Clean Slate

Notes 47

Channel surfing from security of our home surreal. Our ally exposed for what he has been for the past 30 years, a ruthless, repressive dictator and our friend. Makes Bull Connor look like a pussycat while demonstrators continue the tactics that brought down British Empire in India

Egypt protesters throng square after violence

By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press –
CAIRO –
Thousands including families with children flowed over bridges across the Nile into Tahrir Square, a sign that they were not intimidated after the protesters fended off everything thrown at them by pro-Mubarak attackers — storms of hurled concrete, metal rebar and firebombs, fighters on horses and camels and automatic gunfire barrages. The protesters passed through a series of beefed-up checkpoints by the military and the protesters themselves guarding the square.

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THIS is TRANSFORMATION. A new world at hand

Noam Chomsky | "The Arab World Is on Fire"
Noam Chomsky: "'The Arab world is on fire,' al-Jazeera reported on Jan. 27, while throughout the region, Western allies 'are quickly losing their influence.' The shock wave was set in motion by the dramatic uprising in Tunisia that drove out a Western-backed dictator, with reverberations especially in Egypt, where demonstrators overwhelmed a dictator's brutal police. Observers compared the events to the toppling of Russian domains in 1989, but there are important differences."

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Maybe there are some Christ values acquired along the way. The deaths mount. Like U.S losses in Afghanistan since the start of the war ten years ago

US Officials: US-Egypt discuss Mubarak quitting
By MATTHEW LEE and BEN FELLER, Associated Press Matthew Lee And Ben Feller, Associated Press – 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is in talks with top Egyptian officials about the possible immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak and the formation of an interim government that could prepare the country for free and fair elections later this year, U.S. officials said late Thursday.
Creation of a military-backed caretaker government in Egypt is one of several ideas being discussed as anti-Mubarak protests escalate in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, the officials said. Those protests are expected to grow in size and intensity on Friday and the administration fears they may erupt into more widespread violence unless the government takes tangible steps to address the protesters' main demand that Mubarak leave office.

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Modern Christian orthodoxy in America at odds with Christ of the Via Dolorosa, hung on the cross on Golgotha, turning his cheek, forgiving his tormentors, and abjuring wealth. No warrior He.

Presidency has 'deepened my faith,' Obama says
– Thu Feb 3, 11:31 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's two years in the White House have deepened his Christian faith, he said Thursday as he brushed aside lingering doubts by some Americans who still believe he is Muslim.
During his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama was put in the extraordinary position of having to reassure American voters that he is a Christian

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There is nothing as terrible as killing another human being. And there is nothing like the scenes playing before us this past week to show its brutality. But if you want to see it up close and grasp its pain and its complexity and the oppression that leads people to rebel whether they are Irish or Egyptian, see this movie

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Ireland, 1920. Damien and Teddy are brothers. But while the latter is already the leader of a guerrilla squad fighting for the independence of his motherland, Damien, a medical graduate of University College, would rather further his training at the London hospital where he has found a place. However, shortly before his departure, he happens to witness atrocities committed by the ferocious Black and Tans and finally decides to join the resistance group led by Teddy. The two brothers fight side by side until a truce is signed. But peace is short-lived and when one faction of the freedom-fighters accepts a treaty with the British that is regarded as unfair by the other faction, a civil war ensues, pitting Irishmen against Irishmen, brothers against brothers, Teddy against Damien....

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They made me do it. That’s the reason AT&T was eavesdropping against the law. It’s always the reason when we won’t oppose what is wrong

Vodafone: Egypt forced us to send text messages
Vodafone says Egyptian authorities forced it to broadcast pro-government text messages
Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press, On Thursday February 3, 2011
LONDON (AP) -- Egyptian authorities forced Vodafone to broadcast pro-government text messages during the protests that have rocked the country, the U.K.-based mobile company said Thursday.

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Why we’re in trouble as a nation? Money is the bottom line driving every decision.
Maybe Alaskans could just pay taxes instead of living off the oil dole and the disproportionate return they get from the Feds for what they pay in.

Shell: No Beaufort Sea drilling in Arctic for 2011
Dan Joling, Associated Press, On Thursday February 3, 2011
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) --

Alaska receives upward of 90 percent of its general fund revenue from the petroleum industry, and top state officials reacted strongly to the decision. U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, blamed the Obama administration and the EPA.
"Their foot dragging means the loss of another exploration season in Alaska, the loss of nearly 800 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs," Begich said. "That doesn't count the millions of dollars in contracting that won't happen either at a time when our economy needs the investment."