THIS JUST IN! PARRY SQUEEZES OUT SOMETHING!

BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

IN THE MIDST OF A PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY, FORMER JOURNALIST ROBERT PARRY CLUTCHED HIS STOMACH AND INSISTED, "IT'S TIME! IT'S TIME!"

AS CURIOUS LOOKERS ON WATCHED, HE DEMANDED A PILLOW, BOILING WATER AND SALT WATER TAFFY AS HE STRUGGLED TO SINK TO THE GROUND.

"THE BABY'S COMING!" HE YELLED FOR ALL TO HEAR.

"IT'S GOING TO TAKE A FEW PUSHES!"

AND THEN, AS EVERY ONE WATCHED, PARRY SQUEEZED OUT ONE OF THE LOUDEST FARTS EVER HEARD IN NORTH AMERICA.

GIGGLING, PARRY STOOD AND SAID, "FALSE ALARM."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Matt Bradley and Ghassan Adnan (Wall St. Journal) report on the budgets (2014 and 2015) today and also on the conflict between the KRG and Baghdad while getting it right -- something few do -- about  what came first (Nouri's withholding the 17% of the federal budget the Kurds are entitled to) in this economic battle.  As the 2014 budget continues to elude the Iraqi government, new prime minister Aider al-Abadi is making weapons and violence his spending priority and slashing everything else:

Mr. Abadi’s cuts have pushed budget expenditures this year down to 137 trillion Iraqi dinars ($117.9 billion) from a projected outlay of 171 trillion ($147.16 billion).

The cuts have been painful. Plans were scrapped to hire some 37,000 new government employees—including doctors and teachers—and raises were delayed for existing ones. The government has also postponed plans for new student loans and scholarships, said Majda al-Tamimi, who represents the government-allied Sadrist bloc on the finance committee.

There’s even talk in parliament of cutting spending on orphans and on elementary-education projects, according to some lawmakers.

That helps no one, that's nonsense and it's outrageous but set aside the ethical issues.

It's also stupid politics.

Deeply stupid.

Iraqis need jobs.  Iraq needs doctors and teachers. 

The inability to create jobs in the recent past in Iraq led to what?

Oh, that's right, Sunnis joining al Qaeda in Iraq.

Gutting student loans and scholarships?

Exactly what the hell is al-Abadi doing.

And let's stop lying that he's protecting the country.

Getting foreigners to bomb your own country from airplanes -- and tossing a few of your war planes into the air -- is not providing safety or addressing any issues.

It's actually both stupid and cowardly.

It's the Chicken Hawk way for War Hawks to cowardly to fight on the ground.

You want to run the 20,000 or 30,000 people out of country with over 30 million people?

You don't need bombs falling from the skies.

You need people on the ground willing to rebuke, forget fight, the Islamic State.

In 2010, the Iraqi people cast votes to stand for a national identity and that's still possible.

But that embarrassing budget won't do a damn thing to pull the country together.

If the US government, if Barack wanted to help, he would have a US diplomatic delegation in Iraq explaining how to utilize the budget in a manner to pull the country together.


Equally true, the Iraqi government needs to be going after Nouri al-Maliki and Nouri's son whose theft of public monies is an open secret and Iraqis suffering in poverty aren't going to embrace further poverty measures while thieves like Nouri remain unpunished.

He doesn't just remain unpunished, he remains in the presidential palace despite not being prime minister.  He refuses to leave.

If Haider al-Abadi had any sense, he's send the military to force Nouri out and you better believe Iraqis would cheer him on.

When Haider can't even reside in the prime minister's housing because former prime minister Nouri won't leave, he looks weak and inept.

He's looked weak and inept since his September 13 announcement that he had ended the bombing of Falluja's residential neighborhoods -- since he made the announcement and the bombings continued.  NINA notes 9 civilians were killed today and twenty-three more ("including women and children") were left injured from the security forces' bombings.


Let's go back to Barack's press conference.  Here Phil Mattingly is asking a question.

Q    Also if it is your feeling that you have the power to implement any type of agreement that's reached without any action from Congress?  And then, also I just wanted to quickly touch on the AUMF that you mentioned earlier.  Is that going to be more of a codification of the limits that you've put in place for the mission up to this point?  Or what should we be looking for on that when you send it to the Hill?  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  On the AUMF, the leaders are going to be coming here on Friday.  It will be an expanded group, not just the four leaders, but a larger group who all have an interest in the issues we're discussing today.  And I’m actually going to invite Lloyd Austin, the CENTCOM Commander, to make a presentation about how our fight against ISIL is proceeding and I think to answer questions and assure that Congress is fully briefed on what we're doing there.

