Quotes of the day

“If people are not afraid of the dictatorship, that dictatorship is in big trouble.”  --Gene Sharp, author of “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” also founder of the Albert Einstein Institution


"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  --President Franklin Delano Roosevelt


"You say you want a revolution?"  --John Lennon  


(keeping in mind, "...if you talk about destruction, don't you know that you can count me out.")


Have a great weekend, y'all.

For Americans now

Note to America:  Egyptians just successfully pushed their government and leaders to make sure they gave them true democracy and democratic government.

Looks like it's time for us to "walk like an Egyptian."

Just sayin'.


Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Next up on the "Democracy March": Algeria

You saw it here first:

Algeria braces for pro-democracy protest


ALGIERS, Algeria – Hundreds of police began taking up positions the night before a pro-democracy protest march in Algiers by militants who have vowed to defy an official ban.
 
The planned march on Saturday is aimed at pressing for reforms to push this oil- and gas-rich North African giant toward democracy.

The weeks-long uprising in Egypt that forced Hosni Mubarak to abandon the presidency after 30 years was bound to fuel the hopes of Algerians seeking change — as did the "people's revolution" in neighboring Tunisia. A month of deadly uprisings there pushed Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile Jan. 14.

However, many Algerians fear any prospect of conflict after years of a brutal insurgency by Islamist extremists that has left an estimated 200,.000 dead. There is no specific call by organizers of the protest march to oust President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

With scattered strikes and clashes, including five days of rioting in early January, the atmosphere in Algiers has been tense.

There have been numerous copy-cat suicides, and attempted suicides, in Algeria like the self-immolation attempt by a young man that set off the Tunisian protests in mid-December.

The Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, an umbrella group of human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others, insists the march will take place despite numerous warnings by authorities to stay out of the streets.

Buses and vans filled with armed police were posted at strategic points along the march route and around Algiers, including at the "Maison de la Presse," a small village in Algiers where newspapers have their headquarters.

The daily El Watan said Friday that barrages were thrown up on roads leading to Algiers, apparently to stop busloads of potential demonstrators expected to descend on the capital.

In a clear bid to placate militants, Algerian authorities announced last week that a state of emergency in place since 1992, at the start of the Islamist insurgency, will be lifted in the "very near future." However, it maintained a ban on demonstrations in the capital. Authorities offered to allow Saturday's demonstrators to rally in a meeting hall.

The army's decision to cancel this nation's first multi-party legislative elections in January 1992 to thward a likely victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party set off the insurgency. Scattered violence continues.

It doesn't sound as though this one is going as well as the one in Egypt.

Here's hoping it goes well.


Enjoy your weekend, y'all.

Link to original post:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110212/ap_on_re_af/af_algeria_protest

And by gosh, just like that, Mubarak is out after all

Yeehaw.  Another despot bites the dust.

Democracy protests bring down Egypt's Mubarak

By Paul Schemm And Maggie Michael, Associated Press

CAIRO – Fireworks burst over Tahrir Square and Egypt exploded with joy and tears of relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday and handed power to the military.

"The people ousted the regime," rang out chants from crowds of hundreds of thousands massed in Cairo's central Tahrir Square and outside Mubarak's main palace several miles away in a northern district of the capital.

The crowds in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities around the country erupted into a pandemonium of cheers and waving flags. They danced, hugged and raised their hands in prayer after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall. Some fell to kiss the ground, and others chanted, "Goodbye, goodbye."

"Finally we are free," said Safwan Abou Stat, a 60-year-old protester. "From now on anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great."

Okay, so question to Americans:  What are WE doing to get money--the big, ugly, corporate and wealthy people's money--out of OUR government?

What have you done lately?

To quote John Lennon:  "You say you wanna' revolution?"

Link to original post:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

Oh, that Egyptian President quitting thing? Fugghedaboudit!

Egypt's Mubarak transfers power to vice president

By Maggie Michael, Associated Press

CAIRO – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he is handing his powers over to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, and ordered constitutional amendments. But the move means he retains his title of president and ensures regime control over the reform process, falling short of protester demands.

Link to original story:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

Possible great news for Egypt and Egyptians

The good news is that the reports are, this morning, that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may resign office as soon as today.  The people, it seems, are winning.  The power is/was with the people.  That's pretty terrific.  They wanted change, they pushed for it and now it seems it's coming.

The bad?  The military is stepping in. 

CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's military announced on national television that it stepped in to "safeguard the country" and assured protesters that President Hosni Mubarak will meet their demands in the strongest indication yet that the longtime leader has lost power. In Washington, the CIA chief said there was a "strong likelihood" Mubarak will step down Thursday.

State TV said Mubarak will speak to the nation Thursday night from his palace in Cairo.

