History Comes in Bunches 2/3/11

NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS

In politics as in life, change comes rather slowly most of the time. Until that one moment in time where things come together in a way that make change happen quicker than you can keep up with it. Such were the years of 1989 to 1991, when the Chinese demanded democratic reforms and we got back those incredible images from Tiananmen Square. Then the Berlin Wall coming down, the Soviet Union breaking up, and Nelson Mandela being freed from prison. All these things happened in a relatively short time.
Today, the Arab world is experiencing the same thing, and we are all witnesses. It started with one man in Tunisia who protested (with a public suicide) because he couldn’t get a street vending permit. This sparked massive protests in that country, and due in no small part to social media, spread throughout the entire Middle East as well. In Egypt it began with protests against the government, mostly due to the fact that most of that country’s population is college educated, under 30 and jobless. Combine that with the average salary being about $4 a day and high double-digit unemployment, and this quickly develops into a movement to remove President Hossni Mubarak. And like in Haiti, CNN’s Anderson Cooper is in the middle of it all. You can spout all the unconfirmed gay rumors you want, but that is a pretty tough dude. While reporting on the incidents, looks like pro-government “demonstrators” at first attacked his camera, then his crew, then him, and he still kept reporting.
This wind of change has now spread to Jordan, whose king just fired his entire cabinet, and now Yemen whose president has decided not to seek re-election after 32 years. Now I say once again these are incredibly interesting times, but in the words of Harvey Kietel in Pulp Fiction, “Let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks just yet…” We have to be very careful in calling for anyone’s head without first knowing how that vacuum will be filled. Now granted, some of these men are brutal dictators that have no place in world leadership, but a lot of them are US allies credited with keeping order in that region, which is probably why the US has been less than forceful in its rhetoric, and Republicans have for once not been critical of Obama’s cautious response. That being said, this is exactly the type of situation that Islamic fundamentalists would seek to exploit, and the world cannot allow these yahoos to take control of a region so important to the rest of the world. Not just because of economic interests, but let’s not forget that Egypt is a country which holds the most ancient and precious artifacts in human history, we can’t have the Pyramids in Giza being turned into a mosque, or worse.

ENTERTAINMENT

Like the battered housewife that I am, even after I decided I would ignore American Idol, I just have to address the rumors that JLo is upset that Steven Tyler has been getting all the attention on Idol when this was supposed to be the “big comeback” for her and her weave. Uhhh…Jenny, of course he is gonna get more attention, he is Steven Tyler. This is the frontman for the greatest American rock band ever, and you are a mediocre version of Debbie Reynolds whose only means of getting attention is having a big ass and getting married every five days.

SPORTS

Other than the usual Super Bowl hype, it’s kinda been a slow news week for sports, so I guess I’ll just make my pick now. I have no horse in this race, and usually when the Cowboys or Giants don’t make it I root for the better story. In this case, its two great teams with a long history of football tradition, but neither really make me wanna root for them. I think the Steelers take it though.

THIS WEEK’S REASON WHY TERRORISTS WANNA KILL US

The stubbornness of the Republicans in the Senate wanting to repeal healthcare reform after it was already signed into law. You wanna take out that tax reporting requirement that will eliminate paperwork? Go ahead so do Democrats, but to believe that now you can repeal the whole bill is stupid. It’s kinda like living under the delusion that correcting a spelling mistake in the Constitution will repeal the whole document.
Hey Teabaggers, let me help you out. Here is your chance to be on the right side of history for once. I know that you don’t know much about the history of the country you say you “want back,” so let me help you out. When have conservatives ever been right about anything? On Slavery? Wrong. Woman’s suffrage? Wrong. When they filibustered in the Senate by reading the phone book so that no vote on Civil Rights could be had? Wrong. When asshole George Wallace stood in front of the University of Alabama symbolically blocking the entry of black students? Wrong. “Trickle down economics?” Wrong. And when you don’t know history, trying to re-write it in the schoolbooks in Texas? Wrong. Invading Iraq? Wrong. Tax breaks for the richest 2% because they will use the money to create jobs? REALLY fucking wrong. And now, much like us being the last country to outlaw slavery and one of the last to end legal segregation, we are once again behind in anything that has to do with putting humanity first and individual greed aside. Let’s not be the last 1st World nation to give our citizens healthcare. I’m not a fan of the French, but even they are laughing at us when it comes to healthcare.