Here’s their May 15th review of my new book:

Aghast that America has gone to the far-right dogs, editorial cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall wants it back in commonsense—that is, liberal—hands.

Democrats and Republicans alike have ceded the communal high ground, he writes with particular energy, and radical conservatives are ramped on greed and self-righteousness. What we need at this closing-on-fascism juncture, Rall declares, is a reformed Democratic Party, longtime purveyor of a liberalism that aims to “help the downtrodden, not coddle slackers” and can prudently protect our nation without giving up basic liberties—indeed, that will protect individual rights via the Bill of Rights. America has never been a conservative nation, the author asserts: in the 20th century alone, it tamed the Industrial Revolution with regulation and labor laws, set up a social safety net, fought fascism, expanded civil rights, and lifted the sociopolitical status of minorities. Not perfectly, Rall admits, but at least the angle was correct. Is it right for a CEO to pay himself millions as he lays off thousands, or for someone to kill a man because he is gay or Iraqi, or for hospitals to allow people to die because they can’t pay for medical help? It’s not just a matter of statistics, he argues, though those also help prove his point; an instinctive “no” to all of the above is part of the American persona. How has the Republican right virtually consumed the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government? Because of the Democratic Party’s lack of focus, its lack of cool, its unwillingness to approach politics as a barroom fight rather than a tea party, states Rall. He tenders an encouraging Democratic platform, with winning issues from minimum wage to college tuition to vacation time.

Senator Kerry could do worse than to read closely this flurry of smart advice (aside from the author’s fondness for they-pull-a-knife, you-pull-a-gun politics), which serves as a quick, bracing, and welcome series of wake-up slaps.

Greetings from Gitmo

Still doubt that the right-wing bloggers are off the hook? Check this out! Scroll down and you’ll find an actual, bonafide writing campaign to Attorney General John Ashcroft about little old me. Their goal: to have me thrown into a U.S. government gulag, and presumably executed (yes, really), for treason. Treason, it seems, means disagreeing with the Bush Administration, the Republicans, and their wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a follow-up to the cut-and-paste Ashcroft letter–which ought to give the chills to any American, regardless of political persuasion–blogger J.B. Corrigan adds:

First, I want to thank everyone who sent me copies of their messages to Attorney General John Ashcroft regarding the acts of Treason committed by Ted Rall (see previous entry). It is gratifying to me that so many people are willing to stand up and fight such despicable actions. Now it will be up to the U.S. Department of Justice as to whether the law as defined in the Constitution will be enforced.

However one whiner wrote in to make the predictable charge that it was ‘censorship’ and a violation of the First Amendment to take Rall to task for his Treason.

And to that I say: BULLSHIT. Rall committed Treason, and that Treason is perfectly defined by Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution…

And Rall? It is my fervent prayer that I might live long enough to see that S.O.B. lined up before a firing squad and executed for that act of Treason. Tell me where that dirtbag gets buried and I’ll join the long line of real Americans who will no doubt be ready to p*ss on him.

My.

I scoured the rightist blogosphere for reactions. I found positive responses at Blogs for Bush, Pardon My English and elsewhere. Not one right-winger had a problem with this.

These are the kinds of people we’re dealing with, folks. If they had their way, they’d recreate Nazi Germany right here in America. That’s why we must make certain they NEVER get their way.

P.S. If there’s a good lawyer reading this, I’d appreciate an email (chet@rall.com) advising me what to do about this extreme form of harrassment and abuse of government agencies. I should probably start by filing a Freedom of Information Act request to uncover the names and addresses of the individuals who filed these “treason” complaints against me, but can I/should I protect myself legally? If so, how?

Kerry’s Vice President

Among the more outlandish options floated recently for the veep spot on the Democratic ticket are John McCain and Ralph Nader. The McCain thing, I think it’s safe to guess, ain’t gonna happen. There hasn’t been a party crossover ticket in more than fifteen decades, and a year when the electorate is polarized won’t see the second. Choosing a conservative, pro-life Republican as vice president would alienate the liberal base, driving many to stay away from the polls or vote for Nader. I myself would retract my longstanding pledge to vote for the Democratic nominee since a McCain veep could become a Republican president. The Democratic Party, as I’ve written in my new book WAKE UP, YOU’RE LIBERAL: HOW WE CAN TAKE AMERICA BACK FROM THE RIGHT, needs to get back to its roots, not trash them entirely.

I don’t think much will come out of the Nader talk, but I think he’d be a brilliant choice–one that might lock up the election once and for all. A Nader VP would energize the liberal base like nothing else, neutralize a spoiler threat and infuse vibrant new ideas into the ossified Democratic Party political machine. Nader could become Kerry’s Cheney–the power behind the throne, the guy’s who’s always thinking new stuff up.

My money’s still on John Edwards or Bob Graham, though–and either of them would be just dandy.

30,000 Dead Iraqis

The psycho right bloggers, unwilling to acknowledge that information exists offline, keep asking where people like me come up with the figure that we killed at least 30,000 Iraqis during the war. The answer is: Bob Woodward. In his book “Plan of Attack,” he quotes Bush Administration sources as saying that we killed that many Iraqis during the first few weeks of war. Obviously that figure has since risen. Since I like to keep my statistics on the conservative side, however, I use the official Pentagon figure of 30,000.

More news from the glorious liberation of Vichy Mesopotamia:

Reuters and NBC staff abused in Iraq

Tue 18 May, 2004 20:28

By Andrew Marshall

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – U.S. forces beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their detention last January in a military camp near Falluja, the three say.

The three first told Reuters of the ordeal after their release but only decided to make it public when the U.S. military said there was no evidence they had been abused, and following the exposure of similar mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

An Iraqi journalist working for U.S. network NBC, who was arrested with the Reuters staff, also said he had been beaten and mistreated, NBC said on Tuesday.

Two of the three Reuters staff said they had been forced to insert a finger into their anus and then lick it, and were forced to put shoes in their mouths, particularly humiliating in Arab culture.

All three said they were forced to make demeaning gestures as soldiers laughed, taunted them and took photographs. They said they did not want to give details publicly earlier because of the degrading nature of the abuse.

The soldiers told them they would be taken to the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, deprived them of sleep, placed bags over their heads, kicked and hit them and forced them to remain in stress positions for long periods.

The U.S. military, in a report issued before the Abu Ghraib abuse became public, said there was no evidence the Reuters staff had been tortured or abused.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, said in a letter received by Reuters on Monday but dated March 5 that he was confident the investigation had been “thorough and objective” and its findings were sound.

The Pentagon has yet to respond to a request by Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger to review the military’s findings about the incident in light of the scandal over the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Asked for comment on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said only: “There are a number of lines of inquiry under way with respect to prison operations in Iraq. If during the course of any inquiry, the commander believes it is appropriate to review a specific aspect of detention, he has the authority to do so.”

The abuse happened at Forward Operating Base Volturno, near Falluja, the Reuters staff said. They were detained on January 2 while covering the aftermath of the shooting down of a U.S. helicopter near Falluja and held for three days, first at Volturno and then at Forward Operating Base St Mere.

The three — Baghdad-based cameraman Salem Ureibi, Falluja-based freelance television journalist Ahmad Mohammad Hussein al-Badrani and driver Sattar Jabar al-Badrani — were released without charge on January 5.

“INADEQUATE” INVESTIGATION

“When I saw the Abu Ghraib photographs, I wept,” Ureibi said on Tuesday. “I saw they had suffered like we had.”

Ureibi, who understands English better than the other two detainees, said soldiers told him they wanted to have sex with him, and he was afraid he would be raped.

NBC, whose stringer Ali Muhammed Hussein Ali al-Badrani was detained along with the Reuters staff, said he reported that a hood was placed over his head for hours, and that he was forced to perform physically debilitating exercises, prevented from sleeping and struck and kicked several times.

“Despite repeated requests, we have yet to receive the results of the army investigation,” NBC News Vice President Bill Wheatley said.

Schlesinger sent a letter to Sanchez on January 9 demanding an investigation into the treatment of the three Iraqis.

The U.S. army said it was investigating and requested further information. Reuters provided transcripts of initial interviews with the three following their release, and offered to make them available for interview by investigators.

A summary of the investigation by the 82nd Airborne Division, dated January 28 and provided to Reuters, said “no specific incidents of abuse were found”. It said soldiers responsible for the detainees were interviewed under oath and “none admit or report knowledge of physical abuse or torture”.

