Web irritations

This b.s. is what people hate online.  You are not a magazine.  I don't want to 'turn' pages.  I want to read your crappy article and do so quickly.

The article in question is of the 10 most overpaid celebrities.  Guess how ABC News -- not one of those writer mill websites -- decides to split that up?

That is right, with eleven pages.

Repeating, I am on a computer or my iPad.  I do not want to 'turn' pages.  I want to see the entire article.

There is the "view all" option.  That should be the standard. Give people the option to turn pages if you want.  I doubt many would use that option.  I certainly wouldn't.

But it's always something with ABC News' website and that's why I am less and less likely to click on any link if I know it goes to ABC News.

I wish I didn't feel that way, but I do.

On the list? I felt sorry for almost all.

Sarah Jessica Parker?

She's not a movie star, she's barely an actress and she's been the most annoying thing in front of a camera since at least Square Pegs.



Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, December 4, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, tensions continue between Baghdad and Erbil with various officials flying back and forth, but Baghdad won't let Turkey land in the KRG, Iraq tops a list (it's not a list a country wants to top), Iraqiya and the Sadr bloc call out attempts to censor the internet, and more.     Yesterday evening there was a Bradley Manning Support Network's DC event or, as it turned out, No Gold Star Left Behind.  Everyone gets a prize just for participating.  Before we get to that, Monday April 5, 2010, WikiLeaks released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7, 2010, the US military announced that they had arrested Bradley Manning and he stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to his personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." In March, 2011, David S. Cloud (Los Angeles Times) reported that the military has added 22 additional counts to the charges including one that could be seen as "aiding the enemy" which could result in the death penalty if convicted. The Article 32 hearing took place in December. At the start of this year, there was an Article 32 hearing and, February 3rd, it was announced that the government would be moving forward with a court-martial. Bradley has yet to enter a plea and has neither affirmed that he is the leaker nor denied it. The court-martial was supposed to begin before the election but it was postponed until after the election so that Barack wouldn't have to run on a record of his actual actions.        Some notes.  I attended with a National Lawyers Guild friend.  I'm sure we weren't the only ones rolling our eyes as various 'political prisoners' got name checked and Lynne Stewart was ignored.  We didn't attend expecting to hear Lynne's name but when you've got time to name check others, you've got time for Lynne.  Lynne's always had time for everyone else and, yes, you owe Lynne Stewart.  You might also have included her on the 'great attorneys' of the past list -- but, of course, no women made that list either.   There was time to thank reporters, time to mention them by name, time to applaud them, time to weigh in on Subway and working lunches.   As that speech was finally winding down, my friend pointed out, "Now we know why they can't make a credible argument for Assange."  Indeed.  Does no one organize before speaking to an audience?  You're not there to tell the history of time.  You choose a few key points.  You make those points, you're done. It appears presentation has confused with filibuster.   At last came David Coombs, Bradley Manning's attorney, and I wrongly thought (yet again), "Okay, get ready to take notes."  Wrong.  Key moment from the speech?   Probably when Coombs was climbing the cross to praise himself -- the first time.  Now attorneys tend to have oversized egos, that's not surprising.  But what was surprising was hearing someone self-aggrandize to a packed room about how great they were because they turn down all interview requests.  ("I also avoid any interviews with the media.")  That's not great at all.    You're in a media war, David Coombs, you need to be taking every interview request and then some.  Your failure to do so goes a long, long way towards explaining how Bradley has disappeared from the radar so often.   The failure to grasp that this was a press event and not an ABA convention further hurt Bradley.  Going on about how the pre-trial motions blah blah blah, Coombs suddenly declares, "I'm enjoying my opportunity to cross-examine those who had Bradley Manning in those conditions for so many months."  And like dutiful idiots, many of those applauded that crap.   Well, hey, then, let's let this trial go on for 30 years.  For those of us who are actually outraged that the US government has refused to provide Bradley Manning with a fair and speedy trial, the 'enjoyment' of the defense attorney really isn't our concern.   Here's another tip: "Those people."  No one gives a damn about some free floating, nebulous menace.  Even the idiot Bully Boy Bush knew he had to paint a face on what he dubbed the "axis of evil."  But there was Coombs pontificating endlessly about "those people" who knew Bradley was being wronged but did nothing, could see with their own eyes that Bradley was being wronged but did nothing.  Who are these people?  Do you mean guards?  If so, why can't you say that?   "Change"?  Unless you're talking coins, stop using that empty phrase -- especially as a noun.  The 2008 election drained it of all value.  At one point, Coombs wanted to liken Bradley to Daniel Ellsberg.  I'm sorry but I was at rallies for Daniel Ellsberg -- actual rallies -- and this 'presentation' was more self-congratulatory then anything we had for Ellsberg.  Everything is not an applause line and people need to stop applauding themselves.  It's not only immodest, it's counterproductive.  A real discussion could have taken place if everyone hadn't decided that self-suck was more important than addressing reality.  After three solid minutes of various thanks (with no end in sight), my friend leaned over and asked if he did "the E-Z checks plan, will they give me my PBS mug so we can leave already?"   I've noted before that Jane Fonda is one of our country's great speakers.  She truly is.  We can all learn and borrow from her.  One of the things she's always been very good at is conveying some nervousness about speaking and growing stronger in her presentation so that the subtext is: This made me stronger.  She embodies that.  She does not stand there yammering on about 'I'm scared but now I'm stronger and blah blah blah.'  If Jane were to put that into words instead of making it the subtext, it wouldn't work.  And Coombs' bad attempt to steal Jane's signature move sank as he verbalized (in a hundred and one words) what she embodies with a gesture, a head tilt and the growing passion in her voice.   David Coombs loves the judge, loves the military system, loves the legal system, loves to hear his own voice.  We learned about that and so many more things about David Coombs.  Bradley?  Not so much.  What should have been the strongest moment quickly sank.   David Coombs:  Last Tuesday, the President of the United States signed into law The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.  As President Obama was signing this bill into law, Brad and I were in a court room for the start of his unlawful pre-trial motion.  How can you reconcile the two?    Is it possible for Coombs to speak plainly?  "Unlawful pre-trial motion."  Is that a soundbyte outside of a legal journal?  I don't think so.  Nor do I think "Brad and I were in a court room" is appropriate.  Bradley is the targeted one, not David Coombs.    What followed were 'questions' that were written out ahead of time on index cards.  It was as though we were sitting through the press conference Bully Boy Bush held right before starting the Iraq War.    As we were leaving, a reporter I knew stopped us and asked how fair were the questions?  "Off the record," I said, "the whole thing was bulls**t.  Where do we get off on the left refusing to take questions?  Doing pre-screened -- excuse me, 'pre-approved' questions?  I thought the heart of this case was about the need for information to be out there.  Freedom of information died here, somebody call the time of death."  My friend summed it up better, however, "I support Manning 100% but what went on in there was a cross between an Amway convention and a Nuremberg Rally."    My comments above are on the first half of the presentation only.  (In part because I had to step outside to return a few calls including one about last night's snapshot -- it was too long when it was typed up and we had to edit it.)  I was present for the entire presentation and 'question' and answer session with Coombs.  I stepped out right after that.     Don't want to be standing here And I don't want to be talking here And I don't really care who's to blame 'Cause if love won't fly on its own free will It's gonna catch that outbound plane -- "Outbound Plane," written by Nanci Griffith and Tom Russell, first appears on her Little Love Affairs     It's going to catch that outbound plane but where will it land?  Presumably not in northern Iraq.  Kitabat reports Taner Yildiz, Ministry of Energy for Turkey, was unable to land today at the Erbil airport because the Civil Aviation Authority in Baghdad would not grant permission.  Al Jazeera notes that he was to attend an energy conference in the KRG but instead "was forced to land in Turkey's Kayseri, southeast of the capital Ankara." And apparently this was not the only flight that Baghdad refused to allow to land.  