no woman needed e.r. bills' help

any 1 who knows a damn thing about me knows i support abortion rights. they know i don't believe in parental consent and believe the costs incurred should be covered the same way any other health policy is.

so why do i hate the 'essay' 'I’d Rather Have an Abortion Any Day Than Raise a Baby in Oklahoma' at dissident voice?

because it's so DAMN STUPID.

no woman would write that crap. and, in fact, a woman didn't. a little punk ass bitch by the name of e.r. bills wrote it.

he thinks it's telling.

i think all it does is fess up to his ignorances and prejudices.

we get it, e.r., if the choice was between birth in oklahoma (which texan e.r. hates) you'd have an abortion.

guess what, e.r.?

women aren't that stupid.

we're dealing with real issues.

as a woman whose had an abortion, let me explain to your small brain - which i'm sure matches your small penis - i didn't have an abortion because i didn't like the state i was living in.

your attempts at humor?

not wanted.

you need to just shut the f**k up. no woman needs your garbage.

before you 'help' us out again, why don't you try learning something about abortion.

we don't need your s**t, we don't want it.

you are uninformed and your caricature of the pregnant woman is as insulting as your caricature of men in oklahoma.

and, last time i checked, texas wasn't scoring really great. so maybe you should stop your bulls**t sooner - aggies or sooner - longhorns rivarly and grow the hell up.

1st hint: write about what you know.

as a woman who's had an abortion, let me be the 1st to tell you, you don't know a damn thing you're writing about.

you helped no 1. you only embarrassed yourself and perpetuated the right-wing lie that when women have abortions, we do so because of some trivial issue.

it's that lie that governments use to demand that we have 'counseling' before we can have abortions.

