January 25, 2012

3 A.M. Tahrir Square, Cairo Egypt

On the dawning of 25 Jan 2012, the one year Anniversary. This is the crowd in the middle of the night. It's gonna be a long day/night for news junkies.

January 24, 2012

Egypt's ruler partially lifts emergency laws

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hQYEiE9nNlK20kSKssdFAh1rsdlg?docId=4ff8b45fa4b843a794cacd29706b0b94

Egypt's ruler partially lifts emergency laws

(AP) – 14 minutes ago

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military ruler has decreed a partial lifting of the nation's hated emergency laws, saying the draconian laws will remain applicable to crimes committed by "thugs."

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi said in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday that the emergency laws would be lifted effective Wednesday, the first anniversary of the start of the popular uprising that toppled longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. <snip>

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the beginning of the Egyptian Jan 25 protests. Tantawi is trying to appease them with a birthday present if they behave. I think tomorrow is going to be very very interesting, am following Tweets, I see Ben Wedeman (CNN) is there and few other journalists. I just have a feeling.

January 20, 2012

The Al Green Effect

Surge In Support For Singing Obama

(20 January 2012) Irish bookmaker Paddy Power today shortened the odds on Barack Obama serving a second term as US President from 8/11 to 4/6.

The decision to tighten the odds came less than 24 hours after the bookmaker announced it was paying out on Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee but also came after a spectacular performance from President Obama at a fundraiser in the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem.
Paddy Power said: “We’re calling it the ‘Al Green’ effect. We can’t get the song out of our heads after seeing the video of him at the Apollo. Policies are important but so too is the ability to move and motivate people and Obama does that effortlessly.”

http://www.liveoddsandscores.com/press-releases/494631/surge-in-support-for-singing-obama

January 20, 2012

The Swinging Days of Newt Gingrich

(Fascinating 1984 Mother Jones article. The excerpt is about Newt getting a BJ in the car and nearly discovered by his daughters.)

The Swinging Days of Newt Gingrich


http://motherjones.com/politics/1984/11/newt-gingrich-shining-knight-post-reagan-right

<snip> "Meanwhile, Gingrich's own behavior was painting a different picture. During or soon after the 1974 campaign, several of his closest advisors realized he was having an affair. After the campaign, Gingrich seriously considered divorce. He and Jackie went to see a marriage counselor, however, and finally decided to work it out.

This was not an isolated incident, according to others who were close to Gingrich at the time. One former aide describes approaching a car with Gingrich's daughters in hand, only to find the candidate with a woman, her head buried in his lap. The aide quickly turned and led the girls away. Another former friend maintains that Gingrich repeatedly made sexual advances to her when her husband was out of town. On one occasion, he visited under the guise of comforting her after the death of a relative, and instead tried to seduce her. In certain circles in the mid-1970s, Gingrich was developing a reputation as a ladies' man."

January 19, 2012

Romney Family Investment Group and the $8 Billion Ponzi Scheme

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/01/316040/romney-solamere-ponzi/?mobile=nc

Exclusive: Romney Family Investment Group Partnered With Alleged Perpetrators Of $8 Billion Ponzi Scheme

Mitt Romney, his son Tagg, and Romney’s chief fundraiser, Spencer Zwick, have extensive financial and political ties to three men who allegedly participated in an $8.5 billion Ponzi scheme. A few months after the Ponzi scheme collapsed, a firm financed by Mitt Romney and run by his son and chief fundraiser partnered with the three men and created a new “wealth management business” as a subsidiary.

The Ponzi Scheme

In 2009, prosecutors announced charges against the Stanford Financial Group, which managed a portfolio of $8.5 billion, for running a “massive, ongoing fraud” against its investors. The Ponzi scheme bust was one of the largest in recent history, second only to Bernie Madoff, who perpetrated a fraud estimated to be around $17 billion. The Stanford Ponzi scheme wiped out the savings of thousands, including many American retirees across the country. In Texas, 1290 people lost their retirement savings because of the Stanford Ponzi scheme; in Louisiana, several hundred reportedly suffered the same fate. <snip>

January 17, 2012

The House of Romney

Knowing the tendency of the GOP to appoint a ruling dynasty and their belief in the inheritance of power (Bush Sr., Dim-son, Jeb, Darth and Lynn Cheney and all the various under the radar nepotism.) Think upon this and it will keep you awake at night. If Willard is elected, we could have GENERATIONS of heir apparent Romneys in power.

The Romney ChickenHawk Brigade and Winnebago Battalion:

January 16, 2012

Good Nuclear Iran, Bad Nuclear Iran

http://www.juancole.com/2012/01/good-nuclear-iran-bad-nuclear-iran.html

An ad for the nuclear industry from the 1970s, depicting pro-Western Iranian dictator Mohammadd Reza Pahlavi

January 14, 2012

Egypt 2011 and Wagners "Ring" cycle

beautifully done.

January 14, 2012

Dylan Connor "Feza, Feza"

Dylan Connor Hosts Syria Relief Concert in NYC; Fundraising Single 'Feza Feza' Rapidly Reaching Thousands on Youtube
Dylan Connor is a Connecticut-based singer, songwriter, Latin teacher, devoted husband and father. His family - including his uncle, cult film maker Robert Downey and his cousin, actor Robert Downey Jr. - have influenced, encouraged and inspired Dylan deeply, leading him on many musical adventures in Hollywood and abroad.
Dylan (whose wife is Syrian) is the first and only American artist to be writing and singing songs for Syria. His protest song 'Feza Feza' (which means 'Help Help') was recorded and shot in the space of 24 hours, after Dylan heard a Syrian activist interviewed on CNN say "When I chant freedom, I can hear my voice for the first time."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/13/4185425/dylan-connor-hosts-syria-relief.html#storylink=cpy

January 10, 2012

anyone watching the NBC story on Willards polygemist

family in Mexico? On now.