ONE READER, a gentle soul, thought that I was too hard on Ted Rall when I called him a “loathsome human being.” Well, I generally ignore Rall, so even fairly regular InstaPundit readers might not know much about him. You might start with this fairly typical cartoon in which Bush is a crazed dictator, while Colin Powell (I think it’s Powell, but with Rall’s drawing skills it’s hard to be sure) holds a copy of a book entitled “Our Kampf.”

But for the real Rall backstory, read this roundup of Rall stuff from Michele Catalano, and this update by Michele as well. Then read this piece by Eric Scheie.

Rall’s only redeeming feature is as evidence that the talk about the crushing of dissent in Ashkkkroft’s Amerikkka is entirely bogus. People got locked up in the Civil War, in Reconstruction, in World War I, and World War II, for milder stuff than this. Which is why, though I generally ignore Rall, it’s worth turning over his rock occasionally: Just as a reminder of the state of dissent in 21st century America.