(8 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This is a Live Blog and will be updated as the news is available. You can follow the latest reports from AL Jazeera English and Al-Masry Al-Youm: English Edition

The Guardian has a link to Twitter from their reporters in Egypt that refreshes automatically every minute.

Al Jazeera has a Live Blog for Feb 6

As you can see we now have the live feed from Al Jazeera English.

It has been reported in all the news media, President Barack Obama is supporting Vice President Omar Suleiman, the man that helped plan and oversee the CIA/US rendition/torture program in Egypt, to lead the transition government after Mubarak steps down. This should be not only unacceptable for the Egyptian people but for Americans, as well. As Jane Mayer points out in her article in the New Yorker, “since 1993 Suleiman has headed the feared Egyptian general intelligence service. In that capacity, he was the C.I.A.’s point man in Egypt for renditions, the covert program in which the C.I.A. snatched terror suspects from around the world and returned them to Egypt and elsewhere for interrogation, often under brutal circumstances.” That Suleiman has said he would not be a candidate in September is not an valid excuse for letting this man anywhere near a transitional government. As a former CIA officer, Michael Scheuer, who helped set up the practice of rendition, said, assurances that were made by Suleiman on behalf of the Egyptian government that they would not torture, “weren’t worth a bucket of warm spit.” Yet, Obama is willing to trust this criminal.

Mubarak continues to dig in and the US keeps sending confusing messages on their stand. While trying to walk a fine line of encouraging Mubarak to leave, what is being heard by many is that are still willing to support him remaining in office. The US foreign policy has been without a clear direction in this region for two years and this crisis makes it clear it still is confused.

Some of the opposition groups, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, have met with Vice President Suleiman but important faces were not invited. It was an obvious move by the Mubarak regime to divide the anti-government groups. Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, who was the most glaring omission, spoke out today on Meet the Press, slamming the process:

The Nobel Peace laureate said weekend talks with Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman were managed by the same people who had ruled the country for 30 years and lack credibility. He said the negotiations were not a step toward the change protesters have demanded in 12 days of demonstrations calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

“The process is opaque. Nobody knows who is talking to whom at this stage,” ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Some concessions did come out of the meeting. It was agreed that the government would release “political”, there would be no further interference with the press, cell phone service and the internet. Banks and schools are slowly re-opening. The protesters will, however, continue until Mubarak leaves office. Many have said that it is not necessary he leave the country, as ElBaradei has said, he is an Egyptian and deserves to live in Egypt.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 328 days remaining until the end of the year (329 in leap years).

On this day in 1952, Elizabeth II becomes the first Queen regnant of the United Kingdom and several other realms since Queen Victoria, upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born 21 April 1926) is the Queen regnant of 16 independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as Head of the Commonwealth, she is the figurehead of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations and, as the British monarch, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Elizabeth was educated privately at home. Her father, George VI, became King-Emperor of the British Empire in 1936. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war and Indian independence George VI’s title of Emperor of India was abandoned, and the evolution of the Empire into the Commonwealth accelerated. In 1947, Elizabeth made the first of many tours around the Commonwealth, and married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

In 1949, George VI became the first Head of the Commonwealth, a symbol of the free association of the independent countries comprising the Commonwealth of Nations. On his death in 1952, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth, and constitutional monarch of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation in 1953 was the first to be televised. During her reign, which at 58 years is one of the longest for a British monarch, she became queen of 25 other countries within the Commonwealth as they gained independence. Between 1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics.

In 1992, which Elizabeth termed her annus horribilis (“horrible year”), two of her sons separated from their wives, her daughter divorced, and a severe fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle. Revelations on the state of her eldest son Charles’s marriage continued, and he divorced in 1996. The following year, her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. The media criticised the royal family for remaining in seclusion in the days before Diana’s funeral, but Elizabeth’s personal popularity rebounded once she had appeared in public and has since remained high. Her Silver and Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002 respectively, and planning for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 is underway.

 1649 – The claimant King Charles II of England and Scotland is declared King of Great Britain, by the Parliament of Scotland. This move was not followed by the Parliament of England nor the Parliament of Ireland.

1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland becomes King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1806 – Battle of San Domingo British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.

1815 – New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter to John Stevens.

1817 – The Argentinian San Martin crosses the Andes with an army in order to liberate Chile from Spanish rule.

1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.

1820 – The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society started a settlement in present-day Liberia.

1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.

1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

1862 – American Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant gives the Union its first victory of the war, by capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the Battle of Fort Henry.

1899 – Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.

1900 – The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands’ Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

1933 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices, goes into effect.