With respect to the AUMF, we’ve already had conversations with members of both parties in Congress, and the idea is to right-size and update whatever authorization Congress provides to suit the current fight, rather than previous fights. 

In 2001, after the heartbreaking tragedy of 9/11, we had a very specific set of missions that we had to conduct, and the AUMF was designed to pursue those missions.  With respect to Iraq, there was a very specific AUMF.

We now have a different type of enemy.  The strategy is different.  How we partner with Iraq and other Gulf countries and the international coalition -- that has to be structured differently.  So it makes sense for us to make sure that the authorization from Congress reflects what we perceive to be not just our strategy over the next two or three months, but our strategy going forward.

And it will be a process of listening to members of Congress, as well as us presenting what we think needs to be the set of authorities that we have.  And I’m confident we're going to be able to get that done.  And that may just be a process of us getting it started now.  It may carry over into the next Congress.

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THIS JUST IN! PARRY TIES AFFAIR TO DEM LOSSES!

BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

AT A BABIES 'R US TODAY, AN INCREASINGLY FAT ROBERT PARRY INSISTED THAT THE LOSSES TUESDAY NIGHT STEMMED FROM HIS AFFAIR WITH THE PRESIDENT.

BARRY O, PARRY INSISTED, HAD SPENT "FAR TOO MUCH TIME COURTING ME AND GETTING TO KNOW MY NOOKS AND CRANNIES, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, SPREADING THE BUTTER, IF YOU GET MY MEANING, DOING SOME HEAVY TILLING, IF YOU CAN FOLLOW ME, THAN HE DID HELPING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY."

AS PARRY TRIED OUT STROLLERS -- MAINLY TO REST ON, HIS EXPANDING BELLY IS TAKING A REAL TOLL ON HIS BACK, HE EXPLAINED -- HE SAID HE'S READY TO FORGIVE BARRY O "IF THE EXPERIENCE HAS PROPERLY HUMBLED HIM.  OUR BABY NEEDS A DADDY."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Barack has his own problems.  Spencer Ackerman (Guardian) reports, "The Pentagon has denied that the US strategy against Islamic State (Isis) is in disarray after a series of setbacks as the war known as Operation Inherent Resolve stretches into its fourth month."

The argument that Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby made today was that the Syrian government, particularly Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is not benefiting from the 'focus' the US government is placing on Iraq.

Focus?

As Akerman points out:

US military officials frequently describe their strategy as “Iraq first”, reflecting what some in the administration suggest is a more realistic ambition, compared to the complexity of the neighbouring Syria conflict. The US has renewed its mentorship of the Iraqi military it built during the 2003-2011 occupation. But the administration is signaling that a counteroffensive to oust Isis from Iraq, led by the Iraqis and backed by US airpower and Iranian-supported Shia militias, will not proceed until spring 2015. 


Until spring of 2015?


Barack plans to keep bombing and pretending that's a 'plan'?

Long after Barack leaves the White House, Iraqis will have to rebuild.

And what Arabic social media is noting, though the western press has avoided, it is the Sunni areas that are being destroyed with these bombings.  When the bombing finally ends, it is the Sunnis who will be living in destroyed, shelled neighborhoods.  There are many Arabic commentators on social media who don't feel this is an accident but part of the continued persecution of the Sunnis.


Changing topics . . .

Who in the world do you think that you are fooling?
Well I've already done everything that you are doing
-- "Two Kinds of Love," written by Stevie Nicks, first appears on her Rooms On Fire

The always laughable (and always sexist) Kevin Drum wags his tiny cock-lette at Iraq and figures out there's no 'plan.'  Did the universe just offer a collective "Duh!"  How many weeks, how many months have we been pointing that out?

I was going to be kind and ignore David Zucchino's nonsense for the Los Angeles Times.

But his ridiculous report is what 'enlightened' Kevin Drum.

So let's note that it's a miserable 'report' that's ahistorical and embarrassing.

The article fails to address that the military has been without a head.  In the US, we call it the Secretary of Defense (currently Chuck Hagel).  In Iraq, they call it the Minister of Defence.  And from 2010 until his ouster this summer -- four long years, Nouri al-Maliki refused to nominate anyone to head the Ministry of Defence (it was a power grab -- Ayad Allawi was the first to rightly call it that). 

So for four years they had no one.

But, even more importantly, the Los Angeles Times has reported on the Defense and Interior Ministries (Interior is a security ministry, it is not parks and wildlife -- Nouri also refused to nominate anyone to head that ministry). 