shame on you, shame on you.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Wednesday, May 12, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, oil motives back in the news, the Sadr militia regrouping, and more. We'll open with a segment from today's Andrea Mitchell Reports (MSNBC): Senator John Kerry [in a clip]: We're more dependent upon foreign oil today than we were before 9-11 we make America more energy independnet we strengthen our national security. Andrea Mitchell: Senator John Kerry on Morning Joe today. He and Joe Lieberman now at this hour unveiling their new energy reform bill to combat climate change. But energy independence is also a matter of national security. Retired US Army General Paul Eaton a senior adviser at the National Security Network pushing for climate change, pushing for this legislation. Thanks so much, general, for joining us. Tell us why it is such an important issue for national security for anyone who doesn't-doesn't get it? Gen Paul Eaton: Andrea, thanks for having me on. When you take a look at the defense budget we're pushing north of a three-quarter trillion dollars and a significant amount of that goes towards protecting our lines of communication, protecting our oil based sources, and we're spending uh-uh our -- our children's future here just to sustain our logistics. And it's -- it is a military issue, it is a budgetary issue and it's a -- it's a future economic issue for the United States. Andrea Mitchell: But of course this is a terrible climate -- no pun intended -- to be doing this, presenting this bill now. You've lost the support of the one Republican co-sponsor, Senator Lindsay Graham, over side issues, but lost the support over all of the months. At the same time, the oil spill. How do you say to Americans, "This is the time for an energy bill which includes offshore drilling" -- when, in fact, we have no answers from BP after all these weeks as to how to even begin this fix? Gen Paul Eaton: Well the real argument is because of energy dependence on oil because we're really reliant upon a 19th century fuel source, we are going after more and more dangerous locations and more and more problematic countries to sustain our -- our billion dollar a day habit. And when we spend a hundred million dollars a day and send it to Iran, a primary potential enemy, that is a national security issue. It's a military issue. So we've got to sell that too America. And what happened in the Gulf and this horrific oil spill that's going on, we developed the technology to get after it and as we do so, as our needs grow and we're pushing wellheads down 5000 feet under the water, we're on the edge of our technological capacity to get it and we're beyond, apparently, our technological capacity to -- to right a wrong when disaster strikes. So we're we're going into dangerous regions. Andrea Mitchell: What about the carbon tax piece of this -- you've got the economy just coming out of a recession and especially in areas of the country where people are so resistant to the carbon tax, how do you sell this very tough political piece to the American people? Gen Paul Eaton: It's frequently difficult to sell the idea of spendingg money to save greater money in the future. Spending a little bit of money today -- most of which will come back to the consumer in price supports for energy bills that are going to go up and eventually 100% will come back to energy consumers. But it drives us to reliable energy, to sustainable energy to -- to non-oil energy options. It's a job provider. It will ultimately reduce the requirements imposed upon the military as I mentioned earlier to sustain the lines of communication we've got to do. Andrea Mitchell: General Paul Eaton, thank you so much. We appreciate it. The case for national security on climate change. We do not support building nuclear plants in this community and we avoid various groups because of it (and various 'activism'). Our noting the above is not an endorsement or a slap about the above. Our focus is on what Eaton's saying. (If you're curious about the legislation, you can click here for an overview page John Kerry's office has prepared that will provide you with -- PDF format warning -- endorsements -- corporations love it!, the bill itself, and various other options.) Eaton was a war cheerleader (and serving at the time, in training aspect). He's 'anti-war' in that if-you're-stupid-you-believe-it kind of way. Meaning, only those with comprehension issues think he's against the Iraq War. He loves the illegal war, he'd go down on it if he could. But what he didn't like was some of the ways Bully Boy Bush conducted it after it started. He's debating tactics and not condemning the illegal war. He's a War Hawk. He's a War Monger. That's reality. Reality can also be found in his statements. The US government sees energy and access to it as a "national security" issue. Of course they do. Wars are fought -- especially among empires -- over goods. Over access to and control of resources. That's a historical truth. But any who have dared suggested that the Iraq War was in any way, shape or form about oil have been ridiculed. Andrea Mitchell's husband is Alan Greenspan. Promoting his book, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, the former chair of the Federal Reserve (1987 through the start of 2006) appeared on Democracy Now! (link has text, video and audio) in September of 2007: Amy Goodman: Alan Greenspan, let's talk about the war in Iraq. You said what for many in your circles is the unspeakable, that the war in Iraq was for oil. Can you explain? Alan Greenspan: Yes. The point I was making was that if there were no oil under the sands of Iraq, Saddam Hussein would have never been able to accumulate the resources which enabled him to threaten his neighbors, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia. And having watched him for thirty years, I was very fearful that he, if he ever achieved -- and I thought he might very well be able to buy one -- an atomic device, he would have essentially endeavored and perhaps succeeded in controlling the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz, which is the channel through which eighteen or ninetten million barrels a day of the world eight-five million barrel crude oil production flows. Had he decided to shut down,s ay, seven million barrels a day, which eh could have done if he controlled, he could have essentially also shut down a significant part of economic activity throughout the world. The size of the threat that he posed, as I saw it emerging, I thought was scary. And so, getting him out of office or getting him out of the control position he was in, I thought, was essential. And whether that be done by one means or another was not as important, but it's clear to me that were there not the oil resources in Iraq, the whole picture of how that part of the Middle East developed would have been different. In his 2007 book, Greenspan wrote, "Whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy. I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Note that not one damn thing when the White House flipped. Not one damn thing. And all the little pieces of trash who used the peace movement as a get-out-the-vote organization, you know the Obama Drama Queens who whored it big time for Barry and then fell silent even though all the conditions for the illegal war -- like the Iraq War itself -- still exist. You know who I'm talking about, the faux activists, who did their little I-Can-Blog-No-More pieces, usually while insulting efforts at peace because they don't want anyone to call out there War Hawk (file it under ' I found the peace movement not very peaceful' -- as so many Liars and Whores did -- usuallyshowing up later to blog again but, you understand, they're focusing on the personal and not the political). Nothing changed. Eaton is a War Hawk. Eaton gets to say on Andrea Mitchell's program what Mitchell's husband wrote and (briefly) discussed. In England, the Iraq War never stopped mattering. Danny Schechter writes the ridiculous paragraph below: My muse, the news, seems to be in hyper-drive these days, with "breaking news" dominating all news. As I write, word has to the Dissector come that Gordon Brown has lost the election after the election as the Lib Dems, Britain's third party, opted to make a deal with the Conservatives, i. e., Tories, pre-empting all future maneuvers. David Cameron will be Prime Minister. Personally I credit Tony Blair, poodle-in-chief, for so trashing/betraying Labor's legacy that it lost its mission and millions of supporters. Brown finished what he started, hardly helped by a devastating economic collapse. It is ridiculous. He obviously doesn't know enough about the situation to comment. Where is Iraq in that 'analysis.' No where. But then, hey, Danny didn't cover the Iraq Inquiry did he? Apparently unaware of how Gordo went over with Brits over that. Rebecca knew the mood the first time she looked at the raw data. Want to know reality about the elections in England, read Rebecca's "thank you and goodbye" and "gordo killed the labour streak" -- she may write more, she's got a lot more she can tell. Whether she will or not is her business but she did a lot of work for Labour including spending four to six weeks in England. The election was lost (as we pointed out here) if Brown didn't step down. He never did. He was too tied to Iraq, he was too tied to too many things. He was supposed to provide some fresh air and he never did. All he did -- and there are lessons for the US here -- is degrade the Labour brand. He destroyed it. People have expectations because they are led to believe certain things. You might fool the voters once but they'll come back and show you who really is in charge -- a thought that should frighten Democratic politicians in the US. Danny says Gordon lost the "election after the election" which is apparently an attempt at "word cute." It's not cute. They elected their Parliament members. The minute the votes were counted Gordon Brown was over. He even went through the motions of announcing his withdrawal (saying it would be effective in September). It was already over and no one -- Labour, Tory or Liberal Democrat -- was going to let that ass save face. Though Danny never covered them, there were huge protests when Gordon Brown and Tony Blair testified in London to the Iraq Inquiry earlier this year. Gordon could have broken with Blair publicly in his testimony -- as he was advised to do. He didn't. He sealed his own fate. Again, there are lessons for Democrats if they care to pay attention. The Iraq War didn't go away just because the coverage did. It didn't vanish just because a lot of people who used to note it every day or made a film or two on it or wrote a book about it decided more money could be made and attention garnered elsewhere. Amy Goodman is many things but she at least knows how to give lip service to the idea that the Iraq War has lasting effects in the political system and in the media system. England saw the effects of the Iraq War. The US will be seeing it soon. It will play out very much as the effects of Vietnam did. "A Human Rights President will save us! Will wash all our sins away! Yea!" And by 1980, the liar class and their human rights president had ensured Republican domination. History does repeat mainly because so many fools refuse to learn lessons from it. (If the ones who ran away from Iraq to make money and get attention on something else especially piss you off, take comfort in the fact that they're idiots at commerce. In fact, they should be using the Iraq War to sell their new products. They only have one song and when a recording artist only is capable of one hit, you repackage and remix that thing over and over. Their efforts to beat a hasty retreat are a bit like Donna Summer's efforts to disown her Queen of Disco label -- a career killing move.) Nothing's changed. That was obvious today sitting through one House Armed Services Committee hearing and two Subcommittee hearings. Take the Strategic Forces Subcommittee which met to markup the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscaly Year 2011. US House Rep James Langevin is the Chair of the Subcommittee. Subcommittee Chair James R. Langevin: The mark before the subcomittee this morning includes: $15 billion for the Department of Energy's Atomic Energy Defense Activities, not including defense nuclear nonproliferation programs, $10.3 billion for ballistic missile defense programs -- $361.6 million above the President's request, and approximately $9.7 billion for unclassified national security space programs. These three important initiatives will enhance our national security. First, reflecting the President's request to provide a strong and unprecedented investment in our nuclear deterrent, the mark includes a significant increase for the activites of the National Nuclear Security Administration to sustain