Digging where it hurts

CJ has a problem with the 'mob rule' (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24598 , http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24586) that has seen his postings buried by DiggErs who don't approve of his racist filth. We say right on!

This morning a little birdie dropped these links on our doorstep. Apparently they make it even easier to bury LGF, Malkin and Hotair posts. We're not ones to hold them back:

Bury LGF on Digg

Bury Malkin on Digg

Bury Hotair on Digg

Digg Derangement Syndrome

An LGFWatch reader writes:

Check out this thread http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24581

Then count the number of posts where Charles has complained about Digg in the last 48 hrs. Digg derangement syndrome at LGF is more like it. He's using Digg to get traffic, and it works, then he complains about how the stories are getting buried (in multiple posts). All the while blaming it on the 'leftist moonbat mob'. It's kinda loony.

To all of our new readers

Thanks for stopping by! We appreciate your interest, and your traffic. February 2007 is shaping up to be our biggest month ever!!

On another note, we're pleased to see that Charles has finally seen fit to mention the Tour of California, now that it's over. Since we're not big believers in post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning, we won't attribute any importance to the fact that he posted about it only after he indirectly redirected his rabid groupies to this site via Digg.

And finally, those of you who are accusing this site of "censorship" because of occasional delays in approving comments might want to ask yourselves why you support Charles' attempt to have this site expunged from Blogger entirely. Either you believe in censorship, or you don't. Which is it?

Banned by LGF?

Have you or someone you know been banned from posting on the weblog Little Green Footballs? Then we'd like to hear from you!

Please send us your name (or pseudonym), an email address we can contact you on (anonymous addresses are fine) and a one-line explanation of why you were banned.

Is Charles secretly enjoying the bloodshed in Iraq?

One reader writes to ask: "Is Charles really ignoring the bloody disaster which his shilling for the war in Iraq helped bring about, or is he perhaps secretly enjoying the daily news about Americans shooting Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims, and dark-skinned women and children on the other side of the world being blown to pieces as they try to go about their lives. Considering the ever-pertinent question 'Cui bono?' the latter option is perhaps more realistic."

What do you think? Is Charles ignoring the carnage in Iraq because it's uncomfortable for him, or is he gloating?

Will Jews be LGF's new enemy #1?

While Charles Johnson harps on and on about "truthers" (a term he never really defines), there are two recent news items (dare we call them inconvenient truths?) he has chosen to ignore:

Among Religious Groups, Jewish Americans Most Strongly Oppose War

Poll: 75 precent of Israelis want to join EU

To be sure, CJ always has a stock answer to polls like this, namely that they have been manipulated by Leftists/George Soros/Kos Kidz/etc. But we'd like a more differentiated discussion: What do these polls tell us, if anything?

Atchooo!

Reader LG writes:

"I've been reading a lot recently about the increase in cases of avian flu, particularly in Egypt, well known as a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism (and blogger persecution). You wouldn't happen to have a picture of a modern-day Richard the Lionheart, fearlessly attempting to persuade a couple of possibly disease-ridden birds to give up their evil Muslim ways and see the light?"

Happy Birthday Dennis!

Dennis the Peasant turns 50, still bashing PJM like there's no tomorrow...

LGF's remit

A reader of this blog has complained that when we accuse Charles Johnson of deliberately ignoring uncomfortable news items, we're being unfair because LGF is all about Islamic terrorism and therefore Charles need post about nothing else.

Well, that is plain wrong: LGF isn't just about 'Islamic terrorism'. Although that its the main focus, CJ also touches on broader issues, from Internet governance to religious education, from cycling news to US politics, from Latin America to naff guitar solos.

What Charles decides to write about on his blog is entirely up to him to decide, but please don't bother telling us that Charles ignored a front-page news item like this because it doesn't fall into the remit of his blog. That's bollox. Charles knows as well as anyone that the story about the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager by US soldiers has a direct impact on his 'War on Terror', and he chooses to downplay the story because it undermines his arguments and his sense of moral superiority.

To put it different, for Charles "bad news is no news", something to 'GAZE' at and wished away until such time as there is another flimsy 'fauxtography' scandal to brandish and whine about.

A little challenge

Reader SB suggests a monthly challenge to LGFers to justify their glorious leader's views on selected topics. SB even offers some issues for debate. Here's the first. Flame on!

Does Charles Johnson believe that expelled Palestinians have the right to return to their homes in Israel (or adequate compensation)? If not, why not?

Meanwhile, in California

We're a bit perplexed as to why a rabid cyclist and cycling fan like Charles Johnson, who posts breathless updates during -- and sometimes even after -- every single Tour de France, is choosing to ignore a world-class cross-country bicycle race that is taking place right in his own backyard.

Apparently an exciting bicycle race is only LGF-worthy if there are French people available to be humiliated.

(picture hat tip 'LGF Watch reader')

Free Kareem

Irony alert!

Quoth Charles, in response to this piece in the Grauniad in which he is quoted extensively:

Do you notice anything missing from this limp-wristed [wink, nudge - Ed.] attack? For example, a counter-argument? People like Glaister think it’s sufficient to simply quote statements and point disapprovingly. Why strain his logical faculties? All decent people will automatically agree with him, after all.

