Tuesday, April 08, 2014

THIS JUST IN! 'OUR' BECOMES 'HIS'!


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

WHEN FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF NEEDED A LITTLE PICK ME UP LAST MONTH, HE JAUNTED OFF TO BELGIUM FOR 24 HOURS, HOPING TO IMPRESS FOREIGN MEDIA AND GARNER SOME LOVE.

WHILE THERE HE MADE HIS 'I LOVE WAR ON IRAQ' SPEECH AND HE ALSO SPENT $3 MILLION DOLLARS -- U.S. TAX PAYER DOLLARS.

REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O INSISTED HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO SPEND THE MONEY, "IT'S MINE!  ALL OF IT!  I'M GOING TO SPEND EVERY PENNY BEFORE THEY PUT ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE!  IT'S ALL MINE!  MINE!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Iraq is supposed to hold parliamentary elections April 30th.  The outcome is supposed to determine who the prime minister is.  Supposed to?  Following the December 2005 parliamentary elections, the US government imposed Nouri al-Maliki on Iraq as prime minister.  Following the March 2010 parliamentary elections, the US government imposed Nouri al-Maliki on Iraq as prime minister.  Kurdistan Tribune's Kamal Chomani tells Joel Wing (Musings on Iraq), "What makes the elections more interesting is that all political parties, including Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, are unanimously trying to put an end to PM Maliki's authoritarian wishes, but it is very much clear that Maliki will win. The whole elections will be about Maliki. The elections are like a referendum on Maliki as in Turkey it was on Erdogan."

But the elections in 2010, the ones Nouri's State of Law lost to Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya?  Those were a referendum as well even if US President Barack Obama chose to spit on the Iraqi voters by installing Nouri (via The Erbil Agreement) for a second term he didn't win.  As Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) noted last month, "Which is to say the US forced a puppet government into power before it left, despite Prime Minister Maliki losing the last election, and put in place an election system so crooked that even the Maliki-appointed election commission resigned en masse yesterday rather than take part in April’s planned vote."

Will the pattern of the US government insisting Nouri be prime minister repeat or will Iraqis finally be able to determine for themselves who they want as a leader?

That may be the biggest news to come out of the election.

In 2010, Nouri decided he was too good to run with his political party (Dawa) so he created his own coalition: State of Law.

Being stupid and physically ugly doesn't make you an automatic member of State of Law, but it doesn't hurt. Reidar Visser (Gulf Analysis) offered yesterday that State of Law was witnessing a number of defections and he identifies two as being the most potentially damaging:

Firstly there is list 228, headed by Izzat Shahbandar as candidate no. 1 in Baghdad. It is also running in Wasit, Basra, Dhi Qar and Karbala. The list also includes former Iraqiyya member Abd al-Khadar Tahir, reflecting perhaps the fact that Shahbandar was formerly one of the Maliki aides considered most sympathetic to the idea of cooperating with Sunnis and secularists. Judging from the make-up of his list, though, the successes in this respect north of Baghdad remain limited, even after the split from Maliki.
Second there is list 211, associated with Sami al-Askari. It will run in most Shiite-majority governorates as well as in Diyala. Another leading figure on the list is Najaf governor Adnan al-Zurfi. Given the connection to Najaf, the list has links to Shiite religious circles in Iraq’s holy cities. At the same time these are politicians with a record of dialogue with the Americans and the West, perhaps more so than some of the more Iran-sympathetic circles within State of Law.



As the date looms, many interesting developments occur.  Sunday's developments revolved  around cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr.  For example, All Iraq News reported:


The head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, Ammar al-Hakim, and the head of Sadr Trend, Muqtada al-Sadr, discussed the political situation and the next elections.
A statement received by All Iraq News Agency cited "Hakim met Sadr in Najaf province on last Saturday night."
"Hakim confirmed the necessity of adopting national unified stances and to consolidate dialogue among the political sides," the statement added.

Moqtada and al-Hakim have been close, working partners since the summer of 2013.  Al-Monitor's Harith Hassan tells Joel Wing (Musings On Iraq), "Although Pro-Sadr block and Hakim’s coalition are running separately, it is very likely they will ally after the election, especially if they feel this move will help blocking Maliki’s attempt to win a third term."  Moqtada had another high profile discussion Sunday.  NINA noted:


Kurdistan leader Massoud Barzani discussed on Sunday with head of the Sadrists bloc cleric Moqtada al-Sadr the political and security situation in the country.
A statement by the presidency of the Region today, said that Barzani and al-Sadr held a telephone conversation during which they stressed the need to hold parliamentary elections as scheduled in a stable and quiet atmosphere.

Interesting since Moqtada was 'out of politics.'  Clearly, that's not the case.  He wouldn't be talking elections today with Ammar al-Hakim and with KRG President Massoud Barzani.

Moqtada al-Sadr announced his political retirement February 15th.  February 18th, he delivered a speech --  CounterPunch posted the speech in full  -- emphasizing his decision. February 26th,  NINA noted the rumors that Moqtada left Iraq, "The sources noted in a press statement that Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr left today's afternoon the city of Najaf heading to the Islamic Republic of Iran in order to complete his religious studies and stay away from the political scene as he officially announced for all Iraqis."  Yet March 14th, Moqtada returned to Iraq.

Clearly, Moqtada has not stepped away from the political scene.  Things might be easier for Nouri if he had.

Who was it that got Moqtada to return?  Who should Nouri blame for that?

From the March 14th snapshot:


Background. Nouri's big mouth ended up tanking his own two-day conference.  For those who missed it, Nouri's fat mouth was flapping last Saturday insulting many as he spoke to France24.  France 24's Mark Perelman interviewed (link is text and video) Nouri for a half hour broadcast which aired Saturday.  In the interview, Nouri's well noted paranoia was on full display as he repeatedly declared, in the very first two minutes, his alleged 'victory' over those attempting to turn Iraq and Syria into one country ("there are goals to create a one state," "create a state -- one part in Syria and one part in Iraq").  He continued to gab and began accusing other countries of supporting terrorism (he was supposedly going to reveal proof of his gossip in the conference but, as usual, his fat mouth made empty promises).  He also insulted Moqtada.


That's right, Moqtada returned because Nouri attacked him on French television.  Alsumaria notes that a State of Law MP denounced Moqtada and Barzani's conversation.  State of Law is clearly upset by Moqtada's return.  They need to remember Nouri is the reason Moqtada is back.



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"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O EXPLODES!"
Posted by at

Sunday, April 06, 2014

THIS JUST IN! BARRY O EXPLODES!



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

IT'S ONE SNIT FIT AFTER ANOTHER AT THE WHITE HOUSE THESE DAYS.

AN ANGRY BARRY O SPENT THE BULK OF SATURDAY HURLING OBJECTS AT A WALL TO SMASH THEM.

WHAT HAD HIM SO ANGRY?

NO, IT WASN'T ANOTHER SELFIE.