1934 – Far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.

1942 – World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Thailand.

1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.

1952 – Elizabeth II becomes the first Queen regnant of the United Kingdom and several other realms since Queen Victoria, upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a treehouse at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players are killed in the Munich air disaster.

1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.

1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor’easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of 4″ an hour.

1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron is appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed.

1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.

1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

2000 – Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Amand

         o Dorothea of Caesarea

         o Paul Miki

         o Titus

         o Vedastus

         o February 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (United Nations)

   * Ronald Reagan Day (California)

   * Sami National Day (Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden)

   * Waitangi Day, celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840.

(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

And what a week it was.  Your bloguero finds himself hiding out in Columbia County,

New York, southeast of Albany and abutting the Massachusetts border, an area deep  in winter, full of snow,  crusted of with heavy ice,  and very cold.  In two words: hard winter.

While some blogs can tell you what’s coming in the future, an attribute your bloguero  admires, The Dream Antilles can’t.  Why not?  Because in a phrase: this blog doesn’t  know what’s coming up.  Your bloguero doesn’t know what, if anything, will write itself into pixels this week.  This is just one of the blog’s many delightful but sometimes vexing idiosyncrasies, like having the comment instructions be en Espanol.   And having the videos be too narrow.   Like having many dead links in the blog list.  Like, because of the bloguero’s obvious laziness, not giving you the links to stories in this posting: you just go to The Dream Antilles and scroll down to what you’re looking for.  It is not a long way.  Like the way he refers to himself in this post in the third person, as if he were the typing Deion Sanders.

So, if you look at the past week you will find:

Bob Marley’s Birthday: He’d Be 65.  Hard to imagine, but it’s been almost thirty years since he passed on.  And he’s an icon.  So we celebrate his birthday with a video of him performing “No Woman No Cry,” one of my favorites.

Making The Independent Judiciary A Joke  complains about Clarence Thomas’s wife’s rightwing political activism as a threat to judicial independence.  Specifically, she’s selling access. The comments posted to this essay at dKos make one suspect that commenters at that blog are on the payroll of rightwing think tanks.  Prove that wrong.

Announcing An Internet Serialized Novel tells the world that our friend, the novelist Claudia Ricci, is posting a serialized version of her latest novel at Huffington Post.  This is exciting, and it might herald the return of the serialized novel to America.  

Storm Central? is an essay about what happens when bad weather detains your bloguero at home and the local NPR affiliate is on full time fund raising, which by the way persists even as you read this.  He gave, really he did, but he notices a passive aggressive tilt in the fund raising strategy.

Welcome to the Port Writers Alliance.  What a great idea.  The Dream Antilles is honored.

Enough, I Say, Enough.  Even more crummy weather increases your bloguero’s cabin fever and grouchiness.  And why on earth not?  You have to be here to understand it.

Haiku For Imbolc.  Imbolc is the cross-quarter day, February 1, half way between the start of Winter and the first day of Spring.  So we’re half the way there, but it’s still a long slog to the first snow white.

Four Haiku For Egypt.  Fed up with all of the  analysis and blibber blabber, your bloguero cuts to the chase: poetry in support of democracy and the protestors in Egypt.

This essay about what is on The Dream Antilles is a weekly Sunday morning very early digest for the Writers Port Alliance.  See you next week, if the creek don’t rise.  

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with Christiane Amanpour: Live from Egypt, Ms Amanpour’s guest will be the US Ambassador Sameh Shoukry to Egypt. She will host special round table discussing with journalists covering the demonstrations including veteran Egyptian journalists Lamia Radi and Nadia abou el-Magd, BBC’s John Simpson, Tony Shadid of the New York Times, and ABC’s David Muir.

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:Mr. Schieffer’s guests will include Martin Indyk, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, Thomas Pickering, Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Israel and Jordan, and Dr. Abderrahim Foukara, Al Jazeera, Washington and New York Bureau Chief

The Chris Matthews Show: This week’s panel is Bob Woodward, The Washington Post Associate Editor, Katty Kay, BBC Washington  Correspondent, Joe Klein, TIME Columnist, and Anne Kornblut, The Washington Post, White House Correspondent.

The question are: Did the U.S. Miss Signs That Egypt Could Become a Hostile Islamic State?

Donald Rumsfeld’s Rewrite of the Iraq war

Fear the Muslims! Rummie would look good in orange.

