Gibbon Revisited

JJ writes about today’s cartoon:

Just wanted to drop you a line to say how big a kick I got out of your latest comic (Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire). I study ancient history at the University of Chicago, and I can’t tell you how often I hear right-wingers erroneously assign right-wing pet causes as the cause of the Roman Empire’s fall (such as, the Roman Empire fell because the government took away all the citizens weapons, etc). What’s particularly ironic about all this that most scholars currently believe that the (Western) Empire fell because the central executive lost too much of its governing authority to wealthy landowners, who were exempt from most taxes and treated their properties as personal fiefdoms. Consequently, the executive was unable to respond quickly and efficiently to the various crises that confronted the empire in the 4th and 5th century, while the Eastern Empire, where the wealthy were taxed and their power held in check, remained solvent for another millennium. Hmmm….the wealthy exempt from taxes and afforded too much power in the governing of the state? Why does that sound familiar? Keep fighting the good fight, Ted. Its extremely reassuring to know you’re out there.

Thanks, though I can’t honestly say whether I make much of a difference. Another salient point to JJ’s email: many scholars believe that the rise and collapse of Chinese dynasties can be traced to tax collections. At the beginning of a new dynasty, when the central imperial government was powerful, it imposed high taxes, mostly on those who had the money to pay them: the wealthy. But as each dynasty matured, local rulers and businesspeople cut deals with the emperor to exempt themselves from taxes or reduce them substantially. Since the revenues had to come from somewhere, they raised taxes on the poor, who rebelled and eventually overthrew that dynasty. The lesson is that a central government should literally have no personal relationship with local pols or business types save to cash their IRS checks if they want to remain in power.

It Ain’t Paul Wellstone…

…but Rep. Matsui’s death comes at a damned convenient time at a time when Republicans are starting down the road towards eliminating the Social Security system. Any Ukrainian waiters at the House cafeteria?

Shoutout: Did Kerry Win Ohio?

Kate Anne writes:

After hearing some twerp on PBS talking about the Dems likely to fight amongst themselves about whether to be centrist or liberal, I thought about your book and the need for Dems to wake up and NOT be “Republican lite”. Anyway, I revisited your site and started reading your cartoons.

Kerry needed to win big so they couldn’t steal the vote and even the unexpurgated exit polls showed he didn’t win big, Still he won — please see freepress.org and truthout.org for their latest election column’s SO, I question your IF 70,000 OHIOANS HAD VOTED FOR KERRY. They DID; indeed more than that number did. It should have been IF THEY HAD COUNTED ALL THE OHIO KERRY VOTES — because the exit polls clearly show that Kerry won. Thom Hartmann says exit polls are never off by .1%. Since election polls showed Kerry won, the Republicans want to ban

them, of course.

Did you know that all of the precincts voting on optical scan machines in New Mexico went for Bush? This is a statistical impossibility. And Ohio wasn’t recounted, only 3% of the vote in each precinct was AND most of that wasn’t done randomly as election law said it was supposed to have been. (The one precinct where the 3% didn’t match, Blackman suspended the recount — no wonder he’s refusing to testify in court.) And they never counted all those uncounted votes the machines missed…..

It is so dirty. Why aren’t people in the street like they were in the Ukraine? We believe it couldn’t happen here, but it did — AGAIN. And it will AGAIN AND AGAIN, if we don’t put a stop to it. Please read Thom Hartmann’s January 2003 (yes, 2 years old now) article on Commondreams.org — or you can link to it from off ThomHartmann.com — entitled “If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines”

I wish more folks would push the fact that electronic voting is scary indeed. I’m ready to volunteer to handcount elections. Indeed, if they revote Ohio it should be on paper and carefully observed.

I met you at the Porter Restaurant after you spoke on Unfiltered during the Republican convention. I continue to be impressed with your work and would truly appreciate your checking into all of the above.

Like many other Americans, I strongly suspect that the Bushites pulled ballotbox shenanigans in Ohio and elsewhere. The big question is: was the miscounting and electronic voting BS sufficient to tilt the presidency? I’ve read a lot about this, including the articles referenced in Kate Anne’s email, and haven’t yet found the evidence sufficiently compelling to put forward in my columns and/or cartoons that Bush stole 2004 beyond the fact that he ran on an unearned incumbency (which still makes him illegitimate). Still, this is important. So I have a request. If you have information or can point me to watertight proof of malfeasance in Ohio and/or other battleground states–especially information containing exact figures–please email it to me at chet@rall.com.

Also please send information relevant to Inauguration Day protests in Washington so I can promote it here. Patriotic Americans should surround the White House by the millions on January 20 to demand that Bush get the fuck out of Al Gore’s house, but they won’t. Until we grow a spine, at least we can whine.