a safe, secure and reliable arsenal without nuclear testing. Second, the mark includes a significant increase above the President's request for ballistic missile defense systems that counter the most pressing and likely threats to the United States, our deployed troops and our allies and friends. Third, the mark provides for important military space programs that are in critical phases of development or sustainment, including the Operation Responsive Space program and Military Satellite Communications. And on and on he went. Endlessly bragging about how they were handing over more (tax payer) money than the White House was asking for. In the midst of the Great Recession. When Barack says "everything" is on the table. Everything but military spending. There, they don't even scale back. Instead they rush forward to strut and proclaim they gave more than asked for. And no one rushes forward to obejct to the militarization of space -- something we all found so offensive under Bully Boy Bush. Now Dems and Republicans can -- and on the Subcommittee did -- agree. Subcommittee Ranking Member Michael Turner: The mark makes sound adjuments in the areas of national security space and intelligence. The mark continues to provide funding for important space aquisition programs in the areas of: satellite communications, GPS, missile warning, space situational awareness, launch and Operationally Responsive Space. The mark recommends a signficant reduction to the NPOESS [National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System] program. Given the recent decision to restructure the program, authorizing full funding of the legacy NPOESS program by DoD seemed premautre absent a clear way ahead. That was the last one. The first one was the full committee. Chair Ike Skelton made statements that appeared 'new' or 'novel' only if you were just emerging from the womb or coma. Skelton on the surge: "I endorsed this strategy then and I do so now. As I have said many times, while this new strategy cannot guarantee success in Afghanistan, it is the most likely to end with an Afghanistan that can prevent the return of the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. Six months into the new policy, it is appropriate for Congress to consider how things are going." It all echoes Iraq. But it's supposed to seem fresh and news, as if the Afghanistan War didn't, in fact, start before the Iraq War. "Things may get harder before they get better," testified DoD's Michele Flournoy with a straight face apparently thinking she'd made a novel statement. Nothing changes. Martin Chulov (Guardian) reports, "The White House is likely to delay the withdrawal of the first large phase of combat troops from Iraq for at least a month after escalating bloodshed and political instability in the country. [. . .] American officials had been prepared for delays in negotiations to form a government, but now appear to have balked after Maliki's coalition aligned itself with the theocratic Shia bloc to the exclusion of Allawi, who attracted the bulk of the minority Suni vote. There is also concern over interference from Iraq's neighbours, Iran, Turkey and Syria." Meanwhile the Palm Beach Post continues to fancy itself for a peace advocate and maybe that passes for it today? Their latest editorial insists US troops leave and notes the Iraq War was based on lies. If peace activists believe that the deaths of Iraqis and US service members are dismissed so quickly or that the US has 'repaired' Iraq (the country that was torn apart by the ongoing Iraq War) then, by all means, let the Palm Beach Post cut ahead all the rest of us on the next march. In Iraq, Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) interviews US Maj Gen Vincent Brooks who states that Moqtada al-Sadr's militia is regrouping and does not dismiss the possibility that they may have been involved in Monday's bombings. Monday's violence, which claimed at least 119 lives, continues to be questioned. Anne Barker (Australia's ABC) reports that "the eputy interior minister admits the government's own security regime was at fault." Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Reuters notes a Baghdad car bombing claimed 7 lives and left twenty-two people injured, a Baghdad bombing in which the assailants killed the shop owner, used his body to draw a cloud and then exploded the bomb claiming 3 lives and leaving 23 wounded. Shootings? Reuters notes 1 TV station employee was shot dead in Mosul and, dropping back to yesterday, 1 person shot dead. Last night, Trina blogged on Iraqi children and noted that the Iraq War "has destroyed their understanding of the world and themselves. They are strong, if they weren't, they couldn't cope. But the war has destroyed their lives and that can't be prettied up." Today on NHPR's Word of Mouth, Virginia Prescott spoke with Mary Ann Cappiello (professor at Lesley University) about a new group of children's books which cover the Iraq War -- many of which cover it from the view of a parent serving in the Iraq War and some covering it from an Iraqi child's experiences of the Iraq War. In Peter Pan news, Laura Rozen (Politico) reports Chris Hill, US Ambassador to Iraq, is in the race for Dean "of the Josef Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver." Whatever it takes to get him out of Iraq. In the US, Lyda Longa (Daytona Beach News-Journal) reports, "Iraq veteran Joshua Gerard was discharged from the Army last year, but the fighting never stopped within him, his family said Tuesday. That inner struggle -- fueled by post-traumatic stress disorder and bouts of heavy drinking -- came to a head Sunday night when sheriff's officials said Gerard, 29, pointed a shotgun at Sgt. Vidal Mejias." This is an update to Longa's article noted in yesterday's snapshot. Iraq War veteran Joshua Gerard is in "critical but stable condition" and his father Jim Gerard states that service members should be receiving "mandatory" treatment when they are discharged. As Long notes in another article, Joshua Gerard suffers from PTSD. He was shot by law enforcement Sunday following deputies responding to a 9-11 call placed by his wife. Gary Taylor (Orlando Sentinel) speaks to the veteran's family as well: Help may have been available for Joshua James Gerard, but he never got it, his family said Tuesday. That's because the counseling the soldiers need is not mandatory, they said. "It's not just Josh," said his sister, Rachael Sippel. "There's a ton of these scenarios all across the country." People like her brother need long-term counseling and group therapy, she said. "I'm not talking two weeks. Sarah Gerad is his wife and Stephanie Coueignoux (Central Florida News 13 -- link has text and video) reports: In a letter only given to News 13, Sarah Gerard wrote about her husband Josh. She described how his tour in Iraq changed him. "It was because he's not a mindless killer that the things he's been through, haunt him every day," she wrote. Meanwhile John McChesney (NPR's All Things Considered -- link has audio and text) reports on the large influx into the VA system -- a non-surprise and something that should have been addressed some time ago. You can't continue two ongoing wars and not expect the number of veterans to increase. David Bacon is an independent journalist who covers the labor and immigration beat -- one of a tiny number of actual labor reporters remaining in the US -- and his work is always impressive whether it's his writing or his photography. His photography is, in fact, art and he has an exhibit coming up. Farm Workers Photographs by David Bacon Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography University of La Verne La Verne, California through May 21, 2010 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday Gallery Statement: While American Agriculture's dependence on migrant farm labor is evident, when placed in contrast with the dire circumstances these essential workers experience while helping make food available for the world market, it is hard to imagine a larger disparity between necessity and compensation. For nearly two decades, David Bacon has documented the struggles experienced by immigrant workers and their families, detailing the challenges and conditions faced by these often overlooked members of society in a number of highly acclaimed books, articles and photo series, all providing the public a glimpse of a community that otherwise often goes unseen. "Farm Workers" shows the hard working conditions faced by these communities. The images highlight the issue of immigration and show the consequences of economic dislocation in Mexico. The exhibit - a partnership between Bacon and California Rural Legal Assistance and its Indigenous Farm Worker Project - is supported by the Binational Front of Indigenous Organizations (FIOB), a network of Mexican indigenous communities in the U.S. and Mexico. The communities documented include Mixtecos, Triquis, Zapotecos, Chatinos, and Purepechas living in San Diego, Coachella, Arvin, Oxnard and Santa Paula, Santa Maria, Fresno and Selma, Salinas and Greenfield, Santa Rosa, Fairfield and Corning. Bacon is sharing his work with an ongoing photo exhibition at the University of La Verne. The exhibit, "Farm Workers," is on display through May 21, 2010, at the University of La Verne's Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography. This event is also intended to bring attention to the university's photography major. Admission to the gallery, located on the ground floor of Miller Hall on the university's main campus, is free. Bacon is the author of several books, including "Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants," "Communities Without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration," and "The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border." His work has been exhibited in the U.S., Mexico, Germany and the United Kingdom. The Carlson Gallery is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by special appointment. For information on the exhibit, the artist reception or the Carlson Gallery, contact Gary Colby at (909) 593-3511, ext. 4281. from: "Photo exhibit focuses on laborers" La Verne University Campus Times, April 30, 2010 Rachel Smith, Staff Writer David Bacon's photography exhibit "Farm Workers" at the Irene Carlson Gallery exposed the difficult conditions faced by most immigrant farm workers. "The photos are a reality check," Bacon said. "Food doesn't automatically appear on the Safeway shelves." The ULV students that filled the exhibit were affected by the extraordinary images. The ULV staff and students provided great behind the scenes support to help make sure the event was a success. Gary Colby, professor of photography, and Kevin Bowman, photography department manager, were the key staff members that brought the exhibit to life. Colby selected the artist, while Bowman focused on printing the images that Colby and Bacon picked for the exhibit. They capture men and women working side-by-side doing the same very physically demanding jobs. "Some of these images break the stereotype of a farm worker," Bowman said. The images not only focus on male Mexican farm workers, but also touch on immigrants from India and women farm workers. Bacon emotionally reached the students at ULV. He stirred inside them a desire to learn and become aware of the difficult life situations. "It makes me feel like there is a lot going on that I'm not aware of," said Grady Thomas, junior communications major. "I need to be more aware of what's happening." Thomas and fellow communications major Pui Lok Choi helped promote Bacon's exhibit as a school project. As an adult, Bacon was a union leader and began to see the injustices that immigrants were facing in the labor world. His passion and desire to document the hardships eventually became full-time work for the union organizer turned artist. "We are all here to work," Bacon said. "That's what we have in common no matter the race or work you do." For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org See also Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008) Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008 http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2002 See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the US Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006) http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4575 See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004) http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which won the CLR James Award. Bacon can be heard on KPFA's The Morning Show (over the airwaves in the Bay Area, streaming online) each Wednesday morning (begins airing at 7:00 am PST). iraq the guardian martin chulov politico laura rozen the daytona beach news-journal lyda longa the orlando sentinel gary taylor stephanie coueignoux the christian science monitor jane arraf david bacon nhpr word of mouth virginia prescott

