380 tons of explosives

Ain't it funny when CJ starts spinning like a crazy top, trying desparately to defend the indefensible? Case in point: the story about the 380 'missing' tons of explosives in Iraq. Now, let's state from the outset that we here at LGFW have no inside info on what happened to the stuff, we're just following the news like everyone else. Let's see what the investigations show.

Charles, on the other hand, as given us all of the following explanations in the last 72 hours:

1) There NEVER WERE 380 tons of explosives at the dump, nope, no explosives at all. All of this is a smear story made up by Kerry/CBS/the French to discredit Bush yada yada yada... (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13297)

2) There never were 380 tons of explosives at the dump, ONLY 3 TONS. Anything else is a smear story made up by Kerry/CBS/the French to discredit Bush yada yada yada... (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13319)

3) The 380 tons of explosives were spirited away by the RUSSIANS before the war. Anything else is a smear story made up by Kerry/CBS/the French to discredit Bush yada yada yada... (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13318)

4) The 380 tons of explosives were spirited away by terrorists BEFORE the US got to the dump. Anything else is a smear story made up by Kerry/CBS/the French to discredit Bush yada yada yada... (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13295)

5) The 380 tons of explosives WERE secured by US forces. Anything else is a smear story made up by Kerry/CBS/the French to discredit Bush yada yada yada...(http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13338)

What do we learn from all of this? That, to Charles, it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you don't believe that the original story might be true. CJ is so caught up in the right-wing spin machine that he doesn't even realise how ridiculous he looks, firing off conspiracy theories left, right and center in the hope that one of them will stick. Here's some advice Charles: shut up until you've got some hard evidence, otherwise you're just leaving the gates wiiiiide open for us nasty loony leftists to drive explosive-filled trucks through your crazy theories.

Revealing the true nature of Little Green Footballs

The Revealer, a religion-focused zine ran a comment ('If Hitler was a blogger') the other day about how strange it was that a racist website like LGF should win a Washington Post blogging contest. Unsurprisingly, Charles couldn't take the flak and wrote a limp defense of his loony lizards' racist rantings (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13306)

Now, first of all, about the contest: it was a reader poll, meaning that since Charles got all his goons to vote for him, it wasn't much of a contest. Lizards on heat win hands down. We doubt Charles would have got into the Top Ten if it had been peer-reviewed or editor chosen. Such is democracy, and democracy sometimes throws up nasty results (see further: Bush, Adolf Hilter). But anyway, LGF won the International category (what, Cali is in a different country from DC?), good for Charles. He obviously needs the encouragement.


Second, the Revealer's comment about LGF being the blogging equivalent to Hitler in the Hofbrauhaus is quite astute: imagine someone back then had said: "Boy, this Hitler guy is like the Austrian equivalent of General Franco". They'd have been laughed at and then beaten up for daring to draw such nasty comparisons...

Still, do we think Charles = Hitler? No, though he's trying his best to match the evil Austrian in demagogery and small-mindedness. Lucky there's no fascist American party looking for a leader at the moment. We hear Charles' voice is nearly as whiny as the Fuehrer's was...

Third: Charles, don't you think it's a bit stupid to defend your minions against the accusation that they write abusive and threatening emails to those you denounce (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13339)? We've had them at LGFW, and we know what we're talking about. LGF readers are among the most foul mouthed users of email on this planet. They certainly beat the hell out of the islamist emails we've received in our time ('may Allah burn you in hell etc etc...'). Face it Charles, you stir the shit up, don't be surprised if your readers go feral. God knows, one day you're going to have blood on your hands when one of them goes out and shoot someone. If I were you, I'd start putting some more disclaimers on the site now, baby, otherwise good ole Charlie J is going to have soooome explaining to do one day.

No Sense of Humor LGF

Lots of interesting stories today, let's go in reverse-chronological order:

Top link (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13340): Charles just can't understand why the people at Daily Kos won't take a joke, after he called Markos Zuniga "a fanatical, deadly enemy of Western civilization" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13333_Interview_with_the_Enemy). Well, we here at LGFW can't see anything wrong with a good joke either, except it wasn't a good joke Charles, it was a lame one. Still, nothing to make a fuss about, we agree. We thought the joke about assassinating Bush was better though...

Get your war on

Baghdad Burning writes

"Americans, the name of your country which once stood for ‘freedom and justice’ is tarnished worldwide. Your latest president has proved that the great American image of democracy is just that- an image. You can protest, you can demonstrate, you can vote- but it ends there. The reigns were out of your hands the moment Bush stepped into the White House. You were deceived repetitively and duped into two wars. Your sons and daughters are dying, and killing, in foreign lands. Your embassies are in danger all over the world. ‘America’ has become synonymous with ‘empire’, ‘hegemony’, and ‘warfare’. And why? All because you needed to be diverted away from the fact that your current president is a failure." Read on...

LGF: Only telling half the story (surprise, surprise)

From http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13304:

"'BBC World will also broadcast a special edition of ‘Question Time’ featuring film-maker and author Michael Moore, columnist Richard Littlejohn and former Bill Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal.' (link)

Now there’s a stellar panel."

Conveniently, Charles fails to link to the actual BBC report, which announces that "David Frum a former speechwriter to George W Bush who coined the phrase 'the axis of evil'" wil also be on the programme. Could it be that Charles didn't want his little lizardy friends to know this? (hat tip: BR)

Did we mention...

Republicans for Kerry?

Wooooooolves

Wolfpacksfortruth.org

LGF: Who's doing the talking?

One of the most frequent responses we receive from LGF fans, angry that their beloved website is described as racist or hypocritical, is that there is a big difference between what the posters on the comments page say and what Charles Johnson thinks. If a few people on the comments board say outrageous things, the line goes, then that shouldn't reflect badly on Charles because most people on LGF don't have such extreme views and "Charles didn't say it himself".

There is one big problem with this argument, namely that CJ frequently makes use of his moderator powers to censor views he doesn't agree with. If he did not at least tolerate expressions of racial hatred against Muslims, or calls for genocide, then he would remove the offending posts. The only conclusion we can draw from this is that Charles tacitly supports these views.

It is interesting, therefore, to see the great lizard himself make a fuss about two articles which appeared in Britain's Guardian newspaper, and which he identifies with the paper itself, rather than their respective authors. The first was a satirical column by Charlie Brooker deploring the Bush presidency which ended with the line "John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?". Anyone with an iota of sense would realise that this was a satirical piece, but obviously in times of heated political debate such as these that's too much to expect. Little surprise then that Charles headlined a post 'Guardian Calls for Bush to Be Assassinated' (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13269).

Not quite, Charles. CHARLIE BROOKER wrote the article, and it was satirical. Clearly the Guardian has editorial responsibility for the the content of its pages, and this is made clear by the clarification that was printed in the Guardian TWICE as a result of outraged lizardoids & Co flooding the Grauniad's email inboxes. Can we expect Charles to take the same responsibility for items posted on LGF?

The second post, while drawing fewer angry responses from LGFers, displays the same ignorance of how newspapers work and even of how to read them. Under the headline 'Guardian Lunacy in Full Flower', Charlie-boy writes:

Britain’s Guardian newspaper says William Shakespeare was probably a Muslim. (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13276)

Ehm, no, Charles. The article didn't say 'Shakespeare was probably a Muslim'. It said that "HIS WORK resembles the teachings of the Islamic Sufi sect" and that "the playwright was a member of a religious or spiritual order which can BEST BE COMPARED TO the philosophy of Sufism". Also, it may have been printed in the Guardian, but it was Dr Martin Lings, a 96-year old scholar who made this claim, not the paper itself. But that has never stopped Charles from brewing up another foul broth of anti-Muslim, anti-Leftist sentiment and hurl it at his slobbering readers...

