The blinkered pundits

Danny Schechter tells it like it is: what happens when LGFers come to town

Bush: encouraging decapitation in order to save face

As the fate of Kenneth Bigley hangs in the balance, disturbing news is emerging from Iraq that America might have ordered the continued detainment of one of the female prisoners Bigley's kidnappers demand be released.

Why would the US do such a thing, when a joint committee of Iraqi governing council deputees and US military already decided it was safe to release her? The answer, apparently, is that America is scared it might be seen as weak if the Iraqi scientist in question appeared to be released at the demand of the kidnappers.

Never mind that her release merely coincides with this kidnapping; the message from the US is: we're more concerned about not appearing weak or merciful than saving the life of a foreign citizen.

Bush = Hitler, Left = Fascists

Charles Johnson really doesn't like it when people compare his favourite president with Adolf Hitler, or Karl Rover with Hermann Goering. Images like the one below are regularly held up by CJ as an example of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of "the Left", and some might argue he has a point: what, after all, is to be gained from putting Bush and Hitler on one level?



How nice, then, that our friend Charles isn't averse to drawing the odd questionable comparison himself. Witness one of his latest posts, in which he describes the murky forces he suspects were behind the CBS memo as "the farthest of the far left, the new fascists" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12754). Charles at his hypocritical best...

UPDATE: We wonder what Charles will have to say about this Frontpage Magazine article, which ends with the lines:

"[Churcharson.com] reminds me of another gang that thought its rule would last 1,000 years. As they helped destroy synagogues on Kristallnacht, Adolf’s Adolescent Auxiliary sang: 'We are joyous Hitler Youth. We have no need of Christian virtue. Our leader is our savior. The pope and rabbi shall be gone. We shall be pagans again.' Or, at the very least, Democrats."

So, Hitler youth = pagans = atheists = Democrats? That's quite a line of stupid comparisons. But you'd expect that from a right-wingnut publication like Frontpage, wouldn't you?

LGF is non-partisan: honest!

Charlie has "a small correction for the record" regarding an article in the NY Post which describes him as "a California jazz musician and Web site designer who has never voted Republican". Charles would like to set the record straight by noting that "I voted Republican for the first time in 2003, for Arnold Schwarzenegger" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12736). Fair enough, the Charlie-puss always pounces when mainstream media get their facts wrong.

Strange though that Charles doesn't quibble the argument that his bohemian taste in music and non-Republican voting history somehow inoculate him from being described as a "partisan operative". One would have thought that the person behind a website which runs item after item glorifying the Great Leader (Bush) and demonising the Great Satan (Kerry) would have welcomed the label 'partisan'...

Al Qaeda profits from Bush policies

Charles Johnson thinks al Qaeda wants John Kerry to win (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12722).

The British ambassador in Rome thinks otherwise: "If anyone's ready to celebrate the eventual re-election of Bush, it is none other than al-Qaeda"

The Bush records Charles Johnson isn't interested in

"His public records paint a portrait of a Guardsman who, with the cooperation of his Texas Air National Guard superiors, simply flouted regulation after regulation (more than 30 by Salon's count) indifferent to his signed obligation to serve."

Bush economics

On Charles Johnson, George Bush and little girls

A regular reader has pointed out a story on LGF we nearly missed over the weekend about a 3-year old girl whose Bush/Cheney sign was ripped up by Kerry 'thugs' - a story that sent LGFers into a frenzy of astute polito-sociological observations like: "LIBERALS ARE FACISTS AND NAZIS" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12660#comments)

Whether or not the story happened the way the LGFers like to imagine is secondary to the blatant hypocrisy which surfaces here: had the girl been a Palestinian child taking part in a political demonstration there would have been whoops of joy from the Lizard crowd if she'd received a direct hit from an Israeli missile. But such double standards are to be expected from people whose life-experience seems to consist only of what they see on screen.

What, we wonder, would the LGF crowd have done if they had encountered the 11-year old Iraqi girl we were privileged to meet the other day? This girl's entire family, apart from her father, was killed when a cluster bomb was dropped on their home in Basra last year by a US warplane. She herself lost a leg in the attack. Despite seeing and suffering the horrors of war first-hand, she is a lively, intelligent and friendly child, who gleefully set the table for our meal and urged us to keep eating far beyond the point where our stomachs could take any more, all the time jabbering away in Arabic.

