I'm uh, busy...

So if you came here expecting new content, sorry. Here is a music video however, to make your trip worth the while:

But now, a word from our sponsors.

Loving this video

Song's not bad either.

Now Clinton herself is recklessly spreading the Obama assassination meme

Via Associated Press.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton quickly apologized Friday after citing the June 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy as a reason to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination despite increasingly long odds.

“I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,” the former first lady said.

The episode occurred as Clinton campaigned in advance of the June 3 South Dakota primary.

Responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race, she said: “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. You know I just, I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing the idea of abandoning the race.

Emphasis mine. Unashamedly spreading the idea that Obama is uniquely open to assassination attempts - all her.

I've already dealt in some detail with the Obama Assassination Meme before, but just to make it absolutely clear to everyone:

Creating a political climate and discourse where the potential asssassination of a major Presidential candidate is constantly referenced and referred to as a possibility, well out of proportion to the risk posed (a risk that is shared by all candidates) will only help create a situation in which potential assassins believe his death is inevitable and will seek to hasten it.

Damn, its not hard.


Update: Keith Olbermann has a special comment on this.

Who will rid me of this troublesome politician?

Here is an interesting clip of Mike Huckabee, ex-Presidential nominee for the Republican Party, 'joking' in front of the staunchly right-wing NRA crowd about the possibility of an Obama assassination.

Now, I should first of all point out, for any readers, that I am not especially against gun ownership per se, in the UK or America. Yes, I know I have a reputation as a subversive left wing liberal who hates freedom and loves terrorism etc etc but to a degree, I side more with the right-wing/libertarian view when it comes to firearms. Not to mention I did spend part of my misspent youth in the countryside and have been a member of my University rifle club and so actually enjoy shooting too.

But anyway, that's not the point, so I wanted to dismiss the strawman straight away. The point is noting the spread and even acceptance of the "Obama assassination meme" within mainstream political discourse, especially in circles like the above, where Obama is not seen in an especially friendly light.

Now I know you'll be saying "Oh Huckabee is just joking, I thought you Discordians knew about larking about", but to be honest, that's kind of the point. I'm very used to using humour to mask a point, to say something I wish to be known in an indirect and subtle manner. That's often the function of humour in politics, it gives a veneer of deniability to a statement.

Its also one that has been used to death by the American right, such as Ann "lets assassinate a US Judge, teehee I'm only joking" Coulter, Rush "lets not kill all the liberals, just most of them" Limbaugh and other such 'wits' of American politics, like Michael Savage.

So you'll excuse me a certain degree of scepticism when I see the tactic repeated by others.

We all believe Obama is probably the most likely candidate to be targeted, followed closely by McCain (the Middle Eastern groups tend to not operate much outside their own territory, but when they do they are usually very good at it). It's hardly news. He's a charismatic, black man who appeals to a wide constituency of people, comes from a cosmopolitian, is opposed to favourite ventures of the nutjob-right and has a good chance of becoming the next US President. And we know people like the Aryan Nations are still out there, still exist and have people motivated and trained well enough to attempt something like this.

But repititions of the idea that Obama will inevitably face an assassination attempt seem to be aimed more at the idea of spreading this idea of inevitability far and wide, hoping some far-right nut will decide to take one for the Aryan cause and have a go at killing him. Its one step off encouraging it, when repeated like this.

The entire point of modern day, non-state/terrorist assassination is this - that it takes place within an enabling environment and narrative, and is done in a public place to validate the killer themselves. Making continued references to this happening only increases the chances of someone trying to have a go.

Equally bad is the downplaying of the chances of someone killing him. All three US candidates are at risk, its the nature of the game of politics. Killing the potential next President has long been a route to fame for no-hoper's around the world. Suggesting that Obama is perfectly safe and has nothing to worry about, in the same poisonous media climate which is also telling us he is likely to be killed, as it makes an attempt on him look easy and invites more attempts.

Here are just a few examples of the meme spreading from extremist to more mainstream circles

• Neo Nazi, longtime target of Anonymous and friend of Sean Hannity, Hal Turner threatens Obama.

• The notorious Freerepublic wont allow pro-Obama comments, but will allow posts talking about other people (on the left) raising the possibility of his assassination.

(Just as an aside, I think people on the left who continually raise the prospect of his assassination are just as guilty of perpetuating the meme as everyone else, though I suspect their motivation is more benign. Unless they are Hillary Clinton supporters).

• Sean Hannity of Fox News pops up again, this time with some interesting use of language...