Ned Parker -- often on his own, often with others -- repeatedly reported on the corruption and crime in the ministries.  He did spectacular reporting, in fact, on one particular floor in the Interior, the corruption there.


With all that to build on, Zucchino's article was disappointing.

He's a strong reporter and he'll do strong reporting again, I'm sure.

But Kevin Drum finds a stitched together article that fails to get at the realities -- which includes ignoring Nouri not wanting training from the US (for those who've forgotten, Barack was told to find other uses for the money the White House planned to spend training the Iraqi police in 2012) -- wonderful and inspiring.

Kevin would, wouldn't he?

He did, after all, cheer on the Iraq War.

Which makes you wonder why Mother Jones keeps trying to turn him into a star (he's too ugly for TV), why two women running the magazine and website are bound and determined to turn an elderly White man into a media star instead of devoting those resources to men of color or women?

Related, every now and then FAIR and others will gripe about how those people who were wrong about Iraq in 2003 continue to be respected voices in the media.  But they never have the guts, do they, to point out all the 'left' voices (like Drum) who cheered on an illegal war and yet are employed by left sites like Mother Jones?

If FAIR's really worried about accountability, they need to call on Mother Jones to ditch Kevin Drum who helped sell the illegal war.

Just last June, FAIR was whining about CNN bringing back on pundits who cheered on the Iraq War -- so when does FAIR find the guts to call out Mother Jones for hiring Drum?

Until they do, they look like whiny, little hypocrites.

There should be much more anger that a supposed left publication like Mother Jones is providing a forum for these pundits who got it wrong than the supposedly 'neutral' or 'mainstream' or 'middle' CNN.

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BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FUTURE MOMMY-TO-BE ROBERT PARRY IS RETHINKING HIS FUTURE.

"I'M SURE I'LL BE TIED DOWN WITH NURSING AND MOMMY BLOGGING," INSISTS THE ONE-TIME JOURNALIST, "BUT I'LL BE HAPPY WITH THIS LIFE."

BUT WHITE HOUSE INSIDERS SAY OTHERWISE AND CALL PARRY'S CLAIMS TO BE PREGNANT WITH FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O'S BABY "SO MUCH BUNK!"

HIS OPPONENTS SAY HE'S LYING AND THAT HE'S ATTEMPTING TO EXTORT MILLIONS FROM BARRY O AND HIS WEALTHY DONORS.

WHEN PRESSED FOR A REASON WHY, THEY POINT TO PARRY'S FAILED NEWS ENTERPRISE CONSORTIUM NEWS.

AS IF TO CONFIRM THESE RUMORS, PARRY RECENTLY TWEETED:

 Robert Parry @Consortiumnews  ·  Oct 31

Editor Robert Parry makes a last call for donations to Consortiumnews' fall fund drive, still $6,000 short,

MORE ON THIS STORY AS IT DEVELOPS.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

US President Barack Obama has no plan.  He keeps calling doing the same thing (bombing from the air) a 'plan' but it's not a plan.

It fails to adapt, it fails to address.

It's just violence responding to violence.

Your latest clue is the inability of the State Dept to utilize what is taking place.


Want to get Sunnis on board with the government?  Give them a reason.

Especially give them a reason when the actions of the Islamic State are prompting revulsion.

I've noted before, over and over, that new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi needs to make grand gestures to the Sunni community in order to make clear that the targeting they experienced under Nouri al-Maliki is a thing of the past, that they are welcome and wanted in the government and the country.

This is where you do it.

When the Sunni community is reeling from what is supposed to be a 'message sent' from the Islamic State, a warning not to cooperate with the government, that is when you have the best chance to make your case for a new Iraq.

But the State Dept can't do it and Haider al-Abadi is proving to be incredibly inept.  In the face of the above killings, he announced he would increase bombings.

That does nothing to help the Sunni community.

It does physically destroy the land they call home but it doesn't help them.


And while he had a public comment on the massacre carried out by the Islamic State, he had none on the massacre carried out by his own forces.


Sunday, Human Rights Watch released an alert which opened:

Victims of a massacre in a mosque in Diyala province by Iraqi pro-government militias and security forces recognized the attackers and knew them by name. The Iraqi government should promptly make public any investigation of the attack on the Musab Bin Omair mosque on August 22, 2014, which killed 34 people, and bring those responsible to justice.