Sinful Bush

Methodists are saying: George W Bush and Dick Cheney must repent

Two murders - no justice

'A schoolgirl riddled with bullets. And no one is to blame'

'Guava in Jabalia: First Bite, Last Breath'

This is the reason why Gideon Levy writes in Haaretz: 'Killing children is no longer a big deal' (and, yes, it's a mark of Israel's free press that Levy is able to write articles such as these: we all know the equivalent wouldn't appear in a PA paper)

Not keeping it in the family

Woah! Even Bush II's relatives don't want him to get a second term: Bush relatives for Kerry

Blind faith in Bush

"Here it comes again, that sinking feeling. Four years ago I travelled across the US, following the presidential campaign, and came away alarmed that Al Gore was not doing enough to win an election that should have been his. Now I have that same queasy feeling - except this time it's not only about the simple matter of who will win and who will lose on November 2. Now it's a deep concern about what is happening to the United States itself."

Read the entire article here Faith against Reason

Who's looking over Charles' shoulder?

'The moonbats will surely download this thread and put it under their pillows'

First, take a look at this cartoon:



Now take a look at this thread on Little Green Footballs, specifically the comments: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13186_Apologizing_to_the_Nazis#comments

Notice how Charles and the LGF crew are a textbook example of the kind of neo-con Chinese Whispers machine that the US mass media have become? Picking out half-understood soundbites and building massive memes that lack any foundation apart from what what their vicious little lizard minds have imagined? In this thread, Charles reports on a ceremony to commemorate those killed in the carpet bombing of the North German town of Brunswick (aka Braunschweig). But instead of writing about the intention of the ceremony (hint, the original headline was: 'British bid to mend war scars'), Charles reinterprets the story as: 'Apologizing to the Nazis'.

Let's get this straight: 1) The British ambassador made it clear that he wasn't apologising, merely commemorating the dead. 2) Even if the British had apologised for needlessly killing so many civilians, this would not have equalled apologising to the Nazis. It would have been an apology to the civilians who suffered. 3) Is Charles saying that the Nazis attended the ceremony, patiently accepting a heartfelt apology from a former enemy? Because that's certainly what he implies with the way he portrays the story. And it wouldn't be surprising if Charles actually believe this, considering the way he and his scaly scum regard Europe in general as anti-Semitic and Germany in particular as a hotbed of fascism.

Just how misinformed you become if you read only the right-wing drivel that LGFers seem to draw sustenance from is demonstrated in the first few comments of that thread when outraged lizardoids howl: "I wonder if Germany will apologize for Coventry." We wonder where these people have been for the last 60 years? Germany has apologised, paid pennance and admitted unqualified guilt for the atrocities it committed from 1933 to 1945. But that kind of thing squares uncomfortably with the notion that the lizard crew has of Germany as a Fourth Reich, waiting to unleash terror on the world once again. Yes, Germans were Nazis, are Nazis, and always will be Nazis, at least that is the view of LGF regulars like 'Bigel', who additionally believes that the best thing to do would be to nuke the entire continent (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13113#c0075).

The sad descent of this thread into an all-out hatefest is brightened only by three things:

1) There are clearly some people on LGF with a conscience (e.g. reaganite)
2) The thread will serve as a good example of lizard lunacy in future
3) It's always a joy to puncture the empty arguments of Charles' cronies with a simple google search:

#582 Powderfinger 10/16/2004 08:29PM PST

[...]

Show me where he says "Nuke Europe now"

Otherwise, you're being dishonest.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=8354#c0051

Who's the bos?

I think we have a new friend in the War Against Evil(tm): http://warcheerleaders.tripod.com/

Household issues

Charles asks: "Little Green Footballs: Soon to Be a Household Name?" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13160).

The LGFW team thinks Charles might well be right on this one. LGF has a certain ring to it, like Watergate and Enron...