IT WAS LEARNING THAT THE BLOCKBUSTER FILM CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER CALLS OUT THE WHITE HOUSE POLICIES.

"I GOT F**KED!" SCREAMED BARRY O.  "AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET F**KED, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!  THEY SCREWED ME OVER SO THE LEAST THEY COULD HAVE DONE IS SCREW ME!  I MEAN CHRIS EVANS, HUBBA, HUBBA, HUBBA!  I'D RIDE HIS FLAGPOLE LIKE OLD GLORY!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Will today be remembered as the day Iraq War supporter Hillary Clinton's presidential dreams vanished?

Possibly.

A letter from [PDF format warning] the Office of Inspector General letter might just do the trick.

Fox News noted:

The Office of Inspector General, in a March 20 "management alert" to department leaders, said the department has failed to provide all or some of the files for $6 billion worth of contracts in the last six years.
"The failure to maintain contract files adequately creates significant financial risk and demonstrates a lack of internal control over the Department's contract actions," the memo said.

Adam Kredo (Free Beacon) noted, "The State Department misplaced and lost some $6 billion due to the improper filing of contracts during the past six years, mainly during the tenure of former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, according to a newly released Inspector General report."


But nobody appeared to know what they had.

Let's first note how this plays out in a campaign.  The obvious question is one of competency as in, "Can she handle the presidency when she couldn't even handle the State Dept budget?"

It needs to be noted that Hillary has spent her year-plus since resigning as Secretary of State with only one public goal: To present herself baddest bitch in the whole damn town.

She's screamed for war, compared people to Hitler -- Let's just stop for a moment on that.  How do you become president when you're screaming "Hitler!" at someone?

At any rate, she's attempted to prove just how tough she is -- as if anyone ever doubted she could be cold blooded or ruthless.

And now this comes up.

How is John Kerry better Secretary of State than Hillary Clinton?

There are a lot of variables which go to opinion.  And there are some people who would argue that neither are good in their positions.

But these are appointments, these people are not elected, they are appointed.  Since the American people had no say in the process -- despite paying their salaries -- it is especially important that they do their jobs and do the jobs professionally.  In a democracy, you're supposed to have an open government.

Does Hillary grasp that?

John Kerry did.

Let's drop back to the April 17, 2013 snapshot, where we reported on that day's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing:


Chair Ed Royce:  I'd also like to call your attention to the State Department's Inspector General's Office.  This is the key independent office looking at waste and fraud.  Mr. Secretary, as of today, there has been no permanent State Department Inspector General for over five years.  This includes President Obama's entire first term.   The Committee raised this issue in a bi-partisan letter sent to you in February and we would like to see an immediate appointment to this position.

 Secretary John Kerry:  On the IG, you're absolutely correct.  We're -- we're trying to fill a number of positions right now, the IG among them.  The greatest difficulty that I'm finding now that I'm on the other side of the fence is frankly the vetting process.  And I've got some folks that I selected way back in February when I first came in and it's now April and I'm still waiting for the vetting to move.  I've talked to the White House.  They're totally on board.  They're trying to get it moved.  So I hope that within a very short span of time, you're going to see these slots filled.  They need to be.  And that's just the bottom line.  It's important and I commit to you, we will.

 Chair Ed Royce:  I think this is the longest gap that we've had in the history of this position.  So if you could talk to the President about this in short order, we would very much appreciate it. 

 Secretary John Kerry:  I don't need to talk to the President, we're going to get this done.  We know it and we're trying to get the right people.  Matching person to task and also clearing all the other hurdles, as I am finding, is not as easy as one always thinks.  But we'll get it done.  


Kerry kept his word.  As Karen DeYoung (Washington Post) reported yesterday, "The warning was the second 'management alert' in State Department history, both issued by new Inspector General Steve Linick. Linick took over the job in late September, after it had been vacant for nearly six years."

For Hillary's entire four years as Secretary of State, she didn't feel she need to be accountable.  She wasn't about to 'subject' herself to oversight.

She proved to be hostile to it.

It's this sort of thing that made many hate her -- yes, hate -- as First Lady.  She thought she could do whatever she wanted with, for example, health care and do it away from the public eye and from any oversight.  She had the chance, as Secretary of State, to embrace democracy and she chose not to.

$6 billion is unaccounted for and that's largely from her four years.

John Kerry only had to be asked once publicly by Congress about the IG.  And he didn't have to puzzle it.  He didn't have to take the question for the record.  He immediately agreed that an IG was necessary and that there would be someone appointed to that position and that they were already working on it.

But for her entire four year term as Secretary of State, Hillary avoided oversight, she subverted democracy and, in the process, she appears to be unable to account for billions of US taxpayer dollars.

That doesn't say "presidential."  And it means "Travelgate" and all the other scandals or 'scandals' (I didn't think there was anything there beneath the smoke) come back to haunt her.  Secretary of State was supposed to be the prestige position that propelled Hillary to a new level but that didn't happen.

A comment on DeYoung's article is confusing:



sleeve
7:11 AM CST
Once again paying the price for the corrupted GOP refusing to approve needed vital personnel to protect us from the vast network of fraud establish under W went he rented out our government functions to his highest campaign contributors. W belongs in a cage at The Hague.


Is Sleeve stating that the money that's missing/unaccounted for from 2008 to present is Republicans' fault?

If so, is Sleeve saying ("refusing to approve needed vital personnel") that the Republicans in the Senate must have blocked a nomination for the State Dept IG?

If that's what's Sleeve's saying, Sleeve is wrong.

There was no nominee.

And Republicans in Congress joined with Democrats in raising the issue in public letters to the White House and Republicans in the House tended to raise this issue repeatedly.

December 7, 2011 we reported on the House Oversight and Government Reform's National Security Subcommittee hearing.

Subcommittee Chair Jason Chaffetz:  Before recognizing Ranking Member [John] Tierney, I'd like to note that the Defense Dept, State Dept, USAID and SIGAR will not have IGs in January.  In May of this year, I wrote the President asking him to move without delay to appoint replacements.  That letter was signed by Senators [Joe] Lieberman, [Susan] Collins, [Claire] McCaskill and [Rob] Portman, as well as [House Oversight Committee] Chairman [Darrell] Issa and Ranking Member [Elijah] Cummings and Ranking Member Tierney.  I'd like to place a copy of htis record into the record.  Without objection, so ordered.  To my knowledge, the President has yet to nominate any of these replacements, nor has he responded to this letter.  I find that totally unacceptable.  This is a massive, massive effort.  It's going to take some leadership from the White House.  These jobs cannot and will not be done if the president fails to make these appointments.  Upon taking office, President Obama promised that his administration would be "the most open and transparent in history." You cannot achieve transparency without inspectors general.  Again, I urge President Obama and the Senate to nominate and confirm inspectors general to fill these vacancies  and without delay.