According to accounts by five witnesses, including one survivor of the attack, armed men, some wearing civilian clothes and others in police uniforms, attacked the mosque at midday in the village of Imam Weiss in Hamreen, Diyala province, about 50 kilometers northeast of Baaquba, the provincial capital. The attackers shot to death 32 men, one woman, and one 17-year-old boy, all of whom witnesses said were civilians who were attending Friday prayer when they were killed, with PK-type and AK-47 Russian-made automatic weapons, the witnesses said. All of the witnesses said they recognized the attackers and knew them by name.
“Pro-government militias are becoming emboldened and their crimes more shocking,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. “Iraqi authorities and Iraq’s allies alike have ignored this horrific attack and then they wonder why the militant group Islamic State has had such appeal among Sunni communities.”

Witnesses, all of whom asked Human Rights Watch not to reveal their identities for their protection, said the shooting began at about 12:10 p.m., during the imam’s Friday speech. A survivor, who was inside the Sunni mosque, said he saw a man enter wearing the dark green T-shirt, pants, and headband typically worn by militiamen affiliated with Asa’ib Ahl al-Haqq, a pro-government militia. He was carrying a PK-type automatic weapon.

“He shouted, ‘Do not move. No one leave!’” the witness said. “He aimed his first shot at the sheikh [imam], and then he continued shooting at the rest of us. When I heard the first gunshot I dropped to the ground.”

The gunman continued shooting at random, the witness said. ”People were on the ground screaming and crying, saying, “Allahu akbar [God is great], La ilaha illa Allah [there is no God but God].”

Three of the witnesses entered the mosque after this first attack. They said they saw eight armed men leaving the mosque. When they entered, they saw about 10 people who appeared to be already dead and about 30 more injured. “What I saw was indescribable, inhuman,” one said. “Most of the people were injured, not dead, and were crying out for water and for help with their injuries. I saw a man whose left side of his head was completely blown off.”

Two witnesses said they had begun carrying the wounded into the garden in front of the mosque when, after about 10 minutes, they heard more shooting as a second group of between 20 and 30 armed men headed toward the mosque. The witnesses fled, leaving the wounded behind. Another witness who was watching from his house about 100 meters away confirmed this account.

All of the witnesses said they then heard screams and more gunshots. The second round of shooting lasted approximately 15 minutes, they said.

The witnesses told Human Rights Watch that all of the 34 dead except one were from the Beni Weiss, a Sunni tribe in Diyala. None of the witnesses knew the reason for the attack, but one said he believed it was in retaliation for an attack with an improvised explosive device earlier that day about 20 kilometers north of Imam Weiss that killed five militiamen. The witnesses all said there were no fighters in or around Imam Weiss at the time of the attack.

The witnesses said there was an army checkpoint about 200 meters from the mosque and a police checkpoint about 150 meters from the mosque, but that no security forces responded to the attack even though the shooting was broadcast over the mosque loudspeaker and could be heard from at least 600 meters away, where one witness heard the shooting from his home.

Two witnesses said they called for army assistance and for an ambulance, but none arrived until nearly an hour later. At about 1:30 p.m., they said, soldiers from the 5th brigade of the army’s 20th division arrived in an army ambulance and a cargo truck, which carried the dead to the hospital morgue in Muqdadiyya, 15 kilometers away.


Hadier al-Abadi either can't or won't control the military.  September 13th, he ordered them to stop bombing the residential neighborhoods of Falluja.

The bombings have not stopped.

In fact, Iraqi Spring MC notes the latest results of these War Crimes (bombing civilian areas are defined as War Crimes): 4 civilians dead and three injure.

In the face the continued bombings of Falluja, in the face of the slaughter carried out by the Iraqi forces, why should Sunnis believe in a buy-in of the new government?

They shouldn't and they don't.

al-Abadi looks like a fool or a liar.

NINA reports Sunday saw him insisting that the rights of all minorities were protected in Iraq -- all Christian minorities.  And yet he's silent on the attack on the Sunni mosque, the attack carried out by his own forces.

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"THIS JUST IN! PARRY SPILLS ON SEX WITH BARRY!"

THIS JUST IN! PARRY SPILLS ON SEX WITH BARRY!

BULLY BOY PRESS &    CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FAILED JOURNALIST AND PRESIDENTIAL MISTRESS ROBERT PARRY HAS GROWN WEARY OF WHAT HE SEES AS "DEAD BEAT FATHERING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE."

IN AN ATTEMPT TO FORCE THE HAND OF FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O, PARRY IS GOING PUBLIC WITH DETAILS OF THEIR LIFE, THEIR LOVE LIFE.