The military's dramatic announcement showed that the military was taking control after 17 days of protests demanding Mubarak's immediate ouster spiraled out of control.

We'll have to see where this goes.  That may not be a necessarily bad thing, if it's only temporary.

Additionally, there's this Vice President and former army general and intelligence chief named Sulamein who is possibly/likely taking over in which case, the people may not completely have their country back yet.  We'll have to wait this out and see if/how that works.

"...a democratic transfer of power is not what Omar Suleiman appears to have in mind.

Not only has Suleiman failed to engage seriously with any of the key demands of the opposition but he has begun to darkly warn that the "intolerable" protest action must be speedily brought to an end. And so the Administration has found itself having to scold and berate the man Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last weekend hailed as the leader to oversee the transition."

The Egyptian people made this happen, of course.  It will now be up to them to push for serious, deep change that allows them to elect their own leaders.  Their work is only just begun.

In the meantime, over here in the States, we need to push for our own change that gets us true, deep, stringent campaign finance reform so we get and keep corporate money and the wealthy people's money out of our government, along with all the lobbyists.  That and we need to shorten our election/campaign season to 3 or 6 months so it isn't also corrupted.

All that, too, is up to us to push for.

I don't see it happening any time too soon, unfortunately.

Say, what time does NASCAR start, anyway?

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599204814800;_ylt=AjP7hH.sGNFmNOh1OnhPTl.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM4cWM0c2pyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMjEwL21sX2VneXB0BGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDNwRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDc3VsZWltYW53aGVu

Someone tell the CIA about Facebook, please

There was an article in the paper yesterday about how the CIA may have failed the country yet again.  Check it out:

US intelligence on Arab unrest draws criticism

By KIMBERLY DOZIER 

The Associated Press

3:34 p.m. Friday, February 4, 2011

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies are drawing criticism from the Oval Office and Capitol Hill that they failed to warn of revolts in Egypt and the downfall of an American ally in Tunisia.

President Barack Obama sent word to National Intelligence Director James Clapper that he was "disappointed with the intelligence community" over its failure to predict the outbreak of demonstrations would lead to the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis, according to one U.S. official familiar with the exchanges, which were expressed to Clapper through White House staff.

There's more, too:

Senior US lawmakers questioned Thursday whether the CIA and other spy agencies had failed to give President Obama adequate warning of the crisis in Egypt...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D.-Calif., chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said after the hearing that the intelligence community's performance was "lacking."  She said she was particularly concerned that the CIA and other agencies had ignored so-called open source intelligence on the protests, a reference to posts on Facebook and other public websites used by organizers of the massive protests.

Did you get that?

The CIA, with all their millions and millions of dollars didn't see the revolution in Egypt coming because they disallowed or ignored posts on Facebook.

Are you freaking kidding me?

And these are the rocket scientists, so to speak, who are keeping our country safe?

I don't think so.

Then, check this out:

A senior CIA official testified that spy services had warned the administration late last year that Egypt's government could fall.  "We warned of instability," said Stephanie O'Sullivan, who had been nominated to become the nation's No. 2 intelligence official.  But, she said, "we didn't know what the triggering mechanism would be."

Okay, so you wouldn't "know what the triggering mechanism would be" but once you come to that conclusion--that it's unstable--don't you keep your eyes and ears out for any and every sign it might fail?

Holy cow, people.  The CIA doesn't know to watch Facebook and Twitter.  What?  Because it's free and that couldn't possibly hold any information unless it costs millions of dollars?

Why do I not feel safe?

They didn't see the fall of the Soviet Union and other situations,now they miss this one.

What do they get right?

I'd love to know.

Link:  http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/us-intelligence-on-arab-827363.html

Huh. Democracy breaking out in the Middle East. Imagine that

First it was Yemen.

Then it was Syria.

Next up was Egypt, of course, against Hosni Mubarak.

Now it's Jordan, whose King Jordan just let go his cabinet.

Democracy seemingly breaking out in all these places in the Middle East and it wasn't because the US attacked them, blew them up and tried to "give them" Democracy.

More than 4,300 American soldiers gave their lives so we could spread Democracy in Iraq.  We've committed the nation to, it's been estimated, 3 trillion dollars and now a huge debt burden.

But maybe, just maybe--and this is entirely possible--Democracy would have broken out in Iraq without the debacle the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfeld/Paul Wolfowitz/Condoleeza Rice group selectively took us into.

Iraq has had an undercurrent of protests during and after Saddam Hussein's reign.  With the current examples of citizens rebelling against their governments, it is entirely possible to the point of likely that the Iraqis could and would have brought down their own government.

Sure, it's second-guessing and arm chair quarterbacking but it is an entirely possible scenario.

It is yet further proof I believe, if even in retrospect, that we just shouldn't have attacked Iraq, all those years ago.  (And for clarification, I protested the Iraq War before it took place.)

Links:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_jordan_cabinet;_ylt=AjOSiPYSSaj9bz2VwIGwfkHuOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ2Y3Y0NXQ0BGFzc2V0Ay9zL2FwL21sX2pvcmRhbl9jYWJpbmV0BGNjb2RlA21wX2VjXzhfMTAEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDam9yZGFuc2tpbmdm

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/01/28/if-egypt-falls-syria-must-follow/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/yemen-protesters-demand-change-government

Egypt: Another 80-year-old dude who had to go

What is it about these 80 year olds lately?

First it was Charlie Rangel of New York.

Then it was Ike Skelton.

Now it's Hosni Mubarak.

All of them 80 year old guys trying desperately, pathetically to hang on to power for power's sake, it seems.  Or for their ego.  Or something.

I understand and I'm sympathetic to their situations because no one wants to both admit it's the end of the line, so to speak, and go away and give up power but really, you have to be realistic and each of these guys didn't face up to reality until it was forced on them.

Other notes on the Egypt situation:

--It's great that this all started with the young people in Egypt.  I love that.  It's the way it usually happens, true, but it's just reassuring to me, anyway, that the energy and ideas came from the students and young people.  I like that;

--Seeing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agree with both Secretary of State Clinton and this Obama Administration on the whole Egypt situation is refreshing because in the first place, they are, in fact, saying what needs to be said; second, we need to stand together as a country on this and third, because it must kill him to agree with them, the pointy-headed pinhead.  (Oops, did I say that?);

--It's cool how this revolution in Egypt and the preceding one, in Tunisia, got going from Twitter and Facebook;

--At the same time, it's a bit scary that these both got going on Twitter and Facebook.  There's a bit of anarchy to it all that seems to somewhat threaten all political structures, internationally, potentially;

--Finally, Mubarak's finally appointing a Vice President in Egypt is 1)  Far too little, far too late and 2) pitiful and pathetic, really, because he appointed the former head of their intelligence agency.  That is hardly any open democracy or any good, big step in some right direction.

Charlie Rangel's and Ike Skelton's situations weren't really big deals in terms of power.

Here's hoping things go well and smoothly in Egypt, in a good, reasonably smooth transition to healthy, representative democracy.

Links:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30-egypt.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30military.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30voices.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30suleiman.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

"That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

Only one full day into the new Obama administration and already it seems like such good things--things we wanted and even expected--are coming to fruition.

Besides speaking to several of the leaders in the Middle East by phone (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah), the new President Obama then had a meeting with his economic advisers about our fiscal situation and that mess we're in.

He talked of accelerating the country's departure from Iraq with his top military staff.

"As part of Wednesday's burst of activity, Obama's aides circulated an unsigned draft executive order that would require the closing within a year of the Guantanamo prison..."

And this is all extremely refreshing, intelligent and wonderful stuff, all in one day, sure.

Check out all that was done:

--President "Obama announced he was freezing the pay for senior White House staff and tightening up rules for former lobbyists who work in government -- an effort to make good on campaign promises for ethics reform."

--He froze the pay of all administration officials who make more than $100,000.00 per year or more;

--He signed rules making it easier for Americans to get government documents;

--"As part of the transition, Obama last night ordered federal agencies to hold off on pending regulations made in the last days of the Bush administration. The order blocks proposals including those to ease emission requirements for factories and require some foods to be labeled by country of origin";

--"The administration also sought a 120-day pause in military war-crimes tribunals of suspected terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Obama has vowed to close the facility and revamp the system for holding and trying enemy combatants";

--"Obama also decreed that only he would have the power to assert executive privilege, so as to 'limit its potential for abuse.' That may be a reference to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertion of executive privilege in keeping documents from Congress.";

Of all the good things done and changed today, however, this one impressed me most and gave me the most hope:

---"'A lobbyist who joins the Obama administration...is forbidden from working on issues they previously were involved with,' he said. Any person who leaves the administration will be barred from lobbying the government for two years. Government hiring, he said, will henceforth be based on qualifications, competence and experience, 'not political connections.'";

(Link to complete articles here--and they're good:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090122/pl_bloomberg/aysq9ot7ervu_1;
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2042189320090122?pageNumber=1)

It truly is a new day.

A great, new day.



_____________________________
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

It was just reported that the now former Vice President Dick "The Dick" Cheney was welcomed back to Wyoming with a standing ovation.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

and Rush Limbaugh?

He's concerned that our new President's rules for honesty and openness in government is just a ruse, created so we can go after George Bush.

Hmmm.

Not a bad idea.

It WAS our government, wasn't it, Rush?