Opinion - Ted Rall

SATIRE: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE DIGITIZED
Ted Rall - Thu, May 24, 2012
This Time: Three Douches To Watch Out ForIt sounds like the lede of another breathless Dot-Com Bubble 3.0 puff piece by David Carr.Three douchebags hook up at a café-cum-gallery-cum-hacketeria in a section of Brooklyn so hip that hipsters can't find it on an app. Eight minutes later, they've banged out a business plan. What for, they can't say. All they know is, it'll be wicked awesome sweet. They send out a few emails; before you can type 140 characters they've lined up $28 million in seed capital. (There's also out-of-school chatter about off-the-book rubles. Whatever. ... More »SATIRE: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE DIGITIZED
THE LAST CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE
Ted Rall - Tue, May 15, 2012
Sluts of America, Arise!"A sitting United States president took sides in what many people consider the last civil rights movement," Adam Nagourney of The New York Times wrote in reaction to Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage.The last civil rights movement?No.Sadly, even as he belatedly championed equality for some, the president's statement expressed a pernicious, widely accepted form of prejudice. ... More »THE LAST CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE
LEADING FROM THE BACK
Ted Rall - Wed, May 9, 2012
Obama Accepts 21st Century View of Gay MarriageIn the BDSM world the phrase "topping from the bottom" means conditional submission: when the sub questions or disobeys the instructions of his or her dom. Subverting the submissive role defeats the whole purpose of a BDSM relationship; it is thus frowned upon.President Obama frequently engages in the political equivalent: leading from the back. True leaders lead. They declare what society needs and tells it what it should want. Leaders anticipate what is possible. ... More »LEADING FROM THE BACK
A HARSH LESSON
Ted Rall - Wed, May 2, 2012
Obama Snubs Hard-Working College StudentsShortly after becoming president, Barack Obama said that he strongly supports continuing education. "If we want to come out of this recession stronger than before, we need to make sure that our workforce is better prepared than ever before," he said in 2009. "Right now, someone who doesn't have a college degree is more than twice as likely to be unemployed as someone who does. And so many of the Americans who have lost their jobs can't find new ones because they simply don't have the skills and the training they need for the jobs they want. ... More »A HARSH LESSON
DEATH AND TRIVIA
Ted Rall - Wed, Feb 29, 2012
Bankrupt and Corrupt, U.S. Can't/Won't Address Issues We Care AboutMillions of Americans won't vote this November. "Voter participation in the U.S. remains consistently below corresponding levels in most other western democracies," the International Business Times reported last year. "In countries like Italy, Belgium, Austria and Australia, more than 90 percent of the voting public cast ballots at election time."They--the corporate politicians and their media mouthpieces--call it apathy. Obama advisor David Axelrod blamed it for the Iraq War. ... More »DEATH AND TRIVIA
ANOTHER OBAMA SELLOUT
Ted Rall - Thu, Feb 23, 2012
Joe Nocera, the columnist currently challenging Tom Friedman for the title of Hackiest Militant Centrist Hack--it's a tough job that just about everyone on The New York Times op-ed page has to do--loves the robo-signing settlement announced last week between the Obama Administration, 49 states and the five biggest mortgage banks. "Two cheers!" shouts Nocera.Too busy to follow the news? Read Nocera. If he likes something, it's probably stupid, evil, or both. ... More »ANOTHER OBAMA SELLOUT
WANT MORE WARS? RAISE TAXES ON THE RICH
Ted Rall - Tue, Jan 31, 2012
Tax Fairness Won't Reduce InequalityReacting to and attempting to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street movement, President Obama used his 2012 State of the Union address to discuss what he now calls "the defining issue of our time"--the growing gap between rich and poor."We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said. "Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. ... More »WANT MORE WARS? RAISE TAXES ON THE RICH
OCCUPY SEXUAL FREEDOM
Ted Rall - Tue, Jan 24, 2012
Sympathy for Newt and Open MarriageYou know the narrative. Right-wing family-values Republican gets caught doing secular-liberal totally-not-family-values stuff, usually involving sex:Cruising for manlove in an airport men's room.Knocking up the maid.Sending dirty emails to young male pages.Hiring male hookers and smoking meth.Asking wife #2 for an open marriage.This kind of thing happens all the time. And it's always red meat for leftie media commentators.Liberal pundits love to call fallen Republicans hypocrites. ... More »OCCUPY SEXUAL FREEDOM
OUR SUICIDAL RULING CLASS
Ted Rall - Thu, Jan 5, 2012
Why Won't the Rich and Powerful Try to Save Themselves?I spent last week at Occupy Miami and Occupy Fort Lauderdale. One question came up several times: What if the system responds--or pretends to respond--to our demands? What if the political class agrees to create more jobs, help the unemployed, let distressed homeowners keep their houses?Then the Occupy movement (and American progressivism) will be out of business. "President Obama could finish us off over night," I said. "A speech would be enough. He wouldn't even have to do anything. ... More »OUR SUICIDAL RULING CLASS
WHO POLICES POLITICAL CARTOONING?
Ted Rall - Fri, Dec 23, 2011
An Art Form in Crisis Ignores the Rot Within"Ted Rall, mop-headed antiestablishment political cartoonist, has abundant talent, a 1,400-drawing portfolio, seven years' experience, the acclaim of peers and the approval of newspaper editors who, every so often, print his work. What he lacks is someone who will hire him full-time."That's from The New York Times.In 1995.Editorial cartooning, a unique art form whose modern version originated in 18th century France and has become more pointed, sophisticated and effective in the United States than any other country, was in big trouble back then. ... More »WHO POLICES POLITICAL CARTOONING?
DEMOCRATS OCCUPY OCCUPY
Ted Rall - Thu, Dec 8, 2011
MoveOn Co-opts OWS Rhetoric, Dilutes Its MessageIf Democrats were doing their jobs, there wouldn't be an Occupy movement.The last 40 years has left liberals and progressives without a party and working people without an advocate. The party of FDR, JFK and LBJ abandoned its principles, embracing and voting along with Reagan and two Bushes. Clinton's biggest accomplishments, NAFTA and welfare reform, were GOP platform planks. ... More »DEMOCRATS OCCUPY OCCUPY
7-7-7
Ted Rall - Thu, Dec 1, 2011
Jobless? Face It: Obama's Not That Into YouForget Herman Cain's 9-9-9. The battle cry for every American ought to be 7-7-7.7-7-7: for the $7.7 trillion the Bush and Obama Administrations secretly funneled to the banksters.Remember the $700 billion bailout that prompted rage from right to left? Which inspired millions to join the Tea Party and the Occupy movements? Turns out that that was a mere drop in the bucket, less than a tenth of what the Federal Reserve Bank doled out to the big banks. ... More »7-7-7
REVOLUTION VERSUS REFORM
Ted Rall - Tue, Nov 22, 2011
The Rift Within OccupyEditors and readers expect pundits to weigh in on the brutal eviction of Occupy Wall Street from New York's Zuccotti Park. People will ask: Does this mean the beginning of the end for the Occupy movement?No.Now that we've dispensed with that, let's discuss a major rift within the movement: Reformists versus revolutionaries.Revolutionaries want to overthrow the government. They want to get rid of existing economic, political and social relations and create new ones. Both the Republicans and the Democrats are enemies.Reformists want radical changes too. ... More »REVOLUTION VERSUS REFORM