Reuters quotes Nasser Bandar (who is charge of the Civil Aviation Authority in Baghdad) stating, "The UAE, Jordan and Turkey forwarded their demand to get permission for private flights, and we refused the three requests as they were not going along with Iraqi laws and regulations."  Ivan Watson (CNN) quotes an official with Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating, "We had applied for flight permits.  We were issued one, and the plane was on the move. But in the meantime we were notified by the Iraqis that they have banned all VIP flights to Northern Iraq."     This was not supposed to be the big airplane story out of Iraq today.  As Aviation Canada notes, Iraq received their first  Airbus A330 from Canada. And early in the day, All Iraq News adds, Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi met with the Canadian Ambassador to Iraq, Mark Gwozdecky,  in what was hoped to be an assurance that Iraq was stable and business-friendly.  Gwozdecky went on to meet with the head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq's Ammar al-Hakim who attempted to hard-sell the ambassador on the 'progress' in Iraq. (And, for the record, Mark Gwozdecky is Canada's Ambassador to both Iraq and Jordan.)   The Canadian Ambassador's visit was drowned out in the shock over the refused landing.     For Press TV, the refused landing is a chance to note:     Turkey is importing oil from Iraq's Kurdistan region without Baghdad's agreement and despite repeated statements from the Iraqi government stressing that all oil contracts in the country, including in the Kurdish region, must go through the central government. Ankara-Baghdad relations turned sour last year after Ankara expressed support for fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who faces terrorist charges in his country and is sentenced to death, and gave him refuge. The two countries are also at odds over the Syrian unrest.       Hey, remember when Nouri al-Maliki was wanted for terrorism in Iraq and he escaped and hid out in Iran?  Press TV never appears to.  But that did happen.  Tareq al-Hashemi was not given a fair trial, witnesses were tortured (including one potential witness who was tortured to death), his defense wasn't allowed to call witnesses and there is never a fair trial when judges hold a press conference to announce the accused is guilty -- hold a press conference to make that announcement before the trial even starts.  That's not even getting into the Baghdad judge who, at that press conference, declared that Tareq had tried to kill him.  This was not a fair trial, it was Nouri's kangaroo court.  And though Press TV and other outlets keep talking about al-Hashemi being in Turkey, Arabic outlets had him going to Qatar over a week ago.   At any rate, leave it to Press TV to get stuck in the past as they attempt to avoid the present.   They kind of left out the tensions between Baghdad and Erbil, right?  That tension is what makes the photograph Ako Rasheed (Reuters) took of the Peshmerga encircling Kirkuk news.     And it's this crisis that led to Iraq actually being raised in the State Dept's press briefing today presided over by State Dept spokesperson Mark Toner.        QUESTION: On Iraq?   MR. TONER: Yeah. Go ahead.   QUESTION: What is your update on the U.S. mediation to defuse the military tensions between the Iraqi Government and Kurdistan Regional Government in North Iraq? Do you have anything new?   MR. TONER: Well, I mean, I think I would just say at the outset this is obviously an Iraqi process. We're doing what we can, obviously, to encourage dialogue, and discussions are ongoing. I would refer you to the Government of Iraq for any details, but ultimately improving security in Iraq is in the interests of all parties in Iraq and will benefit all Iraqis. So we want to see this dialogue continue and want to see a resolution.   QUESTION: Okay. Mark, on this point --   MR. TONER: Yeah. Sure.   QUESTION: -- a few weeks ago, there was a delegation, a delegation, that went and met with the Ministry of Interior and Armed Forces in Iraq. Are you – did anyone share with you the results of that meeting and --   MR. TONER: I don't, Said. I can take the question and see what came out of that --   QUESTION: Okay. Sure.   MR. TONER: -- specific meeting.     What the above doesn't convey is that spokesperson Mark Toner read his answer.  He had a series of typed notes (on typing paper, stapled together) and he flipped to the Iraq section and barely looked up as he read, word for word, from his notes.      KUNA reports, "Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi arrived here [Erbil] Tuesday evening in yet another mission to break the stalemate between Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq's federal government over Kirkuk region."  This morning, Alsumaria reported al-Nujaifi stated the Baghdad versus Erbil crisis is now so large that there is the threat of military confrontation.  Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports several MPs spoke yesterday -- MPs of various political parties -- noting that Nouri was acting without any input or consultation of the Parliament and its committees.  While Najafi headed to Erbil, Al Mada reports that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived in Baghdad for talks last night.  All Iraq News reports Moqtada al-Sadr is calling out the remarks Nouri al-Maliki made on Saturday, noting that Nouri's threats were a dangerous error and should not happen again.  Kitabat notes that Moqtada called out the Russian arms deal as well as stating that any weapons Iraq purchased should be for the defense of the country, not to oppress Iraqis.  Alsumaria notes he called on corruption to be investigated. Dar Addustour reports that it is said Nouri al-Maliki has been getting legal opinions on state-of-emergency and is planning (toying with?) declaring a state of emergency, ordering the arrests of various political rivals and demonstrating to everyone what happens when the US governments installs and backs tyrants.  Second, the air space.  Nouri whines that he can't control the air space when it comes to Iranian flights to Syria and yet Kitabat reports Taner Yildiz, Ministry of Energy for Turkey, was unable to land today at the Erbil airport because the Civil Aviation Authority in Baghdad would not grant permission.  How scared is Nouri's State of Law of the Iraqi people?  Alsumaria reports that yet another flunky with State of Law has made idiotic comments.  Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi should be silent, insists State of Law.  He has no right to speak.  Check the Iraqi Constitution and you'll find Allawi, like every other Iraqi, has the right to speak whenever he wants.  More importantly, he should be speaking right now.  He is the popular leader of Iraq.  State of Law came in second to Iraqiya.  If the Constitution had been followed, Allawi or someone else from Iraqiya would be prime minister right now.  But Barack wanted the Bush-installed Nouri to have a second term. From John Barry's "'The Engame' Is A Well Researched, Highly Critical Look at U.S. Policy in Iraq" (Daily Beast): Washington has little political and no military influence over these developments [in Iraq]. As Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor charge in their ambitious new history of the Iraq war, The Endgame, Obama's administration sacrificed political influence by failing in 2010 to insist that the results of Iraq's first proper election be honored: "When the Obama administration acquiesced in the questionable judicial opinion that prevented Ayad Allawi's bloc, after it had won the most seats in 2010, from the first attempt at forming a new government, it undermined the prospects, however slim, for a compromise that might have led to a genuinely inclusive and cross-sectarian government."  Surveying the events of late, Tim Arango and Duraid Adnan (New York Times) observe that "[. . .] Iraq finds itself in a familiar position: full-blown crisis mode, this time with two standing armies, one loyal to the central government in Baghdad and the other commanded by the Kurdish regional government in the north, staring at each other through gun sights, as officials in Baghdad, including American diplomats and an American general, try to mediate."   It's Barack Obama's Iraq, it's Nouri al-Maliki's Iraq.  And how proud they must both be today as Iraq beat out 157 other countries to be declared number one.   Before Nouri preens for the cameras, we should point out that the list topped is the Global Terrorism Index.  Iraq had 1228 incidents between 2002 and 2011 that were classified as terrorism and this lead to 1798 deahts and to 4905 more people being injured.  This allowed Iraq to remain number one.  Of the index, The Economist notes, "It [Iraq] has suffered from the most attacks, including 11 of the world's worst 20.  Indeed, Iraqis comprised one third of deaths from terrorism between 2002 and 2011." Nouri's Iraq is also an Iraq where people struggle for the basics.  This includes food.  Yesterday the United Nations made a brief announcement.  It was spin, pure and simple, opening with the assertion that the last five years had seen a decrease -- 250,000 less Iraqis facing food insecurity.  That sounds so much better than noting 1.9 million Iraqis continue to face food insecurity (the 2007 number was 2.2 million).  The UN did acknowledge, "The report points to the Public Distribution System (PDS) as an important element that has helped to ensure food security and decent living standards for the poorest of households."  That's the food-ration card system.  If you take that away, you don't just add the 250,000 back into the total, you add a great deal more.  