Cartoon for October 10, 2009
It's hard to say exactly what inspired this cartoon. It's nothing in recent news, but rather my long-term observation that the U.S. government goes to extreme lengths to retrieve body parts. Examples include the 9/11 recovery effort and the decades-long campaign to get back body parts from U.S. servicemen who perished in Vietnam during the 1960s. Wouldn't it make more sense to care about Americans while they're alive?
Labels: Death
posted by Ted Rall at
12:01 AM
37 Comments:
War profitteering has become acceptable - makes you wonder when leaving our sons' and daughters' bodies behind will be.
I hear that in Canada people have to wait in line for hours just to reclaim a few tiny chunks of their dead relatives. And the government chooses which chunks. Damn socialists.
Ted,
Of COURSE, you know what inspired this cartoon. Exactly as you said in conclusion, but the bottom line is votes. Votes for incumbents and ambitious politicians. Political power leads to money, and power and money lead to (for male politicans) lots and lots of pussy. Pussy willing to do ANYTHING to share that power and money. An excellent example, the Cheney daughters, Liz stumping (this early) for the next Presidential campaign, as 'Palin with a brain,' 'Coulter without a horse face and PhD in whining,' 'Matalin without greed and mindless, greed-based ideology and helpless Carville rolling his eyes,' 'Malkin without her husband/puppeteer to plant the seed of conservative anarchy in her puddin' brain,' and more of their ilk. As long as the lies keep coming, the lies gain their own 'truth.' But first, we have to play this 'We never leave our buddies behind in combat' game, where, as you said, we spare no expense to retrieve a tooth, scrap of bone or rotting uniform or dog tag. This is why we have parades of overweight, long, gray-haired, at-risk for all kinds of circulation and heart problems, middled-aged war Veterans and wannabes on Harleys cruising all over the USA to try to silence the 'reverend Phelps.' We stand together in death if not in life, right? Except for Cindy Sheehan, who can be labeled 'with the terrorists,' because she DARED to confront G. W. "I'm the best hider in the history of war dodgers" Bush.
We will spare NO expense, especially the future of our children and grandchildren, for the folly and luxury of high-tech war toys and patriotic John-Wayen bullshit. Even though it has been demonstrated that Americans are NOT the superior culture on Earth, we continue to promote stupid wars against declared enemies who have been entrenched in their own countries for longer than the USA has been a country.
You're right, Ted, but without my kind of rant, and I haven't even tapped into the Department of Veterans Affairs issues. In the active military, it was "Hurry up and wait." With the VA, it's "If we can put off needed treatment long enough, the Veterans might die, and we can reduce our budget, but not our pay checks." Don't let me get started.
There's a problem with framing this in terms of "the government helping someone."
Kim has potential to contribute to society. We shouldn't keep her healthy, sheltered and give her an education because we're the richest society that has ever existed and can easily afford it. We should do these things not because they're the right thing to do, but because they're in our self interest.
Who wants sick, homeless or uneducated people in their community? I don't. It hurts us all. If Kim lacks the basics needed to live a dignified life, our society should give it to her, knowing we'll all benefit. She'll have a better job and will pay more taxes. She'll be healthy and spread less diseases. Her kids probably won't end up breaking in cars, damaging our property and filling up our jails.
Our society has problems that we'll have to pay for one way or another. "Helping" Kim is helping ourselves.
Grouchy,
I hope you are serious (never can tell here.) If so, thank you, thank you so much. I was a former genius, literally, a person whose IQ was higher than 99.28 percent of people. I had opportunities galore. My goals - mere stepping stones, mere formalities, nothing more than steps I would easily take - were to get a BS in Computer Science and Animal Science, go on to become a veterinarian, and then on to my PhD. In the mean time, I was going to create a non-profit foundation to raise the $20Million I needed to start a research facility to work with livestock and wild wolves. Again, these were mere steps. Prior to this for example, I used my skills as a programmer to try to save up $2Million to do the same, but 9/11 killed that by killing the demand for programmers like me - and in a single year I had saved up $40,000 on $70,000 per year income (a good deal was investment income.)
