Before I went on Fox News’ “Hannity and Colmes” tonight to discuss my rather picayune blog entry from earlier this week–the one where I noted the fact that, if you buy into the Christian concept of Heaven and Hell, Ronald Reagan is probably turning crispy brown by now–Sean Hannity turned to me and asked me whether I “do this for the publicity.”

I’ve gotten asked that a few times this week, which I find amusing if for no other reason than the fact that publicity doesn’t really get you very much except, in my case, a free taxi to midtown Manhattan and some pancake makeup smeared across my delicate pores. They don’t pay you to appear, you get insulted and abused and you end up with several hundred angry emails from right-wing psychopaths whose aim is hopefully on par with their grammar. Yeah, it’s a great life if you don’t weaken and all that.

Truth is, when I was starting out as a cartoonist I quickly discovered that I had no way of predicting reactions to my work. Certain cartoons are widely reprinted; others ignored. Some cause offense, most not. Same thing with books–I had no idea that “2024” would do badly because so few people remembered the source material I parodied, “1984.” I thought “To Afghanistan and Back” would do poorly; wrong again.

Had I suspected that my blog entry about Reagan would draw national media attention through a link on the Drudge Report, I would spent more time on it, crafting it carefully. As my best friend says, blogs are like a column but without the responsibility. They’re dashed off miscellany, random thoughts you log as you think of them. So no, Mr. Hannity, I had no idea that I would be one of a few public figures with the temerity to note that Ronald Reagan was a shitty president who caused a lot of misery and hurt this country that I adore. Frankly, it never occured to me that so many of my fellow liberals would be so lame, so cowardly, as to ignore his true legacy. But there you are,

So why do I do it? Why do I go on Fox and let assholes like Hannity yell at me?

The answer is simple: because someone has to. To be liberal in America nowadays is to feel desperately alone, alienated even from a Democratic Party that’s totally unwilling to fight for its own principles. Believing in true (liberal) American values nowadays is like working at a job where you’re represented by a corrupt union: you’d probably be better off without a union at all. Ditto for the so-called liberal media; the delusion that we’re represented prevents us from getting organized.

I go on those stupid shows to let other liberals know that they are not alone, that millions of others feel exactly the same way that they do about the direction that this country is going. It’s a thankless task to be sure, one I’ll happily give up when other, more prominent, more articulate liberals step up to the plate. Frankly, the only thing I really want to do is stay home and draw cartoons and write columns.

By the way, my Hate Mail postings have become so popular that I can’t resist sharing my latest batch, most of these as a result of my appearance on Hannity and Colmes. Enemies like these–violent, illogical, pedantic, ignorant, uneducated–help keep self-doubt at bay. These, my friends, are the voices of Republican voters. These are supporters of George W. Bush. They support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have no problem with prisoner abuse in Iraq. They represent the dark, racist underbelly of America. We must never forget that they are out there, and we must never, ever stop working to make sure their kind gets to impose its will on those of us who think.

Here goes…a journey into the mind of a Fox viewer:

From USPropMgnt@aol.com:

I live in NYC!!! God I hope to see you sometime. I promise I’ll introduce myself. I know your a dumbass, so any chance you can provide your adress? Thanks! HOPE TO SEE YOU REAL SOON

It’s “you’re.” Dumbass. Of course, maybe this person went to a school suffering from Reagan’s budget cuts.

From jeanijon@netscape.net:

You are truly the ugliest thing I have ever seen on TV.

Now that’s saying something.

From craigusnret@yahoo.com:

Teddie, for once for proving how irrational you truly are on the Hannity show tonight, thus furthering the cause of the Right and showing the true colors of the Left. Wow, what a performance! By the way, Teddie, it doesn’t take a cartoonist to figure out that AIDS was spread by unprotected anal sex amongst homosexuals back then (and still is), not by the President. Now Teddie, you wouldn’t be familiar with that practice, would you?

In any case, Teddie, keep up the good work, and God bless the soul of President Reagan!

Yes, let’s pick on the fags. Reagan let 500,000 of them die without a passing thought, but evidently they haven’t suffered enough.

A thinly-veiled threat from rdlynch@alaska.net:

Should you ever need a lifeline, I will just watch. I hope it is soon.

Ralph Lynch

Anchorage, Alaska

A lovely missive from laprentke@yahoo.com:

Ted,

You miserable shred of human debris.

I will pray every Sunday that you find aids in one of your lovers’ asses, turn “brown & crispy”, then die without taxpayer concern!

Lawrence A. Prentke

Lake Almanor, Ca.

