Minority???

Margaret Cho tells us why she is political.

Why am I political? Because society's consistent and constant disregard and lack of respect for minorities, even the title 'minority', when in many areas of the country we are in fact the majority, is too much to bear silently. Their insistence at our invisibility, whether it is as subtle as non-inclusion, or as loud as violent hate crimes, is contagious, and can make me hide from myself.

No matter who the "they" is and who the "us" is (racism, misogyny, homophobia...etc), part of how hey cripple us is by making us internalize their discrimination as self-hatred.

Go check her Cho's full story.

And thanks to Latino Pundit for the link.

Pushing Open the Door of a New Fascism

Don't know what Neo-Conservatives are?

Watch this video. (Via The Liberal Avenger)

For more information on PNAC, the Project for a New American Century, check in with the good folks at PNAC.Info.

Are you scared yet?

"Let's be honest with the American people"

Why should American college students be afraid of the draft? Ask freshman Congressman Tim Ryan D-OH17:

Watch Ryan's blistering attack on the Bush administration's claims they will not re-instate the draft.

Thanks to Ohio Countdown via BOP News.

Also:

Video in MP3 format via Drew Thaler.

Transcript courtesy of Serenepia.

Why Register to Vote?

Kos received this email:

I think you (and maybe your readers) will be interested in a personal experience I had last night while watching the debate.

My 19 year-old (former foster) son, who has never been interested in politics, sat down with me and began silently watching about 10 minutes into it.

About half an hour later he turned to me and said, "Dad, am I able to vote?". I told him he would have to register but that yes, he could vote. I asked who he wanted to vote for, and he said "Kerry's the tall dude, right?". I said yes, and he said, "I'd vote for Kerry".

I asked him why, and he replied, "Because, I can tell if they were both captured by terrorists Kerry would keep telling them to go f*** themselves, and Bush would cry like a baby and tell them anything they wanted to know".

Today we registered him to vote.

-- Proud Dad

[Via Shamelss Agitator]

Monday at 5:00 p.m. is the deadline to register to vote in Virginia. If you aren't registered yet, or you have friends who aren't, PLEASE make sure they get their registration in on time.

Making Sense of Numbers

In [my Vancouver, B.C. homegirl] Sarah McLachlin's new video, World On Fire, she takes the standard budget for a music video, $150,000, and invests it in providing critical services to 1,000,000 people. Click here to see the video, and here for a list of the organizations McLachlin donated the money to (minus $15, her scaled-down video production cost). If you can get through the video dry-eyed, you're made of sterner stuff than I am.

In the meantime, George "they hate us for our freedom" Bush, who is bankrupting the federal government (and through unfunded federal mandates, state and local government by extension) to pay for his fool's war in Iraq, slashing social programs, and advocating that private citizens shoulder the burden of social welfare in their communities, raised $260,565,424 for his relection campaign as of August 31--and that's not counting soft money, RNC donations, or front groups like the Swift Boats.

That $260,565,424 could have brought the same essential services to 1,737,275,340 people all over the world: that's one BILLION seven hundred and thirty seven MILLION two hundred and seventy five THOUSAND three hundred and fourty people, or better than 1 out of ever 4 people on earth.

Compassionate Conservative my ass.

Hat tip to Cyndy at Mouse Musings for the video link.