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      Mike Matulis on September 12, 2010

      Welcome back, Ted, I've enjoyed the cartoons. Looking forward to the book.

      Mike Matulis

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      Ted Rall on July 1, 2010

      Hi Lee,
      Afraid not. I'm not a 501(c)3, just a cartoonist heading off to a place that is scary and hot and fun and weird.
      Best,
      Ted

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      Lee Newberg on April 7, 2010

      Is there any chance that I can get a tax deduction for my contribution?

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      Ted Rall on April 3, 2010

      Thanks, everyone! I can't believe this worked so well! You guys are awesome and so is Kickstarter!

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      Dag Undseth on April 2, 2010

      It just passed 25,000. Congratulations :)

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      David Donohue on April 2, 2010

      Awesome, Ted. I do believe you've got it!

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      Michael Doran on April 2, 2010

      This is a no-brainer win-win-win situation. My contribution helps Ted go to Afghanistan, I get some swag from one of my heroes, and everybody else will eventually get to read an informative, witty, no pulled punches, firsthand account of what is going on in Afghanistan.

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      Kurt Ramsey on April 1, 2010

      Ted -

      You have at least one friend in the military. I have been following your columns religiously since 2003, and while I do not always agree with your opinions, I am glad that there is someone out there with the courage to say what everyone else seems afraid to. I sincerely hope that you reach your goal and are able to give us an answer to what nine years of direct and 30 years of indirect American military involvement have really done to the country.

      Kurt Ramsey
      Sgt USMC

      P.S. "...death means that you're really gone forever and you're never coming back and your body rots away and everyone stops talking about you." This has been my email tagline for a year now. You wrote this some years ago in a weekly column about setting the minimum age limit in the military to 40. I have used this quote in at least one collegiate paper as I do not think truer words have ever been written about death. In the military we often romanticize death, but whether you die in blaze of glory or in some stupid accident, the end result is you are dead and eventually, "everyone [will] stop talking about you."

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      Mike Matulis on April 1, 2010

      Hi Ted,
      I hope you make it. And that you have a safe trip.
      Your old State Journal-Register pal, who so enjoyed bringing your column to central Illinois,

      Mike Matulis

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      Ted Rall on March 31, 2010

      Thanks, Bill and Lunchbreath (lol on the name)--
      I'm on pins and needles now. So close!
      I'm crossing my fingers.
      Lol too on the pitch to Republicans.

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      Bill Abendroth on March 15, 2010

      Ted-- After I posted my pledge, I sent the following shout out to the 550+ "friends" I have on Facebook, with the following message: "Liberals! Please join me and help send Ted Rall to Afghanistan. Conservatives! Help send Ted Rall to Afghanistan (There's always the chance he won't come back)." I also included a link to this site.....

      Most of my friends are game people, so I wouldn't bet the family farm on my circle...but I'll see what else I can do.

      Keep up the good work. You are one of my heroes......

      Bill Abendroth

      PS I'm a little surprised that you're not already over the top, what with "Mark" pledging what you deserve: the full $25k. Maybe Kickstart is just a little slow totaling up the sums......

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      lunchbreath on March 7, 2010

      Good luck Ted, I was really happy to see you undertaking this kind of thing, happy to pitch in on it.

      Mark---use kickstarter to support people you favor. If you're not supporting anyone on here, why bother to comment at all? Participate.

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      Mark Mcleod Smith on February 1, 2010

      I gave you exactly what you deserve

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      Shade Remelin on January 25, 2010

      Hey ted,

      i supported you for a hundred dollars i barely had because i believe so much in what you're doing. thank you for having the guts to explore the dark terrain.

      good luck,

      shade

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      Ted Rall on January 18, 2010

      Thanks, Eliot! Much appreciated.

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      Eliot Sykes on January 13, 2010

      Put it on reddit hopefully will get some love there: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ap76p/comix_journalism_send_ted_rall_back_to/

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Funding Successful

This project successfully raised its funding goal on April 5, 2010.

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You'll be personally thanked in the Acknowledgments section of the book, plus signed copies of the new book as well as To Afghanistan and Back and Silk Road to Ruin

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You get the signed book, the thank-you in said book, plus an original piece of artwork from the book, plus signed copies of the new book as well as To Afghanistan and Back and Silk Road to Ruin

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Pledge $5000 or more and I will meet you for dinner or drinks (and pick up the tab) anywhere in the New York City metropolitan area. Plus the books, thank-you, and original artwork!