“The detainees were purposefully and carefully put under stress, to include sleep deprivation, in order to facilitate interrogation; they were not tortured,” it said. The version received on Monday used the phrase “sleep management” instead.

The U.S. military never interviewed the three for its investigation.

On February 3 Schlesinger wrote to Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the investigation was “woefully inadequate” and should be reopened.

“The military’s conclusion of its investigation without even interviewing the alleged victims, along with other inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the report, speaks volumes about the seriousness with which the U.S. government is taking this issue,” he wrote.

Sarin,Schmarin

The report that a roadside bomb attack may have used a shell that contained sarin nerve agent has the right wing media all atwitter. Aha! WMDs!

Not yet.

While there’s something to the notion that where there’s one mouse there are a dozen more living in your wall, the possible presence of sarin in one cannister hardly justifies invading Iraq at a cost of more than $150 billion, 30,000 dead Iraqis (the number comes from the Bush Administration, courtesy of Bob Woodward’s “Plan of Attack”) and 1,200 dead coalition troops.

More to the point: Even if we were to discover enormous warehouses full of nuclear weapons, the war still wouldn’t have been justified. The point being, the US claimed that it KNEW that Iraq had WMDs when it clearly did not. Guessing correctly doesn’t count, not that that’s what happened here.

What Happens to the Death Threat People?

A number of you have written to ask what, if anything, I do regarding people who send me threatening emails. The answer is, I take them seriously. Anyone who is so psychologically unbalanced that they would threaten an artist or writer is a danger not only to me, but anyone with whom they come into contact.

I report these communications to the FBI, local law enforcement authorities and the Internet Service Providers. What happens next, as they say, ain’t my business.

Gotta Love to Hate

The first cartoon I ever tried to copy was “Peanuts.” I traced over Charlie Brown’s simple round head thousands of times, yet–it never turned out like the original.

Then I tried a different approach. Rather than use a drawn Schulz strip as a model, I reread a few of the collections and then tried drawing Charlie Brown by memory.

The results sure weren’t classic Schulz–but I’d drawn a passable Charlie Brown.

Since I’ve begun drawing cartoons for a living, I’ve done homages and parodies of a number of other comic strips: Lynda Barry’s “Ernie Pook’s Comeek,” “Fred Bassett,” “Hi and Lois,” “The Family Circus,” Tony Millionaire’s “Maakies.” Interestingly, the ones with simple lines, like Fred Bassett, were a lot harder to draw than those with a lot of crosshatching, like Millionaire’s. You’d think it would be the other way around, but it’s not.

Which brings me to http://tedrall.isfullofcrap.com. Who can argue that I’ve arrived? Once you have your own hate site devoted to the prospect that you suck, you ARE somebody.

Unfortunately, that site, which contains countless attempts to mimic my work, makes my point about the difficulty of doing parodies of cartoons drawn using simple or primitivist styles. The guy who does this site is so incapable of rendering my work that he’s been reduced to simply cutting and pasting his own (incompetently insulting) dialogue into the word balloons of my published work. That’s not parody, obviously–it’s copyright infringement.

Other better-known cartoonists, such as Art Spiegelman and Sam Henderson, have attempted to copy my style but to no avail.

Which means that, in a way, I haven’t FULLY arrived.

The problem with those failed attempts isn’t that these guys don’t know how to draw, though that may in fact be the case. Their trouble comes from hatred.

To wit: My opinion of Tony Millionaire is a negative one. Yet, I was determined to do a great parody strip–one, because he paid me to do it, and two, because it would put to rest the assumption that I can’t draw.

How’d I do?

It was so good that Millionaire dares not print it, because it would make him look bad. Hilariously he even tried to sell the original, but no one was interested. Well, duh, Tony–who wants to buy original cartoons that never appeared in print?

So, all in all I consider it a moral and fiscal victory.

If I’d been wallowing in contempt for Tony while I was drawing that “Maakies,” I would have failed miserably. Instead, I set aside that emotion and decided to enjoy the world created by his strip with a sense of total detachment. I bought a couple of his books, read them over and over. “Maakies” really is a great strip, and it’s even more fun in book form. It was in that state of mind, loving the strip I was drawing, that I did the never-to-be-published “Maakies.” Gordon Gano said something similar about the Violent Femmes’ cover of “Do You Really Wanna Hurt Me.” He started out hating Culture Club, but the more he got into rehearsing the song, the more he respected it–and the better the parody turned out.

