Lying for Howard

In the previous post I alerted you to the existence (well, once upon a time) of the giant sea scorpion. In this post I present you with the giant Australian rightwing cockroach, which--alas--is not extinct, but alive and well in the Liberal Party. (Actually, that's a slur on giant cockroaches. Sorry, guys.)
From the ABC:

The Liberal Party has expelled two members and notified the Electoral Commission of an incident involving election campaign workers distributing material it says is false and offensive.

The party says around five people were handing out the flyers last night in the seat of Lindsay in Sydney's west, when they were caught in the act by Labor Party members.

The ABC understands one of the people involved in the distribution of the offending material is Garry Clark, the husband of the retiring member, Jackie Kelly.

The flyer purports to be from the Islamic Federation of Australia, a group which does not exist, advocating a vote for Labor.

The Liberal Party's state director Graham Jaeschke says the material was unauthorised and made without the knowledge of the Party's head office.

"This is unacceptable behaviour. We've acted very quickly to fix this issue," he said.

"We've referred it on to the Australian Electoral Commission and we'll let the Australian Electoral Commission do their job."

Mr Jaeschke says the party does not condone the behaviour.

"It was undertaken without any authorisation or knowledge of the Liberal Party," he said.

Party behind in the polls a week out from the election? Here's what you do:

1. Invent an organisation with "Islamic" in the title, knowing how likely this adjective is to set off big flashing red warning lights in too many xenophobic outer-suburban Sydney brains.


2. Print a flyer, purporting to be a publication of said phony "Islamic" organisation, advocating a vote for your opponent


3. Reap the electoral rewards.

Oh, I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me to give the Liberal Party credit for expelling the racist arseclowns behind this stunt. Well, I'm not going to. Because if the Liberal Party can attract into its fold individuals who consider this kind of behaviour conscionable, then that speaks volumes about what the modern Liberal Party has become.

See also: The Age

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The Bill Muehlenberg Trophy: Debbie Schlussel and the Virginia Tech Shootings

Just when you think the wingnut Right can't possibly get more insane or logic-deprived than it already is, along comes Debbie Schlussel, writing on the Virginia Tech university shootings.

First, she blamed the Muzzies without a shred of evidence. Then, updating her blog entry after reports emerged that the suspect was a Chinese national, she wrote:

The shooter has now been identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa. Lovely. Yet another reason to stop letting in so many foreign students.

When the suspect was later more vaguely described as "Asian," Schlussel saw this as a golden opportunity to revive her "it-was-a-Muzzie-wot-done-it" thesis. (This will take your breath away)

Why am I speculating that the "Asian" gunman is a Pakistani Muslim? Because law enforcement and the media strangely won't tell us more specifically who the gunman is. Why?

Even if it does not turn out that the shooter is Muslim, this is a demonstration to Muslim jihadists all over that it is extremely easy to shoot and kill multiple American college students.

Got that? (Once you've stopped bashing yourself senseless against the keyboard.) Regardless of who is actually responsible for the massacre, it's yet another reason to hate Muslims. Holy dogshit! How are we expected to take that side of politics seriously when it keeps churning out half-wits like Schlussel?

(Via Pharyngula)

P.S. Compare Schlussel's Islamophobic dribbling to Scott Poynting's thoughtful Perspective piece on Islamophobia and moral panic.

UPDATE: It turns out that the gunman was a 23-year old Korean student, acting alone. Not that it makes a lick of difference to Schlussel. Maybe he's a Korean Muslim. Or maybe the Muslim centre of his brain was overstimulated. In any case, he's a foreigner. Foreigner bad. Muslim bad. Rinse. Repeat.

UPDATE II: Guess who the creationists are blaming . . .

UPDATE III: Guess who's planning to show up at the funerals of the slain students (via Pharyngula)

UPDATE IV: Dinesh D'Souza claims that atheists don't care about the shootings. Why? Because Richard Dawkins "has not been invited to speak to the grieving Virginia Tech community." Shame on us atheists! Even Fred Phelps and his WBC mourning committee have the decency to pay their respects to the victims. (Pharyngula)

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