Ted Rall by Ted Rall
- September 17, 2009
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About Ted Rall
Deploying the razor-sharp wit and incisive take-no-prisoners satire characteristic of his generation, Gen Xer Ted Rall has become one of the most widely read editorial cartoonists in America. Twice the winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Rall's work has appeared in hundreds of newspapers, as well as such magazines as Time, Newsweek, Fortune and MAD. He is also the author of 15 books, including several graphic novels and political polemics about Central and South Asia.
© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate - All Rights Reserved.
Comments (30) Jump to Comments Form
edmondd said, 2 months ago
Both hilarious and tragic!
And true.
NoFearPup
said,
2 months ago
LOL! That’s sad…but funny.
Sociologist said, 2 months ago
only that it’s about health care, not about clunkers. :)
churchillwasright said, 2 months ago
He promised a free maserati to get elected. When the people found out how much its really going to cost them, they decided to take the bus. (find the video on youtube of the lady saying she could stop worrying about
putting gas in her car and paying of the mortgage and insert here yourself)
richardelguru
said,
2 months ago
As an Englishman resident in the US it amazes me how Americans have failed to notice that in health care they pay more to get less.
Health care over here is like the Maserati for cost and the clunker for performance.
mattro53 said, 2 months ago
I agree that the money could have been better spent on mass transportation or any number of things. Once again, government/corporate policy encourages Americans to engage in over consumption and destruction of the environment.
Wildcard24365 said, 2 months ago
Yes, it’s a whacked-out system, but it’s OUR whacked-out system, dammit!
scottfreitas
said,
2 months ago
Ever heard of the US Consitution? Once upon a time it had a clear and distinct meaning, carefully explained via countlless thousands of written documents which still exist today inside the US Library of Congress. Documents written by the people who CREATED the Constitution, and / or debated and discussed it for years prior to its actual ratification.
Why are you people so willing to allow corrupt politicians to lie to you, manipulate you like puppets, and literally enslave you? That’s what high taxes are, you know: simply YOU being forced to expend your time and effort to enrich others, with said others being allowed to dictate how your money will be used, and upon whom, and too bleeep bad if YOU get left out, with YOUR money going to others instead of you, simply because they vote for the slave masters who control the earnings of the collective slave community…
One thing i know for sure, based on examining the current Welfare system: Obama care will NOT cover me, or my needs, because i am not part of any Democrat constituency / lobbyist group…
scratchydad said, 2 months ago
Must be an illegal immigrant…
edmondd said, 2 months ago
Mr churchillwasright, why weren’t the neoconservatives as meticulous with budget costs and deficits when the decision to invade Iraq was rammed through Congress, the media, and the people (remember when anyone who was opposed to it was a traitor?) as they are now with reforming health care?
With the amount of resources that has been spent engaging in war, how many health reforms cycles (and other investments, whether it be the improvement of the nation’s infrastructure, the advancement of education, specialization and training of workers, the support of and innovations in industrial production, the better training and hiring of teachers and police officers, etc) could have been attained, rather than investing it in the exorbitant cost of war, including that of human loss, even that of the military itself, evermore strained by the unending challenges in the “energeopolitical” theater?
The cost of health care reform is pocket change in comparison.
Ted portrayed a curious phenomenon going on with the RushlimbaughGlennBeckHannity followers, the parroting of all of their philosophy, which is paid for and supported by big, entrenched interest groups whose main interest is the accumulation of wealth and profit production, without realizing that they are reacting in a manner contrary to their own self interest. This is both hilarious and tragic.
And true and sad.
scottfreitas
said,
2 months ago
The problem is, you leftists whine about EVERY war. Even one caused by 3,000 office workers in downtown manhattan being turned into air pollution.
There’s nothing you losers will fight for. You’d let the Islamo-fascists raise the crescent moon above the White House, and meekly kneel down to face Mecca three times per day.
“Better Red than dead” wasn’t a hoax. It was the Left’s battle cry for several decades–clear until Reagan put in place the final pieces needed to win the Cold War.
actually, I forgot the one and only thing in all of existence the Left WILL fight against, tooth and nail, to the bitter, bitter end:
Historical, orthodox Christianity being allowed to influence the public square.
And nothing else… :/
motivemagus said, 2 months ago
scott, it amazes me how you seem to know exactly what we think and feel and would do. Too bad it bears no relationship to reality. Get over yourself. We’re talking about making healthcare more accessible, inexpensive, and efficient in the US. That alone would differentiate us from the Reds you so bizarrely bring up.
And if you think historical, orthodox Christianity was ever considered as influencing the public welfare through the government, you need to read some of those papers you cite above. Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson – all on the Deist side of things, and all anti-organized religion.