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Pledge $10,000 or more and I will travel anywhere within the continental United States to meet you for dinner or drinks. If you'd like, I'll present a talk and show about my experiences in Afghanistan to you, your friends and/or a local organization. Plus the books, thank-you, and original artwork.

Project By

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Inspired after meeting pop artist Keith Haring in a Manhattan subway station in 1986, guerrilla editorial cartoonist Rall began posting his cartoons on New York City streets. In 1991, Rall's cartoons were signed for national syndication. He has been with Universal Press Syndicate in 1996; his cartoons now appear in more than 100 publications around the United States, including the Los Angeles Times, Tucson Weekly, Willamette Week, Newark Star-Ledger, Village Voice and New York Times.

Rall considers himself a neo-traditionalist who uses a unique drawing style to revive the aggressive approach of Thomas Nast, who viewed editorial cartoons as a vehicle for change. His focus is on issues important to ordinary working people--he keeps a sign asking "What do actual people care about?" above his drafting table--such as un- and underemployment, the environment and popular culture, but also comments on political and social trends.

From August 1998 to August 2000, Ted hosted his highly-rated, twice-weekly talk show on KFI Radio in Los Angeles. Highlights of Ted's show included "Stan Watch: Breaking News from Central Asia," which was simulcast by both National Public Radio and the BBC, and caustic interviews with such figures as former Klansman David Duke. Ted often broadcast his radio show from overseas, and made American radio history by airing the first live talk radio shows from Cuba, Uzbekistan and the frontlines of the war in Kashmir Province. Ted's live from Afghanistan reports for KFI Radio and written dispatches for the Village Voice was called "some of the best war reporting from Afghanistan" by The Nation.

Books

Non-Fiction/Prose
2006 — Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?, graphic novellas and essays
2004 — Generalissimo El Busho: Essays and Cartoons on the Bush Years, essays and cartoons
2004 — Wake Up, You're Liberal!: How We Can Take America Back from the Right, prose non-fiction
2002 — Gas War: The Truth Behind the American Occupation of Afghanistan, prose non-fiction about the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project
2002 — To Afghanistan and Back, graphic travelogue about Ted's experiences covering the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001
1998 — Revenge of the Latchkey Kids: An Illustrated Guide to Surviving the '90s and Beyond, Generation X manifesto/essays and cartoons

Anthologies edited by Ted Rall
2002 — Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists, interviews with and cartoons by 21 alternative political cartoonists
2004 — Attitude 2: The New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists, focuses on alternative gag cartoonists
2006 — Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists, focuses on webcomics

Cartoon Collections
2006 — America Gone Wild, cartoons from 2001 to 2006
2001 — Search and Destroy, cartoons from 1996 to 2000
1995 — All The Rules Have Changed, cartoons from 1992 to 1995, Rip Off Press, ISBN 0896201198 (out of print)
1992 — Waking Up In America, cartoons from 1987 to 1992, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312085184 (out of print)

Graphic Novels
2009 — The Year of Loving Dangerously, a memoir of bedhopping, homelessness and despair in the 1980s, with art by Pablo G. Callejo
2001 — 2024: A Graphic Novel, a parody and update of George Orwell's 1984
1998 — My War With Brian, autobiographical look at Ted's junior high experience being bullied
1996 — Real Americans Admit: The Worst Thing I've Ever Done!, collected depictions of personal confessions, NBM Publishing, ISBN 1561631574 (out of print)

Awards

1995 — Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
1996 — Finalist, Pulitzer Prize
1997 — First Prize, Firecracker Alternative Press Award, for Real Americans Admit: The Worst Thing I've Ever Done!
1997 — First Prize, Deadline Club Award, Society of Professional Journalists
2000 — Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
2001 — Best Book of the Year, Amazon.com, for 2024: A Graphic Novel
2002 — Best Book of the Year, American Library Association, for To Afghanistan and Back
2002 — James Aronson Award for Social Justice Graphics
2007 — Second Prize, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Awards
2007 — Second Prize, Lambda Legal's "Life Without Fair Courts" cartoon contest
2007 — First Prize, New York Book Festival Competition, for Silk Road to Ruin
2008 — Ohioana Citation for Art and Journalism

Upcoming Projects
Rall is currently working on an autobiographical graphic novel called "The Year of Chris," a sequel to "The Year of Loving Dangerously." Written by Ted, with art by editorial cartoonist Matt Bors, "Year" is scheduled for release in 2011.

In addition, Rall is writing a political polemic for Seven Stories Press, to be published in the fall of 2010.

Contact:
chet@rall.com