The world laughs at him

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

CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF TUNISIA TODAY.

YOUNG ACTIVISTS MADE FUN OF THE GRAY-HEADED PERSONIFICATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT.

NEXT TO OLD MAN MCCAIN IN 2008, BARRY O LOOKED YOUNG. NOW HE'S JUST OLD AND TIRED.

LAUGH, TUNISIA, LAUGH AT THE FOOLISH OLD MAN.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Tom Hayden announces at The Nation that he has a blocked carotid artery while his blocked brain is to be inferred from the column itself. Here's how it goes, little boys like Tom Hayden always want to be in the mix. The 8 years of Bush were sheer torture for Tommy because he had to stand up and speak out. Now a Democrat's in the White House and he can lie to himself and everyone else that things are great. There's no whore like an old whore. Hayden describes a recent gathering he'd hoped to testify at but it didn't turn out to be the Cult of St. Barack he was hoping for:

A certain jadedness has affected our consciousness after this very bad decade. Some people in the room didn't believe Obama was actually going to pull out of Iraq. He would sneak in 5,000 manipulative mercenaries to take over from the last of the American troops. And what about those other wars? Wasn't he worse than Bush? Yada yada yada, ad nauseam.

[. . .]

Yes, the other wars ill continue, corporate power will continue, global warming will continue, but the lessons of the campaign against the Iraq War may be helpful as we face these other challenges.

They might be helpful, lessons, if we could be honest. But Tom Hayden can't be honest. Reality, I put in the time and I'd love to be able to say, "Success!" I'm not even talking about the fact that US troops and contractors will remain in Iraq. I'm saying there was no "success" at all from the US peace movement. And if we're honest, we can learn things. Failure's the far better teacher than success. But when we lie to ourselves, we learn nothing.

Honesty requires character. There are lessons to be learned from the last years. To learn them we'd have to be honest and people like Tom seldom are. Remember when he embraced Cindy Sheehan? As he used her to beat up Republicans? Remember when Cindy ran against Nancy Pelosi for the 8th District? I certainly do because, damn, suddenly everyone was apparently in my zip code and, trust me, most can't afford it. You had Cindy being told by The Nation not to run, then being attacked in The Nation for objecting to being told not to run. There's a lesson there and it's not the lesson Tom wants to impart. It's an ugly reality about the way the peace movement was co-opted and how 'leaders' worked overtime to whore it out. It's a story of Naomi Klein's personal distaste for John Kerry allowing her to take on Todd Gitlian and others in 2004 but, in 2008, using a book tour to promote Barack Obama. In 2004 and after the election, Naomi would insist that the peace movement should never allow itself to be hijacked by the Democratic Party but in 2008 she'd be one of the hijackers. It wasn't just her. In 2005, Sharon Smith was rather savage with Naomi. In 2008, Smith's outlet (US Socialist Worker) couldn't whore itself out fast enough as it became a house organ for the Cult of St. Barack.

In this space, I had earlier encouraged Danny Schechter to explore why so many got taken in by Barack. He never did and it now appears his 'realization' about Barack was a temporary one. Well the money's made by spinning for the Democratic Party and Danny's got as much right as anyone else to that money and can certainly offer better writing than Tom Hayden and most.

But don't b.s. America. Those of us truly against the wars, are truly against them and we don't believe a Tom Hayden when he shows up to whore. Yes, Barack is worse than Bush. Bush detained people without going through the courts. Barack does that, yes, but he also has claimed the right to use drones to kill US citizens with himself as judge and jury. He's decided that the War Powers Act -- something Tom Hayden used to give huge lip service too and, in fact, was claiming (as late as 1976) was a victory for the earlier peace movement -- doesn't matter. With Libya, Barack trashed the War Powers Act. Suddenly, Tom Hayden no longer cares about the War Powers Act. Which goes to the most extreme way Barack is worse than Bush: When Bush was in office, we freely called him out. Loudly. Publicly. These days Tom Hayden's exist solely to provide excuses and cover for War Hawk Barack.

The lessons were never learned because few people were willing to be honest. Danny tried, I give him credit for that. But I am aware a lot of people have to make money and if you go against the Democratic Party -- as Naderites discovered following the 2000 elections -- you will be punished. As Nader himself discovered, in fact.

Tom wants to impart 'lessons' because Tom wants to be in a position of leadership. But what's he leading? A glorified pep rally and as his age that's a damn embarrassment.

Today Al Mada reports State Of Law (Nouri's political slate) is confirming that the US Air Force will remain in charge of Iraqi skies beyond December 31, 2011. The article notes it will take years for Iraq to be able to patrol its own skies. Dar Addustour notes those recently order F-16s will be arriving in 2013. Prashant Rao (AFP) sketches out an absurd vision of Iraq without help when "they will lack their own modern radar systems" and, in the words of one air force lieutenant, "you have to visualise the aircraft, where they are." Yeah, that seems logical and do-able. Maybe they can just grab some flashlights and stand out on the runway? Dar Addustour noted yesterday that Gen Babakir Zebari, Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Army, has declared, in the latest SIGIR report, that Iraq will be unable to protect its own air space or national borders until 2020. Fang Yang (Xinhua) quoted the report, "General Zebari suggested that the MOD (Ministry of Defense) will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external-defense missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024, citing GOI ( Government of Iraq) funding shortfalls as the main reason for the delay." Reuters quotes Zebari stating, "While we have no enemies, we also have no real friends."

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