The food-ration card system is the only thing keeping many Iraqis afloat.  You may remember Nouri tried to end it.  The people and Parliament fought him on that and they won.   Al Mada reports a fight went down in Parliament yesterday as well.  Iraqiya and the Kurdistan Alliance walked out of the session to protest an aspect of the proposed Information and Telecommunications Law.  They say it goes to far and curbs basic freedoms and that a red line must be drawn, a line you do not cross, that ensures internet freedom.  Nothing, the politicians argued, not even the threat of porn, is enough to restrict the freedoms.  Article 12 of the proposed law would allow the government to control access and content.  They are demanding that Article 12 be striken from the bill. Saturday, Nouri threatened to arrest members of Parliament who spoke publicly about the abuse Iraqi women are suffering in prisons.  The BRussels Tribunal has a very important article on this torture.  We're going to highlight a little from their report each snapshot this week and hopefully include the entire thing that way.  Yesterday, we noted the arrest.  Here's the next step.     This is the second stage of the unfair arrest journey. The female detainee will be sent either to Shaab Stadium Prison or the notorious Al-Muthanna Airport Prison. A group of the worst psychopaths in the government is supervising these prisons, a corrupt committee of criminals of the Military Intelligence, the Intelligence services of the Ministry of Interior, and an Intelligence and Security Representative from the Chief Commander's Office. This management is appointed by the Iraqi Correction Office through the Ministry of Justice. 45% of its employees are Al-Mahdi Militia members, 30% from the Badr Organisation. The other 25%  is divided among the other criminal parties of the government. This phase is considered as the most barbaric. The security forces, prison guards and members of the prison management practice the most terrible ways of torture, humiliation, profanation, deprivation, blackmailing the prisoners, ethnic and sectarian and political discrimination, and raping men and women without exception. Female prisoners are detained for very long periods, without legitimate accusations or investigating their case. In criminal Maliki's jails, there are many women who were imprisoned for periods between one year and six years, without any legal representation or procedures regarding their case. There are many examples of the immoral and brutal practices being committed against female and male prisoners in Al-Tasfeerat Prisons. Some officers from the Ministries of Interior and Defense, the Office of the Chief of Command, and some partisan and criminal militia leaders visit these prisons, and choose some detainees to be tortured for hours and raping them for sectarian reasons. Some of the prisoners die as a result of this brutal torture. Between 2008-2012 Al-Rasafah Tasfeerat Prison recorded the death of more than 250 prisoners, among them 17 women. During the same period Al-Muthanna Airport Prison recorded the death of 125 prisoners, among them three women. And these torture practices do not only take place in Al-Tasfeerat Prisons, but in all the prisons supervised by the Ministry of Justice, especially the Juveniles Prison, Al-Kadimiyah Women Prison, the notorious Abu-Ghraib Prison, in addition to the secret prisons of Al-Maliki where no accurate records are available about the male and female detainees who died because of the brutal torture they faced there. It's worth mentioning that under Al Maliki's rule, some notorious high risk level prisoners - men and women alike-  were released or secretly smuggled out Al-Tasfeerat Prisons, after destroying all the documents and papers related to their cases, on the orders of Ministers and VIPs in the Ministries of Interior and Defense, and the Commanding Chief's Office. Here are some of prisoners who were "released": Radiyah Kadum Muhsin : she was one of the prominent leaders of the Dawa Party, and was released after an order from Al-Maliki himself, and under the supervision of his Intelligence and Security Consultant. She was accused of leading one of the biggest human trafficking criminal gangs that kidnap children and sell them, in addition to prostitution, seducing some officers and government officials, and blackmailing them with their own pornographic photos, or even eliminating them. She was also accused of drug dealing, and forging official documents. Adnan Abdulzahra Al-Aaraji: he is one of the prominent leaders of the Mahdi Militia, and the head of one of the most notorious gangs known in Iraqi history in terms of sadism, criminality and discrimination. He was arrested by the Americans while he was trying to smuggle 5000 corpses of his victims to Iran during the sectarian wars in 2006. Those corpses were sent to Iran in three cooled vehicles for the sake of human organs trade. He was accused of smuggling antiques, explosives, weapons, and drugs. We mentioned here only two of the prisoners who were "released" from Al-Maliki prisons.     In Iraq today, the violence continues.  All Iraq News reports a Mosul roadside bombing injured a solider  and the corpse of 1 city council member was discovered dumped in Mosul (he'd been kidnapped over a month ago).  Alsumaria notes a Baghdad home invasion in which 5 members of the same family were stabbed to death.  Sinan Salaheddin (AP) states the people were shot dead and it was 6 family members killed.  Alsumaria adds a Mosul bombing left three police officers injured, a Mosul armed attack left 1 civilian dead, a car bombing to the west of Mousl left five police officers and one civilian injured, a Mosul armed attack claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and there was a mass arrest (14) in Kirkuk today on charges of 'terrorism.'       October 9th, with much fanfare, Nouri signed a $4.2 billion dollar weapons deal with Russia.  After taking his bows on the world stage and with Parliament and others raising objections, Nouri quickly announced the deal was off.  It's not going away. And it's made Nouri a joke on the international stage -- which hurts investment in Iraq.  Nouri signed a deal and then trashed it.  Was it corrupt?  Maybe so.  If so, he should have known before he signed it.  Among all the leaders of countries in the world, Nouri now looks like the most rank amateur.  He brings that shame on Iraq.  And he does so after six years in office. Mohammad Sabah (Al Mada) reports Parliament's Integrticy Committee began their questioning Sunday of the officials who went to Russia with Nouri -- including the 'acting' Minister of Defense.  Yeah, Nouri should have had a Minister of Defense looking over that deal.  But, oops, despite Constitutional requirements, Nouri never nominated anyone for that post.  As part of a power-grab, he wanted to leave it open.  As  Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed in July, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support."  Rumors swirl in Iraq right now that Nouri's former spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh (who is reported to have fled the country) has passed on papers to the Committee -- documenting the corruption. State of Law's Izzat Shabandar was scheduled to testify today.  All Iraq News notes that a statement from the Sadr bloc notes that Shabandar did testify today and that his remarks matched information that the Integrity Committee had previously unearthed in their corruption investigation.   Ayad al-Tamimi (Al Mada) reports the Sadr bloc declared yesterday that the deal wasn't worth half its stated value.       Turning to the US and US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.  Back on November 15th, in "The unqualified Susan Rice," we noted Rice was wrong on the Iraq War.  Monday, Ray McGovern (OpEd News) went into Rice's Iraq record at length:     In an NPR interview on Dec. 20, 2002, Rice joined the bellicose chorus, declaring: "It's clear that Iraq poses a major threat. It's clear that its weapons of mass destruction need to be dealt with forcefully, and that's the path we're on. I think the question becomes whether we can keep the diplomatic balls in the air and not drop any, even as we move forward, as we must, on the military side." Rice also was wowed by Secretary of State Colin Powell's deceptive speech to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003. The next day, again on NPR, Rice said, "I think he has proved that Iraq has these weapons and is hiding them, and I don't think many informed people doubted that." After the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, Rice foresaw an open-ended U.S. occupation of Iraq. In a Washington Post online forum, she declared, "To maximize our likelihood of success, the US is going to have to remain committed to and focused on reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq for many years to come. This administration and future ones will need to demonstrate a longer attention span than we have in Afghanistan, and we will have to embrace rather than evade the essential tasks of peacekeeping and nation building." Only later, when the Iraq War began going badly and especially after she became an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, did Rice take a less hawkish position. She opposed President Bush's troop "surge" in 2007, a stance in line with Obama's anti-Iraq War posture. During Campaign 2008, she also mocked one of Sen. John McCain's trips to the Baghdad as "strolling around the market in a flak jacket."       iraq cnn ivan watson press tv the associated press michael r. gordon bernard trainor the daily beast al mada dar addustour john barry kitabat the new york times tim arango duraid adnan

