Indy Media Watch

A Post on Vancouver Indymedia annnounces:

I've removed the ability of users to post anything except for comments (and those may get turned off shortly too).
...
This site is taking up too much of my time and psychic energy. It's time for me to make a clean break and move on to other things. Whatever else it may be this site is no longer an Indymedia because we are no longer allowing open publishing.

I am not going to gloat about this, I believe it is responsible and commendable. I have previously called on out-of-control Indymedia sites to do the honorable thing yet many operate in total denial. Vancouver's demise may have been related to the content of this email I received, originally a post on the site which was deleted, along with the author's login:

Just thought I'd stop by and see how things are going here.

Answer, after minutes and minutes of waiting for the pages to load even with almost no users, it turns out that it's still a joke.

As far as any person could reasonably determine, there are only four people posting on the site who aren't actually the editors. And of those four, half of them, Jordan Thornton ("pilgrim") and Robodranath ("roboroborobo", "Y2J") are plainly four-star headcases who see Zionist agents behind every door and under every bed, who wonder why praising "Main Kampf" or posting Holocaust denial propaganda should bother anyone.

Then there are the many many nyms of Ytzhak/Nour12, the one-man megaphone for Oxymoronic Fundamentalism-Marxism. Ytzhak apparently thinks his job is to flood the newswire; at the moment of writing, of the last ten posts, eight are his. He's certainly not here for any form of interpersonal dialogue; comment to one of his posts, and he'll just delete his post and then repost it, making your comment go away unanswered. It's a cowardly, infantile thing. He does it a lot.

Notice that, like Pilgrim and Roboroborobo, Ytzhak doesn't have any trouble with posting overtly antisemitic Holocaust denial material. See here, for example.

"As a clue to what we are saying, for many years when Poland was under Soviet domination, the Auschwitz Museum there showed a plaque which reminded visitors that "Four Million Jews" had been assasinated there until 1945, thus fueling two-thirds of the Six Million Myth. However, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ensuing liberation of Poland, that plaque was discreetly removed and replaced by a new one saying that "1.500.000 people " had died there. Where are the Holocaust's Six Million then?"

Got that? "Six Million Myth."

See the response? You can't? That's because Ytzhak did his usual trick for stamping out dissent; he deleted his post and then reposted it.

Now, here's the question -- why does Vancouver Indymedia allow Ytzhak to flood the newswire with this kind of garbage with impunity? Maybe the answer has something to do with this: "Agent Humble" Scott Nelson is also Scott Braithwaite-Nelson (google him); Ytzhak is also Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite (you can buy his novel on Amazon for a penny at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555835546).

Braithwaite. Braithwaite. What a coincidence!

Anyway, it looks like he's in on the nepotism clause, and that's why different editorial rules apply to him than to anyone else.

And why doesn't overtly antisemitic material get removed? Why, because "Agent Humble" Scott Nelson simply doesn't mind having antisemitic material on his site, as long as -- in the spirit of free speech -- Jews get a chance to complain about it. So that activists who post at VanIndy see their stuff side by side with stuff from a guy who thinks "Mein Kampf" is peachy keen. One from column A, one from column B.
What activist _wouldn't_ want to appear on such a site?

So, when you add it all together, what have you got? Antisemitism- defending editors, three cranks -- one of them enjoying the advantages of nepotism -- and then mj. That's the sum total of Vancouver
Indymedia.

For more background on how this came to pass, see here.

The summary resembles plenty of other, larger Indymedia sites without the decency to admit they have a problem or do anything at all about it.

Via UK Indymedia comes the all-time most ridiculous conspiracy theory I have ever read. And I have read plenty.

Is it true that Apple have approached the individual who owns the patent, copyright and trade mark on IMC with a view to making an as yet undisclosed settlement that will hand over all rights over the indymedia brand, domains names, server infrastructure, content, free labour (including all current, future and past indymedia users, even the trolls) and see the website relaunched as iMC or the iMedia Centre?

I can just imagine Apple's new slogan: "Think Stupid". Apple's new ad campaign could also include the two guys saying "Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC. And the World Trade Centre was really bombed by Mossad and the Bushitler."

Good grief.

Elsewhere on UK Indymedia, I found this post referring to the "IMC Monitoring Team" who had compiled a report noting problems with UK Indymedia's editorial team. The link to their report appears to have been deleted. Can anyone shed any light?

Sydney Indymedia is today carrying a copy of a UK Indymedia post entitled "Phoney had a vision", which contains some startling revelations.

Phoney has told his aids that he had a vision from God while he was in Barbados.

In this vision, apparently, it was revealed to Phoney by God that there was a mission for him and that he must not leave Downing Street under any circumstances.

Phoney said that the God in question was the Jewish one that is expected at the East Gate of Jerusalem riding on a donkey at any time now.

The mission that was revealed to Phoney was that he must go to The Middle East and lead the people of Palestine out of The West Bank and Gaza and into Egypt.
...
Phoney will not even ask Bush if he may go to The Middle East as he now has God’s permission.

The article - like almost all Indymedia pieces of original news - contains absolutely zero verifiable facts, zero sources and is not supported by any established fact in the universe. It's also printed over at Melbourne, however there is yet to be one instance where lies and fantasies become fact through repetition. If any of the above was true, it would be a startling revelation, yet it would be nothing more than obvious if it was 100% made up.

The Phoney Blair mantra has been around for a while on Indymedia - recently seen on this blog here - but it's almost always associated with sheer lunacy: "Phoney Blair on his knees in Washington" being a typical example.

Phoney Blair is now exposed as a clown used by Adolf Rumsfeld and moran Bush.

In fact, he's a clown of a moran.

The original "Phoney had a vision" article was written by a Digery Cohen, who is a regular on many Indymedias. A quick scan of his creative writing masquerading as news revealed that next to none of it was hidden by Indymedia, which means that moderators of Indymedia mustn't have a big issue with falsehoods all over their sites. Those who have followed the independent media and bothered to fact-check it once in a while expected as much.

It has now been two years since this blog started.

I'm still waiting for an apology from this guy.

So. How's it going?

A few weeks ago, the blogsphere noted with considerable interest that the Iranian President had established a blog.

Many sites also noted cases where the site attempted to install software on visitor's computers.

This prompted the following warning on Sydney Indymedia:

I have heard reports (that I can't verify) that the blog site tries to install some kind of malware on your computer.

A subsequent comment allays all fears...