Meet the Press with David Gregory:MTP is live from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library marking the 100th anniversary of President Reagan’s birth. Mr. Gregory’s has interviews Mohamed ElBaradei and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The round table will be former Secretary of State and Reagan White House Chief of Staff, James Baker; former Reagan speechwriter, Peggy Noonan; former Speaker of the California State Assembly and Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown; and W.H. Correspondent for NBC News during the Reagan administration, Andrea Mitchell.

Rah, rah, St. Ronnie who laid the foundation for the economic decline of the middle class.

State of the Union with Candy Crowley: As the second week of protests comes to an end, we’ll discuss America’s standing in the Middle East and what’s next for Egypt and the region with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright — exclusive, live and in-studio.

Then, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Edward S. Walker, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte join us again to assess the ever-changing implications for the U.S.

Plus, live reports from CNN’s team of reporters on the ground.

And, we sat down with the co-chair of the White House Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Alan Simpson. The former senator from Wyoming outlined the commission’s plan for tackling the ever-growing national debt.

War criminals and “let ’em eat cake” misogynist

Fareed Zakaris: GPS: The latest on the turmoil in Egypt with live reports from our correspondents around the country and the region.

Egyptian opposition figure Mohammed ElBaradei speaks with Fareed on situation in Egypt and what might come next. Will Mubarak leave before September? Will ElBaradei run in the upcoming elections? Stay tuned to GPS to find out.

And, Fareed’s interview with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Will his austerity measures save England? Will Britain bail out its neighbors? And who will foot the bill for the royal wedding?

Jane White: Reagan’s True Legacy: Terminating the American Dream

As Ronald Reagan supporters celebrate his 100th birthday on Feb. 6, it’s astounding how not only the right wing has inflated and distorted his legacy, but most of the so-called liberal media as well.

The inconvenient truth about how Reagan won his first term had nothing to do with his superior game plan but the fact that you had to be crazy to re-elect Jimmy Carter. Carter’s reaction to the repressive Iranian regime that took Americans hostage for 444 days was simultaneously wimpy and self-righteous, implying that our gas-guzzling greed had led to the crisis along with finger-wagging us to turn down our thermostats and drive smaller cars.

On the other hand, while Reagan intolerance for repression apparently scared Iran’s leadership enough to release the hostages shortly after he was elected, his subsequent deregulatory legacy has left our country in economic ruin.

Richard Blumenthal: GOP Dials Back the Clock on Progress for Women

As families across Connecticut struggle to find work and make ends meet, it is both disappointing and alarming to see some lawmakers returning to the culture wars of the past and trying to restrict access to health care for women across this country.

The bills introduced by Representatives Mike Pence and Christopher Smith take an unprecedented step of blocking women’s access to the reproductive health care they need and have a right to — and I will strongly oppose them. These bills seek to overturn years of long-standing legal doctrine and, even worse, they endanger the health of women in this country by attempting to end insurance coverage — including private coverage — for all abortions. We cannot allow women’s health to be jeopardized by limiting the options that they and their doctors have when it comes to their reproductive health care.

Dana Milbank: A real dead-ender

Don Rumsfeld is a dead-ender.

Not in the meaning of the phrase as we understood it in 2003, back when he prematurely described the Iraqi insurgents as mere “pockets of dead-enders.”

No, Rumsfeld is a dead-ender under the revised definition, provided by the former defense secretary in his score-settling memoir. In this telling, being a dead-ender means you are tough and formidable.

Bob Herbert: Bewitched by the Numbers

The data zealots have utterly discombobulated themselves.

They were expecting something on the order of 150,000 new jobs to have been created in January. That would have been a lousy number, but they were fully prepared to spin it as being pretty good. They thought the official jobless rate might hop up a tick to 9.5 percent.

Instead, the economy created just 36,000 jobs in January, an absolutely dreadful number. But the unemployment rate fell like a stone from 9.4 percent to 9.0 percent.

The crunchers stared at the numbers in disbelief. They moved them this way and that. No matter how they arranged them, they made no sense. Nothing even close to enough jobs were being created to bring the unemployment rate down, but for two successive months it had dropped sharply. (It dived from 9.8 percent to 9.4 in December.)

David Sirota: With Democracy or Against It — There’s No In Between

In America, politicians are rarely compelled to turn rhetoric into action. Presidents make public commitments to support legislation while quietly instructing their congressional allies to kill the corresponding bills. Congresspeople then campaign on policy proposals only to make sure their respective presidents veto the initiatives.

We all know this game – we know its rigged rules ensure plausible deniability and prevent follow through. But as the Mideast showed this week, just because those are our rules doesn’t mean everyone plays by them.

Johann Hari:We All Helped Suppress the Egyptians. So How Do We Change?

The old slogan from the 1960s has come true: the revolution has been televised. The world is watching the Bastille fall on 24/7 rolling news. An elderly thug is trying to buy and beat and tear-gas himself enough time to smuggle his family’s estimated $25bn in loot out of the country, and to install a successor friendly to his interests. The Egyptian people – half of whom live on less than $2 a day – seem determined to prevent the pillage and not to wait until September to drive out a dictator dripping in blood and bad hair dye.

The great Czech dissident Vaclav Havel outlined the “as if” principle. He said people trapped under a dictatorship need to act “as if they are free”. They need to act as if the dictator has no power over them. The Egyptians are trying – and however many of them Mubarak murders on his way out the door, the direction in which fear flows has been successfully reversed. The tyrant has become terrified of “his” people.

There’s The Door Don’t Let Hit You On The Way Out  

Protesters in Tahrir Square are right to be sceptical despite the apparent shake-up in Egypt’s ruling party

Robert Fisk: Mubarak is going. He is on the cusp of final departure

The old man is going. The resignation last night of the leadership of the ruling Egyptian National Democratic Party – including Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal – will not appease those who want to claw the President down. But they will get their blood. The whole vast edifice of power which the NDP represented in Egypt is now a mere shell, a propaganda poster with nothing behind it.

The sight of Mubarak’s delusory new Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq telling Egyptians yesterday that things were “returning to normal” was enough to prove to the protesters in Tahrir Square – 12 days into their mass demand for the exile of the man who has ruled the country for 30 years – that the regime was made of cardboard.

Archer Daniels Midland The GM Food Gods Needs More Money

UK to back imports of animal feed with traces of GM crops in move to benefit US exporters

GM crops to be allowed into Britain under controversial EU plans

Genetically modified crops will be allowed to enter the UK food chain without the need for regulatory clearance for the first time under controversial plans expected to be approved this week.

The Observer understands that the UK intends to back EU plans permitting the importing of animal feed containing traces of unauthorised GM crops in a move that has alarmed environmental groups.

Importing animal feed containing GM feed must at present be authorised by European regulators.

When Religion Usurps The Legal System

Banned, but village religious courts still cost lives

CHAMTA, Bangladesh: It was a trip outside to use the bathroom that led to a 14-year-old girl being whipped to death in this tiny village about 60 kilometres south of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

Hena Akhter had walked just a few metres from her bedroom when she was met by her cousin and neighbour, Mahbub, who gagged her with a cloth before beating her.

The assault left her on the brink of consciousness, unable to walk or talk. But instead of punishing Hena’s attacker, elders called a shalish – a village meeting – where she was accused of having an illicit relationship with a married man.

When Idiots Wont Leave  



Sanctions bite in Côte d’Ivoire

Banks and businesses are closed, petrol threatens to run dry and pay cheques are not arriving as the outside world tries to oust Gbagbo in favour of his rival Alassane Ouattara, deemed to have won November elections.

The situation threatens unrest which may or may not bring a backlash against Gbagbo, who continues to hold the reins of power in Abidjan while Ouattara, whose support base is mainly in the north, remains holed up in a seafront hotel under UN protection.

The Decider Is Afraid And Staying Home  

 

Bush trip to Switzerland axed over torture protest fears  

The United Israel Appeal scrapped a plan to showcase President George W. Bush at a Feb. 12 gala in Geneva amid reports that human rights groups were poised to protest and file a torture complaint.

The charity, also known as Keren Hayesod, notified the former president on Friday morning “that the event has been called off,” a Bush spokesman, David Sherzer, said Saturday.

“We regret that the speech has been canceled,” Sherzer said. “President Bush was looking forward to speaking about freedom and offering reflections from his time in office.”

What Happens When Hate Is Fomenting By The Media  



Trial of immigration activist accused in killings spotlights tense climate along border

After Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was killed on his land last year by a man police believe was an illegal immigrant, television networks and more than 300 newspapers wrote about his death as an example of the dangers on the border.

Two months after Krentz was killed, 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul, were shot to death in their home, 150 miles from Krentz’s ranch. Their attackers were allegedly affiliated with an militia group opposed to illegal immigration that was conducting raids to steal money.

Regular Features-

• Late Night Karaoke by mishima
  

• Muse in the Morning by Robyn
• Six In The Morning by mishima

Featured Essays for February 5, 2011-

• ‘Advanced’ Civilization: The Long Party is Over by Edger
• How’s that austerity thing working out for you? Part 3 by ek hornbeck
• The Eighth Wonder of the World by Edger
• I Want You – Open Thread by Edger
• All Politics Are Local by Michael Gass
• Who we are…by the numbers by Robyn
• 5,000,000 Disappeared Workers, and 20,000,000 Missing Jobs by Jacob Freeze

DocuDharma

Not so many premiers.  Shrek 3 for you Mike Myers fans.

You have some dangerous machinery for sale here; I think you’re beggin’ for trouble on this one.

• ABC Family– Toy Story, Toy Story 2
• AMC– Open Range x 2
• Animal Planet– Pit Boss (premier)
• Bravo– House marathon
• Disney– The Suite Life on Deck x 2 (all 3 parts of Twister)
• E!– William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
• ESPN– College Hoopies, Kentucky @ Florida
• ESPN2– College Hoopies, Loyola Marymount @ St. Mary’s; High School Hoopies, Bishop Gorman (Nev.) v. Long Beach Poly (Calif.)
• Food– Challenge (premier)
• FX– The Incredible Hulk
• History– Top Shot marathon
• Lifetime– Amber’s Story, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story
• Nick– Victorious, Big Time Rush, True Jackson, VP (premiers)
• Oxygen– Glee marathon
• Sci Fi– The Cursed, Husk x 2
• TBS– Mama Mia, The Bucket List
• Turner Classic– Stand and Deliver, Ghandi
• TNT– The Dark Knight x 2
• Toon– Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions, God, the Devil and Bob
• USA– NCIS marathon
• Vs.– Bullriding

Most of this stuff is old crap my dad left behind.

Doc! You have a table over there with a sign that says- “Laser Death Ray Bargain Bin!”

Later-

Oh, it must be dreamy to have a costumed nemesis. Chasing you… wringing his gloved hands in concern of your every move.

You’re kidding, right?

It just seems so romantic.

• ABC Family– The Flintstones
• FX– Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Oxygen– Josie and the Pussycats
• Sci Fi– Hallowed Ground
• TBS– The Holiday
• Turner Classic– Ali
• TNT– Fallen
• USA– The Pacifier
• Vs.– D-League Hoopies, 66ers at Legends

SNL– Dana Carvey and Linkin Park.

Boondocks– The Return of the King.  The Venture Brothers– Tag Sale, You’re IT!.

Sweetie, isn’t that the guy from Depeche Mode?

Oh, no way! Where? Holy crap, he’s with a girl?

Oh yeah, that guy is totally straight. I saw a whole thing about him on the VH-1.

But he’s the guy from Depeche Mode! It’s impossible.

Straight.

Come on! He’s in Depeche Mode!

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Crossposted at Daily Kos and Docudharma

PLEASE READ THIS

There are another dozen or so editorial cartoons in the comments section of this diary that I posted over at Daily Kos.  Take a look at them.  Thanks.

:: ::

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::

:: ::

INTRODUCTION

:: ::

The Ideals vs Interests Gap

In the best of times, the conduct of American foreign policy is a delicate (some would say cynical) dance in which the United States has to tread carefully between protecting its own national interest and promoting it long-cherished values of freedom and democracy.

Foreign policy is also an ever-changing puzzle of shifting alliances and interests.  However, it matters greatly in how any administration responds to international crises for it ultimately reflects upon the people of this country.  As I wrote many years ago in this diary

Foreign policy is the collective face a nation puts forth for the rest of the world to accept or reject; admire or detest; cooperate with or defy; and emulate or ignore.

The objective of foreign policy goals is not just to advance our “vital national interests” but also to project our values of fairness, cooperation, and morality for mutual benefit. Consistent with traditions established by both Democratic and Republican Administrations since World War II, an important and essential component has been the pursuit of these goals with the help of our traditional allies.    

And yet, during the Bush Years, American foreign policy has been the face of a dominant bully hellbent on intimidating other countries to get in line and support our perverted agendas, with little or no success.  In other words, our foreign policy face has been that of The Ugly American.

In light of recent events in the Middle East, it is fair to say that not many people would have predicted what has dramatically unfolded in Tunisia and Egypt over the past few weeks.  By and large, most editorial cartoonists perceive this as a failure of American intelligence and are urging the Obama Administration to stay on the right side of history and lend its vigorous support to people long suppressed under authoritarian rule.

In his classic poem ‘To a Louse,’ Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote this

And would some Power the small gift give us

To see ourselves as others see us!

It would from many a blunder free us,

And foolish notion:

What airs in dress and gait would leave us,

And even devotion!

This idea of “seeing ourselves as others see us” is one I often heard during my stay in England at one of my grad schools.  Given their vast imperial role in centuries past, the Britishers I encountered often talked about this concept.  It simply means that it is useful to see ourselves through the eyes of others for it might disabuse us of many of our pretensions.  In that vein, I have included a number of editorial cartoons from foreign countries (including ones from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon) which look at events in the Middle East and American foreign policy through their eyes.

:: ::

In the past few days, Daryl Cagle of Cagle Cartoons has posted a number of cartoons done by editorial cartoonists from the Middle East  

Sherif Arafa, Alittihad (Egypt), Buy this cartoon

:: ::

Cartooning the Egyptian Protests

As Egyptians continue to protest and call for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, the government has responded by cracking down on the media and shutting down the nation’s internet.

This crackdown hasn’t stopped Sherif Arafa, the cartoonist for the state-run Alittihad newspaper in Egypt, from filing new cartoons about the demonstrations.  On a normal day Sherif struggles to voice his criticism without triggering the censors in a country where free speech is too often trampled upon.

Working for a government-run newspaper, Sherif is not allowed to draw about specific politicians, such as President Mubarak, or criticize religion.  As a way around that, he created a character called “The Responsible” so he could say what he wanted.

Here are more of his most recent cartoons about the protests in Egypt that threaten to topple the Mubarak Regime

Sherif Arafa, Alittihad (Egypt), Buy these cartoons

Click here to see larger cartoon images

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Omar Abdallat, Addustour (Jordan), Buy this cartoon

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Jordanian Cartoonist on Egyptian Protests

I just received a bunch of cartoons about the continuing unrest in Egypt by Omar Abdallat, the cartoonist for the Addustour newspaper in Jordan.  Much like fellow Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj,  Omar’s cartoons are bold and powerful, and the imagery is both simple and direct.

Jordan is experiencing protests as well, as demonstrators rally against food prices and poor living conditions.  King Abdullah has already responded by replacing his prime minister, so as we watch the protests in Egypt and Tunisia grow, we should ask ourselves if Jordan is next?

Omar Abdallat, Addustour (Jordan), Buy these cartoons

Click here to see larger cartoon images

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Emad Hajjaj, Alghad (Jordan), Buy this cartoon

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As the Egyptian protests continue to grow, cartoonists from all over the world are weighing in on this immensely important story.  Here are some terrific cartoons about the protests taking place in Egypt by Emad Hajjaj, a Jordanian cartoonist that draws for the Alghad newspaper

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Emad Hajjaj, Alghad (Jordan), Buy this cartoon

Emad Hajjaj, Alghad (Jordan), Buy these cartoons

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Finally, one of you anonymously sent me a link to these set of cartoons about turmoil in the Middle East.  

Whosoever you are, thanks for familiarizing me with this cartoonist.  They were published in Jadaliyya by Khalil Bendib.  An Algerian-French cartoonist who also spent a few years living in Morocco, he now lives in Berkeley, California.  He’s worked for Gannett Newspapers and also co-hosts a weekly one-hour radio program called Voices of the Middle East and North Africa on Pacifica Radio station KPFA (94.1 FM), in Berkeley.  

Khalil Bendib, Jadaliyya

Click this link to view larger images of Bendib’s cartoons

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2. Hosni Mubarak’s Choices: Can He Survive Until September 2011?

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Rogers encourages President Obama to get tougher with Hosni Mubarak

Mubarak is clinging to the old ways.  Many of the young people in Egypt have grown up with so much hardship and he is the only leader they have ever known.  He needs to step down.  Our system in this country isn’t perfect but at least one person or party doesn’t stay in power too long.  If they did there would be revolution here too.  Obama needs to get a backbone and tell him to get lost.

End Time by Nick Anderson, Comics.com, see reader comments in the Houston Chronicle

Mubarak Out by Paul Zanetti (Australia), Buy this cartoon

Fares Garabet (Syria), Buy this cartoon

Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly, Buy this cartoon

Drew Sheneman, Comics.com (Newark Star-Ledger)

Stavro, Al Balad (Beirut, Lebanon), Buy this cartoon

Steve Benson, Comics.com (Arizona Republic)

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3. The Obama Administration’s Position: Does it Have Any Good Options?

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How much can the United States influence the outcome in Egypt, Stein asks?

The Obama administration has been racing to catch up with events in Egypt for more that a week now.  Cautiously non-committal at first, we then timidly asked Mubarak not to run again, and when that ploy didn’t work, we asking for a peaceful transition as soon as possible.  That request  was ignored today with the violent crackdown by Mubarak supporters.

In other words, we’ve done it to ourselves again, supporting an increasingly dictatorial autocrat for thirty years, preferring a predictable despot to the messiness of democratic reform.  Mubarak kept the Islamists at bay and maintained the treaty with israel, and that was more than enough to garner our enduring friendship.  Given the alternatives in the region, this seemed like a reasonable bargain.  What we didn’t do was challenge Mubarak to support democratic values as he drifted toward more and more oppressive rule.  If this sounds depressingly familiar, it’s the same pattern we followed in the Americas, when any two-bit dictator could gain our support and our dollars simply by opposing Communism.

It’s no wonder that the people on the street have no love for us despite the billions we’ve poured into Egypt over the decades, and that our influence and our options are now painfully limited.

Egypt by David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Star, Buy this cartoon

The Egypt Bandwagon by John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Mubarak Steps Down by Patrick Corrigan, Toronto Star, Buy this cartoon

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4. Will Turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt Affect the Greater Middle East?

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Can the turmoil in Egypt spread to other countries in the region?  Crowe is aware of the difficult choices confronting the Obama Administration

It’s a powerful thing when a country’s people take to the streets to scream in one voice. Egypt has been simmering for decades.  Unemployment, hopelessness, corruption, government oppression, abusive security forces has taken its toll.  This past week, the lid came off.

Wikileaks cables show the Obama administration has been actively trying to persuade President Mubarak to lighten up, release dissidents and pursue reforms.

Publicly, the U.S. will be wary of taking sides, but will attempt to work with both the protesters and the government to diffuse the violence in the streets.  Words and drawings aren’t enough to capture the complex intensity playing out in Egypt, which is changing with every moment.

Robert Ariail, Comics.com (formerly of The State, SC)

Nervous by Joep Bertrams (The Netherlands), Buy this cartoon

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Joel Pett, McLatchy Cartoons/Lexington Herald-Leader

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Steve Breen, Comics.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)

David Cohen, Asheville Citizen-Times

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

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5. The Impact of Social Media

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Can any government effectively censor information and prevent its people from speaking out?  Given rapid advances in new technologies, it’s becoming more and more difficult to do so, according to Lowe

What’s going on in Egypt could never have happened ten years ago, or even five. Suddenly, with worldwide access to the Internet, people have a tool at their disposal that is so unlike any we have ever known, so “game-changing,” to use a tired but apt cliché, that the political history of mankind from now on now may well be upended…

Now, the masses can organize with an efficiency no one ever envisioned.  Even without established leaders, the downtrodden and disaffected of Egypt were able, through “people power,” to forge themselves into a tsunami that has appeared, so far, to seriously threaten (if not topple) the entrenched forces of repression.

Westerners used to think of the Arab world as forever cursed to live under the yoke of despots.  Without a history of enlightened democracy in their culture, its people had no models to follow, and lay open to victimization.

Thanks to the developments of the last week in Egypt and Tunisia, we have found that human beings don’t need models to change their condition.  All they need, in addition to their anger and frustration, are hope and desire.  Social media have given them the means.

Their rulers know it, too, and there are a lot of sleepless nights right now in Middle Eastern palaces of power.

The Ancient Desire for Freedom by Chris Britt, Comics.com, see reader comments in the State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)

Arab Despots Worry by Patrick Chappatte, Le Temps (Switzerland), Buy this cartoon

Attack by Joep Bertrams (The Netherlands), Buy this cartoon

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

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6. Is Authoritarianism Passe and On its Way Out?

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Englehart has some advice for Mubarak

I don’t do many cartoons on foreign affairs.  I mean, really, Hosni Mubarak is not going to look at this cartoon and be offended though it would be cool if he did.  That would be my fondest wish, that Mubarak would look at this cartoon and say, “OK, that’s it.  I’ve had enough.  I’m fleeing to London with the rest of my family.”

Mideast Hotfoot by John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune, Buy this cartoon

Damien Glez, Journal du Jeudi (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), Buy this cartoon

The Statue by Olle Johansson (Sweden), Buy this cartoon

Paul Szep, Comics.com

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7. Should One Fear the Emergence of Religious Extremism?

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Thompson would like the President to take a firm stand and side with the protesters in Egypt

For a man who’s earned a reputation as a pretty good speechmaker, President Barack Obama’s been awfully tongue tied when it comes to sticking up for democratic principles in Egypt.  To quote a CNN story, “Obama pledged continuing U.S. support for both a longtime ally and the aspirations of protesting Egyptians…”

Huh?

That’s like pledging continuing support for both the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.  Only one team is going to come out on top in Sunday’s big game and only one side is going to prevail in Egypt.

Obama needs to quit straddling the fence and start backing the movement to oust Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian Revolution by Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons, Buy this cartoon

Egypt’s Future by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, Buy this cartoon

Jim Morin, McLatchy Cartoons/Miami Herald

(click link to enlarge cartoon)

Sudan at Crossroads by Paresh Nath, Khaleej Times (UAE), Buy this cartoon

Jasmine Revolution by Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Buy this cartoon

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8. How Should America Project its Values?

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Bors is unhappy with our government’s response to this crisis

Our government’s response to the uprising in Egypt is shameful, but not surprising. Even if Obama and Clinton hadn’t come out and coldly hedged their bets against human freedom, they couldn’t have done anything to erase the years of military goodies we’ve lavished on a man who jails dissents and tortures so well we outsourced victims to him to extract confessions. (In fact, his newly appointed VP was in charge of the bloodwork).

While invading two countries in the region during the last ten years, America justified all manner of bloodshed, looting, sectarian violence and mayhem as the “birth pangs” of Democracy.  “They could still be living under Saddam!” was the last cry of apologists trying to claim the moral high ground.  Then, as millions of people openly rebelled against thirty years of dictatorship, our Secretary of State seemed to suggest a few stores getting looted and a dictatorship continuing were equal concerns.

Pundits who once brushed off the complete demolition of Iraq in order to bring them regularly scheduled elections, now think the chance of radical Muslims filling the power vacuum in Egypt may not be worth letting the brown people govern themselves.

Jeff Stahler, Comics.com (Columbus Dispatch)

Tunisia Then and Now by Paresh Nath, Khaleej Times (UAE), Buy this cartoon

Bruce Beattie, Comics.com (Daytona Beach News-Journal)

Mike Luckovich, Comics.com (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Out In Front by Matt Davies, Comics.com, see reader comments in  Hearst Connecticut Media Group

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A Note About the Diary Poll

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What constitutes the “Middle East” is the basis of some debate, interpretation, and even some confusion.

Using the definition used by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, I’m interested in knowing if you’ve ever traveled to the region.  If so, how were your experiences? Would you go back?  What did you like or not like about it?  

Remember to also take the diary poll.  

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Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Protesters reject Egypt ruling party reshuffle

by Samer al-Atrush, AFP

1 hr 12 mins ago

2 Mubarak stays put on ‘departure day’

by Ali Khalil, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 7:51 pm ET

3 Mubarak meets cabinet as Egypt uprising rolls on

by Ali Khalil, AFP

Sat Feb 5, 2:42 pm ET

4 Saboteurs attack Egypt gas pipeline to Jordan

by Jailan Zayan, AFP

Sat Feb 5, 7:32 am ET

5 Defiant Mubarak stays put amid calls to quit

by Ali Khalil, AFP

Sat Feb 5, 4:50 am ET

6 British PM calls multiculturalism a failure

AFP

2 hrs 18 mins ago

So another Conservative racist.  Why am I not surprised?

7 Iraq PM pledges not to seek third term

by Sammy Ketz, AFP

2 hrs 53 mins ago

8 Rebel leader vows year of ‘blood and tears’ in Russia

by Anna Smolchenko, AFP

Sat Feb 5, 2:08 pm ET

9 French redeemed with Six Nations win over Scots

by Pirate Irwin, AFP

Sat Feb 5, 2:11 pm ET

10 Ireland shatters Italy’s Six Nations hopes

by Barnaby Chesterman, AFP

Sat Feb 5, 12:51 pm ET

11 Pakistan trio handed lengthy corruption bans

AFP

Sat Feb 5, 12:09 pm ET

12 Hackers breach Nasdaq’s computers

By Jonathan Spicer, Reuters

2 hrs 2 mins ago

13 Quartet urges Israel, Arabs to heed Egypt risk

By David Brunnstrom and Stephen Brown, Reuters

Sat Feb 5, 3:16 pm ET

14 U.S. and Russia cap "reset" in ties with START treaty

By Andrew Quinn, Reuters

Sat Feb 5, 9:08 am ET

15 SEC warns budget threats give swindlers upper hand

By Sarah N. Lynch and Dave Clarke, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 6:01 pm ET

16 Palin says Obama’s policies have U.S. on road to ruin

By John Whitesides, Reuters

Sat Feb 5, 1:46 am ET

17 "Flash crash" panel mulls big market changes

By Jonathan Spicer, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 3:45 pm ET

18 SEC eyes flash crash reforms

By Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 11:25 am ET