Fleetwood Mac to tour in 2013

From last night, that's Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Nation Bullpen." Meanwhile, Fleetwood Mac is getting ready to tour next year.  Randall Roberts (Los Angeles Times) reports:




“This band never breaks up,” Nicks said on the phone from her home in Santa Monica. After the ’09 tour concluded, she added, “everybody said, ‘Goodbye, talk to you soon, and this will start happening again when everybody’s done with what we do when a Fleetwood Mac tour ends. We’ll go out and do something else and then we’ll come back and do Fleetwood Mac.' "
Nicks said that the rest of the band wanted to tour last year, but that she’d been so happy with her most recent solo album, “In Your Dreams,” that she wanted to dedicate more time to supporting it. “I sat everybody down and said, ‘Listen, please understand. I’m never going to break this band up. Never. I’m never going to leave you. I’m just going to go away for under a year’ to focus on the record.
“It’s been a little longer than that,” she conceded, but that as the self-described party planner of the Mac tour, she didn’t want to shove Fleetwood Mac down peoples’ throats so soon after ’09. Her commitment, she stressed, is unwavering: “My first loyalty has always been to Fleetwood Mac. And it will always be.”

Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie brought the excitement to the band (as a front person) in the 70s and 80s and 9-s.  Now Christine's gone and it's just Stevie.  Without Stevie, they'd be an oldies act.  She also speaks with Leah Greenblatt (Entertainment Weekly):



What about this tour will be different than your last one?


You know, we always do probably 20-21 songs, and so there’s always those 10 songs that we have to do. Which are the hits. The audience came and bought their ticket to see those songs. But then we have the other 10-11 songs to play with. So what we do is we know the songs we have to do, so we put them all in one column. And then we put all the songs from all the different records, from you know, Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, Tusk, Mirage, Tango in the Night, Behind the Mask, all those, and then we start choosing, well what song have you always wanted to do, John? And Mick? Is there a song you have a soft spot for? So then we start making a list of slightly more unfamiliar Fleetwood Mac songs.
And then, once we’ve made that list, we start sitting around with acoustic instruments and we start playing them. And you never know what’s gonna stick. Because something you might have tried in 2009 or 2003 that didn’t work, and everybody said “No, that’s not gonna go.” And all of a sudden, when we go into rehearsal in February, might totally work. And I think that’s because, it’s just the time. There might be something going on in the world that might really speak to a song on Tusk that we’ve never done on stage before. And so that’s always a really super exciting part. Because we know what 10 songs are gonna be, but we don’t know what the other 12 are gonna be.



Ten songs are not hits.  Sorry, Stevie.  They are some hits and some well known tracks.  If they did 10 of the singles Stevie was responsible for, it would be hits.  But they have to include Lindsey and pretend like he's a real song writer.