So don't blame Republicans or Democrats in Congress for what Hillary did as Secretary of State.  Let's note

Speical Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen from that same hearing:
 


SIGIR Stuart Bowen:  First, I am concerned about maintaining SIGIR's ability to get the information we need to complete ongoing audits and investigations and to continue to provide the kind of comprehensive Quarterly Report coverage that the Congress has come to expect from us. The State Department recently instituted a new bureaucratic process, requiring the channeling of information that we request from the Embassy through Foggy Bottom offices.  This process inevitably will cause delays, impede our capacity to deal directly with the individuals in Iraq responsible for providing the necessary data, and thus reduce our  responsiveness. Symptomatic of this bureaucratic development, one of my investigators, working jointly with the FBI on a criminal case, recently was refused information by the State Department regarding a potential subject (who is a State employee). State directed my investigator to use the "audit process" to obtain this investigative information. Worse, he was challenged as to whether the information, which he had requested in good faith, was even related to "reconstruction funding." This development is just the latest quandary in a predicament-filled year, during which the State Department has repeatedly raised fallacious objections to varying SIGIR requests. I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member -- and the full Committee's leadership -- for their steadfast support of our oversight mission; but these recent issues underscore  the reality of the continuing oversight challenges that confront us. 


Attending hearings on Iraq and what the State Dept was doing there was very frustrating and not just for me watching the interaction but for members of Congress.  As we have noted repeatedly since the State Dept took over the US mission in Iraq in October of 2011,  they did so with no transparency.  They attempted to circumvent Stuart Bowen and his office (which is no more today even though the State Dept continues to have a budget of approximately a billion each year just on Iraq) and they refused to inform his office or the Congress what they were doing.

How bad was it?

For one example, let's drop back to the December 1, 2011 snapshot which covered the November 30th hearing of the  House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East ans South Asia.  The State Dept was represented by Brooke Darby.



US House Rep Gerald Connolly: Madame Deputy Assistant Secretary, welcome. Is it your testimony here today that the State Dept is fully committed to transparency and accountability with respect to any and all programs it has oversight and responsibility for in Iraq?
 

Brooke Darby: We take our responsibility for accountability and cooperation with all of the  audit entities, with Congress very, very seriously.
 

US House Rep Gerald Connolly: No, ma'am, that was not my question.  Is it your testimony that you're fully committed to transparency and accountability with respect to those responsibilities?

 
Brooke Darby: We are absolutely committed to accountability.

 
US House Rep Gerald Connolly: Full accountability?  Full transparency and accountability?
 
Brooke Darby:  I'm not sure -- I'm not sure how you define that so . . .

 
US House Rep Gerald Connolly:  Well I guess I'm not sure why you avoid the word.  That was my question and you've ducked it three times.  Are we or are we not, is the State Dept committed to full transparency and accountability to the tax payers in the United States and the people who served in Iraq or not?

 
Brooke Darby:  We absolutely are accountable to the tax payers, to our Congress and to all of the oversight bodies who are looking into how we are spending our dollars, whether our programs are achieving success.  We are absolutely --
 



US House Rep Gerald Connolly:  Alright. I'll sort of take that as a commitment. 


This was characteristic of Hillary's tenure as Secretary of State.  The Congress was unable to get answers -- especially ahead of the transfer of Iraq from a DoD-led mission to a State Dept-led one and in all the time that followed that transfer.

Six billion is unaccounted for.  And the bulk of it is from Hillary's term as Secretary of State.  She came in with no IG and she demanded no IG.  She served four years without any check or oversight.  And she and her people stonewalled Congress and any body or official attempting to provide oversight.

The missing money is a mark against her and against what she tries to pass off as "leadership."  No oversight, no accountability, that's not leadership in a democracy.




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"THIS JUST IN! BETRAYED!"
Posted by at

Friday, April 04, 2014

THIS JUST IN! BETRAYED!

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

FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O IS FUMING MAD AFTER BOSTON RED SOX PLAYER DAVID ORTIZ TOOK A SELFIE WITH BARRY O AND THEN IT TURNED OUT TO BE A SAMSUNG PLOY.

WHITE HOUSE PLUS-SIZE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY EXPLAINED THIS AFTERNOON TO THESE REPORTERS THAT BARRY O WAS FURIOUS WHEN BARRY O CUT HIM OFF.

"HE BETRAYED ME!  THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PERSONAL, BETWEEN US!" BARRY O SCREECHED.  "IT'S LIKE HE RELEASED A SEX TAPE!  HOW DARE HE USE ME!  I WAS ONCE THE MOST POPULAR PERSON IN THE WORLD AND WHEN I WAS I USED PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME!  NO ONE USES ME!  NO ONE!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:


Today Aaron Glantz and the Center for Investigative Reporting report the disturbing news of 1,000 veterans who died wrongful deaths (the VA had paid out $200 million for these deaths):

 In that time, CIR found the agency made wrongful death payments to nearly 1,000 grieving families, ranging from decorated Iraq War veterans who shot or hanged themselves after being turned away from mental health treatment, to Vietnam veterans whose cancerous tumors were identified but allowed to grow, to missed diagnoses, botched surgeries and fatal neglect of elderly veterans.

On PRI's The Takeaway with John Hockenberry today, Aaron Glantz spoke about his new report.  Excerpt.

 John Hockenberry:  Aaron Glantz, what is it that the VA was doing here by putting up this process instead of treating veterans' symptoms which you would think a medical institution ought to be doing?

 Aaron Glantz: This is something that we hear so often talking with veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and where the VA has some of the best psychologists, doctors, psychiatrists in the country at treating war trauma.  But then the agency has this unyielding bureaucracy that makes it difficult for anyone to see any of these clinicians.  We always hear about long wait times for necessary care and what we found in our investigation that since 9-11, the VA had paid out over $200 million to nearly a thousand veterans who died under the VA's care -- and many of them died waiting for necessary treatment that might have saved their lives.

 John Hockenberry:  Now, Aaron, some might look at that $200 million in wrongful death claims and the 1,000 individuals that are involved here and say, "Okay, the system is working.  The VA has a huge amount of responsibility.  These are some errors that were corrected."  How do you view this?

 Aaron Glantz:  It's true the VA sees more than 6 million veterans every year.  Somebody could take a look at the 1,000 deaths that the VA paid out money in a wrongful death settlement and say, "Well some degree of medical error is inevitable dealing with a system this big."  The way I look at it is these are people who served their country, who went to war, they did what we told them to do and then they got home with the expectation that the government, which sent them to war, had created a health care system which would take care of them and meet their needs. And it's important that we really assess how often we fail these veterans and whether or not the VA is doing enough to prevent these deaths from occurring.