More Nazi SCARE Mongering.
Submitted by d1553nt

The site http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/
is in Arabic, it may be your web browser is trying to install the Arabic font set?

Okaaaaaay.........

Update: Via comments: "Why would an Iranian blog be in Arabic?...They speak Farci."

It has always made me wonder why in the so-called independent media, there's a need to constantly rail against the intelligence community, regardless of what has happened. It would appear that Tom McLoughlin, one of Sydney Indymedia's most regular users, doesn't even need evidence that there has been a crime committed, as he writes his overly long open letter proclaiming "MI6 meddling with Australian home office computer a breach of Australian sovereignty?"

After 266 words of fairly meaningless self-based context, McLoughlin announces that he's:

So getting to the point of my letter and its necessary preface please let me suggest an interesting ‘hypothetical’ for you in your portfolio by way of a series of questions:

Regular readers of this blog will probably have a good idea of what's coming next.

1. Would it be possible for MI6 to be snooping my private home office computerusing advanced spyware or similar techniques

(a) without the knowledge of the Australian government or her agencies such as ASIO or ASIS, ONA or Defense Signals Directorate or whoever else is in this spooky game for the welfare and good government of Australia?, or

(b) indeed with my own federal government's knowledge of say such MI6 activity?;

I could ask, would it be possible for the combined skills of all Indymedia posters, once put together, to be used in a mass murder? But being a completely hypothetical question, I would need evidence to support floating that hypothetical in the first place. That would be responsible. Sydney Indymedia, though is not the home of responsible posting, as McLoughlin continues:

Can I be compensated either ex gratia or legally for damage to my computer equipment by such a foreign intelligence agency which I might add has been obtained through community donations for my diverse ecology action and media work? For instance I am wondering if I am able to sue the British Government under NSW Privacy legislation here in the NSW Supreme Court, for damage to my property making such hard drive and other equipment unserviceable?

Is there any evidence presented that MI6 was even involved? The post supplies none, and I doubt that McLoughlin would have any proof. That could explain why he is posting at Indymedia.

Update: I knew the name sounded familiar. Tom's previous alarm at potential conspiracies here. -- The Watcher

I have previously observed that citizens of oppressive Arab states could benefit from the theoretically open nature of Indymedia. Sadly, instead the few Arab Indymedia sites are filled with little more than crossposts of the usual anti-Israel, anti-Bush hysteria like their Western counterparts, and reprints of other Arab media. In other words, they aren't an alternative to the local media, but an echo chamber for it.

However, I keep an eye on it and every now and then find something interesting.

this article on Indymedia Beirut reports:

Dear comrades,

We’re a communist publishing collective from Turkey.

Recently, in a major leftist newspaper an interview supposedly made with Nasrallah was published. We said supposedly, because there were claims that this interview was a fraudulent one. In other words, written in the desk without ever talking to Nasrallah. This interview was translated to English, you can see its content from this link.

The link leads to the World War 4 Report which claims:

Lebanese scholar Gilbert Achcar writes via e-mail: "Many of you have certainly seen an interview allegedly done with [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah by a Turkish radical left newpsaper... I have enquired about it, and a source in Beirut in close touch with Hezbollah has confirmed to me that it is a forgery." However, Counterpunch has seen fit to keep the evident forgery on its website, despite growing questions about its authenticity (albeit, with a note at the end acknowledging the controversy). The pseudo-interview is interesting because of what it reveals about the willful illusions the radical left cultivates about radical Islam.

Interesting.

UK Indymedia reports the case of Ashraf Kolhari, a 37-year-old mother of four who was sentenced to death by public stoning in Iran.

Her crime? An extra marital affair after her divorce request was rejected by the court.

The execution has been called off, thanks in large part to the good work of activists on UK Indymedia.

Just kidding.

Here's their contribution:

Bush Executed Retarded People

That's sad.

But it still doesn't justify the Aggression planned by Bush/Olmert/PNAC, which will slaughter an unknown number of innocent men, women, and children.

This is of course untrue:

While I oppose the death penalty for anyone, whatever their mental capacity, it is false that Bush executed a 'retarded' person. The case being referred to involved a man who attempted suicide while on death row which resulted in brain damage. He was not mentally challenged when he committed the murders he was convicted of, nor at his trial. The brain damage came long after his crime and conviction and thus could not be considered as a mitigating circumstance. He was fully mentally capable when he killed his victim.

People like reframing this case so it seems like the US executes people *because* they are retards - like Hitler did. Which is completely false.

Not if the depth of political opinion extends to Bush=Hitler though... Finally, some sense:

So thats the response is it, 'it's sad what's happening to this woman'. Pity this woman is not being killed by the wicked Americans, because then the 'left' in this country would be in full cry. Demos, protests, candlite vigils, MPs demanding action and indymedia full of posts on the coming death of this poor woman. But no, because she is being murdered by the laws of Islam the vast majority of the 'left' will do nothing and stay hush. By operating these double standards the 'left' are condoning her death. I really liked the days when the 'left' was anti all religions, instead of now where they tolerate what ever this medieval religion which is Islam does.

In other news, via the Environmental Republican, Hurricane Harry presents some hypothetical scenarios.

Sydney Indymedia has a simple test.

(Hat Tip: Leigh, who is apparently also a Nazi.)

San Francisco Indymedia joined much of the world media when it ran an article claiming Israeli Jets target Lebanese Red Cross Ambulences(sic).

A thorough debunking of this story has been written here, including the highly questionable images supplied by... Indymedia.

Indymedia's previous shilling for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups here.

Hello to all Indy Media Watch readers. I've been invited to join the fold here, probably because The Watcher gets a little sick of trolling through the especially filthy archives of Sydney's Indy Media. I will attempt to lighten the load, but it might be a little busy, judging by "Goebbels Murdoch is seriously ill".

His decreased knowledge of recent occasions and current events extended to not knowing who Phoney Blair was when he arrived for their private dinner.

He addressed Phoney as David Rothschild before he was quietly corrected.

When examined by doctors Goebbels was unable to count backwards from 100 by 7s.

His reduced memory of his personal history extended to thinking his wife was the maid and asking her what she was doing hanging about the place.

I wonder how the anonymous author of this piece managed to come across this information.

Gdog has emailed to point out this post on Sydney Indymedia wherein Faruque Ahmed outdoes himself.