1) "Dreams"
2) "Landslide"
3) "Sara"
4) "Gypsy"
5) "Seven Wonders"
6) "Silver Springs"
7) "Paper Doll"
8) "Say You Will"
9) "Fireflies"


Right there you have 9 of the biggest hits.  Stevie sings them.  She didn't write "Seven Wonders" (her friend Sandy Stewart wrote it) but she wrote the rest.

Some people wrongly think "Don't Stop" and "Hold Me" were written by Lindsey.  Nope, Christine wrote those hits.  And she wrote "Think About Me," "Snowbird," "You Make Loving Fun," "Say You Love Me," "Everywhere," "Little Lies" and more.

Christine and Stevie are the ones who made the band a million selling outfit.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, December 3, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, Nouri uncorks the crazy and threatens his political rivals, tensions between Erbil and Baghdad increase, the Peshmerga (and their tanks) station themselves around Kirkuk, violence increased in November, the Democratic Party needs to address the issue of Ranking Member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee because Corrine Brown and her non-stop defense of and excuses for the VA isn't going to cut it with veterans, and more.   This evening Hurriyet news reported that Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani is "accusing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of continually suspecting conspiracies against him" and quotes Barzani stating, "We want to solve issues through dialogue, not through tanks or F-16s. The problems with al-Maliki are not personal.  Most Iraqi factions support us."  What is Barzani talking about?  Nouri has created so many crises in Iraq that it can get confusing.  This one stems from Iraq's law of the land.   Iraq's Constitution was written in 2005.  At the time of the writing -- and still today -- there were areas in dispute.  Three provinces are part of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.  In addition, Kurds feel they have a right to other areas including oil-rich Kirkuk.  The central government out of Baghdad also feels it has a claim to Kirkuk.  What you have is two sides attempting to make historical claims to one piece of land.  That will never resolve the issue, as the writers of the Constitution knew.  So they created Article 140.  It calls for a census and a referdum to resolve disputed areas.  Nouri al-Maliki is installed by the US government as prime minister of Iraq in the spring of 2006.  Article 140 is supposed to be implemented no later than the end of 2007. Despite having had six years to implement Article 140 (and despite forever promising he was just about to), Nouri has refused to implement it.  The climate was not just one of mistrust on this issue, it was one of Nouri refusing to follow the law.  And he made it worse a few months ago by sending Iraqi forces (Tigris Operation Command) into these disputed areas.  The Kurds fear that he is doing that to 'resolve' the dispute by force.   The dispute could have ended last week and it stood a serious chance.  Dropping back to Thursday's snapshot: Tensions continue between the KRG and the Baghdad-based central government over Nouri sending in the Tigris Operation Command forces into disputed regions, as Martin Kobler noted today when addressing the UN Security Council.  In an interesting development, Mohammad Sabah (Al Mada) reports Nouri is said to be angry because his generals are not providing him with details and summeries of the ongoing negotiations with the Kurdish Peshmerga officials.  If Nouri is really being kept out of the loop, that says a great deal about how much his power has faded in the last weeks.  Even more surprising since the Peshmerga has published the main points the two sides agreed upon: 1. Forming an operational mechanism, principles of cooperation and joint committees in the disputed regions. The joint operations in the disputed regions of Kurdistan will remain unchanged but the mechanism of operation will be revitalized between the federal forces and the forces of the Kurdistan Region. 2. The meetings of all the joint operations committees will be rescheduled to once a month. This will be increased if deemed necessary, especially for meetings of the SAC. 3. The location of the meetings and coordination for the meetings will be organized by the command of the Iraqi Armed Forces who will work as a coordinator for the work of the committees, especially the SAC. 4. A follow-up procedure will be conducted for the work and the decisions of the joint committees and punitive measures will be taken against any defaulting party or individual. 5. Any party or individual will be punished in case of reporting misleading information to their superiors in order to create problems and crisis at any level. 6. The SAC must be immediately informed about any problems that arise in the disputed areas in order to immediately work on solving them. 7. The agreements must be honored and the commanders, officials and individuals who violate the terms of the agreements will be punished. 8. Forming a quick mechanism to pull out all the forces of both sides that were mobilized to the region after Nov. 16, 2012. Pulling out these forces must be transparent, truthful and supervised by the supreme committee members after the consent of the SMC. 9. Reconsidering the decision of forming operations command in the region, especially the Tigris Operations Command, and giving back the authority of security in Kirkuk to the police, Asayish and internal forces.   This could have been the first step in resolving that crisis.  Instead, Nouri nixed the deal and uncorked the crazy.  And he was spewing it on Saturday.  Al Mada reported the prime minister made a public statement in which he attacked Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, stated that those attempting to withdraw confidence for him should be warned and floated "arrests" as part of his threats.  It was a very disturbing speech.  In the speech he made a demand that everyone attend a meet-up.  All Iraq News notes that the Kurdistan Alliance has already: They won't be attending.  They issued a statement explaining Nouri has refused to be practical and resolve the crisis (he created).  While the Kurds willingly met with Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi in good faith, Nouri blew off the exchange.  When the Iraqi military and the Peshmerga came up with a 14-point plan to resolve the latest crisis (created by Nouri), Nouri said it would not be allowed. Dar Addustour added that Nouri declared in his speech that the Kurds don't believe in the Constitution and that efforts at a no-confidence vote in him will be met by actions that have never been taken before.  In addition, he announced he wants to arrest members of Parliament who raised the torture of Iraqi women in prisons.  He also made a number of statements involving President Jalal Talabani which appear to be that the same people who put him (Nouri) in power put Jalal in power and if Nouri goes down so does Jalal.  Al Rafidayn emphasized the attacks on Jalal Talabani in Nouri's remarks.  Today the Iraq Times reports MP Amir al-Kanani, with Moqtada al-Sadr's political bloc, states that Nouri's speech was in response to the loss of popularity for his political party Dawa as a result of his attempts to end the food ration card system and as a result of the Russian arms deal that fell apart.  Dawa is Nouri's political party.  His political slate that he ran with in 2010 is State of Law.  Provincial elections are supposed to take place in April which could be behind any concern about the popularity of Dawa.   All Iraq News notes that State of Law was supposed to meet this evening in Nouri's offices to prepare their strategies for the upcoming elections.   Al Mada notes that the religious authorities in Najaf are said to be troubled by the escalation of the conflict.  They're not the only ones troubled.  Wael Grace (Al Mada) notes that the actions are troublinging investors and would-be investors dismaying the business community in Iraq.  Also watching the situation closely is the government of Turkey.  Rudaw reports, "Turkish officials say they are following recent tensions between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government with concern."  