Jim said, 2 months ago
lol It looks , to me , Mr . Rall’s pimp-hand is quite strong today .
dennis550 said, 2 months ago
Utterly brilliant analogy, Ted.
In Canada we pay for an Acura system with VW payments and get it, case closed. Don’t even think about it, don’t live in fear of financial ruin by ill-health (real freedom,if you ask me), and wouldn’t even be reminded of it but for the current USA kerfuffle.
BTW; seems to me the pro-single payer side is inaccurately characterizing what this debate actually is. America likely has the finest health care apparatus in the world. Thus, you are not embarked upon a health care reform; you are in fact embarked upon a health care insurance reform.
The idea is simple; love capitalism (it may not be perfect but it’s better than anything else yet tried) but take the profit motive out of certain societal necessities, i.e., government, justice, and above all, health care.
dtroutma said, 2 months ago
Overlooks the fact that tax breaks under Bush made Hummers, Tahoes, Suburbans, Expeditions, and other “super tank” vehicles, basically free- with Republican backed subsidies that FAR exceeded $4,500 per sale.
scottfreitas
said,
2 months ago
motivemagnus:
(1) get stupid, heavy-handed, ignorant government regulations out of the way of medicine, AND above all else, reign in the damned trial lawyers who drive costs up through the roof for every practicing doctor, AND allow inter-state competition among medical insurance companies (currently prohibited by law) and then get back to me. But Obama and the /demoncrats want to CONTROL everyone’s health care. Amazing you slave-minded serfs fail to understand that…
(2) Stop cherry-picking and twisting select quotes from a few Founders to make them into your Atheist slash Communist heroes. ORIGINAL INTENT is just one of many books filled with 1000s of quotes (lovingly footnoted) from the more than 200 people recognized as Founders. And boy howdy, only the Prince of Lies himself could claim that American government wasn’t madly in love with Christianity right from the get-go.
You people who mindlessly battle against God are the laughing stocks of the entire cosmos…
omQ R
said,
2 months ago
scottfreitas sneered: You people who mindlessly battle against God are the laughing stocks of the entire cosmos…
Cosmos? You mean, there are really others out there…?
(how does that fit with your holy worldview? Unless there are Christian aliens in the bible you read?)
scottfreitas
said,
2 months ago
Sorry your usage of cosmos is so limited. It wasn’t the case in Paul’s day. You know, that guy who Jesus both hand-picked and Personally inspired to write roughly half of the New Testament?
Yeah. That guy.
He used cosmos to refer to the REAL reality in which God lives. The eternal, spiritual reality which predates the creation of the earth by, oh, roughly an infinity or so…
The Bible is also sometimes poetic about the cosmos, using such terms as “unapproachable light” and whatnot. Can you imagine living in unapproachable light? No? C’mon… you can do it…
omQ R
said,
2 months ago
Scott, you simply scare me.
You have an interesting name though. Por acaso fala português?
Originated around 1160s from the name of the lord of a small village in Northern Portugal, Freitas (with about 750 people).
Means someone who lived on stony ground, from old Portuguese pedras freitas. Broken stones.
Fits you perfectly, you’re stony ground for fertile ideas. And it sounds like you have broken stones rattling about in your head.
deadheadzan
said,
2 months ago
We need a public option health care option to keep the insurance industry honest and bring the USA into the 21st Century. It is beyond comprehension that this country lags behind every other civilized nation in this respect. As for scott-another one trick pony.
edmondd said, 2 months ago
Doesn’t scripture discourage an economical system void of compassion when it says:
“If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest.” (Exodus, 22:25 [16])
“And if thy brother be waxen poor, and his means fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a settler shall he live with thee. Take thou no interest of him or increase; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase”. (Leviticus, 25:35-37)
In Isaiah 58, the voice of G-d rebukes those who ask for His blessing, when in fact they exploit their workers and engage in strife:
‘Why have we fasted,’
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
And G-d answers:
“Yet on the day of your fasting you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.”
Doesn’t John the Baptist rebuke the crowds before him saying, “brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming?” Offering a means of salvation later on when hearing them wonder anxiously how to escape the pending doom saying: “if anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.”
Jesus of Nazareth–Christ, for many of us–said, “blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy”.
Yet, isn’t our economic system tilted in favor to a small percentage of people? The playing field is obviously not leveled equally for all. Some people are never able to get ahead only because the opportunity is never given to them, nor are the surrounding circumstances in favor of them, such as not having been born to a wealthy, supportive family that would have provided the most prestigious education and the best social connections to be successful in the pursuing of “life, liberty and happiness”. But will the current, inhumane capitalist system break the oppressed free of the bondage of poverty, and the ills it brings forth, disease and early death?
