Saturday New York Daily News
There’s supposed to be a piece mentioning my reaction to Bernie McCarthy’s “100 People” book in tomorrow’s New York Daily News.
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War Casualties
Jason writes:
Since you are leading the charge in the Iraq/Afganistan editorializing:
Iraq only:
13,189 wounded
1,828 dead
That is a 13.8% fatality rate, roughly. The figure is up from 10% last year as attacks grow more deadly. But that’s not the story. Vietnam had fewer casualties in it’s first 4 years (61-65) at 10,000. And Vietnam’s fatality rate was 24%. Increased medical technology and body armor has allowed more soilders to survive severe attacks. These soilders are not being patched up and shipped home, they are not recieving “million dollar wounds.” Because the typical attack involves blast munitions, soilders are badly mutiliated, save the torso, and will require a lifetime of medical care. Blinding injuries are abnormally high. However, the public is more interested in fatality figures, this is not being reported. If this trend continues, and if the Bush administration continues to resist adequate responsibility for this war of arrogance and hubris, these statistics will come to the public’s attention too late.
Total for Vietnam 1961-73: 200,727 wounded, 47,424 dead
Source; New England Journal of Medicine, December 2004, US dept. of defense online, and icacasualties.org
What Jason says is true, but, as my cartoon coming out Monday riffs upon, the actual number of Iraq war dead, according to internal Pentagon documents, is more than 9,000. Why the discrepancy? Apparently you’re only counted as “killed in action” if your heart stops beating in Iraq. If you are wounded by an IED and die en route to an army hospital in Germany–even if you die during takeoff from Baghdad airport–you’re not counted among the 1,828.
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Tarantoad, cont.
John Davies asks:
I admit, I am opposite of you politically. But today you completely suprised me. How can a little twerp such as yourself physically threaten someone? I mean, do you really consider yourself a threat in a dark alleyway? Maybe to Marvin Hamlish or Stephen Hawkins.
“Little twerp”? How do you know if I’m little, big, or medium?
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James Taranto, America-Hating Coward
This isn’t the first time that the Wall Street Journal’s most far right editorial writer has targeted me as un-American because I respect the Constitution, decency and U.S. as well as international law–unlike the lunatic Bushites whose ass his tongue gracelessly graces. Now, as part of a retrospective of his heinous “Best of the Web” column–nothing more than a poorly-written cover for his neo-fascist rants–he casually dashes off this gem:
On Oct. 23, 2001, we started a feature called “Stupidity Watch” chronicling such nonsense; it began with contributions from America-hating cartoonist and commentator Ted Rall…
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it now: that turd Taranto had better hope he never encounters me in a dark alley, poorly policed subway station or New York media party, because casually smearing someone as “America-hating” is some serious fucking shit that I won’t sit still for. It’s wrong, it’s libelous and, as my readers well know, it’s exactly the opposite of the truth.
By the way, letters to the Wall Street Journal go to: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com.
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Some People Don’t Remember Clinton—MY Clinton
William writes:
Dear Ted,
I hate America.
I know that you likely get many letters prefaced with that. I don’t care. In fact, I’m close to not giving a fuck about a lot of stuff,
given that a) history repeats itself, and b) things move in cycles. Both of these rules give me little cause for comfort, especially when I keep an eye on political matters.
I suppose as a concerned citizen who occasionally speaks out, which is better than average, I could consider myself a participant in a democracy. Yet we both know we live in a de facto oligarchy where only the well-connected (read: rich) may participate in running for candidacy. We both know that machines, not citizens, win elections. We both know that southern Democrats and Northern Republicans are the same species. And we both know that the American Experiment has been dead since Washington died and the two party system took its place.
That said, I’m disappointed in you. You’re obviously smart and funny. I agree with you more times than not. Yet as I continued
to read your articles and cartoons, I must admit you make a better cartoonist than a columnist. Your stuff on Tillman was dead on.
But then I had a friend die in Iraq. And suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore.
Of course not. There’s nothing funny about it, really. Absurd, yes, but it’s not really the same thing. Still, I wonder–why did it only hit home after William’s friend died? Why didn’t the deaths of previous US troops affect him the same way? Why not the far greater number of Afghan and Iraqi deaths? Humanity’s inability to empathize is staggering.
I’m not trying to one-up you in moral outrage. I’m sure you know tons more people who are dead now. I know you think about it a lot. But I’m afraid that in hunting for Ann Coulter and Karl Rove, you have become part of the problem, not the solution. You have engaged in partisan hackery. Please do not deny it, Mr. male Ann Coulter. Yes, Bush has done pretty shitty things. But then again, so did Clinton. So have a lot of Democratic presidents. What makes Bush different? Party affiliation?