Then, in September 2004, I had a house fire, in a house I didn't realize had lead paint (landlord failed to disclose.) I put the fire out, but was exposed to enough lead fumes to wipe out some 41 IQ points and leave me unable to deal with this new, less functional brain of mine (I am still struggling with functional acceptance - that is, I still think my brain works the way it used to.) In any other country, I would receive medical care and something called Cognitive Rehabilitative Therapy; something not even recognized for someone in my condition in the US, something which would restore nearly all of my previous abilities and level of functioning, something any other country would provide to restore my gifts to allow me to use them for benefit to society. No, America expects me to just pick up where I left off and get back to it - maybe flip burgers - fuck contributing to society with the gifts I was born with. In actuality, the Social Security Administration, recognizes what happened to me as a permanent disability called a "listed condition" (12.07 (7) in the SSA "Blue Book" for those who wish to look it up.) So rather than recognize that therapy can restore my abilities, I am locked in an endless struggle to get those benefits so I can get medical care and financial support just to survive, since without the therapy (which doesn't exist in the US) I can't even handle my daily life without help. The process of applying for disability has caused more health issues than imagineable due to the stress and simultaneous lack of medical benefits of any kind for several years.
And you wonder why I have come to the conclusion that Americans are all slaves?
But anyway, thank you for speaking up. These social programs benefit us all - or are supposed to that is. But they don't, and short-sighted, lazy-brained, right-wing idiots think they're just freebies for socialists.
Good Grouchy, why don't you give 50% 0f what you have to a homeless person?
Sorry to hear your story, Rex.
The "free market" is probably to blame for your condition. America didn't outlaw the use of lead paint in residential buildings until decades after Europe. It was known to be dangerous, but outlawing it would have cut into someone's profit.
Profit is priority, not health.
Hey Rex,
Can you point to me the place in the Constitution that grants the federal government to run universal health care? And if you say "the welfare clause" I'll know you lost more then 41 points in a house fire.
Ted,
This is quite simple, in a Capitalist society, money and profit margin are king. Living people cost money, the dead cost nothing. In fact, the dead generate money in the purchase of memorial artifacts by grieving family members.
This is why we don't care about the survivors of war, but only talk of the sacrifice of the dead. The sacrifice of the living begs the question of what we as a society owe them in return.
We are a homicidal society in this respect -angry, self righteous and looking for any excuse to trigger Armageddon in a self justifying way.
Billy Jack,
Point out the part of the Constitution that says you have the right to be educated by the media, to have all of your thoughts created by them so that you can't have a single thought of your own anymore because you think Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Ronal Reagan are more than just actors vying for a salary.
In other words, give me a fucking break. Your question isn't even worded well. "the place in the Constitution that grants the federal government to run universal health care?" What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
The country you think you live in may not give a shit about the health of its citizens, but any civilized country elsewhere does, and any country which cares about its LONG TERM survival should. The Constitution wasn't written to spell out all responsibilities and duties of the government; that's why Congress was created you moron - to decide how to execute that power to keep this nation afloat. And right now, it is believed, rightly so, that health care reform is necessary to the long term survival of this nation. And if you and other idiots like you who haven't the slightest clue what the concept of thinking for yourself is all about don't agree that taking care of the health of all citizens is better for the nation, then I strongly suggest you go move to Texas and push for secession from the union. After all, you are the same people who thought owning humans so they could work for you for free was a good idea...
Grouchy: No, actually, it wasn't the free market that caused my injuries; it was lax enforcement of laws in Idaho - what I call status-quo enforcement versus law enforcement; that caused my injuries. Not only was I unsuccessful in preventing this woman from renting the house out again (they wouldn't condemn it - not the county, not the state, not the EPA) but this woman purposefully and knowingly exposed ANOTHER person to lead. I wrote the results of the lead paint tests I had done on the walls where I took samples, and wrote a big notice on the front door (all in magic marker) indicating the place was contaminated. The contractor this absentee landlord hired saw my warnings and had the paint tested themselves, warning that they wouldnt' do the job if there was actually lead paint, because a special contractor is required because it is a contaminated site. They found lead and refused the job and told her to hire a professional cleanup contractor. Instead, she hired some kid off the street. That is criminal, period. Yet she is still free, still getting tax-free income from the house. I contacted law enforcement, but they refused to investigate. Even the EPA refused to investigate the matter.