From douglasice@yahoo.com:

You are a cocksucker,Go back to the USSR, that failed like you.When you are a fag, you need to pull your head out of your ass.Do every one some good and move down to Cuba.

Thank you.Jerkweed Burn In Hell!!!!

Doug

West Virginia

“Jerkweed”?!?

From junky54@bellsouth.net:

I just saw your interview on Hannity and Colmes and really hope you are “turning a crispy brown” soon. You do not deserve to breath the same air that I do. I hope you die and rot in hell.

From carpenterathome@hotmail.com:

I just scanned thru the last two months of your articles and cartoons. It’s pure trash. I hope you see the light when iraq ends up a victory for bush and the free world. You would love to see the war fail. The more dead US servicemen the better. Your lucky you can write this crap and earn a living.

If you were in Iraq before saddam was overthrown, you most likely would be a statistic.

mike

Can you believe it? They actually think we can win in Iraq…That’s what you get when you rely on Fox for your news.

From warphead@hotmail.com:

President Reagan was a great man. You are but garbage stuck between the treads of my boots.

When it is your time to leave this world how will you be remembered? Not sure? I can tell you.

YOU WONT. You live your life as a piece of garbage, you are remembered as garbage. If your vile disgusting comments at a time when the nation mourns moves me to speak. Then I can only imagine the millions of e-mails you must be receiving. All of which reflect the same feeling toward you as I do. There are only a few things I can do to silence the poison in which your sick vile body spews. These are to educate myself as to how you finance and spread your sickness.Then to make certain I never unknowingly spend a cent

to further your sickness. To vote and by voting oppose all those who are afflicted with your illness. To speak out against all the vile sick digusting things in which you stand for. To bring your ideals to light and make sure your name is associated with each and every vile statement and act that you make. To educate and educate all those who will listen. Lastly I will become active in as many causes that are just, legal and moral to oppose everything in which you stand. I am an American. I am one of the millions and millions of average Americans who do not believe in your sickness. I am part of the majority and I am joining the fight to regain my country from the politically correct liberal communists that you are a part of.

Very Very Sincerely,

Kevin Egan

Lebanon, TN.

I just want to point out that “warphead” is an appropriate username for someone (there are a lot of these guys) who believes that every Democrat is a Communist.

From sjellis@ecentral.com:

I just saw you on Fox and felt the urge to tell you what an ASS you are. I suppose your behavior is directly due to your being a four-eyed geek, since, according to you, hair, complexion, and ones overall genetics make a person what he is. I pray to God that you don’t have children, if that be the case!

I can’t believe how completely classless you are, to write (poorly, I might add–good thing you’re just a cartoonist and not a real writer) as you did about a man who gave his all for the country he loved and has just passed away, leaving a family that is already in pain.

You say you believe that Presiden Reagan has gone to hell, which means you believe in heaven and hell. That being the case, and it also being the case that heaven and hell only exist to those who believe in JudeoChristian beliefs, then you should know that as Reagan was a believer, he is most definitely in heaven. The works we do here on earth have nothing to do with where we end up, which should give even a nasty and ignorant ASS such as yourself hope for an eternity in heaven rather than hell. Somehow, I don’t think you will ever be a believer–you are just to hateful and your heart too hard to ever learn the Truth.

Just as you obviously don’t know the truth as to why healthcare costs are so high. Let me see–let’s start with the addition of health insurance to the picture. That occurred on Democrat Roosevelt’s watch and was pushed by the unions. Being in the health care field, I know darn well where that money is going–to the insurance companies. It sure ain’t making it to the hospitals, clinics, etc. who have to fight for every penny (literally). Next comes Medicare. Now, wasn’t that the big campaign issue for Democrat Kennedy? Being enacted under Democrat Johnson? And lastly, there’s managed healthcare, a failure of a concept from the mind of Presidend Hilary Clinton.

Stick to your cartoons, Ted. You wouldn’t have made it through my high school composition class the way you write, much less a graduate level technical writing class.

Happy you’re a Democrat because we sure wouldn’t want somebody like you–you’re actually an asset to the Republican party!

A non-fan (to say the least)

I loved this one.

From wlcook@bellsouth.net:

You are an insult to the public on both Television & your writings. How you can say such terrible things about a great man is hard for a human to understand! I am sure that Ragan will go to Heaven and I am also sure where you will go when you die!

I will be sure to cancel any newspaper or publication that prints your writings.

W. L. Cook, Jr.

All these years, and people still can’t spell Reagan. So many hate mails come in praising “Regan” it’s scary. For God’s sake, how stupid can you be?