Alsumaria reports Iraqiya head Ayad Allawi declared today that Nouri al-Maliki's actions have been an assault on the Kurdish region.  It's noted that Allawi has spoken via telephone with both Barzani and Talabani about the issue already today.  The Iraq Times notes that Allawi is scheduled to visit Erbil on Wednesday.  Iraqiya is the political slate that came in first in the 2010 parliamentary elections.       Earlier today Alsumaria reported that a large number of Peshmerga are moving towards Kirkuk.  The Iraq Times reports that they arrived with tanks by afternoon.  Nouri called the move "irresponsible escalation."  Meanwhile Alsumaria notes Talabani was returning to Baghdad today in an attempt to re-start a dialogue on the issues. How serious is the above?  Not at all serious to the reporters covering the US State Dept.  Despite the fact that a press conference was held today, no one asked spokesperson Mark Toner one question about Iraq.    In violence, Alsumaria reports a Kirkuk mortar attack injured a police officer.  Also in Kirkuk, Alsumaria reports a 20-year-old man shot dead his 2 brothers and 1 sister behind the Dawa Party's offices and he shot his parents as well but they were left injured, not dead.  All Iraq  News notes 1 person was shot dead in Mousl.  Friday ended the month of November.  Iraq Body Count counted 244 deaths from violence in the month.  AFP reports the government ministries (under)count 166 deaths.  The outlets notes this is an increase from the government's claims of only 144 deaths in October.   As noted above, Nouri's threatening to arrest members of Parliament who spoke publicly about the abuse Iraqi women are suffering in prisons.  The BRussels Tribunal has a very important article on this torture.  We're going to highlight a little from their report each snapshot this week and hopefully include the entire thing that way.  Here they are on the starting point:   The torture journey starts when security forces raid and search the houses, through random raids or ordered raids. The Fourth Commander of the Second Brigade – Team 6, Major Jumaa Al-Musawi, has confirmed this information. This man has a criminal record, and he was assigned to this position by the American Forces during their first training courses in intelligence gathering. He used to live in Al-Thawra (now called Sadr City) / Sector 87.  In his own words: "When we receive the raid and search orders from the Brigade Intelligence, we usually start with a little party and drink alcohol, or take some drugs. We choose the most cruel soldiers to carry out such operations. The first thing we do is to lock the men and youngsters in a room, and the women and children in another room. We start to steal what can be taken fast, like jewelry, and we mess up the house, like throwing the women's underwear here and there; some soldiers even steal some of this underwear. After that, we start to do a body search on the women, and having fun touching their private parts or breasts. We threaten them to arrest the men in the house when they refuse to be touched. If those women are pretty, we usually rape them immediately, and leave the house when we find no weapons or incriminating material. In case we find some weapons, every man and youngster in the house will be arrested, and if there are no men at home, we arrest all the women instead. This is totally according to the orders we receive." What follows is one of many stories about the crimes committed by these corrupt creatures, who shamelessly brag about their misdeeds to each other. Al-Musawi and his assistant Lt. Rafid Al-Darraji (another criminal who was imprisoned in Abu-Ghraib and sentenced to death, but was released by the Americans, using him as a guardian, along with their own guard dogs, giving him the Lt. rank. He used to live in Al-Nuariyah District. Here is what they state: "In July 2006, we received an order to raid and search the house of one of the fabric merchants in Karradah (his name is not mentioned). When we reached his house at 1:00 a.m., we didn't find the man, we only found his wife and his 17 year old son. During the search we found a rifle, which – according to our law – is permitted for the personal protection of civilians. But we threatened the woman that we would arrest her son if she didn't let us rape her. So, we handcuffed the son and locked him in a room, and one soldier after the other raped the lady in the other room. The other soldiers stole what they could find, then we headed to a well-known brothel in Al-Doura District in Um Alaa's house to enjoy the rest of the night there." They continue: "The first thing we do when an arrested woman is being transported to the detention location, is that every part of her body is touched by all the soldiers in the vehicle, while using dirty language. When we reach the detention facility, we leave her in the investigation room, supervised by the intelligence officer and his assistants. They directly take all her clothes off, blindfold her, handcuff her, then the intelligence officer starts to rape her with his assistant. And later they ask her some questions: if she's guilty or innocent and so on. Then they blackmail her, saying that she should be cooperative and give important information about the District where she lives, otherwise they would distribute photos of her while she was naked and being raped. They would accuse her of false charges if she would file a complaint about harrassment and torture. If she receives a "guilty" verdict, she usually stays in the same location for a period of one to three months, in order to finish the procedures of her "case", to be sent to the headquarters. During these months, every single intelligence officer and soldier in the Brigade will rape her. After that, she will be sent to Al Tasfeerat Prison in Shaab Stadium, or to Al-Muthanna Airport Prison. Sometimes the prisoner is transferred to the facility of the Chief Commander's Office in the Green Zone, which is a cellar under the building of the Baghdad Operations Headquarter, supervised by Major General Adnan Al-Musawi. This place is one of the most dangerous, dirtiest prisons of Al-Maliki.     More than the Russian weapons deal, more than the escalation, this is the most dangerous story for Nouri al-Maliki.  That's why he's threatening people who are talking about it.  Why is it so dangerous?    Because it could be your mother, your sister, your daughter.  This goes to the core of abuse in Iraq.  And this story harms Nouri because he's over the prisons.  So he wants it to go away and various of his flunkies have stepped forward in the last days to dismiss it.  Yesterday,  Aswat al-Iraq ran a story about how the judges are insisting that "only" 46 Iraqi women are being held right now for questioning.  46 women who are not charged with one damn thing shouldn't be held to begin with.  But they want to happy talk it and tell you that it's "only" 46. The Crazy has been let out and it is running free and, if you doubt that, note that the story continues that, oops, one of the women was pregnant.  And she went into labor during questioning.   Don't worry though.  They're going to let her go just as they're done questioning her.   They have held a pregnant woman without charge, they have upset her and she went into labor.  She is still not released from custody. In what world is that acceptable?  It's not, especially not in Iraq.    And this news emerges just as the Iraqi people are again saying "enough."  Kitabat puts the announcement on their front page: Friday, January 25th, Iraqis are preparing to return to Baghdad's Tahrir Square and protest.  It's another call for change and it will come ahead of the scheduled provincial elections.  The announcement notes that Nouri al-Maliki has become more tyrannical, that the Parliament is more corrupt, that two years ago, Iraqis took to the streets calling for change and were promised change but there was none.  Nouri's abusive to Iraqi women and like most men who beat up on women, what really scares him is that people are going to learn what a petty, little coward he is that he has to beat up on women.      