That’s my advice to anyone looking to make fun of me, or any other cartoonist. If you really, really hate a strip and/or its artist–you’ll never pull it off. You gotta love in order to hate.

After appearing on Fox News’ “Heartland with John Kasich” to discuss that Seattle group’s “Victory to the Iraqi Resistance” sign,” I received the following colorful missives. I post these for the benefit of those who want to know how the average Bush voter thinks (and spells). Too bad we can’t get inside these mucked-up brains and install a logic chip.

From jlbrown_jr@hotmail.com:

Re: Ted Ralls needs to go live in france, you damn trader

Ted

you have cross the line, from being a low down jerk, to a trader, why dont

you go live in a country that does not have the bill of rights, our

president Bush did sell the war on terror, You like so many others have

forgotten 9/11. if you dont like the way we live, dont like our president,

go live there. You pop your mouth off, to hell with you. Have you ever

thought what might have happened if Gore or Kerry where in the white house.

thats scarey

J.L. Brown Jr, TSgt, USAF Retired

Not as scary as your IQ, dude. France has a Bill of Rights–ours is modeled on theirs, in fact. And if Gore, Kerry or the Easter Rabbit were president on 9/11, I can’t imagine that they could have screwed things up any worse.

From Storm1915@aol.com:

I hope you die a miserable death you piece of shit, I will piss on your grave

From rondale@comcast.net:

I hope when the terrorist hit here again your family is killed.

Fuck you.

From mdyer1@nycap.rr.com:

Just saw your ugly puss on Fox-News.

I’d like to give you a one-way ticket to Iraq.

WE are fighting for our lives. Your life isn’t worth saving.

T^ake a hike you fool.

MIKE DYER

An American from Clifton Park, New York.

That’s New York as in target for 9-11 terrorists

Yeah, like the suburban hamlet of Clifton Park is target #1 for jihadis.

From ghinton309@comcast.net:

You are one sick puke!

From Twm0752@aol.com:

momas got a queer boy

From msgsteward@earthlink.net:

Mr. Rall,

After reading your guidelines I will be surprised that you have the testosterone to respond.

Please feel free to call our even come and visit me I will send you my home address. I will share with you the exploits of my Grandfathers in WWI or may Dad’s adventures in WWII and Korea, my twenty plus years of service, or may talk about my son driving the 6th tank in top Baghdad. Maybe you can enlighten a family of Idiots and saps. You are so brave by drawing cartoons. Why don’t you go to Iraq and put your ass on the line I will even go to protect you. Gimmie a call

If not I will use my First amendment rights to say,

“FUCK YOU” you traitorous prick.

David E. Steward Jr.

MSG. USA Ret.

(909) XXX-XXXX Office

(909) XXX-XXXX Cell

(802) XXX-XXXX Fax

From shahn@globalar.com:

Teddy, your double talk regarding supporting the Insurgents and Terrorist but not wanting to kill America GIs is not going to cut it with the boys when they come home. You might want to move to France or Russia. If you sir are not aiding the enemy then no one is. YOU will be remembered forever as a Traitor. Why do you stay in America??

Yeah, like living in France would be so terrible.

From bradsilliman@yahoo.com:

5-16-04

Savannah, Tennessee

Dear Ted:

RE: Your recent controversial cartoon and column about former NFL player Pat Tillman

Something you need to know about the American special forces community is that they are very loyal to each other. When you insult them as a group it really doesn’t faze them much. But when you intentionally attack one of their dead comrades you cross a lethal line.

I served in the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam. I am not a special forces veteran nor a hero. But I have worked with the SF community enough to know them. And all I can say is I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when Tillman’s buddies start coming home.

Now that would be scary enough but then you write a column headlined: “Army of Scum.”

You see Ted, I knew kids like you when I was growing up. They would stand in their front yard and taunt you and everybody else until you got mad and came toward them. Then they would run into their house and lock the door. They would hope that by the time you saw them again you would have forgotten about it or had better things to do than retaliate against them–and they were usually right.