Matthew M. Burke (Stars and Stripes) reports on efforts to address this and other issues, US House Rep Jeff Miller is the Chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee:


  In February, Miller and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced the VA Management Accountability Act of 2014 in the House and the Senate, respectively. The legislation by the Florida Republicans would give the VA secretary complete authority to fire or demote VA Senior Executive Service or equivalent employees based on performance — the same authority members of Congress have to fire their own staffers. Congress would then be notified for purposes of oversight.
The legislation was introduced Feb. 11 and the committee heard stakeholder opinions during a March 25 hearing. It has 40 co-sponsors from both parties and the support of the major veterans service organizations. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined GOP leaders and representatives of several veterans’ service organizations Thursday in the Capitol to discuss the legislation.
“There are some serious problems over at the VA,” Boehner said during the news conference, and the legislation is “another tool” to hold VA facilities accountable.


“What’s missing from the equation is not money or manpower, it’s accountability,” Miller told Stars and Stripes.


At the Defense Dept website, Erin Wittkop notes retired General Peter Chiarelli continues to advocate on behalf of veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress, "Nobody who's 22-years-old wants to be told they have a disorder, that's why I don't call it PTSD.  That's why I call it Post-Traumatic Stress."  Eleanor Goldberg (Huffington Post) writes about PTS today:

One solution is "getting rid of the 'D' in PTSD," Sgt. Thomas James Brennan, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said on HuffPost Live. "My diagnosis absolutely broke my heart. It’s not because I didn’t know that I didn’t have problems. The word 'disorder' made me feel as though I was damaged. I was embarrassed."
At the heart of the issue, experts say, is that service members are trained to be tough, stoic and independent warriors who can withstand anything when it comes to defending their country and their brothers.
Being a fighter and also having an illness that impairs mental health in many cases is a dichotomy that veterans can’t accept. 

Labeling it a "disorder" has created a stigma and yet we see the government 'struggle' to do the right thing which is start referring to it exclusively as PTS.   If Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave that order (or President Barack Obama), the Pentagon would immediately begin referring to it as PTS as would the VA. This would have a ripple effect on the Congress and the press.  And veterans with PTS would be the ones to benefit.  The stigma would be removed. And it wouldn't cost a dime.


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"THIS JUST IN! PRETTY GIRLS MAKE THEIR OWN RULES!"

Posted by at

Thursday, April 03, 2014

THIS JUST IN! PRETTY GIRLS MAKE THEIR OWN RULES!

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

AS FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O TRIES TO DECEIVE THE PUBLIC WITH 'REFORM' OF THE ILLEGAL SPYING, A NEW WRINKLE EMERGES:

The Pentagon’s inspector general is trying to suspend and possibly revoke the top secret access of the Defense Department’s former director of whistleblowing, triggering concerns in Congress that he’s being retaliated against for doing his job.
If the recommendation is acted on, Daniel Meyer would no longer be able to work in his current job as the executive director for intelligence community whistleblowing at a time when President Barack Obama’s reforms of the system are supposed to be underway .

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/04/02/223269/is-whistleblower-advocate-for.html#storylink=cpy



"I'M A DELICIOUSLY WICKED BITCH," BARRY O CACKLED TO THESE REPORTERS TODAY.  "I DO WHAT I WANT AND SCREW THE CONSTITUTION!  PRETTY GIRLS RULE!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Today, at the US State Dept press briefing, spokesperson Marie Harf noted Iraq because Said Arikat, Al Quds bureau chief, raised the issue:



 QUESTION: Can we go to Iraq?

 MS. HARF: Uh-huh.

 QUESTION: The death toll as a result of violence in March was 1,888 in Iraq. And as we’re getting closer to the election day, what is the United States providing in terms of security aid, trying to help the Government of Iraq stemming the violence?

 MS. HARF: Well, a few points. Let me be clear that the elections need to happen. We have every expectation they will. This is an important step forward for the people of Iraq in choosing what they want their country to look like going forward, so elections need to happen as scheduled.
We are concerned by the continued escalation of violence in Iraq. We know there’s been a number of adverse impacts on the population, including massive civilian displacement.
In terms of security assistance, I don’t think I have anything new to update you for on that. I would – and so we are working very closely with the Iraqi Government on the security issue. I can see if there’s more update for you on what we’ve provided. We believe it’s very, as I said, very important for these elections to go forward. They’ve held successful elections in the past during periods of significant violence, which is obviously not the situation we want to see, but I think – I just want to underscore the importance for the Iraqi people of these elections going forward.

 QUESTION: Could you – these deliveries that were promised last fall, could you update us or --

 MS. HARF: Which ones are you talking about specifically?

 QUESTION: Well, there were the Hellfire missiles --

 MS. HARF: Uh-huh.

 QUESTION: -- the – other equipment, helicopters and --


 MS. HARF: Yeah. Let me see. Said, let me take that and check with our folks and see what has been delivered.


The State Dept thinks elections need to happen?

No, they don't.  They don't give a damn about real elections or they would be speaking up as Iraqis denied the right to vote in the planned April 30th parliamentary elections.  Elections were supposed to take place in all 19 provinces (the KRG increased by 1 province last month).  But Iraqi elections, to be legitimate, must include the displaced.  And they have in the past.  In fact, Nouri's attempt to short change refugees out of the country in 2009 pushed the parliamentary elections back to 2010 (Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi used his veto power to sink the bill).


The illegal war in Iraq created the largest refugee crisis the region had seen in over sixty years.  Many fled to neighboring countries.  That's why, in 2010, polling stations for the elections were all over the world.  Syria has a large number -- even now -- of Iraqi refugees.   This go-round, it has been decided that refugees in Syria will not be allowed to vote (see the March 3rd snapshot).

It is stated that Syria is just too dangerous for a polling station.  Syria, Jordan and Lebanon remain the three countries with the highest number of Iraqi refugees as a result of their sharing borders with Iraq (and as a result of governments like the US leaving them stranded -- both in terms of ridiculous regulations and, in Syria, by closing down the means the refugees had to apply for admission to the US).

As we pointed out weeks ago, "Then again, it really just effects the Sunnis so maybe that's why it didn't receive any coverage?"

You saw that yesterday:

Yes, campaigning kicked off today and to ensure that the corruption could take hold, broken promises were not called out.  Sameer N. Yacoub (AP) reports, "If the fighting goes on, Iraqi military officials say it would be impossible to hold elections inside the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, which has been taken over by the militants — but they hint the vote could perhaps be held on the city's outskirts. As many as a third of the province's cities might be affected, election officials say."  AFP words it, "Though not officially confirmed, the vote appears unlikely to take place throughout parts of the western desert province of Anbar, which has been wracked by violence since the beginning of the year, with militants holding control of an entire town on Baghdad’s doorstep."  The US State Dept, once so adamant that elections must take place everywhere in Iraq, was silent on the news.


And today?  Anadolu Agency reports, "Residents of militant-held cities and towns in Iraq's western Anbar province will have to leave their neighborhoods to cast ballots in upcoming parliamentary elections, Anbar Governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi said."  It's real cute how, bit-by-bit,  Nouri al-Maliki chips away at the Sunni vote in his attempt to win a third term as prime minister.