Jews and Muslims
Submitted by Faruque Bin Laden

The Israel Palestine conflict is not a religious one beside (sic) Muslims used to protect Jews.

Yet, Zionazis, Zionists, Jews love to attack Muslims and Islam based on false and manufactured reasons and grounds. (sic) So, may I ask the question, "why the hell 99.9999% people of this world reject Judaism”?

A reply referred to an all-time classic slapping from a few years ago:

You really are a stupid bastard aren't you Faruque?

You previously asked precisely the same question: "why the hell 99.9999% people of this world reject Judaism”".

I answered it, in possibly your most embarrassing hour as follows:

Not being Jewish does not mean someone has "rejected" Judaism any more than me being white means I have rejected Africa. What a naive argument.

There is also a very simple reason why Judaism is not as numerically strong as Catholicism or Islam and it is this:

Judaism does not proselytise.

That is, Jews do not try and convert others and never have. It is possible in some circumstances to convert to Judaism however it is extremely difficult to do so and generally not encouraged.

Contrast this to Christianity which has held crusades and proselytizes daily, or Islam which also had its origins in violent crusades by Mohammed to convert as many followers as possible that continue in some countries to this day.

In other words, your argument is not based on facts and largely meaningless, like most of them. As usual however, you ignored any response and continue to this day, to repost the same crap, again and again and again, with more links to stroke your shrivelled little ego..

So Faruque, why is it, that 99.9999% of Sydney Radio stations reject you?

This voice recording of Faruque (requires Real Player) on the BBC's website from a few years ago (hat-tip also to Gdog) may shed some light.

At least Faruque Ahmed will always have Indymedia. And a dozen Yahoo Groups.....

A post on LA Indymedia asks What Next for the American Antiwar Movement?

The past month has seen largest mobilizations of anti-war Arabs and Muslims since the Jenin massacre in Palestine in April of 2002.

There was of course no massacre.

What next for the movement? I don't know, how about some basic honesty?

Perhaps not. Here is there grand blueprint:

Therefore the anti-war movement must prepare for a new round of mobilizations this fall and be prepared to respond to new emergencies. Three-and-a-half years after the invasion of Iraq, the anti-war movement must put itself on a new footing. We must build a movement that stands for self-determination, rejects vilification of Islam and openly embraces Arabs and Muslim forces, fights to cut ties with Israel and severs its allegiance to the Democratic Party. This will not happen overnight, but the people of Lebanon and Gaza have paid too high a price in their own blood for us to not take these lessons to heart here in the belly of the beast.

Todd Chretien is the Green Party candidate for US Senate, running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in California. He can be reached at: ToddChretien@mac.com

Well good luck with all of that.

Comments are even more deranged:

More on Zionist racism
...
When zio-slime can't refute, they attack
...
Smarter Yid
...
The democrats are just another bitch for Israel.

You're a Zionist. No, you're a zionist... No, you're a Zionist. etc. etc.

Idiots.

What do you think is next for the Antiwar movement?

Via Portland Indymedia comes the real reason NASA 'lost' the tapes of the Moon Landing.

Digging back into the Greatest Hits of Conspiracy Theories, Portland is convinced NASA deliberately mislaid them so nobody would find out the horrible truth...

For more horrible truth, visit Indymedia.

A post on Indymedia UK reports the London Israeli Embassy protest cancelled due to the ceasefire.

The protest planned for the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday 19 August has been cancelled. The rebuilding of Lebanon has begun.

A comment points out:

Stop the war may have cancelled their demo, but it doesn't stop everyone else turning up.

And when they're done with Israel, maybe they can protest outside the British Embassy, demanding Britain leave Hong Kong, as we all know the whole 1997 thing was just propaganda. Fight the Power!

Update: Via comments, What would you do if there was a protest and nobody came? Find out.

Ever since the WTO summit in Seattle in 1999, protesting has returned with a vengeance across the States. For the last few years, large protests were predominately made up of a select group of individuals who often shared a similar socialistic and anti-American position. As of late however, a strong pro-Israel constituency has been organizing to counter protest pro-Hamas and Hezbollah events throughout the states. As the pro-Israel rallies got larger, a number of unsavory elements started to rear their heads.

On August 12th, International ANSWER had a rally that was originally advertised around San Francisco as an “anti-Israel” rally, but was changed at the last minute to an “anti-War” gathering for the sake of publicity. It was fortunately, one of the worst turnouts ANSWER has had. I would assume this has to do with ANSWER’s willingness to openly embrace more radical groups (like Hamas), but it may also have to do with the shear number of protests that go down in the Bay Area. Just about every weekend, one can find someplace to protest. Whether it is the war in Iraq, the actions of Israel, or capitalism in general, the Bay Area just loves to protest!

So as ANSWER began to organize more overtly anti-Israel demonstrations, a growing number of pro-Israel advocates began to hold counter demonstrations. In fact, I don’t think ANSWER has held an event as of late that did not bring about a significant counter-protest.

The left of the political divide does not have a monopoly on insane individuals, and recent counter protests have brought out a handful of folks carrying signs that were naive, unnecessarily provocative, and perhaps even racist.

Here are a couple of them posted at Indybay by an individual named “scary”.


I assume this one was meant to get ANSWER followers riled up, but hardly a positive message to send at an event intended to show that Israel has support from rational Americans. I don’t know the reasoning behind the comment, but I have a hard time seeing the logic in “nuking” any country. There were obviously plenty of folks carrying signs calling for the destruction of Israel, but that should not provoke counter protestors to take an equally absurd stance.


I am still confused by this poster, but the hat the sign holder wears gives me a little more insight into this individual’s mindset. His cap proudly adorns the name of San Francisco’s resident talk show idiot, Michael Savage. I don’t like to throw around the term fascist seeing as it is often overused and inaccurately applied, but Michael Savage clearly holds a number of pseudo-fascist opinions. He has, on more than one occasion, encouraged nuking Iran and laying large parts of Iraq to rubble. He compares anyone who doesn’t agree with his right wing fanaticism to sub-human vermin, and does so with great passion. In April of 2006, Savage said:

“They say, 'Oh, there’s a billion of them (Muslims) and 10 percent or so are radical (Muslims).' I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'd be 900 million peaceful Muslims left.”

How charming. Even for a conservative like myself, Michael Savage comes across as flaming moron, and makes other right wing radio hosts sound like left leaning socialists. The protestors standing with Israel should appeal to rational minded Americans who can see the need and responsibility Israel has to protect its people and boarders. Michael Savage, even when standing with Israel, is not an individual you want in your corner of the ring.


