. It’s a great track, so let’s make “Mine Again” number one on iTunes today.