Now, for the grand unveiling of the diary logo courtesy of the BRILLIANCE of regular Countdown diary participant, Kevin Holsinger...I'm sure your constructive criticism will be taken in the spirit intended. :D
How 'bout that?! :D :D :D
Information about the MSNBC hostess with the mostest can be found right here; no, you won't be tested on the material. ;D
I need to go into a bit of "house keeping" before we get into the meat (or tofu for vegetarians in da' house) of the diary. Depending on how wrong local forecasters are, my corner of the world is scheduled for a big 'ol ice storm over the next 36 hours or so. If I've got power, I'll be here; if I don't have power, I won't be here. Okee - dokee?
Let's get historical with "this day in history." On Jan. 31, 1919, Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, was born. Is Senator {insert retching noise here} Rand "I Wouldn't Have Signed onto the Civil Rights Bill" Paul in mourning gear today?
On this date in 1990, McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow. Buh - bye Communism...Hello obesity & heart disease! If you haven't seen Super - Size Me, you really should!
Finally, Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, is 80 today! For the love of all that's holy, Cubs, can you please at least try to get to a World Series in his lifetime?! ;D
I'm also carrying over SPARK from the Countdown diary series because someone somewhere is always being a grade - A moran, a boil on the butt of humanity, or both. ;D This dude gets the Mr. Obvious Award for the day; this quote is just the tip of the iceberg.
"To me, pornography is even more dangerous than drugs. Just think of the school boys watching those videos," she said. "Next thing you know, they'll be imagining their female teachers naked!"
In the "desperate times call for desperate measures" category... Ya' know, though, that's gotta be way better for the environment than that salt stuff!
On with The Rachel Maddow Show!
"More Egypt Protest News" AKA "Protesters in Hahrir Square" AKA " 'March of a Million' Planned for Tomorrow" - Rachel began with a world history lesson via 1859 about transporting cargo from India to England; that got way more easy with the Suez Canal! She called what's going on in Egypt a revolution, and the Canal, for now, is still open. Yea, that'll kind of be a big pain in the arse for a whole mess of people if the Suez Canal goes belly up! All other ports are closed. Our Navy vessels get to jump the line because our country's got a whole mess of resources tied up in Egypt. Egypt's military leaders were HERE when the protests began - usually not a real noteworthy event...until the protests. We send $2 billion - with a B, boys & girls - to Egypt every year.
Our country's been propping up Mubarak; huh, our nation propping up not - so - nice people? Say it ain't so! And, how 'bout him winning all those "elections"? Has President Carter been over there to monitor elections, or would that be frowned upon since Egypt's supposed to be one of our BFFs? A new government has been sworn in; me thinks that's not going to do a whole lot of good. The police were back in the crowds today; confrontations with the Army have increased but have vowed to not use force against peaceful protestors. The intertubes all over Egypt are down; most mobile phone networks will be down soon.
"All the President's Men" - Our nation always has to find some connection in any international news story to us. The focus on social media is an example. The new VP of Egypt has vowed to talk to "opposition forces." Jane Mayer, in The New Yorker this past weekend, reminded us that the new VP of Egypt, Omar Suleiman, was the CIA's rendition dude? And, he's the new VP of Egypt?
Golly, he & DICK should have a lot in common; maybe, he can join DICK in his secret undisclosed location! The "opposition" is Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mohamed ElBaradei. Sharif Abdfel Kouddous, a producer from Democracy Now, is still in Cairo. The protests do not seem to have an "official" leader, but they are going on all over the country. The Egyptians didn't ask for a government reshuffling or a VP; they want Mr. Mubarak & all those associated with him gone yesterday. They are confident Mubarak will go or be forced to go. No opposition groups will negotiate with a Mubarak Cabinet. There hasn't been internet access in Cairo since Friday. State security forces have been beaten; they've been replaced by the military which the people don't have a problem with. The protestors are confident the Army will not fire on them. I hope they're right.
"Days of Rage" - Friday was a big day for demonstrations; tomorrow will be likewise in Cairo & Alexandria. Lots of people thought the protests would be over by now.
"Watch Like an Egyptian" - YEA! A chance for a rare light moment in the middle of all this serious news!
1 small ISP in Egypt managed to keep running in the internet outages - the one that houses the country's stock exchange. Now, that one's down, too. Journalism from Egypt has been difficult; Al - Jazeera journalists have been arrested. Abderrahim Foukara is the DC bureau chief for Al - Jazeera. Journalists have been beaten & arrested; some are hiding. But, they're still trying to do their jobs. Huh, all this censorship $hit coming from a country that's supposed to be one of our BFFs? Oh well, look what China does, and we owe them too much money to pi$$ them off.
Al - Jazeera is still largely receiving support from other news & media organizations. Huh, they're not just for OBL videos anymore?
"Frenemies" - Hey, there's Chuck Todd - goody. Robert Gibbs was having all kinds of problems not answering Chucky's question. SOS Clinton is spewing the same stuff Mr. Gibbs did. How 'bout Rachel's little interview faux paus?! HA!
Our country is all over promoting free & fair elections all over the world - unless the people elect someone we'd just as soon they NOT elect. The Obama administration is trying to be on the "right side of history," but we've been propping up the guy Egyptians are protesting. Awkward! If we openly support the protestors, the whole effort could be kiboshed as being too "Western." Martin Indyk is the Brookings Institute Foreign Policy VP; he's pretty damn familiar with that part of the world & also wants Mubarak and his cohorts to go the way of Crystal Pepsi. He thinks this administration is on the side of change. Not too many of our government officials are showing up on Arabic - language media outlets. Gee, I can't imagine why! Mr. Indyk took issue with the "propping up" language. Mubarak has continued the work accomplished by the Israel - Egypt peace deal, and he supported our country in our efforts against Iraq, so he's not a too terrible gut, according to Mr. Indyk. All the money we give Egypt is part of that original peace deal.
"At the Water's Edge" - Most Dems & GOBPers are actually playing nice with this Egyptian news - to the annoyance of DC media types. ;D Senator {insert retching noise here} Doc Rand Paul wants to stick his head in the sand. He wants all US aid to foreign countries to end. HA! John Bolton & some other dude are on Mr. Mubarak's side. Well, of course they are! Redstate.com is blaming unions & left - wing media for all the stuff going on in Egypt. Pam Geller, since all the Not - Ground - Zero Not - Mosque stuff is on the back burner, is using the protests to say President Obama wants to get rid of Israel & has been supporting this revolution all along.