But this time Ted you have insulted a whole sub-culture of millions, of whom a sizable number aren’t going to forget. You would have been wiser to insult the Hell’s Angels than the Rangers. Rangers are crazier than bats. I am a non-violent person and I hope no harm comes to you. But if it does, it will be your own fault, you silly little fool.

B. Silliman

Yeah, you sure sound like Gandhi.

From jbshort@direcway.com:

You know, of course, that you are a piece of human excrement.

Bill Short

Caulfield, Missouri

Of course!

From chucksierra@hotmail.com:

It’s you see-it-only-one-way, woe-is-me, constantly bitching and moaning

Leftists, or better put another way, you floating turds in the stool that

are flushing this country down the drain. There…..

instead of putting that in your pipe and smoking it, put that in your comic

strip and let the whole world see your real shitty talent! Mr. Chuck Sierra

in Seattle….

From je-69@excite.com:

was just watching your interview on fox…the single question I have is do you work at it,or does it come natural like to be a true total asshole………is it true the dog beat your daddy over the fence?….

If anybody understands this reference, please write. I did not grow up on a farm.

From Ficuspt@aol.com:

I HOPE YOU DIE YOU SCUMBAG

From Jwes466282@aol.com:

U R one worthless piece of shit

From buss_ajp@msn.com:

You belong in Iran… You piece of shit!

I do hope you loose your deal

From tms867@rcn.com:

Defending ones country is not restricted to its immediate borders. You are clearly obtuse, misguided, and narrow minded in your understanding of human behavior and world history.

Your Pat Tillman cartoon, and your defense of it, is a vile indication of that.

I will no long purchase any of the publications you are affiliated with,

Regretfully,

TMS

I wonder if this person purchases ANY publications?

From ced_booker@msn.com:

Re: Blacklisted

That’s what you are!

Rockslinger

Atlanta, Georgia

From jmbluechip@charter.net:

Thank god a wimp like you is not charged with defending this country. I bet you got bullied around when you were in school, huh? I bet your inferiority complex prevents you from talking to chics huh? I am so sorry that your little ego was hurt permanently by bullies and turned you into this pathetic wimp. I am so very sorry you trash those (i.e. Pat Tillman) who defend your write to have your itty bitty cartoons. Please please…for the love of god….get a life and become a man…..SOON!!

My Deepest Sympathy,

Joe

Not only did I talk to Chic, I also owned some of the records.

From mdbiddle@earthlink.net:

Dear Mr. Rall,

I read your guidelines before e-mailing you. I can understand where you might have gotten some hate mail after everything you’ve written, especially about Pat Tillman. In keeping with your guidelines I will try to keep my criticism constructive and give you credit where credit is due. From your recent appearances on Fox and the picture in your bio you appear to be human. That’s positive. That your political opinions are so bizarre and contravene every fact known to terrestial life is both positive and negative. It’s positive in that you are proof of extra-terrestial life, your opinions being completely out of this world as you might therefore be. That would be very good in that we have searched extensively for extra-terrestail life. It’s negative, however, in that we assumed extra-terrestials would be more intelligent than us. You are a serious disappointment in that regard. Your assimilation programming should have included some rudimentary logic, some ability, even a modicum, to distinguish reality from your twisted leftist imaginigs.

I guess the constructive part of my criticism would be to attend some philosophy courses that would teach some rudimentary logic. As long as you want to put words in the mouths of those you satirize perhaps you should study some source references. I recommend the Geneva Conventions for starters. Do you see where in that document it talks about terrorists? If not, why not? Perhaps no one thought of terrorists as combatants, relying as they do on perfidy to approach their target: innocent civilians, which the Conventions specifically abjure against deliberate targeting. If they are using illegitimate means (perfidy) to deliberately target the innocent, perhaps what they are doing could be characterized as illegal under the Law of Armed Conflict? If they are under arms they’d have to be combatants of a sort, don’t you think? Maybe then we could characterize them as “illegal combatants?” Doesn’t that sound descriptive of what they are? Is there something about this that escapes you, something that you don’t understand? If they are combatants, albeit illegal, do you think we should just treat them like criminals perhaps? Should we accord them rights, like the presumption of innocence, legal representation, trial by peers? If we can’t prove a capital case beyond a shadow of a doubt, should we release them in the hope that they will slip up on their fourth or fifth attempt perhaps? Should we just hope that they’ll slip enough to provide sufficient evidence for conviction? Should we maybe pray that our civilization will survive long enough to gather this evidence and provide a court in which to hold the trial?