thank you and goodbye

thank you and goodbye.

that's what gordon brown declared today. the bbc notes it was the final words of his resignation speech.

the 1 person gordo should not have listened to is alastair campbell. sadly that was his roll dog. and you can click here and read roll dog going ballistic on tv.

goodbye?

no question, gordo's out of the building. he's left. he's gone.

but 'thank you'?

if he wanted to say thank you he would have stepped down months ago so he didn't destroy labour in the elections.

but he did and that's always going to be on him and it will never ever go away.

labour had rebuilt. it had to do a lot of selling out (enter tony blair). it also had to do a lot of work.

gordon brown's vanity sunk the party.

he was a drag on the party. polling said so.

he was confronted with it repeatedly on his august vacation and insisted he could pull it out. that the negatives would just fade away.

what kind of an idiot does that?

now it's 1 thing to bet on you can turn it around. it's 1 thing to say, 'come october, i'm going to be doing ___ and ___ and no one's going to be focused on this.'

but he had no plan. he had nothing to drive his negatives down.

he thought they would just fade away.

that people would just forget.

what kind of an idiot?

thank you and goodbye?

if he really wanted to thank labour, he would have stepped down in august. that would have allowed them to install the little hottie. i'm tired. what's his name. c.i. and elaine's friend. david miliband. gordo should have stepped down and let david be the prime minister. it would have given the party a fresh face, distanced it from gordo's mistakes and the iraq war and given it a real chance to win the elections. instead, gordo sunk the party.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Tuesday, May 11, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, Iraq receives little to no attention from broadcast TV, Allawi wants the de-Ba'athifcation to end, Chris Hill seems to think it has, veterans issues remain unaddressed and little noted, veterans are forced to sign papers waiving treatment for their injuries, and more. The Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans commissioned a poll to find out how aware Americans were about veterans issues and the wars themselves. The Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans (CIAV) commissioned the poll to measure American support for those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and determine whether the public is aware of the important issues facing current service members and veterans –issues such as unemployment, homelessness, post traumatic stress disorder and suicide. The poll, conducted by Cohen Research Group this April, surveyed 1,000 adults who currently live in the U.S. "There is a very real and disturbing disconnect among the majority of Americans in understanding how deployment contributes to economic, social, and familial stress through a dearth of services and support," said Amy Fairweather, program director of the CIAV. "All of which are factors which drive veterans and their families to poverty." The poll found that while the psychological effects of the wars are widely known, a majority of Americans are not aware of the unique economic struggles that returning veterans face; including high rates of unemployment, access to healthcare issues, and risk factors for homelessness, poverty, and suicide. Specifically, 58% of Americans know about the prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder among Iraq and Afghanistan troops and veterans, yet only 35% are aware that not all veterans are eligible for VA healthcare, and only 31% know that veterans can wait up to a year for disability benefits. Regarding the economic impacts of war and poverty among veterans, fewer than three out of ten Americans know that 20% of male veterans ages 18-24 were unemployed last year and that there are approximately 200,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. "What the poll tells us is that Americans have little knowledge of the true costs of war," Fairweather said. "As advocates we understand the tremendous struggles service members face when they return from war, but collectively we have a lot of work ahead of us to educate the public about the sacrifices our warriors make and ensure that the system of care is sufficient and appropriate for military, veterans, their families and survivors." The CIAV will address the gaps in services for our military community and discuss ways to foster improved communication with the American public about the issues our troops and veterans face this week at the 3rd annual conference in Washington, DC May 11-14. Service providers, veterans, families, survivors and advocates will share cutting edge expertise and meet with top officials from the VA, DoD, White House and Congress to improve the quality and quantity of support for the military and veteran community. The conference is open to the public and attendees will have an opportunity to learn about the impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Register at coaltionforveterans.org May 11-14, 2010 Renaissance Mayflower Hotel 1127 Connecticut Ave Washington, DC 20036 About the Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans The Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans (CIAV) is a national non-partisan partnership of more than 50 organizations committed to working with and on behalf of all military, veterans, families, survivors and providers to strengthen the existing system of care and support for all those affected by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the people are under-informed of something or over-informed, it goes to the media. The media sold the never-existed link between Iraq and 9-11 through repetition. Don't offer the b.s. that the White House did it alone. The White House's remarks could have made the cutting room floor. Instead, they were broadcast, printed, etc. Repeatedly. The media acted (and acts) as an echo chamber and megaphone for the White House. What gets lost? Reality. Yesterday was the deadliest day of this year in Iraq as the country was slammed with attack. When the snapshot was being dictated -- before the evening news began airing on the east coast -- the death toll had already reached 102. Saad Abdul-Kadir (AP) reports today that the death toll has reached 119. Around the world, the violence is covered. Russia's Pravda, for example, All India Radio, South African Star, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . . . In fact, pretty much every country and every outlet reported on it. The only news consumers who might not know about the violence would be . . . US news consumers dependent upon commercial, broadcast TV to provide them with news on what passes for news shows. Three evening news broadcasts and two offered blink-and-you-miss-it 'coverage' while the third offered . . . as Heart once sang, "Nothing At All." ABC World News with Diane Sawyer served up 19 seconds and, as Sawyer read the following, they had a graph of numbers: Overseas as America continues to draw down troops in Iraq, more violence there. Suicide bombers, heavily armed gunmen, launched a wave of attacks that touched nearly every part of the country. At least 80 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the attacks in market, a factory and police checkpoints. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams offered a few seconds more -- 28 seconds total -- and ran video of the aftermath of attacks while Williams read the following: We have an update today on Iraq where the American presence is now winding down but as we saw dramatically today the violence isn't -- quite the opposite. Some two dozen attacks across that country left more than 90 people dead, hundreds more injured. Coordinate attacks by suicide car bombers targeted workers at a textile plant. Then the emergency workers who showed up and came to their aid were targeted. It was the bloodiest day there all year so far. Two offered headlines. And then CBS Evening News with Katie Couric continued it's slide into obscurity last night with no news on Iraq. CBS was among the first to bail on the country and it continues to avoid the topic. Let's be really clear, when you've got time to cover the 'announcement' that Barbara Walters will have heart surgery -- not that she had it, which would be news, but that she will have it -- and you've got time to offer bulls**t on Tiger Woods, you've got time to cover the deadliest day of the year in Iraq. Unless you're just not really in the news business. CBS viewers were treated to a story on heartburn medicines. And didn't that make for a better world and a more informed citizenry? If it bleeds it leads. Maybe the refusal of all three broadcasts to grasp that accounts for why network news continues to bleed viewers? PBS didn't have much time for Iraq either. More than CBS but you're local town gossip has more time for Iraq than CBS. The NewsHour reduced it to a headline as well (link has text, video and audio option): Hari Sreenivasan: A series of attacks across Iraq made today the deadliest day of the year so far. At least 99 people were killed in violence that began in the early morning and continued into the night. Hundreds more were wounded. Nearly half of the victims died in a pair of car bombings outside a textile factory in Hillah. As a crowd gathered to help those victims, a suicide bomber blew himself up. The violence also included coordinated shootings targeting Iraqi security forces at six checkpoints in Baghdad. Today the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, issued the following: "The Secretary-General strongly condemns the wave of terrorist bombings and other attacks in Iraq yesterday that reportedly claimed the lives of over a hundred people and injured many more, mostly civilians. The United Nations stands in solidarity with the Iraqi people in the face of these deplorable, unjustifiable acts." Amnesty International issued the following statement: Amnesty International has condemned the killing of civilians in a series of suicide bombings and shootings by armed groups in Iraq on Monday, which left over 100 people dead and 350 wounded. The attacks on a textile factory, markets and police and army checkpoints were carried out in the town of Hilla, the southern city of Basra, the capital Baghdad and other cities. "Yesterday, was the deadliest day so far this year in Iraq, said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. "Some of the attacks appear to have deliberately targeted civilians and to have been intended to cause maximum loss of life. If so, such attacks constitute war crimes. We condemn them utterly. Those responsible must cease these murderous attacks." "Civilians are continuing to pay a very heavy price for the ongoing divisions in Iraq." "The political vacuum resulting from the failure of Iraqi political leaders to agree on a new government, two months after the 7 March election, is fuelling instability and being exploited by armed groups, in particular al-Qa'ida and its supporters, to cause further mayhem and suffering." Leaders of the major political groups in Iraq have so far failed to garner enough support to form a government following the national elections, which did not produce a clear winner. Two suicide car bombers drove into a textile factory in Hilla, south of Baghdad on Monday afternoon. A third bomb exploded as rescue workers arrived on the scene. At least 45 people were reported killed and 190 wounded. On Monday evening, three car bombs exploded in Basra - the first in the central market, the other two in a residential area in the north of the city. Reports say that 21 people were killed and more than 70 others were wounded. Earlier on Monday, suicide bombers killed 13 people and wounded 40 in a market place in al-Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The day of attacks started at dawn in Baghdad, when gunmen killed at least seven Iraqi soldiers and policemen when they attacked six checkpoints. Bombs planted at three other checkpoints wounded several more, according to reports. Further attacks in the western province of Anbar, the northern city of Mosul, the outskirts of Baghdad and elsewhere took the death toll to at least 102. On 27 April 2010 Amnesty International published Iraq: Civilians under fire, highlighting the plight of the Iraqi civilian population and the targeting of particular vulnerable groups by armed groups, government forces and others in Iraq. The report is PDF format. You can also refer to the April 27th snapshot for a summary of some of the reports key points. Faith Abdulsalam (Azzaman) observes, "Iraq is heading towards the abyss. The path to hell gets clearer not only day after day but hour after hour. The abyss engulfs the country the way rough seas erode a small island." Asia News notes that "attacks yesterday covered the entire country: from Mosul to Baghdad, Hilla to Basra." Anne Barker (Australia's ABC) adds, "The government has blamed militants linked to Al Qaeda." But not everyone agrees. Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) and Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) report, "Many Iraqis, including police and soldiers, say they believe their own politicians are behind the attacks." And they quote an Iraqi police officer explaining, "This is a struggle for power -- none of the citizens are blindfolded -- we can all see and understand the situation. I blame the government for this." And they note, "The Sadr movement -- one of the members of the new Shiite alliance -- has called for an emergency session to reconvene the former parliament to oversee security." Ayad Allawi has called for an interim government to address the violence and security issues. Ben Lando (Time magazine) interviews Allawi: The two biggest blocs belong to former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya Party took 91 seats, and current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose State of the Law Party took 89. Parliament has a total of 325 seats -- with 163 needed to form a majority. In an interview with TIME, Allawi angrily accuses the international community of undercutting what he calls his victory at the polls, after first supporting the results. "We came first," he says. "Now they are silent; the [U.N.] Security Council, they kept their mouth shut." After the elections, an electoral court ruled that it wasn't the top vote getter that has the right to form the next government but the biggest bloc of newly elected members of parliament, turning the post-election period into a time of high-stakes horse-trading. In Iraq's parliamentary math, Allawi and al-Maliki together have enough seats to form a government. But the two leaders dislike each other so much that a one-on-one meeting has yet to take place. Al-Maliki has instead turned to another slate, the Iraqi National Alliance, led by Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and other religious leaders, to form what U.S. ambassador Christopher Hill called this week "a Shi'ite mega-party." The religious slate needs only four additional seats to form a party, and by acquiring them, it could edge out Allawi altogether. Allawi tells Lando he has conditions including that the de-Ba'athification process must stop. On today's Morning Edition (NPR), Peter Kenyon reported from Baghdad: Ambassador Chris Hill: I think we have genuine expectation that the Accountability and Justice Commission has concluded its work, and that we will not see further moves on that. Peter Kenyon: The American comments were echoed in private by Iraqi officials. Analyst Joost Hiltermann, with the International crisis group, wrote that: The Accountability and Justice Commission, which has disqualified candidates under the rubric of De-Baathification, seems to have reached the limits of its influence for now. All of which elicits only a patient smile from Ali Faisal al-Lami, the director of the De-Baathification panel. Relaxing on a couch inside a compound controlled by former Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi, Lami says he doesn't see how the Americans have the right to interfere in the work of an independent Iraqi commission. He adds that the commission is still pursuing a legal ruling on the candidates it has already challenged. Justice and Accountability's Ali al-Lami: Our proposed disqualifications were sent to the higher Electoral Commission, but the commission refused to act. Therefore, we took the cases to the judiciary for a decision to be implemented. Chris Hill just needs to sit somewhere silently. A) de-Ba'athifcation? Never should have sprung up. The fact that it did goes to Hill who damn well should have been on top of it, should have known the legal status of the commission and should have been prodding Nouri back in April to nullify the committee. That was one of the benchmarks. Hill inherited those benchmarks when he took the post. B) What Chris Hill wants or thinks at this point mean nothing and he just needs to sit down. al-Lami and Ahmed Chalabi are running the Justice and Accountability Commission. They're not listening to Chris Hill. Any chance of Hill having impact passed months ago. Turning to some of today's reported violence . . . Bombings? Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Falluja suicide bombing whcih claimed the lives of 1 police officer and 1 bystander and left five people wounded, 2 Mosul roadside bombings which wounded two people and, dropping back to Monday, a Baghdad roadside bombing which injured two pople, a Baghdad home bombing which injured four people and a Baghdad store bombing which destroyed the store. AFP reports two Baghdad bombings close to the Athureen Church which claimed the lives of 5 police officers and left fourteen more injured. Shootings? Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that Monday saw four Baghdad drive bys which injured five police officers As the attacks on police officers continue, Jane Arraf (Christian Science Monitor) and Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) report that approximately half of the security forces do not show up and those who do are often afraid such as an Iraqi soldier who tells them, "I haven't slept for three days." Lara Jakes (AP) reports that US commanders are now rethinking the drawdown pace scheduled for the end of August. Jakes notes that the first week of May saw 92,000 US forces on the ground in Iraq. Turning to the US, where 2009 saw the US army won convictions against 327 soldiers for going AWOL. Chie Saito (Austin's News 8 -- link has text and video) reports on Jacob Wade who went AWOL while back in the US on two weeks leave from his Iraq deployment. Chie Saito: [. . .] he says the psychological effects from what he saw and experienced -- Jacob Wade: Riding through town we got attacked. Chie Saito: -- in his first six months there -- Jacob Wade: I had a grenade go off like five feet behind me. Chie Saito: -- made it impossible for him to go back. Jacob Wade: I saw a lot of people die, saw a kid get shot. Chie Saito: Images and memories which he says still haunt him today. Jacob Wade: I wake up talking to myself about Iraq. Dreams about killing myself all alone. Jade Ortego (Killeen Daily Herald) adds, "His psychiatrist, Dr. William Cross of Manilus, N.Y., who has agreed to testify on Wade's behalf at his sanity board, diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder. Wade also suffered physical injuries to his legs as a result of his service, and walks with a limp. Wade was scared to report and be redeployed, but was also afraid of the harassment and hazing from fellow soldiers that he heard comes with an admission of mental health issues due to service." Tod Ensign (Citizen Soldier) is representing Jacob Wade. Yesterday Iraq Veterans Against the War posted an update on Eric Jasinski who also suffers from PTSD and also self-checked out to get treatment for PTSD. The military responded by court-martialing him. He has served one month at Bell County Jail and been released from the jail. Their update includes a video by Stand with Honor filmed after the court-martial. Eric Jasinski's mother Laura Barrett: He stood up. He knew -- he knew he was going to have to go to jail. He knew that would happen. But he also knew he had to have help. And he wants to make sure that the word -- the word gets out there. That's what I'm so proud of him for, that he wants to make sure that the word gets out that so many other young men and women need help psychological help. They're coming back damaged from what they make them do, make them participate in. Eric's going to stand up. He will inspire and help so many other people. James Branum is Eric's attorney. PTSD is rarely taken seriously. The Congress continues to fund studies that find . . . further studies are needed. The system itself works against those suffering with it. Lyda Longa (Daytona Beach News Journal) reports 29-year-old Iraq War veteran Joshua James Gerard was shot at his home Sunday by Deputy Vidal Mejias when the sheriff's office responded to a 9-11 call placed by his wife. Gerard is said to suffer from PTSD. It is not known at this point whether or not he had sought help for his PTSD. Afghanistan War veteran Jennifer Crane did seek help once she returned home and found her life spiraling out of control. She shared her story with Lynn Harris and Marie Clare: I completed two weeks of rehab, and then went to a three-month VA program for people with post-traumatic stress disorder. But after only one month there, the doctors, unbelievably, asked me to leave. They said the treatment wasn't really helping me -- although I disagreed -- and that as one of only two women in the group, I was distracting the male patients, who apparently found me attractive. I begged them, literally on my hands and knees, to let me stay; I knew I wasn't ready to go back into society. I knew what would happen if I tried. Incredibly, they said no. I left the VA Medical Center and went straight to my drug dealer's house. I told him I needed something strong to get rid of my pain. That day, I started smoking crack. I hit bottom so fast, it was amazing. I went from being happy with my progress to having no hope at all. I used all day, every day. I tried to hold down jobs -- bartender, waitress, receptionist -- but I was so strung out that I couldn't get out of bed to go to work. When I was at work, I was high. I got fired from every job. At one point, I just quit trying. I couldn't afford rent, I couldn't go to my mom's house unless I was clean, and I couldn't stop fighting with my boyfriend long enough to stay with him. That's how I wound up living in my car. For several months, in exchange for drugs, I ran errands for my dealer and cleaned his home. He also asked me to be a "dancer" -- in other words, dance privately for his friends and customers. Clinging to my last shred of dignity, I said no. But not long after, I had sex with him for drugs. I felt so disgusted afterward, I took out a lighter and burned the clothes I'd worn that night. Then, in August 2006, as I was driving away from my dealer's house, seven police cars suddenly surrounded me. I was handcuffed and arrested for possession of the crack cocaine I had with me. But when I wouldn't give them the name of my dealer (which would be suicide), they eventually gave up and let me go. The very next day, my old friends held a reunion on the anniversary of Steve's death. When I showed up, everyone stared. I was emaciated, with my eyes darting around and contusions all over my face from picking my skin, out of anxiety. When I spotted one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jason, he gently whispered, "What's wrong?" With his Timberlands, tattoos, and crew cut, he made me smile, and his simple question moved me. I told him, "I have to change my life, and I don't know how to do it." Jason sat up with me all night. I didn't get high. I cried and I shook, and he held me, saying, "I'm not letting you leave." That night -- those words -- changed everything. I finally felt ready to let someone help me. I began to imagine getting clean. Jennifer Crane is now a spokesperson for the non-profit Give an Hour which provides "free medical health service to US military personnel and families affected by the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan." Alison St. John (KPBS -- link has text and audio) speaks with Iraq War veteran Sage Bird who has Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD which made returning to civilian life rough and, as she sought to self-medicate, she developed a drug addiction and ended up in jail where she "caught the attention of the jail authorities who saw her efforts, and that her violent behavior was connected to the traumas she experienced in Iraq. They gave her a second chance. She was given a lawyer who won her a reprieve, to spend six months at Veterans Village, working on healing herself." Last Friday on The World (PRI -- link has text and audio), Marco Werman spoke with journalist Joshua Kors about Sgt Chuck Luther who was forced to sign a statement claiming his injuries were a pre-existing personality disorder so the military could avoid paying for his care. Joshua Kors: Well they're not accusations. This was two years of combing through the medical records kept by his doctor, confirmation from his commander who was there to watch his treatment, and from others who came to visit him while he was in confinement. Sgt. Luther had been wounded by mortar fire while serving in Iraq. Slammed his head against the concrete and ended up with severe traumatic brain injury. The headaches resulting from that blow to the head caused blindness, his vision to shut off in one eye. He said the other eye felt like someone was stabbing him in the eye with a knife. He went to the aid station to get care for that, but they told him that his blindness was caused by a personality disorder. He thought that was ridiculous, how could a problem with his personality cause blindness? But Marco, this is part of a larger story. For the last three years I've been reporting on wounded soldiers, pressed into signing these papers saying they have a personality disorder. [. . .] Sgt. Luther was put in a closet and held there for over a month under enforced sleep deprivation with the lights on all night, blasting heavy metal music at him all through the night, but when he tried to escape the closet they pinned him down, injected him with sleeping medication and dragged him back to the closet. Finally, at the end of a month, he was willing to sign anything and he did. He went ahead, signed papers saying that he had a pre-existing personality disorder. They flew him back to Fort Hood, and that's when they let him know the repercussions of that discharge. No disability pay for the rest of your life, no long term medical care, and here's a bill for $1,500.00. [. . .] Since 2001, 22,600 soldiers have been booted out of the military with personality disorder. Taking those wounded soldiers and sliding them out the side door with that mental illness is saving the military 12.5 billion dollars in disability and medical care. And that is why, then Senator Barack Obama was so up in arms about this issue. Along with Republican Senator Kid Bond, he put forward a bill to halt personality disorder discharges. That made him both a hero and a disappointment to so many veterans. A hero because he was addressing this critical issue; a disappointment because during his Presidential run, and now from the White House, he hasn't spoken at all about personality disorder. The result was that the issue sort of withered on the vine. iraq the coalition for iraq and afghanistan veterans the associated press saad abdul-kadir pravda cbc abc world news with diane sawyer nbc nightly news with brian williams cbs evening news with katie couric pbs the newshour amnesty international anne barker the christian science monitor jane arraf mcclatchy newspapers sahar issa the associated press lara jakes npr morning edition

gordo killed the labour streak

that's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "To Clarify Any Confusion." which is hilarious. (of course the last laugh is on the american people - barack nominated kagan for the supreme court.) in other jokes, ladies & gentlemen, gordo brown.

if you missed the news:


UK's Gordon Brown raises prospect of quitting
The Associated Press - ‎3 hours ago‎
LONDON — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he wants his Labour Party to govern in coalition with the Liberal Democrats - and he'll step down within ...


Video: Who will lead Labour as Gordon Brown steps down? ITN NEWS Video:
Who will lead Labour as Gordon Brown steps down?

ITN NEWS
Gordon Brown offers to step down Washington Post
UK Political Shocker : Brown to Step Down FOXNews (blog)
Wall Street Journal - BBC News
all 2,133 news articles »


if i hadn't done a book friday night, i would have written about it. if i had, i think c.i. would have noted it today. if she had, she wouldn't have noted that she said gordon was an anchor.

he was.

i thought that after seeing the polling last june or july. but c.i. was calling it back in april. and though she won't say 'i told you so,' every 1 in the labour party who knows c.i. would tell me, 'you know c.i. said this was happening.'

by refusing to resign, as i pointed out last summer, gordon brown was harming all of labour. and that's what he did. he should have resigned. now he wants to act like he's putting others ahead of himself?

puh-lease!

he harmed labour. he hurt the party. and he needs to go. he should hang his head in shame. labour was on a streak and gordon brown destroyed it.

what a moron.

you know there were 5 high ranking members of the labour party who went to him in august and told him it would be better for the party if he would announce he was stepping down. he refused to.

he killed labour. that's the reality. and there's not a labour mp that doesn't know that though a few will be afraid to admit it publicly.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Monday, May 10, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, Iraq slammed the worst violence of the year with over 100 people dead, the post-election madness continues and is noticed by the Arab world, Allawi warns it may go global, in the US Lena Horne has passed away, and more.


As Sarah Garrod (In The News) notes, a wave of attacks slammed Baghdad today. Steven Lee Meyers (New York Times) explains, "The attacks, which began as the sun rose on a hot and hazy morning, followed a recent series of arrests and killings of members of Al Qaeda in Iraq and other extremist groups." The Irish Examiner notes, "The government blamed al Qaida in Iraq for violence in Baghdad, saying the terror group is stepping up its attacks now to exploit political instability." And outside of Baghdad. Lin Zhi (Xinhua) reports, "A bomb exploded at a crowded popular market close to a Shiite mosque in the town of Suwayra, some 60 km southest of Baghdad, the source with Wasit police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity." England's Channel 4 counts 8 dead and seventy-one injured in the Suwayrah bombing. Albawaba reports 2 Hillah car bombings which claimed at least 25 lives. Reuters notes that the death toll for the Hilla bombings has now climbed to 35 with the injured being one-hundred and thirty-six. Ben Lando (Wall St. Journal) reports the death toll has now reached 45 with one-hundred and forty injured. CNN adds, "And in the city of Falluja, at least 10 civilians were wounded when four roadside bombs were detonated outside the homes of four police officers." Omar Ghraieb (Palestine Telegraph) reports, "In Sulaiman Bek, a town 160 km north of Baghdad, police said a bomb exploded outside the house of a government official in the region, killing his mother and one of his bodyguards and wounding two others." "Meanwhile," Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) adds, "in neighboring Kut province, also in the heavily Shiite south, a bomb detonated outside a restaurant killed at least nine people and wounded 12." And, back to Baghdad, Alsumaria TV reports, "At least 24 people were killed in a series of attacks targeting a number of security checkpoints and other targets in Baghdad. Gunmen using mute weapons attacked six checkpoints in Baghdad on Monday killing a number of soldiers and policemen, a source from the Interior Ministry reported." Ian Black (Guardian) observes, "Armed men used silenced and automatic weapons, roadside bombs and cars packed with explosives to hit six checkpoints manned by local and federal police and the Iraqi national army in the capital." BBC News notes, "The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says smaller scale shooting attacks are becoming a more frequent tactic by insurgents as security forces try to prevent the kind of large suicide car bombs that have killed hundreds in the past year." Adam Arnold (Sky News -- link has text and video) adds, "An Interior Ministry source said of the co-ordinated raids: "This was a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere." Mark Memmot (NPR) quotes Peter Kenyon in Baghdad stating that "the spike in violence is adding to the anxiety in Iraq as the U.S. military prepares to reduce its presence dramatically, and as Iraqi politicians struggle to form a new government in the wake of inconclusive elections back in March." Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) quotes Kurdish MP Tania Talaat stating, "The parliament is in limbo, so who is there to call the government to account and demand to know why security is slipping? It's because there's no one to monitor their performance. The security forces should not be affected by the political atmosphere and the tensions between the political rivals." Parliament's session long ago expired and the newly elected members of Parliament have yet to be sworn in. For all the talk of Iraq's stalemate with regards to a prime minister and a cabinet, there's little to prevent the seating of the new Parliament which is not dependent upon a prime minister being first chosen. Issa also writes a round-up of today's violence and, in addition to what's noted above, includes that Falluja bombings injured four and claimed 2 lives (that's in addition to the ten wounded already noted above), a Mosul suicide car bomber targeted a checkpoint and killed him/herself and 2 Peshmerga members, a Mosul drive-by claimed the lives of a father and son and left two females wounded, another Mosul drive-by claimed the life of 1 high school student and Basra where two car bombings (one after the other) took place and a third car bombing might be the most deadly incident of the day: "in the main motorbike marked in the old city in Basra that resulted in more than 60 civilians killed and injured, according to health officials in Basra." Richard Spencer (Telegraph of London) counts 102 as the death toll for the day.


