Ted Rall, Author at Ted Rall's Rallblog

August 6, 2007•

Sunday Funnies – vacation edition
posted by TheDon
I got in late from South Carolina Sunday night (NOT speeding!), so the notes are condensed this morning. I didn’t have my customary 2 receiver DVR, and they broadcast the shows at different times, but mostly I missed stuff I wanted to, and most of the GOOP debate, which counts as something I wanted to miss. Congress gave President WarCrimes expanded spying powers before scooting off for vacation, reinforcing the notion that we need more and better Democrats. Way more, way better. I’m tired of them using the Bob Allen defense against attacks on the Constitution. (Offer the attacker $20 and a blowjob.)

Sunday’s shows were a stunning full-court press by the Cheney administration to push the “surge is working” storyline, and attacks on Democratic front-runners. The stenographers played along.

Meat the Press

Bob Gates acknowledges how fundamentally wrong this administration has been in every aspect of the Iraq War so far, but NOW we should trust General Petraeus. Yikes. I guess you go on the Sunday shows with the storyline you have. Bob repeats the oft-claimed notion that Diyala and Al-Anbar “successes” prove that the “surge” is working, ignoring the worst July since the war began, and the claim by the Iraqi government that the power grid is about to completely fail.

Bob backs Cheney on the Edelman letter to Senator Clinton, ignoring his own prior denunciation. What a tool. He amusingly claims that if we have actionable intelligence that OBL is in Pakistan that Mushy would move on him. He says we wouldn’t move without permission, which I believe is true, but claims we would get permission which we know is false.

Panel Time

Carl Bernstein (Clinton biographer), Doris Kearns Goodwin (Lincoln biographer), David Mendell (Obama biographer), and David Boddy (CBN – WTF is he doing here?!?!?)

They spend their time bashing Clinton and Obama. Fun. Ambition and Arrogance seem to be the big flaws for both. Iowa poll says Clinton is comparatively strong and experienced, Obama is likewise honest and likable. Bernstein calls the voters “pretty smart” as a way of insulting Clinton’s honesty and likability, and Obama’s strength and experience. I really hate this panel.

The panel coalesces around the idea that the press hasn’t scrutinized presidential candidates enough, so it’s time to dig for flaws. That means more of what they did to Gore and Kerry on the Dem side, more of what they did to W on the GOOP side. Thanks, assholes!

More Dem bashing, and a national poll showing Dems up double digits on all issues except 5 points on morals, R’s with a slim lead on “strong military”, GWOT, and “homeland security”. Boddy claims that the only three issues that will matter are taxes, economy and GWOT, giving Rudy a big edge – calls him “authentic”. Heh. They really don’t like Mormons on CBN

Fred will apparently announce Sept 5. I’m starting to think of him as this cycle’s Wesley Clark – good on paper, no real chance. To clarify – I would never, ever compare the two men, only their much anticipated entrances into already crowded fields.

More Dem bashing, with Boddy calling them pussies for rolling over for wiretapping. Wait. That would be an *excellent* band name. Rolling Over for Wiretapping.

Bernstein says Hillary’s problem will be honety and candor, especially after the W presidency. It comes off as equating them. Ugh. On that note, they end the bashing. For now. I sense an anger growing in me as they do this for another year.

Fawkes News

What a waste of an hour. Condi! Only on Fawkes! Of course!

O’Hanlon and Pollack! Only in the echo chamber are they still referred to as “former war critics”.

A panel including Kristol and Krauthammer will be asked if Dems should be blaming W for the bridge collapse.

Condi starts with a list. Clearly the security situation has improved, clearly blah blah blah. Just. Can’t. Keep. Watching. This. Super. cilious. Liar.

I’ll pass on this noise and watch This Weak.

This Weak

Republican “debate”. Ugh. I’ll catch the end, after Faze The Nation.

Faze The Nation

First up, Condi! Wait. What? NOT just on Fawkes? Bless their hearts, they just can’t help lying. I guess they rightly assume that most of their viewers will never know the difference. I’ll try to make it through, since Schieffer will at least ask good questions.

Unlike on Fox, here she seems defensive and evasive, but it just has to be hard justifying not going after OBL in Pakistan (the NEW “Bush doctrine”?), and selling weapons to our enemies in Saudi Arabia. Laughably claims that, even though most foreign fighters in Iraq are Saudi, the real problem is Damascus. Says we are pushing for a security agreement with the US (I mean, the coalition of the willing), Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Good luck! Let us know how that turns out!

She then, amusingly, claims that the legislative vacation is unimportant because all the important people are still there, working on the framework. Guess she doesn’t know that half of the government ministers have resigned or are boycotting the “government”.

Rahm Emanuel comes on opposing the arms deal, says S.A. is not helping in Iran, Iraq or Israel. He hammers W for not doing the hard work of diplomacy for 6 and 1/2 years, and then trying to buy Saudi Arabia because we don’t have any credibility left in the region. Rahm claims that the atmosphere in Washington is better than it looks. Well, yeah. The liberals are going to be much nicer to the righties in the minority than the righties were to them. It’s our weakness, but one that is part of being a liberal.

Schieffer ends with a rant about Ted Stevens proving the need for ethics reform. Um. Yeah. Him and two dozen others that we know of.

Just don’t have the stomach to go back for more ‘publican “debate”.

August 5, 2007•

Ted Rall

TERROR IN THE BIBLE BELT!!!1!
posted by TheDon

Saturday, I was on the way back from Isle of Palms, SC, having spent a day at the beach with Mrs. TheDon and Mom and Dad TheDon, and having taken them to the Noisy Oyster for dinner. We were made to detour off of Hwy 176, and went way out of our way to get back to Holly Hill. (This is all true. No, really!) Curious about why the road was shut down, we were unable to find a reason. We finally saw on the late local news that a car was stopped with 2 “middle eastern men” with “explosive materials” in their trunk. One tiny little story popped up on AP, and pretty much NOTHING ELSE. Goose Creek is home to a Naval Weapons Station, and a brig where Jose Padilla was illegally detained and tortured (most likely).

The FBI says they will not release any more information until Monday. This story has all the elements necessary for a media orgy of fear and racism, so why the hell, outside of the wingnuts and warbloggers, is it such a small, quiet story? Before you comment that it might be because there’s nothing to the story, I’ll give you two words: Terror Cheese. So why? (or… why not?)

The flying monkeys were out in full force today, pumping the “successes” in Iraq. Condi was “ONLY ON FOX NEWS!”, although I then saw her on Face the Nation, and Robert Gates was on a couple of shows. My guess is that they didn’t want to lose the message that the “surge” is “working”, so they’ve put a lid on it. Am I too paranoid? Not paranoid enough? Just right but they are really after me? I just don’t trust this administration.

August 3, 2007•

Ted Rall

TGIF – Headed for the beach
posted by TheDon

I’m headed out for a long weekend in Charleston, helping my parents celebrate 51 (!) years of marriage. I’ll leave you with what I think is NASA’s official mixed drink.

Blastoff Tang
fill a double old-fashioned glass halfway with ice
3 oz orange flavored vodka
1 oz orange liquer (triple sec, etc)
top off with orange juice

Warning: Do NOT drink more than two of these. You could fall down, crack your head and start foaming at the mouth. With any luck you would then start acting like a liberal, or at least someone who cares about stare decisis.

August 1, 2007•

Ted Rall

Answer the Clue Phone, Speaker Pelosi
posted by TheDon
The Nation is reporting on a breakfast with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and it’s not pretty.

If she were not in the House–and not Speaker of the House–Nancy Pelosi says she “would probably advocate” impeaching President Bush. But given her current role as party leader, at a breakfast with progressive journalists today (named after our great friend Maria Leavey) Pelosi sketched her case against impeachment.

“The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country,” Pelosi said this morning during a wide-ranging discussion in the ornate Speaker’s office. Her top priorities are ending the war in Iraq, expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. “I know what our success can be on those issues. I don’t know what our success can be on impeaching the president.”

Those successes would be none, nada, zip and zilch, in case you were wondering. She knows it’s the right thing to do, and just has to know that she won’t get any of her agenda signed into law. It really would divide the country – 70% for, 30% against. What’s stopping her?

And Democrats could be judged harshly for partisan gridlock, just as the American people turned on Congressional Republicans in the 90s for pursuing the impeachment of President Clinton.

Oooooooooooh, right… The punishment that the Republicans received for a completely spurious impeachment of a very popular president. They only kept their stranglehold on the legislative branch for 8 more years, and “won” the next two presidential elections, finally losing Congress for supporting the current president, not for impeaching the previous one. That must have really stung. I can see why you want to avoid impeaching a deeply unpopular president over actual crimes.

She is greatly disturbed by the lawlessness of this Administration and its contempt for checks and balances. “I take an oath to defend and protect the Constitution, so it is a top priority for me and my colleagues to uphold that.” She notes the vigorous oversight hearings held by committee chairman like John Conyers and Henry Waxman.

Nancy, you might try reading the Constitution you took an oath to defend. This part especially. You would advocate impeachment if you weren’t Speaker, and had not taken an oath. You took an oath. Honor it. ITMFA. Then we can get back to the progressive agenda, Madam President.

August 1, 2007•

Ted Rall

Ted Rall: Live in New York!

Comedian and ex-Air America Radio personality Lizz Winstead will have me as her on-stage guest for her show “Shoot the Messenger.” Act I will be “a bunch of satirical sketches” and Act II is the guest segment (me). Here’s the scoop:

Date: Monday, August 6
Time: 8:30 pm
Where: Ace of Clubs (it’s the cabaret room between Acme Restaurant on Great Jones St. between Lafayette and Broadway)
More info: www.aceofclubsnyc.com

July 31, 2007•

Ted Rall

Thank you Steve Jobs
posted by TheDon

Radio in Atlanta is almost unlistenable. You might find a station playing music you like, but you’d better be able to stomach a lot of commercials. Talk radio is all right-wing, including most of the sports talk. Air Atlanta was bought by a local businessman who cancelled everything from Air America except the Al Franken Show, which no longer exists. Dan Patrick had an hour every day with Keith Olbermann, but now Patrick has left ESPN radio. It’s BAD.

We do have a small amount of consumer advocacy radio, financial help, gardening and such, but nothing suitable for a news junkie, except for the occasional amusing toe-dips into the right-wing cesspool. But at least we had NPR. Good old, reliable, mainstream NPR, now taken over by the political hacks of the Cheney administration. I’ve been tolerating stupid shit here and there for a while, but this morning pushed me over the edge.

Steve Inskeep was interviewing correspondent Tom Bowman about the Joint Chiefs nomination for Mullen. Mullen has not embraced the “surge”, and Bowman came out with this gem, “Mullen is not calling for a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, like the Democrats are.” Straight from the White House talking points. In the morning I update my podcasts, and listen to Rachel Maddow on the way to work. I am running out of news sources, but half a day late is better than dead wrong.

July 31, 2007•

Ted Rall

This Week’s Column

Here’s this week’s column, should you choose to comment:

SPEED KILLS (YOUR WALLET)
The Sneaky War on American Motorists
NEW YORK–It was a beautiful afternoon in early autumn, and for an instant I mistook the brightly colored lights flashing in my rearview mirror for streaks of sunlight filtering through gently turning leaves. But only for an instant. Just past a curve on a steady downgrade a sign announced the end of the 55 mile-per-hour state speed limit and the beginning of the town 40. I hit the brakes but it was too late. That’s the purpose of a speed trap. Sixty-two in a 40, the policeman said.
Speeding tickets have always been a pain in the butt. You pay about $150, and if your insurance company chooses to be mean it uses the three fresh points on your license to justify a rate hike. In a recent legal transformation that has quietly gathered steam across the United States, however, getting caught speeding has become far more traumatic.
A year before the incident related above, a state trooper had plucked me out of a cluster of vehicles on the Long Island Expressway, dinging me for 72 in a 55(heavy volume had slowed traffic from its typical average of 80) That earned me a $185 fine plus six points–a point hike up from the long-standing three. A few months later the Department of Motor Vehicles sent me a letter notifying me that I owed an additional $300–bringing the total fine to $485–for a “driver responsibility assessment.” The 2004 law establishing the additional fees was passed in greater secrecy than the USA Patriot Act; even this devourer of three newspapers a day hadn’t heard of it.
My second ticket brought another letter billing me a second $300 driver responsibility assessment. But if I had plead guilty, New York would suspend my license for hitting the 12-point limit. I hired an attorney.
I spent eight months and more than $2000 fighting the ticket in municipal court. My lawyers–I needed two–kept filing motions to delay my trial date until my cop would be away on vacation. Finally, the judge asked my attorneys what it would take to get my case off her docket. A deal was cut. I paid $850 in fines, plus the state assessment, and performed 25 hours of community service. I was allowed to pick between sorting trash at the recycling center and filing at the zoning board. You can guess which one I chose.
Final tally for two speeding tickets: $3,935. No wonder so many people drive around with suspended licenses! They can’t afford the fines.
It helps to be a drug addict. When the 24-year-old son of President Gore got pulled over doing over 100 mph south of Los Angeles on July 4, cops found pot and controlled pharmaceuticals–Vicodin, Xanax, Valium, Adderall and Soma–aboard his Prius. “He didn’t have a prescription for any of those drugs,” said Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino. Sentence: 90 days at a Malibu rehab clinic. If Al Gore III finishes the program, his arrest record will vanish–even though he has previous arrests for drugs and a DUI. “He had recently smoked marijuana, but it did not impair him enough that he was driving under the influence,” said Amormino. Gore’s fine: zero.
Michigan charges $1,000 over the fine amount for driving 20 mph over the legal limit. New Jersey raises $130 million a year through supplemental state fines. Texas cashes in to the tune of $300 million. Other states, including Florida, are considering similar laws. The War on Speederists has reached its fastest boil in Virginia, where the extra fines can run over $2,500. Exceeding the posted speed limit by 20 mph, for example, earns motorists a $200 fine plus a $1,050 “civil remedial fee.” In addition, reports the Washington Post, “drivers with points on their licenses–a speeding ticket usually earns four points–will be hit for $75 for every point above eight and $100 for having that many points in the first place.”
State legislators who sponsored Virginia’s stiff new penalties say they’re out to make the roads safer, but admit that their main objective is funding highway repairs. “My job as a delegate is to make people slow down and build some roads,” said David Albo, a Republican state representative.
It isn’t just budget-mad Americans. Even the land of Mad Max and the Tasmanian Devil is getting tough on speeders.
“Many people seem to believe that driving five, 10 or even 15 kilometers per hour [three, six or nine mph] over the limit is acceptable,” says Jim Cox, Infrastructure Minister for the Australian province of Tasmania. “For a pedestrian hit by a car, an additional [three mph] can literally mean the difference between life and death.” Fines for speeding will be raised by 300 percent.
OK, so speed kills. But when zealots like Cox say things like this–“research shows that even a one km/hr [six-tenths of one mile per hour] reduction in speed can result in a three per cent reduction in crashes”–you’ve got to wonder whether he’s been smoking too much eucalyptus.
Virginia courts are bracing for an onslaught of angry drivers forced to fight their tickets. “For someone who’s living near the poverty line, or even making $30,000,” said Fairfax attorney Todd G. Petit, draconian fees of over $1,000 have “a significant impact” that could lead to them losing their license and job. “It’s basically the Lawyer Full Employment Act,” chortled another happy member of the bar.
My friends have learned from my experience. Since every violation brings you a single ticket away from license revocation, challenging them in court is the smart way to go.
No one marches to demand a healthcare system as good as Mexico’s, but sky-high speeding fines have awakened America’s long-dormant spirit of rebellion. Virginia legislators say their offices have been “deluged by angry calls and e-mail from constituents threatening to vote them out of office.” Robert Marshall, a Republican delegate says: “You have no idea how angry people are.” Who knows? Maybe people will begin protesting the Iraq War.
Though the correlation between speeding and highway fatality rates is well established, fining speeders more than drugged drivers is disproportionate to the social impact of the offense. On the other hand, there’s no denying the deterrent effect. I pay a lot more attention to speed limit signs.

July 30, 2007•

Ted Rall

Homeland Security Boat Ride
Posted by Susan Stark

The ferry that runs from Staten Island to Manhattan and back is undeniably one the greatest free boat rides in the world, if not THE greatest. It provides a stunning view of the New York Harbor, from the Verrazano Bridge connecting Staten Island with Brooklyn and defining the border between the harbor and the ocean, to the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan. Tourists from all over the world experience this ride, as well as locals looking for a cheap, fun activity. But the ferry is also an absolute necessity for the 70,000 Staten Islanders who commute to Manhattan to work each day.

And ever since that fateful day six years ago on the 11th of September, the ferry experience has suffered.

For Staten Islanders like myself, we have a painful reminder of the missing Twin Towers, because they used to be the first thing we saw of Manhattan when coming down to the ferry terminal. Now we only see the absence of them.

After the attacks, the ferry was suspended for ordinary traffic, and only “essential personnel” where allowed into Manhattan (rescue workers, policemen, firemen, etc.). It wasn’t until the following Monday, on the 17th, that the ferry was open to foot traffic again.

But, in a certain way, the Staten Island Ferry is still suspended. The carefree boat ride isn’t what it used to be.

