BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
AMERICANS CAN AND SHOULD HAVE A LIVELY DEBATE ABOUT THE BUDGET AND THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.
BUT THAT'S WHERE IT ENDS.
MEANING, NO ONE NEEDS TO HEAR WHAT THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE UNITED KINGDOM'S 'INDEPENDENT' NEWSPAPER THINKS. IN FACT, THEY NEED TO BUTT THE HELL OUT.
HAVING CHEERLED THE IRAQ WAR, HAVING IGNORED THE DOWNING STREET MEMOS, YOU'D THINK THE INDEPENDENT WOULD HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO SHUT THEIR MOUTHS NOW. BUT NOT, THEY DON'T. ATTENTION, BRITISH NEWSPAPERS, NOT EVERYTHING REQUIRES YOUR OPINION.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Yesterday's "Iraq snapshot"
covered the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health where widows
Heather McDonald and Kimberly Stowe Green explained how the VA's
'treatment' (over medication) killed their husbands Scott McDonald and
Ricky Green. For those who missed it, we'll note some of Heather
McDonald's testimony.
Heather McDonald: For 15 years, he served honorably in the
uniform of his country and was proud to serve as a UH-60 Blackhawk
mechanic and Crew Chief for MEDEVAC Unit. Bosnia, Panama, Iraq and
Afghanistan are only a few of the war-torn countries he dedicated his
life to changing. In his career, he experienced heartache, unimaginable
violence, death and the overall devastating effects of war. He saw
many of his fellow soldiers give the ultimate sacrifice -- narrowly
escaping many times himself. He loved his country and what the American
flag stands for. He was a brothers in arms to thousands of fellow
soldiers and a truly remarkable man that never met a stranger. Scott
had larger than life expectations for his children. And because of his
commitment and honor, in January of 2011, we married. On April 30,
2011, Scott's career with the army came full circle and he hung his
uniform up for good. He began seeking the treatment from the VA for back
pain and mental illness. The Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care
Center in Columbus, Ohio immediately started prescribing medications
beginning with ibuprofen, nurofen, meloxicam and graduating to vicodin,
klonopin, celexa, Zoloft, valium and Percocet. This is where the
rollercoaster began. My husband was taking up to 15 pills a day within
the first six months of treatment. Every time Scott came home from an
appointment, he had different medications, different dosages, different
directions on how to take them. And progressively over the course of a
year and a half of starting his treatment, the medications had changed
so many times by adding and changing that Scott became changing. We
researched many of the drugs that he was prescribed online and saw the
dangerous interactions that they cause. Yet my husband was conditioned
to follow orders. And he did so. On September 12th of 2012, Scott
attended another of his scheduled appointments. This was when they
added Percocet. This was a much different medication than he was used
to taking and which they prescribed him not to exceed 3,000 milligrams
of ibu -- acetaminophen, I'm sorry. Again, my husband followed orders.
Approximately zero-one-hundred hours on the 13th of September, I
arrived home from my job. I found Scott disoriented and very
lethargic. I woke him and asked him if he was okay? He told me he was
fine and that he just took what the doctors told him to take. At
approximately zero-seven-thirty, I found my husband cold and
unresponsive. At 35-years-old, this father of two was gone. I ask
myself why everyday. And when I ask the VA why more tests weren't
performed to make sure he was healthy enough, they responded by saying:
"It is not routine to evaluate our soldiers' pain medication
distribution." A simple "I am in pain" constitutes a narcotic and a
"This isn't working" constitutes a change in medication. I was sickened
and disturbed by their response and I decided at that point no one else
should die. I have no doubt that if the proper tests were being
performed on our men and women, I would not be here today -- because my
husband would be. I have no doubt that for thousands of the
soldiers that have fallen after coming home from war would be here
today. [Wiping tears] I'm sorry. As the silent soldiers and spouses of
our military members. we almost expect the possibility that they won't
come home from war. But we cannot accept that they fight there for
their country and after the battle is over they come home and die.
As Ava noted last night in "The VA killed Heather McDonald's husband (Ava),"
the press had a real problem with those women's testimony and rushed to
tie pretty bows around it as if widowhood was a wonderful vista to new
career choices. Today, some of those same outlets (NextGov, for
example) appear to have realized how horrible their reporting was and
gotten a little more honest. Wally covered the second panel in "VA bullied doctors into prescribing narcotics"
-- where two of the three medical witnesses shared that the VA
compelled doctors to over-medicate and that whistle-blowing got you
fired. From yesterday's snapshot:
You can't just dispense pain killers like they're Flintstone chewables
or candy out of Pez dispenser. This attitude was overcome long ago
everywhere except the VA. It's why former First Lady Betty Ford went
public and set up The Betty Ford Center.
When it comes to addiction, there may not be a more vulnerable
population than veterans. The reasons for that are they are taught to
mask the pain while serving and, as both widows pointed out, to follow
orders -- the following of orders often carries over the medical
treatment from the VA. The VA doctors are prescribing like it's 1947
and, as a society, we've never heard of pain killer addiction.
People in pain need help and need treatment. They do not, however, need
to develop an addiction because a bunch of lazy or quack doctors don't
want to do their job.
Under Shinseki, the prescriptions are killing veterans, yes. But also
under Shinseki, the prescriptions are resulting in addictions that will
have be treated years from now.
That's unacceptable -- from a health standpoint and from a taxpayer standpoint.
Shinseki is supposed to be on top of things. He shouldn't need a Congressional hearing to take action.
It was really distressing to hear Josh Green detail his objections to
the pills and how, when he would raise these objections, he would be
prescribed more pills.
Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran Justin Minyard suffered from chronic
back pain (tied to a 72 hour continues shift at the Pentagon, searching
for any survivors after the Pentagon was hit on 9-11). The existing
back pain was amplified by his later service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The treatment? Pills, pills and more pills. That's all the VA offered
him. He explained, "My life revolved around when is my next pill, when
is my next dosage increase and when can I get my next refill? At my
worst point I was taking enough pills daily to treat four terminally ill
cancer patients."
Repeating, this isn't just medical malpractice with effects people see
and feel now, this is medical malpractice that is turning veterans into
addicts. That is unacceptable. Civilian doctors prescribing in this
manner risk loss of license and criminal charges but the VA just looks
the other way. The VA motto appears to be: "Addiction gets you out the
door!"
A number of e-mails asked about the over-prescribing and insisted this would trigger state investigations. No.
This was addressed in the hearing by Dr. Pamela Gray. In the civilian
world, to practice medicine in Rhode Island, you need to be state
licensed in Rhode Island. In the VA world? If you are licensed in any
state, the VA circumvents the rules and allows you to practice in any
state. So you're licensed in Georgia, hired by the VA and assigned to
Oregon, you don't have to get licensed in Oregon and the state board has
no say over your actions.
One of the easiest ways to improve and ensure functional treatment at
the VA would be to require the doctors to meet the same conditions and
guidelines required of civilian doctors. Eric Shinseki could issue an
order to make that happen. Or Congress could pass a law. But something
needs to happen.
Kat's "The fake apology from Dr. Jesse"
covered the third panel, the VA's Dr. Robert Jesse. No, his apology
did not seem for real. It was further cheapened by his defensive nature
and obvious inability to take accountability on behalf of the VA.
This week, community evening bloggers had a theme post. In 2009, at Third, we named Bette Davis "The Best Actress of the 20th Century" and this week's theme was favorite Bette Davis film. These were the posts and picks: Ann's "Old Acquaintance," Betty's
"Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?," Trina's
"The Letter," Rebecca's
"beyond the forest," Ruth's
"Dark Victory," Kat's
"All About Eve," Marcia's
"Jezebel," Stan's
"Dead Ringer," Elaine's
"Now, Voyager," Mike's "The Little Foxes" and Isaiah's "Working It For BP (Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte)."
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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"International Day of the Girl Child"
"Black Eyed Peas in the Kitchen"
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"scandal (what happened to huck - and jake)"
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"Star Trek: The Search for Kirk's Daddy Issues"
"They finally found Gloria Steinem's successor!"
"Libya"
"Look how they cover"
"THIS JUST IN! SOME CAME WHORING!"
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Look how they cover
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
IN 2006, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SAID RAISING THE DEBT CEILING WAS A FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP.
IN 2013, CHEAP WHORES LIKE MATTHEW YGLESIAS AND JASON LINKINS INSIST THE QUOTE HAS NO MEANING.
HEY, JASE AND MATTY, FOR THE RECORD, DO BARRY O'S PUBES TICKLE?
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Scott Alan McDonald died because of the VA. His widow Heather McDonald explained what happened to Congress this morning.