She is learning English fast and is being looked after by people who were vilified on LGF not so long ago for their peace activism. What would the LGF crowd, if they could tear themselves away from fake memos and ripped-up placards for a moment, say to this girl, whose life has been irrevocably damaged by George Bush's war? And what would they say to the people who have risked their lives to get her out of Iraq in order to give her a chance of growing up and leading a normal life?

Back to his old tricks?

Speaking of media bias...

While the left-wing, pinko, manhattan media covertly supports Kerry (according to Charles and Co), the right-wing media have no problem openly coming out in favour of the incumbent. Take a look at this nice little announcement on Rush Limbaugh's website:

"I made an official announcement to open the program today. I have become, and have been for a while, an official, unpaid advisor to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, and we decided to go public with this because there's no problem with it whatsoever."

Oh, so there's no problem whatsoever? Well that's alright then. As long as you say so, Rush.

BTW, nice to see you're still combating media bias...

"Your Resource for Combating the Partisan Media, Liberals and Bush-Haters..."

A reader writes

"...there is an interesting item on LGF "European press ignoring CBS document forgery story", or something to that effect (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12623). Strange, Charles is suddenly interested in the Euro-press, the same one he asked "Who the f*ck cares!?" when some poll was published showing Bush is very unpopular compared to John Kerry throughout the world. I suppose this is similar to his referring to Reuters as either Reuters or Al Reuters, depending on whether the story is useful to him personally or not.

I am continually amazed at the content of that site. Amazing that there are so many hateful people... I have posted little bits of fact here and there, and been angrily shouted down with insults and profanity. They don't like truth at LGF - especially when linked to the real stories...

After a brief, strange obsession with fonts and type, Charles is getting back to what he does best: fan the flames of hatred.

Although sometimes horrifying and upsetting, I think it worthwhile to see the same story covered so differently in the left and right wing weblogs. I simply can't imagine how much dirtier and more hateful things are going to get as we inch closer to the most important presidential election in my 40 years..."

Fact checking LGF style

Charles Johnson, head Lizard honcho and scourge of all things forged, has been riding on the crest of a wave of Bush-supporting self-righteous indignation over the apparently forged memos aired by CBS's 60 Minutes programme recently. With his typographical expertise Johnson was one of the first to spot that something was amiss with the memos, subjecting them to intense scrutiny and finally pronouncing them FORGED!! Never mind the fact that the core of CBS's story (that President Bush had received special treatment during the Vietnam War, exempting him from frontline fighting duty) remains true: Charles Johnson saw this malicious forgery as further evidence that the mainstream media are loony lefties covertly in cahoots with John Kerry.

Little wonder, then, that Mr LGF gleefully posted articles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) appearing in the press over the last few days which praised the blogosphere as a serious check on irresponsible journalism.

And wouldn't it be wonderful if things were that easy and journalists were being followed everywhere they went by honest, diligent and hard-working citizens prepared to scrutinize their work and expose the lies and slanders they write?

Unfortunately for Johnson and his right-wing blogger cohorts, this picture of unbiased reporter-watching by and for the media consuming masses is a little off the mark. Here at LGF Watch we have been chronicling Charles Johnson's lies and deceipts for a while now, so in order to add a bit of fairness and balance to the blog celebration let's look at some of Charles Johnson's recent exploits:

LGFgate I:

Under the heading 'Terrorist Supporters in LA' CJ posts a picture of a man dressed as a suicide bomber holding up a sign that reads: "Hamas says no wall" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=8871). Johnson comments: "Good lord. This happened yesterday at Palisades Park in Los Angeles," and links to an Indymedia page with pictures of a protest in LA. The headline, the comment and the picture make it look like protesters were openly declaring themselves supporters of Hamas and suicide bombings. In fact, the person pictured by Charles is a member of a counter demonstration and has nothing to do with the original protest. Lying or just economical with the facts? You decide.

LGFgate II:

CJ kicks off an angry posting about British MP Jenny Tonge with the line "British Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge apparently never learned that when you’re in a hole, you need to stop digging—because her latest dispatch finds her not just sympathizing with suicide bombers, but hanging out with them." (our emphasis; http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=9882)

In fact, anyone reading Tonge's original article would find that she starts thus: "My remarks last month, expressing empathy with suicide bombers, had been misinterpreted by the tabloids as meaning sympathy and approval."

Similarly, linking to a post on Billmon's Whiskey Bar, Johnson claims that Billmon said the four American mercenaries killed in Fallujah "deserved it" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=10425). The fact is that Billmon said nothing of the sort.

Now misinterpreting what someone says or writes is one thing, but consciously reporting something that isn't true is another.

