Like Maria Said Paz: 2016-12-18

Friday, December 23, 2016

The truly original Stevie Nicks

The clouds never expect it
When it rains
But the sea changes colours
But the sea does not change
So with the slow
Graceful glow
Of age
I went forth with an age old
Desire to please
On the Edge of Seventeen.

I love Janis Joplin, absolutely. Glad that they keep trying to make a film out of her life.

But I wonder why no one's doing that with Stevie Nicks?

Maybe she's opposed to the project?

They could still do a wonderful documentary on her.

Stevie really is one of a kind.

Yes, Stevie's always had a huge number of fans.

But a large number of critics just couldn't get what she was offering.

They slammed her and dismissed her.

She hung around long enough to benefit from a critical shift as well as a critical reappraisal.

She remains one of a kind -- an original in an industry that's forever churning out pale photocopies.

Stevie's the best.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, December 23, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, the Mosul slog continues . . .

The Iraq War was illegal. It was based on lies. It was supported by Bully Boy Bush, Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney, John Kerry, Harry Reid, the US media and so many more.

Iraq did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Then the post-justifcations became (a) Saddam Hussein (ruler of Iraq) was a 'bad man' and (b) democracy will bloom in Iraq.

That really hasn't happened.

Transcript of the above for those with streaming issues:

There is a single Islamic rhetoric. Sunni, Shi'ite, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Dawa Party -- all the Islamic rhetoric is the same. It's clearest manifestation is that of ISIS. With ISIS, it is unsweetened, unvarnished. The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood an the Dawa Party appear with red silk neckties, talk their way around it, fabricate a little. But in essence, they are the same. They are against democracy and against human rights. Someone who tells you that there is an Islamic party that believes in human rights is either a liar or an ignoramus. No Islamic party believes in human rights. Human rights mean that an atheist and a polytheist are equal to sayyid Al-Sistani and the Sunni source of authority and they have the same rights and the same duties. This is not just our problem. It is the problem of the entire region and of the Islamic world: You can either have a dictatorship with security or a democracy with disintegration. Saddam was a dictator and the country had all the security of a grave. The minute Saddam was gone, they all wanted to take his place. We now have 20 Shi'ite Saddams, 30 Sunni Saddams, and 40 Kurdish ones. The country has disintegrated. It's gone. We want democracy with security, freedom with security, not with anarchy, militias, slaughter, killing, corruption, and the plundering of the budget. The Arab countries that have security and stability are all ruled by a dictator. Let me tell you, I used to preach for democracy, but after witnessing all the catastrophes I have witnessed, I wish we would get a dictator like Saddam. At least he would protect people's lives. Saddam was a killer, but it was just him. Now we have 10,000 Saddams doing the killing.

Let's drop back to March 2, 2010 for context on Ayad Jamal Aldin:

KPCC offers another report from Quil Lawrence which includes:

The race even includes a prominent cleric running with his own strictly secular party. Ayad Jamal al-Din studied at the world's most famous Shiite religious schools in Najaf and the Iranian city of Qom. The black turban he wears indicates that his family descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad. But Jamal al-Din says this doesn't mean he wants an Islamic state.
Iran and the theocracy there have hijacked the Shiite turban, he says, adding that he believes the vast majority -- even among clerics -- thinks that Iranian-style government has been a failure. What people in Iraq want is very simple, he says.
"The Iraqi on the street wants security and services. [He] does not think of a secular or religious government, just services and security," Jamal al-Din says.

Ayad Jamal Aldin is the leader of the Ahrar Party and their most recent press release was:

At the start of a week that has been dominated by news of the continuing and expanding 'de-Baathification' programme, Ahrar 374 Leader Ayad Jamal Aldin noted that the issue continues to distract voters' attention from the Maliki government's failure to deliver on jobs, public services and security. He urged voters to send the government a message and participate in Sunday's election.

De-Baathification is intensifying. Over the past five days, professors at the University of Karbala and Iraq's Southern Oil Company have been targeted. The level of fear-mongering has reached such a fever pitch that large numbers of highly competent professionals that Iraq desperately needs to run government and industry, are afraid for their lives and livelihoods. Just yesterday, it emerged that that violence had surged by 80 percent last month, when compared to January.

Ayad Jamal Aldin - leader of Ahrar 374 - said today, "It is clear what is happening here; the government is attempting to bully the people away from the ballot box. We should not accept it. Where we see these bullying tactics, we must see them for what they really are: an attempt to divert the Iraqi people's focus from the government's chronic failure to deliver jobs, running water and real security."

"The only answer can be to stand up to bullies. And this week, we have the best possible response to them - to take part in this election and vote for change."

For further information, contact:

Ahrar Media Bureau
Tel: +964 (0)790 157 4478 / +964 (0)790 157 4479 / +964 (0)771 275 2942press@ahrarparty.com

About Ayad Jamal Aldin:

Ayad Jamal Aldin is a cleric, best known for his consistent campaigning for a new, secular Iraq. He first rose to prominence at the Nasiriyah conference in March 2003, shortly before the fall of Saddam, where he called for a state free of religion, the turban and other theological symbols. In 2005, he was elected as one of the 25 MPs on the Iraqi National List, but withdrew in 2009 after becoming disenchanted with Iyad Allawi's overtures to Iran. He wants complete independence from Iranian interference in Iraq. He now leads the Ahrar party for the 2010 election to the Council of Representatives, to clean up corruption and create a strong, secure and liberated Iraq for the future.

So that's background on the person speaking.

He did believe in democracy and that it was possible in Iraq.

He no longer does.

The 2010 elections saw him split from Iraqiya. Iraqiya won those elections. Ayad Allwi should have been prime minister. But Nouri al-Maliki refused to step down. For eight months plus he refused to step down. Instead of sticking with the Iraqi voters, US President Barack Obama overthrew the results with The Erbil Agreement (legal contract giving Nouri a second term).

It's hilarious to watch Hillary's Temple Prostitutes insist -- with no evidence at all -- that Russia 'hacked' the US presidential election. It's also a grave hypocrisy because Barack and Secretary of State Hillary tossed aside the Iraqi people's vote in 2010.

So, nearly 14 years after the illegal war began, there are no WMDs, there is no democracy and the war continues.

And that so-called liberation of Mosul continues -- creating thousands of refugees.

It's day 67 of the slog.

No end in sight.

Hayder al-Abadi oversaw the liberation of Falluja too.

It's still a ghost town.

How sad that the rah-rah US press is so quick to move on to the newest 'liberation' but so uninterested in what happened last go round.

‏@UNmigration

Over 106,000 people have been displaced by the military operations in #Mosul – many of them are #children.

United Nations, IOM Office UN (NY), UN Geneva and

17 retweets10 likes

‏@mtawfeeqCNN

#Iraq #Mosul residents caught between war and peace @CNNI cnn.it/2ij78ZY @bencnn

As the United States looks away . . .

This morning, the US Defense Dept announced:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted and rotary wing aircraft and rocket artillery conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Bashir, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a tactical vehicle.

-- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, two vehicles and a supply cache.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed two vehicles, a building, two tunnels and an ISIL command and control headquarters; and damaged a supply route.

-- Near Rawah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit, destroyed a building and suppressed a vehicle bomb.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an ISIL tank.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

The following community sites -- plus THE GUARDIAN and Jody Watley -- updated: