HAS LGF GONE COMMERCIAL?

Charles Johnson's LGF is one of the most widely-read conservative blogs. I have often read and linked to it. Its coverage of the Muslim menace is particularly good. For some reason, however, Charles has been running an extensive campaign of attack on two European political parties -- in Sweden and in Belgium -- that are also energetically publicizing the Muslim menace. There seem to be two elements in his attacks: Attacks on the past of some members of the parties concerned and a very loose and quite Leftist definition of racism.

I know very little about either of the political parties concerned except that their proclaimed policies are clearly not racist. So I will simply make the general observation that large political parties -- which the Belgian one certainly is -- invariably have a considerable mix of members with all sorts of backgrounds and views. I would not remotely be surprised or alarmed to hear that some of the members had said hostile things in their time which they now regret and which they no longer believe. I would have thought that I did not have to draw attention to the fact that a former Kleagle of the KKK still sits in the U.S. Senate as a representaive of the Democrats. His change of views is accepted as sincere and his past views are seen as no detriment to him so why cannot others be accepted for their present rather than their past views?

Perhaps more surprising is that Charles appears to accept the Leftist definition of "racism". I have not been able to find any formal definition of the term from him but he appears to subscribe to the view that any mention of group differences is "racist". Given that definition, some of Charles' own comments on Muslims are racist and so is the New York Times. Rather strange.

The Leftist view is clearly brain-dead. Racism is hostile behaviour towards someone solely because of his race. Noting interracial differences is simply free speech. As I have often noted before, the erstwhile British Empire is an excellent case in point. Right up to and including Winston Churchill, almost all Brits believed that the English were obviously a superior race. In the addled minds of the Left, that makes it crystal clear that all the Brits concerned were racist.

Yet the British Empire was undoubtedly the world's most humane polity of the time. At the height of the Empire it had brown-skinned men sitting in its Parliament and had a much-loved Jew as its Prime Minister. And I hope I don't need to remind anybody that Britain abolished slavery long before the USA did. Some racism!

So why does Charles seem to be influenced by the silly Leftist definition of racism? He is obviously a smart and realistic man in most ways so I can only assume that he wishes to broaden his audience to those who subscribe to such a definition. I understand that he derives considerable income from his blog so it is probably a purely commercial decision.

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ELSEWHERE

The rich pay most of the taxes: "The latest data show that a big portion of the federal income tax burden is shoul-dered by a small group of the very richest Americans. The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 per-cent of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent-those below the median income level-now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes. These are proportions of the income tax alone and don't include payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare."

Jihadis are NOT poor: "Claude Berrebi, now of the RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice, wrote his dissertation at Princeton on the characteristics of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who were involved in terrorist activities. For example, he compared suicide bombers to the whole male pop-ulation aged 16 to 50 and found that the suicide bombers were less than half as likely to come from families that were below the poverty line. In addi-tion, almost 60 percent of the suicide bombers had more than a high school education, compared with less than 15 percent of the general population."

Murdoch plans fatter WSJ: "News Corporation's impending $US5bn Dow Jones acquisition would be the most important the company has made in the past decade. In an interview with The Australian yesterday, company chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch unveiled plans to significantly increase its size and eventually create new joint-venture editions in markets such as India and China. He stressed none of his plans would "diminish its existing coverage, which would be strengthened, but we will include more national and international news to broaden its coverage". News is expected to formally assume control of Dow Jones in the middle of next month. Mr Murdoch said it offered a unique chance to build a bigger audience in the US and around the world. "The first job would be to improve the paper (The Wall Street Journal) in America and its online site WSJ.Com to broaden its coverage," he said. Then the focus would be on Europe to boost its coverage of local and international news. The US print editions would be lifted in size by 15 to 20 per cent and the weekend editions eventually by 100 per cent, he said, depending on advertising support."

The US economy: Perception and reality: "Just when the news is fully saturated with the idea that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a recession caused by the bursting of the sub-prime lending bubble, we get some surprising news last week: The U.S. economy grew at a 3.9 percent (all growth rates are annualized) from July through September, the fastest rate in six quarters. Exports surged 16.2 percent and consumer spending remained strong. What's more, jobs are being created and the unemployment rate remains low. While economists had expected a paltry 80,000 new jobs for October, the government reported 166,000. Nevertheless, we continue to get doses of worrisome news ..."

Comic book propaganda: "A superhero killed the president this summer. Moments later, a shocked White House press corps watched as John Horus, his gleaming white-and-gold costume still soaked in blood, explained why. Because "the war in Iraq is illegal and predicated on lies," because "our people and theirs are dying for corporate gain," because of the "use of torture by our elected authorities," and because the president "stole the last two elections," the most powerful member of the Seven Guns could no longer "stand by while this administration commits crimes." In response, a terrified government imposed martial law, launching a nationwide manhunt for Horus' estranged teammates, whose reactions to the act ranged from horror to sympathy. That bit of propaganda-by-the-deed launched acclaimed British scribe Warren Ellis' Black Summer, an eight-issue comic book miniseries from Avatar Press."

Feinstein, Boxer face test over farm bill: "Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California can't continue to dodge the tough issues in this year's $286 billion farm bill. Californians now realize that this omnibus bill, like others before, is another big giveaway to wealthy farm interests with only meager nods to reform. Like previous farm bills, the legislation passed by the House and now in the Senate includes billions of dollars in subsidies to growers and processors of wheat, corn, sugar, cotton and rice. These subsidies damage the environment. They fill up our store shelves with cheap, corn-syrupy products. They reward automaton agriculture instead of the innovative practices of many California growers. Because of Boxer's and Feinstein's relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both are in a position to influence what comes out of Congress. Yet both have been cagey about their positions, partly because of some recent deal-making."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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