killer empathy

Boi-Ya-Ka! Down Goes The Devil!

2008-10-27T10:22:00.004+10:00

Fox News, Pinkerton.. Obama is down with Lucifer, bla-blah blah, blah dee blah, or some shit.

From the looks of the comments to the article, the McCain supporters are loving it and absolutely frothing.

There's a few along the lines of: "I knew it!", most of these are in agreement and others that predicted this tactic (Obama = Devil) would be used at some stage of the election campaign.

Either way, dark days ahead.

Tip-Dog: Crooks and Liars.

Bottom of the Eighth: Still Behind, But Catching Up

2008-09-26T22:31:00.003+10:00

Dubious Claims in Obama’s Ads Against McCain, Despite Vow of Truth:

Bill Adair, the editor of PolitiFact, the fact-checking Web site of The St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, said that until last week, the McCain campaign was more frequently guilty of including the most egregious falsehoods in its advertisements.

A lot of partisan Dems around the nets's have been questioning why the Obama campaign weren't utilising the same tactics as McCain's i.e. lies.

Well, here we go. The big kids in the sand pit have started fighting over the yellow Tonka truck. S'gonna end in tears.

Team Republican Bench: Weak

2008-09-13T18:28:00.002+10:00

The Sarah Palin / Charlie Gibson interview is tough to watch. I was embarrassed for her and I wanted her to look bad! There are multiple facepalm and peek through finger moments.

Juan Cole provides comments on some of Palin's responses:

Sarah Palin revealed herself in the Charlie Gibson interview on ABC to be nervous,uninformed, green and generally not ready for prime time. The interview was full of stock phrases she was made to memorize, and which she repeated over and over again when stumped. She knows nothing about how Iran is run, or about Pakistan, or about al-Qaeda, and even is ignorant of the Bush doctrine of preemptive warfare. It was a shockingly bad performance.

I wonder if she can spell tomato?

Its also kind of weird that she refers to McCain as.. well, 'McCain', which may seem normal in isolation, but consider that most everyone else is referred to by their first name.

How well does she know the guy, really?

"John? Who do you mean, Charlie?"

Palin's False Narrative

2008-09-07T23:07:00.003+10:00

No. Sarah Palin didn’t tell Congress to take their f*cking bridge and shove it. Her statement is blatantly, laughably wrong. And it’s now winning votes

Bob Somerby will detail how the Republican's, dutifully assisted by an inept press, are doing it, here.

Standing for Torture

2008-09-05T12:04:00.003+10:00

Excerpt from the New Matilda article of interview with author and QC Philippe Sands.

Just Following (Rumsfeld's) Orders:

Sands believes that the move to abusive interrogation goes all the way to the top. "Since the book came out, President Bush himself has said that the techniques of interrogation were subject to decision making by him and by his principal political colleagues: Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, Vice President." What fascinates Sands more is how the lawyers were such a formative part of this — lawyers he describes as "highly politicised, political appointees" who overrode the advice of long-term career military lawyers..

McCain voted for Bush, voted with him 90% of the time and continues to support his policies.

That'll leave scars on you.

Top Shelf

2008-07-11T23:31:00.002+10:00

Alicublog:

UPDATE. In commments JohnEWilliams points out a beautiful related story from Rumproast: "Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild calls Obama an 'elitist' on CNN." Sometimes I think they do this kind of thing as an inside joke.

Shit yeah. Criminally rich f*ckers will say and do anything to protect their patch.

Wouldn't you?

Don't Backchat Me, Buddy. I Know Boats

2008-06-29T22:07:00.003+10:00

WASHINGTON — Soon after American forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003,Gen. Tommy R. Franks surprised senior Army officers by revamping the Baghdad-based military command.

The decision reflected the assumption by General Franks, the top American commander for the Iraq invasion, that the major fighting was over. But according to an Army history that is to be made public on Monday, the move put the military effort in the hands of a short-staffed headquarters led by a newly promoted three-star general, and was made over the objections of the Army’s vice chief of staff.

Look at these clowns. Yeah, way to completely balls it up, Franks, you fool. Know it all management fucktards surveying the results of their decisions and responsibilities like they paid for it themselves. Tools.

Meanwhile..