Heather McDonald: For 15 years, he served honorably in the uniform of his country and was proud to serve as a UH-60 Blackhawk mechanic and Crew Chief for MEDEVAC Unit. Bosnia, Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan are only a few of the war-torn countries he dedicated his life to changing. In his career, he experienced heartache, unimaginable violence, death and the overall devastating effects of war. He saw many of his fellow soldiers give the ultimate sacrifice -- narrowly escaping many times himself. He loved his country and what the American flag stands for. He was a brothers in arms to thousands of fellow soldiers and a truly remarkable man that never met a stranger. Scott had larger than life expectations for his children. And because of his commitment and honor, in January of 2011, we married. On April 30, 2011, Scott's career with the army came full circle and he hung his uniform up for good. He began seeking the treatment from the VA for back pain and mental illness. The Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus, Ohio immediately started prescribing medications beginning with ibuprofen, nurofen, meloxicam and graduating to vicodin, klonopin, celexa, Zoloft, valium and Percocet. This is where the rollercoaster began. My husband was taking up to 15 pills a day within the first six months of treatment. Every time Scott came home from an appointment, he had different medications, different dosages, different directions on how to take them. And progressively over the course of a year and a half of starting his treatment, the medications had changed so many times by adding and changing that Scott became changing. We researched many of the drugs that he was prescribed online and saw the dangerous interactions that they cause. Yet my husband was conditioned to follow orders. And he did so. On September 12th of 2012, Scott attended another of his scheduled appointments. This was when they added Percocet. This was a much different medication than he was used to taking and which they prescribed him not to exceed 3,000 milligrams of ibu -- acetaminophen, I'm sorry. Again, my husband followed orders. Approximately zero-one-hundred hours on the 13th of September, I arrived home from my job. I found Scott disoriented and very lethargic. I woke him and asked him if he was okay? He told me he was fine and that he just took what the doctors told him to take. At approximately zero-seven-thirty, I found my husband cold and unresponsive. At 35-years-old, this father of two was gone. I ask myself why everyday. And when I ask the VA why more tests weren't performed to make sure he was healthy enough, they responded by saying: "It is not routine to evaluate our soldiers' pain medication distribution." A simple "I am in pain" constitutes a narcotic and a "This isn't working" constitutes a change in medication. I was sickened and disturbed by their response and I decided at that point no one else should die. I have no doubt that if the proper tests were being performed on our men and women, I would not be here today -- because my husband would be. I have no doubt that for thousands of the soldiers that have fallen after coming home from war would be here today. [Wiping tears] I'm sorry. As the silent soldiers and spouses of our military members. we almost expect the possibility that they won't come home from war. But we cannot accept that they fight there for their country and after the battle is over they come home and die.
A study published last year in The American Journal of Psychiatry found that, "Among patients receiving care from the Veterans Health Administration, death from accidental overdose was found to be associated with psychiatric and substance use disorders. The study findings suggest the importance of risk assessment and overdose prevention for vulnerable clinical subpopulations." That study was published in January of 2012. Does no one in the Veteran Affairs Department know how to read? Clearly, they don't know how to take action but are they at least literate?
Nine months before Heather lost her husband, a peer-reviewed, medical study was published warning of what was taking place. Where was VA Secretary Eric Shineski? Mismanaging again?
It has been one scandal after another under Shineski. It really is time he resigned. Heather McDonald was testifying before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health -- US House Rep Dan Benishek is the Chair of the Subcomittee and US House Rep Julia Brownley is the Ranking Member -- as part of the first panel retired Air Force member Kimberly Stowe Green, retired Sgt Joshua Renschler and retired 1st Sgt Justin Minyard. Panel two was Dr. Pamela Gray, Claudia J. Bahorik, and the VA's Dr. Steven G. Scott. The third panel was the VA's Dr. Robert Jesse accompanied by Robert Kearns.
Kimberly Stowe Green's husband, like Heather's husband, should be alive. He went in for back surgery. That's not usually life threatening. But what the VA did before that ensured that it was.
Kimberly Stowe Green: My husband Ricky Green died as a result of the VA's skyrocketing use of prescription pain killers. On behalf of my husband, my self and our two grieving sons, I want to ask this Committee to do all that it can to prevent other veterans from dying in the same manner that my husband died. My husband died on October 29, 2011 -- at the age of forty-three -- four days after lower back surgery. The Arkansas State Crime Lab and it's medical examiner performed an autopsy and determined that the cause of death was mixed drug intoxification complicating recent lumbar spine surgery. My husband died because of the prescription pain and sleeping medications that the VA and its doctors prescribed for him and dispensed to him out of the VA pharmacy. In treating Ricky's service-connected back pain, the VA doctors wrote prescriptions for the following drugs.
She noted the 2010 VA clinical practice guidelines have not been fully implemented and they're not being followed. What does Eric Shineski say to that? More to the point, what does US President Barack Obama say to that? How many screw ups is Shinseki going to rack up before his inability to do his job results in his resignation?
Kimberly Stowe Green stated, "Ricky survived serving in combat zones in his over 20 years of military service but he could not survive the VA and its negligent treatment of him."
Iraq War veteran Josh Green survived a mortar attack in Iraq and the pain from the wounds led the VA to prescribe one pill after another -- he was taking 13 pain killers at one point. The result? The VA medical treatment left him with liver damage and no feeling in his left leg. (Heather McDonald noted her husband had Stage II liver failure but it was "only discovered by the coroner.") That is awful and the VA owes Green much more than an apology. But something else should be registering. If it's not, let's note this statement from Green about Percocet, "And what happened was, the more I took it, the less it worked because my body became tolerant to it.
Do you get it yet?
Do you get the problems that are being created under Shinseki? The problems that will cost millions to clean up and will be harrowing for the veterans going through it?
You can't just dispense pain killers like they're Flintstone chewables or candy out of Pez dispenser. This attitude was overcome long ago everywhere except the VA. It's why former First Lady Betty Ford went public and set up The Betty Ford Center.
When it comes to addiction, there may not be a more vulnerable population than veterans. The reasons for that are they are taught to mask the pain while serving and, as both widows pointed out, to follow orders -- the following of orders often carries over the medical treatment from the VA. The VA doctors are prescribing like it's 1947 and, as a society, we've never heard of pain killer addiction.
People in pain need help and need treatment. They do not, however, need to develop an addiction because a bunch of lazy or quack doctors don't want to do their job.
Under Shinseki, the prescriptions are killing veterans, yes. But also under Shinseki, the prescriptions are resulting in addictions that will have be treated years from now.
That's unacceptable -- from a health standpoint and from a taxpayer standpoint.
Shinseki is supposed to be on top of things. He shouldn't need a Congressional hearing to take action.
It was really distressing to hear Josh Green detail his objections to the pills and how, when he would raise these objections, he would be prescribed more pills.
Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran Justin Minyard suffered from chronic back pain (tied to a 72 hour continues shift at the Pentagon, searching for any survivors after the Pentagon was hit on 9-11). The existing back pain was amplified by his later service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The treatment? Pills, pills and more pills. That's all the VA offered him. He explained, "My life revolved around when is my next pill, when is my next dosage increase and when can I get my next refill? At my worst point I was taking enough pills daily to treat four terminally ill cancer patients."
Repeating, this isn't just medical malpractice with effects people see and feel now, this is medical malpractice that is turning veterans into addicts. That is unacceptable. Civilian doctors prescribing in this manner risk loss of license and criminal charges but the VA just looks the other way. The VA motto appears to be: "Addiction gets you out the door!"
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Iraq: The Wild West in the Middle East"
"Ed Snowden awarded, Barack called out"
"The Mindy Project"
"Greg Gilman is a joke"
"The VA killed Heather McDonald's husband (Ava)"
"VA bullied doctors into prescribing narcotics"
"The awful ObamaCare"
"The fake apology from Dr. Jesse"
"Barry gets ready to slash"
"Arrow"
"Working It For BP (Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte)"
"Norman Pollack, Noam Chomsky and more"
"Barry o gets exposed again"
"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O WILL GLADLY FLASH HIS MANBOOBS!"
IN 2006, CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SAID RAISING THE DEBT CEILING WAS A FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP.
IN 2013, CHEAP WHORES LIKE MATTHEW YGLESIAS AND JASON LINKINS INSIST THE QUOTE HAS NO MEANING.
HEY, JASE AND MATTY, FOR THE RECORD, DO BARRY O'S PUBES TICKLE?
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Scott Alan McDonald died because of the VA. His widow Heather McDonald explained what happened to Congress this morning.
Heather McDonald: For 15 years, he served honorably in the uniform of his country and was proud to serve as a UH-60 Blackhawk mechanic and Crew Chief for MEDEVAC Unit. Bosnia, Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan are only a few of the war-torn countries he dedicated his life to changing. In his career, he experienced heartache, unimaginable violence, death and the overall devastating effects of war. He saw many of his fellow soldiers give the ultimate sacrifice -- narrowly escaping many times himself. He loved his country and what the American flag stands for. He was a brothers in arms to thousands of fellow soldiers and a truly remarkable man that never met a stranger. Scott had larger than life expectations for his children. And because of his commitment and honor, in January of 2011, we married. On April 30, 2011, Scott's career with the army came full circle and he hung his uniform up for good. He began seeking the treatment from the VA for back pain and mental illness. The Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center in Columbus, Ohio immediately started prescribing medications beginning with ibuprofen, nurofen, meloxicam and graduating to vicodin, klonopin, celexa, Zoloft, valium and Percocet. This is where the rollercoaster began. My husband was taking up to 15 pills a day within the first six months of treatment. Every time Scott came home from an appointment, he had different medications, different dosages, different directions on how to take them. And progressively over the course of a year and a half of starting his treatment, the medications had changed so many times by adding and changing that Scott became changing. We researched many of the drugs that he was prescribed online and saw the dangerous interactions that they cause. Yet my husband was conditioned to follow orders. And he did so. On September 12th of 2012, Scott attended another of his scheduled appointments. This was when they added Percocet. This was a much different medication than he was used to taking and which they prescribed him not to exceed 3,000 milligrams of ibu -- acetaminophen, I'm sorry. Again, my husband followed orders. Approximately zero-one-hundred hours on the 13th of September, I arrived home from my job. I found Scott disoriented and very lethargic. I woke him and asked him if he was okay? He told me he was fine and that he just took what the doctors told him to take. At approximately zero-seven-thirty, I found my husband cold and unresponsive. At 35-years-old, this father of two was gone. I ask myself why everyday. And when I ask the VA why more tests weren't performed to make sure he was healthy enough, they responded by saying: "It is not routine to evaluate our soldiers' pain medication distribution." A simple "I am in pain" constitutes a narcotic and a "This isn't working" constitutes a change in medication. I was sickened and disturbed by their response and I decided at that point no one else should die. I have no doubt that if the proper tests were being performed on our men and women, I would not be here today -- because my husband would be. I have no doubt that for thousands of the soldiers that have fallen after coming home from war would be here today. [Wiping tears] I'm sorry. As the silent soldiers and spouses of our military members. we almost expect the possibility that they won't come home from war. But we cannot accept that they fight there for their country and after the battle is over they come home and die.
A study published last year in The American Journal of Psychiatry found that, "Among patients receiving care from the Veterans Health Administration, death from accidental overdose was found to be associated with psychiatric and substance use disorders. The study findings suggest the importance of risk assessment and overdose prevention for vulnerable clinical subpopulations." That study was published in January of 2012. Does no one in the Veteran Affairs Department know how to read? Clearly, they don't know how to take action but are they at least literate?
Nine months before Heather lost her husband, a peer-reviewed, medical study was published warning of what was taking place. Where was VA Secretary Eric Shineski? Mismanaging again?
It has been one scandal after another under Shineski. It really is time he resigned. Heather McDonald was testifying before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health -- US House Rep Dan Benishek is the Chair of the Subcomittee and US House Rep Julia Brownley is the Ranking Member -- as part of the first panel retired Air Force member Kimberly Stowe Green, retired Sgt Joshua Renschler and retired 1st Sgt Justin Minyard. Panel two was Dr. Pamela Gray, Claudia J. Bahorik, and the VA's Dr. Steven G. Scott. The third panel was the VA's Dr. Robert Jesse accompanied by Robert Kearns.
Kimberly Stowe Green's husband, like Heather's husband, should be alive. He went in for back surgery. That's not usually life threatening. But what the VA did before that ensured that it was.
Kimberly Stowe Green: My husband Ricky Green died as a result of the VA's skyrocketing use of prescription pain killers. On behalf of my husband, my self and our two grieving sons, I want to ask this Committee to do all that it can to prevent other veterans from dying in the same manner that my husband died. My husband died on October 29, 2011 -- at the age of forty-three -- four days after lower back surgery. The Arkansas State Crime Lab and it's medical examiner performed an autopsy and determined that the cause of death was mixed drug intoxification complicating recent lumbar spine surgery. My husband died because of the prescription pain and sleeping medications that the VA and its doctors prescribed for him and dispensed to him out of the VA pharmacy. In treating Ricky's service-connected back pain, the VA doctors wrote prescriptions for the following drugs.
She noted the 2010 VA clinical practice guidelines have not been fully implemented and they're not being followed. What does Eric Shineski say to that? More to the point, what does US President Barack Obama say to that? How many screw ups is Shinseki going to rack up before his inability to do his job results in his resignation?
Kimberly Stowe Green stated, "Ricky survived serving in combat zones in his over 20 years of military service but he could not survive the VA and its negligent treatment of him."
Iraq War veteran Josh Green survived a mortar attack in Iraq and the pain from the wounds led the VA to prescribe one pill after another -- he was taking 13 pain killers at one point. The result? The VA medical treatment left him with liver damage and no feeling in his left leg. (Heather McDonald noted her husband had Stage II liver failure but it was "only discovered by the coroner.") That is awful and the VA owes Green much more than an apology. But something else should be registering. If it's not, let's note this statement from Green about Percocet, "And what happened was, the more I took it, the less it worked because my body became tolerant to it.
Do you get it yet?
Do you get the problems that are being created under Shinseki? The problems that will cost millions to clean up and will be harrowing for the veterans going through it?
You can't just dispense pain killers like they're Flintstone chewables or candy out of Pez dispenser. This attitude was overcome long ago everywhere except the VA. It's why former First Lady Betty Ford went public and set up The Betty Ford Center.
When it comes to addiction, there may not be a more vulnerable population than veterans. The reasons for that are they are taught to mask the pain while serving and, as both widows pointed out, to follow orders -- the following of orders often carries over the medical treatment from the VA. The VA doctors are prescribing like it's 1947 and, as a society, we've never heard of pain killer addiction.
People in pain need help and need treatment. They do not, however, need to develop an addiction because a bunch of lazy or quack doctors don't want to do their job.
Under Shinseki, the prescriptions are killing veterans, yes. But also under Shinseki, the prescriptions are resulting in addictions that will have be treated years from now.
That's unacceptable -- from a health standpoint and from a taxpayer standpoint.
Shinseki is supposed to be on top of things. He shouldn't need a Congressional hearing to take action.
It was really distressing to hear Josh Green detail his objections to the pills and how, when he would raise these objections, he would be prescribed more pills.
Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran Justin Minyard suffered from chronic back pain (tied to a 72 hour continues shift at the Pentagon, searching for any survivors after the Pentagon was hit on 9-11). The existing back pain was amplified by his later service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The treatment? Pills, pills and more pills. That's all the VA offered him. He explained, "My life revolved around when is my next pill, when is my next dosage increase and when can I get my next refill? At my worst point I was taking enough pills daily to treat four terminally ill cancer patients."
Repeating, this isn't just medical malpractice with effects people see and feel now, this is medical malpractice that is turning veterans into addicts. That is unacceptable. Civilian doctors prescribing in this manner risk loss of license and criminal charges but the VA just looks the other way. The VA motto appears to be: "Addiction gets you out the door!"
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Iraq: The Wild West in the Middle East"
"Ed Snowden awarded, Barack called out"
"The Mindy Project"
"Greg Gilman is a joke"
"The VA killed Heather McDonald's husband (Ava)"
"VA bullied doctors into prescribing narcotics"
"The awful ObamaCare"
"The fake apology from Dr. Jesse"
"Barry gets ready to slash"
"Arrow"
"Working It For BP (Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte)"
"Norman Pollack, Noam Chomsky and more"
"Barry o gets exposed again"
"THIS JUST IN! BARRY O WILL GLADLY FLASH HIS MANBOOBS!"
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Barry o gets exposed again
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O GOT A HUGE SPREAD AT THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS BUT IT'S NOT THE SORT OF TOPLESS SHOTS HE'S KNOWN FOR.
THE DAHLIBAMA'S PENDULOUS MANBOOBS WERE NO WHERE IN SIGHT AS A SCATHING REPORT DETAILED HIS WAR ON THE PRESS AND ON WHISTLEBLOWERS:
“This is the most closed, control freak administration I’ve ever covered,” said David E. Sanger, veteran chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times.
The Obama administration has notably used social media, videos, and its own sophisticated websites to provide the public with administration-generated information about its activities, along with considerable government data useful for consumers and businesses. However, with some exceptions, such as putting the White House visitors’ logs on the whitehouse.gov website and selected declassified documents on the new U.S. Intelligence Community website, it discloses too little of the information most needed by the press and public to hold the administration accountable for its policies and actions. “Government should be transparent,” Obama stated on the White House website, as he has repeatedly in presidential directives. “Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing.”
But his administration’s actions have too often contradicted Obama’s stated intentions. “Instead,” New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan wrote earlier this year, “it’s turning out to be the administration of unprecedented secrecy and unprecedented attacks on a free press.”
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O DECLARED, "SOMEONE'S NIPPLES ARE HARD! WANNA SEE?"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"I really called the hearing so that we could get the best possible information out to the veteran community," Committee Chair Jeff Miller declared at the start of today's House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. Appearing before the Committee was Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. Along with the Committee members, US House Rep Jerry McNerney (a former VA Committee member) questioned Shinseki.
Committee Chair Jeff Miller: Veterans want to know whether they're disability checks and [G]I Bill benefits will be paid in November and there after. They want to know if their disability claims will be decided or further delayed. Families want to know if their loved ones will receive a timely burial at VA national cemeteries. And many of VA employees themselves want to know whether they'll be serving veterans on the job or whether they will be furloughed. I understand that answers to some of these questions are entirely dependent upon how long this shutdown lasts. And although I want to be sure that most of us want this shutdown over clearly, it's our responsibility that the public especially veterans understand what the current state of play is. First of all, Mr. Secretary, I want to say that in the last couple of weeks getting good information about your contingency plans and the effect of a lapse in appropriations and its effects on veterans has been very difficult for us to get the information out of your office. For example, the original field guide that VA put out regarding the shut down impact at first spoke of no effect -- no effect -- on payment to veterans or any of their benefits. But in a later version, VA stated that a prolonged shutdown would effect both but didn't provide any details of how it would be impacted. Second, the Veterans Health Administration is not shut down at all because it has received a full year's appropriation for 2014 back in March. So hospitals, clinics and Vet Centers should all be open for business. Yet the President made a statement the day before the shutdown saying that veterans will find their support centers unstaffed and implied that counseling services for veterans with PTS would be effected. Third, this Committee has been consistently told by VBA's Overtime Mandatory Effort towards the backlog would actually end on September 30th. Yet, days into the shutdown, we're now informed that a shutdown prevented VBA's planned continued payment of overtime. Fourth, although a shutdown should have a relatively uniform effect across all regional offices, as suggested by your own field guide, my staff met with several representatives from VSOs last week who relayed that their members are hearing mixed messages out of different regional offices.
There's a lot to unpack in that series of statements. First of all, it doesn't help anyone when the President of the United States lies to the American people in order to scare them. The VBA has the money to run the hospitals and centers and has since March -- the money for Fiscal Year 2014.
September 30th, in the James Brady press room, President Barack Obama declared:
Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on would be hamstrung. Business owners would see delays in raising capital, seeking infrastructure permits, or rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. Veterans who’ve sacrificed for their country will find their support centers unstaffed.
Barack lied. Outlets carried his lies without a single question to them. Even after the House Veterans Affairs Committee issued a fact sheet, Barack's lies have still not been called out by the press. From the fact sheet:
As President Obama stated in his Sept. 30 government shutdown statement, will veterans find their support centers unstaffed in the event of a shutdown?
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA’s Military Sexual Trauma counseling services, Readjustment Counseling Services and Veterans Crisis Line will not be affected by a shutdown. Additionally, the following VA support phone lines will remain open for business: VA National Call Center, Coaching into Care Call Center, Debt Management Center, Homeless Prevention Line, Mammography Helpline, National Caregiver Support Line, Women Veterans Call Center, Vet Center Combat Call Center, Children of Women Vietnam Veterans; Foreign Medical Program; Spina Bifida Health Care Program. Additionally, all VA medical facilities and clinics will remain fully operational in the event of a shutdown.
As President Obama stated in his Sept. 30 government shutdown statement, will a government shutdown keep veterans suffering from PTSD from getting counseling services?
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA’s Military Sexual Trauma counseling services, Readjustment Counseling Services and Veterans Crisis Line will not be affected by a shutdown. All of those services are equipped to offer veterans suffering from PTSD with support. Additionally, all VA medical facilities and clinics will remain fully operational in the event of a shutdown and will be available for veterans with PTSD in need of counseling services.
Barack Obama lied to the American people (yet again) and the press ignores it (yet again). It was fear mongering at its worst and, at least when they were out of power, Democrats in Congress objected to fear mongering, saw as the last resort of liars and manipulators. But nine days ago, Barack did it and no elected Democrat has called him out. Apparently, when you're out of power, it's very easy to have ethics -- or at least give lectures on ethics, but when you have power, you lose interest in ethics and ethical concerns. Well that certainly explains the Democratic Party's war votes.
For more on what the shutdown will and won't mean to veterans, check this post by Tom Tarantion (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) which is updated regularly -- including updated today.
Let's move to another issue raised. Here's Eric Shinseki:
We have about 13,000 regional -- uh, benefits employees who are doing what they always do and that's process claims as quickly and as accurately as they can. With the end of mandatory overtime, we are doing that at 1400 claims each day less than we were doing, uh, before 30 September.
But what Miller said, and Shinseki never contradicted, was that it was always the understanding that overtime would be phased out at the end of September. That was regardless of whether or not there was a shutdown. The overtime program has been one scandal after another of stealing taxpayer money. To quell Congressional outrage, the program had a quick end date. For example, Mary Shinn, Daniel Moore and Steven Rich (Center for Public Integrity) reported in August:
While veterans waited longer than ever in recent years for their wartime disability compensation, the Department of Veterans Affairs gave its workers millions of dollars in bonuses for “excellent” performances that effectively encouraged them to avoid claims that needed extra work to document veterans’ injuries, a News21 investigation has found.
In 2011, a year in which the claims backlog ballooned by 155 percent, more than two-thirds of claims processors shared $5.5 million in bonuses, according to salary data from the Office of Personnel Management.
The more complex claims were often set aside by workers so they could keep their jobs, meet performance standards, or, in some cases, collect extra pay, said VA claims processors and union representatives. Those claims now make up much of VA’s widely scrutinized disability claims backlog, defined by the agency as claims pending more than 125 days.
And let me point out again that there is no great reduction in backlog. It's a con game. In many states across the country there are rental storage facilities run by Public Storage. In New York, there is Manhattan Mini Storage. Pretend you have a huge collection of books. You've been tasked with going through the collection, currently stored at Public Storage, and deciding which books to keep and which to get rid of. Instead of doing that, making that determination, you decided to move them to Manhattan Mini Storage. You can now claim that all the books in Public Storage are gone. And, indeed, they are. But you didn't do the job, you didn't make the determination. You played kick-the-can -- a game Barack used to deride when he was a US senator but now embraces from the White House. The 'reduction' is by giving claims a temporary classification and sending them to another group to be evaluated. In other words, a single-step evaluation is now a two-step process (three if you count the temporary status).
"Since the shutdown began on One October, the backlog has stalled. and in fact, has increased by about 2,000 claims," Shinseki insisted. "The shutdown directly threatens VA's ability to eliminate the backlog. We've lost ground we fought hard to take. Roughly 4,000 veterans a day are not now receiving decisions on their disability compensation claims due to the end of overtime." But overtime was ending September 30th regardless. Shinseki is so dishonest.
Equally true, in the entertainment industry, we often have strikes. A writers strike, for example, means producers not with the Writers Guild end up doing writing (in addition to scabs and picket line crossers). The VA has many employees on salary including Shinseki. If producers can roll up their sleeves and write dialogue, I think in this situation, Eric can roll up his sleeves and do some backlog work to earn that huge salary. In fact, it would be a good idea to ask everyone in administration with backlog cases. They might better understand the hold ups and how to improve the process.
This is something that should have been implemented years ago. There's a backlog. Every worker at the VA in management should know how to rate a claim -- how else can they judge the progress. And knowing how to rate a claim requires that management regularly do so. With just each member of management and administration required to do one claim evaluation a day, they'd be getting more than 4,000 done before you included any work done by those hired to rate claims.
You'd also determine quickly whether or not the claims workers have been working slowly for 'job protection' as many have alleged (including some claims workers) over the last years.
Shinseki made a statement many outlets ran with -- after dressing it up to improve it. Here's what he said, "If the shutdown does not end in the coming weeks, VA will not be able to ensure delivery of 1 November checks to more than 5.18 million beneficiaries."
Leo Shane III of Stars and Stripes, your job is to report not to 'improve.' Before you whore again, here's a little tip, when the Secretary of a Department says 5.18 million beneficiaries won't receive checks, they got that number by lying or basic math. If they got it via basic math, they know when the shutdown would have to end -- a date. "The coming weeks"? Oh, no. That's not an answer. But wasn't it cute of you, Leo, to cover for Shinseki.
Buried in his piece, Shane notes, "Shinseki could not give a precise date when VA appropriations accounts would run out. " No, Shinseki would not give a precise date. When you can give a figure of 5.18 million, if it's accurate (and it may be), it's accurate because you've done a mathematic model. Equally true, the checks can all be printed on October 30th and November 1st and sent out as they normally would (according to two friends in VA administration). So that's 21 days. Saying the shutdown can go on for 21 days doesn't present fear or urgency that the White House wants and that's most likely why Shineski dummied up on a date. (I'm also told there's the equivalent of a short term loan process that the VA could use to cover those November 1st checks even if the shutdown is still in effect.)
Shane also 'missed' the importance of this.
Chair Jeff Miller: So my question is in statements in years past House and Senate regardless of parties and the White House have always come together and tried to find a way to prioritize how much money would be spent, who would be at the top of the list, just as we started to shut the government down and run out of money. And today we don't have that. Even back in the shutdown of 1995, there was a prioritization and DoD and veterans were taken off the table which they're not right now. So my question, Mr. Secretary, is don't you think VA benefits should get the same priority or prioritization today as it has in other shutdown situations?
Secretary Eric Shinseki: I missed the last piece of your question, Mr. Chairman. In some --
Chair Jeff Miller: Just basically, in years passed, we have in fact prioritized spending needs -- DoD and VA has always been basically taken off the table. And my question is: What's different this time? And don't you think veterans benefits, in fact, should be prioritized at a higher level than others in our government.
Eric Uh, Mr. Chairman, I would just, uh, tell you this Department has benefitted from, uh, leadership of the president and leadership and support in the Congress. So if you look at what has transpired over the last four years to our budgets, I think we can all be proud of what we have done to take care of veterans and I will always tell you that that's a top priority with me. Uh, but I do understand that there is a budget request presented to the Congress, there is a process that you referred to that requires a passage of the budget within that the departments are then provided a guidance on what their budgets will be. I'm not sure where the Congress is in that process but I would ask the Congress, uh, to provide us a budget so that not only this Department but our partners in government on whom we rely to do our mission, uh, well, uh, can get on with business.
See, Leo Shane III, that was your story: "VA Secretary not willing to fight for veterans benefits." Homeless veterans is a topic the House and Senate Committee regularly address. When Kat shares her thoughts on a hearing with that topic, she often notes that there are millions of homeless people in this country who are not veterans and it's a shame that Congress shows little to no concern for them. Kat's correct, I don't disagree with her. But I don't bring it up here because I expect, for example, Senator Patty Murray chairing a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs to make homeless veterans her first priority among the homeless. Again, I understand Kat's reaction, I support it, I agree with it. This country needs to address the homeless crisis among the general population. But, again, I expect a Senate Agricultural Committee to put farmers first and I expect that from the Ag Secretary as well. Today, Shinseki was given the opportunity to put veterans first and refused to. I think that's a story, I think it's probably the most story out of the hearing (and one that will only lead to louder cries that Shinseki needs to go).
There's much more that I would like to cover and maybe we can tomorrow. (Though we'll be at two hearings tomorrow that I'll want to include as well.) For the record, Leo Shane III wasn't the worst reporter on the hearing. But he was bad and we call that out here.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Corpses continue to be dumped in the streets"
"Shinseki, Kerry, they all lie to Congress"
"Old Acquaintance"
"Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?"
"The Letter"
"beyond the forest"
"Dark Victory"
"All About Eve"
"Jezebel"
"Dead Ringer"
"Now, Voyager"
"The Little Foxes"
"THIS JUST IN! THE NPR CASTING COUCH!"
"Ron Elving's posing nude for his calendar"
CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O GOT A HUGE SPREAD AT THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS BUT IT'S NOT THE SORT OF TOPLESS SHOTS HE'S KNOWN FOR.