Mutiny in Iraq?

BBC report:

US troops 'refused Iraq mission'

The US military has confirmed it is investigating allegations that members of a reserve US army unit in Iraq refused to undertake a convoy mission.

The unit involved is responsible for transporting food, water and fuel for US-led forces, a top US official said.

Up to 19 soldiers from the unit based near Talil in southern Iraq allegedly failed to carry out their orders.

The news came amid reports that UK troops could be sent to back up the US in some of Iraq's most volatile areas.

The UK Ministry of Defence said on Friday that discussions were under way but no decision had been taken as yet.

It is believed the troops could be sent from Basra in southern Iraq to an area south of Baghdad, and might - controversially - be under US command.

In other developments in Iraq:

A mortar explodes outside a Baghdad hospital killing one member of staff and injuring several others
A wave of attacks hits at least five Christian churches in the capital Baghdad
A US soldier dies of wounds sustained in a car bomb attack on a convoy in the northern city of Mosul on Friday
The UN says Thursday's bombings in Baghdad's Green Zone have underlined its concern about security in Iraq.

Private Eye sees right through George Bush

LGFers seethe, whine at Guardian campaign

As we reported yesterday, the Guardian is asking its readers to write to voters in Clark County, Ohio, and let them know their views on the upcoming US presidential elections. As expected, the LGF crew is foaming at the mouth about this 'outside intervention'. Here's a typical LGFer reaction:

--------
#7 Nukeitall 10/13/2004 08:55AM PST


I find the very thought that outside forces would have a hand in the US elections...disgusting.[...]
--------

Well well well. Are these the same people who call incessantly for regime change, who believe they have a right to influence who the elected leaders of every other country around the globe are, who support the use of violence in overthrowing democratic governments? And these people can't take a friendly letter? America, we fear for you.

On one of Charlie's loonies

Charles Johnson's final posting last night was a link to a 'fisking' performed by a certain Jeff Harrell on Markos Moulitsas' web column for the Guardian. Going straight to Harrell's piece, we get the following pretty early on:

Notice, please, the preemptive whine that Markos slipped in when he thought you weren't paying attention: "all the flaws in the US electoral process." The reason the Democratic Party can't get a dog catcher elected these days doesn't have anything to do with the party's increasing self-marginalization, its fervent hold on positions that America soundly rejects. And it doesn't have anything to do with the Democrats' universal denial of the single most important issue to voters: the war. And it doesn't have anything to do with the overall climate of unpleasantness that the Democrats have created over the past four years.

Now correct us if we're wrong, but isn't Harrell making the grave mistake of trying to slip something in while his readers are still too alert to miss it?

"the Democratic Party can't get a dog catcher elected these days" - with 205 Democrats (vs 227 Republicans) in Congress and 48 Democrats (vs 51 Republicans) in the Senate, the Democrats aren't doing too badly, not to speak of the dead heat that is the current US presidential elections. Who cares about dog catchers?

"its fervent hold on positions that America soundly rejects" - now hold your horses: Harrell claims to know that 'America', as a whole, all of it, every US citizen, rejects the positions of the Democratic Party? Bullshit.

"the Democrats' universal denial of the single most important issue to voters: the war" - The DEMOCRATS have been denying the war? Jeez, and we thought it was Georgie and Co who were sticking their heads in the sand over the miserable failure that is the Iraq campaign, let alone the War on Terror.

"the overall climate of unpleasantness that the Democrats have created over the past four years" - as in voter intimidation in Florida practised by the Republicans in 2000? As in smear campaigns against the Democratic candidate's wife (reminiscent of those against Mrs Clinton)? As in warning that if Kerry is elected there will be more 9/11s? As in bombing the hell out of civilians and claiming you're doing it in the name of freedom? Unpleasantness, it seems, lies in the eye of the beholder...