Yet another stupid poster. Islam is not the enemy of Israel. Israel’s enemy is radical terrorist organizations and governments that want it destroyed. This banner is not appealing to moderate minds, but radical groups who want to see a greater war with Muslim peoples across the globe.

Of course, these few instances of stupidity were but a small portion of the greater counter protest, which generally advocated peace for the region. Some folks have said that these signs were “planted” by ANSWER to discredit their opponents. I can’t comment on that conspiracy, although I find it highly unlikely. The truth is that there are extremists and idiots on all ends of the political spectrum. It is very convenient to blame “infiltrators” and “spooks” anytime something goes wrong. Heck, just about anytime violence occurs at a protest, or an individual does something stupid in the name of a political philosophy, it is blamed on some foreign force that was planted to discredit the protest or group as a whole. The reality is people say and do stupid things; outside assistance is rarely required.

As the pro-Israel protests get larger, we will see more signs like these. Rational minded citizens have a duty to confront these ideas the same way we would confront the gibberish coming from groups like ANSWER.

Applications are now open for people wishing to contribute to this blog.

Please send your details via the email address at the top left.

You do not need to be pro or anti-Indymedia to qualify. A good critical ability and a desire for honesty and accountability is the main thing. A sense of humor and basic blogging knowledge would be an advantage. Must have own disinfectant.

Via UK Indymedia comes the message that:

Sham UN Resolution Guarantees No End To Israel's War of Illegal Aggression
...
In sum, UN Resolution 1701 is little more than an outrageous and illegal expression of victor's justice. It allows Israel the right to resume hostilities any time it wishes and for any reason so long as the Israelis claim an imminent threat exists regardless of whether or not it's true.

And in other news...

Up to a dozen rockets have been fired at Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, the army has said, in what Israel has called a violation of the hours-old ceasefire in the area.

Nope. No imminent threat there...

Indymedia exposes more illegal wiretapping!

Is it the FBI? CIA? NSA? Nope... It's Vancouver Indymedia. Now with sophisticated Indybugging skills.

Israelis Caught Red Handed Planning 'Arab' Terrorism

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Here, as promised, is an interesting conversation that somehow accidentally got intercepted and transcribed. There are lots more where this came from!"
Transcription of telephone conversation on August 3, 2006 from Israeli Embassy, Washington D.C. Telephone Number (202) 364-5582. to unidentified individual at AIPAC , Washington D.C., Telephone Number (202) 639-5201 Commenced 1821 hrs, concluded 1826 hrs.
Speaker A: Reuven Azar - Counselor for Political Affairs, Embassy of Israel
Speaker B: Unidentified individual located at AIPAC headquarters
...
B. Then what do you suggest?
A. The terrorism card works wonders. We were going to release a statement that Arabs were going to attack an El Al plane on takeoff, with rockets.
A. Probably leftovers from the CIA businesses in Afghanistan.
A. Let's not get into that now. But this scare would only affect flights to Israel and we don't think it would have any impact on the election.
B. Well then, why not have these attacks aimed at American aircraft? Where would they attack from?
A. Say at the perimeter fence lines at airports. Or better still, why not a plan cooked up to smuggle explosives on board transatlantic flights to or from America? Something clever that will catch the public imagination.
B. That stupid bomb in the shoe routine?
A. Don't knock it. It worked, didn't it? We can always find some suckers with a bent to this we can fill up with real enthusiasm and then turn them in, complete with plans. They actually believe they are going to paradise and fuck virgins and we have another propaganda coup. Let's give this some effort. You know, a terrified public will not want to change horses in mid stream. So far, the Rove people have a good line: If you're against the Republicans, you're encouraging the evil terrorists sthick.
B. Well, they did that with the alert warnings and it workedmore or less.
A. Face it, they aren't too bright here. They ran it into the ground, had to fire Ridge and Ashcroft, one of our very best friends ever, and put those things on ice. They need to discover a huge plot but in America
A. You know, as you said, infiltrate a group of crazies, plant things on them, call the FBI
B. Oh, they do that themselves. That business in Florida was pathetic
A. But it worked, didn't it?
B. For about ten minutes at six o'clock for about three days.
A. Well, think about it and get back to me.
B. Right.
A. What's the situation with your two people? Are they going to be tried or not?
B. Probably not, as far as the Bush people are concerned. But it is up to the courts and we are very careful not to fuck with them. They are expected to have the charges thrown out soon
A. Well, I'll pray for them. I have to go now so I'll get back to you later. Don't forget to send someone for the list
B. OK.
(Conversation terminated)
This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. Other inside information will be published in upcoming editions.
...
As far as the recent stories about "terrorist attacks" coming from England, don't believe them. It is well known around the White House that this invented story is designed to offset the crushing defeat of the Administration's darling liberal, Lieberman. This theme, by the way, according to position papers circulating here, is the main theme of the November elections. The thesis? Why the Iron Trio of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld have protected, and will continue to protect, innocent America from evil terrorist threats.

Blah blah blah blah... I particularly enjoyed the way our "callers" referred to "militants".

Raving Idiots. Lots more where that came from as well...

Comments prove it:

Not true unless independently verified from someone other than Rense.

I'm sure co-idiots will be lining up to 'verify' it any second now. And Vancouver Indymedia will be only to happy to propagate it in between other crackpot conspiracy theories and odious antisemitism. Such an impressive site...

Update: Excellent point made in comments. A reminder also, even if not registered, you can choose a handle or posting pseudonym by selecting "other". That way we don't have multiple people posting as "anonymous".

Indymedia UK is planning to Blockade the Foreign Office. The advertisement features this image:

Have a look at what she's wearing.

Is it just me, or is someone seriously missing the point with the ensemble of Burka and short sleeved figure-hugging tank-top? I mean, I'm sure it's terribly trendy and it does make a nice change from Che Guevara shirts, but somehow I can't really see it taking off in Iran...

Rack up another contradiction in terms for the far-left. You go grrrrl!

Yesterday, a terrorist plot was foiled in London which could have killed thousands.

UK Indymedia is reporting nearly nothing about it.

I mean, they wouldn't want to detract from their usual condemnation of Israel.

Oh, there was this.