“As a country that participated in many wars since 1980, we have many disabled people,” said Ahmed Abid Hassan, a wheelchair fencing coach. “Our Paralympic team is better than our Olympic team.”

Hillary Set for Obama to Get Wet

2008-05-24T08:32:00.002+10:00

Clinton, Defending Nomination Battle, Cites R.F.K. Assassination:

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” Mrs. Clinton said, dismissing the idea of dropping out.

Maybe not killed, just incapacitated.

Tough Love

2008-05-21T21:19:00.003+10:00

The above 'First Dog On The Moon' cartoon appeared in this Monday's Crikey email.

The following response turned up in the letters section of Tuesday's edition:

First Dog on the Moon writes: Re. "First Dog on the Moon" (yesterday, item 6). Thanks to everyone for all of the lovely (and not so lovely but well meaning) comments and emails I have received after yesterdays cartoon about my cat dying (it was a true story by the way). Of all of them I think "chin-up dude, cat probably hated you anyway" was the most helpful.

Here we are now...

2008-05-21T21:10:00.003+10:00

Juan Cole finds him some intellectual rationalisation to dig Idol:

Mercado, Archuleta and Cook are far more complex and interesting persons than the stock characters that the media has imposed on them. But at least the wrong done them by simplification is minor; they are after all entertainers, and if they attain their potential they will have plenty of opportunity to tell their real stories.

With regard to our political leaders, the infotainment approach obscures the most weighty matters ever to face our Republic, and does a grave disservice to voters whose fate hangs in the balance.

That Simon Cowell is such a crusty old f*ckwad.

Dream Ream

2008-05-17T09:57:00.002+10:00

The Republicans spot their opening. Roy Edroso explains the ramifications to the integrity of the team:

"In the last ditch (and for them, that's what this is), they'll quickly sell their old debate buddies up the river. Let's be charitable about it: In one sense, this does show that conservatives are prepared to treat gay people the same as anybody else."

I'm rich, *****!

2008-05-06T15:22:00.003+10:00

Sadly, No! has the goss on how Obama intends to get $3M to each slave descendant in the U.S.

Nice work if you can get it.

Media: McCain's Right, Always

2008-05-04T19:48:00.001+10:00

Frank Rich:

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.

What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.

Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.

Tip-dog.

Office of Special Excuses for Accepting No Responsibility

2008-04-27T18:14:00.005+10:00

Iraq war architect blames Powell for Iraq

Douglas Feith. You are f*cking kidding me.

This has to represent a new measure for the height of chutzpah.

Tip-dog.

The Racial Decide

2008-04-25T22:34:00.003+10:00

Know what I think? This article (link below) is part of a push to argue against Obama getting the Dem nomination.

Will Obama fall at an age-old hurdle, despite wooing many whites?

I don't believe Obama can beat McCain (nobody refers to him by his first name as its just too common to be of any value as an identifier), because he's not white. The Dems know this, so do the Repubs, that's why they are pushing for Obama.

The trick is to somehow excuse the Super-Delegates for dicing Obama and supporting Hillary for the nomination despite his greater numbers in the regular delegate count. They can't exactly say they weren't prepared to support him cause he's black i.e. not white. Well, they can, but they'd lose more than a few toes with that shot.

So the 'unelectable meme' will be pumped out and make that sting felt from being a victim of racism, or from the knowledge that your team is perpetuating it, hurt that little bit less.

What's a little welt over an already horrific scar?

We don't take too kindly to your type

2008-04-16T13:57:00.002+10:00

Roy Edroso gives us his top "10 conservative Web scribblers" in the Village Voice.

Update: Back at Roy's 'House of Comfort' the hoisting upon own petard ish continues via his diligent updating.

How's the serenity?

How you live!?!

2008-02-19T21:14:00.002+10:00

Gerard Henderson writes in the Herald that emotion havin' pundits can't call for consistently wrong opinion writers to get the boot from their columns (more than likely at The Oz).

Gerard, it has little to with your imagined left/right polarity and everything to do with these shills being devilishly wrong. Folks died and lives destroyed, fool.

19 Months: Where's Castro?

2008-02-19T20:57:00.003+10:00

End of an era as Castro stands down:

His retirement drew the curtain on a political career that spanned the Cold War and survived U.S. enmity, CIA assassination attempts and the demise of Soviet Communism.