Al Jazeera observes, "The attacks come just two days after reports that the Iraqi defence ministry was considering building a "security fence"around the capital as a way of curbing violence and controlling the movements of anti-government fighters.Access to the city would be controlled by eight checkpoints, and construction could be completed by mid-2011, reports from local broadcaster Al Iraqiyya Television said." Counting 52 dead, Abbas al-Ani (AFP) stated this morning, "Monday's death toll was the highest since April 23, when 58 people were killed in series of bombings in Baghdad and western Iraq, days after the government said Al-Qaeda was on the run." As the death toll continue to rise, Borzou Daragahi (Los Angeles Times) updated that: "It was the bloodiest day in Iraq since Dec. 8, when insurgent bombings in the capital killed at least 127." Caroline Alexander (Bloomberg News) includes this news in her report on the violence, "Iraq holds the world's third-largest oil reserves. Crude oil for June delivery rose $2.93, or 3.9 percent, to $78.04 a barrel at 1:00 a.m. in London on speculation an emergency fund by European policy makers will contain sovereign debt risks and maintain economic growth." Possibly because the theft of Iraqi oil is Nouri al-Maliki's sole accomplishment? Tom Hundley (Global Post) noted last month:

After a spectacularly successful auction of drilling rights last December, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government spent the first few months of this year putting the finishing touches on 10 separate deals that, if implemented successfully, could see Iraq challenging Saudi Arabia as the world's leading producer within the decade.
By any measure, these deals were the singular accomplishment of Maliki's tenure. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani earned the respect of the international oil community for driving a very hard bargain and delivering a deal that should quickly put his nation on the path to prosperity.

Thursday Sardasht Osman's body was discovered. The 23-year-old journalist and college student was kidnapped from Salaheddin University. Kurdish Media noted that Kamal Rauf, Ahmad Mira, Asos Hardi and other Kurdish journalists have issued a statement which includes:

To kidnap a journalist in the regional capital; taking him outside the Kurdistan region; and killing him, raises serious questions. This act cannot be done by one person or small group of people. That is why we believe in the first instance that the Kurdistan Regional Government and the security forces should take the responsibility. We must take maximum step to find this perpetrators responsible. [. . .] We, as a group of Kurdistan's writers and journailsts, believe that kidnapping and threatening of journalists have increased rapidly, and cannot be accepted anymore.

Satuday, Yahya Barzanji (AP) reported protesters took to to the streets in Sulaimaniyah today to decry the kidnapping and murder of Sardasht Osman, the Iraqi journalist and college student. Barzanji quotes Kurdish journalists Riben Hirdi at the protest stating, "Kurdish security services want to instill fear in us by killing the journalists and forcing them to stop their writings, but their attempts will fail." Student Saman Karim declared, "They claim democracy and security . . . while a journalist is kidnapped and murdered in broad daylight." The photo accompanying the report featured a large crowd and the three in front carry signs. One sign displays a photo of Sardasht while another is a drawing of a gun and a pen or pencil. The gun has a large "X" over it. Protests did not end on Saturday. Sam Dagher (New York Times) reports demonstrations continued today with "hundreds" attempting "to storm the local parliament building" in Erbil and "There were signs on Monday that Mr. Osman's death was fast becoming a rallying cry for reformists, particularly among the young."

Elsewhere in Iraq, Chris Hill continues to be both US Ambassador to Iraq and Global Embarrassment. Arthur MacMillan (AFP) reports on Hill and it's as if he thinks he can work furiously and now save his job. It's so embarrassing and, worst of all, it just makes him (by proxy the US) look like a moron. Hill's rushing to insist everything's fine and dandy -- better even! "The counting is going faster," AFP quotes him stating of the recount in Baghdad "and we do expect it to be over by the end of the week." Do we expect it? And that's fast? Go back in real time to when the recounts were announced and it was stated that it would take two weeks to do the recounts. They started last Monday . . . Hill's saying that they'll end this week. Which would be? Two weeks. So they're going according to schedule, as predicted and Chris Hill's so damn out of it or so eager to make it look like he's on top of things that he's insisting the counting's taking place "faster" when it's going at the pace that it was predicted to take. And his other statements?Hill's supposed a diplomat, he's supposed to be a public face of the US. His idiotic rantings do not play well in the Arab world nor are they attempting to Happy Talk recent events the way the US moron is. Mohammad Akef Jamal (Gulf News) expresses a popular opinion: "In reality, the appeals of the State of Law coalition, which happens to be the government coalition, represent the real obstacle. The coalition, formed by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and his Dawa party, insisted on a manual recount. At the same time, it has used all its power and influence to target the alliance that won the largest number of votes. Clearly, it aims to rob the winning alliance of its constitutional right to put together a government. [. . .] Al Maliki, who insists on holding on to his post, and the Dawa party are ignoring the rights of others. The party which is in control of many key posts in the Iraqi government is the primary obstacle to the formation of a new government, thus creating a dangerous power vacuum." Musa Keilani (Jordan Times via Al-Arabiya) explains, "The sum of the political equation in Iraq today does not bode well for the ordinary people of Iraq. The government is largely ineffective outside the fortified Green Zone. A majority of the people does not have enough water and power. Jobs are scarce and most hospitals do not have any facility to handle any serious case, let alone emergencies. Schools are functioning, but at a level that does not permit any learning beyond rudimentary education."Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya was the winner in the March 7th elections. Nouri's circumvented that win by abusing his powers. DPA reports Iraqiya spokesperson Hani Ashour states that Nouri, while playing the glad-hander for public consumption and insisting he wants all involved, has not met with Iraqiya: "There was no initiative or a serious action that confirms the intentions of the State of Law coalition to set a date to meet with the head of Iraqiya, to bring their views closer and confirm their national partnership." Sun Yunlong (Xinhua) reports that -- excepting Baghdad -- all vote counts were being sent to the Supreme Court for ratification. Which means only Nouri gets a recount. Martin Chulov (Guardian) interviews Allawi and quotes him stating of the latest post-election mess, "This conflict will not remain within the borders of Iraq. It will spill over and it has the potential to reach the world at large, not just neighbouring countries. Now Iraq is at the centre stage in the region. But it is boiling with problems, it is stagnant and it can go either way. I feel that we are not done and that the international community has failed this country."

"The irony is that al-Maliki himself spent two decades in Syria plotting the downfall of Saddam's regime but Syria had repeatedly refused to extradite him to Iraq despite a wave of bombing campaigns carried out by the Dawa Party in the 80s killing many Iraqi civilians," Jasam al-Azawi observed on the latest Inside Iraq (Al Jazeera). Jasam al-Azawi spoke with Thabet Salem (Syrian journalist) and Saad al-Muttalibi (advisor to Iraq's Ministry of National Dialogue).

Jasam al-Azawi: Saad al-Muttalibi, what is the evidence that Syria is really plotting to re-impose the Ba'athists back on Iraq? What is the evidence?

Saad al-Muttalibi: First of all I would like to make an objection on the introduction when you said that the Dawa Party was responsible for killing Iraqi civilians. That is unfounded, untrue and historically incorrect. Secondly, nobody's accusing the Syrian government. Actually, we have the highest regards for President Bashar al-Assad who proved to be a brother to the Iraqi nation and proved to be an ally for Iraq. So we have no issues with the Syrian government or the Syrian authorities. Actually, as I said, we hold them with the highest respect and regards. We do have -- This is a very complex picture where there is multiple international agendas interacting and crossing over each other within the wider Middle Eastern conflict. So it is very hard to separate one issue from another but if we manage to slightly pull out the Iraqi conflict -- if we can call it that -- from the Syrian point of view, we find that President Bashar al-Assad was very helpful and very gracious in calling for a reconciliation in Iraq and calling for a continuous dialogue, with his care and attention, that Iraq should include all its citizens or representatives of its citizens within the government. Now we no objection to that at all. As long as these political representatives work on a political agenda and not using violence. As you know, violence and terrorism is a destructive method and not a constructive one so it is important to differentiate between our help and support and cooperation with the Syrian government and from some quarters that back a-a-a-a violence organization that is causing Iraq a great deal of blood and casualities.