It is evident it will not. It is perpetuated. It is too big to fail.
And whenever there is the attempt to change the status-quo, reforming health care and whatnot, there’s always the “socialism, baby, socialism!” mantra resounding through the main conservative, and even Christian voices.
Why?
Truly, what we have let happen between nations–mutual distrust and the pursuance of self-interests–now permeates our own interpersonal relationships. Ours is a sick, ailing society, interested only in the self.
But the spirit of G-d will keep hearkening unto us as a whisper in our conscience. Will we listen?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail…”
In 2001, 71% of the nation’s wealth belonged to the upper 10% of the population.
The bottom 40% owned less than 1%.
In 2004, there were 45.8 million Americans without health insurance and over 727,304 homeless people living in the United States.
scottfreitas
said,
2 months ago
Government isn’t God. No one glorifies God, nor can be said to be engaging in charity, when money is forcibly taken from them, then spent mostly on bureucrats, buildings etc
If you’re so saddened by lack of health care coverage, please whip out your wallet and start paying for other folk’s medical treatment. THEN you are perhaps fulfilling the Scriptures you like to quote.
Moreover, God isn’t a Marxist. He doesn’t judge people by the amount of money they possess, nor measure qualityh of life in monetary terms. In fact, since by world standards ALL Americans are “rich”, you must be saying that God expects Americans to send all their money to the UN to pay for India etc to have health care coverage,
I could go on but won’t. Abuse of Scripture to justify leftist political beliefs is as old as Marx… and equally as deceitful.
The term “poor” as used in the Bible canot logically even be applied to any US citizen, regardless of your personal opinion…
edmondd said, 2 months ago
Teach and urge these things.
Whoever teaches something different
and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the religious teaching
is conceited, understanding nothing,
and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes.
From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,
and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,
who are deprived of the truth,
supposing religion to be a means of gain.
Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world,
just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.
If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap
and into many foolish and harmful desires,
which plunge them into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all evils,
and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith
and have pierced themselves with many pains.
But you, man of God, avoid all this.
Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion,
faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
Compete well for the faith.
Lay hold of eternal life,
to which you were called when you made the noble confession
in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Tm 6:2c-12
Why should I fear in evil days
when my wicked ensnarers ring me round?
They trust in their wealth;
the abundance of their riches is their boast.
Yet in no way can a man redeem himself,
or pay his own ransom to God;
Too high is the price to redeem one’s life; he would never have enough to remain alive always and not see destruction.
Fear not when a man grows rich,
when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down.
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
“They will praise you for doing well for yourself,”
He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light.
Ps 49:6-7, 8-10, 17-18, 19-20
furnituremaker said, 2 months ago
actually, according to the Bible, TRUE Christians are supposed to remain apart from the woorld…politics especially, and work towards lwhat Jesus told his followers to pray for in Matthew…”thy kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” THEN read Daniel 2:44.
esteban1234 said, 2 months ago
I think Ted’s cartoons are usually brilliant and angry, in the right amounts. But here, Ted’s analysis is WAY off and even the metaphor sucks. 1. Obama isn’t offering ANYTHING, let alone a high end sports car. It’s just pro-profit corporatist fraud, and I refuse to vote for Mussolini because Hitler is so much worse. 2. As a New Yorker, I’ll ALWAYS choose public transit first, middle, and last - the rest of Plantation America can kill the earth with cars.
What’s really going on is Clinton’s 1993 farce again: promise one thing, deliver the most half-assed version of something else entirely, and KILL the possibility of single payer for another 15 or 20 years. Deception, distraction, destruction: the Demoblican/Republocrat capitalist fascist crap. Americans deserve to die on their knees like slaves since they won’t rise up (NOT protest) against their owners and overlords.
DrCanuck said, 2 months ago
Oh, look, edmondd can cut and paste. What an amazing talent; we are all in awe of his abilities.
(Good grief.)
edmondd said, 2 months ago
“In 2001, 71% of the nation’s wealth belonged to the upper 10% of the population.
The bottom 40% owned less than 1%.
In 2004, there were 45.8 million Americans without health insurance and over 727,304 homeless people living in the United States.”
mattro53 said, 2 months ago
Mindlessly parroting right wing cliches, still fighting the Commies, spouting off superstitious nonsense and blithely mixing in factual errors, scottfreitas brings to mind what Bugs Bunny said as the Tasmanian Devil went flying over the cliff: “Sheesh! What a maroon!”
fennec said, 2 months ago
So ignore him/her. It works for me.
DrCanuck said, 2 months ago
How do you ignore someone screaming in your face…?