Long-time readers of my work know that I’m an equal opportunity politician basher, and that I’ve paid a high price for that. I called for Clinton’s impeachment while my peers were defending him, I attacked his response to the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa, I declared his presidency the greatest example of squandered opportunity in American history. But these things do have a scale. It’s not partisan to note that Bush is the first American leader to have seized power by coup d’état. Right there, that makes him the most evil man to have ever participated in our political system. Previous presidents have started wars, even wide-scale conflicts, but few have done so with such glee or callous disregard for the loss of life and limb caused by their actions. Previous presidents have failed to defend America, but few have refused to do anything about an attack as large and monstrous as 9/11–yet that’s exactly what George W. Bush has done: nothing.
Bush has built a network of concentration camps to house thousands of Muslims kidnapped off American streets, where they are routinely tortured and murdered under direct sanction by the White House. He has transformed our record surplus into a record deficit.
Have other presidents fucked up? Sure. But none as spectacularly or with such abandon as Bush. So yes, he is different–and I’d be saying that if the dude were a Democrat. Count on it.
Can you forgive all of Clinton’s sins, yet scream non-stop about Bush? Granted, he deserves nearly all of it…just like TV, each successive president provides a new low standard of behavior. But then again, you’re not the Daily Show. You don’t make fun of EVERYONE. You don’t tell the truth about EVERYONE. So I can’t trust you anymore. You’re selective, just like any Beltway insider. I could quote Pogo or Neitchzie [sic] here, but you get the picture.
I get the picture, but I don’t recognize myself in it. And neither, I suspect, do people who were reading my work before 2000. Why don’t I go after the dumbass Dems as much as Bush? Because, quite frankly, they’re not responsible for most of what’s going on nowadays. They’re out of power. They’re impotent. Me, I attack those in power because they’re the ones to blame.
Besides, I’ve written an ENTIRE BOOK talking about what’s wrong Democrats. It’s called “Wake Up, You’re Liberal!” I suggest you pick up a copy before you accuse me of hackery. Besides, I do tackle dumbass Dems quite frequently.
Argue all you want about how the Republican party is evil and deserves to be destroyed. And what about the Democratic party? For example, what the hell has the Democratic party done for blacks? They get the black vote, but do they deserve it? No more than the Republicans deserve the religious right vote. It’s all pandering and half-promises which are not fulfilled.
True. But it hardly compares with the systematic slaughter of 200,000 innocent people, now does it?
So in the end, save some of your venom for Ted Kennedy, who surely deserves it. Or the entire Democratic party, which has done a fair impersonation of a convulsing, headless snake. In the meantime, please try to convince me that Northern Democrats aren’t as insane as Southern Republicans.
Ted Kennedy is worthy of criticism, sure, but he’s not a neo-fascist fuckhead like Bush and his gang of traitors. So, given the three cartoons and one column I have to draw and write each week, where do you think I should focus my attention? Fox news et al., moreover, already have the TK-bashing well in hand.
PS oh and also, referring to the subject title which made you open this message, don’t print anything about Roberts. See her [sic] most recent article for more details.
Thanks, but I’ll write what I like.
On Roberts, though:
We would be well-advised to give John Roberts a quick confirmation since he’s going to get one anyway. Focus on Rove, Libby, and the other White House traitors–they’re the key to bringing down the whole shebang.
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Stewart, Maher, TV
Charley writes:
Looks like I’m a bit late writing this (I see you have a new related entry on your blog), but I wanted to add
something: isn’t the point of the Daily Show to bring on people that Stewart can argue with / expose, rather than like-minded individuals? That’s precisely why they bring you on Fox.
That may in fact be the case. Only their bookers know.
I don’t watch TDS daily, so I don’t know, I’m just asking: Has Stewart ever invited Michael Moore, etc.
etc., or is it always conservative popular pundits? If the latter, then it doesn’t seem like an insult, but a compliment, that you haven’t been invited on. I’m glad you made the Goldberg list! 😉 Not sure why John Edwards had the honor though! As a sellout to GOP non-values, Edwards is not even in the same league.
Now, hopefully Bill Maher has had you on Politically Incorrect. Not sure what venue he has now (since his free speech was unceremoniously taken away), because I’ve been an expat for several years, but if he is doing anything similar with guest mixing, that would be the spot I would expect to see you on, more likely.
At any rate, continued good luck with the exposure.
Bill Maher, who wrote the introduction to “To Afghanistan and Back” a few years ago, had me on PI and his current show “Real Time with Bill Maher” (on HBO) a few times, most recently several years ago. During my last appearance, the subject of Bush’s military “service” prompted me to refer to the C-in-C as a “fucking pussy.” Maher’s eyes got really, really big when I said that, and I haven’t been invited back since. On the other hand, maybe they just lost my phone number.
I don’t watch the show since I refuse to pay for HBO, so I don’t have any insight as to the sort of guests who appear on “Real Time” now.
