The Largest Minority

July 4th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

In the state of Nevada, we needed 5,746 signatures to get Nader on the ballot for the general election. We got over 12,000 just in case. Many are bound to be bogus, and the Democrats will no doubt challenge us since Nevada is a “battleground state”. Still, it feels good to be done right at the deadline with our personal goal of 12,000 signatures met.

On the final day of petitioning to get Nader on the ballot in Nevada, I was actually booted from the Sahara West Library for informing a self-described Democrat that she subscribed to fascism.

Before the Nader/Gonzalez campaign came to Nevada, only Obama and McCain were allowed on the ballot in the general election. You can’t even write-in a candidate, so any voter who didn’t want to choose either one of the two corporate candidates was essentially denied their right to vote. I explained this to some lady exiting the library and she simply said it was fine with her if independents were disenfranchised. All that mattered was that we get a Democrat in the White House, democracy be damned.

Thinking that perhaps she misunderstood, I explained again that by signing my petition she was not endorsing Ralph Nader, but simply allowing him to be on the ballot so that people would have the right to vote for him if they chose to do so. Whether or not she agreed with their choice was irrelevant. She still refused to sign, insisting that choice for all Americans should be limited to just the two candidates she found acceptable. I told her that that was not democracy, but fascism. She shrugged her shoulders and we both walked away, disgusted with each other.

Not too long after the interaction, a security guard and library manager exercised a bit of fascism of their own. Apparently, the manager had received a call from the woman who was offended that I had called her a fascist. I gave the manager a brief civics lesson, recapped our conversation, and explained that my tone was calm and matter-of-factual with the woman, but she still insisted that I had to leave for “harassing” guests. I was surprised that a library manager would try to pull this shit on public property, but I eventually did leave since we were on a deadline and needed to spend time gathering signatures rather than challenging the library’s decision.

So after banging my head against a wall for several minutes, I walked a couple miles to a less-shaded grocery store parking lot to fill my quota for the day and work on my skin cancer. Both came along fairly well.

I’m sharing this story because most people don’t realize the obstacles that small campaigns face at every turn. Petitioners are told to “fuck off” and “go to hell” by complete strangers all day. Add 115 degree heat and the divisive name of “Ralph Nader” to the equation and you’ve got one grueling job that only someone with a tremendous amount of passion and dedication could do every single day. My utmost respect goes out to everyone who’s decided to stay through the entire roadtrip, but a special bit of recognition is needed for my small family of Vegas petitioners (Team Tanq) and the thankless work we did to get Ralph on the ballot in Nevada. We conquered that fucking state.

June 23rd, 2008 by Sam

From the Associated Press:

A publicist for George Carlin says the legendary comedian has died of heart failure at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif.

Jeff Abraham says Carlin went into St. John’s Health Center on Sunday afternoon, complaining of chest pain. Carlin died at 5:55 p.m. PDT. He was 71.

Although Carlin’s prime may have slightly preceded my generation, I would be remiss to not mention the profound influence watching his old HBO specials had on the development of my own personal political consciousness. Carlin’s scathing critiques of American foreign policy, capitalist “freedom,” and religious dogma provided a hilarious and often profound respite from mainstream political dialogue before I discovered alternative media and other radical forums for interpreting and discussing our modern world.

Witness Carlin in a guest spot on Bill Maher’s Real Time perfectly dissecting what “choice” means in a capitalist democracy. (see video below the fold)

(Image courtesy of georgecarlin.com)

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May 27th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

What? You mean flashing your cooter on the big screen isn’t a prerequisite to joining MENSA? Sadly, no. In this clip Stone decides that the perfect time to condemn the Chinese people (not the Chinese government mind you) is right after a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake has left more than 67,000 people dead and 20,000 still missing.