Only one person right now is speaking up, cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr.  Al Arabiya News reports:

 Iraq’s Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr urged Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday not to run for a third term, accusing him of terrorizing Sunnis so that they don’t go to the polls in the upcoming April 30 general election.
“I advise brother Maliki… brother Maliki thinks he served Iraq, let him rest for four years, and see if whoever comes next would serve better… if not let him come back after four years, it is not a problem,” Sadr told reporters in Najaf, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad.

The Shiite leader, who had announced his withdrawal from active politics, accused Maliki’s government of “building a dictatorship” by excluding candidates from the parliamentary elections.

Good for Moqtada but how telling that he can speak the truth that the State Dept can't.


Nouri al-Maliki's assault on Anbar is months old and still continuing.  Nigel Wilson (IBT) notes, "The violence in Anbar began when government forces stormed a protest camp last December. The protestors had been there for a year, disgruntled by government neglect and withholding of regional funds."  It was a bit more complex than that -- there was the issue of the rape and torture of Iraqi girls and women in detention centers and prisons, there was the lack of public services, the lack of jobs . . .   But the storming of the camp, the murder of protesters, did kick off this assault.


In his continued shelling of residential neighborhoods in Falluja, Nouri has killed 2 civilians and injured five more (including children).  This is the dictator Barack insisted Iraq must keep in 2010, even though Nouri lost that election.  Barack knew better than the people of Iraq.  Strange because after insisting  Nouri remain prime minister, Barack's not visited the country once.

He won't visit a country where a thug like Nouri is in charge but he'll inflict Nouri on the people of Iraq who've already suffered more than enough.

And as the suffering continues, people aren't staying silent except in the United States.  One of the most vocal statements was issued by Campaña Estatal contra la Ocupación y por la Soberanía de Iraq (CEOSI) and BRussells Tribunal carries it here.  Excerpt:

   At the beginning of 2011, the different peaceful protests that began to struggle fight against the occupation — involving trade unions, students, human rights activists, etc.,— unified their efforts in what was called the February 25th Movement [5] and reached a national level.
This peaceful resistance was suppressed by the state and intentionally ignored by the mainstream media, which largely led to its disappearance. However, this long journey of struggle and growing popular discontent has been the root of the popular revolution that we are witnessing today in Iraq.
Since late 2012, these demonstrations and popular and peaceful sit-ins have resumed in some western provinces; they have been spread to the South and have reached the capital, Baghdad. [6] Despite the government non-stop attempts to put an end to the protests, they have continued till now, especially in Central and West Iraqi provinces, where people have been suffering persecution and the regime’s sectarian policies. There are many reasons for the people to take the streets: Corruption, sectarianism, unemployment, lack of access to basic services, illegal arrests, etc., which derives from the foreign occupation and from a class rule that triggers hatred, division, power struggles and the plundering of the national resources. In 2011 the reasons for the popular revolution were crystal clear in the mottos demanding the withdrawal of the U.S. troops and the removal of the regime.
For more than two months now, the Maliki government has been waging a war against the Iraqi people in several provinces in an attempt to end the popular revolution. Although the protests have been totally peaceful, Maliki has accused the population of these (majority Sunni) areas of being part of or supporting the terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. [7] Without any hesitations, the government continues bombing the civilians, while receiving military aid from the U.S., Russia and Iran. The bombing has caused numerous deaths and new waves of refugees. [8] In response to the government attacks, the population has organized itself into military councils to protect its territory and fight for what all Iraqis ― from North to South ― have demanded since the beginning of the occupation: prosperity, unity and national sovereignty. [9]

In these critical time to Iraq, CEOSI would like to express its full support for the Iraqi popular revolution — armed and peaceful— and we state that the military councils have been created for self-defense due to the total absence of legal protection and contempt for the law in Iraq; a situation where sectarian and partisan militias run the country and the government, far from ensuring the safety of citizens, exercises state terrorism, so that,




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"THIS JUST IN! HE'S THE BOY NO GIRL COULD CATCH!"




Posted by at

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

THIS JUST IN! HE'S THE BOY NO GIRL COULD CATCH!


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

FOR YEARS, BRADLEY COOPER WAS THE WELL KEPT SECRET OF VICTOR GARBER ON THE SET OF ALIAS.

NOW BRADLEY'S DECIDED TO SPREAD IT AROUND.

TURNS OUT, HE WAS THE ONE WHO GOT FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O INTO THE WHOLE "BETWEEN 2 FERNS" NONSENSE.

REACHED FOR COMMENT AT HIS HOME BY THESE REPORTERS, BRADLEY COOPER ADMITTED IT WAS TRUE BUT ADDED, "WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO GET HIM BETWEEN WAS . . ."

BUT THEN THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT.

THESE REPORTERS NOTICED, AS WE STOOD ON THE FRONT PORCH, HOW STRANGE IT WAS THAT SOMEONE WOULD HAVE A CLOSET DOOR ON THE FRONT OF THEIR HOME.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:
How was your Quil Lawrence Day?  Quil is the NPR 'reporter' who played Americans for fools in 2010.  We'll be dealing with him this month.

But to celebrate this important day for 'reporters' around the world, Kim Segupta decided to write a column and see how many lies he could get away with.  Kim, for those who don't know, writes for the British newspaper The Independent.  In the early '00s, it was known for Robert Fisk.  It's had little of note since.  It's had Patrick Cockburn 'reporting' on a woman being hanged in Iraq when she was actually stoned to death.  They changed it after receiving non-stop ridicule but, because they're 'reporters' and not reporters, they didn't feel the need to tag on a correction notice.  Kim was a basic 'reporter' who basically rewrote AP articles.   He covered Iraq for years and never had a scoop, never broke news.  But, if you want to be honest, the so-called Independent didn't take a hard stand against the Iraq War.

No, they helped sell it too.

And now they want to sell more war.  Which is why Kim emerges from under his rock today to write:

 The issue of reporting Syria came up two weeks ago when a Russian journalist decided to join me and two colleagues, both Western correspondents based in Moscow. The journalist complained about the Western media’s coverage of Ukraine and gave Syria as another example of biased reporting. It was unfortunate for the Russian that he worked for the state-owned Russia Today which had journalists resigning on air at the time to protest against the Kremlin’s actions in Crimea. 

That's cute, Kim.  It's not factual, but it's cute.  And on Quil Lawrence Day, 'reporters' like you especially don't feel the need to be honest.

Journalists resigned on air from RT?

Journalists, Kim?

He probably shouldn't write about things she doesn't understand -- like journalism.