This from someone who has turned the argument-free quote-and-point into an art form. And if you want to see "people automatically agreeing" with one another -- while constantly congratulating one another on their "decency", of course -- there's no better example than the LGF comment section.

(source: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24478 )

The Charles Johnson Style Guide

Charles has been driven into a self-righteous frenzy (again) at the failure of the MSM to identify Muslims as "Muslims" even before all the facts are in.

Well, OK then. Let's see what one current news item would look like if the media chucked out their AP Style Guides and replaced them with the LGF version:

Immigrant murdered in Tennessee

Ramses Iskander, a Muslim, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Metro Police said he was helping out a friend when he was shot and killed in Nashville.

"It was very depressing. I was very sad and I started realizing life is so short that we never know when it's the end coming," Iskander's presumably non-Muslim co-worker Armando Rodriguez said.

Iskandar, 66, was a Muslim immigrant from Egypt, which receives $2 billion in U.S. foreign aid per year.

He was shot in the parking lot of the Wynstone Apartments on Millwood Drive Feb. 8. At 11:30 p.m. friends said he had just finished giving another co-worker, religion unknown, a ride home.

"He's a Muslim of Egyptian descent, so we don't know if he really understood what they were saying. He began yelling and shots were fired, and it turned out he was shot multiple times," Brad Putnam, probably a Christian, with the Metro Police Department said.

But this still lacks that certain Johnsonian je ne sais quoi.

If Charles Johnson were ever to feature this story on his blog, which of course he never will, the LGF Style Guide™ would require him to add a heavy sprinkling of lurid adjectives and irrelevant clauses and "scare quotes," all cunningly conceived to foster the impression that all Muslims are very, very bad people.

Something like this:

RoP Struck in Tennessee; Victim's Immigrant "Friend" Whines, Seethes
A Muslim immigrant in Tennessee is sitting in front of a big pile of rotten raisins tonight, after he was allegedly "murdered" while giving a "friend" -- probably a meteorite-worshiping, wife-beating, Jew-hating jihadi -- a ride in his car:

He began yelling and shots were fired, and it turned out he was shot multiple times," Brad Putnam with the Metro Police Department said.

Any guesses what this obviously deranged jihad wannabe was yelling?

And as long as we're going to treat the unveiling of every individual's private religious convictions as a matter of national security: what exactly is Charles' religion, anyway? Now that he's being quoted in publications far and wide, the world has a right to know!

LGF: No depth, just vitriol

One of the most striking things about LGF (and we speak with years of experience) is the almost total lack of argument in Charles Johnson's posts.

Unlike other political blogs, which tend to at least attempt to propose a thesis, present different sides of the argument and then reach some sort of conclusion, LGF consists largely of Charles Johnson picking half a fact, framing it according to his slanted views, and then being outraged.

It's true. Take the latest ten posts on LGF, exclude the tech and music-related ones, and you'll probably find just one of them contains the sembles of an argument. The rest is just wild-eyed racist ranting.

In fact, to anyone who hasn't been following LGF, it's fairly unintelligible racist ranting, because there is almost no context in the posts, and CJ virtually presumes that you already hate Muslims/Arabs to begin.

All of this may be of some comfort to those of us who prefer intelligent political debate and believe a good argument will always win the day. But experience has shown time and again that the moronic ravings of a middle-aged Californian ex-guitarist are just what certain sections of America desperately want.

LGF News Values

When Charles Johnson shouts 'Breaking' you can be pretty damn sure that whichever MSM news item has caught his attention is not going to be a case of terrorism but a hoax (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24239) or a crude nationalist prank (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24407).

However, when there is a real incident of 'breaking' news (such as a gunman walking into a crowded mall and shooting dead half a dozen people) but it doesn't involve Muslims or terrorism, then you can bet your bottom dollar Charles isn't going to be 'breaking' it.

UPDATE: Charles has now got round to posting about the Utah shooting. Why? Because there's a possibility there could be a Muslim angle to the story (the shooter was from Bosnia, a Muslim-majority ex-Yugoslav republic). How much more transparent is Charles going to get in his racism? Note that he has yet to post on the incident that happened on the same day in Philadelphia, in which four people died...

Foreign Politician Tries To Influence U.S. Election

Remember, back in October 2004, when The Guardian urged its readers to contact voters living in Clark County, Ohio and ask them to vote for Kerry?

The reaction among the right-wing élite was was swift and unanimous: Foreigners, don't meddle in U.S. politics! "Guardian Tries To Influence U.S. Election," blared Charles' headline. (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13128). Said one commenter,

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

What right do they have? Do they live here? Why dont they just influence their own foreign policy?

Does democracy not work in their sections of the planet?

Fast-forward 28 months... and now Charles is cheering a foreign politician who is meddling in U.S. politics. But because this foreign politician chose to repeat one of Charles' favorite slanders -- that the Democratic party is secretly in cahoots with Osama bin-Laden -- why, that's just fair dinkum, mate! (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24392)

And the lizards, needless to say, are all but unanimous in their praise for outside force John Howard, who despite not living in the U.S., seems to think he has a right to have a hand in U.S. politics.

