Race To The Finish

You know, I wrote and drew this week’s Dustinland before this story came out:

“Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday.” – (read the full story here)

But you know, I think even if this didn’t happen, the comic would still be pretty dead on. Now, to head off predictable comments, let me say it for the one millionth time – NOT ALL REPUBLICANS ARE RACIST and YOU ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY A RACIST IF YOU DON’T VOTE FOR OBAMA. That being said, there really is a scary amount of racial hatred being uncovered in this election. Some of the clips I see – especially online – make me wonder if it’s 2008 or 1948. But it’s like I said in this Dustinland from the other week, the same assholes who were calling hippies “long-haired faggot commies” are still out there today, and have even reproduced.

What I really wonder is this: Are the racists of this country afraid that a black man will become president, or are they more afraid that if he gets elected, he’ll do a good job?

Fight Back Against Vote Fraud in ‘08!

“The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” – Joseph Stalin

This week’s Dustinland is no joke. In America, we grow up reading about countries in South Amerca and Africa and Asia where the elections are rigged, where dictators win 101% of the vote, and we think, “Wow, that must suck to live in a place like that.” Well, this is turning into one of those countries. We NEED to keep our electoral system honest. Before we can think of even trying to turn this country around, we need to make sure that our votes are being counted. Otherwise, nothing else matters. The very people causing the problems will continue to be the ones making all the decisions.

So do everything you can to make sure your vote counts this year, especially if you’re in a swing state. And if in the days following the election there are clear signs of vote fraud, we can’t sit idly by and let it go uncontested. For example, many people believe the ‘04 election was stolen. Now, it’s great that these people protested:

But that’s not the kind of protest that will get you change. In 2006, people in Mexico thought their election was stolen. This was how they protested:

And, sadly, even this kind of protest didn’t achieve it’s goal. But it’s a step in the right direction. What’s the next step after that? What more can you do? It’s hard to say. All I know is that there are places in this world where people would die for the right to vote. Here, we don’t even fight for it when it’s taken away from us right before our very eyes. That needs to change, and it’s up to each and everyone of us to change it.

***Thanks to Greg Palast and Robert F Kennedy Jr. for all the work they’re doing to make sure all Americans have the right to vote. Please visit stealbackyourvote.org, download their comic, donate, and spread the word.

A Brief History of Conservatism

“In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from the screen… A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one’s will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic…” – George Orwell, 1984

This week’s Dustinland was inspired by all the nasty things McCain supporters have been saying about Obama lately – particularly that he’s a terrorist. I mean, does that word even have a meaning anymore? If you asked these people to define “terrorist,” I wonder what they’d come up with, besides just saying “Obama” or “someone who hates freedom” or some other meaningless bullshit. Because it’s not about truth or logic with these people. It’s about us or them. And it has been that way for a long, long time. The people who today call themselves “conservatives” have been around forever. I’m not talking about Ron Paul supporters or people with brains who choose to support the Republican party for some reason. I’m talking about the people who wish that McCain would step down and let Palin run for office herself. These people are angry. They’re afraid. They don’t want something different. They don’t want something new. They don’t want change: It scares them. So they look at the thing they fear, and they label it, they debase it, they hate it, and they try to destroy it. And the Republican Party today needs these people to win, so it has become a cult of mean, angry, raving lunatics. And to see them together in large groups can be a frightening thing.

***Update: This strip is heating up on Reddit.

Fine Print Dustinland on Cracked.com

The Dustinland about the ridiculous fine print I found in my electric bill was featured on Cracked.com this weekend. Check it out right here.

Scary.

Survival of The Fittest

I took a break from politics for this week’s Dustinland since I had all this work stuff on my mind. It’s weird – like I said in the comic, I’ve never been the competitive type. I usually just do what has to be done and hope my work can stand for itself. But in my current job, it doesn’t work like that, and I find it really weird trying to succeed in this dog eat dog environment. I mean, in my office you don’t have to lie (well you do have to lie – it is advertising) or cheat or anything like that to get ahead, but you are constantly pitted against other people in terms of getting your work and your ideas to go through. I’m sure it’s the same way in many industries. It’s just weird when you find yourself hoping for someone else to fail, and knowing they’re thinking the exact same thing about you. Of course, you don’t want them to fail because you dislike them – in fact, if everyone could succeed together, that would be fantastic. But when there’s only room for one winner, then you have to root against the everyone else. I feel like Simon on American Idol, when he talks about how the contestants pretend to be sad when someone else gets voted off the show but inside they’re just happy it’s not them. But that’s pretty much the way it goes.

Those sneaky mavericks!

A couple of weeks ago I did posted this Dustinland about how McCain is a hypocrite. But thanks to Google Ads, it looks like the tables were turned. Check out this screen capture someone sent me: