Barack's 15 minutes of fame tick down

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   LAST WEEK BARACK OBAMA MADE AN ASS OUT OF HIMSELF ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WHINING ABOUT HOW 'TOUGH' HE HAS IT AND THEN GETTING NASTY ON THE DISABLED/CHALLENGED COMMUNITY TO GET A FEW CHEAP LAUGHS.  (BARACK IS PICTURED BELOW ATTEMPTING TO SEDUCE JAY LENO AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.)     SUNDAY NIGHT HE MADE JOAQUIN PHOENIX LOOK SANE AS HE GIGGLED AND LAUGHED ABOUT THE ECONOMIC CRISIS CAUSING 60 MINUTES' STEVE KROFT TO ASK HIM IF HE WERE "PUNCH DRUNK"?   AS HE GETS MORE AND MORE ERRATIC, HOLLYWOOD STARLET BARACK FINDS THE PUBLIC TURNING ON HIM: HALF AS MANY PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF HIM AS LOVE HIM.  RUMOR HAS IT TEAM BARACK'S ABOUT TO ALL GET "THEIR ASS KICKED!" AND BARACK'S GOING TO SEE IF BRITNEY SPEARS' FATHER WILL HANDLE HIS PUBLICITY?                 FROM THE TCI WIRE:   Saturday protests took place across the country but today Amy Goodman continues her non-stop support of the peace movement . . . What's that?  Oh, that's right, Pravda on the Hudson lost interest in the Iraq War years ago.  Which is why Goody's 'coverage' today is: "And protests were held in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities on Saturday to mark the sixth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq."  The 'invasion.'  Not the ongoing illegal war and nothing else on her show would have informed her dwindling audience that the illegal war drags on.  Among the actions which took place Saturday was the March on the Pentagon in DC which was sponsored by organizations such as  The National Assembly to End the Wars, the ANSWER coalition, World Can't Wait and Iraq Veterans Against the War. David Judd and Kristin Lubbert (US Socialist Worker) cover the protests and include Tacoma, Washington; Rochester, NY; San Diego; as well as DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  In San Fransico, they note Andrea who declared, "The Iraq War started when I was 14.  It's outrageous that our government has gotten away with this.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan need to end, and that's why I am out here today." Donna St. George (Washington Post) reported on DC's protest, "Thousands of demonstrators marked the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq with an impassioned protest of the nation's military policies yesterday, demanding that President Obama bring U.S. troops home. The demonstration was the first in Washington of the Obama presidency, replete with many of the same messages of protests during the Bush era. Placards read 'War Is Not the Answer,' 'Troops Out Now' and 'We Need Jobs and Schools, Not War'."   Muhammad Qasim (Islam Online) notes the March on the Pentagon in DC and quotes Sarah Sloan (A.N.S.W.E.R.) stating, "We are marching on the Pentagon and several Corporate War Profiteers on Saturday, March 21, because the people must speak out for what is right. More than 1 million Iraqis have died and tens of thousands of US troops have been wounded or killed since 2003."  Christina Hoag (AP) reports peace activist and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic (author of Born on the Fourth of July) spoke at the Los Angeles rally and explained, "I want to remind the American people of the human cost of war, what it means to be wounded."  Kendra Ablaz (Daily 49er) reports on the LA protest and quotes Dave Wrathall stating "People don't realize we're still fighting this war.  The most common argument is to support our troops.  I do in defense,  but not offense.  There is literally no good reason why we are in Iraq."  Ablaz also quotes Barack Obama voter Kathy Pliska stating he got into office "because he was against the war.  Now he doesn't seem to be as much."  Hint, Pliska, he was never that against it.  That was a fairy tale. Heather Knight and Steve Rubenstein (San Francisco Chronicle link has text and video) report, "Umbrellas mixed with protest signs Saturday in San Francisco, where demonstrators marked the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq with speeches, chanting and a march up Market Street that stretched about three blocks."  Susan Shroder (San Diego Union-Tribune) reports on San Diego's rally where Cindy Sheehan and Bree Walker "were keynote speakers" and quotes Cindy stating, "From what I understand, Barack Obama likes to vacation in Hawaii.  We'll have a much nicer place to protest now than Crawford, Texas."  Matt Otstot (CBS 47 text and video) speaks with Cindy who says, "Unfortunately the new administration is not stopping it, in fact it's escalating in Afghanistan, so I think that now it's more urgent time than ever to be involved and to be active."  KFSN (link has video and text) quotes Cindy stating, "It really has changed the mood of the country. The anti war movement was really strong after that, until democrats got elected, and then it kind of fizzled it. So one of my messages too is that it doesn't matter if it's a Democrat or Republican we can't give up our responsibilities."  Jim de la Vega and Kyra Jenkins (KMPH Fox 26 -- link has text and video) cover Fresno's protest and student Skylar Devoogd is quoted stating, "I'm a college student so education is really important and we're spending $72 million a day on the Iraq War so I believe we should spend more money on education."  Donald Duran III (Daily Lobo) reports on Albuquerque's rally and quotes IVAW's Joe Callan declaring, "So many people are oblivious to the conflicts overseas, and we've been involved in them since 2001. Six years ago yesterday, I was crossing the border from Kuwait into Iraq and going into battle.  We did that multiple times.  We are still doing that, and there are still young men and women out there fighting and dying."  Jackie Loohauis-Bennett (Milawukee Journal Sentinel) reports approximately 200 showed up Saturday to protest the war outside the Milwaukee County Courthouse and quotes IVAW's Jason moon stating, "We want the troops to come home now.  This war is not over.  Tell the guys coming home in boxes that the war is over."  Keith McGilvery (NBC29) covered Virginia's protest outside Augusta County Courthouse and quotes demonstrator Elizabeth La Grua explaining, "I hope they say, 'Oh, wow! There's still people opposed to the war.  Maybe I better think a little bit more about it.  Maybe that $12 billion a month should be spent here'." KITV notes (link has text and video) that protestors in Sioux City gathered on Friday outside the Federal courthouse.   Back to Saturday's actions, Brandon Hudson (Fox 44) notes the protest in Plattsburgh, Vermont and quotes participant Jack Andrus explaining, "We're concerned that people are losing sight of the fact that the war is still going on." Kimberly Thorpe (Dallas Observer) notes approximately 35 turned out in "black shirts and pants and wore white masks over their faces to represent the dead" as they marched through downtown Dallas.  At Thorpe's article, a veteran leaves this comment, "As someone who did bother to show up and march in two protest marches Saturday, the one in Dallas and one earlier that day in Fort Worth organized by Iraq Veterans Against War, what was most striking was how few people were there. The war in Iraq is still going, and Afghanistan is ramping up. The anti-war movement is a pathetic shell of what it was only 4 years ago, figuring Obama will save us all. Obama is not anti-war, and has said as much. As a veteran I marched because someone has to remind our fellow citizens that soldiers and Marines are still dying for lies and corporate profits in foreign lands. But I guess no one cares anymore about supporting the troops."  Joe Griffith (The Independent Collegian) reports on students who went to DC for the March on the Pentagon and quotes Derek Ide explaining, "Suicide bombers don't just exist because they're crazy, insane extremists; they exist because there are material conditions that have pushed them in that direction, and they feel that's the way out."  Protests took place around the world including in Sydney, Austrlia and Manila, Phillipines.  On Firady,, protests took place in six Iraqi cities.  The Honolulu Advertiser notes Baghdad was among the six and chants included "no, no for occupation".  Media whore Amy Goodman ignored Iraq all last week and had the nerve to join self-loathing lesbian Laura Flanders (who forgot to brush her hair and looked ridiculous with that curl on top of her otherwise straight bangs) to talk about Iraq.  Media Whore and professional liar Amy Goodman had five hours of her own to cover Iraq last week and reduced it to a headline but was out in full force with Laura playing Last Journalist Standing yet again.  "It's so important to point out," on the sixth anniversary of the illegal war trashy Amy Goodman wanted to say.  After doing nothing all week.  GritTV, where old whores go to sell it.   In Iraq violence never ends. Mohammed Abbas, Tim Cocks and Charles Dick (Reuters) report a Baghdad bombing at a bus terminal has claimed at least 9 lives with at least twenty-three people left injured.  BBC puts the bombing just outside Baghdad in Abu Ghraib and notes it's the districts "second bombing . . . this month".  DPA quotes sources stating "Awakening" Councils were the bulk of the victims and they report, "Two consecutive blasts rocked a market in the Nasr we al-Salam district of Abu Ghraib, 25km from Baghdad, Shakir Faza, an official with the local police, told German Press Agency dpa."  On "Awakening" Councils, Alissa J. Rubin and Rod Nordland (New York Times) have an important article that we'll assume will appear in tomorrow's paper.  Regardless, we'll pick up the topic tomorrow.  (And watch it be watered down when it runs in the paper.)   This became the 'small' bombing on a day when violence took center stage, even overwhelming what was supposed to be a historic official visit.   CNN reports 14 dead from a bombing in Jalawla at a Kurdish funeral -- an apparent suicide bomber -- gender not given so they think it's a male.  Anthony Shadid and K.I. Ibrahim (Washington Post) explain, "Witnesses, reached by telephone, said the suicide bomber set off his explosives after the evening prayers, sending a fireball through the canvas of the tent and igniting a fire. By nightfall, nothing was left save the tent's metal scaffolding, and chairs littered the ground. Witnesses said survivors carried out the dead and wounded, who screamed in pain."  Charlotte Porter (Bloomberg News) notes that the death toll has risen to 24 on the Jalawla bombing (plus the suicide bomber) and left fifty injured.  Deborah Haynes (Times of London) observes, "The carnage brought back memories of the country's darker days of sectarian war and frequent explosions before major security imporvements began to take hold over the past year."  Haynes also notes that the who behind the attack is unknown but that it will most likely be said to have been carried out by al Qaeda in Iraq.  Eager to prove how right Haynes was, BBC's Hugh Sykes immediately began chanting al Qaeda in Iraq.  Caroline Alexander (Bloomberg News) notes the "sucide bomber detonated a belt laden with explosives during a funeral".  Laith Hammoudi and Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) report, "The man being mourned in Jalawla, about 60 miles from Baquba, was Kurdish, and officials suspected that the attacker was an Arab. Kurds consider Jalawla, a town of both Arabs and Kurds, a part of greater Kurdistan. The land is contested, and tensions run high between the two ethnicities."   In other reported violence today . . .   Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured seven, a Mosul suicide bombing which claimed 4 lives (plus the bomber) and left two people injured, a Tal Afar suicide bombing which claimed the life of 1 police officer (and the bomber) and left five people wounded and a Mosul roadside bombing which claimed 2 lives. Xinhua explains the two killed in the Mosul roadside bombing were a father and a son and that, in Mosul, a grenade was hurled at "a passing U.S. patrol in the Farouk Street damaging a Humvee, the source said, adding it was not clear whether patrol sustained any casualty as the U.S. troops immediately sealed off the area."  Reuters adds, "A bomb attached to a car wounded four people, including an official from immigration and Displacement ministry and a Danish national woman who was with him in his vehicle, police said two other policemen were wounded."    The violence increase (following February's increase) comes as people insist it is not happening.  Mohammed al-Askari, Nouri al-Maliki's little buddy and an Iraq army figurehead, told Al Jazeera, "The situation is definitely improving, and there are remedies in place.  The majority of provinces enjoy general safety." This nonsense is similar to the garbage the Iraqi Ambassador to the US, Hami al-Bayati, offered to Frank Ucciardo for CBS' Up To The Minute:   Frank Ucciardo: Has the mission in Iraq been accomplished? Seriously?  Hamid Al Bayati: The general picture for us Iraqis is that Iraq, the region and the war is much safer without Saddam regime.    Frank Ucciardo: When you saw Saddam Hussein hanged [December 30, 2006], what went through your mind? What went through your heart when you saw him being hanged?         Hamid Al Bayati: Well the Iraqis who suffered -- I suffered -- I'm one of the Iraqis who suffered. I lost eight members of my family during Saddam's regime. I have another brother who was kidnapped and killed in 2005.        Frank Ucciardo: You personally when Saddam was hanged, did you have a feeling that you were getting justice?        Hamid Al Bayati: I felt at that time that we could have better Iraq after Saddam executed and security would not have been improved dramatically in Iraq without executing Saddam because he was encouraging resistance even in the court he was encouraging people to resist and he was sending letters from his hiding place. So we know that as long as Saddam lived, his followers, his loyalists, they were hoping that he would come back.          Frank Ucciardo: Is the US involvement ever going to end in Iraq?         Hamid Al Bayati: I think that the Status Of Forces Agreement, the SOFA which was signed, stated clearly that all US forces should be withdrawn by the end of 2011. There will be no extension from that. Frank Ucciardo: But earlier this week, Iraqi *President* Nouri al-Maliki said US troops may remain in some areas that are not completely secure.   Nouri is the Prime Minister, Jalal Talabani is the President.  All of Iraq's ambassadors are men and no one's supposed to ever comment on that.  Are they all also cowards and weaklings like Hamid?  Such a coward that he became a British citizen?  He spent the bulk of the last two decades in England and he is a British citizen. Only in 'liberated' Iraq could a citizen of another country be an ambassador. (Yes, he also holds Iraqi citizenship.) He's one of the many cowards who spent years and years agitating for the US to go in and do what he and his cowardly cohorts were too damn scared to do: Overthrow Saddam. In the future, the US government's position should be that no US service members are sent in to fight a battle that cowards of the country won't fight themselves. (No, all these cowards who fled Iraq did not go in fighting when the US invaded. They were and are cowards which is why it will be very interesting on the day the US actually leaves -- probably many, many years from now -- since these cowards have never stood up a day in their lives.) Al Bayati was part of INDICT -- a board member actually (1995-2002). They were so 'brave,' that British group, that they compiled rumors. They didn't take up arms, they didn't do anything but beg and beg other countries to do what the cowards were too chicken to do for themselves. He was also a member of the cowards' other big organization Iraqi National Congress in London (1992-1998). For those new to those cowardly and lying organizations, SourceWatch notes, in their Rendon Group entry: The Rendon Group is a secretive public relations firm that has assisted a number of U.S. military interventions in nations including Argentina, Colombia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Panama and Zimbabwe. Rendon's activities include organizing the Iraqi National Congress, a PR front group designed to foment the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.   A rule should be in place that refugees do not use a host country to plot against their former country. You want to get on with your lives? By all means, the US should welcome you. You want to spend a decade or two plotting how to drag the US into a war with your former country? You need to be kicked out. And if that means you have to return to your former country and if that means you may be tortured or killed, that's really on you because all refugee status should give you is the chance to start your life over, not the chance to plot and scheme a war. Want to fight your own country? Don't be a coward and run off from it. ("Coward" does not apply to actual refugees and those include members of the military who decide that a war is wrong ethically or legally and that they cannot participate in it. A coward is someone who wants war but doesn't want to fight it themselves. Like all the exiles now in control of the Iraqi government.) That rule should apply to all refugees: Iraqis, Cubans, etc.  No one should be granted asylum to the US and then use the US as their launching pad for wars.   RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "'Nothing really changed in Iraq after six years'" "The Iraqi disaster" "Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Celebrity President"" "And the war drags on . . ." "Protests against the Iraq War" "Sh, don't tell: US continues paying "Awakening"" Truest statement of the week A note to our readers Editorial: Barack's too immature to apologize TV: The War Goes Ignored Roundtable The Katrina goes to . . . Stevie Nicks, rocking it her way Stand up How to raise two ungrateful brats TV: Explaining Moyers Who's that hiding in the hangers? The dog (still not picked out) ate his homework Highlights "Iraq roundtable" "ROUNDTABLE ON IRAQ"