BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O HAS A LOT OF PROBLEMS. TURNS OUT, HIS CLAIMS RE RENEWABLE ENERGY WON'T PASS A FACT CHECK.
MORE TROUBLE, HIS JOBS MATH ISN'T ADDING UP EITHER.
PUNDITS ARE SAYING HE'S STUMBLING AND IN SHAMBLES.
EVEN BARRY O'S FORMER BOOK CLUB BUDDY HUGO CHAVEZ IS CRITICIZING HIM.
ARE THE RATS SOON TO BAIL THE SHIP AS WELL?
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Yesterday morning, Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton and Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad-Eddine
al-Othmani (link is text and video) addressed the press. Excerpt.
Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton: We are closely watching what is happening in
Yemen and elsewhere, and we certainly hope and expect that there will
be steps taken to avoid violence and prevent the escalation of protests
into violence.
I also want to take a moment
to address the video circulating on the Internet that has led to these
protests in a number of countries. Let me state very clearly -- and I
hope it is obvious -- that the United States Government had absolutely
nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and
message. America's commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the
very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of
all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to
exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims.
And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.
To
us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It
appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion
and to provoke rage. But as I said yesterday, there is no justification,
none at all, for responding to this video with violence. We condemn the
violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and we greatly
appreciate that many Muslims in the United States and around the world
have spoken out on this issue.
Violence, we
believe, has no place in religion and is no way to honor religion.
Islam, like other religions, respects the fundamental dignity of human
beings, and it is a violation of that fundamental dignity to wage
attacks on innocents. As long as there are those who are willing to shed
blood and take innocent life in the name of religion, the name of God,
the world will never know a true and lasting peace. It is especially
wrong for violence to be directed against diplomatic missions. These are
places whose very purpose is peaceful: to promote better understanding
across countries and cultures. All governments have a responsibility to
protect those spaces and people, because to attack an embassy is to
attack the idea that we can work together to build understanding and a
better future.
Now, I know it is hard for
some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just
prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light
of day. Now, I would note that in today's world with today's
technologies, that is impossible. But even if it were possible, our
country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined
in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens
from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.
There
are, of course, different views around the world about the outer limits
of free speech and free expression, but there should be no debate about
the simple proposition that violence in response to speech is not
acceptable. We all -- whether we are leaders in government, leaders in
civil society or religious leaders -- must draw the line at violence.
And any responsible leader should be standing up now and drawing that
line.
Protests have taken place around the region all week including today. Reem Abdellatif, Ned Parker, Laura King, Hashmat Baktash, Alex Rodriguez, Emily Alpert and staff in Beirut and Khartoum (Los Angeles Times) report,
"Infuriated protesters in Tunisia stormed the U.S. Embassy in the
capital, Tunis, and tore down the American flag, state media reported.
Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas to try to scatter the
crowd, the official Tunisian News Agency reported. Black smoke was seen
rising around the embassy compound amid reports that an American school
nearby had been set on fire. In Sudan, hundreds of riot police fired
tear gas and rubber bullets and used batons to prevent a wall of
hundreds of protesters reaching the U.S. Embassy in the capital,
Khartoum, but a grop managed to break through, breach the wall of the
embassy and raise a black Islamic flag."
Protests took place in Iraq today as well. All Iraq News reports
a protest was held today in Samarra following morning prayers and that
protests also took place today in Wasit, Najaf, Missan and Basra. All Iraq News notes
that the Najaf protest saw the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (Ammar
al-Hakim's political group) read out a statement denouncing the video
and insisting it did serious harm to Muhammed. AFP reports:
In
Karbala, Abdul Mehdi al-Karbalai, the representative in the city of top
Iraqi Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said during his
Friday sermon that "these repeated abuses could threaten peaceful life,
especially among (religiously) mixed peoples."
He
also condemned violence in response to the film, which portrays the
Prophet Mohammed and Islam in a negative light, and sparked deadly fury
in Libya, where four Americans including the ambassador were killed on
Tuesday in a mob attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.
In Sunni-majority Ramadi, west of Baghdad, hundreds of people demonstrated against the film.
Hamid
al-Fahdawi, one of the protest organisers, told AFP that demonstrators
want the Iraqi government to dismiss the US ambassador and cut economic
ties with the US.
When compiling a
list of demands, it's probably a good idea to leave unicorns and other
myths off the list. There is no US Ambassador to Iraq currently. The
most recent, James Jeffrey, left Iraq months ago.
Josh Rogin (Foreign Policy) quotes
Senator John Kerry, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
speaking about the possibility that Barack's latest nominee might be
placed on hold after his confirmation hearing:
Make no mistake: Our embassy in Baghdad is one of our most important and what happens there is key to our bilateral relationship and our work in the Middle East. By all accounts, Steve Beecroft is a highly capable career Foreign Service officer who has ambassadorial experience, and it is in America's best interest to get him on the ground as quickly as possible.
There should be an ambassador to Iraq. But no one forced the White House to nominate the insulting Brett McGurk and no one forced the White House to wait so long to name a new nominee after McGurk's name was withdrawn. I remember the Attorney General nominations of 1993. That was rough and Republicans were determined to defeat the nominees. Plural. Bill Clinton nominated Zoe Baird for the post. Her nomination was derailed and she withdrew her name January 22, 1993. Clinton goes on to announce a new nominee: Kimba Wood. Kimba Wood withdraws her name February 5, 1993. Clinton then nominated Janet Reno who was confirmed March 11, 1993 on a 98 to zero vote in the Senate. January 20, 1993, Bill Clinton was sworn in as President of the United States. March 11th, Reno -- his third nominee -- was confirmed as Attorney General. That's moving quickly.
By contrast? June 18th McGurk's name is withdrawn. Late September 10th word leaks out that Beecroft is Barack's new nominee and it's made official with an announcement September 11th. In less than two months, President Bill Clinton names 3 different nominees for Attorney General and gets one confirmed. Eight days shy of three months after McGurk's name is withdrawn, President Barack Obama is finally able to find someone to nominate for the post (Beecroft, the person who's been doing the work all that time). If Senate Dems want to whine that Paul's creating a delay on that nomination, Barack's the one who created the delay and dragged his feet.
The average time between confirmation hearings and a vote is said to be ten days. That would be September 28th and that's awfully close to when senators facing re-election battles have tor return home. That was also foot dragging by the administration which should have planned it much better.