"I just feel that with the more we learn about the racial implications in his past, the more likely it is for sure he will be killed."

He all but left out the *Hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink* from that statement. We all know the implication is that he is a black supremacist is being spread by the right, which is like a lightning rod to any racists out there.

• Jonah "liberals once called me a fascist, so I call them it back now" Goldberg engages in more than just a bit of projection here when he suggests if Obama loses certain people will become unhinged. Maybe they will, but for the moment, it seems more likely a win will unhinge other 'certain people', as the above comments and Greenwald's own article are showing.

• Halfrican Revolution documents how a Unification Church owned publication practically went out of their way to give tips to any nutters crazy enough to give assassination a shot.

• The hilariously named White Civil Rights website also engages in a degree of projection, when they fantasize about Mossad killing Obama. Because thats no way an excuse to talk freely about an assassination attempt at all, is it?

• Even the bloody Torygraph tries to pooh-pooh the chances of an assassination emanating from the right, instead blaming the idea on a mix of conspiracy theory, wish for martyrdom (nice touch, by the way, the Muslim implication there) and generalized paranoia. Obviously Tony Harden doesn't pay much attention to the lunatic fringe, or he'd know how pumped up on this idea many of them are. While no doubt many of the left wing comments implicating the likes of Blackwater or Clinton are nonsense, there is a real radical threat.

• Again, Vanguard News Network, another far-right US site, is spreading the Obama assassination meme under the cover of "tEh Jo0s DiD iT! (oR aT lEaSt wIlL dO!)".

And on and on it goes. I didn't even bother to go to some of the crazier, less well known sites. I thought this should cover it fairly nicely.

As a commentator at the Seattle PI points out, the best thing the media could do in order to play down these fears is not talk about it all the time. Yes, I do realize that makes me guilty to a degree as well, but I'm trying to introduce a phage here, to undercut the meme. By constantly finding ways to bring up the idea, either in terms of denying it having any possibility at all (all US Presidential candidates are potential targets, get over it) or prophesying it as a certainty, is only doing more damage and poisoning the civil discourse.

Uniform

Live performance by Bloc Party

But Brutus is an honourable man

Diabetics suck

Srsly.

300 posts

I'm surprised I even made it last this long.

To celebrate, a timely video from Youtube.

Some days, I really hate YouTube

As you've probably noticed, YouTube has already taken down the clip of the Colbert Report that I uploaded on Friday. Why?

"Copyright claim by Viacom."

Now, to refresh your memory, that was a thirty second clip. 33 seconds, to be precise (uh-oh, Masonic connotations there). Oh teh noes, we might've cut into Viacom's oh so terribly slim profit margin. How many CEOs will go hungry tonight because of our reckless action? Etc etc Not to mention it was basically free advertising for the show, aimed at a new audience. If anything, Viacom should be congratulating us.

Now I suppose I'll just upload it to another twenty or so video sites and link them all here, in protest. Sigh.....

Colbertgasm delivers!

I believe the video, from last night's program, speaks for itself.

Here Comes Dr Tran!

Continuing to jump on the Scientology bandwagon

I thought you might enjoy this Youtube video someone from PD.com has given me links to. From everything I see and hear, this is 110% the Church of Science modus operandi for dealing with critics who wont shut up. 10 minutes long, enjoy.

Bill Hicks - Outlaw Comic

Can't come up with anything funny today, so instead I present one of the funniest comedians of the last decade, the late Bill Hicks, for your entertainment. Iconoclastic, rude, wickedly funny and utterly shameless, this documentary details his life and is worth watching for the clips alone. 7 parts in total, enjoy.

(Note: sound quality may be poor on some early clips, but they do get better)

Thou Shalt Always Kill

Still fracking awesome.

Merry Christmas, seasons greetings, now bugger off

This will be my only concession to Christmas at all on my blog, and even then I'm making sure its Discordian related (bonus points for whoever can figure it out without using Google). If you don't like that, tough, because Christmas sucks.

Dont tase me bro part 2: electric boogaloo

No, seriously, what the hell is up with cops and tasers? Its like giving terrorists semtex, or politicians hookers and blow.

This time around, the 'fun' starts at 2 minutes in. Really though, giving cops a weapon that leaves no marks and is supposedly non-lethal (tell it to the dead guys in Canada and Florida) is just asking for trouble.

LOL, internet

I'm probably going to hell for this...

But I'm going to post them anyway. Fuck you, I'm sick. And have too much spare time to surf YouTube, it seems