People think the small-town mentality is harmless, or just something you see on TV. My experience watching "Deliverance" occurred after living in small-town Arkansas - and my reaction to the movie was "wow, what an interesting slice of life that was" because the events were very believable to me.
My experience is that people are far more stupid in this country than we imagine. It takes a real sick kind of idiot to believe some TV or radio personality and go into a Town Hall meeting and disrupt the closest thing we've had to democratic process in this country in well over 150 years. We call these idiots Republicans. They dare to call themselves "conservatives." Me, I just call them the idiot class.
Hey Billy Jack,
Can you understand that the Constitution is "negative" rights where the government is concerned and therefore the burden is on you and your ilk to point out where it says the government CAN'T provide universal health care? Hmmm? Congreff shall make NO LAW providing health care for all. Where is it? Seems like it's allowed under the "welfare clause" more than it's not allowed under anything else in the document. Extraconstitutional is not the same as unconstitutional. Sorry, Mr. Beck, but you should know that.
"Hey Rex,
Can you point to me the place in the Constitution that grants the federal government to run universal health care? And if you say "the welfare clause" I'll know you lost more then 41 points in a house fire."
Hey Blow Job,
"promote the general welfare" is just the beginning. Without wasting any energy on something you aren't going to fathom...
I second Rex's comments. What kind of sick moron uses the US Constitution as a road block for improving the quality of life and security of the citizens whose livelihood the government founded on said constitution is charged with SECURING!?!?
We as a society need to stop acting like it is acceptable for Blow Job and his cohort to have these opinions, anymore than it is acceptable to believe in racial segregation, inferiority of women, slavery, or hitting children.
It's NOT OK!
After all, you are the same people who thought owning humans so they could work for you for free was a good idea...
Sorry Rex, it was Democrats that supported slavery and segregation.
And just because congress does something does not make in constitutional. Ever heard of the Patriot Act? War in Iraq? Social Security?
And you forgot Mark Levin.
It takes a real sick kind of idiot to believe some TV or radio personality and go into a Town Hall meeting and disrupt the closest thing we've had to democratic process in this country in well over 150 years.
I agree, instead we should all STFU while people who have never even read the bill (and cannot refute the facts about the bill when confronted) vote yes. We'll just be compliant lemmings for the all- mighty Rex who was once a genius but lost exactly 41 points because of burning lead paint.
Sorry Rex, it was Democrats that supported slavery and segregation.
Yes. When Ronald Regan was a Democrat.
Go read some history. Specifically, look up the term "Southern Strategy."
Come back to the table when you know what the fuck you're talking about.
hey BJ - CAUGHT YOUR ASS!!!
I said what I said exactly so I could catch your sorry ass blaming Democrats for slavery.
Yes, it is true that the Democracts of that era supported slavery. But lo and behold, beginning in the early part of last century and on into the 1960s, Democrats became Republicans. It was Lincoln, the first Republican, who freed the slaves. But the Democrats were in the south. They switched sides. So, you are blaming someone who is not at fault. Any dumbass (yourself included) can look at an electoral map of today and see that the states supporting slavery are not Republican.
Sorry asshole, you can't deny history, just as you can't continue to blame Clinton.
And I just love how you idiots try to say all these bad things about Obama - such as unemployment being his fault. My gawd you people are f*ing stupid - economic factors take years to build up. It took Bush 8 years to destroy the economy - and that you don't realize the lag between policy and results in the economy speaks only of your stupidity.
And as for you Dittos (your very name suggests you are a mere puppet for the very pundits I mentioned above) - where did I make any claims of expertise? And pray tell me, what the hell is your point? Do you have one? Do you not realize that no one in Congress reads ANY of the bills they vote on? Or are you suggesting that I and others like me have the ability to vote on such legislation?
I love that Ted lets your idiotic comments come through, but I doubt that he realizes what I do - that the truth in your stupidity cannot be as easily identified by others as by him and others with actual brains. The best thing to do with fools like you is to leave your inane prattle unpublished.
...and now I await your flaming accusations of censorship...LOL
it was Democrats that supported slavery and segregation.
Typical misrepresentation of the facts. Sure, it was the Democrats, but more importantly it was the conservatives.
Yo BJ
Nobody actually cares what you think the Constitution says. Two hundred years ago they figured out they could just ignore everybody's opinion about the Constitution except the Supreme Court's opinion. So go cry to the Court and maybe they'll abolish Medicare for you.
Yeah, definitely, please please please make the Republican party campaign in 2010 on a platform to get rid of Medicare as quickly as possible. And Social Security too. You know you want to. Just THINK of all the, uh, votes you'll get. Yeah.
B J, how many other aliases have you had on here? I've seen a half dozen aliases blame Democrats for slavery, as though that even addressed the issue at all. They all sound the same. Are you the same person changing aliases or do all you idiots just get your information from the same 3 sources?
Rex et al: Channel Obama: calllm. It's been a while since I've had to step in to knock heads, but I will if I have to. Less name-calling, more idea-mongering, dammit.
Awww...but I like spranting...(bonus points for obscure reference?)
I try, I really do. I'm a man of ideas...but I just lack patience when it comes to people who can't think for themselves, and who try to respout the same filfth of the likes of Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.
Does it help that I criticize EVERYONE? Come on, I voted for Obama - sorry, that's not accurate, I voted for Not Bush.
Bear in mind that I live among these people. This is the most conservative part of the nation. I have to deal with these people on a personal basis every day. Harassment by law enforcement which doesn't enforce law, but status quo (and watch out if you don't drive a lifted Dodge diesel which has been illegally modified); near-fist fights with people questioning my doctor-ordered handicap parking placard; social service workers whose first words to me were "gee, that's funny, you don't look disabled;" wolves being shot 1/4 mile from my home, illegally of course, in several ways - and nothing done about it of course; my own dog shot dead by my next door neighbor for sport (my service dog, thank you); $100 to register a car given to me for free because Washington is the most corrupt state I've ever seen... Yeah, the list goes on. I'll try to keep my anger at bay, but my conclusion on how to deal with these people who don't think for themselves is just to know that nothing can be done to change them, and to make as much fun of them to their faces and at their expense as possible. But rules are rules, so not on this forum. Gotcha.
But I don't promise not to lay anymore traps. I like watching people trip over their own words.
Good phrase by the way - idea mongering. Reminds me of Rod Steiger in "Mars Attacks."
I apologize Rex, I thought you were sane, that's why I responded to you. I have a hard time taking anyone serious who dresses up in fur for fun. I will make a point of ignoring you from now on.
Ted,
I've only seen you jump in twice in all the time I've read your blog.
One was for someone using the N word in a quote from Lyndon Johnson, and a this was the second, defending a troll. It seems to me that trolls on here get away with some really offensive, abusive, and degrading insults aimed at myself and other regulars that don't share their opinions, and you never comment about that.
I think you have an agenda, and I'm calling you out on it. I challenge you to defend the premise that civility is your objective.
Dittos,
Try doing it sometime before you make rash judgments eh?
And I'll rehash a favorite quote: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society"
I haven't been posting on these forums for as long as some of you, but I've noticed a recent uptick in anonymous and slightly-less-anonymous trolling.
I've often found it stimulating to participate here, but this present brand of trolling is tiring. As noted above, linking the modern Democratic party to slavery and segregation is a gross misrepresentation, and lowers the caliber of the discussion more than a few notches.
I guess trolling is about destroying the forum. A little bit can add spice, but a relentless stream of ignorant blather really makes me want to shut the laptop and get back to my real life.
I don't know specifically about the technical limitations that a blogger host works with, but I know that an organization that I once worked for could monitor the IP addresses that blog comments were coming from.
Maybe, if he has this capability, Ted should intact a policy that users cannot post under multiple names and switch back and forth from being anonymous. I think such a policy would eliminate at least one level of moronic trolling...
Grouchy, I agree and second that I believe trolling IS TOTALLY about destroying the forum, just as poisoning the discourse in every area of governance is about wrecking the forum. It's all aimed at eliminating 'the public'. . . it's essentially a push in support of fascism, monarchism or theocracy. It's inherently undemocratic. Ted may believe that he is offering some level of balance, and adhering to the value of 'free speech,' but in reality he is playing along with a game that diminishes us all. We are all lesser for pretending that the unacceptable is acceptable.
It is not acceptable. Ignorance is NOT an excuse and I do not have to be tolerant of it. "Idea mongering" my ass, pluralism doesn't mean the lack of basic standards.