Fake Terror Obfuscates Lebanon and Iraq Failures

Unable to window dress the obvious failure to eradicate growing resistance in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan—even with the mighty propaganda power of a complaisant media—the neocon intelligence apparatus has staged yet another terrorist event, or would be terrorist event.

Who stands to gain from it? Who do you reckon.

Finally, as attention has now shifted to Muslim bad guys (either imagined or a parade of patsies), Israel will likely increase the severity of its criminal behavior against the civilians of Lebanon and those of Gaza as well, as the American public will be navel gazing video footage of inconvenienced air travel passengers.

Last time I raised an example of UK Indymedia totally ignoring a major story and hinted at its worthlessness as a news source, I received this reply:

Shocking idea; when mainstream media all report on the same topic on a given day, maybe the job of alternative media isn't to parrot the same editorial focus.

"Editorial focus". Right. So if the mainstream media report say, the facts...

The whole Blogsphere is going nuts over MSM photo fraud. Charles Johnson is getting kudos everywhere.

Bah!

I busted the media months before he did.

But do I get any credit?

(Photo: Flat Fatima)

Miami’s local IM affiliate simply can not stop gushing over Fidel Castro.

“A measure of Fidel Castro's greatness is witnessed by the virtual unanimity of support given him by the Cuban people, presenting a virtually unified front against subversion and constant financial & political pressure from the overwhelmingly powerful United States.”

Something tells me all of the Cuban immigrants in Miami who fled Castro’s regime would argue otherwise.

Via Indybay:

“As long as a single member of the Castro family survives, the heroic Cuban Revolution will survive! The Castro family is the true representative of the people and their trust in the Communist Party of Cuba. We affirm our absolute faith that Raul Castro will serve as an effective leader. He is, after all, Fidel's brother. We must remember that monarchy came long before the decadent capitalist system of today.

We must remember that Fidel loves us and will always be there for us.

Fidel can never die! And even if he does die, he will rise again! Fidel is suffering to save us from our sins.”

At first I thought this was a joke, but it sadly appears to be written with a straight face.

I have nothing against anti-War groups and philosophies. I rarely see eye-to-eye with them, but I can respect their position. War clearly rips people and societies apart, and while I feel that not confronting evil and tyranny where it develops only makes for a bigger war later on, I can understand any individual’s moral desire to stop war from starting.

But for the love, the left needs to find some better groups to lead their anti-war movement. Around the country, International ANSWER plays a large part in organizing marches and pushing policy. They have many radical socialist positions and are anything but the “give peace a chance” side of the argument. ANSWER are not interested in stopping war, but simply want to see another side win the conflict. The anti-war movement needs better than these clowns at the helm. If there is going to be an anti-war position, it needs to separate itself from terrorists and communist front groups that have no intention of bring about peace.

Anyhow, Amelia McDonald from International ANSWER has written a letter criticizing the Santa Cruz Good Times for running an ad (paid for by a private organization) calling for support of Israel. The letter was then published on Indybay Santa Cruz. She says:

“The people of Palestine, the people of Lebanon, the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, all black and brown people and yes the people of Israel (not the state)- none of these people are benefiting from the growing war in the Middle East, the growing War on Terror and the growing war on the working class.”

What? The “war” in Lebanon is a war on the working class? How so? I guess I should expect as much from ANSWER. Everything they see is some type of massive class war perpetuated by “business elites”. Here I thought it was about attacks on Israeli citizens by armed terrorists in Lebanon. Silly me.

“With the continued support of the US, Israel, like the US seems to not have to answer for its actions. I urge the staff at the Good Times to not support the lies, and to use your conscience when selling space in your publication.”

Translation: please become a propaganda mill that avoids all facts for the sake of our political and ideological gain. How dare they select an add that opposes our twisted world view!

And of course, it wouldn’t be ANSWER unless they threw this last bit in:

“It is our government who is providing the financial means to fund this war machine that is known as the state of Israel!”

This just in: International ANSWER considers changing name to International IDIOTS.

A few posts ago, I caught someone out in comments who was terribly loose with figures in order to try and prove their anti-Israel beliefs. It seems this is quite common.

A series of photos on Boston IMC detail a recent protest in relation to the Israeli/Hezbollah conflict.

This one stood out:

The sign reads:

600 Lebanese Dead
590 of them Civilians
Do the Math!

A quick calculation would suggest a mere 10 Hezbollah had been killed.

This is of course absolute rubbish as even the most cursory glance at the news would demonstrate.

Hezbollah does not wear a uniform, and a dead terrorist once stripped of his weaponry can also be passed off as an "innocent civilian", given from where they operate. As a result, the 'official' figures of dead Hezbollah would be even lower than the real figures. Even so, they are plenty higher than 10. Unless of course you regard Hezbollah as "civilians".

"Do the math" indeed.

Via Boston IMC is a list of dozens of media email addresses and a request by the 9/11 conspiracy movement to contact them.

A) Email the below message to ABC, AP, and other media (emails below). It is good to cc some CC or other media when you email AP and ABC, so they know that other media see what they are up to.
B) After emailing the below message to the Media Email Addresses at the bottom, then forward this ENTIRE 9/11 Action Email on to all you know.

Because there's nothing big media like more, than receiving an identical email, sent to dozens of people in their office by lots of people.

The Movement however is optimistic:

WE ARE WINNING. WE CAN DO THIS. PUSH !! PUSH !! PUSH !!

I can see the head!

Every now and then, I think it is important to give props to an Indymedia website that is capable of going beyond the same shallow rhetoric that so often plagues their pages. Over at Santa Barbara IMC, there is a dedication to Bayard Stockton, who was both a journalist and a CIA agent. The author goes on to explain:

“Hence, this piece is posted to share with those Indymedia readers the impact which Bayard, a former CIA agent and journalist, had on Santa Barbara - an influence which transcended the evil-government-spook stereotype which so dominates left wing views of such persons.”

Try getting away with a comment like that at most Indymedia pages.

Not only was the piece well done, but it focused on a local individual and an issue that is of local interest to those in Santa Barbara. With most IM pages simply acting as “Hate Israel Web”, it is refreshing to see a local IM actually used for its intended purpose.

From the Peace and Freedom Party (via Indybay):

“I am glad I have lived longed enough to not only witness the first serious May Day march in San Francisco in at least 56 years on May 1, 2006, but now can witness the first peace march that will openly oppose the Democratic Party and its favorite gang of terrorists, Israel. I have come up with a few chants for this milestone event:

Hitler rose and Hitler fell;
US & Israel go to hell!”