LGFgate III:

One of CJ's favourite tricks is posting stories of apparently horrific abuse or racism, without following them up. Now we know Charles is only an amateur journalist, but if he finds the time to post dozens of items about typography on his website every day you would think he might take an interest in developments that have occured in stories he has highlighted in the past. Not so in the case of the 'anti-Semitic attack' on the Paris Metro in July (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=11670). Or the 'anti-Semitic arson', also carried out in Paris (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12253). Both stories turned out quite different in the end, but because that end didn't suit Charles ... he didn't report it.

Finally, let us not forget that, for a long time, Charles Johnson maintained that no torture had occured in Abu Ghraib prison, an opinion he seemed to base solely on his privileged observer position behind a computer screen in California.

What all of this goes to show is that Charles Johnson believes in journalistic virtue and integrity only when and if it suits him. He will happily distort the truth to suit his own ends, and completely fails to report instances where journalism has caught out the politicians he so loves. At the moment Johnson is nothing more than a drone for the 're-elect Bush' campaign. Anything posted by him should be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

*tokka tokka CH-CHUNG tokka tokka DING*

The definitive guide to memos and typography

Charles Johnson's priorities UPDATE

Number of times Charles Johnson has recently commented on:

The potential for Israel to be engulfed by civil war: 0

Veracity of a military memo about George W Bush aired on a US TV network: 50 +

Hijacking Catastrophe

Reader PKJ sends us a link to an interesting video about the way in which the Neo-Cons have used fear to take control of America

They're not soldiers, they're terrorists

The Daily Telegraph reports that "a television journalist was shot dead as he made a live broadcast from Baghdad yesterday when United States helicopters fired on a crowd that had gathered round the burning wreckage of an American armoured vehicle."

Mazen al-Tumeizi was a) a Palestinian, b) a journalist and c) working for Al-Arabiya TV. Expect the LGF crowd to whoop and cheer with joy.

Charles Johnson's priorities

Number of postings Charles Johnson has made in the last week on:

US military deaths in Iraq exceeding 1,000: 0

Veracity of a military memo about George W Bush aired on a US TV network: 37

Bush likes guns, Osama likes guns

The Bushs, the Bin Ladens, and the Islamic Bomb

While Charles Johnson gets all typographical over a memo about Bush aired on CBS, we've been following with interest another story about a far more interesting memo: 199-I.

Dick Cheney: liability for America

"Cheney's manner and authority of voice far outstrip his true abilities," says Chas Freeman, who served under Bush's father as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "It was clear from the start that Bush required adult supervision -- but it turns out Cheney has even worse instincts. He does not understand that when you act recklessly, your mistakes will come back and bite you on the ass." From Rolling Stone

Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

For a hysterical (in every sense of the word) example of the kind of xenophobia prevalent among LGF regulars, take a look at this thread: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12514#comments.

These are the very same people who spend most of their time demanding so-and-so be elected/deposed/killed in Iran/Iraq/Syria/Israel/Britain/Spain/Germany/Venezuela etc. Their argument is always: it would make America and the rest of the world a safer place. But when the rest of the world expresses an opinion about who would make a better US president, the sentiment on LGF, to quote 'American Infidel', is : "Mind your own business world"

Hypocritters, the lot of them.

US Department of Defense Casualty Report for 7 September 2004

(Hat Tip PKJ)

Kids and soldiers

"I cannot stop thinking about all those young lives. Those kid soldiers. And all for what?"

Fisking LGF

Charles Johnson likes to pretend he's always one step ahead of those darstardly mainstream journalists, fact-checking their ass and blowing their nasty propaganda clean outta the water. The problem is, Charlie will only fact-check selectively, when it suits him, not when it could undermine his argument or that of the people he supports. Here's a short list of recent 'facts' conspicuously CJ failed to check:

1) Hallucinating Arnie

Arnold 'Terminator' Schwarzengger really delivered a killer speech at the GOP convention last week, even going so far as calling his opponents "girlie men". Wow, class or what?! Anyway, Arnie also told a little anecdote about his childhood growing up in Austria, which according to Arnie became a "socialist country" after 1955. This must come as some shock to the Austrian people, who all along thought they had elected conservative chancellors in the years from 1945 to 1970. Arnie left Austria in 1966.

