Thursday, August 09, 2012

If you can wait 18 years, he might have an answer


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


YESTERDAY CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O CAME OUT AGAINST THE BOY SCOUT POLICY TO REFUSE TO ALLOW GAY CHILDREN TO BE BOY SCOUTS

SPEAKING TO THESE REPORTERS THIS MORNING, WHITE HOUSE PLUS-SIZE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY DECLARED, "THIS IS MORE BRAVE LEADERSHIP FROM OUR CELEBRITY IN CHIEF.  YET AGAIN, HE HAS STAKED OUT GROUND NO ONE ELSE WOULD DARE TO STEP ON. HE BRAVELY GOES WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE.  HE'S LIKE SPOCK AND THE WHOLE F**KING ENTERPRISE!"

WHEN THESE REPORTERS POINTED OUT THAT THIS WAS ALREADY MITT ROMNEY'S STANCE, CARNEY ADMITTED THAT WAS "POSSIBLE BUT DID HE ANNOUNCE WITH AS MUCH FLAIR AS BARRY O?  BARRY O WORE HIS GLITTER PANTIES AND MADE SWEEPING HAND GESTURES!  OUR CELEBRITY IN CHIEF IS QUITE THE SHOWMAN."

WHEN THESE REPORTERS PRESSED AND POINTED OUT THAT MITT ROMNEY ANNOUNCED THIS SAME STANCE IN 1994 AND BARRY O ONLY DID YESTERDAY, CARNEY'S EYES GLAZED AND HE SIGHED, "IMAGINE WHAT A GREAT PRESIDENT BARRY O IS GOING TO BE 18 YEARS FROM NOW.  GIVE HIM 18 YEARS AND BARRY O CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE HE STANDS ON ANYTHING!"


FROM THE TCI WIRE:


The administration didn't want a welcome home parade for the veterans in December of later this year.  Some reasons were valid.  The country is supposed to be watching the spending and the money Congress had originally allocated for a national parade had actually been spent years ago.  Some reasons made no sense at all.  The administration claimed that since some Iraq War veterans were in Afghanistan currently, it wouldn't be right to have a parade for Iraq War veterans.  When the US finally leaves Afghanistan, what will the excuse be?  There will always be -- barring a major shift in foreign policy -- US troops stationed on something other than American soil.  The administration also felt the need to pressure NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg not to hold a parade.
 
What happened instead is that parades have taken place in local communities.  St. Louis is where it kicked off.  Craig Schneider and Tom Appelbaum got together and organized a parade for the veterans.  It was a huge success that spawned many other parades.  In July, many people were disappointed, some were outraged.  I was outraged (see "The violence and the whores" and "Iraq snapshot") and so was Trina ("Thanks Tom Appelbaum").  Across the country people worked very hard, inspired by the work in St. Louis to do something to acknowledge the veterans.  This was individuals working together.  And there were plans for future parades later in the year.  But the parades worked because they were about the veterans.
 
Tom Appelbaum decided to whore the parade in July (see Trina and my pieces).  He turned the  St. Louis parade into an advertisement for Barack Obama.  The ridiculous commercial credited Barack with the parade.  Barack didn't donate an hour of organizing or a dime from his bank account.  Nor did he attend the parade.  The parade was about the veterans and Tom Applebaum didn't (my opinion) have enough respect for the veterans to refuse to whore for the Obama campagin.  The parade had nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans or any label other than "veteran."
 
Craig Schneider co-organized the parade.  He did not take part in the Obama campaign commercial.  He has penned a column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch entitled "People, not politics."  It is an intelligent and deeply felt column.  Please use the link to read the entire column.  Here is an excerpt.
 
The news was personally upsetting for two reasons. First because its message is in clear contradiction of the apolitical nature of the 501(c)3 organization that grew from the January event, upon which the two volunteers sat. The organization has asked for their resignation.
But the bigger concern about the ad stems from how upside down it seemed to turn the very nature of the movement that began in St. Louis and has since spread to more than 20 cities. All around the country this year, a loose and unpaid coalition of volunteers from all sectors has come together in the universal understanding summarized by the motto of this grass-roots movement: Those who did and still serve are people. They aren't politics.
Since the beginning of the post-9/11 age of combat, one of our greatest failures as a society has been the emotional distance we've allowed ourselves to keep between our wars and the people we send to fight them. We've placed the enormous burden of 10 years of multi-front warfare onto less than 2 percent of our population, forcing men and women to leave home and go risk death not once, but two or three or four times. Or more. While our sons and daughters have died, taken bullets and bombs for us and returned from multiple trips to hell with wounds both inside and out, the other 98 percent of us back here have bickered over "the troops" as if they were some abstract thing.
They are not. They are people. They are us.
 
Again, it is a very important column.  Craig Schneider works to put veterans first.  In the Congress, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is an example where party label is not an issue of great importance and Democrats and Republicans who might not work together on any other issue find a way to come together over what's in the best interests of veterans.  Though all members of the Committee reach out to one another (including Senator Bernie Sanders who is neither a Democrat or a Republican), the largest credit for that has to go to Chair Patty Murray and Ranking Member Richard Burr who set such a strong example and such high standards.   Without that example and that desire to work together, this week's victory would not have taken place.  As Kat noted last night in "Camp Lejeune (justice finally)," the victims of Camp Lejeune finally got recognized with President Barack Obama signing into law the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012.  This is an issue that Senator Burr has worked years on.  Chair Murray said it would get a floor vote and it did.  She said it would be signed this summer and it was.
 
The Senate is in recess allowing its members to return home.  That doesn't mean work stops.  Senator Murray's office notes:
 
FOR PLANNING PURPOSES
Wednesday, August 8th, 2012
CONTACT: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834
 
TOMORROW: VETERANS: Murray in Seattle to Discuss New Veterans Jobs Bill with Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Senator Murray will outline Veterans Jobs Corps bill, legislation that helps veterans overcome barriers they face when finding employment
 
(Washington, D.C.) -- Tomorrow, Thursday, August 9th, 2012, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, joins Secretary of Veteran Affairs Eric Shinseki at the Port of Seattle for a press conference on veterans jobs.  Senator Murray will highlight a bill she is sponsoring in the Senate, the Veterans Jobs Corps bill.  Senator Murray's bill is modeled of successful job training programs across the country and in states like Washington.  The Veterans Jobs Corps bill would build on the gains already made with Senator Murray's VOW to Hire Heroes Act, and serves as a $1 billion investment in veterans and their capacity to strengthen America.
Over the next five years, the Veterans Jobs Corps would: increase training and hiring opportunities for all veterans; help restore and protect national, state, and tribal forests, parks, coastal areas, wildlife refuges, and cemeteries.  It will also help hire qualified veterans as police, firefighters, and first responders at a time when 85 percent of law enforcement agencies were forced to reduce their budget in the past year.  Senator Murray will point out that this bill contains bipartisan ideas, is fully paid for with bipartisan spending offsets, and should not be controversial at a time when veterans continue to struggle.
The Port of Seattle was recently recognized with The Freedom Award, the Department of Defense's highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of our Guard and Reserve members.
 
WHO: U.S. Senator Patty Murray
           Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki
           Tay Yoshitani, Port of Seattle CEO
            Veterans currently employed by the Port of Seattle
 
WHAT: Senator Murray and Secretary Shinseki discuss new veterans jobs legislation
 
WHEN: TOMORROW: Thursday, August 9th, 2012
             10:00 AM PT
 
WHERE: Port of Seattle Marine Maintenance Facility
                25 S. Horton Street
                Seattle, WA 98134
                Map
 
###
 
Kathryn Robertson
Specialty Media Coordinator
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
202-224-2834
 
 
 
 
 

Tomorrow the high for the day in Baghdad is supposed to be 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).  And as if Iraq didn't have enough hot air of late, two government spokespeople try to add to it.  Mohammad al-Qaisi (al-Shorfa) reports that Ministry of the Interior spokespersons Hikmat Mahmoud al-Masari and Adel Dahham see al Qaeda in Iraq 'imploding' and they know -- in their heart of hearts, they really, really know -- this is happening due to events like last month when they discovered the bodies of two leaders in one house -- both were dead!
 
The events of today have already slapped them across the face.  But, since thinking caps appear to be in short supply at the Ministry of the Interior, let's provide them the walk through that they're too dumb to see.
 
Whether it's a mafia movie or a vampire movie, when the 'bad guys' start turning up dead, that generally means that something even more violent and destructive has decided to move in and take over.  So rejoicing over those two dead leaders?  The Ministry of the Interior would be better off grasping something more powerful than those two leaders is now what they will be up against.
 
 
July 22nd, the Islamic State of Iraq released an audio recording announcing a new campaign of violence entitled Breaking The Walls which would include prison breaks and killing "judges and investigators and their guards." The last weeks have demonstrated that ISI is serious about pursuing those goals.  Their determination is also clear with an attack on a government prosecutor this morning.

KUNA reports unknown assailants invaded a Baiji home (Salahuddin Province) and killed 8 members of one family.  Kitabat adds that a government prosecutor lived in the house and that one of the sons was also an attorney.  In addition, they note that the attack took place at five in the morning and that there was some effort to burn the corpses after.  Alsumaria quotes a police source stating that the assailants stormed the home, firing automatic weapons as they did, killing the government prosecutor, his father, his sisters and brothers and a family member that hasn't been identified so far.  Xinhua identifies the prosecutor as Adnan Khayrallah and they note, "The attackers shot dead Adana, his father, three women, two children along with a guest, the source said without giving further details."   The Hong Kong Standard spells the name of the prosecutor as "Khayrallah Shati" and says he and his wife, their five sons and an unidentified 8th relative were killed.

In addition, a Suwayrah car bombing left many dead and many injured, BBC News notesPrashant Rao (AFP) explains that "a vehilce packed with explosives ripped through a group of Shiite worshippers during a commemoration ceremony."  AFP counts 13 dead and thirty injured.  Also Alsumaria reports a senior officer in the Ministry of Defense was shot dead by unknown assailants in Baghdad and that robbers stole 53 million dinars from a Kirkuk banking center (ASE Banking).  (53 million dinars is about 46,000 in US dollars.)
 

Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Taxer"
"Iraq's sex tape rumors"
"Where's the US Ambassador to Iraq"
"Mars and more"
"The bad economy"
"4 men, 4 women (and idiot of NPR)"
"curiosity and mars"
"Marvin Hamlisch"
"Camp Lejeune (justice finally)"
"Grab bag"
"Creepy"
"Heartbreakers"
"One damn liar"
"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O ACCOMPLISHES SO LITTLE!"
"No real dent"

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