One person resigned.  Liz Wahl -- Fake Ass Liz Wahl.  Read Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek's "How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl's Resignation" (Truth Dig).  Here's Wikipedia on Wahl:

 On March 5, 2014, RT anchor Liz Wahl, of the network's Washington, DC, bureau, resigned on air, blaming RT for propaganda. She explained later "that she felt challenged being the daughter of a U.S. military veteran and being the partner of a physician who works at a U.S. military base, and that is why, personally, she cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin". Wahl claimed that what 'broke' her was that RT censored a question from her interview with Ron Paul about "Russia's intervention in Ukraine". Ron Paul later asserted that he was not censored in any way and that his message was delivered in full and to his satisfaction.[171] Furthermore, the sentence Wahl accused RT of cutting out, supposedly containing the term "intervention", actually contained the term "invasion" and it was in fact televised in full.[172] In response, RT released a statement: "When a journalist disagrees with the editorial position of his or her organization, the usual course of action is to address those grievances with the editor, and, if they cannot be resolved, to quit like a professional. But when someone makes a big public show of a personal decision, it is nothing more than a self-promotional stunt. We wish Liz the best of luck on her chosen path".[173]


Poor Fake Ass Liz.  I'm still confused about her recent public claims to be Asian.  Did she already burn through all the p.r. potential from 'my grandparents were Hungarian immigrants'?

Who knows?

But how did Liz Wahl become "journalists"?  Oh, that's right, 'reporters' like Kim Segupta lie and lie some more.  Why be bound by the facts when you can really smear if you take one and make it plural.  Quil Lawrence is thrilled that Kim Sengupta emulated him on this special day.


Mark Thompson (Time magazine) celebrates Quil Lawrence Day by writing "March Was First Month Without U.S. Fatalities in Iraq or Afghanistan in 11 Years."  Well thank goodness for that.

Some of you may be too young to remember 2002, the year before the Iraq War started, when tens of thousands of Americans were being killed in Iraq.  Not a week went by without a bombing or shooting claiming the life on American citizen.  Bully Boy Bush explained that to protect Americans the US needed to invade Iraq.  And invade the US did and, at last, success is at hand, finally the brutal killings of Americans has ceased in Iraq for at least one month.

What's that?

No Americans were killed in Iraq in 2002?  Bully Boy Bush said Iraq was being invaded to liberate it from "a brutal dictator"?

Well why is Mark Thompson writing his nonsense?

Oh, that's right.  It's the first of the month, we have the death tolls today.

And what better way to ignore the Iraqi dead (and the failure of the Iraq War) than to whore out some stupid ass story about "no US troops killed!"

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issued the following today:
Baghdad, 1 April 2014 – According to casualty figures released today by UNAMI, a total of 592 Iraqis were killed and another 1,234 were injured in acts of terrorism and violence in March*. 



The number of civilians killed was 484 (including 133 civilian police), while the number of civilians injured was 1,104 (including 206 civilian police). A further 108 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed, and 130 were injured (not including casualties from Anbar operation).
“With Elections Day getting nearer, I once again stress the need for unity and a holistic approach to violence and terrorist threat in Iraq. The political, social and religious leaders of Iraq have an urgent responsibility to set up a mechanism for dialogue and conflict resolution between various stakeholders”, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. Nickolay Mladenov said.
*CAVEATS: Data do not take into account casualties of the current IA operation in Anbar, for which we report at the bottom the figures received by our sources.
Civilian Casualties (killed and injured) per governorate
Anbar excluded, Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 657 civilian casualties (180 killed, 477 injured), followed by Salahuddine (95 killed, 205 injured), Babel (63 killed, 175 injured), Ninewa (67 killed, 83 injured), and Diyala (48 killed, 64 injured not including Buhriz operation).

Operations in Anbar
According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, the total civilian casualties in Anbar up to 30 March were 156 killed and 741 injured, with 80 killed and 448 injured in Ramadi and 76 killed and 293 injured in Fallujah.


Iraq Body Count -- which has been counting the dead since the start of the war -- counts 1009 dead from March violence.  Jason Ditz (Antiwar.com) reports:

Another month has come to an end, leaving a staggering number of people dead across Iraq. Antiwar.com figures show 1,886 killed and 2,186 wounded nationwide, with 1,063 of the dead civilians or security members, and 823 militants.

Why the differences?

For one thing, UNAMI is excluding Anbar.  To a degree, so is Iraq Body Count.  IBC is not counting 'terrorists' killed.  (A) A death is a death and (B) who gets to define?

I don't just mean that from a philosophical stand point -- although there is that.  I mean how many times has the US government, for example, insisted a 'terrorist' was killed only to learn that it was a child or an innocent civilian?

A death is a death.  If you're tracking deaths, that's what you track.

If you want to know how many people died in Iraq in a given period, you need be counting all deaths.




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"THIS JUST IN! $150 MILLION ON VACATION!"

Posted by at

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

THIS JUST IN! $150 MILLION ON VACATION!

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

FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O IS STILL SMARTING OVER REPORTS THAT HE'S SPENT $150 MILLION TAX PAYER DOLLARS ON HIS VACATIONS.

SPEAKING TO THESE REPORTERS THIS AFTERNOON, BARRY O INSISTED THE MONEY WAS WELL SPENT, "WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?  WASTE IT ON EDUCATION?  ON SENIORS?  THIS WAS $150,000,000 WELL SPENT."

WHEN IT WAS POINTED OUT THAT $150,000,000 WOULD BE AN ALL TIME RECORD, BARRY O SIGHED, "SURE I COST A LITTLE MORE, BUT I'M WORTH IT."

 FROM THE TCI WIRE:

In the latest scandal for the Dept of Veterans Affairs, they're turning away homeless veterans.  Senator Patty Murray (Chair of the Senate Budget Committee) wants to know what the Dept thinks it's doing.  Her office issued the following today:




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            CONTACT: Murray Press Office
Monday, March 31st, 2014                                                            202-224-2834
Senator Murray Introduces Emergency Bill to Reverse New VA Policy Change that Has Shut the Doors of Homeless Shelters to Veterans
 
Veterans have been turned away in the wake of sudden VA policy change made in February that limits eligibility for indispensable grant program that supports homeless shelters and providers
 
After Murray introduces legislation, VA NOW says it will temporarily rescind the policy change but final legal opinion could still shutter access for homeless veterans
(Washington D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, on Thursday introduced emergency legislation that would reverse a sudden and largely unexplained Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy change that has restricted homeless veterans' access to housing and services. Senator Murray’s bill, The Homeless Veterans Services Protection Act (S. 2179), reverses a new VA policy by allowing community organizations who receive funding through the VA’s Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program to once again count veterans who don’t meet certain length of service or discharge requirements when calculating the federal GPD allotment that often allows these facilities to operate.
Just two weeks ago, a VA memo went out to these programs forbidding them from counting new homeless veterans who didn’t serve for two years or were given certain “other than honorable” discharges from service. That instruction meant that community organizations in many instances had to begin denying homeless veterans housing, and reversed the standard that VA and these providers have used for two decades. No contingency plan was given to provide for the veterans who would be turned away.
“This is federal bureaucracy at its most heartless,” said Senator Murray. “For the VA to suddenly tell homeless providers that they are limiting a successful, 20 year-old program in a way that will put more veterans on the streets, defies all common sense, particularly when this Administration has set the bold and commendable goal of ending veterans homelessness by 2015. If this is a question of cost the VA needs to come forward and say that and I will fight just as hard for funding as I will to restore eligibility.”
The change also affects the critical Supportive Services for Veteran Families program, which allows VA to award grants to organizations that assist very low income families living in or transitioning to permanent housing by providing them with a range of supportive services.
UPDATE: Monday morning VA announced that they would temporarily place a moratorium on the policy change after Senator Murray introduced legislation to reverse it. However, the VA has indicated that change is only temporary until a final legal opinion, which is expected to reaffirm this ban, is issued.
###
Matt McAlvanah
Communications Director
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834 - press office
202--224-0228 - direct
Twitter: @mmcalvanah




Senator Patty Murray's office
 
Senator Murray's YouTube Channel
 
Senator Murray's Press Office Twitter Account
 
RSS Feed for Senator Murray's office


It would appear the VA doesn't grasp concepts like accountability or transparency.  This is a huge change they made and they did so without informing Congress.  As Senator Murray notes, this impacts a significant number of veterans.

Along with hiding it from Congress, the VA hid the move from the public.  The last time the VA felt the need to inform the public about the issue of homeless veterans was in the January 14th press release entitled "Grant Program One of Many VA Initiatives to End Veterans' Homelessness."  The Secretary of the VA Eric Shinseki is quoted in the release, "Those who have served our Nation should never find themselves on the streets, living without hope. These grants play a critical role in addressing Veteran homelessness by assisting our vital partners at the local level in their efforts.  We are making good progress towards our goal to end Veterans’ homelessness, but we still have work to do."

Those words ring hollow.  Eric Shinseki promised to keep Congress informed after the first big scandal of his tenure.  We covered it here, the House Veterans Affairs Committee on October 14, 2009.  When the country was aghast to learn the veterans attempting to attend college on the GI Bill were instead taking out loans and suffering because the VA couldn't get the checks out.  The press, so eager to prop up the White House, looked the other way and refused to report this statement Shinseki made in the hearing:



I'll be frank, when I arrived, uh, there were a number of people telling me this was simply not executable. It wasn't going to happen. Three August was going to be here before we could have everything in place. Uh, to the credit of the folks in uh VA, I, uh, I consulted an outside consultant, brought in an independent view, same kind of assessment.  'Unless you do some big things here, this is not possible.'  To the credit of the folks, the good folks in VBA, they took it on and they went at it hard. We hired 530 people to do this and had to train them. We had a manual system that was computer assisted. Not very helpful but that's what they inherited. And we realized in about May that the 530 were probably a little short so we went and hired 230 more people. So in excess of 700 people were trained to use the tools that were coming together even as certificates were being executed.  Uhm, we were short on the assumption of how many people it would take. We based our numbers on the Montgomery GI Bill which is about a 15 minute procedure. The uh chapter thirty-three procedures about an hour on average, maybe an hour and 15 minutes. So right off the bat, we had some issues with assumptions. Uh, we are still receiving certificates of enrollment. This week alone, we received 36,000 certificates of enrollment coming from schools who are working through the process and we put them into the execute of providing those checks -- three checks.


Get it?  He was told there were problems, he then hired a consultant who said the same thing.  But he refused to tell Congress, he refused to tell the public.  Some veterans were still waiting in December and those with a child or children noted repeatedly that since they were still waiting for the checks they should have received the previous August or September, there would be no Christmas for their kids.

Heads should have rolled.

They didn't.

And in all the subsequent scandals we've heard Shinseki do the Accountability Comedy Routine.  That's when a government official says, "I take accountability."  They say that -- and here's the joke -- then they don't resign and they're not fired.  "I take accountability" really just means, "I'm bored, let's move on."

In March of 2013, Robert Rosebrock (Veterans Today) noted:

General Eric K. Shinseki (Ret. USA), Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), has continuously failed our Military Veterans, including failing to file and execute disability claims in a timely manner and to provide quality healthcare and housing for disabled homeless Veterans, particularly in Los Angeles where there’s already a National Veterans Home established 125 years ago, but the buildings are vacant and rat-infested while the land is misappropriated for non-Veteran use.
It’s well-documented that nationwide the VA has a shameful back-log of over 900,000 disability claims with Veterans waiting up to 650 days to get necessary healthcare care and disability benefits.
During a recent Senate Hearing, members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee demanded the VA turn over its internal performance data to give Congressional lawmakers direct insight as to why the agency is so dysfunctional.
Consistent with the VA’s modus operandi, Allison Hickey, the VA’s undersecretary for benefits, was evasive, vague, dismissive, non-cooperative and refused to turn over requested data.

Think about it: If the VA openly and defiantly stonewalls the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and denies them pertinent information, what must it be like for lonely disabled Veterans in the isolated office of intimidating and confrontational VA bureaucrats?


Shinseki, Kathleen Sebelius and so many others think it's hilarious to stand up in public and perform the Accountability Comedy Routine because they long ago realized that no one gets fired in the current administration.   Even Lois I'm-a-public-servant-but-I-plead-the-5th-and-refuse-to-testify-to-Congress-about-the-work-I-did-work-the-taxpayers-paid-for Lerner was allowed to retire when she should have been fired.

But no one gets fired.


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"He didn't speak"
"THIS JUST IN! HE WORKS SO HARD!"

Posted by at

Sunday, March 30, 2014

THIS JUST IN! HE WORKS SO HARD!

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

FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O WRAPPED UP HIS SAUDI ARABIA VISIT WITHOUT EVER RAISING ANY SIGNIFICANT ISSUES INCLUDING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN SAUDI ARABIA -- THIS DESPITE HIS FOREVER POSING AS AN ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN.


REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O STATED, "LOOK, I TRAVELED TO THE DAMN COUNTRY.  ISN'T THAT ENOUGH?  AS IT IS, I'M BEHIND ON MY T.V. WATCHING BUT DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT THAT?  NOPE!  I WENT THERE.  WAS I ALSO REQUIRED TO SPEAK?"




FROM THE TCI WIRE:



We'll start with Congress.  In yesterday's snapshot, we covered some of the Wednesday joint-hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Kat covered the hearing in "When stupid talks to stupid (Congressional hearing)" and Wally covered it in "Rural veterans (Wally)."  The House Committee Chair is Jeff Miller, the Ranking Member is Mike Michaud (Wally covered Michaud in his post).  The Senate Chair is Bernie Sanders.  The Ranking Member is Richard Burr who was not present.  Senator Johnny Isackson acted as Ranking Member.

