This is More of a Revolution Than You Might Think

I have a new column up at al-Masri al-Youm, reflecting on the State Security raids, which made me think that Egypt needs some sort of reconciliation process to deal with the magnitude of what is being discovered and chart a way forward. Every day, more evidence of corruption, torture and abuse is being uncovered. The Egyptian judicial system will take decades to deal with it. While it needs to play a role, there also needs to be something akin to a truth commission to hear people's testimony — both victims and abusers — and then move on to building a better Egypt.

While ministries shuffled paper and red tape, state security kept tabs on people. This goes beyond the issue of torture, which it certainly practiced abundantly, or the racketeering, blackmailing and other schemes its officers carried out with impunity. What those who gained access to its offices discovered is that, much like the Ministry of Transport might keep an inventory of its buses and trains, State Security maintained an elaborate database on citizens, the threats they represented, their weaknesses, relationships and other every little detail of their lives.
The Arabist

Gaddafi Demands Billions to Halt Immigration to Europe

Muammar Gaddafi Demands Billions in Jiyza or else "Europe Will be Swamped By Muslims"

Blackmail or jizya? Same thing.

Muammar Gaddafi has demanded that the European Union give him more than £4 billion to fight illegal immigration, or else Europe will turn "black" and be swamped by Muslims. Uh, Islam is not a race, Moe Moe.

Hell of a way to talk about your own people ............ who knew Gaddafi was a racist-islamo-phobic-anti-muslim-bigot? Does CAIR know?

Gaddafi demands £4 billion from EU or Europe will turn 'black' Telegraph

Muammar Gaddafi has demanded that the European Union give him more than £4 billion to fight illegal immigration or else Europe will turn "black" and be swamped by Muslims.

During an EU-Africa summit, that ended on Tuesday in Tripoli, the Libyan leader described European's economic relationship with the African continent as a "failure".

Unless "Christian, white" countries gave him extra funding, Colonel Gaddafi predicted that Europe would be flooded with illegal immigrants leaving impoverished Africa.

"We should stop this illegal immigration. If we don't, Europe will become black, it will be overcome by people with different religions, it will change," he said.

Never Give the Rascals a Free Ride

Never Give the Rascals a Free Ride

President Bush has been a "total failure" in everything from the economy to the war to energy policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Is she surprised at this?

Until I see evidence to the contrary, my working hypothesis is the current regime has evidence of criminality against many Congressmen. Blackmail and bribery lie at the bottom of this. The FBI must have much of the information involved in this. The FBI presented Bush with 423,000 pages of evidence, which he turned over to McCain. Can we find one patriot who will publish these pages?

Any Congressman who voted for torture, preemptive war, the Military Commissions Act etc is guilty of crimes against humanity. Can we find a judicial system willing to prosecute them?

Impeachment is fine and dandy with me. Putting Rove in prison for contempt would tickle me pink. The point is to let everyone know that someday some way he will be brought to book for his crimes.

by jbpaz

Silence of the Lambs

Silence of the Lambs

If I had a daughter, I would have named her after Special Agent Clarice Starling. The star of the “Silence of the Lambs” series, she is a Protestant from West Virginia. I imagine her Presbyterian a sour personality made of the right stuff. If somebody took her virginity, he probably suffered deeply for his affront.

Clarice took seriously her FBI oath to serve and to protect. Also, putting her at odds with her spineless cohorts, she brings felons to justice. She is the ultimate Presbyter with no use for the subtle gray areas between right and wrong.

The FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover resembled her in zeal. An un-married cross dresser he amassed sexual information on three generations of the power elite. He used these files to blackmail officials to build his power base and to pursue suspected Communist dupes in America.

Since the Presidents have taken over the FBI they have used the files to foster the Presidential agenda. In effect, the administration has combined the three branches of government into one.

This explains much of the inability of the 2006 Democratic majorities to bridge the status quo. The legislators the agencies and the media have already received their marching orders for 2009.

Prosecuting Politicians

Running for political office is an expensive proposition. The candidate must ask contributors to enter a speculative enterprise with no guarantees.

