The Democrats have launched the “Accountability Project“, which is designed to use the power of the web to showcase embarrassing or “gotcha” audio and video of GOP candidates who speak in public forums.

Apparently impressed with the viral nature of Senator Allen’s infamous “Macaca” moment in 2006 that helped tilt a close VA senate race to Jim Webb and the Democrats, the DNC is encouraging Americans to upload audio and video of Republican candidates that embarrasses them or diminishes their stature in some way. The other aim is to challenge candidates in terms of what they say and hold candidates accountable if they do not tell the truth.

If they don’t tell the truth? When has a politician ever done that, eh?

The website also will feature schedules of various GOP candidates, as well as copies of their mailers. According to the DNC – this will help people keep an eye on their “shadowy tactics.”

But perhaps one of the most interesting features of this site is that users can download materials. So, while both the Democrats and Republicans will use video of their opponents to extract the misleading statements, the broken promises, insults and mind-numbing policy statements, the Accountability Project is really more of a campaign resource center – providing Democratic candidates and sympathetic political groups with access to opposition flyers, audio and video that they can download and form into attack ads of their own. For campaigns operating on shoe-string budgets, this site could be a God-send.

The ability to maximize every penny during a campaign is critical. But if you have citizens and political operatives uploading video and audio content for you, that is a time-consuming and costly expense you no longer have to shoulder – freeing up campaign coffers for get-out-the-vote initiatives and other projects.

While I personally am working to build the Reform Party in effort to improve the political discourse to the serious challenges we are facing today, I do recognize smart political strategy when I see it.

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It is a truly foreign concept to many of us here in the US, but in many countries throughout the world, the use of land mines is a serious issue.

Many terrorist organizations use land mines to kill and create chaos in whatever twisted campaign they are waging. The people who suffer are children and other civilians, many of whom are killed, or seriously injured – losing legs and other limbs. The physical and psychological torment of a country-side covered with mines is a major impediment to security and domestic peace.

One country that has grappled with the issue of combating land mines is Colombia. In fact, though Colombia has become increasingly secure, Colombia was second only to Afghanistan in the number of victims caused by antipersonnel mines in 2009.

But Colombia has made many strides at eliminating land or antipersonnel mines – many of which are laid by the leftist FARC. And recently, the Colombian military found and destroyed 775 antipersonnel mines, allegedly placed by the FARC or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

This latest triumph is not just a victory against FARC, but its a victory for the people of Colombia. It gives the people a chance at a better life.

As we go through our daily lives, we should recognize the hard-fought efforts of people all over the world who are fighting to provide greater safety and freedom.

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