"THE PRESIDENT HAD ME LIKE SO MANY LAYS POTATO CHIPS AND HE HAD ME IN THE CALVIN COOLIDGE ROMPUS ROOM IN THE EAST WING.  WE MET MANY LATE NIGHT HOURS. HE HAD ME ON MY BACK, HE HAD ME ON ALL FOURS,  HE HAD ME ON MY BELLY AND HE HAD ME WITHOUT MY DRAWERS," PARRY DECLARED PAUSING TO DAB HIS EYES WITH A LARGE BEACH TOWEL.

GATHERING HIS WITS, "HE USED TO CALL ME BUTTERCUP AND THE LITTLE PONY HE LOVED TO RIDE BUT I GUESS HE'S FORGOTTEN ALL OF THAT NOW."

THE WHITE HOUSE HAS A CALVIN COOLIDGE RHOMPUS ROOM?

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

NewsinEnglish.no reports, "Norway’s government has confirmed plans to send a total of 195 military personnel to Iraq and Afghanistan as a contribution to the US-led international efforts to combat terrorism. The decision announced Thursday was critizised by some left-wing politicians, but the opposition Labour party said it supported the move." Steven Chase (Globe and Mail) reports, "Canadian warplanes are poised to start striking targets in Iraq, with the government saying bombing of Islamic militant forces should begin very shortly."  Emily Kent Smith (Daily Mail) reports England's gearing up to provide Apache helicopters to Iraq and "If Apaches are sent to Iraq - which are piloted by the Army Air Corps - it would mark the first British Army involvement in a conflict role in the country."

For those who've forgotten who else is bombing Iraq, the US Defense Dept helpfully notes, "Among the coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq are the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain."

That's a lot of countries and so many more lining up for their chance to destroy Iraq.

The US Defense Dept boast, "Separately, officials said, U.S. and partner-nation military forces conducted two airstrikes in Iraq yesterday and today, using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL terrorists. [. . .]

  In Iraq, an airstrike near Bayji struck a small ISIL unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, and an airstrike west of Ramadi struck an ISIL checkpoint."

Tom Bowman (NPR's Morning Edition, link is text and audio) notes:

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been on the defensive recently about the strategy to take on the Islamic State. American warplanes have been bombing targets in Iraq and Syria, but militant fighters are still on the move.

"We have made it very clear, I have and President Obama has, that this is a long, difficult effort," Hagel said.

Difficult, some critics say, because the U.S. military is not bombing enough targets and is not deploying any U.S. ground troops in the fight. There are also critics who say the U.S. does not have effective partners on the ground and is not training a sufficient number of local troops or militias.

"This sounds like a Goldilocks approach. We're looking for a solution that's just right," said Fred Hof, who worked in the Obama administration on Syria policy.

Greg Miller (Washingon Post) adds, "The magnitude of the ongoing migration suggests that the U.S.-led air campaign has neither deterred significant numbers of militants from traveling to the region nor triggered such outrage that even more are flocking to the fight because of American intervention."

If you're not grasping what a failure US President Barack Obama's 'plan' has been, Xinhua reports, "A total of 255 tribesmen and local policemen were executed by the militants of the Islamic State (IS) after the group took them from their villages and towns in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said on Thursday."

Here's the thing about little boys and their war toys, it stops being a fun game quickly.  They end up like gamblers at black jack, they just can't walk away..  They're losing but they keep betting because now they've lost face, now everyone's looking at them.  And they know they're not doing anything different and they're not planning to do anything different, but if they keep bluffing, surely (they hope) their luck will change.

Luck is all Barack's hoping for at this point to save his 'plan.'

  Al Arabiya News notes,  "Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants executed 46 people and besieged 500 families in the Iraqi city of Heet, Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent to Anbar reported on Wednesday."  Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin (AP) add, "Hit was captured by Islamic State militants earlier this month after heavy clashes with the government security forces and tribal militias."  Earlier this month.

When you're losing cities, you aren't making "gains."  Even if you retake them, you are not making "gains." The Pentagon keeps labeling this and that "Islamic State propaganda" but the Defense Dept isn't averse to circulating its own propaganda.

Loveday Morris (Washington Post via the UK Independent) provides the reality that the Defense Dept keeps glossing over:

But a visit to the Sunni settlement this week laid bare the huge cost of that victory. The town is now emptied of its 80,000 residents, and building after building has been destroyed – by air strikes, bombings and artillery fire.

After four months of battles between the Isis and the Iraqi army, about 10,000 pro-government Shia militiamen were poured into this area in Babil province for a final push, according to Hadi al-Amiri, who leads the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade and co-ordinated the operation.

Defeating the militants involved clearing out all the residents and leaving the town nearly flattened, underscoring the challenge the Shia-led government faces in areas where demographics do not work in its favour.

And that's what the Pentagon -- and White House -- insists is a 'success.'

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