With such long odds, the investors insist on a disproportionate reward. Often, this involves criminal activities. This opens the candidate to blackmail and extortion.

Success opens the new official to the suspicion of his peers. They arrange for law enforcement to examine his background fully to establish evidence to prosecute him. This forces him to comply with party orders the wishes of his faction.

They increase this hold on him with fresh bribes and a laundry list of privileges. If he indulges in aberrations frowned upon by the conventionally wise, so much the better.

Thus, with few exceptions, politicians are afraid to rock the boat. Whistle blower types rarely appear in the Congress. Even a temporary fit of good conscience or a sudden burst of public service can ruin a promising career.

The Congress is a millionaire’s club and a society of enemy combatants one step from Gitmo. By executive order the President can assemble the dossiers already compiled and send the lot of legislators to detention and torture without trial.

Death of the DC Madam

How is it that all of our institutions have failed us in the space of seven years?

Almost every person in a position of power seems to have joined the lunatic fringe. Of course, law enforcement will never reveal any details enclosed in the DC Madam's little black book. They will be too busy blackmailing the Madam's patrons.

Every whistle blower should have his material ready for worldwide distribution at a moment's notice. Why do you think Sibel Edmonds is still alive?

I'm sorry the DC Madam’s information didn't reach us and I offer my sympathy to her family and friends.

Why Are Politicians Silent While the Nation Burns?

Why are Politicians Silent While the Country Burns?

Gretchen 360, Alternet

Public officials are notably silent about torture, the theft of US nuclear secrets and corporate corruption. Eliot Spitzer was an exception a crusader against Wall Street fraud and SEC manipulations.
The Feds aren't noted for 24/7 surveillance of unusual bank account maneuvers. They can't follow every runaway dad and cheating husband.
This is the work of private detectives such as those typically hired by Wall Street crooks. They have time to stand behind the Governor while he buys three money orders. They totaled $10,000, which is the minimum transaction meriting the interest of the IRS.
Indifferent to torture etc, the public loves news of lust and perversion. Although Eliot disappointed as he was not a pedophile, they have managed to silence the Wall Street watchdog.
How many other pols have learned from this incident not to mess with Wall Street?

Losing a Preemptive War

Still in Egypt, Zeinobia laments Egypt's role (or lack of) in dealing with the crisis. She complains:
I will start with the bitter fact that the Egyptian role as leading country in the Arab world , as if Egypt does not care I found today that Saudi Arabia is calling for immediate urgent Arab summit in Cairo to discuss what is going in Gaza for Siege , the Saudi Arabia is the one that is calling for immediate summit , not Egypt , Egypt is the one that should call for this summit immediately , with my all respect to Saudi Arabia.
On Gaza, the blogger writes:
Now let's go to Gaza , one of the worst things ever in the problem is that Egypt is exporting natural gas to Israel for the cheapest price ever that created a loss to us where the people in Gaza are in terrible siegeAlready the least thing Egypt can do is to open the borders and send immediate medical aids to the Great people of Gaza who hided our soldiers and officers in 1967 ..People shame on the world and shame on us .Gaza has no light or power in the middle of terrible winter. This is a conspiracy to get rid not only from Hamas but from the people of Gaza ,these people are suffering in the worst way ever.

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/01/21/palestine-gaza-under-seige/

If Gaza is not self-sufficient, it was rather foolish of her to attack preemptively the fourth strongest military establishment in the world. When my stepson was much younger, he succeeded with a similar tactic. He spat into the family Coca Cola bottle so none of the others would drink from it. When a neighbor attacked me and ripped my shirt, I opened it more widely to benefit my case before the Police.
After Israel used Eastern European laborers to replace Arabs, a number of them wanted their old jobs back. A number of fathers lost the rights to welfare for their four wives. The Arab States provided the final setback by reducing grants-in-aid across the boards. With massive walls in place, the final Israeli step was to withdraw from the territory. Everybody in the region would have been better off if both sides had completely ignored one another.
No Israeli administration would survive another concession for a peace that will never materialize.