From flagators56@hotmail.com:

ted

you’re the greatest asshole i’ve ever heard. i would love to kick your ass, but i’m sure you are such a pussy that you would never show up for a fair fight. i just heard you denegratating the greatest President of the 20th century, i never thought i would see a weasle in real life. teddy boy, you have real issues and i will not help you resolve them. you are filled with such hate and anger that they will consume you and cause you more anguish than i ever could. i look forward to the day when i hear or read that you have blown your two cell brain out.

teddy, you have areal nice warped day.

bill bass

augusta, ga

From ONE900LAWBABE@msn.com:

Ted,

I just saw your interview on Hannity & Colmes. You are a poor excuse for a human being! What a bitter, hateful man you must be to say such rotten things about President Reagan, ESPECIALLY at this time! Even ALan COlmes, who is pretty liberal, was obviously embarrassed and disgusted by you.

Just for the record, President Reagan did not kill 500,000 gays–they killed themselves by having promiscuous sex without protection and leading a perverted lifestyle. Why is it that people can’t take responsibility for their OWN actions, and have to blame their troubles on other people?

YOu said that you felt that President Reagan deserved to burn in hell, but what about you? It is OBVIOUS that you are a hateful, bitter gay man without any soul. If we all talked like you, I would say I hope you DO get aids, but that would be really hateful, cruel and wrong, wouldn’t it? It is different when the shoe is on the other foot.

You’ll be surprised when you do die, because there IS a GOD, but YOU are never going to see him. If anyone will be burning in hell, it will be YOU.

You disgust me and all DECENT people everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From SilkyErin@aol.com:

I watched your ranting on Hannity and Colms —– where you berated the greatest president of the 20th century. You are such a totally insensitive and disgusting idiot! I cannot even force myself to call you a human being. It is YOU who will FRY IN HELL ….. and no one deserved that more! You don’t deserve to be counted as one of our species.

What kind of upbringing did you have? You’re the epitome of a HATEMONGER!! I hope you get a case of Alzheimer’s like none other on earth. Let’s see how you feel crapping in your diapers, Ted! Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!!

Just to let you know, I spent 8 hours last night driving to the Reagan Library, standing in line for the bus which took us up to pay our respects to this great man and I shed some tears.

No, I was born in 1978 …. and I was a child when Reagan was president, but I read about him and his great work. He is the one who established a Department of Education. He turned this country around for the better. After inherited a total economic mess from that asshole, Jimmy Carter (a man who never met a dictator he didn’t like and to whom we owe the islamic mess we’re in ..) …. Reagan turned this country around. He changed history! He put an end to the Cold War …. and for that he will be revered forever.

Erin Cummings

Santa Monica, California

Actually Ronald Reagan did not create the Department of Education. He actually attempted to eliminate it entirely upon taking office. And though Carter had many faults as President, he wasn’t renowned for coddling dictators–with the exception of the Shah of Iran.

From CWHARTX@aol.com:

You’ve really increased your exposure with your recent intemperant rants.

Ronald Reagan is one of the most beloved American leaders of the last 50 years. He won 2 elections by landslides and improved the lives of innumerable working class Americans.

Ask Margaret Thatcher who won the cold war, and she will tell you.

Yeah, like Maggie Thatcher is someone I’d ask for advice. Which reminds me…how old is that nasty old crone?

This one from PatriciaWings30@aol.com is pretty damned awesome:

You are one disgusting piece of trash. Your remarks about former President Reagan is totally outrageous. I’ve listened to you remarks and think hell is waiting for you. You talk about Reagan being in hell, your full of crap. I have heard many undecided voters say that after listening to your trash and other evil Democrats that they want no part of that party. The hate that you and most of the party is spreading is horrible. I agree with freedom of speech, but hate spreading isn’t what our forefathers meant. It’s to bad that instead of Berg it wasn’t you that Zarqawi got a hold of. But the sad thing is that it’s the innocence that get hurt and the evil ones go on spreading hate. Hell is to good for you, God should come up with a more server punishment. You have no heart, soul, or feelings. I feel really sorry for you mom. You must bring tears and pain to her heart daily. You give trueness to the word bad seed. You are truly the seed of Satan. I just don’t see how God can let evilness such as you walk the face of the earth. There is one thing that the people that your hatefulness has hurt can know is that you’ll face a higher power. You’ll face God and he will bring judgment on you digesting mouth. You’ll feel each ounce of pain that you’ve caused others. It’s coward like you that run your mouth and then hide. Go to Iraq and face our brave troops. Go to the family members of brave troops that have given their life and say the horrible things to them. Our a coward, you want do that. You hide behind a pencil, paper, and a web sight. You use you hate spreading to make money. Your just the most disgusting, sickening, and horrible person on the face of the earth. I hear those talk about the antichrist. Well, they can look at you and see the face of that beast.