Does democracy not work in his section of the planet?

Cracks in the wall

LGF Watch would like to congratulate long time reader and supporter Richard Silverstein for his article Cracks in the Wall, which was published earlier today at the Guardian's CommentIsFree online blog. We hope you'll give it a read and also check out all the other articles currently published there in response to the Independent Jewish Voices debate. This quote from his essay, in this bloggers mind, sums up the current feeling from anyone with an honest interest in Middle East peace.

What are we afraid of? Do we not do Israel an injustice by viewing her as so delicate that entertaining a few "unpopular" ideas will lead to her extinction? The Israel I know and love can withstand such debate. In fact, I believe that Israel is only strengthened by the free exchange of ideas.

LGF closet racism watch

Barak Obama announced his intention to run for the presidency in 2008. How do the lizards react?

#2 freakagriep 2/10/2007 04:05PM PST

He'll won't be the first black dude to get his butt beat!

and

#12 mama winger 2/10/2007 04:10PM PST

Barak Obama is the Anti-Christ.

You heard it here first.

and

#47 mac 2/10/2007 04:22PM PST

obama,...sounds like osama

and

#124 Dayenu 2/10/2007 04:47PM PST

Wait a sec...

Is or was Barack a Muslim?

Just what we need. A Muslim president. Then we're all dead, dead, dead.

Expect lots more of this over the next 18 months...

Hate vs Love

A few weeks ago Charles posted a cruel, mocking comment about the death of 10-year old Abir Aramin. At the time he claimed the reported circumstances of her killing were "Another Palestinian Big Lie" (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24095)

Today Abir's father has an article in the Jewish magazine Forward. It's heart-wrenching, and hope-giving at the same time.

If only we listened more to the Bassams of this world, not the hate-filled Charles Johnsons...

Two-faced news analysis

As we point out time and again, one of the biggest problems with LGF is its glaring hypocrisy. This trait, of condeming something on the one hand but gladly using that same thing when it suits him, is most obvious in Charles Johnson's relationship with the media.

Witness this comment about Reuters' reporting in Gaza:

The mainstream wire services are perpetrating an Orwellian fraud of massive proportions.

It's standard stuff, from Charles. But then we also have the other side, where Charles picks bits out of the same mainstream media that suits his agenda. Just to give an example, look at how he seized upon the Reuters report about alleged indoctrination of Iranian schoolchildren (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24274). If this story hadn't suited CJ's line, he would have been all over it, poking, prodding and stripping it apart as another instance of bad MSM reporting. And he would have had a point. Because sources tell LGFWatch that the story has pretty shaky foundations.

For one, the report is based on research produced by the 'Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace'. Nowhere does Reuters explain who this group is, or even where they are based. You might want to google them.

Second, the story didn't come directly from CMIP. Invitations to the Brussels news conference (and parallel events in various other European capitals) were relentlessly pushed to journalists for weeks by an organization claiming to be based in London, but calling from Washington.

All of this should make any journalist suspicious, but apparently they were having a slow news day at Reuters in Brussels. Can you imagine what would happen if Reuters picked up a 'report' by an Iranian group on the indoctrination of Israeli or American schoolchildren?

You'd read about it on LGF, but the tone would be pretty different...

Sacrifices

Further to Charles' approval of Sgt. Eddie Jeffers' insulting suggestion that "the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing," the two might like to consider that at the very least, thanks to this war the American people have sacrificed schools, healthcare and housing to a questionable cause.

Yes, that's right: while Bush is making billion-dollar cutbacks to essential services that are particularly important to the poor (the constituency that most soldiers come from), he has so far spent half a trillion dollars getting even with daddy's nemesis and will ask Congress for half as much again next week.

If that's not a sacrifice, I don't know what is. It comes to several thousand dollars per taxpayer, and is likely to continue to increase as America deals with the fallout of this disaster. Keep that in mind the next time some blinkered wingnut drone says "I know how to spend my money better than the government does."

Déjà vu

Senior Military Analyst Charles Johnson approvingly quotes a U.S. Army sergeant, who writes,

The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, it's life as usual...the war doesn’t affect you.

Which sounds vaguely familiar.

Not that the mind-set of the average lizardoid has changed much over the past 1.5 years. To wit:

#17 Cartman 2/3/2007 09:49AM PST

Liberals just love sacrifice.

As long as it doesn't entail their own.

And when someone had the temerity to provide an accurate summary of Sgt. Jeffers' post thus:

#50 bos 2/3/2007 10:26AM PST

So, America has lost the will to fight for listening to the antiwar voices.

Also because they weren't asked to sacrifice.

That's pretty much the summary.

I sympathize with the writer's position, but I'm not sure this sort of message will get too far.

I've always felt that Bush never asked people to sacrifice. One of his first messages after 9/11 was to keep shopping.

the response was swift and unanimous: that the summarizer is a "moron" and an "idiotarian" and a "moby," worthy of being "bitch-slapped." And, moreover, that any effort to increase government revenue to support returning veterans is bound to fail, because "I know how to spend my money better than the government does."

Some World War IV this is turning out to be.