What is the name of the planet you are from? Are you accepting donations for a return trip?

God–I love this email. All I’ll add is: The Geneva Conventions don’t specifically mention 9/11 either. So what?

From NettDE@aol.com:

You are an over inflated horses ass!

Please, my kingdom for a sharp needle>

From spiritofny@hotmail.com:

as a mother of an american soldier who joined after 911 i find u an very

offensive person i dare u to come to nyc and to ground zero and say the shit

u say in fact i find u very unamerican but then look at u u look like a geek

u act like a geek so why should anyone listen to u or even take a pussy

liike u serious no wonder u made the unpopular list u mentions hundreds who

opposed the war u forgot to mention the millions who support the war and i

will write to oreilly calling for a boycott on u asshole move to canada

that where a coward like u belong

From tle9@carolina.rr.com:

You are a big piece of shit!

From M2000BJ@aol.com:

Ted,

You’re a lunatic! We’re at WAR, man! And you have no sense of common human decency to say such things about Tillman and others who have given their lives — which is more than you’d ever be willing to do for the country you supposedly love.

If you think Pakistan, Saudi, and Egypt are the targets we should have hit — then that’s fine. We can hit them next. But with the ridiculously small size of our standing Army — thanks to cutbacks since the Vietnam era — certainly you must be able to realize why we had to take out Afghanistan and Iraq first! It doesn’t take the IQ of an Einstein to figure that out.

T. Johnson

Yeah, we HAD to take out Iraq and Afghanistan first. It only stands to reason.

From melissal.pezzuti@verizon.net:

YOU SUCK AND ALWAYS WILL

There’s nothing like a fortune teller to ruin your day.

From dswartz2@cox.net:

YOUR COMMENTS ON FOX NEWS TELLS ME YOUR SICK IN THE HEAD!!!

From thunder1934@msn.com:

You are a piece of communist manure.

From BellMT@state.gov:

Dear Communist,

I am appalled that people like you are allowed to call yourself

American. I hold that title with great pride. When I see a man that gives up

all his fame and fortune to do his part by serving in the military, most

people would consider him a hero. I do. But there is always someone who

feels the need to criticize. You can say what you want about the war that

never should have happened, you can talk trash on Bush all you want, that’s

fair game. But to make fun of a HERO that gave his life for the same right

that you, yourself, take for granted… That’s just wrong, man. Whats the

matter, no inspiration? You and writing is like a blind man shopping for

porn. People like you give democrats a bad name.

PS I feel sorry for you mother.I am visiting New York soon. I suggest you

avoid that state.

They Never Learn

From today’s New York Times…first the good news:

Under a barrage of international and domestic criticism, the top American commander in Iraq has barred virtually all coercive interrogation practices, like forcing prisoners to crouch for long periods or depriving them of sleep, the Pentagon said Friday.

The commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, will still consider requests to hold prisoners in isolation for more than 30 days, according to a senior Central Command official who briefed reporters on Friday. The general has approved 25 such requests since October, the official said. But the official said that General Sanchez would deny requests to use other harsh methods.

“Simply, we will not even entertain a request, so don’t even send it up for a review,” the Central Command official said.

Then the bad:

The changes appear to affect only operations in Iraq, and would not change interrogation methods at the American base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, or in Afghanistan.

Given that allegations of murder, mistreatment, beatings and torture go back to the start of the war in Afghanistan–remember the treatment Johnny Walker Lindh received?–it’s not like our Afghan gulags should get a free pass. Ditto with Gitmo, where dozens of prisoners have already committed suicide after having been driven mad by U.S. interrogators. But the Bush Administration seems absolutely determined to stretch out the prison abuse scandal as long as possible.

The question is, will it make a difference in November? At this point, anyone who votes for George W. Bush tacitly admits they favor torture. Living next to such morality-deprived scum should make the skin of any red-blooded American patriot crawl.