The Web on the Candidates

The Genocide Intervention Network, an anti-genocide group that raises money to fight the genocide in Darfur, has launched a new campaign, called Ask the Candidates, calling for the presidential candidates to make a series of commitments to end the genocide, and to especially divest any personal investments tied to Sudan. According to the press release, Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, John Edwards, and Barack Obama have committed to divesting their Sudan holdings (it was a surprise to learn that they had holdings there in the first place!) and the group is putting pressure on the other candidates to do the same. The goal is to keep the pressure on the candidates to both follow through with these commitments and then, when elected, make a decisive move to end the genocide in Darfur. It's a good way to tie the election to larger, more international issues; let's see how the public responds.

As we've been reporting, Ron Paul is continuing to get buzz around the Internet, largely because of his showdown with Rudy Giuliani during last week's Republican presidential debate. Need more proof? As of this writing, a post from Katherine Seelye over at the Caucus about Ron Paul's online support generated 65 comments in support of Ron Paul from Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians, who all find his honesty, directness, and what they see as his strict adherence to the Constitution refreshing. There is definitely something happening online for Ron Paul...

I've been completely enraptured by Google Earth for about the last day or so. What Google Earth has done to so grab my attention is to partner with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in the Museum's Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative. The idea is to document and display the effects of mass atrocities in their early stages:

Beginning with Darfur, we are building an interactive "global crisis map" that will provide citizens, aid workers and foreign policy professionals with a new tool to share and understand information quickly, to "see the situation", enabling more effective prevention and response.