Seth in CA (for the summer)

Prologue: Adventures in Santa Monica

June 19, 2006 at 7:26 pm | In do something, politics | 1 Comment

I’ve got a bunch of LA pictures to post later. Consider this a prologue.

I met this guy in Santa Monica but forgot to take his picture. Thanks to Google and Flickr, here’s someone else’s picture of Jerry Rubin, selling his peace stickers.

Jerry “Peace Activist” Rubin legally changed his name so it would show up that way on the ballot when he ran for some office (or maybe it was so he wouldn’t be confused with the other Jerry Rubin).

I was wearing Eric’s Harvard Dems shirt and he asked me about it; I expected him to yell at me for being a Democrat but instead he said “good for you” and then proceeded to launch into a tirade against Ralph Nader. Apparently Rubin launched a hunger strike in 2004 to protest Nader’s candidacy. In his mind, Nader should have been helping elect President Kerry — then giving him hell once he was in office. Sounds good to me.

Activist Goes on Anti-Nader Hunger Strike:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — A peace activist who once fasted for 63 days to protest movie violence and war toys is launching another hunger strike to persuade Ralph Nader to abandon his presidential bid.

Jerry Rubin, 60, said he plans to consume only liquids from Saturday until Nov. 2 if Nader doesn’t take a meeting with him.

“I know Ralph Nader and I don’t think he’s doing the right thing,” Rubin said Saturday. He said the consumer advocate’s campaign is dividing the progressive political movement.

Many believe the votes Nader received in Florida in 2000 would have gone to Democratic candidate Al Gore (search) had Nader sat out the election. Gore lost the state — and the national election — to George W. Bush (search) by 537 votes.

Rubin is often confused with now-deceased “Chicago Seven” defendant Jerry Rubin. He legally changed his name to Jerry Peace Activist Rubin to avoid confusion with the 60s radical.

The peace activist is no stranger to hunger strikes: In 1988, he broke a two-month fast with a bite from a giant pizza topped with a pepperoni peace sign that he then left for “Rambo” star Sylvester Stallone.

He again fasted in 1997 to persuade movie production company Dreamworks SKG to abandon plans to relocate its headquarters to wetlands. He collapsed after 26 days, but Dreamworks abandoned the idea, saying it could not reach a satisfactory financial agreement.