The testimony came from the Veterans Service Organization The American Legion -- and the testimony was mainly presented by National Commander Daniel Dellinger.  We'll note two more who accompanied him as we note the three questions Chair Bernie Sanders had.


 Senate Committee Chair Bernie Sanders:  Right now there are tens of thousands, mostly women, who are taking care of disabled vets -- in some cases 24-7 under great stress and this is just not easy to do.  Some of us would like to see the Caregivers Act that we passed for the 9-11 veterans be extended.  I would like your feelings on that.  Should it be extended to all generations of veterans?

Daniel Dellinger:  We do agree with your assessment on that, Mr. Chairman.  It needs to happen.  Our -- actually our Veterans Rehabilitation Committee Chairman [Ralph] Bozella has been looking into that and I'd like to ask him to give some comments on that.  

 Senate Chair Bernie Sanders:  Thank you. Mr. Bozella?

 Ralph Bozella:  Thank you, Commander, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman and members.  The Caregivers Act is the three pieces: the primary, the general and the family.  And, as you stated, Mr. Chairman, the current way that it works is that with this new generation The Caregiver Act of the OIF and OEF is where the lion share of the funding is going.  And what we would really like to see is that funding extended to the general and the family portion with the understanding that all veterans who need that care should be given the same financial resources to have that done in their homes.

 Senate Committee Chair Bernie Sanders:  Thank you.  Second issue I'd like you to comment on, historically VA has covered dental care for service related problems.  You have an oral problem?  They're there. But for veterans who have dental problems that are not service related, there really is no care.  Do you think we should begin the process through a pilot project or whatever expanding VA health care into the area of dental care. 

 Daniel Dellinger:  We definitely agree with the assessment also because as we all know if you -- if you -- dental hygiene directly relates to-to the body which in turn would-would alleviate some infections and also improve the overall health of your body and would also -- should actually decrease the amount of treatments necessary for veterans.  

 Senate Committee Chair Bernie Sanders: Finally, one of the last things I want to touch on has been that some 2300 men and women have come home with wounds that make it difficult or impossible for them to have babies and have families. And some of us believe that the VA should help with in vitro fertilization, with the adoption process, to give them the opportunity -- if they want -- to have families. Is that a sensible proposal to you, Mr. Commander?

 Daniel Dellinger:  We've been looking at that.  That was part of your bill.  And we actually do not, at this time have a resolution on that.  I'd like to turn this over to our legislative because they've been looking into this since your bill was introduced. 

 Brett Reistad:  Senator, Mr. Chairman, indeed this is something that we are taking a look at.  There are a lot of different issues associated with costs and types of procedures that would take place if this were something that the government funded.  Uh, we anticipate that this is something that we will have a stance on at some point in time upon further study by our organization.

Okay, let's get real.  For those late to the party, "your bill," the comment by Daniel Delligner, refers to the last week of February when there was a vote.  Thursday, February 27th, Senator Patty Murray (who is the Senate Budget Committee Chair and was the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chair prior to Sanders) went to the floor of the Senate to make an incredibly strong argument for why this was needed.  Late Thursday, as noted in the February 28th snapshot, the vote was shot down in the Senate.

And if you're as stupid as The American Legion hopes you are, that's not just where the story ends, it's also where it begins.

Poor American Legion.  Last week of February and they can't just pull an opinion out of their ass.

That's what they hope you believe.

But thing is, it didn't start there.

When Senator Patty Murray was the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, she introduced  S. 3313, The Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvement Act of 2012 to address this issue.  She explained it at a June 27, 2012 Committee hearing (we covered that hearing in the June 27th and June 28th snapshots). 

And am I mistaken or did Dellinger not tell the same two Committees September 10, 2013 that they'd place a special priority on health care for female veterans (I'm not mistaken, my notes show that he said they had a task force which did research from November 2012 to April 2013 which "focused on women veterans' health care").

So the point here is this has been proposed since 2012.  The American Legion has refused to take a position on the issue.

And let's note something else about Commander Dellinger.

Did MST stop?

Did Military Sexual Trauma vanish?

Last time he gave the American Legion testimony, he could give lip service to the problem.  If it's too much for you, maybe you should step down.  I'm looking at my notes and when Fang Wong was National Commander of the Legion, he could address MST.  It's really strange that Delligner came in so recently with so many promises and none of them are being met.  If the Legion finally has the Women Veterans Outreach Coordinator, Wong noted (September 21, 2011 to the joint-hearing of the Veterans Affairs Committees) that they would be hiring one, the Legion doesn't value the position very much.  I can see endless men and two two or three token women (like the "historian") as I flip through the Legion's webpages of various 'officers' or 'officials' or whatever b.s. titles they give themselves.  I don't see the Women Veterans Outreach Coordinator.  In in those miles and miles of elderly White men occupying one position after another, I don't see anything that young veterans can relate to.

Now I know at one point in 2011, the Legion had Amanda Leigh in that role -- while also making her hold down the post of Assistant Director of Veterans Affairs &  Rehabilitation Division.  And if you search the Legion's website for her, you'll see they haven't noted her since 2012.  So is she gone?  Is the position gone?  Seems like if you have a Women Veterans Outreach Coordinator, you note it at the website.  Like maybe on your "Women Veterans" page.  If the position still exists, how is any outreach taking place when a female veteran visiting the website would never find out about it?


Dellinger's doing a lousy job.  Wednesday, he read a long statement -- which didn't note MST once in the 18 pages -- and then had no little to no knowledge of what he had just read.  It was embarrassing.

I don't have any respect for the current leadership because they show no respect for Congress (or the people's dime) by showing up and thinking they can b.s. their way through a Congressional hearing and (b) they show no respect for women.

To be clear, there are a huge number of issues facing veterans.  Stating publicly that you have no position?  Many do say that -- some because their membership has no position, some because they don't want to get in the middle of a Congressional squabble.  And I can respect that.  I can even respect someone coming out against a needed measure.  But the American Legion didn't just play the 'oh, we don't know' card this week, they've played it since 2012 and you're being played if you buy for a minute that this was a new issue for them.  And it wasn't a 'new' issue in 2010 when the American Legion representative (attorney) for a veteran didn't show up in court to represent them -- do we want to go there, because I can go there.

So let flow the hydrants
And we'll dance in the spray
And we'll wash our dirty laundry
In the alleyway
-- "Put Your Love Out In The Street," written by Carly Simon, first appears on her Playing Possum

The American Legion has a really sad record on the in vitro issue.  And maybe women veterans need to be aware of that when they're looking for a VSO that will serve them.  15 typed pages.  Single-space.  That's how long Dellinger's opening remarks were (he didn't get to read it all but was told it would go into the record).  Yet he never mentioned MST.  Not one damn time.

Women veterans need to know that.

Women veterans need to know that the American Legion is not a friend to them.

And if that truth hurts, Dellinger, maybe it's time the AL started delivering on all the public promises they've made to women veterans in the last three years.



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