Hey China, don’t get angry with Sharon Stone. Get angry with yourselves for the Karma Quake you’ve created. Imagine some pompous, self-righteous actor proclaiming in a matter-of-fact manner that 9/11 was karma for the US-backed occupation of Palestine. Good, now imagine that the death toll of 9/11 was more than 22 times what it actually was and you’ll have a fairly good reference point for your outrage.

It’s also worth noting that suffering is a basic tenant of Buddhism, and despite being “good friends” with the Dalai Lama, Stone is completely ignorant of the fact that karma is an intention in the mind that results in personal happiness or unhappiness, not some divine intervention which determines your future according to the actions in your past. Stone’s concept of why natural disasters happen parallels Pat Robertson’s. Perhaps she can also condemn the people of Burma for their cyclone the way Pat did after Katrina hit.

Stone’s misunderstanding of karma is quite convenient as it implies that people dying in distant corners of the world are just getting what they deserve, while the rich and famous are fully justified in their decadence because of their moral superiority.

And by the way Sharon, the earthquake most affected Sichuan province, which has a large Tibetan population.

May 25th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

If you don’t know who either one of these magnificently talented people are then it’s safe to say that your lameness is incurable and you should probably go drown yourself in a shallow pool before you infect the rest of us.

May 25th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Despite being based off such a stupid pun, the There Will Be Bud video from Brain Spray Media is actually a pretty brilliant parody. Judging from the level of production that went into this thing I think it’s safe to say this is the greatest project a group of potheads has ever completed. Well, right behind the pyramids. That’s right, the aliens who made the pyramids loved reefer.

April 19th, 2008 by evmonk

This shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who watches the propaganda-fest that is cable news even occasionally. But it sure is refreshing to find such a stinging, comprehensive indictment of the Pentagon’s propaganda machine in the mainstream media.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air…

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks. (source)

J-E-S-U-S. Again, not surprising at all. But does this government have no shame? Is there anyone on TV we can trust to be unbiased, unbought, and intellectually honest? And beyond the aforementioned issues with military analysts, how many Republican and Democratic “strategists” will the American people listen to before they realize that these people can’t possibly give us the information we need to make informed choices about the future of this country and the planet?

UPDATE: If you haven’t seen Why We Fight, well, first of all stop reading and go watch the whole thing. It may be the most important documentary ever made. Here are a couple particularly relevant clips for your viewing pleasure. (clip 2 after the jump)

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April 15th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Bahraini blogger Esra’a Al Shafei interviews DJ Momo from Saudi Arabia on the potential of MTV Arabia, and they share their view for a better world through music.

Taken from Mideast Youth

Esra’a is right to be skeptical of MTV, which has ultimately killed mainstream music in the West. The videos played on MTV are those with the most marketable imagery. Though a few underground artists may manage to outdo the multi-million dollar production companies by coming up with a brilliant concept every now and then, it’s ultimately the uncreative profit-driven corporations which end up dominating the airwaves with videos of half-naked women, explosions, and shiny objects. Whether the music itself is good is irrelevant.

Esra’a also expresses the frustration she has with older generations who perceive youth culture as something deviant, but that perception is at least partially the fault of MTV as well. As the main representative of the youth, MTV does a further disservice by misrepresenting our culture to those unfamiliar with it. Souljah Boy is no more representative of hip-hop than George W. Bush is representative of America, and woe to anyone guilty by association.

Censorship is also a big problem, especially with genres like rap which are highly-political in origin. Between what the state will allow and what the corporations will allow, freedom of expression on MTV Arabia is destined to be very limited.

April 9th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Lewis Black rails against the current slew of beautiful idiots who are busy making political endorsements between their trips to Darfur and rehab. To be fair, taking political advice from Kal Penn, who is to be forever known as Kumar, may seem like a stupid idea at first until you realize that he actually knows more about the issues than Tucker Carlson or Chris Matthews and isn’t nearly as big a douche. Plus, who better than actors to analyze politicians? Both groups lie for a living, are owned by shadowy corporate interests, and probably know the same hookers.

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