It started with the unfortunate but necessary suspension of car-ferry service, in which Islanders and other New Yorkers could drive their vehicles onto the ferry and across the water. Fear of car bombs put a stop to that. Car-ferry service has not resumed.

Worse, as far as I’m concerned, is the banning of musicians on the ferry. We used to have performers come on the ferry, much in the same way the subway still does today. Now they’re not allowed, allegedly because passengers wouldn’t be able to hear announcements over the PA system. However, I don’t ever remember the music being so loud that we couldn’t hear the loudspeaker. That enjoyment is a casualty of September 11th.

Another troublesome difference was the installation of security cameras on the boat. Apologists would say that, like the car-ferry and musician ban, this protects us. But I feel like I’m in a department store rather than on a free ferry ride, with roving little cameras fixing their beady little black eyes on me. In any case, the cameras aren’t much use against a terrorist, except for maybe identifying what happened after the act of terror occured, assuming the cameras weren’t disabled either before or after.

And if the musician ban and department-store cameras weren’t bad enough, there is the Coast Guard. I shouldn’t ever regret the presence of the Coast Guard, because of their search-and-rescue training. But on the little Coast Guard boat that escorts the ferry occasionally, there’s a wicked-looking semi-automatic perched up right were it can swivel and shoot a ferry passenger at will. Ostensibly, any shot-down ferry passenger will be a terrorist, but mistakes can be made, and innocent bystanders can be hit instead.

And, to top it all off, just last week I was on the ferry listening to my radio, when an NYPD helicopter decided to trail the boat, loud enough to drown out what I was listening to. I was outside on the top deck, so I got a pretty good view of the helicopter circling around the boat. Finally it “faced” me and started moving sideways, like some weird, flying crab. Presumably there might have been a reason for it’s presence, but if anything was happening on the boat, I don’t see what good a helicopter could’ve done.

I always believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and sensible precautions such as banning cars and using dogs to inspect bags and packages are necessary. The rest of it, unfortunately, is just a lessening of enjoyment and a waste of the taxpayers’ money.

July 30, 2007•

Ted Rall

Dawg Picnic
posted by TheDon

On Sunday, my rescue group had our annual alumni picnic honoring our founder. It’s a fund-raiser which raised almost $7,000 this year, despite a really serious threat of major storms. I spent most of Saturday grilling the burgers and dogs, wrapping them in foil packs suitable for re-heating over the grills in the park we used for the party. On Sunday I kept the bun-fillers (including veggie burgers, natch) hot and ready to eat as the crowd kept rolling in. We raffled off a set of Air Tran “tickets to anywhere”, won by a very lucky contestant. OK, it was Mrs. TheDon. I swear it wasn’t rigged, to the best of my knowledge. Really. I think.

Our founder, Bren, was a one-of-a-kind person. She was a successful local artist who took the money she made from selling her art, and from gentrifying a house in the city, and bought a house in the sticks to do rescue. The house had a daylight basement, and she filled it with dogs – sometimes as many as 50 at a time. She would load up the mini-van and go into Atlanta, taking applications from potential adopters. She gained and lost volunteers on a regular basis, but slowly built up a core group of people who have been the heart of the group for a long time. I met her early in 1999.

Over the years she developed ways of identifying the best homes for dogs, with the goal of finding a permanent home which would care for the dog under all circumstances. She developed techniques for dealing with dogs who were flight risks, who were potential biters, who had medical problems – you name it, she figured out a way to deal with it. She loved the dogs.

Bren attracted people with her love of dogs, her personal charm, her intelligence, her wicked sense of humor, and her knowledge of all things canine. For many of the volunteers, she was the first lesbian they had met, and the first atheist. She opened a lot of minds on a lot of subjects. She wasn’t always the easiest person to love, but if you cared about dogs she was always ready to work with you.

In March of 2004, Bren lost her decade-long battle with cancer, but is still with our group in every other way which matters. She left most of her estate to the rescue group she founded, and we have a nice, professional facility to show for it. Her rules are our rules, and if she could visit us now she would be proud and amazed. She taught me everything I know about dog rescue, and is the biggest reason that I am still in rescue.

I miss her less than I used to, but could cry for her after writing this post. I hope you are all lucky enough to meet someone as passionate and caring as she was. I hope you get to keep her in your life longer than I did.

July 30, 2007•

Ted Rall

Today’s Cartoon: “The Semantics of Torture”