2) French Anti-Semitism 'Watch'

Charles Johnson loves labelling the French as anti-Semitic, so when a Jewish community centre in Paris went up in flames he naturally rubbed his hands with glee and posted some news items about the incident, stressing the possibility that the act of arson might have been committed by Muslims (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12253). One might argue that, in doing so, he was merely echoing what the press and politicians in France and elsewhere were reporting about the incident. Fair enough. Strange though that he hasn't found time to follow-up the latest revelation in this story: that it might have been one of the users of the community centre who set it alight:

'Jew suspected in Paris arson faces jail' (Jpost)

'Jewish man arrested in Paris arson' (IHT)

'Jew may have torched Paris soup kitchen' (Haaretz)

3) Charles cheers too soon

On Sunday 4 September Charles announced the capture of one of Saddam Hussein's deputies, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Like everyone else, he had been fooled by press releases from the Iraqi interim government announcing al-Douri's capture. By Sunday it had become clear that the person apprehended wasn't al-Douri. As yet, Charles has made no mention of this fact...

GOP Child Abuse

By request of the photographer, this image has been removed. To see pictures of how the Republican Party has been cloning Dick Cheney and other scary images from the RNC, go here.

LGF: finally seeing sense?

It might have been the sheer weight of the number of emails Charles Johnson received in response to his ill-judged question whether "anyone [has] heard a a single Islamic leader, anywhere in the world, condemn this bloody savagery committed in the name of their religion". In any case he's finally relenting and admitting that maybe, just maybe, some of them have condemned the massacre.

So far he has posted articles by Abdel Rahman al-Rashed (Head of Al Arabiya TV, see also his radio interview), Saudi Prince Abdullah, and a link to a piece about Ahmed Baghat and Mohammed Sayed Tantawi.

Who knows, maybe there is still hope that CJ will finally lift his veil and read Arab media beyond what is translated by MEMRI?

LGF: seeing what it wants to see

Charles Johnson posted an item the other day about Saddam Hussein having come "'within a whisker' of purchasing a complete, off-the-shelf nuclear device from Abdul Qadeer Khan’s Islamic nuclear black market." (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12462), a 'fact' uncovered by a recent BBC radio series on the proliferation of ABC weapons. What Charles conveniently ignores is another episode in that series. I wonder why...

"Allan Urry also examines USA's rush to carry out research designed to protect the West against the attack by a dirty bomb.

Since it was discovered that Al-Qaeda has been trying to acquire biological weapons, the USA has poured billions of dollars into what it terms "bio-defence". finding a way to protect communities from the devastation of an anthrax or smallpox attack by terrorists.

But the BBC revelas a disturbing catalogue of blunders and security lapses by the US authorities.

some deadly pathogens used in the laboratories are being flown around the world by in the jacket pockets of scientists travelling through international airports; others are simply missing from the laboratories.

The programme also hears that US' vast spending on bio-defence is hiding secret military research, banned under international treaties.

Critics say that this is pushing the world closer to a biological arms race."

Listen to this episode here

The War on Terror will never end

"On Monday this week, President Bush had a moment of clarity. He was speaking on NBC television, replying to the simple question, 'Can America win the War on Terror?' 'No,' he said, his eyes drifting away from the autocue, momentarily losing their glaze. 'Of course it fucking can't," he said. "Are you insane? Do you understand nothing? The whole point of the War on Terror is that it never *ever* ends. We made a big mistake with the Cold War, but with the fall of Communism we realised that our next boogie-man would have to be as vague as it was terrifying, as universally-applicable as it was specific-seeming. We knew we'd have to declare war on something which was endlessly renewable, and something with which we could easily tie in all of our other bigotries. We chose Terror. We're really rather clever you know. In a slightly Satanic way. And no, the War on Terror will never *ever* end...'"

From The Friday Project

Airy-fairy Charlie dismisses 'stupid' attack on Bush

Proving once again that no matter how dumb a comment Bush makes, Charlie 'who is a man' Johnson will defend him, here are some choice cuts from yesterday's posting (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12393):

President Bush's retraction of a statement that "the war against terror cannot be won" is, according to CJ, an "absurdly trumped-up story" which his detractors are highlighting "as if it were important". What, the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military force in the world, the king-pin of the world oligopoly saying one thing and then saying the opposite is unimportant? Charlie-logic par excellence.

Lost for argument as to why this is a non-issue, CJ comes up with the line: "making an issue out of something like this is just ... well ... stupid." Bingo. What a brain. Then he goes on to say: "Bush could easily have defended his original statement (there’s a lot of truth in it, on many levels)." Many levels? What levels exactly are you talking about? Care to elaborate? Do you really think Bush can think "on many levels"?

Jesus save us from these people in November.