How clever. With such witty slogans, I am surprised the Peace and Freedom party only has a handful of supporters!

Quite some time ago, there was a discussion as to whether it was true that bullets fired into the air could be fatal, particularly in the case of rejoicing armed Palestinians. This discussion included the argument that "Gravity is a Zionist plot".

Now, via Tim Blair we learn of the latest 'Jenin Massacre'

Last Thursday, three children were killed in a wedding celebration during which gunshots were fired in celebration. PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 21:15 on Thursday, 3 August 2006, three children were killed in a wedding ceremony when a gunman lost control of his assault rifle as he was shooting in the air in celebration....The wedding ceremony was in El-Marah Quarter in the eastern part of Jenin. Several gunmen were firing in the air during the wedding.

PCHR is extremely concerned over the continued falling of victims, mostly children, by gunshots fired during celebrations and weddings. The Centre calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), represented by the Attorney-General, to seriously investigate these incidents and to bring the perpetrators to justice. The Centre calls upon the PNA and all Palestinians to work towards stopping the phenomena of firing guns during celebrations as they constitute a direct threat to the lives of civilians.

What did you get for your wedding? A Darwin Award...

I wonder when we will be able to read the results of the serious investigation.

Sydney Indymedia is hosting local idiot Faruque Ahmed's latest screed = Zionised Sydney and Australia

The day Mel was accused of saying, "anti-Semitic" crap (which part was not true?)

Right off the bat Faruque reaffirms his antisemite credentials, previously including links to Stormfront.

an elderly lady was assaulted by an Israeli terrorist right outside the Sydney Town Hall, in front of every one! Israeli terrorists have been murdering unarmed women and children all the time and no one is getting offended! Why the hell we got a double standard and hypocrisy?

Lock up your children! Don't go out into the streets! Bloodthirsty Israeli terrorists everywhere!

Faruque goes on:

Two days later some one said to his friend during a meal, "by observing and analysing the attitude and behaviours of Israelis and their supporters I can conclude the fact that Hitler and his Nazi followers were much more honourable than this lot"!

Yup. Sure "someone" said that. It gets better:

Another occasion some one said, "Mel Gibson for Prime Minister"! To your surprise, these comments were offensive to "Jews".

Quite by coincidence, just yesterday, this friend of a guy I know, knew someone, who read about this guy that overheard someone saying "Faruque for President". Honest!

Would you ride in a Taxi driven by this guy?

An article on Sydney Indymedia slams George Soros:

The Lebanese RESISTANCE must immediately stop firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel, Soros' fake 'Human Rights Watch' says, calling the attacks ''a war crime''. Victims blamed for defending themselves? 'Human Rights Watch' is a sham.

"HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH" IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE HOLOCAUSTING US/ISRAELI WAR MACHINE

BLAMING THE MOUSE FOR ATTACKING THE CAT!

George Soros has previously donated massive amounts of money to Indymedia. Money well spent too... Ahem.

Previous Indymedia articles have also suspected Soros of being a CIA mole. Could it be that Indymedia is really a CIA (or maybe Mossad) operation? What a sensation! Almost as impressive as faking 9/11 with mind-control rays...

I have also found this 2004 April Fools Press Release.

The blogsphere has caught the MSM out spectacularly this week.

In Australia, Tim Blair exposed a major Australian publication which had fallen for the Jesse Macbeth fraud (follow links here).

Internationally, it would appear Reuters has run an embarrasingly fake photo from Lebanon that seems to be their come-uppance for relying on terrorist stringers to help them get the scoop. Follow links here.

I am savvy enough to know the vast majority of the non-blog reading public will never find out about this and have but a niggling suspicion the media is defective. Most of us know a lot better. The mainstream media is often a disaster.

Which illustrates the point: We need an alternative media.

Depsite their own arrogant claims, I have long thought and easily proven that Indymedia is far from the solution.

Quentin George goes further when he notes that Indymedia is an alternative to the mainstream media...

In the way that drinking out of a toilet is an alternative to drinking from a cup.

Quite.

Regular readers will know I have scoffed in the past at the frequency of accusations of "false flag operations" on Indymedia. For example, the insane argument that all antisemitism on Indymedia is in fact the work of a top secret Jewish agency looking to attract sympathy. Don't even get me started on 9/11 theories.

I now wonder if I'm a victim of one.

In this post I noted an apparent hacking attempt of SF Indymedia, which featured this image:



Although this site's address appears in the text, we have no knowledge of it. I asked for a translation of the Hebrew writing.

One of our readers has written this in comments:

You wanted a translation of the Hebrew on that page? It's pretty untranslateable - it's obviously taken from a scientific paper on numbers theory (whatever that might be!) including Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry, discovered by Alexander Gorotandik in the 50s.

Does that help? :-)

I can't imagine why that paragraph was chosen out of all the possibilities available to a hacker.

I can! What if someone who doesn't speak Hebrew, wanted to make the whole thing look like a plot by Jews.

If you read my earlier post you will see the incident was immediately written off as a "Zionist hack" with no trial and sketchy evidence. Well it just got a whole lot more interesting. It really seems as though someone is looking to frame Jews here.

Update: This just in from SF Indymedia:

Indymedia Watch pleads not guilty to hacking this site, claims "anti-Semitism"...How surprising.

What's surprising? That this site isn't guilty? Or that it is convinced there is rank antisemitism on Indymedia.

Pathetic.

I tried so hard today to find an article that did not somehow deal with the Jews. But alas, the distaste for those of the Jewish faith by an overwhelming portion of the Indymedia community foiled my attempt.

Oh well, if I have to point out yet another blatant anti-Semitic post at an Indymedia website, it might as well concern Mel Gibson. Mark Green of Miami Indymedia has some things to say about Mel Gibson too.

I find Gibson’s recent comments to be stupid and classic anti-Semitism; Green finds them overflowing with truth. As he explains:

“Does actor and director Mel Gibson deserve a Hollywood-style blacklisting because of "anti-Semitic comments" he made to a cop during a hum-drum DUI arrest? The simple answer is this: No. Never. Not even close.”

Ok, I can agree with that. I don’t think blacklisting is appropriate. I also don’t think it would work. Heck, I would still go see a Mad Mel movie if it were good. Green and I quickly differ in opinion however,as he goes on to say:

“In fact, though Gibson should certainly be rebuked for his threats to an arresting officer, emotional outburst, and the idiotic timing of his political remarks, he should be respected for his bold convictions.”

