[PAA-Discuss] For the US in Egypt, Blowback is a Bitch

[Juli3 at aol.com]

(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=elb4fXrZ9lGgtYLFLzXfmaXXsB/Y12iq) 
Saturday 05 February 2011For the US in Egypt,  Blowback is a Bitch
Michael Winship, Truthout: "As far  as the United States and Egypt are 
concerned, one thing is certain:  blowback - the unforeseen consequence of our 
policies abroad - is a  bitch... in the words of a 2009 American embassy 
cable, part of the  WikiLeaks document dump, ‘The tangible benefits to our ... 
relationship  are clear: Egypt remains at peace with Israel, and the US 
military enjoys  priority access to the Suez Canal and Egyptian airspace’. In 
exchange, we  willfully paid little or no heed to the Egyptian dictatorship's 
abuse of  human rights, despite its role in radicalizing such terrorists as 
Ayman  al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's operational and strategic commander. In 
 fact, our strategy of rendition in the wake of 9/11 - sending terror  
suspects to other countries for interrogation - took advantage of Egypt's  
torture cells." 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9MNGpEAO/KCqXm6if1PhYKXXsB/Y12iq)  

Obama Backs Suleiman-Led  Transition
Mark Landler and Steven Erlanger, The New  York Times News Service: "The 
Obama administration on Saturday formally  threw its weight behind a gradual 
transition in Egypt, backing attempts by  the country’s vice president, Gen. 
Omar Suleiman, to broker a compromise  with opposition groups and prepare 
for new elections in September.  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 
speaking to a conference here,  said it was important to support Mr. Suleiman 
as he seeks to defuse street  protests and promises to reach out to 
opposition groups, including the  Muslim Brotherhood. Administration officials said 
earlier that Mr.  Suleiman and other military-backed leaders in Egypt are 
also considering  ways to provide President Hosni Mubarak with a graceful exit 
from power."  
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=EaNHuTkHXSf8IxIN2pHdxKXXsB/Y12iq)  

Is  Ginni Thomas Getting Rich Off Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court  Decisions?
Ian Millhiser, Think Progress: "Supreme  Court spouse Ginni Thomas has a 
new job — as the head of a Tea Party  lobbying firm called ‘Liberty 
Consulting.’ Her new firm, which promises to  give ‘voice to principled citizens and 
the tea party movement in the halls  of Congress through governmental 
affairs efforts’ also offers very unusual  service to its clients: Liberty 
Consulting offers advice on optimizing  political investments for charitable 
giving in the non-profit world or  political causes.Ginni Thomas’ new career 
advising clients on how to  donate money to political causes is striking in 
light of the fact that  this career path was much more difficult to break into 
just one year ago.  In Citizens United v. FEC, Ginni’s husband Clarence cast 
the key fifth  vote enabling corporations to spend unlimited money 
influencing U.S.  elections. As a result of this vote, outside groups spent nearly 
$300  million influencing the 2010 elections — much of which would have been  
illegal before Justice Thomas greenlighted this spending." 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rziWcu1tZx0AOhaht/1iaqXXsB/Y12iq)  

Egypt Officials Seek to Ease Mubarak  Out
David D. Kirkpatrick and David E. Sanger, The New  York Times News Service: 
"President Hosni Mubarak appeared increasingly  isolated on Saturday, with 
protests entering their 12th day and the Obama  administration and some 
members of the Egyptian military and civilian  elite pursuing plans to nudge him 
from power. The country’s newly named  vice president, Omar Suleiman, and 
other top military leaders were  discussing steps to limit Mr. Mubarak’s 
decision-making authority and  possibly remove him from the presidential palace 
in Cairo — though not to  strip him of his presidency immediately, Egyptian 
and American officials  said. A transitional government headed by Mr. 
Suleiman would then  negotiate with opposition figures to amend Egypt’s 
Constitution and begin  a process of democratic changes." 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=k/MrmUbMlOl5QlGqX9cw9aXXsB/Y12iq)  

David Sirota | With Democracy or Against It - There’s No  In Between
David Sirota, Truthout: "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. That's what the Egyptian 
protests against  U.S.-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak really represent for 
us: a poignant  demand that we actually embody our democratic creed -- a 
demand whose  response shows an American government desperate to avoid walking 
its  talk." 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lXrZPHoqFP3JW+zHDyvF56XXsB/Y12iq)  

State Department Approved Export of US-Made Tear Gas to  Egyptian Government
Marian Wang, ProPublica: "The  American-made tear gas used to disperse 
pro-democracy protestors in Egypt  earlier this week was sold to the country 
after government review, a State  Department spokeswoman told us. The tear gas 
canisters used by Egyptian  police against the protesters bore the label 
'Made in U.S.A.,' stirring  controversy and bolstering the impression among 
Egyptians that the U.S.  has propped up a dictatorship at the expense of its 
citizens." 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=hWAOTmriqRs8rJ3PyvkE46XXsB/Y12iq)  

Japan’s "Generational Roadblock" 
Paul  Kleyman, New America Media: "Scapegoating of older people is not new 
among  international economic organizations, such as the Center for 
Strategic and  International Studies or the Peter G. Peterson Institute. They’re  
economics analysts have warned for years that the aging boomer generation  
will sink national economies unless counties pull out the budget shears -  much 
as budgets hawks aim to do in Washington, never mind the cost of  
financial-sector excesses.... [That] Japan has an ossified employment  model, is the 
real issue here, not what older workers are doing to the  young. That is, it 
isn’t personal. To carry a systemic analysis into frets  and frowns 
directed at older people is nothing but bad attitude, not good  journalism. And to 
what end?" 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=X5ceI58Aa54wx6BpZEpMoKXXsB/Y12iq)  