Smashed 'em. Silly old bugger in your hokey uniform and stinky cigars, off you go.

Voices from far away places (Wha'd he say?)

2008-01-31T14:36:00.000+10:00

West will never beat Taliban, Rudd warned:

But Mr Gul says Western forces face a determined opposition that will not give up."As a soldier I can tell you there is no army, no matter how strong, that can prevail against a nation that decides to fight. You will never, never prevail," he said.

This we know and have always known. Who wants to win? It would serve little purpose but to create the requirement to source another conflict. The US Fed has dropped rates again, too. The market must be fed.

Yup, settle in darky, pack your suit-case nukes, this is going to be a long journey.

Cause to Protest

2008-01-08T08:40:00.000+10:00

Seems like the Australian Cricket Team is generating a greater reaction to its method of winning the 16th Test in a row than Australia's invasion of Iraq.

Not that I'm surprised. Ain't no thing to blog.

Bloodier Figures

2007-12-05T09:07:00.000+10:00

Cole in Salon: Why Bush's Troop Surge Won't Save Iraq:

What the recent publicity about the "success" of the troop surge has ignored is this: The Bush administration has downplayed the collapsing political situation in Iraq by directing the public's attention to fluctuating numbers of civilians killed. While there have been some relative gains in security recently, even there the picture remains dubious. The Iraqi ministry of health, long known for cooking the books, says that a few hundred Iraqis were killed in political violence in November. However, independent observers such as Iraq Body Count cite a much higher number -- some 1,100 civilians killed in Iraq in November. They reported that bombings and assassinations accounted for 63 persons on Saturday, the first day of December, alone. . .

Why on earth would you have even the slightest, teensiest bit of mistrust of the Bush Government?

That's crazy talk.

The second somebody dies, someone else is born

2007-11-26T08:59:00.000+10:00

Three words..

Bennelong.

Forever to be etched into the minds of all folk with a sense of moral justice as representing a great moment, not just in politics, but in general.

Like the children, karma was not thrown overboard. It lives.

Got Allies?

2007-11-25T10:21:00.000+10:00

Nope.

Bush Ally Defeated in Australia.

Defeated comprehensively, for a whole heap of reasons. That's the lot of a leader with a divisive approach like Howard's.

I'm apprehensive about Rudd, but am confident he will apply a much more cerebral style to governing the country and won't be keen to grab the dog whistle like Howard was. Still, I'm doing a happy dance.

Gettin' off the bus!

2007-11-19T11:33:00.000+10:00

Iraqi footballers vanish, seek asylum:

"This will affect the morale of the other players because we need them badly for the next match," he said. "They could have left after they had done their duty in the next match. This shows disloyalty to their country."

Gotta love sport-o's. Country in a war torn state due to invasion and occupation for last 5 years..? Not an issue big enough to justify leaving your team prior to a crucial Olympic qualifier. C'mon!

Can't blame 'em, the Central Coast of NSW is a nice spot. An out of control 21st requiring the cops to shut 'em down or fire crackers in letter boxes are probably the worse things that could go down in that neck of the woods over the next few months.

Unlike home.

Welcome to the team fellas. Pray for a Labor win and the benevolence of a fresh victory.

Fckin' Funny. Cnts!

2007-11-13T20:14:00.000+10:00

Roy Edroso:

Now the bloom is a little off the rose. Iraq's a looted shell, Arabia is not yet the 51st state, and the citizens are asking for health care. The mad mostly remain mad, but they're trying -- more modestly, of necessity -- to shift the grounds of debate. A more muscular occupation replaces dreams of Iraqi democracy, Iran offers new hope of revivifying bloodshed, and the next crop of Republicans promise not to embroil themselves in scandals and patronage.

When we laughed at them before, they were roaring so loudly they couldn't hear us. Now they can't help but notice. And they want us to stop. After all, we're only hurting ourselves! I may indeed bust a gut, but that's a chance I'm willing to take.

Yes, poor little dears. After spending the majority of their time and energy writing screeds either ripping apart the institutions and principles which could potentially bring some relief to the downtrodden, or baying for the murder and destruction of all out war, they get ridiculed by the no goodniks. They suffer so for their cause.