The Largest Minority

December 11th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Kabataang maka-Bayan (KmB) is a progressive Filipino youth organization of which I’m honored to be a part of. On November 29th, KmB held Carnival ng Masa, or The Peoples Carnival, to celebrate their ten-year anniversary. There were corn dogs and games, but the highlight of the evening was the educational, yet entertaining multimedia performance at the end of the night. All 11 videos documenting the performance are embedded in the playlist above. Enjoy the show and please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

September 25th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stephen Colbert has giant brass balls. Can we all agree that by now the Right has left no doubt to anyone that they are unabashedly racist?

I sympathize with people whose legitimate criticisms of President Obama are derided as racist, just as my criticisms of Israel have been derided as anti-Semitic. Still, it is important to draw a distinction between opposition from the Left and opposition from the Right. The arguments coming from the Right are simply not legitimate. They’re more like temper tantrums from angry and irrational children.

For example, calling Obama a Socialist (as if that’s a bad thing) is more than just hilariously inaccurate. It’s seeded in the deep fear that black people steal from hard-working white Americans. The president has done nothing to indicate he’s anything more than a corporate capitalist, yet the Right immediately links a black man to Socialism because they think both are synonymous with theft. That is the base of their “criticism”, and it really ought to be called out for what it is.

h/t RaceWire

September 25th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

SPREAD THIS VIDEO! This is what happens to dissenters in the USA.

Didn’t President Obama denounce the same types of kidnappings and general repression when they were taking place in Iran? It’s interesting to note that the unauthorized street protests which he defended in Tehran are actually considered illegal in the “Home of the Free”. And thank God for that. Cracking Commie skulls is an American tradition!

If the men kidnapping the youth are indeed military, as their uniforms suggest, they’re clearly violating the Posse Comitatus Act, which states that the federal government can not use the military for law enforcement (except in Iraq and Afghanistan of course).

Not to worry though, Obama is different. I have faith that the kid in this video won’t be getting roughed up and held on trumped-up political charges. Most likely he’s just been selected to attend a Beer Summit with the G-20 leaders to work out their differences.

video description below the fold

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September 23rd, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Sometimes I think Greenpeace just isn’t radical enough, but every so often they do some cool shit like this to remind me why I’m a member.

Greenpeace activists are hanging off a Pittsburgh bridge with a massive banner displaying our message to G20 leaders gathering for tomorrow’s summit. The banner takes the form of stylized “road sign” that warns of the political maneuvering and delay that have put a international climate treaty in jeopardy as the world enters the final stretch on the road to Copenhagen.

We’re hanging banners off of bridges surrounding the area where these leaders will be meeting tomorrow.

The messages we’re sending are:

* “Warning: G20 Climate Talks Ahead. Danger of Falling Expectations”
* “Caution: Climate Disaster Zone. G20 in Session. Expect Delays.”
* “Danger: Climate Destruction Ahead. Reduce CO2 Emissions Now.”

We’re sending these messages to world leaders, because instead of rolling up their sleeves and working on a constructive solution to global warming, they’re heading down a dangerous road of destruction. All signs ahead point to a lack of leadership.

August 28th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Jimmy Carter said that he had received a call from Khahamat religious Jews in the United States who told him that they had already begun fasting once a week in solidarity with Gaza and its people, and asked him to join them. But he and his wife had decided that they would do so alone and had already started fasting.

Carter’s speech came during iftar, the evening breakfast, held at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah. It included members of the Elders organization, a group of world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela, and a number of Palestinian intellectuals, businessmen and representatives of civil society institutions.

During the meal to break the day’s Ramadan fast, the group exchanged views. Desmond Tutu said, “I’ve heard many Palestinian and Israeli youth. I have heard things that are very impressive, but I felt the presence of hope in spite of the occupation and the suffering of the Palestinians that it causes, which is very important.”

Speaking of politics, Carter said, “We must not forget that all the Israeli settlements to the east of the Green Line are illegal, how can you talk about a settlement freeze” in a clear reference to what is being talked about these days by the current US administration led by Obama.

h/t IMEMC

August 27th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

We know that single payer works, and is the only option that ever has. Way back in 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declares that health care is a human right. Profit can not play any role in deciding who is afforded that right. So why are hardly any Democratic representatives or their constituents pushing for a single payer system?

Any American liberal that accepts anything less than a single payer system is not a true liberal, period. Poor people are dying because liberals of privilege continue to capitulate to big money. The real problem with America is not its crazy Right, but its cowardly Left which never achieves anything truly progressive for the masses. They are complicit in the continued violation of the human right to health in the United States.

August 6th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Rachel Maddow does a terrific service here, exposing the corporate players and PR firms behind this so-called “grassroots” movement against health care reform. Nothing gets old white people riled up to defend their way of life (aka privledge) like the words “socialism”, “liberty”, and of course “founding fathers”. Astroturf campaigns were perfected overseas decades ago as a way for corporate America to justify the overthrow of democratically-elected governments who threatened their rule.

My one addition to Maddow’s commentary is the same for any commentary which points the finger squarely at Republicans. BOTH parties are preventing meaningful health care reform through PR and manipulation, both work for the benefit of drug and insurance companies, and both claim their pro-corporate plan is what average Americans are screaming for. One case in point is Obama’s reliance on the pharmaceutical industry to shape a plan he claims average Americans want.

While this particular PR campaign against health care reform is directed towards Republicans, PR firms often target both parties. One PR firm working for the “clean coal” industry actually seemed surprised that they found no political resistance to their agenda by either candidate during the presidential election.

Back to health care. What polls have shown for years is that Americans want a single-payer system. Democrats and Republicans are two wings of the Business Party who share the common goal of violating the most basic of human rights for the benefit of big business. By taking sides with either party in this faux debate we’re once again fighting against our own interests.

July 29th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Bill Shatner returns to The Tonight Show to take yet another courageous voyage into the final frontier - Sarah Palin’s head. Come aboard if you’re ready to leave this world and its silly rationality behind.