From manda0131@msn.com:

Fuck you dick weed. I hope the maggots won’t even eat your dead carcass.

This is a confusing insult. Is it more desirable to become maggot dinner than not?

From bgee181@comcast.net:

YOU ARE THE MOST SHAMELSESS PIECE OF SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN. FOR YOU TO ATTACK REAGAN , AND YOU COULDN’T SHINE HIS SHOES, ON THE EVE OF HIS FUNERAL, TELLS ME THAT YOU ARE A TOTAL MOTHER FUCKING SCUMBAG. FUCK YOU, YOU GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKER. SPITWAD!

From rhagen3@wi.rr.com:

The perfect murder

Just shoot Ted Rall.

Who would ever want to convict?

From trigeek@mindspring.com:

Ted, I will go to bed tonight praying that you die soon…………………very slowly…………….and very, very painfully. That will give me great glee.

Peter Coblentz

Tucker, GA

From jkucinski@adelphia.net:

I saw you on Hannity and Colmes tonight.

Both Hannity and Colmes were completely right about you.

Check the mirror and you’ll see a wessal-like, weak, weak little asshole of a man and maybe even a faggot.

Joe Kucinski

Colorado Springs

Sexuality is a recurring theme in Republican hate mail.

From armyret@hotmail.com:

I watched with interest, your comments on the Hannity and Colmes Show, and your charges towards President Reagan, and America’s hero, Sergeant Tillman. I could tell by the way you talk, you’ve consumed much sperm, and are addicted to homosexuality. Mr. Hannity was correct in saying you are an evil, soulless, hateful, mean person. I fully agree. You have no God, and it is you who will turn to a crisp in Hell.

Anthony Retel

U.S. Army Retired

Another threat from texman4268@yahoo.com:

You have got to be the most weasely looking little

cynical bastard on the planet. Too bad Sean Hannity

couldn’t give the location of the studio door you’d be

leaving from so there could be some “mislead

Americans” to give you a proper greeting.

A lynch mob wouldn’t be a bad thing to bring back in

your case.

One of these days, you will finally strike the wrong

nerve and someone is going to kick your ass good.

Best wishes loser!!!

From sbrandt@starband.net:

I saw you on Fox News and i think you are a DICK HEAD

you Communist Ass Hole

.you are NOT funny you Dickless Idiot and your cartoons are NOT funny either

I think you would be happier if you would move to France and take the UN with you

Scott

From warology@cox.net:

You deserve a big punch in the nose. And if I ever run in to you on the street, that is exactly what you will get.

From abfbrinlee@att.net:

Ted,

I saw you on fox news. If I had a chance to meet you in person i would go to jail for assalt and battery and it would be worth it. I would beat the living shit out of you for your remarks on Reagan. You better hope we never meet in person. You deserve a good old fasion ass kicking. I can not believe your evil intent. You must have made a deal with the devil and I hope you do burn in hell. I know you will. Our President Reagan is in Heaven and I am sure is weaping for you. Thats the difference in you and him. Your a hater and he was a lover. I will have to ask God to forgive me for this note and I will. I hope that one day you will humble yourself to God also.

Sincerely,

Doug

“Reagan was a lover”?!?!

From info@apsprecision.com:

Fuck you! you cocksucker!… You piss ant twerp… I would shove those gay glasses up your ass… You Cocksucker FUCK YOU

From lwillens@msn.com:

Dear Comrade Rall:

Mother Fucking low life communist faggot pig. You are as much of a virus as the aids virus. The problem with this country is you and the faggotry you practice.

Len and Dana Willens

From tmeans4121@adelphia.net:

MR RALL…..

YOU HEARTLESS PERSON….YOUR COMMENTS REGARDING PRESIDENT REAGAN ARE THOUGHLESS AND HATEFUL…

HE WAS THE GREATEST PEACETIME PRESIDENT IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Except for the war, of course. And the bombing campaign.

From TuAl@msn.com:

You are so ugly and mean spirited I hope someone puts a bullet in the back of your head.

Server Problems

My apologies to those who attempted to access Ted Rall Online yesterday. It seems that the server crashed due to a high volume of traffic. We’re working on the problem and hope to resolve it soon. Of course, if you’re reading this, things are probably just dandy.

Bush v. Reagan

I’ve written this week’s column, which will go up later today, concerning the similarities between Gov. Dubya and Ronald Reagan. But there’s also a major difference.