In other news,  Sean McLachlan (Gadling) continues reporting on his now completed trip to Iraq with, today, a look at Iraq's Christian community:   The Christian Community in Iraq is a lot smaller than it was in 2003 when the Coalition invaded. During the occupation, radical Muslims claimed the Christians were helping the invaders and used this as an excuse to attack them. Churches and shops were bombed and individual Christians were murdered or told to leave on pain of death. In an interview with the BBC, the priest at St Joseph's Chaldean Church in Baghdad said that in the past nine years his parish has shrunk from 1,200 families to 300. The New York Times reports that before the war the Christian population was estimated to be as high as 1.4 million, and has now dropped to less than 500,000. I met few Christians in my 17 days in Iraq other than some shopkeepers and the owners of a liquor store when I went on a beer run in Basra. I was anxious to see some of the early medieval centers of Christianity that make the country so important to Church history. The Christian community in Iraq is splintered into more than a dozen different churches, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and many more. Many of their rites and beliefs are from a markedly different religious tradition than what we are familiar with in the West.     There are a series of photo that go with the essay.  I would argue that Chrisians -- and all minorities groups -- immediately became at risk in Iraq following the US invasion as a result of the US government's desire to put thugs in charge to shock the Iraqi people into submission.  Thugs in charge guaranteed that the murders of Iraq's various minorities never resulted in any real punishments.    One of the worst attacks on Iraqi Christians is back in the news so let's drop back to the November 1, 2010 snapshot for details:   Yesterday in Baghdad, Iraqi forces swarmed Our Lady of Salvation Church where people were being held hostage by assailants.  Ernesto Londono and Aziz Alwan (Washington Post) report, "The bulk of the bloodletting happened shortly after 9 p.m. when Iraqi Special Operations troops stormed Our Lady of Salvation church in the upscale Karradah neighborhood to try and free worshipers who had been taken hostage. Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy's Miami Herald) reports, "Insurgents seized control of a church in central Baghdad on Sunday, taking hostages during evening mass after attacking a checkpoint at the Baghdad Stock Exchange." Graham Fitzgerald (Sky News) observes, "Apparently no attempt was made to negotiate with them and bring the siege to a peaceful conclusion." John Leland (New York Times) quotes police officer Hussain Nahidh stating, "It's a horrible scene. More than 50 people were killed. The suicide vests were filled with ball bearings to kill as many people as possible. You can see human flesh everywhere. Flesh was stuck to the top roof of the hall. Many people went to hospitals without legs and hands."  Lara Jakes (AP) reports there were 120 hostages in the church.  Ned Parker and Jaber Zeki (Los Angeles Times via Sacremento Bee) add, "The Iraqi police immediately sealed off the surrounding area in the busy Karada commercial district. The American military was called in to help. As U.S. Army helicopters buzzed overheads, American officers accompanied Iraqi commanders and shared satellite imagery, according to Iraqi police and the U.S. military. A caller to the Baghdad satellite channel Baghdadiya, who insisted he was one of the attackers, said the group was demanding the release of al-Qaida prisoners in Egypt and threatened to execute the hostages if the authorities failed to meet their demands." Anne Barker (Australia's ABC) reports, "The siege began when militants wearing suicide vests and armed with grenades took an entire congregation hostage. Some 120 people were held in the church for at least four hours." Today the Telegraph of London explains (link has text and video) the death toll has risen to 52. BBC News offers a photo essay of the siege.  Lewis Smith (Independent of London) quotes hostage Marzina Matti Yalda, "As we went outside the hall to see what was happening, gunmen stormed the main gates and they started to shoot at us. Many people fell down, including a priest, while some of us ran inside and took shelter in a locked room as we waited for the security forces to arrive." The Telegraph of London quotes a young male hostage (unnamed) stating of the hostage takers, "They entered the church with their weapons, wearing military uniforms. They came into the prayer hall, and immediately killed the priest." Martin Chulov (Guardian) adds, "The priest they call Father Rafael is believed to have survived, but his colleague, Father Wissam, is believed to have been killed." Jim Muir (BBC News) offers a video report and an Iraqi female hostage states, "Gunmen entered the church and started to beat people. Some of the people were released but others were wounded and some died and one of the priests was killed." Muir points out that churches in Iraq have been attacked before "but there's never been anything like this."   Today All Iraq News reports the Ministry of Housing and Construction has announced that the reconstruction of the Chuch has been completed.  They state reconstruction was done at a cost of 2.3 billion dinars.  Last week in Australia, the Assyrian Times notes, Senator Concetta Fierravanit-Wells discussed the plight of Iraqi Christians before the Australian Senate and she made a number of motions including one which "calls upon the Government to raise the signficant human rights concerns of Christian Assyrians with the Iraqi Government."     Ray McGovern has a piece at OpEd News on Susan Rice that we will try to highlight a section of tomorrow.  We are short on time and space today so I'm pulling the last part of Martin Kobler's briefing to the UN Security Council and we'll include it tomorrow.  Right now we have to go over a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing.    US House Rep Bob Filner served in Congress for many years.  He chose not to seek re-election last November and instead ran for, and won, Mayor of San Diego.  He was sworn in today and hopefully will be as strong a voice for the San Diego community as he was for veterans in the last year as he served as Chair of the House Veterans Committee or Ranking Member (depending on whether or not Democrats controlled the House) on the Committee.  His departure leaves a huge hole on the Democratic side of the Committee.  Bob Filner didn't play games.  He didn't care who was in the White House and who appointed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  If it was a Democrat, his questions were just as tough in hearings as they were when it was a Republican.  He put the veterans first and he brought common sense into every hearing to cut through all the double talk various officials wanted to try to hide behind.   US House Rep Linda Sanchez has that same focus and intensity and she would make a great Ranking Member.  US House Rep Michael Michaud is a bit lower key but he has a methodical approach that could be a real plus for the Committee.  US House Rep Silvestre Reyes also has a lower key approach but echoes Filner's common sense approach that cuts through the double talk.  Those are the three strongest Democrats on the Committee currently and any of the three would make a great Ranking Member.   A veteran of the Iraq War stopped me last Wednesday after a House Veterans Affairs Committee and said, "Please tell me they're not making her Committee Chair.  I can't understand her and she looks like she's ready to go on the road with Bootsy [Collins] and George [Clinton]."  He was referring to Corrine Brown.  [And her bad wig -- her bad wigs are infamous.]    Veterans do not feel she is on their side because all she does is make excuses.    That's all she did at last week's hearing.  It's all she ever does.  US House Rep Al Green sat in on the hearing and I believe he's just been assigned to this Committee.  The former judge was first elected to Congress in November 2004 and has been re-elected every two years since.  