BULLY BOY
PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID
TABLE
KILLER BARRY O CAN'T STOP LYING ANYMORE THAN HE CAN STOP KILLING.
TUESDAY, HE TRIED TO SCARE AMERICAN PARENTS BY DECLARING, IF SEQUESTRATION WENT INTO EFFECT, "TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PARENTS WILL HAVE TO SCRAMBLE TO FIND HEALTH CARE FOR THEIR KIDS." WEDNESDAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES CORRECTED HIM AND EXPLAINED THAT "DAY CARE CENTERS ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO BE PADLOCKED ON MARCH 1."
THEN HE STARTED LYING EVEN MORE, INSISTING IF SEQUESTRATION -- A PROCEDURE HE CAME UP WITH -- WENT INTO EFFECT IT WOULD "LET CRIMINALS GO" -- THAT LIE WAS SO BOLD EVEN POLTIFACT HAD TO RATE IT MOSTLY FALSE.
KILLER BARRY'S ALL ABOUT THE LIE AS JOHN DICKERSON OF SLATE POINTED OUT:
Let's start with the phony call. On Thursday, President Obama called House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. The subject was the sequester, the across-the-board spending cuts set to kick in March 1. Administration aides privately concede that the calls were largely for show. The president wanted it to appear as though he was making an effort to avoid the cuts. If the cuts happen and the public looks to blame someone, the president can say he tried to reach out. This strategy achieved a rare level of bipartisan agreement in Washington. According to GOP aides, their bosses received the calls in the spirit in which they were dialed—as empty public relations moves that did nothing to avert the cuts.
KILLER BARRY'S BIGGEST VICTIM, IT TURNS OUT, ISN'T THE CHILDREN HE'S KILLED WITH HIS DRONES. NO, KILLER BARRY'S BIGGEST VICTIM IS THE TRUTH.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Also popping up on Twitter today?
جـهـاد بـشـيـر
Ali Ahmad
It's Friday, the Iraqi Spring continues. Alsumaria reports today is dubbed "Iraq or al-Maliki." al-Maliki would be Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister since 2006 when Bully Boy Bush said no to the Parliament's choice of Ibrahaim al-Jaafari. In 2010, Iraqis said no to to Nouri but he refused to step down and the White House again backed Nouri (though now Barack Obama was president). To get around the vote and the Iraqi Constitution, the US brokered a contract giving Nouri a second term in exchange for Nouri agreeing to various demands from the political blocs signing off on the contract. Nouri used The Erbil Agreement to grab a second term and then refused to honor his written promises within the contract. Alsumaria notes that thousands of demonstrators turned out in Kirkuk and Hawija. Mohammed al-Jubouri tells Alsumaria that over 15,000 took to the streets in Hawija for "legal, civil and peaceful demonstrations as guaranteed in the Constitution." Protesters also demonstrated in Mosul where Shabak and Yezidis participated and thousands took part in the ongoing sit-in which has lasted more than 57 days. Alsumaria notes that participants in Kut included "hundreds" of Shi'ite followers of Moqtada al-Sadr and that there was a call for an end to the violations of Palestinians by the Israeli government.
Al Mada notes that the number of participants continued to increase today -- as has happened each Friday over the last three months. One count places the number demonstrating at 3,955,000. The newspaper notes, in Samarra, a sit-in continues and demonstrators called for Baghdad to be returned to the citizens of Iraq, the real owners. Sheikh Mohammed Taha Saadoun said it was time to change hands of leadership and that government promises continue to go unfulfilled. National Iraq News Agency reports multiple protests in Diyala Province (including Baquba) and quotes Sheikh Shibab al-Badri ("Vice President of the clerics of Iraq, Diyala branch"), stating, "Thousands of participants in the unified prayer flocked to mosques merging in eight administrative units amid tight security. Calling on the Iraqi government to speed up the implementation of constitutional and legitimate usurped rights of the demonstrators in the provinces." Iraqi Spring MC adds that the Sheikh said the sit-in continues in support of the detained and oppressed. Iraqi Spring MC notes that children participated in the protests in Falluja (here and here). National Iraq News Agency notes that an Anbar Province coordinating committee member stated, "The masses determined to topple the government of Maliki that ignore the restitution of the usurped rights of the people, but cause them harm." Iraqi Spring MC also offers video of the Tikrit protest and Baiji protests. Protests also took place in Baghdad and Stop Killing Muslims in Iraq posts this photo of the Baghdad demonstration. And if you're trying to get a sense of how large the Baghdad group was (it was huge), this photo is a must see.
