Barack Obama (Wikipedia) already has a guaranteed place in the history books, no matter how many of his aims he will be able to reach. He has – with a little help from his supporters and voters – already made this world a bit more tolerant and better. He is the first “black” president of the US. He is an intensive user of new forms of communications for political processes. And last but not least he has become an idol of the loving father and modern husband, who sees his wife not only as ornament but as equal partner.

“Exact!”, will be the answer of like-minded Obama fans. “Again a pitiable naive, caught by propaganda”, the conservative critics will comment. But what makes me so sure that the harmony shown by the presidential couple isn’t indeed fake? What if Barak in reality is an asshole, who smiles in the lenses of journalists and otherwise loves to be served by others? In this case I would like to point to a picture shown on the official Flickr account of the White House.

Meanwhile everyone has seen the clip on Youtube, in which the president kills a fly during a interview on television (Link to the clip on Youtube). Not so known by far is the picture, taken after this in which he collects the dead insect from the floor (Link to the picture at Flickr).

I love symbolic pictures. And this one shows alongside other things that the president of the United States of America even beside all his responsibilities and everything he has to bear in his mind, instinctively needs to go down in this expensive suit for a dead fly. I don’t care, if he did it out of respect for the creature, out of respect for the cleaning staff of the White House or just because his wife trained him this way.

I like the picture. And I like Obama

Leading to War” is a documentary about the prologue of the recent war in iraq. You can download it for free, stream it or watch it on Google-Video.

Wikipedia says:
“Presented chronologically from President Bush’s State of the Union Address in January, 2002 (the Axis of evil speech), and continuing up to the announcement of formal U.S. military action in Iraq on March 19, 2003, the film presents selected interviews, speeches, and press conferences given by Bush and his administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. Non-U.S. sources include British Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

The topic is interesting anyway, but the film and its internetpage leadingtowar.com are as well a good example for political communication in our times.

Roland Brückner from Berlin draws. For his art he chose cards, like the ones other people are using to learn words or organize informations. The best is: When you write about Roland on your blog, he will sent you a card, that he has made specially for you. And it cleary shows that this is not some fast – like we would say in Germany – Krikelkrakel – but a picture based on quite some thinking about you and who you are.

I was taking part in this on march 25th. with this post and already forgot about it. Now I have found this in my postbox:

Well, on my german blog I was giving myself a try to do a proper interpretation of the picture and the ones of you who are able to understand German should read it there. But to keep it short: The person shown in the drawing is surrounded by duties which are symbolized by the little checkmarks around its head. Even though his inner self – the face on the stomac – is positive and optimistic – the person stands hunched and whishes to have a third arm, that could stand for things like “help” or “new power”. I enjoy this picture very much and to be honest also recognize myself a little in it.

So, if somebody is interested to know more about the artist and his work he should move along to the blog of the project recordsheet.blogspot.com as well as to his personal blog roland-brueckner.blogspot.com.

I am really delighted about Roland`s talent, his idea to use the medium blog for it and first of all the constancy and commitment he shows.

Thank you, Roland.

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I was quite suprised to find a fake cam in Hamburg yesterday. From the distance it looked quite real but a look from a closer distance discovers that it is just made from cardboard.

I’m not quite sure whether it’s a scare tactic of the government or just locals, but either way it looks like fearmongering. This isn’t the first story of a fake camera you’re likely to hear, either; fake speed cameras are also an existent threat, and act as a form of social placebo to encourage responsible driving. Responsible walking, though? I think it tends to toe the line between Big Brother and crime prevention.

Imagine if someone had placed a VeriSign logo on Foxy Bingo or Amazon, only for you to find out it was simply a jpeg tacked onto the site? You’d be shocked, and I think the same applies here. The main issue I have with it is, as you can quite clearly tell from the photograph, it’s not the most convincing of fakes when you get close enough. I think it relies on the fact that most people are unwilling to scrutinise their immediate environment. Ignorace is bliss, right?