Oh God…

“Just what was his most "disgraceful" remark?--that "the Jews are responsible for all the world's wars"? Oh my! Never! No truth there! Here's another unforgivable line (to the arresting officer): "Are you a Jew"? How rude! Criminal! Just thinking about it makes me tremble.”

Ughhhhhh…

“Indeed, the gatekeepers who manufacture and regulate public anxiety want desperately to keep the heat on Mel. Why? They know that Mel's not on their side. Indeed, Gibson certainly understands--and probably disdains--international Jewry for their political project know as the State of Israel. Thus, the real issue isn't Gibson's alleged "bigotry", but duplicitous and lethal conduct of the Jewish State.”

Again, it is now completely acceptable in many people’s eyes to claim that an entire race of people have a “political project”. At one point a number of folks believed Jews were out to eat Christian children, or water down a Nation’s ethnic purity. The belief that the Jews are somehow responsible for conflict in the world is classic anti-Semitism. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And yet, these very ideas are back in style.

“At this moment in history, world Jewry is deliberately doing damage to America, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and many other countries as they militantly advance Israeli interests over all others. Many people are suffering greatly, enduring constant fear, and/or being killed. This is wrong.

If this makes me an anti-Semite then I wear the badge proudly.”

At least Mr. Green admits his prejudice, but the stupidity and bigotry of his comments leave me speechless. How can this still be happening in our day and age? Better yet, how can organizations and websites that claim to detest racism allow this type of nonsense to persist?

A post on the front (feature) page of San Francisco IMC claims the site was victim to a hacking attack.

Or more specifically, a "Zionist hack".

SF-IMC recovers from Zionist hack
by one of the editors Monday, Jul. 31, 2006 at 10:29 AM

In case you've been wondering why, at this critical juncture in history, one of the strongest voices against racist aggression in the entire Indymedia network was offline, the short answer is that just as the war broke out, we were carpet bombed. Coincidence? Perhaps.

Hundreds of threads were flooded with gibberish:

The perp couldn't resist bragging:

You will note this blog's address appears on the image. Let me be perfectly clear about this: I had nothing to do with it and this is the first time I have seen it. Could someone please translate the text for us.

The SF IMC article doesn't give much more detail, making only a vague reference to "gibberish". I am unable to see the depth of what sounds like a spamming exercise. I really don't know what to say. I assume these are some examples.

What I do know, is I haven't seen enough information to convict anyone. Of course that hasn't stopped a certain group of people being accused without trial. You would think "one of the strongest voices against racist aggression" would be familiar the Dreyfus Affair.

Perhaps not. It's doubly surprising that senior members of a group constantly carrying on about "false flag" operations could so easily jump to econclusions.

Get a clue.

Meanwhile, I have been pointed towards this article (now hidden) on Sydney Indymedia which claims SF IMC may start charging for access.

Long touting it's self the cure to the Ills of society SFIMC
has gone it's own way, often with the IMC Collective.
we find SFIMC once again stirring the political pot.
the SF based news group has fallen on hard times.
donations are at an all time low.
the solution a novel one for Indy Media, next month SF will start charging its members who access the site.
(Matt one of the editors) We will require all members to
open a pay pal account and set up a monthly billing schedule to get access to SFIMC. It will be a modest charge of $20.00 a month. And for those who want to post articles and announcements there will be a $5.00 posting fee for each item.

It's almost certainly bogus however let's just say it was true, how much would you pay? Bidding starts at zero. Do I have any higher bids?

A keen-eyed observer on Melbourne Indymedia has made a stunning observation.

In this post reporting on a so-called "Peace Rally" was this image:

The admiration of Mel Gibson was due to Mad Max Mel's antisemitic tirade after a drunken traffic stop the same week. As he now has a new fan, it seems antisemites stick together and not just on Indymedia.

A photo taken earlier however gives us a better look:


Look down the bottom. It says: "Let Melbourne make portable gas ovens".

Charming.

Now go back to the first image. Evidently someone at the protest with a red marker (or perhaps someone on Indymedia with Photoshop) has decided that Jew hatred should be more discrete, and shows of outright antisemitism probably aren't good PR for their cause.

So, they have censored it. With lovely red hearts no less.

Herein a great look at how screwed up the far Left has become. Remember them crying how bad 'censorship' was? Well check it out ladies and gentlemen. Censorship, like rank, odious antisemitism is fine for some people.

A later comment notes:

"People" like Faruque the Cabbie and the rest of the Hitler Youth aren't interested in the truth. They hate Jews with the vitriol that most sane people save for those who drive slow in the fast lane.

These guys truly believe that all the ills of the world are somehow orchestrated by Jews and with the Jews gone, everyday would be 28 degress and sunny.

There is a silver-lining in watching Indymedia disnintegrate into a "one note sonata" about the Jews. If the anti-Semites are here posting all the time, the children and housepets in their neighbourhood are safe.

Also, there vitriolic hatred of Jews has begun to be noticed by the mainstream -- let's face it, not many mainstreamers have ever seen this side of the Left's looking glass. The Left in the US has already taken physical steps to distance themselves from the anti-Semites in their midst (Howard Dean's public statement last week), and it won't take long for the rest of the Left to follow. Afterall, it's hard to call yourself the party of inclusion and tolerance when your members are asking to have the gas-chambers re-opened.

Another good thing is that it forces the majority of the Left Wing to disprove their connection with this kind of hate speech by being supportive of Israel -- whether they like it or not. Because the haters can't distinquish between legitimate criticism of Israel (which all Israelis participate in) and medievel screeds of traditional anti-Semitism, the mainstream Left can't distinquish either and will have to quell all criticism of Israel.

The final bit of good news is that having all your rotten-eggs here in one basket, so to speak, everyone (and you know who that is) knows where they are. Don't think for a moment that the authorities haven't recorded threats to murder Jews, burn homes, etc, that have been thrown around here. These things will all come out at their next commital hearing.

So, cheer up and let the monkies through their poo -- it's harmless and it's fun to watch.

No it isn't. Believe me, I've been doing it for a while.

UK Indymedia is gloating over a poll on MSNBC:

86% Say Bush Should Be Impeached!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's MSNBC poll says it all. With over a quarter of a million votes, a full 86% say GWB deserves to go on trial. It's probably going to go to 95% after Saturday's 2 hour CSPAN presentation (8pm) of the 911 Truth panel, hosted by Alex Jones. All I can say is "Holy Sh*t!"