One sermon delivered in Ramadi by Sheikh Abdel Moneym Badrani called for the government to cease the stalling and procrastination and respond to the demands of the protesters. Iraqi Spring MC posts a video of an Iman in Duluiya this morning delivering a sermon about how Iraq is bleeding internally and the country needs attention -- which is why the people are protesting.
What are they calling for? Workers World offered this list last month:
The protesters are justly demanding:
1. The immediate release of detained protesters and dissident prisoners.
2 . A stop to the death penalty.
3. The approval of an amnesty law for innocent detainees.
4. The abolition of anti-terrorism laws (especially Clause 4 used to target them).
5. The repeal of unfair rulings against dissidents.
6. Fair opportunities for work based on professionalism.
7.The end of the use of all military command based on geographic areas.
8. The provision of essential services to all areas in Iraq neglected by the state.
9. The holding of all … governmental officials, army or security units who have committed crimes against dissidents accountable, especially those who have violated the honor of women in prisons.
10. A U.N.-sponsored population count.
11. An end to marginalization, a stop to agitating divisions between ethnic and religious groups, and a stop to the house raids without legal warrant based on the information of secret informers.
12. A stop to financial, administrative and legal corruption.
13. The combating of sectarianism in all its forms by returning religious buildings and all religious properties to their rightful owners, and the abolishment of law No. 19 of 2005.
The International Occupation Network (IAON) welcomes the spread of these non-sectarian protests and supports the efforts of the Iraqi people to regain their full independence and national sovereignty. Ten years of foreign occupation is enough! Ten years of massive human rights violations is enough! Ten years of corruption and depriving the whole population of basic services is enough!
— The International Anti-Occupation Network / IAON
Nouri continued to use the armed forces to intimidate the protesters. Iraqi Spring MC notes that Nouri used the forces to arrest and terrorize peaceful demonstrators (at least three in Mosul -- Rashid Hamid, Faisal Shibley and Saeed Ali) and they note Nouri's action in an important way -- they note that the orders came from the Commander-in-Chief . . . and the Minister of Defense . . . and the Minister of Interior.
Turning to violence, CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq Tweets:
Mohammed Tawfeeq
Xinhua reports, "Unidentified gunmen kidnapped eight pro-government militants and killed seven of them on Friday in Iraq's restive central province of Salah ad Din, said the local police." Kitabat reports that the eighth is seriously injured. Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) notes that the assailants wore "military uniforms." Alsumaria adds that the assailants used armored vehicles while Reuters notes that the assailants were on motorcycles. AFP locates the attack "in the village of Halaiwat." The attacked were Sahwa which have also been called "Awakenings" and "Sons Of Iraq" when male and "Daughters Of Iraq" when female.
At the April 8, 2008 Senate Armed Services hearing then-top US commander in Iraq Gen David Petraeus explained that "there are now over 91,000 Sons of Iraq -- Shia as well as Sunni -- under contract to help Coalition and Iraqi Forces protect their neighborhoods and secure infrastructure and roads. These volunteers have contributed significantly in various areas, and the savings in vehicles not lost because of reduced violence -- not to mention the priceless lives saved -- have far outweighed the cost of their monthly contracts." World Bulletin notes, "On February 2, a suicide bomber targeted Sahva forces 20 kilometers away from capital Baghdad and 19 of them were killed, 40 wounded."
Officials were also targeted for violence. National Iraqi News Agency notes "that gunmen burst into the house of Judge Mawlood Abdullah, the Judge of Tarmiya Court, in Tarmiya area, 30 km north of Baghdad, opened fire at him from guns with silencers, killing him instantly and fled" while another assassination attempt in Tarmiya failed to kill its intended target, police Col Hameed Mohammed Ali (but did result in the death of 1 civilian and four people injured. In Babil, an assassination attempt succeeded when the Iraqi National Accord nominee for Babil Provincial Council, Hassan Hadi Sayil al-Janabi, and two of his bodyguards were killed. The outlet also notes, "The Governor of Nineveh, Atheel al-Nujaifi, said that a hand-to-hand combat erupted between police and the Governor's guard near the protest area (Ahrar Square) in downtown Mosul, when he was at the area" and 2 Kirkuk bombings left three people injured.
In addition, All Iraq News notes that 1 person was shot dead in Mosul and a Mosul bombing left a police captain injured. Alsumaria notes that a shop owner was shot dead in Baquba and a Baghdad car bombing killed 2 people and left a third injured.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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"THIS JUST IN! THEY ARE AS CORRUPT AS HE IS!"
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