When George W. Bush dies someday, please bear in mind that, unlike Ronald Reagan–a duly-elected president–Bush will not be entitled to a state funeral or placing flags at half staff. As an illegal usurper who seized power extraconstitutionally, Bush should be buried at sea, in a simple shroud, and returned to the sharks that spawned him. Reagan, for all of his faults, should at least be acknowledged as a former president.

More Hate Mail Follies

The Drudge Report has linked to my blog (see below), and the right-wing psychos are back at it again! Here, for your entertainment, are some of the lowlifes who inexplicably enjoy the right to vote:

From damnuebay@yahoo.com:

Former President Reagan has done more for this country than you ever will, or could dream of doing, you are pathetic speaking about people that can no longer defend themselves. I hope we don’t have to wait very long till you join the dead.

From rjohns9797@sbcglobal.net, who sent me more than 30 threatening emails during the Tillman thing:

Re: Ronald Maximus Reagan would have laughed

In the presence of greatness your tiny little prick, just shriveled up, didn’t it?

By the way, did you ever get that body guard?

Do you stay off subway platforms and away from dark streets?

You should, you know…

He also sent this:

DO YOU AVOID DARK STREETS?

YOU SHOULD, YOU KNOW…

ALL IT TAKES IS ONE…

SOME DAY, SOMEONE WILL DECIDE TO DO THE WORLD A FAVOR…

YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED…

From SrChief5473@aol.com:

I have finally identified you. You are a miserable little piece of shit

lying on the sidewalk.’

Fathered by a pig and mothered by a dog.

From JJMc@pge.com:

MAY YOU DIE SLOWLY OF STOMACH CANCER YOU PIECE OF CRAP. YOU WERE NOT FIT TO WIPE RONALD REAGAN’S ASS. YOU WOULD BE QUALIFIED TO REPLACE MONICA AND SERVICE THAT TRAITOROUS COWARD BILL CLINTON ON YOUR KNEES.

Dig the username: RomanticArtwork@aol.com:

YOUR OPINION COUNTS…….NOW HERE’S MINE. YOU LOOK GAY AND PROBABLY LIKE

IT IN THE ASS SO I BELIEVE YOU WILL DIE OF AIDS. Anyway, I’m sure YOU’LL BE

turning crispy brown ONE DAY SOON. I ONLY WISH S0ONER. YOU ARE LIBERAL TRASH.

OUT YOU WILL GO. THIS IS NOT A THREAT JUST FACT AND WISHFULL THINKING.

From Bmorganrey@cs.com:

If Ronald Reagan is in hell, I am sure he will save you a seat. Move to

France you piece of scum. If it weren’t for people like Ronald Reagan you wouldn’t

be able to write your garbage.

God Bless President Reagan, America, and most of all you ,

Brent Reynolds

From Rabel873@aol.com:

I hope you die in prison you SOB!

From ehagemeyer@sbcglobal.net:

Hey Ted,

I’m just writing to say what a sniveling little bitch you are. Why

don’t you go join the Iraqi resistance? It sure would be wonderful if

the next thing I read about you said, “Ted Rall Killed by American

Troops in Iraq.” That might hurry along your own trip to Hell… where

I’m pretty sure they reserve the best spots for pathetic whiners who

can’t get their cartoons published.

Fuck you!

Evan Hagemeyer

From justin@redrightandblue.com (this kind of personal threat is commonplace among Republican emailers):

Im going to post your fucking address everywhere I can.

Enjoy you sorry bastard.

Justin Warlick

www.redrightandblue.com

From Kspearmank@aol.com:

Ronald Reagan was a great leader. You are a socialist bastard.

From Tony.Reeves@sourceonehealth.com:

You better hope that for your sake there is no GOD, because as sure as I

am typing this your sick ass is going to burn in hell for eternity and

according to Webster’s that is a mighty long time. I am sure your

children are proud of “daddy”.

How Sad…

…that Ronald Reagan didn’t die in prison, where he belonged for starting an illegal, laughably unjustifiable war against Grenada under false pretenses (the “besieged” medical students later said they were nothing of the sort) and funneling arms to hostages during Iran-Contra.

Oh, and 9/11? That was his. Osama bin Laden and his fellow Afghan “freedom fighters” got their funding, and nasty weapons, from Reagan.

A real piece of work, Reagan ruined the federal budget, trashed education, alienated our friends and allies and made us a laughing stock around the world.

Hmmmm…sounds familiar.

Anyway, I’m sure he’s turning crispy brown right about now.