Jasam al-Azawi: Well before I go to Thabet Salem, let me go back to the first thing that you objected to and this is not the bone of contention of this program, the evidence for the Dawa Party engaging in bombing campaigns has been amply established not only in Iraq but also in Kuwait. If you remember the very reason for the start of the Iraq-Iran War was an attempt by a member of the Dawa Party to kill Tariq Aziz -- at that time the Foreign Minister and that was simply because they were linked to Iran. But that is not our subject for the time being, Saad al-Muttalibi. Perhaps we can have another episode one day about the terrorist activities of the Dawa Party. We'll go to it later on.

Saad al-Muttalibi: These are all allege -- these are all alleged.

Jasam al-Azawi: From your perspective it's alleged. From other point of view, it's clarified and documented. But then again, you're an advisor to the Prime Minister, you have to say that. Otherwise, perhaps, you might even lose your position. Thabet Salem, we listen to Saad al-Muttalibi articulating -- at length, if I may so -- basically we did not hear any point of evidence that Syria is plotting. He claimed that Syria is plotting to impose the Ba'ath back on Iraq again.

Thabet Salem: Well actually I can't obeject to what Mr. Muttalibi said from Baghdad. Actually, I didn't really understand if this is a view point, why you are here and is there any difference in views regarding this accusation. But we don't have to forget, regardless of what Mr. Muttalibi says, that the Iraqi prime minister -- this time we don't have to forget that the Iraqi prime minister accused Syria, more than once at least, of being terrorist and that it has carried out criminal acts inside Iraq which resulted in the deaths of many Iraqis. I think that until now that this is the basic argument of Mr. Malaiki -- but this hides really something else. The other thing is that he's not happy that there are Iraqis who are opposed to his regime and the American occupation of Iraq in Syria. This it the vital thing, I think, this is the essence, the very essence, of the issue. Just to make it clear, until now the Iraqi accusations have reached no result and they have failed in presenting any document or any evidence or clue even that Syria has really contributed or helped any criminal element in doing these acts in Iraq. This is first. Second, I just want to make it clear that Syria cannot say "no" to any Arab political refugee who comes to Damascus. This is one of the rules --

Jasam al-Azawi: We shall come to that point, later on, Thabet. Let's give Saad al-Muttalibi another chance to see whether he can come up with the evidence that Syria is plotting to reimpose the Ba'athists on Iraq again.



In the United States, the woman once called "the female Paul Robeson" has died. She long surpassed that moniker and stood in no one's shadow. Singer, actress and activist Lena Horne passed away at the age of 92 (Washington Post multi-media link). At wowOwow, photographer Harry Benson remembers her. Margena A. Christian (Ebony) reflects on Lena's life and meaning (and link is text and video). NPR's Mark Memmott notes Lena's passing and compiles multiple audio of NPR's past coverage of her. Avoid Crapapedia. I'm borrowing liberally from a piece we did at Third in April 2009 (word-for-word with some editing out and a tiny bit of wrap around to make the below flow).

Crapapedia can't get her family correct. (Two relatives of Lena Horne's maternal grandfather would pass for White, one an actress, the other a singer.) They can't get the pressure on her correct either. (Early on, while trying to establish herself in the New York theater, she was advised to pass for Latino by agent Harold Gumm and producer George White -- Horne refused).

Most significantly, they leave out Horne's signing with MGM. Horne didn't want to make movies and was quite happy in New York City. So happy she was turning down an offer from the Trocadero in Los Angeles when the NAACP's Walter White explained to her that not only could this lead to a break in films for Horne, it could lead to a huge advanced for African-Americans. She took the town when she opened at the Trocadero. After MGM offered a contract, Horne went to speak with Walter White. They discussed the roles African-Americans were relegated to -- servants and native caricatures. It was for this reason that Horne refused to play demeaning roles and had that written into her contract. In her autobiography, Lena, Horne explained of the roles offered to African-Americans at the time, "They were mainly extras and it was not difficult to strip down to a loincloth and run around Tarzan's jungle or put on a bandanna and play one of the slaves in Gone with the Wind."

Crapapedia leaves out that and they also tell you that Lena Horne never starred in a film while under contract to MGM. Apparently they missed Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather (the first was for MGM, the second was made by Fox with MGM loaning Horne out for the film).


She refused to do an MGM-backed Broadway play because it was flat-out racist. As a result, MGM started screwing her over by refusing to let her do night club work. Joan Crawford advised her to get a bigger agency and she went with MCA. They did the bare minimum. That's in terms of getting 'permission' for her to work in nightclubs and in terms of 'representing' her. They were more than happy to take her money. But MCA was a highly racist agency and Lena would find, in town after town, that while a White star or White personality far less famous than her, raising far less money than she did, would be greeted immediately by MCA, receive congratulatory telegrams on opening night, MCA would mosey on over to see her when they damn well felt like it, maybe three, maybe five days after she opened. The telegram would arrive on the second or third night. They were racists, they were damn racists. Even for the time. They were also cowards. And of course Jules Stein ran MCA.Lena Horne's Civil Rights work including raising the profile of African-Americans in film and in clubs, ending segregation in New York City clubs as well as clubs outside of NYC. It includes joining James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Jerome Smith, Rip Torn, Dr. Kenneth Clark, Lorraine Hansberry and Dr. Brewton Berry for a meeting with then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to discuss the segregation and violence in Birmingham (the violence included police sicking dogs on the marchers and fire fighters turning the hoses on the marchers on May 3rd, which followed the April arrest of MLK and other assaults on peaceful protests). Her activism found her traveling to Jackson, Mississippi to speak and sing at an NAACP rally -- which is where she met Medgar Evers for the first time. Horne was booked on NBC's Today Show June 13, 1963 to talk about the Civil Rights movement and learned, shortly after arriving at the studio, that Medgar Evers had been assassinated the night before. Horne would manage to compose herself and go on live TV to discuss Evers life and legacy. She participated in the August 28, 1963 March on Washington. She would do a Carnegie Hall benefit for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. At that performance she would debut two new songs. "Silent Spring" was written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg about the September 15, 1963 Birmingham 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham in which four young girls -- Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, Carole Rosamond Robertson and Addie Mae Collins -- were murdered. The second song was "Now!" which is a Civil Rights anthem and was a hit song. Like "Kumbaya" its role in the Civil Rights movement seems to be forgotten by many today. Adolph Green and Betty Comden wrote the lyrics and Lena sang it full out, brimming with passion. That wasn't unique to this one song but, as Lena knew, it wasn't a song some expected from her. Especially those who didn't grasp that she always took the big steps that pulled everyone along with her.


If those historical gentlemen came back today --
Jefferson, Washington and Lincoln --
And Walter Cronkite put them on channel 2
To find out what they were thinking,
I'm sure they'd say,
"Thanks for quoting us so much
but we don't want to take a bow,
enough with the quoting put those words into action
and we mean action
Now!"
Now is the moment,
Now is the moment,
Come on,
We've put it off long enough.

Now!
No more waiting,
No hesitating,
Now!
Now!
Come on
Let's get some of that stuff!

It's there for you and me.
For every he and she.
Just want to do what's right
Constitutionally.

I went and took a look
In my old history book.
It's there in black and white
For all to see.

Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!

Everyone should love his brother,
People all should love each other,
Just don't take it lieteral, mister
No one wants to grab your sister

Now is the time!
Now is the time!

Now is the moment,
Now is the moment,
Come on,
We put it off long enough.

Now no more waiting,
No hesistating
Now!
Now!
Come on,
Lets get some of that stuff.

It's there for you and me
For every he and she
Just want to do what's right
Constitutionally.

I went and took a look
In my old history book.
It's there in black and whiteFor all to see.

Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!

Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!

The message of this song's not subtle.
No discussion.
No rebuttal.
We want more
Than just a promise.
Say goodbye
To Uncle Thomas.
Call me naive,
Still I believe
We're created free and equal now!

Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!
Now!

Everyone should love his brother.
People all should love each other.
Since they say we all got rhythm
Come on, let's share rhythm with them.

Now is the time!
Now is the time!
The time is now!



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