Happy New Year

As we nurse our national hangover, let’s put the tsunami into proper perspective. Current estimates have 150,000 dead, but God is a piker compared to America’s own personal savior George W. Bush, who has killed the following people for no good reason:

20,000 Afghan civilians as per CNN

20,000 Taliban government troops as per numerous European sources

30,000 Iraqi civilians (invasion phase, as per Tommy Franks)

30,000 Iraqi government troops (invasion phase, as per Tommy Franks)

100,000 Iraqi civilians as per Lancet medical journal

200,000 total murdered by George W. Bush

These are conservative figures, and they grow by the day. But who knows? Maybe the tsunami will catch up!

Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories

AMGOT was what they called it during World War II–harsh military occupation as it was applied to Germany, Italy and Japan and, for a few months after D-Day 1944, liberated France. One of the great untold stories of World War II was the attempt by the US Army’s Civil Affairs division to deny self-rule to France, setting the stage for postwar anti-Americanism. I wrote my college honors thesis on plans to occupy France after World War II and, every now and then, people email me to request a copy. Until now I was unable to rescue the 1991 Word file it was created in. But that’s changed, and I will soon be posting information here so that you can read the story of AMGOT for yourself.

The story is particularly relevant today, since Civil Affairs personnel are enacting most of the same exact policies and tactics in occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a messy tale of what happens when relatively well-meaning Americans intersect with societies with different ways of doing things and of looking at the world. Many of the mistakes we made while liberating France and other nations after World War II are being made today: cultural insensitivity, backing unpopular local politicians while snubbing those with widespread backing, dunning occupied countries for the cost of their own liberation, even denying them the trappings of true sovereignty.

Watch this space for my AMGOT thesis from 1991, and please be kind–I’ve had 14 years to learn to write better.

Calling All Coulters

America has considered my call-out of my fellow columnist and the results are in: it’s nearly unanimous!

Brad writes:

Rall v. Coulter. Preferably on the internet as I don’t have cable. Someone (or thing…) needs to put her in her place, especially with her “Christmas Message” on her homepage. “To The People Of Islam: Just think: If we’d invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU’D ALL BE OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS RIGHT ABOUT NOW! Merry Christmas” http://anncoulter.com/ Have a good new year Ted and I hope sometime in your life, you get to kick her ass (intellectually and publicly).

But Ann, we DID invade two Muslim countries and kill their leaders. We even sent missionaries to try to convert them to Christianity but alas, they keep getting killed. Yet: no Xmas presents! What’s up with that? Besides, Muslims get Ramadan presents–assuming the U.S. hasn’t reduced their countries to rubble in the name of liberating their oil–er, them.

America has spoken. How about it, Ann? We could make some cash and have fun at the same time! Have your people call my people. It should be easy, seeing as they’re the same people. Unless you’re afraid, of course.

Wendy’s

Russ writes:

“my desire to see Wendy’s become the nation’s predominant fast food chain (the fact that McDonald’s kicks Wendy’s ass proves the intrinsic injustice of capitalism)” Bah, McDonald’s and Wendy’s both deserve scorn. Perhaps Wendy’s more so. 91% of their political contributions go to the Republican party.

http://www.choosetheblue.com/mainFrame.php?backlevel=002..001Choose%20The%20

Blue.002Restaurants%20and%20Bars&prodcat=Fast+Food

I’m actually surprised to see you (apparently) advocating for any multinational corporate fast food chain. What is your take on patronizing big corporations that drive out local businesses? (Wal-Mart being an obvious prime “bad guy” example.) A couple years ago I decided I was sick of the homogenization of Anytown, USA spreading everywhere and I totally quit eating at big national chains and only patronize local restaurants. I thought it would be inconvenient or difficult to convince friends who were dining out with me, but it turned out to be quite easy.

See what happens when you toss off some flippant remark? Russ is right, of course. Hell, I read “Fast Food Nation” too. Obviously all multinational corporations are evil, and fast food joints especially so. They contribute to environmental degradation, cultural homogenization and they underpay their employees. But the point I was trying to make is this: when you’re driving on the highways of this great land where there are only burger joints to provide sustinence, you’ll find that Wendy’s makes better burgers than any of the other major national chains. Far better. And yet they’re ranked third or fourth in sales. It’s like VHS’s victory over Betamax–capitalism does not always choose the superior product, is not efficient, and is not the natural state of human affairs. (What is? Still working on that one.)

2005 Editor & Publisher Predictions Column

Prediction number eight in Joe Strupp’s column reads:

8. Ann Coulter will drop her column after her syndicate, Universal Press, refuses to dump Ted Rall, “Doonesbury,” and “Boondocks.”