THE DAHLIBAMA'S PENDULOUS MANBOOBS WERE NO WHERE IN SIGHT AS A SCATHING REPORT DETAILED HIS WAR ON THE PRESS AND ON WHISTLEBLOWERS:
“This is the most closed, control freak administration I’ve ever covered,” said David E. Sanger, veteran chief Washington correspondent of The New York Times.
The Obama administration has notably used social media, videos, and its own sophisticated websites to provide the public with administration-generated information about its activities, along with considerable government data useful for consumers and businesses. However, with some exceptions, such as putting the White House visitors’ logs on the whitehouse.gov website and selected declassified documents on the new U.S. Intelligence Community website, it discloses too little of the information most needed by the press and public to hold the administration accountable for its policies and actions. “Government should be transparent,” Obama stated on the White House website, as he has repeatedly in presidential directives. “Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing.”
But his administration’s actions have too often contradicted Obama’s stated intentions. “Instead,” New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan wrote earlier this year, “it’s turning out to be the administration of unprecedented secrecy and unprecedented attacks on a free press.”
REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, BARRY O DECLARED, "SOMEONE'S NIPPLES ARE HARD! WANNA SEE?"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"I really called the hearing so that we could get the best possible information out to the veteran community," Committee Chair Jeff Miller declared at the start of today's House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. Appearing before the Committee was Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. Along with the Committee members, US House Rep Jerry McNerney (a former VA Committee member) questioned Shinseki.
Committee Chair Jeff Miller: Veterans want to know whether they're disability checks and [G]I Bill benefits will be paid in November and there after. They want to know if their disability claims will be decided or further delayed. Families want to know if their loved ones will receive a timely burial at VA national cemeteries. And many of VA employees themselves want to know whether they'll be serving veterans on the job or whether they will be furloughed. I understand that answers to some of these questions are entirely dependent upon how long this shutdown lasts. And although I want to be sure that most of us want this shutdown over clearly, it's our responsibility that the public especially veterans understand what the current state of play is. First of all, Mr. Secretary, I want to say that in the last couple of weeks getting good information about your contingency plans and the effect of a lapse in appropriations and its effects on veterans has been very difficult for us to get the information out of your office. For example, the original field guide that VA put out regarding the shut down impact at first spoke of no effect -- no effect -- on payment to veterans or any of their benefits. But in a later version, VA stated that a prolonged shutdown would effect both but didn't provide any details of how it would be impacted. Second, the Veterans Health Administration is not shut down at all because it has received a full year's appropriation for 2014 back in March. So hospitals, clinics and Vet Centers should all be open for business. Yet the President made a statement the day before the shutdown saying that veterans will find their support centers unstaffed and implied that counseling services for veterans with PTS would be effected. Third, this Committee has been consistently told by VBA's Overtime Mandatory Effort towards the backlog would actually end on September 30th. Yet, days into the shutdown, we're now informed that a shutdown prevented VBA's planned continued payment of overtime. Fourth, although a shutdown should have a relatively uniform effect across all regional offices, as suggested by your own field guide, my staff met with several representatives from VSOs last week who relayed that their members are hearing mixed messages out of different regional offices.
There's a lot to unpack in that series of statements. First of all, it doesn't help anyone when the President of the United States lies to the American people in order to scare them. The VBA has the money to run the hospitals and centers and has since March -- the money for Fiscal Year 2014.
September 30th, in the James Brady press room, President Barack Obama declared:
Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on would be hamstrung. Business owners would see delays in raising capital, seeking infrastructure permits, or rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. Veterans who’ve sacrificed for their country will find their support centers unstaffed.
Barack lied. Outlets carried his lies without a single question to them. Even after the House Veterans Affairs Committee issued a fact sheet, Barack's lies have still not been called out by the press. From the fact sheet:
As President Obama stated in his Sept. 30 government shutdown statement, will veterans find their support centers unstaffed in the event of a shutdown?
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA’s Military Sexual Trauma counseling services, Readjustment Counseling Services and Veterans Crisis Line will not be affected by a shutdown. Additionally, the following VA support phone lines will remain open for business: VA National Call Center, Coaching into Care Call Center, Debt Management Center, Homeless Prevention Line, Mammography Helpline, National Caregiver Support Line, Women Veterans Call Center, Vet Center Combat Call Center, Children of Women Vietnam Veterans; Foreign Medical Program; Spina Bifida Health Care Program. Additionally, all VA medical facilities and clinics will remain fully operational in the event of a shutdown.
As President Obama stated in his Sept. 30 government shutdown statement, will a government shutdown keep veterans suffering from PTSD from getting counseling services?
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA’s Military Sexual Trauma counseling services, Readjustment Counseling Services and Veterans Crisis Line will not be affected by a shutdown. All of those services are equipped to offer veterans suffering from PTSD with support. Additionally, all VA medical facilities and clinics will remain fully operational in the event of a shutdown and will be available for veterans with PTSD in need of counseling services.
Barack Obama lied to the American people (yet again) and the press ignores it (yet again). It was fear mongering at its worst and, at least when they were out of power, Democrats in Congress objected to fear mongering, saw as the last resort of liars and manipulators. But nine days ago, Barack did it and no elected Democrat has called him out. Apparently, when you're out of power, it's very easy to have ethics -- or at least give lectures on ethics, but when you have power, you lose interest in ethics and ethical concerns. Well that certainly explains the Democratic Party's war votes.
For more on what the shutdown will and won't mean to veterans, check this post by Tom Tarantion (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) which is updated regularly -- including updated today.
Let's move to another issue raised. Here's Eric Shinseki:
We have about 13,000 regional -- uh, benefits employees who are doing what they always do and that's process claims as quickly and as accurately as they can. With the end of mandatory overtime, we are doing that at 1400 claims each day less than we were doing, uh, before 30 September.
But what Miller said, and Shinseki never contradicted, was that it was always the understanding that overtime would be phased out at the end of September. That was regardless of whether or not there was a shutdown. The overtime program has been one scandal after another of stealing taxpayer money. To quell Congressional outrage, the program had a quick end date. For example, Mary Shinn, Daniel Moore and Steven Rich (Center for Public Integrity) reported in August:
While veterans waited longer than ever in recent years for their wartime disability compensation, the Department of Veterans Affairs gave its workers millions of dollars in bonuses for “excellent” performances that effectively encouraged them to avoid claims that needed extra work to document veterans’ injuries, a News21 investigation has found.
In 2011, a year in which the claims backlog ballooned by 155 percent, more than two-thirds of claims processors shared $5.5 million in bonuses, according to salary data from the Office of Personnel Management.
The more complex claims were often set aside by workers so they could keep their jobs, meet performance standards, or, in some cases, collect extra pay, said VA claims processors and union representatives. Those claims now make up much of VA’s widely scrutinized disability claims backlog, defined by the agency as claims pending more than 125 days.
And let me point out again that there is no great reduction in backlog. It's a con game. In many states across the country there are rental storage facilities run by Public Storage. In New York, there is Manhattan Mini Storage. Pretend you have a huge collection of books. You've been tasked with going through the collection, currently stored at Public Storage, and deciding which books to keep and which to get rid of. Instead of doing that, making that determination, you decided to move them to Manhattan Mini Storage. You can now claim that all the books in Public Storage are gone. And, indeed, they are. But you didn't do the job, you didn't make the determination. You played kick-the-can -- a game Barack used to deride when he was a US senator but now embraces from the White House. The 'reduction' is by giving claims a temporary classification and sending them to another group to be evaluated. In other words, a single-step evaluation is now a two-step process (three if you count the temporary status).
"Since the shutdown began on One October, the backlog has stalled. and in fact, has increased by about 2,000 claims," Shinseki insisted. "The shutdown directly threatens VA's ability to eliminate the backlog. We've lost ground we fought hard to take. Roughly 4,000 veterans a day are not now receiving decisions on their disability compensation claims due to the end of overtime." But overtime was ending September 30th regardless. Shinseki is so dishonest.
Equally true, in the entertainment industry, we often have strikes. A writers strike, for example, means producers not with the Writers Guild end up doing writing (in addition to scabs and picket line crossers). The VA has many employees on salary including Shinseki. If producers can roll up their sleeves and write dialogue, I think in this situation, Eric can roll up his sleeves and do some backlog work to earn that huge salary. In fact, it would be a good idea to ask everyone in administration with backlog cases. They might better understand the hold ups and how to improve the process.
This is something that should have been implemented years ago. There's a backlog. Every worker at the VA in management should know how to rate a claim -- how else can they judge the progress. And knowing how to rate a claim requires that management regularly do so. With just each member of management and administration required to do one claim evaluation a day, they'd be getting more than 4,000 done before you included any work done by those hired to rate claims.
You'd also determine quickly whether or not the claims workers have been working slowly for 'job protection' as many have alleged (including some claims workers) over the last years.
Shinseki made a statement many outlets ran with -- after dressing it up to improve it. Here's what he said, "If the shutdown does not end in the coming weeks, VA will not be able to ensure delivery of 1 November checks to more than 5.18 million beneficiaries."
Leo Shane III of Stars and Stripes, your job is to report not to 'improve.' Before you whore again, here's a little tip, when the Secretary of a Department says 5.18 million beneficiaries won't receive checks, they got that number by lying or basic math. If they got it via basic math, they know when the shutdown would have to end -- a date. "The coming weeks"? Oh, no. That's not an answer. But wasn't it cute of you, Leo, to cover for Shinseki.
Buried in his piece, Shane notes, "Shinseki could not give a precise date when VA appropriations accounts would run out. " No, Shinseki would not give a precise date. When you can give a figure of 5.18 million, if it's accurate (and it may be), it's accurate because you've done a mathematic model. Equally true, the checks can all be printed on October 30th and November 1st and sent out as they normally would (according to two friends in VA administration). So that's 21 days. Saying the shutdown can go on for 21 days doesn't present fear or urgency that the White House wants and that's most likely why Shineski dummied up on a date. (I'm also told there's the equivalent of a short term loan process that the VA could use to cover those November 1st checks even if the shutdown is still in effect.)
Shane also 'missed' the importance of this.
Chair Jeff Miller: So my question is in statements in years past House and Senate regardless of parties and the White House have always come together and tried to find a way to prioritize how much money would be spent, who would be at the top of the list, just as we started to shut the government down and run out of money. And today we don't have that. Even back in the shutdown of 1995, there was a prioritization and DoD and veterans were taken off the table which they're not right now. So my question, Mr. Secretary, is don't you think VA benefits should get the same priority or prioritization today as it has in other shutdown situations?
Secretary Eric Shinseki: I missed the last piece of your question, Mr. Chairman. In some --
Chair Jeff Miller: Just basically, in years passed, we have in fact prioritized spending needs -- DoD and VA has always been basically taken off the table. And my question is: What's different this time? And don't you think veterans benefits, in fact, should be prioritized at a higher level than others in our government.
Eric Uh, Mr. Chairman, I would just, uh, tell you this Department has benefitted from, uh, leadership of the president and leadership and support in the Congress. So if you look at what has transpired over the last four years to our budgets, I think we can all be proud of what we have done to take care of veterans and I will always tell you that that's a top priority with me. Uh, but I do understand that there is a budget request presented to the Congress, there is a process that you referred to that requires a passage of the budget within that the departments are then provided a guidance on what their budgets will be. I'm not sure where the Congress is in that process but I would ask the Congress, uh, to provide us a budget so that not only this Department but our partners in government on whom we rely to do our mission, uh, well, uh, can get on with business.
See, Leo Shane III, that was your story: "VA Secretary not willing to fight for veterans benefits." Homeless veterans is a topic the House and Senate Committee regularly address. When Kat shares her thoughts on a hearing with that topic, she often notes that there are millions of homeless people in this country who are not veterans and it's a shame that Congress shows little to no concern for them. Kat's correct, I don't disagree with her. But I don't bring it up here because I expect, for example, Senator Patty Murray chairing a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs to make homeless veterans her first priority among the homeless. Again, I understand Kat's reaction, I support it, I agree with it. This country needs to address the homeless crisis among the general population. But, again, I expect a Senate Agricultural Committee to put farmers first and I expect that from the Ag Secretary as well. Today, Shinseki was given the opportunity to put veterans first and refused to. I think that's a story, I think it's probably the most story out of the hearing (and one that will only lead to louder cries that Shinseki needs to go).
There's much more that I would like to cover and maybe we can tomorrow. (Though we'll be at two hearings tomorrow that I'll want to include as well.) For the record, Leo Shane III wasn't the worst reporter on the hearing. But he was bad and we call that out here.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Corpses continue to be dumped in the streets"
"Shinseki, Kerry, they all lie to Congress"
"Old Acquaintance"
"Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?"
"The Letter"
"beyond the forest"
"Dark Victory"
"All About Eve"
"Jezebel"
"Dead Ringer"
"Now, Voyager"
"The Little Foxes"
"THIS JUST IN! THE NPR CASTING COUCH!"
"Ron Elving's posing nude for his calendar"
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Ron Elving's posing nude for his calendar
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
RON ELVING WRITES SOFT PORN ABOUT CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O TODAY, NOTING BARRY O'S "FLEXING," CALLING HIM "KING" AND SAYING HIS TITLE IS "MR. PRESIDENT."
MARILYN MONROE CALLED J.F.K. "MR. PRESIDENT" IN PUBLIC TOO. IS RON ELVING TAKING IT UP THE ASS FROM BARRY O? IS HE SUCKING BARRY O'S COCK? WE HOPE HE WON'T BE KILLED AND THAT FINGERS WON'T POINT AT THE KENNEDYS BUT HISTORY DOES TEND TO REPEAT?
WE ALSO HOPE, WHEN HE STANDS OVER SUBWAY GRATES, HE WEARS PANTIES BECAUSE, RON, NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR AGED, FLACID AND FLABBY LOWER BODY.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Of the reality of violence in Iraq, Krista Ritterhoff (Cisternyard) observes, "This increased level of violence in Iraq is a horrible reminder of the country’s darkest days that many hoped the long and costly ten-year-war would have solved. It seems that in an attempt to bring stability to the country and eliminate terror, the United States has only created a new state of instability, which breeds terror and violence. " The reality of violence have even crept into the Kurdistan Regional Government as last month wound down. Dropping back to September 29th:
[National Iraqi News Agency reports] there was an attack on the Asayis Headquarters in Erbil (think military intelligence) with 2 car bombs and 4 suicide bombers attempt to storm the building -- along with the 4 suicide bombers, the dead includes 6 Asayish and the injured includes forty-two Asayhish and one police officer.
Again, this attack on Erbil may actually led to outlets (US outlets) paying some attention to Iraq this week. It is a complete surprise. Erbil is the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Tim Arango has a report online (and in Monday's New York Times) which notes:
The attackers hit a building that houses the regional Kurdish government’s security service, and the scenes that unfolded -- terrified people fleeing black plumes of smoke, the charred and smoking husks of vehicles in the streets -- were extraordinary for a region that has largely been spared the violence that for years has plagued the rest of Iraq.
All Iraq News says it was 6 suicide bombers (not four) and that all 6 were killed by security forces. They get six because the 2 car bombs were actually being driven by bombers. The outlet adds strict measures were quickly put in place. They mean a clamp down. They don't note it but this included shutting down the Erbil Airport. Arango notes, "In the aftermath, Iraqi forces swept across Erbil, and Sulaimaniya, another major Kurdish city, setting up checkpoints and other security measures familiar to residents of other Iraqi cities."
Asharq Al-Awsat (via The Majalla) reports today:
Last month’s suicide attack on the headquarters of the Security Directorate in Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for, was intended to free ISIS-linked prisoners, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned.
The attack took place on September 29 and led to the death of the six attackers along with six local security personnel, while 62 security officers and local residents were also injured.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, Kurdish sources said that the aim of the attackers was to “storm the prison that belongs to the Directorate of Security, which is believed to hold detainees affiliated with the organization [ISIS] who have been arrested in previous pursuits by the local forces.”
“But they failed to break through the prison’s main gate after the prison guards confronted and killed them,” the source added.
In a statement posted online, ISIS said that the attack came in response to threats from the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masoud Barzani, to send fighters to Kurdish areas in Syria to fight Islamists threatening the region’s inhabitants.
Zana Khasraw Gul (of the George Soros-backed Open Democracy) offers:
Furious fighting has broken out in Syria between the Jihadists and the Kurds, particularly the most powerful Kurdish militia, People Protect Unit (YPG), the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) which is an offshoot of the PKK. The JN, ISIL, Ahrar Al-Sham Brigade and ten other rebel factions have formed an alliance, the ‘Islamic Army’, that has rejected the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) allegiance to the Syrian National Council (SNC). These developments have brought the civil war to a menacing juncture, with regional ramifications.
As Assad’s enemies have fragmented and are fighting each other, a war is going on between the Arab rebels and the Kurds. Massoud Barzani, the President of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, has reportedly warned of intervention in Syria to defend the slaughter of the Kurdish people by radical Islamist groups who are fighting against Assad’s regime, although officials have since backtracked on the statement. In the meantime, the influx of refugees into the Iraqi Kurdistan region is continuing. In the last few months, tens of thousands of refugees, mostly Syrian Kurds, have crossed the border, posing a challenge to the KRG which is hard pressed to cope with their large numbers.
Supposedly, the attack was planned for a month. There is skepticism of this in Arabic social media with many claiming that it was a Saturday, September 28th meet-up which led to the Sunday, September 29th attack. (For more on the meet-up, you can refer to Baghdad's Kassahkhoon's English language write-up of the meeting.) Not noted in the commentary is a pretty clear fact: That attack, if planned, was poorly planned. The 'plan' seemed to be: Send in 6 bombers and hope something works.
If there was planning of that attack, the attackers should be going after the planner right now. A plan is:
You hit the entrance with a tiny bombing." As people rush out, we have a suicide bomber in the crowd rushing over. S/he looks distressed like everyone else. As a calm settles, the bomber detonates a large bomb. 30 seconds later, 4 cars (with suicide bombers) barrel towards the entrance, and . . .
That's a plan. The attack the press described was an erratic, ill-timed affair.
Let's stay with Syria and violence and then come back to the KRG. NINA reports State of Law MP Abbas al-Bayati insisted today that the violence in Iraq is linked to events in Syria. In making that statement, he was echoing the remarks of the head of State of Law Nouri al-Maliki. World Bulletin notes:
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview with Al-Monitor, said that Iraq supports a “transitional government that will manage affairs until elections are held and a constitution is adopted” in Syria.
Maliki, who opposed a US strike on Syria and any outside military intervention there, said that he told US Vice President Joe Biden two years ago that Syria “would not be resolved in two years, or even more, and that the social situation, the political and population structure and the sensitive region make it difficult to predict the end of an armed conflict of such cruelty and ferocity.”
We noted that laughable 'interview' yesterday. I was kind and just focused the scorn on Nouri. Now that the bulls**t is being picked up by others, we're going to have to return to the Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) interview. We've already noted how stupid it is for Nouri to blame others when he's bred hatred and sectarianism since November 2010 when he created the ongoing political crisis. Let's note something else. Al-Monitor, you don't do anyone favors by repeating lies and allowing them to go unchallenged.