Ted gets some of his ideas from trolls.
I guess memories are rather short here in that regard. Here's the comic I'm specifically referring to: http://rall.com/gallery2/v/Cartoons/7-4-09.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1
Aggie,
Is the quote you were referring too?:
“I’ll have them niggers voting Democrat for the next two hundred years.” - Circa 1964, DEMOCRAT President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s vow after he signed into law civil rights legislation.
Or maybe this one:
LBJ called the Civil Rights Act “that Nigger Bill.”
Harry McPherson remembered, “And about five minutes later I heard (LBJ) say to some southerner . . . , ‘I’m going to have to bring up the nigger bill again.’ “
LBJ: Architect of American Ambition by Randall Bennett Woods,
Simon & Schuster, p. 326
Or maybe this one:
“Son, when I appoint a nigger to the court, I want everyone to know he’s a nigger.”
LONE STAR RISING Lyndon Johnson and His Times,
1908-1960. By Robert Dallek
Could be this one:
When Dr. King led protests against LBJ’s Vietnam War, President Johnson cursed Dr. King as “that Nigger preacher.”
I've often found it stimulating to participate here, but this present brand of trolling is tiring.
Get used to it. You statists have tried to foist slavery and segregation on us for 50 years. You own it, get used to it.
And you know what Aggie? Attributing racist statements to people, and not apologizing when were proven wrong is juvenile. I understand you statists think you are far superior to the rest of us plebes. Well you aren't. You statists are an arrogant lot and I'm happy to bust up your little pity party with some facts. Unlike you, I site my sources. Do you? know you post misquotes then when asked to site your source you say you don't have the time. For someone who claims to teach at a college your lack of intellectual honesty is pathetic, but not surprising. I saw plenty of it at my university; self centered egotistical arrogant social misfit professors who couldn't hold a conversation because they were "above" the rest of us mouth breathers.
And one more comment, this attempt to shut down speech is typical of you leftists. You cannot win in the arena of ideas. Your bumper sticker slogans fall apart at the first challenge. Either that or they are so vague (we are slaves of corporations!) arguing with them proves true "arguing with an idiot only makes you look like an idiot".
This is why Rush, Levin, Hannity, Beck and others are popular over time. There are zero widely heard liberal talk show hosts because after 3 hours of bumper sticker slogans there is nothing left to say.
So like i said, all you have left is to shut others down.
Cowards.
You statists have tried to foist slavery and segregation on us for 50 years. You own it, get used to it.
I understand that you think I'm a "statist." And I think I understand what you mean by that. I think, anyway.
But who the fuck is "us"--where the fuck are you coming from with this ignorant nonsense?
I just read your last three posts. You're so wrong--on so many levels--that it makes my head hurt.
I have no interest in arguing with a dining room table.
Click.
This is precisely my point. Ted stays quiet when the trolls gang up on someone....but if enough people rebel against the idiocy and stupidity of the trolls, he has to step in and "shut it down". . .and lo and behold, the trolls celebrate his 'freedom of speech' crap.
Fine, Ted, you and your trolls win. I can't take you seriously anymore.
You're so wrong--on so many levels--that it makes my head hurt.
Ok pick just one and refute it with a fact or two.
Tell you what, I'll give you one that will send you into a frothing fit. The most informed audiences belong to the Weekly Standard, Rush Limbaugh's radio show, the O'Reilly Factor, news magazines, and online news sources.
And here is what we call a source:
http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=1068
Tell you what, I'll give you one that will send you into a frothing fit. The most informed audiences belong to the Weekly Standard, Rush Limbaugh's radio show, the O'Reilly Factor, news magazines, and online news sources.
I could try to have a discussion with you about this survey report, and what it means, but it's not worth the effort.
You're not making me angry; it's just painful to read the stuff you write because it's so stupid.
Your attacks are incoherent and not worthy of consideration. If you were in my living room, I'd ask you to leave.
Grouchy,
Thank you for making two of my points. Youi statist don't want to debate facts, and you'd prefer to shut down your oppositional like a good little facist.
Thank you for making two of my points. Youi statist don't want to debate facts, and you'd prefer to shut down your oppositional like a good little facist.
Incoherent, grammatically-challenged gibberish.
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