Depressed in Europe

Just got back from France and Italy. The food was awesome, the people interesting and the weather better than usual. But the usual subject of discussion–the United States and its foreign policy–proved more depressing than ever.

Abu Ghraib was the reason. But not why you might think.

When I mentioned the Iraq prison abuse scandal, people shrugged. “So you murdered maybe 25 people in prison,” one woman told me in Mantova, the setting for “Romeo and Juliet.” “So what? The U.S. kills thousands every year.”

Conservative Bush apologists, it seems, are correct. Abu Ghraib isn’t destroying our reputation overseas. Not at all. The truth is, our rep was already so atrocious before–due to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq (both of which are equally despised abroad), our support of Israel in its genocidal campaign against the Palestinians, and years of hypocritical imperialistic misadventures from Kosovo to Somalia to Central Asia–that Abu Ghraib didn’t do anything to make it worse. Nothing could.

So maybe it is time for people like me to stop worrying about the torture of prisoners. Truth is, our rep has already hit rock bottom. This is no big deal by comparison.

It’s also true, of course, that the French and Italians read reports of abuse in U.S.-run Afghan and Iraqi gulags dating back several years. And they’ve also published far more graphic photos from Abu Ghraib than we’ve seen here.

But the bottom line is that Abu Ghraib has only shocked one constitutency: us.

Better late than never. I guess.

From The Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON – Democrats were crowing yesterday about snatching a U.S. House seat in South Dakota from Republicans. But to 2,000 liberal warriors gathering for a conference here called “Take Back America,” the result is just a tiny rumbling of something much bigger.

On the defensive for more than a generation, the American left is seeing signs of political revival. Recent polls show more Americans are calling themselves “liberal” — a term that had been considered something of an epithet — and fewer are identifying themselves as “conservative.” Liberal groups, from the National Organization for Women to Moveon.org, are enjoying a big fund-raising surge. The flagship publication of the left, the Nation, claims to have captured the highest circulation of any weekly political magazine.

“The plates have all moved,” argues Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg. The combination of hostility toward President Bush, anxiety about the war in Iraq and concerns about tax cuts and other economic issues “make it possible for something fundamental to happen in this election,” he says.

Republican strategists say liberals are delusional. Since Republicans seized Congress in 1994, Democratic predictions that they would recapture control have repeatedly proved false.

Still, the proportion of Americans calling themselves “liberal” edged up to 21% in Mr. Greenberg’s May poll from 16% a month earlier. Self-identified “conservatives” dropped to 37% from 41%. Similarly, last month’s Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed 42% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats, compared with 39% who say they are Republicans. Two years earlier, Republicans had a 37%-to-36% edge.

The same Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Mr. Bush’s job approval rating at 47%, the lowest of his presidency.

Liberal organizations devoted to feminist, labor and environmental causes are displaying unusual coordination in hopes of electing John Kerry. Sen. Kerry drew $31 million in donations in April, doubling the take of the President Bush, as liberal groups like Moveon.org, whose antiwar membership helped fuel Howard Dean’s political rise in 2003, ape the aggressive funding and recruitment tactics that helped Republicans mobilize grass-roots support in the 1980s.

The National Organization for Women reports daily contributions up to roughly $22,000 from $17,000 a year ago, and estimates attendance at its recent abortion-rights march on Washington was one-third higher than a similar event in 1992.

Liberals also see hope in more anecdotal evidence. Books attacking President Bush, with titles like “Worse than Watergate” and “The Politics of Truth” are selling briskly. The Nation has seen its circulation grow to 160,000 from nearly 140,000 in mid-2003 and just over 102,000 in June 2001. The latest figure exceeds the circulation of longstanding conservative stalwart National Review, which is roughly 155,500, down from about 159,000 in mid-2001.

“When the other side’s in power, your people get angry,” laments National Review editor Rich Lowry. Under Republican rule, “liberals have become more muscular,” argues David Corn, the Nation’s Washington editor and author of “The Lies of George W. Bush.”

And activists were cheered by the squeaker in South Dakota Tuesday night, in which Democrat Stephanie Herseth edged Republican Larry Diedrich in a special election. That win, like the victory of Kentucky Democrat Ben Chandler in special election earlier this year, came in a state that Mr. Bush carried in 2000 over Democratic nominee Al Gore.

Readers of my new book:

already know that I’ve anticipated this leftward shift and explained why it’s occuring and will continue to do so. Moreover, I also explain how the left and Democrats can exploit disgust with the Republicans to recapture Congress as well as the White House this November and in future election years.

Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline Project Update

Bushie apologists, and far too many anti-Iraq war progressives, continue to believe that the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan had nothing to do with oil. No evidence, they say, despite mountains thereof.

Most recently, that left-wing bailwick the US Department of Energy issued its June 2004 country factsheet for Afghanistan. Among the goodies are this overview of Afghanistan’s supposedly fictional energy reserves:

Energy Overview

Between the 1960s and mid-1980s, the Soviets had identified more than 15 oil and gas fields in northern Afghanistan. Only three gas fields — Khwaja Gogerdak, Djarquduk, and Yatimtaq – were developed in the area surrounding Sheberghan, which is located about 120 kilometers west of Mazar-i-Sharif. Afghan natural gas production reached 275 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) in the mid-1970s. The Djarquduk field was brought online during that period and boosted Afghan natural gas output to a peak of 385 Mmcf/d by 1978. About 100 mmcf/d of this amount was used locally in gas distribution systems in Sheberghan and Mazar-i-Sharif as well as at a 100,000 mt/y urea plant located near Mazar-i-Sharif. One oil field, Angot, was developed in the late 1960s, but aside from production tests, oil production was intermittent, with daily outputs averaging 500 b/d or less.

Northern Afghanistan has proved, probable and possible natural gas reserves of about 5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). This area, which is a southward extension of the highly prolific, natural gas-prone Amu Darya Basin, has the potential to hold a sizable undiscovered gas resource base, especially in sedimentary layers deeper than what were developed during the Soviet era. Afghanistan’s crude oil potential is more modest, with perhaps up to 100 million barrels of medium-gravity recoverable from Angot and other fields that are undeveloped. Afghanistan also may possess relatively small volumes of gas liquids and condensate.

Outside of the North Afghan Platform, very limited oil and gas exploration has occurred. Geological, aeromagnetic, and gravimetric studies were conducted in the 1970s over parts of the Katawaz Fault Block (eastern Afghanistan – along the Pak border) and in the Helmand and Farah provinces. The hydrocarbon potential in these areas is thought to be very limited as compared to that in the north.

The Soviets had estimated Afghanistan’s proven and probable natural gas reserves at up to 5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in the 1970s. Afghan natural gas production reached 275 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) in the mid-1970s. The Djarquduk field was brought online during that period boosted Afghan natural gas output to a peak of 385 Mmcf/d by 1978-79. After the Soviet pullout and subsequent Afghan civil war, most gas wells at Sheberghan area fields were shut in due to technical problems and the lack of an export market in the former Soviet Union.

At its peak in the late 1970s, Afghanistan supplied 70%-90% of its natural gas output to the Soviet Union’s natural gas grid via a link through Uzbekistan. In 1992, Afghan President Najibullah indicated that a new natural gas sales agreement with Russia was in progress. However, several former Soviet republics raised price and distribution issues and negotiations stalled. In the early 1990s, Afghanistan also discussed possible natural gas supply arrangements with Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and several Western European countries, but these talks never progressed further. Afghan natural gas fields include Djarquduk, Khowaja Gogerdak, and Yatimtaq, all of which are located within 20 miles of the northern town of Sheberghan in Jowzjan province. In 1999, work resumed on the repair of a distribution pipeline to Mazar-i-Sharif. Spur pipelines to a small power plant and fertilizer plant also were repaired and completed. Mazar-i-Sharif is now receiving natural gas from the pipeline. The possibility of exporting a small quantity of natural gas through the existing pipeline into Uzbekistan also is reportedly being considered.

Soviet estimates from the late 1970s placed Afghanistan’s proven and probable oil and condensate reserves at 95 million barrels. Most Soviet assistance efforts after the mid-1970s were aimed at increasing gas production. Sporadic gas exploration continued through the mid-1980s. The last Soviet technical advisors left Afghanistan in 1988. After a brief hiatus, oil production at the Angot field was restarted in the early 1990s by local militias. Output levels, however, are though to have been less than 300 b/d. Near Sar-i-Pol, the Soviets partially constructed a 10,000-b/d topping plant, which although undamaged by war, is thought by Western experts to be unsalvageable.

Petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel are imported, mainly from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, with limited volumes from Turkmenistan and Iran serving regional markets. Turkmenistan also has a petroleum product storage and distribution facility at Tagtabazar ( Kushka – it’s on the Turkmen side) near the Afghan border, which supplies northwestern Afghanistan.

Besides oil and natural gas, Afghanistan also is estimated to have 73 million tons of coal reserves, most of which is located in the region between Herat and Badashkan in the northern part of the country. Although Afghanistan produced over 100,000 short tons of coal annually as late as the early 1990s, as of 2000, the country was producing only around 1,000 short tons.