There is difference of opinion. There are foggy circumstances. And there are also real events which cannot be denied.
In the awful interview, which was conducted by e-mail, Nouri is allowed to get away with this lie. It's not challenged in the exchange, it's not challenged in any intro or conclusion to the interview:
As for the youth demonstrations, this is a natural thing and we consider it a sign of activity, effectiveness and participation, as long as it takes place within the framework of the law. Let me tell you frankly that these demonstrations were dealt with seriously, whether the youth demonstrations that were focused on [revoking] the privileges of members of parliament or the sit-ins that sometimes bordered on sectarian incitement and defying the law, in addition to including legitimate demands. Iraq's method of dealing with these demonstrations serves as a civilized, humanitarian model for dealing [with such events]. Everyone can see how demonstrations, with normal demands, are dealt with in regional countries, and the number of victims. I see no need to provide examples — there are many, and this has been covered in the press. Perhaps there were some problems on the part of security forces or demonstrators here or there, but these things are being followed up on so that they will not happen again. These things occur naturally, but a decision has been made to hold those who were negligent or acted maliciously accountable, whether they be from the security services or demonstrators.
Now there are bold faced lies throughout and many of the lies cover for deaths. Surely, for example, functioning public services would save lives. But we're focusing on that comment by Nouri where he claims that Iraq has a "method" that "serves as a civilized, humanitarian model for dealing" with protesteors and "perhaps there were some problems . . . here or there." What a load of trash.
The April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija resulted from Nouri's federal forces storming in. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).
An example for the world?
Nouri is a cheap, trashy thug. He's the "Dirty Ol' Man" The Three Degrees warned you about in the seventies. And he exposed his real self in that massacre.
By the way, where's his investigation?
Nouri was overseeing that, remember? It's October. Where are the results, Nouri?
Nouri al-Maliki is a cheap thug and damned liar. He repeatedly claims he will investigate some incident but there's never any follow up. And the press -- international press -- refuses to press him on it.
Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya beat State of Law in the 2010 elections and Allawi should be prime minister. But, her body order not withstanding, US President Barack Obama thinks Samantha Power is bright and listened to her 'logic' on how the US government should subvert the democratic rights of the Iraqi people and ignore their votes to give Nouri a second term. (He was installed by the US government in 2006 when the Iraqis wanted Ibrahim al-Jaafari.) Allawi, the true leader of Iraq, Tweets today:
Allawi is the head of Iraqiya. A prominent Iraqiya member is Nineveh Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi (brother of Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi) and, as noted earlier in this snapshot, his spokesperson Saad Zagloul was assassinated today outside of his Mosul home. All Iraq News reports Iraqiya MP Mohammed Eqbal is calling for the culprit or culprits to be arrested "and present[ed] . . . to judiciary. The indulging [of] this issue by the security forces allows the criminal to commit more crimes against the Iraqis." MP Eqbal also expressed, "His sorrow for the continuity of the assassination attempts to the journalists and activists in Nineveh."
If the pattern stands, not only will Nouri never announce any investigation results but the international press will never call him on it.
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RON ELVING WRITES SOFT PORN ABOUT CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O TODAY, NOTING BARRY O'S "FLEXING," CALLING HIM "KING" AND SAYING HIS TITLE IS "MR. PRESIDENT."
MARILYN MONROE CALLED J.F.K. "MR. PRESIDENT" IN PUBLIC TOO. IS RON ELVING TAKING IT UP THE ASS FROM BARRY O? IS HE SUCKING BARRY O'S COCK? WE HOPE HE WON'T BE KILLED AND THAT FINGERS WON'T POINT AT THE KENNEDYS BUT HISTORY DOES TEND TO REPEAT?
WE ALSO HOPE, WHEN HE STANDS OVER SUBWAY GRATES, HE WEARS PANTIES BECAUSE, RON, NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR AGED, FLACID AND FLABBY LOWER BODY.
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Of the reality of violence in Iraq, Krista Ritterhoff (Cisternyard) observes, "This increased level of violence in Iraq is a horrible reminder of the country’s darkest days that many hoped the long and costly ten-year-war would have solved. It seems that in an attempt to bring stability to the country and eliminate terror, the United States has only created a new state of instability, which breeds terror and violence. " The reality of violence have even crept into the Kurdistan Regional Government as last month wound down. Dropping back to September 29th:
[National Iraqi News Agency reports] there was an attack on the Asayis Headquarters in Erbil (think military intelligence) with 2 car bombs and 4 suicide bombers attempt to storm the building -- along with the 4 suicide bombers, the dead includes 6 Asayish and the injured includes forty-two Asayhish and one police officer.
Again, this attack on Erbil may actually led to outlets (US outlets) paying some attention to Iraq this week. It is a complete surprise. Erbil is the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government. Tim Arango has a report online (and in Monday's New York Times) which notes:
The attackers hit a building that houses the regional Kurdish government’s security service, and the scenes that unfolded -- terrified people fleeing black plumes of smoke, the charred and smoking husks of vehicles in the streets -- were extraordinary for a region that has largely been spared the violence that for years has plagued the rest of Iraq.
All Iraq News says it was 6 suicide bombers (not four) and that all 6 were killed by security forces. They get six because the 2 car bombs were actually being driven by bombers. The outlet adds strict measures were quickly put in place. They mean a clamp down. They don't note it but this included shutting down the Erbil Airport. Arango notes, "In the aftermath, Iraqi forces swept across Erbil, and Sulaimaniya, another major Kurdish city, setting up checkpoints and other security measures familiar to residents of other Iraqi cities."
Asharq Al-Awsat (via The Majalla) reports today:
Last month’s suicide attack on the headquarters of the Security Directorate in Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for, was intended to free ISIS-linked prisoners, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned.
The attack took place on September 29 and led to the death of the six attackers along with six local security personnel, while 62 security officers and local residents were also injured.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, Kurdish sources said that the aim of the attackers was to “storm the prison that belongs to the Directorate of Security, which is believed to hold detainees affiliated with the organization [ISIS] who have been arrested in previous pursuits by the local forces.”
“But they failed to break through the prison’s main gate after the prison guards confronted and killed them,” the source added.
In a statement posted online, ISIS said that the attack came in response to threats from the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masoud Barzani, to send fighters to Kurdish areas in Syria to fight Islamists threatening the region’s inhabitants.
Zana Khasraw Gul (of the George Soros-backed Open Democracy) offers:
Furious fighting has broken out in Syria between the Jihadists and the Kurds, particularly the most powerful Kurdish militia, People Protect Unit (YPG), the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) which is an offshoot of the PKK. The JN, ISIL, Ahrar Al-Sham Brigade and ten other rebel factions have formed an alliance, the ‘Islamic Army’, that has rejected the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) allegiance to the Syrian National Council (SNC). These developments have brought the civil war to a menacing juncture, with regional ramifications.
As Assad’s enemies have fragmented and are fighting each other, a war is going on between the Arab rebels and the Kurds. Massoud Barzani, the President of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, has reportedly warned of intervention in Syria to defend the slaughter of the Kurdish people by radical Islamist groups who are fighting against Assad’s regime, although officials have since backtracked on the statement. In the meantime, the influx of refugees into the Iraqi Kurdistan region is continuing. In the last few months, tens of thousands of refugees, mostly Syrian Kurds, have crossed the border, posing a challenge to the KRG which is hard pressed to cope with their large numbers.
Supposedly, the attack was planned for a month. There is skepticism of this in Arabic social media with many claiming that it was a Saturday, September 28th meet-up which led to the Sunday, September 29th attack. (For more on the meet-up, you can refer to Baghdad's Kassahkhoon's English language write-up of the meeting.) Not noted in the commentary is a pretty clear fact: That attack, if planned, was poorly planned. The 'plan' seemed to be: Send in 6 bombers and hope something works.
If there was planning of that attack, the attackers should be going after the planner right now. A plan is:
You hit the entrance with a tiny bombing." As people rush out, we have a suicide bomber in the crowd rushing over. S/he looks distressed like everyone else. As a calm settles, the bomber detonates a large bomb. 30 seconds later, 4 cars (with suicide bombers) barrel towards the entrance, and . . .
That's a plan. The attack the press described was an erratic, ill-timed affair.
Let's stay with Syria and violence and then come back to the KRG. NINA reports State of Law MP Abbas al-Bayati insisted today that the violence in Iraq is linked to events in Syria. In making that statement, he was echoing the remarks of the head of State of Law Nouri al-Maliki. World Bulletin notes:
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in an interview with Al-Monitor, said that Iraq supports a “transitional government that will manage affairs until elections are held and a constitution is adopted” in Syria.
Maliki, who opposed a US strike on Syria and any outside military intervention there, said that he told US Vice President Joe Biden two years ago that Syria “would not be resolved in two years, or even more, and that the social situation, the political and population structure and the sensitive region make it difficult to predict the end of an armed conflict of such cruelty and ferocity.”
We noted that laughable 'interview' yesterday. I was kind and just focused the scorn on Nouri. Now that the bulls**t is being picked up by others, we're going to have to return to the Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) interview. We've already noted how stupid it is for Nouri to blame others when he's bred hatred and sectarianism since November 2010 when he created the ongoing political crisis. Let's note something else. Al-Monitor, you don't do anyone favors by repeating lies and allowing them to go unchallenged.
There is difference of opinion. There are foggy circumstances. And there are also real events which cannot be denied.