He made a point to state Wednesday that on the Veterans Affairs Committee, he doesn't come in saying he's a Democrat, "I'm a person who respects people who are willing to risk their lives for us. They go to distance places and they don't always return the way they left. And I just believe that we have to do as much as we can to assist them. And I'm a believer that when it comes to these issues, we can transcend party lines and work hard for them."  It's a shame he doesn't have more seniority because he'd be a wonderful Ranking Member or (when the House goes back to the Democrats) Chair.   The topic of the hearing was the money that VA has wasted on trips.  And US House Rep Corrine Brown wanted to offer excuses and whined about how the VA having to go through their records to provide answers to Congress was an imposition on VA.  Is the woman crazy?  If it takes too many hours for the VA to gather the information, that goes to their not doing an adequate job with their record retention which does include storage.    While Brown made one excuse after another,  US House Rep Al Green stated, "The optics of this are quite disturbing. I sense that you are contrite. I sense that you want to attone. But I have to let you know the optics are quite disturbing." He is correct.  Appearing before the Committee?  VA's Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould and he was accompanied by the VA's Phillipa Anderson and W. Todd Grams.  US House Rep Jeff Miller is the Chair and he outlined the issues right at the start.     Chair Jeff Miller: We are here to examine, in detail, VA's conference spdning, particularly following the VA Inspector General's report highlighting the wasteful spending that occurred at HR conferences in Orlando, Florida in 2011.  We will also examine VA's response to Congress regarding its conference spending.  Fundamentally, this hearing is about accountability -- accountability to veterans, to taxpayers and to this oversight Committee.  I am concerned on all fronts.  Let me briefly share the reason why.  On August 16, 2012, the Ranking Member and I sent a letter to the Secretary asking a series of questions related to VA's conference spending.  In that letter we referenced the conflicting testimony we received over the course of the 112th Congress regarding VA's total expenditures.  First we were told $20 million was spent in FY 2011 on conferences.  Then we were told it was a little over $100 million.  Finally, we were told that no accurate, reliable figure on conference expenditures exists.  Because of these discrepancies, we asked for clarification of VA's total conference spending for that year and prior years, as well as a breakdown of all individual conferences.  Rather than receiving a coherent response clearly explaining these discrepancies and answering all of the questions we posed, VA produced a data dump of information to the Committee under the cover of a letter by Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Joan Mooney, on August 24, 2012.  Even though I discussed what I believed was the lack of a response to our letter at the Committee's September 25, 2012 hearing, we were not informed by Ms. Mooney until a week later that her latter, and the information provided along with it, served as the Secretary's official response.   But even assuming what was provided in August was the Secretary's official response, our questions still weren't answered.  And those questions that were answered conflicted with prior VA testimony.  For example, when we tallied up the total VA conference expenditures for FY2011 based on the information VA provided, it came to $86.5 million.  This represents the fourth answer provided it came to $86.5 million.  This represents the fourth answer provided to the Committee this Congress on VA conference spending in FY2011: First $20 million, then over $100 million, then no reliable number and, now, $86.5 million.     That's not minor.  And although Corrine Brown may feel that it 'imposes' on VA to make them accountable, that is -- someone get her a copy of the Constitution -- Congress' job.  As always, US House Rep Phil Roe -- a medical doctor -- could be counted on to provide wisdom in these areas.  He noted that, at his practice, they figure out the next year's continued education needs and then they figure out a budget and then they start booking.  He also addressed what he'd learned in the continued education classes he'd taught.  And he noted that it's nonsense to claim that it takes months to find out these costs.  He said he could make one phone call and find out the costs of continued education for the 450 employees and have the answer in five minutes.   Gould wanted to argue that with 320,000 employees -- they took months to reply.  And as Roe pointed out, these are written checks.  It shouldn't be difficult to calculate.        US House Rep Bill Flores objected to sending VA staff to Italy -- on the taxpayer's dime -- and wondered why, when additional training is needed, it can't be done online?  US House Rep Tim Walz made several good points.   We'll note this comment by Walz,  "The thing that's always concerned me about professional development is: Why aren't we backplanning it from the results that Dr. Roe talked about, what we're going to get out of this?  I've got to be honest with you, if you're doing professional development and the wait time on claims increases, your professional development stinks.  And that's the way it is."   That's an overview.   We're not done.  We have to go back to Brown.  In the hearing, she noted she was made fun of about her comments at a previous hearing.  Unless someone else wrote about the hearing the way we covered it in the snapshot, she was referring to my comments.    To which I say, when she was demanding accountability from the VA (when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House), I looked the other way on her speaking.  We never could quote her in full because she's so bad about not finishing sentences.  But we would selectively quote her.  Now?  I'm going to try and transcribe her bad speech as she makes idiotic statements using lousy grammer?  Forget that.  I don't want to pick up her bad habits.   Reality, she's a member of Congress and has been for nearly 30 years.  She should have worked to improve herself.  She didn't.  She didn't even try.  She sounds like an idiot.    No sympathy?  I arrived in college with a huge knowledge gap because I arrived with a huge memory gap of whole years wiped away.    In college, this huge knowledge gap of things I learned but couldn't recall was embarrassing.  I was an idiot throughout freshman year.  The most basic things my peers knew, I had no idea about.  (World War II to give but one example.)  I was funny and could make the entire room erupt in laughter but, honestly, a lot of those 'jokes' that people thought were so funny?  No joke. I was being serious.  I was that ignorant.  And it was a very steep climb but I worked very hard and made up for as much as I could as quickly as I could.   So I don't really have a lot of sympathy for a Congress member who, year after year, opens their mouth and sounds like an idiot because they don't know proper English, because they can't finish their sentences and because they're reading level is so low that it's embarrassing when they try to read from their opening statements.  I'm sorry, Corrine, I have no sympathy for you.  Life has obstacles.  Anyone who works to overcome their own, I don't mock them.  There's a Democrat in the House who has a condition that makes his speaking a struggle.  I have never and would never mock him and I congratulate him on the long road back that he's made and is making.  But a woman who sits in Congress for 29 years and can't learn to speak?  Who is never tempted to better herself and thinks sounding like a buffoon is acceptable?  Get used to the mocking because if you're going to be Ranking Member, your poor speech is about to get a lot more attention.  And not just from me.  You're a member of the US Congress.  That should force you to strive for something better, not beg you to be a public embarrassment.  If no one's ever before made it clear to you how embarrassing you are, hate me but use that hate to improve yourself because your current speaking abilities are unacceptable.             iraq al mada alsumaria dar addustour as sheik kitabat all iraq news wael grace rudaw