Kucinich Requests to See Bradley Manning, Soldier in  Solitary Confinement 
for Alleged Leaks
Zaid Jilani,  ThinkProgress: "Last May, the military arrested Private First 
Class  Bradley Manning, a military intelligence officer who had served 
overseas  in Iraq, over charges that he was involved in leaking numerous 
classified  documents and videos to the Wikileaks whistleblowing group, including a 
 video of a U.S. attack helicopter killing numerous unarmed journalists.  
Since his arrests, numerous civil liberties groups and investigative  
journalists have protested the conditions under which Manning is being  held, 
noting that he has been kept in solitary confinement and is denied  even access 
to a pillow or bed sheets. This is particularly shocking in  light of new 
information revealed that Manning was suspected of having  poor mental health 
before he was deployed to Iraq, with some superiors  even requesting that he 
not be given firearms.... Now, Rep. Dennis  Kucinich (D-OH) has sent a 
letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates  inquiring about Manning’s condition, 
protesting the Army’s treatment of  him, and requesting a visit with the 
imprisoned solider." 
_Read the Article_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XpLkIf9zG+KXzz7TLxwUOKXXsB/Y12iq)  

_Click here for more Truthout  articles_ 
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BUZZFLASH DAILY  HEADLINES

As the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan approaches on February 6th,  it 
is hard to escape the Republican voices clamoring for sainthood to be  
bestowed on the Gipper. 
What did Ronald Reagan ever do for non-wealthy Americans beyond  becoming 
the symbol of a belief that being born white and in the U.S.  makes one 
exceptional? Indeed, his game-changing accomplishment - using  carefully crafted 
scripts and symbols developed by aides - was bestowing  an acceptance of the 
inevitability of corporate governance. 
As most people know, Reagan was a "B" movie star until General Electric  
hired him to both host a GE television series and become a corporate  
spokesperson around the nation. Reagan was so successful as a corporate  pitchman 
that a group of extremely conservative and wealthy backers put up  the money 
to position him as a political candidate who would espouse the  corporate 
ethos. 
General Electric is so proud of their role in launching Reagan that  they 
are now advertising an Internet tribute to him, _"Rendezvous With Destiny: 
Reagan's  journey from GE to the White House."_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=20XT3F+6i9lNYQIS5FaPm6XXsB/Y12iq)  In fact GE 
describes the  film as depicting "how he rose from GE brand ambassador to 40th 
president  of the United States." 
As the recent appointment of Jeffrey Immelt, current CEO of GE, to head  
President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness -- at a time that GE  is 
a leader in outsourcing jobs and off shoring revenue - shows, GE's  
investment in Reagan is still paying big dividends. In fact, Immelt,  noting that 
the benefits corporations will have by being dealers inside  the government 
went so far as to say, in 2009, _"We're all Democrats now."_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=R6h1CzjUYMWCezxy09mbCaXXsB/Y12iq)  As 
 progressive journalist David Sirota recently noted, Obama gets the  
trade-off of a corporate honcho who can help raise money for his  re-election. 
It's all very cozy, except that Immelt is an expert at shipping jobs  
overseas, not creating them in the U.S. 
The trajectory that GE began when Reagan became its corporate carnival  
barker is now accepted by both parties: the American government has become  a 
virtual subsidiary of international corporations who just happen to be  
headquartered in the U.S. 
Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
US Presses Egyptian Army to Bless Talks With Opposition  
_Read the Article at The Washington  Post_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=su2DTr7Xfv75R9uKNpB3oKXXsB/Y12iq) 
After Ten Years of Negotiating, TSA Workers Get Collective  Bargaining
_Read the Article at The Wall Street  Journal_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=/GkJjC8+tv5CWoVnJdouxKXXsB/Y12iq) 
Syria is Not Egypt, But Might It One Day be  Tunisia?
_Read the Article at  Time_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=n92zPzDKO6ZQpQy3HnIZ/aXXsB/Y12iq) 
Palin: Reagan Would be Proud of Us Today
_Read the Article at The Wall Street  Journal_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=EsZGZbrNXqWfDDnqfOEfKaXXsB/Y12iq) 
Leadership of Egypt's Ruling Party Resigns
_Read the Article at Yahoo!  News_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=4bUoFu2JLsVieHzWJSBWdKXXsB/Y12iq) 
Palin to Trademark Name
_Read the Article at ABC  News_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qUhpm2Vx4O/1GY/nwXl10F6vooUEl1PK) 
The "Sting" That Wasn't: Right-wing Media Hype Bogus Version Of  Planned 
Parenthood Video Story
_Read the Article at Media  Matters_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=hDQMYsCrCbHnWzsQBySmMqXXsB/Y12iq) 
UK Prime Minister: Multiculturalism Has Failed
_Read the Article at The Independent  UK_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TmBIoESKtQobDFcZyF/DPl6vooUEl1PK) 
_Click here for more BuzzFlash  headlines_ 
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kn+HmX8P3Bs8JowY9TQoJ6XXsB/Y12iq)  
 
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