Then there’s this bit on the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project (italics are mine):

Afghanistan as an Energy Transit Route

Due to its location between the oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Basin and the Indian Ocean, Afghanistan has long been mentioned as a potential pipeline route, though in the near term, several obstacles will likely prevent Afghanistan from becoming an energy transit corridor. During the mid-1990s, Unocal had pursued a possible natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan’s Dauletabad-Donmez gas basin via Afghanistan to Pakistan, but pulled out after the U.S. missile strikes against Afghanistan in August 1998. The Afghan government under President Karzai has tried to revive the Trans-Afghan Pipeline (TAP) plan, with periodic talks held between the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan on the issue, but little progress appears to have been made as of early June 2004 (despite the signature on December 9, 2003, of a protocol on the pipeline by the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan). President Karzai has stated his belief that the project could generate $100-$300 million per year in transit fees for Afghanistan, while creating thousands of jobs in the country.

Given the obstacles to development of a natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan, it seems unlikely that such an idea will make any progress in the near future, and no major Western companies have expressed interest in reviving the project. The security situation in Afghanistan remains an obvious problem, while tensions between India and Pakistan make it unlikely that such a pipeline could be extended into India and its large (and growing) gas market. Financial problems in the utility sector in India, which would be the major consumer of the natural gas, also could pose a problem for construction of the TAP line. Finally, the pipeline’s $2.5-$3.5 billion estimated cost poses a significant obstacle to its construction.

All of this, including my longstanding assertion that the TAP project would likely never occur, jibes perfectly with what I’ve written in essays and my comprehensive survey of TAP, GAS WAR: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN.

Most recently the website Hi Pakistan reported on May 20th as follows:

U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan hold trilateral meeting

ISLAMABAD: Finance Ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan and Deputy Secretary of US Department of Treasury held a trilateral meeting in the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of Asian Development Bank, in Jeju Island, South Korea.

They reviewed the economic developments in the region and discussed a number of initiatives to foster close economic links between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the region in general. The meeting noted that the level of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan was rising rapidly and was likely to touch the billion dollars mark during the calendar year.

It was pointed out that there was scope for further expansion in trade provided new border points were established and transit trade arrangements further simplified.

A number of issues related to fast and unhindered movement of goods were examined. Shaukat Aziz, Finance Minister of Pakistan pointed out that Pakistan was in the process of acquiring scanning machines to be placed at the border points that would discourage smuggling and pave the way for use of trucks for movement of Afghan transit trade cargo.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of gas pipeline from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and noted that Asian Development Bank would soon finalize its report after which further examination of this project will be undertaken.

Because Bushies are stupid, the dream lives.

The Wonderful Horrible Life of Ahmed Chalabi

Time was, Ahmed Chalabi was Donald Rumsfeld’s main man. Sure, the Iraqi National Congress leader claimed the right to rule Iraq after Saddam even though he hadn’t lived in the country since he was 9 years old. Sure, he was a convicted bank embezzler and con man. (Chalabi claimed the Jordanian government framed him.) But he was a smooth talker, and the neocons—themselves so used to conning others that they were all the more easily taken themselves–in the nascent Bush Administration literally bought–at a cost of millions of dollars–his fictional intelligence.

Invading Iraq, Chalabi told Cheney and Condi, would be a cakewalk. Flowers on the streets.

So the Department of Defense flew Chalabi in with the invading forces, against longstanding US policy, to take over the Iraqi government. The 50 guys you saw celebrating the Marines’ pulling down of the Saddam statue at Farbus Square in Baghdad were all Chalabi’s INC goons. Really. You can look it up.

Of course, naysayers on what the rightist maniacs call “the far left”–in truth, no one from the far left has gotten a word into print in the United States in decades–pointed out that Chalabi was full of shit. Now the rightist maniacs are coming to the same conclusion. In today’s news, it seems that Chalabi may have betrayed the fact that the CIA had broken Iranian code to the Iranians, who are fellow Shias. And the Bush Administration, which went so far as to seat Chalabi next to Laura Bush at the State of the Union address earlier this year, has decided that Chalabi (gasp!) falsified intelligence.

Like the war itself, anyone with half a brain could see that no good could come out of this. And lots of people with that perceptiveness said so, loud and clear. Now would be a good time for the rightist maniacs and their mouthpieces in the mainstream media to admit that, as usual, they were wrong and we were right. Better yet, now would be a good time for them to promise to stay out of politics once and for all. America just can’t afford the rightist maniacs and their incessant fuckups anymore.