Here We Go Again, Again

I have a question for Jeff Gordinier. Is it weird to get paid to write a book someone else has already written?

Podcast Interview

I was interviewed by the Philadelphia Daily News on Saturday. You can listen to the podcast

Upcoming NYC Book Signings

I’ll be doing a joint book signing, with “Minimum Security” cartoonist Stephanie McMillan twice next month: April 14th and 21st.

The first event will be at Bluestockings on Monday, April 14, at 7 pm:

$1 to $3 Suggested
Resistance Through Ridicule
with Stephanie McMillan and Ted Rall
Kickin’ ass and taking names, political cartoonists Ted Rall and Stephanie McMillan show their newest comics and lead a discussion about politics, ecocide, the evil-in-the-system, and resistance. Ted Rall’s editorial cartoons are published each week in our nation’s papers, and “America Gone Wild” is his newest book. Stephanie McMillan is the creator of the strip “Minimum Security,” and co-authored the graphic novel “As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay In Denial” with Derrick Jensen.

The second event will be Monday, April 21, also at 7 pm:
Idlewild Books
12 W. 19th St.
between Fifth and Sixth Avenues). It will be sponsored by
Revolution Books, which is across the street.

Ted Rall in Philadelphia/Book Offer

I’ll be appearing at this Saturday’s leftie blogfest EscaCon08. I’ll be appearing from 10:30 to 12:00 noon at the “Comedy and Political Critique” panel. In conjunction with the event, you can order signed copies of several of my books at discounted prices (10% off) using the following buttons.

Note: You can order even if you’re not attending. I will deactivate this offer in a few weeks.

To buy America Gone Wild, click:

To buy Silk Road to Ruin” click:

To buy Generalissimo El Busho:

To buy Attitude 3:

To buy Wake Up, You’re Liberal!:

Wake Up, You’re Liberal: Again

I have a question for Eric Alterman. Is it weird to get paid to write a book someone else has already written?

Shoutout: Ted Rall Needs a Website Redesign

The person I had in mind to redo this website is totally swamped with other projects and can’t do it. Therefore, I am sending this out into the world.

I need someone who can update the 1995-vintage rall.com site to something cool and modern without losing its simplicity or functionality.

I can’t afford much, but this is a paying job. So this would be a good gig for someone who likes to work with a lot of creative freedom and could use a relatively high-profile reference in his or her online portfolio.

If you or someone you know is interested, please email me at chet@rall.com.

Bye, Bye, Bear

I’m walking on sunshine at today’s demise of Bear, Stearns & Co. I know, I know—it’ll be rough on the economy. And it could be the beginning of the end of other major firms. But it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch of sons of bitches.

I was a hired as a trader/trainee at Bear, Stearns in 1985. I earned the princely sum of $10,000 a year. After taxes, I received $315.02 every two weeks. (My rent was $425, for half of a sixth-floor two-bedroom on a crack-infested street in the Barrio of Manhattan’s Manhattan Valley neighborhood. I survived by driving a taxi at night.) Three factoids:

First, if I’d earned $20 less per week, I would have qualified for food stamps. I requested a pay cut from my boss. He said no.

Second, the CEO of Bear Stearns at the time, “Ace” Greenberg (he gave himself the nickname), “earned” $40 million per annum.

Third, when the opening of the New York Stock Exchange moved from 10 am to 9:30, we were told to come to work a half-hour earlier, at 8:30. Did we get a raise? Nope.

I was working there when Bear Stearns went public. Each employee received shares, which opened at, as I recall, about $24 each. Because our allotment was based on our salaries (shouldn’t it have been inversely proportional?), I received eight shares. What a joke! I quit shortly thereafter. My next job paid $17,500, which seemed huge by comparison.

I ended up at a Japanese bank with a far more egalitarian payscale. The president earned about $125,000; the lowest paid worker in the fax room got about $20,000. Morale was excellent, the president knew everybody’s names, raises of 15% were standard.

Bear Stearns’ stock, trading at $170 one year ago, is now worth $2. The company won’t be missed, at least not by those of who contributed to its bottom line without receiving fair pay for a day’s work.

Overheard Hilarity

On the bus on Saturday: a 20-ish blonde talking to her father. “I don’t understand what the big deal is,” she said, “about Iraq costing a trillion dollars. So what? That’s less than the cost of our house!”

The father: “What do you mean?”

Woman, audibly rolling her eyes: “Duh—a trillion. That’s a third of a million. Seems like a bargain to me!”

Finally: the silence of the American public explained.

Eliot Spitzer (cont.)
posted by Susan Stark

When I wrote my previous blog about prostitution and Eliot Spitzer (Prostitution Should Be Legalized), I wasn’t fully aware of everything that Spitzer did wrong, such as the money laundering, etc., because the full revelations of his activities hadn’t come out yet. I do not approve of these kinds of activities.

But, still, when it’s all said and done, Bush and his gang are guilty of high crimes against humanity (invasion of a country without legitimate cause), and approximately 1 million people have died as a result. And they have squandered more money than we can comprehend. The cost of Bush’s war will be estimated to a high of 3 trillion dollars, and I’m sorry, but, that is way too much money to spend so that conservatives can achieve their nebulous feelings of “safety”.

The Bush gang gets off the hook, while Eliot goes down for much pettier crimes.

Still, my position that Spitzer should be able to solicit prostitution if he wishes still stands, and that Kristen/Ashley should have to right to provide those services. Period. They are both consenting adults. The only kinds of prostitution that should be illegal are the ones that involve under-age persons, or persons being forced to work against their own will. The former is child molestation, and the latter is slavery.

This is the position that most sex-workers advocate, and it is certainly healthier than the positions taken by neurotic soccer-moms posing as “reformers” and “experts”. And that includes the male soccer-moms.