In the awful interview, which was conducted by e-mail, Nouri is allowed to get away with this lie. It's not challenged in the exchange, it's not challenged in any intro or conclusion to the interview:
As for the youth demonstrations, this is a natural thing and we consider it a sign of activity, effectiveness and participation, as long as it takes place within the framework of the law. Let me tell you frankly that these demonstrations were dealt with seriously, whether the youth demonstrations that were focused on [revoking] the privileges of members of parliament or the sit-ins that sometimes bordered on sectarian incitement and defying the law, in addition to including legitimate demands. Iraq's method of dealing with these demonstrations serves as a civilized, humanitarian model for dealing [with such events]. Everyone can see how demonstrations, with normal demands, are dealt with in regional countries, and the number of victims. I see no need to provide examples — there are many, and this has been covered in the press. Perhaps there were some problems on the part of security forces or demonstrators here or there, but these things are being followed up on so that they will not happen again. These things occur naturally, but a decision has been made to hold those who were negligent or acted maliciously accountable, whether they be from the security services or demonstrators.
Now there are bold faced lies throughout and many of the lies cover for deaths. Surely, for example, functioning public services would save lives. But we're focusing on that comment by Nouri where he claims that Iraq has a "method" that "serves as a civilized, humanitarian model for dealing" with protesteors and "perhaps there were some problems . . . here or there." What a load of trash.
The April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija resulted from Nouri's federal forces storming in. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).
An example for the world?
Nouri is a cheap, trashy thug. He's the "Dirty Ol' Man" The Three Degrees warned you about in the seventies. And he exposed his real self in that massacre.
By the way, where's his investigation?
Nouri was overseeing that, remember? It's October. Where are the results, Nouri?
Nouri al-Maliki is a cheap thug and damned liar. He repeatedly claims he will investigate some incident but there's never any follow up. And the press -- international press -- refuses to press him on it.
Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya beat State of Law in the 2010 elections and Allawi should be prime minister. But, her body order not withstanding, US President Barack Obama thinks Samantha Power is bright and listened to her 'logic' on how the US government should subvert the democratic rights of the Iraqi people and ignore their votes to give Nouri a second term. (He was installed by the US government in 2006 when the Iraqis wanted Ibrahim al-Jaafari.) Allawi, the true leader of Iraq, Tweets today:
-
Ø§Ù„Ø§ØµÙ„Ø§Ø Ø§Ù„Ø±Ø¦ÙŠØ³ÙŠ هو تعزيز العملية السياسية بأن تكون شاملة، لا تقصي اØداً الا القتلة والمجرمين ولا تؤذي اØداً Øيث يكون العراقيين كلهم متساوين
-
The political process needs to be reformed so that it is all-inclusive whereby all Iraqis are equal and the criminals are brought to justice
Ayad Allawi
Allawi is the head of Iraqiya. A prominent Iraqiya member is Nineveh Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi (brother of Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi) and, as noted earlier in this snapshot, his spokesperson Saad Zagloul was assassinated today outside of his Mosul home. All Iraq News reports Iraqiya MP Mohammed Eqbal is calling for the culprit or culprits to be arrested "and present[ed] . . . to judiciary. The indulging [of] this issue by the security forces allows the criminal to commit more crimes against the Iraqis." MP Eqbal also expressed, "His sorrow for the continuity of the assassination attempts to the journalists and activists in Nineveh."
If the pattern stands, not only will Nouri never announce any investigation results but the international press will never call him on it.
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Tuesday, October 08, 2013
I think he's cracking up
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
YESTERDAY CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SKIPPED THE ANNUAL ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION SUMMIT.
WHEN THESE REPORTERS TACKED THE DAHLIBAMA DOWN, HE WAS WITH 'BODY MAN' REGGIE LOVE AND INSISTING HE HAD "A RIGHT TO PRIVACY" -- A RIGHT HE DENIES AMERICANS.
"I AM SO LIKE OLVIA POPE!" BARRY O WHINED. "WHY WON'T THE PRESS LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M JUST A GIRL IN LOVE!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) profiles Irqaq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki:
The prime minister, whose term ends in 2014, said that the rise in terrorism in Iraq is rooted in the rise of regional sectarianism and “directly related to the developments in the Syrian crisis and its repercussions on the Iraqi arena. We are very worried about the Syrian arena transforming into a field that attracts extremists, terrorists and sectarians from various parts of the world, gathering them in our neighborhood.”
Of course, Nouri would choose to blame it on Syria. He's a
thug. He can't provide security and he can't stop inciting the people.
Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi observed earlier today:
Exactly. Nouri always tries to treat them as unrelated concepts.
Look at this Al Mada news photo.
What do you see?
I see three scared young men who are blindfolded and handcuffed.
Maybe they're killers and maybe they aren't.
Maybe that's why courts exist? To determine guilt or innocence.
The young men are scared and why are they blindfolded? Why was their picture taken, let alone distributed to the media?
This isn't about fairness or determining innocence. This isn't about seeking truth.
The Ministry of the Interior says the three are killers.
And they distribute this photo to the press insisting the three are killers.
A lot of people will see what I see: Three scared young men.
Those people will have even less faith and trust in Nouri's corrupt government. BBC News observes:
In the past two months, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign the government is calling "Revenge for the Martyrs".
But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.
There were over 2,000 people arrested in mass arrests last month alone. It's not helping to calm the situation in Iraq or reduce the violence. These people -- like those who are already in the 'justice' system -- disappear, are tortured and never get a day in court. All Iraq News notes:
The leading figure within the Sadr Trend, Hazim al-Araji, stressed that "Muqtada al-Sadr refuses to compromise over releasing his imprisoned followers."
Araji said "The prisoners of the Sadr Trend are from the resistance elements," noting "Their weapons were not used against any Iraqi person and their only enemy was the occupier."
"We had called and still call for releasing those prisoners, he added assuring "The Head of the Sadr Trend, Muqtada al-Sadr did not forget the imprisoned resistance fighters, but he formed a legal commission to follow up their cases."
Iraq desperately needs new leadership.
And for the ones who can't catch on, Nouri runs the Ministry of the Interior. His refusal to nominate someone for that post -- or to head any of the security ministries -- means he runs it.
Meanwhile Iraq still needs an election law to hold parliamentary elections in a few months as it is supposed to do. All Iraq News reports MP Susan al-Saad is noting that in the 2010 elections, the law was that there was a quota for women that was in addition to those women who ran for seats and won. Instead, she points out that 21 women won seats and these women were then used for the quotas. She states this issue needs to be cleared up before the next parliamentary election. Alsumaria reports that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi presided over a session today which 220 MPs attended and that the election bill was raised.
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YESTERDAY CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SKIPPED THE ANNUAL ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION SUMMIT.
WHEN THESE REPORTERS TACKED THE DAHLIBAMA DOWN, HE WAS WITH 'BODY MAN' REGGIE LOVE AND INSISTING HE HAD "A RIGHT TO PRIVACY" -- A RIGHT HE DENIES AMERICANS.
"I AM SO LIKE OLVIA POPE!" BARRY O WHINED. "WHY WON'T THE PRESS LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M JUST A GIRL IN LOVE!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Mustafa al-Kadhimi (Al-Monitor) profiles Irqaq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki:
The prime minister, whose term ends in 2014, said that the rise in terrorism in Iraq is rooted in the rise of regional sectarianism and “directly related to the developments in the Syrian crisis and its repercussions on the Iraqi arena. We are very worried about the Syrian arena transforming into a field that attracts extremists, terrorists and sectarians from various parts of the world, gathering them in our neighborhood.”
Of course, Nouri would choose to blame it on Syria. He's a
thug. He can't provide security and he can't stop inciting the people.
Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi observed earlier today:
Security is dependent on the political landscape, economy and institutions. #Iraq #democracy
Exactly. Nouri always tries to treat them as unrelated concepts.
Look at this Al Mada news photo.
What do you see?
I see three scared young men who are blindfolded and handcuffed.
Maybe they're killers and maybe they aren't.
Maybe that's why courts exist? To determine guilt or innocence.
The young men are scared and why are they blindfolded? Why was their picture taken, let alone distributed to the media?
This isn't about fairness or determining innocence. This isn't about seeking truth.
The Ministry of the Interior says the three are killers.
And they distribute this photo to the press insisting the three are killers.
A lot of people will see what I see: Three scared young men.
Those people will have even less faith and trust in Nouri's corrupt government. BBC News observes:
In the past two months, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign the government is calling "Revenge for the Martyrs".
But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.
There were over 2,000 people arrested in mass arrests last month alone. It's not helping to calm the situation in Iraq or reduce the violence. These people -- like those who are already in the 'justice' system -- disappear, are tortured and never get a day in court. All Iraq News notes:
The leading figure within the Sadr Trend, Hazim al-Araji, stressed that "Muqtada al-Sadr refuses to compromise over releasing his imprisoned followers."
Araji said "The prisoners of the Sadr Trend are from the resistance elements," noting "Their weapons were not used against any Iraqi person and their only enemy was the occupier."
"We had called and still call for releasing those prisoners, he added assuring "The Head of the Sadr Trend, Muqtada al-Sadr did not forget the imprisoned resistance fighters, but he formed a legal commission to follow up their cases."
Iraq desperately needs new leadership.
And for the ones who can't catch on, Nouri runs the Ministry of the Interior. His refusal to nominate someone for that post -- or to head any of the security ministries -- means he runs it.
Meanwhile Iraq still needs an election law to hold parliamentary elections in a few months as it is supposed to do. All Iraq News reports MP Susan al-Saad is noting that in the 2010 elections, the law was that there was a quota for women that was in addition to those women who ran for seats and won. Instead, she points out that 21 women won seats and these women were then used for the quotas. She states this issue needs to be cleared up before the next parliamentary election. Alsumaria reports that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi presided over a session today which 220 MPs attended and that the election bill was raised.
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"THIS JUST IN! HE'S CUTER IN CURLS!"
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