Ted Rall Can Be Funny at Times

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Comments

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I want medicare for all.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Would you settle for a good tap dance or a soft shoe? ;)

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I'll setting for a cup of coffee!

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

I'd go for that. I don't think I'm going to live another 13 years before it kicks in for me. I'd take the increase in taxes for it too. It would be much less expensive in the long run for the cost of drugs and treatments.

.As for Obamacare, our new insurance starts in January and I can't wait. We'll be saving a ton of money that we'll be pouring right back into our small business. Our business partner will have health insurance for his family for the first time in years. All that and hopefully we'll be able to hire a part-time person to expand during 2014. I'm really sick of people talking about the ACA as if it's only going to benefit the "takers" in society. We aren't takers and it isn't.

If we had medicare for all there would be a lot less people chained to corporate America. There would be a LOT more innovation. There would be start-ups and more competition. Gee, tell me why we don't have that kind of health care.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Government healthcare encourages people to take risks, just like bankruptcy laws. Real citalists should be all over it, it's great for innovation.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Is that Spock? I don't get it.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

I think that's just your average Joe Citizen hoping to see a doctor.
Apparently he has a lot of people in front of him.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

You could replace any TEDRALL cartoon with "Hur dur fuck Obama!" and it would probably be improved.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

I cannot recall the rest of his oeuvre, but if he is a sort of Johnny One Note,
it may not be such a discordant note to play when it comes to these first months of Obamacare.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Got a problem with your current health insurance?
Perfect solution: Go work for a Fortune/Global 500. Instant solve!

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Ted Cruz approves this message.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

If only I had the talent and credentials.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

If you're an Obsolete, then you need to Delete!
;)

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Well, kinda; the division of BofA my son worked for is only hiring back (some of the) people they laid off, as temps, to avoid paying people's current health plans.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

If everyone did that, then who would be left for the Fortune/Global 500s to prey upon?

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

You mean to sell to? Each other, of course.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

Somebody has to make the stuff they sell. You can't base an entire economy on trading imaginary property for imaginary money. That only works for the parasitic parts.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

...who exactly do you think makes everything?

I'm not sure what you think, but my employer is a manufacturer. As a matter of fact, if you look at the first 100 of the Global list, you'll see that 60 or more of them are manufacturers or retailers. Same with the Fortune 500. If you look at the 500 lists in their entirety, you'll see that manufacturers and retailers are presented more than services or financial firms.

Who do you think actually makes everything? Small businesses with their 5-7 people working out of a garage? Just because BigCorp is replacing factory workers with robots and office peeps with software doesn't mean products aren't being made.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

"60 or more of them are manufacturers or retailers"

Okay. So how many are manufacturers?


"manufacturers and retailers are presented more than services or financial firms"

That's because large financial firms devour each other until there are only a few left to make the list.


"Just because BigCorp is replacing factory workers with robots and office peeps with software doesn't mean products aren't being made."

True, but this undermines against your idea that everyone should just get jobs at BigCorp.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

You seriously can't count them yourself? Christ, this is the only time I'm doing that for you. You have GOT to make some effort on your own.

Out of the first 50 of the Global 500, you have 42 corporations that manufacture.
Out of the first 50 of the Fortune 500, you have 27 corporations that manufacture.
If you seriously want detailed listings of all 1000 total on both lists, you can go Google it like everyone else.

That's because large financial firms devour each other until there are only a few left to make the list.

Well, yes, that's how you make a profit. You eliminate competition in the market by causing your competitors to either be absorbed or go out of business, then you dominate the market and charge what you want. That's called capitalism. Capitalism is decidedly not fair, nor was it ever supposed to be.

So essentially, I'm not seeing a problem there. That's the normal flow of capitalism in general. That's how it is in EVERY market.

True, but this undermines against your idea that everyone should just get jobs at BigCorp.

1) I work towards a technological future where unskilled labor is not required.
2) I assume people have the skills to be hired by BigCorp.
3) If you do not have the skills, then you are an Obsolete. As I said, if you are an Obsolete, you need to Delete!

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

As I said, if you are an Obsolete, you need to Delete!

But why does it seem like you always say that with a certain joy? ;)

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Because I always say (and type) these things while maniacally grinning.
And that is absolutely true.

Now whether that means I'm engaging in pure schadenfreude while being serious or am joking is actually dependent on what side of the bed I woke up on.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

"If you are an Obsolete, you need to Delete!"

What you don't seem to understand is that the thing they're going to delete is you.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Only if my skills go obsolete.
I've planned against that moment. Have you?

[madscience.livejournal.com]

Your skills won't be relevant when a mob drags you into the street and executes you.

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Now you're projecting. Ain't going to happen, bro. You didn't see it happen when the steam drill replaced John Henry, nor when buggy whip makers went out of business. It's just how technology flows.

[madscience.livejournal.com]

'Kay.

[pacotelic.livejournal.com]

Rall does not own a ruler?

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

He's more of a concept guy, I guess.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

That's a sad thought...

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

Rall is trying too hard.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

It is probably not often when he is on the same side as mainstream America,
and he is probably a little excited and riding this wave for all it is worth.

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

He makes for some interesting reading at Wikipedia. I'll get down an excerpt.

~ ~ ~

His July 5, 2004, cartoon[12] mocked Condoleezza Rice, depicting her character being sent to a "racial re-education camp" where she refers to herself as a "house nigga" and George W. Bush's "beard". Rall, a white man, was accused of racism by Project 21, a conservative organization with black membership.[13]

A November 8, 2004, cartoon[14] depicted mentally disabled children as classroom teachers in an attempt to make an analogy to American voters who reelected Bush, drawing complaints from advocates for the disabled and led to his cartoons being dropped from The Washington Post's website. Rall responded in his blog saying: "I regret hurting people who I have nothing against. I do want to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and I think I failed in that with this cartoon. Not to mention that the cartoon failed—too many people got bogged down in the analogy and the main point got lost."

On October 22, 2007, Rall published a cartoon saying "Over time, however, the endless war in Iraq began to play a role in natural selection. Only idiots signed up; only idiots died. Back home, the average I.Q. soared." This caused an uproar by military supporters both conservative and liberal alike.[15]

Rall is listed at #15 in Bernard Goldberg's book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America described by the author as a "vicious, conspiracy-minded, hate-filled jerk". Rall perceived the listing as an honor, replying, "Not only am I grouped with many people whom I admire for their achievements and patriotism, I'm being demonized by McCarthyite thugs I despise."[16]

Rall solicited funds from readers and left-wing bloggers while considering whether to sue Ann Coulter for libel and slander for her (later self-described as "joking") statement that, "Iran is soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. So far, only Ted Rall, Garry Trudeau, and The New York Times have made submissions." Coulter first made the remark at the 2006 Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Washington D.C. on February 10, and then printed it in her syndicated column the following week. By 18 days later, pledges totaled over $21,000.[17][18] However, pledges are no longer being solicited, and in a December 27, 2006 blog entry, Rall posted an email that was sent to pledged contributors to the lawsuit, stating that his attorneys had determined that "The road ahead is too uncertain to justify spending thousands of dollars of pledges, not to mention my own money".

-- Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Rall)