Hey, you never know. What I do know is that, along with my desire to see Wendy’s become the nation’s predominant fast food chain (the fact that McDonald’s kicks Wendy’s ass proves the intrinsic injustice of capitalism), one of my fondest wishes is to mix it up with Ms. Coulter on the political front. She bullies most of her wimpy liberal counterparts on TV by resorting to insults they’re unwilling to return. God knows that that wouldn’t be the case with me. Could that be why we’ve never crossed paths on the airwaves?

Which would you rather watch, HANNITY and colmes or RALL v. COULTER?

The Le Point magazine, another in a publication called Benzine.

, first cartoonist featured in the new “Attitude” series, is interviewed in this week’s Newsarama. Scroll down to find ordering information on Amazon for the new book, and please buy it–sales of this volume will help determine whether we’ll be able to publish full-length compilations of cartoons by other cartoonists from the two-volume set.

Aircraft Carrier to Fight Tsunami

An anonymous FOR writes:

Kind of like the 1950’s horror movies, where a man made monster of environmental symbolism is solved by greater military spending. But it isn’t strange at all for Bush. Indonesia is a muslim country rich in oil. It’s reflex by now. Maybe it is part of the larger oil seizure plan we’re paying for?

Mark Fiore, do you read this blog?

“Liberal Racism”

One Republican talking point–the idea that liberals, rather than the conservatives who fought tooth and nail against desegregation and affirmative action, are the real racists–seems to have longer legs than usual. Even though it hasn’t picked up any traction in the black community, the rightists equate criticizing self-hating Uncle Tom types like Condi Rice to racism. The latest entry in this genre appears in a column by one Jeff Jacoby in The Boston Globe. [NOTE: CORRECT LINK IS HERE NOW.]

Is it gauche to point out that blacks who provide cover for and work against the interests of other blacks are despicable? Perhaps. But it’s true.

Read the column. My favorite assertion, besides the race stuff, is that liberals have a monopoly on “poisonous” dialogue. What about the Republicans who called Tom Daschle a traitor for opposing Bush’s permawar policy? What about Ronald Reagan, who accepted the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan when he accepted his party’s nomination in 1980–in the same town where the four freedom riders were infamously murdered in 1964? What about the hordes of Republican pundits like Alan Keyes, who suggested that I should be shot and/or jailed for opposing Bush’s ersatz war on terror? When it comes to hate speech, I–like all Dems–are mere pikers. Our problem isn’t that we’re too mean. Our problem is that we’re not mean enough to people who have it coming.

The Militarization of Charity

Is it me, or does it seem strange that the United States is responding to the tsunami by sending warplanes, aircraft carriers and a strike group? If this keeps up, we’ll go the way of Pakistan, where the military takes care of every government function from guarding borders to collecting garbage.

Attitude 3 Clarification

Please bear in mind that I’m NOT looking for mainstream political cartoonists for Attitude 3. Mainstream would include widely syndicated comic strips like Doonesbury and big daily paper cartoonists like Tom Toles. I’m a fan of both, but the Attitude series is devoted to bringing cartoonists toiling in relative obscurity to the larger audience they deserve. Again, please send suggestions and URLs to chet@rall.com for alternative/underground/up and coming social commentary and/or political cartoons. Extra points for online strips. You can check out the Attitude 1 and 2 listings in the Buy Stuff section of this website to see what kind of cartoonists made the cut for those anthologies.

Pictures on the Wall

Jon writes to ask:

In the Alberto Gonzales cartoon (12-23-04-C) it appears to me that the picture on the wall closest to

the door is blurred out. Have you been censored? Does the “C” designation mean censored? I’m I just paranoid? As for the content of that blurred frame it appears to be a pyramid of naked hooded detainees, but I might be

wrong. Inquiring minds want to know. If you cannot respond directly to me can you post something on your blog? I’m sure others have noticed. I can’t be the only one.

Indeed Jon is not. The photos on Alberto Gonzales’ wall are of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The one on the right shows prisoners’ hands sticking out through holes in the wall. And no, the “C” doesn’t mean censored. I do three syndicated cartoons a week. The date codes are for Thursday of each week; the A goes online Thursday, the B Saturday and the C Monday. (Though you can see them early by subscribing to the Ted Rall Subscription Service; email chet@rall.com if you have $10/year and an email account.)

Column Correction

Morris writes:

Whether it’s your editors or yourself who put this in your column, I just wanted to correct a minor error: Roosevelt’s mansion is in Hyde Park, along the Hudson River. New Hyde Park is a town on Long Island. (I realize this isn’t an earth-shaking matter!) On a more cynical, serious note: I would venture to suggest that all natural disaster head counts (e.g., the Asian tsunamis) have to be higher for Republicans, because they are obliged by their belief system to count the unborn fetuses. I’m surprised that they’re too stupid to ever make an issue of this.

Morris is, of course, correct. New Hyde Park is in Nassau County, Long Island. Hyde Park, FDR’s home, is upstate along the Hudson River near Poughkeepsie. I’m still chuckling about the fetus thing.