Harrell doesn't get much better as his piece goes on. Read it and send him friendly comments if you must, but it's not exactly a tour de force of political argumentation. You're better off getting involved with the Guardian's swing state project.

Kiss kiss

Ahhhh, isn't that sweet? They love each other after all....But wait! What's that strange fold on the back of Bush's suit? Is Bush wired? Or maybe he's just earthed?

How are things going in Iraq, now that Saddam is gone?

Not so good, apparently. Someone is stealing equipment and materials that could be used to build nuclear weapons (is it the Iranians, is it Al Qaeda?) and Iraqi adults and children live in constant fear of abduction at the hand of criminal gangs (RealPlayer audio report). Mission accomplished, eh?

Who is Dick Cheney?

CBC has the details on the American Vice-President. (Hat Tip PKJ)

Iraq War results so far

Bush's bulge

Well waddayaknow: Charles got round to acknowledging the 'Is Bush wired?' story after Salon and the NYT ran articles on it (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13069).

Apparently, the Republican consensus is that the bulge is simply 'a pucker along the jacket's back seam', which raises the question why the President of the United States of America puts up with such bad tailoring...

A reader writes

G asks: "After Charlie posted so much about Kerry's pen, do you think he'll run
with this story from Salon, about Bush having a radio receiver to receive messages?"

We think Charles is going to ignore this until the facts become too overwhelming for him not to comment on it - and then he'll dismiss the story as irrelevant.

Five Minutes Silence

...from Bush jr would have been better than the pityful performance he gave during the first debate. If you've forgotten what he said, here is a summary: 'What Bush said'.

Now lets see what Dubya does this time round :-/

LGF Racism

A reader points us to a comment we missed a while back:

_______________________________________________
#24 Rayra 9/25/2004 08:04PM PST

ulululululululululu!

The Best kind of "Palestinian" -
[Debka 11hrs ago] Zarqawi's Palestinian No. 2 Dies in US Targeted
Assassination
_______________________________________________

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12824#c0024

Remember kids, it's this kind of mentality that informs the LGF crew. They may not say it in public, but this is the true face of Charles Johnson and Co, make no mistake about it.

LGF: Telling it like it is...half of it

Yes indeed, Charles Johnson is a purveyor of truths. At least that is what his scaley minions seem to think. We mortals only ever get to see half the truth on LGF. Take today's offerings: '9/11 Families Speak' reports what a particular group among all the families affected by 9/11 think (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13039. No mention of the fact that there are other families who don't believe that Bush is doing the right thing. Who cares about the whole truth? Not the lizards...

Next on the list: 'Kerry's Vanished Draft Proposal' (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13038). Readers of this headline might get the impression that Kerry had tried to force every American youngster to serve in the military. In fact, Kerry's plan was to introduce the kind of national service found in some European countries, where school-leavers engage in a wide range of services ranging from helping the elderly, sick and vulnerable, to receiving a year of military training. This is a little bit different from Republican plans to force every young person in the States to register for military draft with the possibility of combat posting. Shame this distinction is lost on the pea-brainers at LGF.

Lies and the lying liars that don't report them

Oi veh, the LGFWatch crew goes away for a few days and comes back to find Charles of LittleGreenFootballs still peddling his nasty racist wares, writing wank-lit for aspiring neocons and generally ignoring the real world. Want an example? While dwelling on the issue of forbidden pens in presidential debates for half a dozen posts, Charles Johnson completely fails to mention that Cheney lied on camera during the Veep debate. As AP notes, "among Cheney's retorts was a slam at the first-term North Carolina senator's attendance record in Congress. Cheney noted that, as Vice President, he presides over the Senate, then told Edwards pointedly, 'The first time I ever met you was when we walked on stage tonight.' A sly dig, to be sure. Also false: Cheney had met Edwards twice before. But Edwards let it slide at least until his post-debate rally."

A simple oversight on Charlie's part? We think not. Oh well, back to the grindstone...