And all I can say is: Bullsh*t.

It astonishes me that online news services continue to carry out these polls. Online polls are nearly always subject to massive fraud. Their outcomes are worthless and meaningless at gauging public opinion. When those hosting the polls broadcast on the results, for example on associated television programs or by publishing the results online, they are misleading their audience who have previously relied on more accurate polling systems and naively apply the same (incorrect) assumption to online polls.

No matter how the MSNBC poll might have been conducted (e.g. phone, focus group, online), it was completely loaded from the start. To the question: "Do you believe President Bush's actions justify impeachment?" Come the options:

*Yes, between the secret spying, the deceptions leading to war and more, there is plenty to justify putting him on trial.
*No, like any president, he has made a few missteps, but nothing approaching "high crimes and misdemeanors."
*No, the man has done absolutely nothing wrong. Impeachment would just be a political lynching.
*I don't know.

Who wrote those answers? I don't care what you think of Bush, those questions are poorly written.

Online polls are riddled with flaws - The fact Indymedia links to one should be proof enough.

The main problem, is ballot stuffing. Supporters of both sides of an argument often mobilize their email lists to vote early and vote often.

Secondly, by tampering with browser cookies a user can vote multiple times. I believe there is software and various browser hacks that allow an even more automated version of this.

Finally, unlike traditional polling, the respondents are not randomly selected, they have chosen to vote. This virtually guarantees voters have a vested interest. The same applies for cable television or SMS polls which charge the voter a few cents to vote. Whilst it could be argued this limits people voting multiple time, the reality is that only people passionate enough (or stupid enough) to spend the money are represented in the final results. It's great for choosing America's Idol, it's lousy for measuring public opinion.

Even if a website, in good faith takes further steps to limit fraud, they can adversely affect the sample size of their poll. For example, by mandating user registration, to allow only one vote per registration, many people won't bother registering and voting. By limiting the number of votes from a single IP address, they could be preventing many other people who browse behind the same proxy server from voting. For example, one person could vote from AOL and subsequent AOL users would be blocked. Again, the sample would be flawed.

In other words, the poll is either subject to fraud, or covers an inadequate group. Either way, the results are highly unreliable.

This problem is well known. There is a reason why most news sites which have polls attach a disclaimer to the effect "this poll is non-scientific and should not be relied upon as an accurate indicator".

The sites should say "poll for novelty use only" as this is all they are really good for. The MSNBC poll has a disclaimer, which you can only read after voting. The background in their disclaimer is very interesting:

One week in the middle of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, more than 200,000 people took part in an MSNBC Live Vote that asked whether President Clinton should leave office. Seventy-three percent said yes. That same week, an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll found that only 34 percent of about 2,000 people who were surveyed thought so.

In other words, MSNBC know their polls are largely unreliable, yet there they are, being relied upon via the front page.

I believe some websites arrange such polls for no other reason than to deliberately draw additional traffic to their site.

Many of these pages earn money for the number of 'impressions' of advertisements shown on their page. Chances are, they don't care about the results of the poll, just that as many people as possible view the page.

Want to know the fastest, probably easiest way to get new visitors to your website? Host a poll like the above or even better, one which asks "who do you blame in the Arab/Israeli conflict?".

Then sit back and watch the visitors (and ad revenue) flow.

Unfortunately for theses sites, the spike in traffic will usually disappear as quickly as it arrived. Questions surrounding the quality of the website will however remain.

Today the Colorado Governor (Bill Owens) signed a tough package of immigration laws that could force 1 million people receiving state and federal benefits to prove they are legal U.S. residents. Since this is big news, and something that directly involves Colorado, I quickly went over to Colorado Indymedia to see what info they had concerning the new rules.

Surprisingly, there was not a single mention of it. However, under the “Local Interests” column, there were 5 stories concerning the Middle East, all of which can be found at other Indymedia affiliates.

I had assumed that the point of having lots of local Indymedia pages was so that local issues could be discussed and advertised. So why in the world is Israel listed as a “Local Interest”? They can not even argue that it was a slow news day in Denver!

Apparently tough new immigration laws in Colorado are simply not “interesting” or “local” enough.

When you read a headline like “Bakersfield rocked by World Can't Wait anti-theocracy demonstration!”, you would think some type of massive protest occurred that threw the city of Bakersfield into a Socialist revolution. Upon closer inspection…


I am sure it will take years for Bakersfield to recover from such a rocking!

Comment on Indybay:

"I'm looking at the thing in the left column and it says that $0 has been donatedto indybay in the last month. That doesn't help indybay to pay rent or the phone bill. It also doesn't help with payback for the server purchase or anything else!?"

Try charging.

I should not be surprised that a favorite politician among the Indymedia crowd is Cynthia McKinney. Her self righteous, style-before-substance approach to politics is a perfect reflection of many pseudo and far left activists.

Now that McKinney has a viable opponent in this coming primary, her supporters are going on the attack.

“THIS IS AN APPEAL TO HELP CONGRESSWOMAN
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY GET RE-ELECTED. BELOW
IS AN APPEAL AND DESCRIPTION OF THE
SHENNANIGANS THE REPUBLICANS ARE PULLING
AND THE DEMOCRATS ARE ALLOWING.”

What follows is a rambling number of points made my McKinney’s father, claiming that Hank Johnson’s campaign is nothing more than a Republican conspiracy.

“It is easy to see that Hank is a darling of the Republicans. Money
makes the mare trot…..was in the GA General Assembly for 30 years and have
seen many things, but nothing like this abandonment of
a senior member.”

The reason McKinney is losing in the eyes of many, is her constant running of the mouth. As Hank clearly states:

“My opponent's record speaks for itself. Her history of controversy is well-known. It suffices to say that she has brought a great deal of negative national attention to her district. The causes she ostensibly serves - justice, peace, and equality - are only discredited by her antics. For every conservative pundit and operative attacking progressives, she has become a ready caricature, useful for discrediting the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. As a progressive trying to restore respect to the cause of progressivism, I have been deeply disheartened by all my opponent has done to make it less mainstream and less viable.”

But knowing McKinney, and Indymedia for that matter, I am sure that if she loses, she will blame her loss on everything but her own personal failure as a representative for her district.