Cairo: No demonstration signs in German, French or Chinese

Last night, the ever gracious and brilliant Madeleine “Madame Secretary” Albright was on *The Rachel Maddow Show. I am never disappointed hearing what Ms. Albright has to say and last evening was no different. What she has to say is always meaningful to me and always spot on.

Rachel opened her show with the question, (Paraphrased) “Why is the media being drummed out of Cairo” to which Ms. Albright replied, (also paraphrased) “The media is setting up a situation wherein it is either the Muslin Brotherhood or us” and I could not agree more. In opposition to the Presidency of Mr. Mubarak, there have to be groups other than what is portrayed as ‘that horrid Muslin Brotherhood group’.

You can feel the media inching towards full scale admonishing of ‘those God-awful, dreadful Muslims’. There are already ‘off with his head’ innuendos directed towards Vice President Omar Suleiman for having invited the (gasp!) Muslin Brotherhood group to talk with him. I do not re-call any other group mentioned. I think Ms. Albright rightfully calls it a missed opportunity. The media is not doing its job. (Yawn)

I think it safe to say some of the demonstrators on both sides were born into Muslin families, have Muslin relatives and close friends or married into a Muslin family. No big deal!

No one but NO ONE mentions the 800 pound gorilla in the room. No one mentions the critical fact Israel wants to be a separate Jewish state and how all group opposed to their treatment of the Palestinians are deemed anti-Semitic and Muslin terrorist groups. This is the bed the America press made and now his to lie in. The consequences are disastrous. It could very well be that goose/gander thing with Egyptians. Ms. Albright, to her credit, did name a country run by Muslins.

I feel there is a hero or heron on the horizon in Egypt. In situations like this, there always is. There is a Martin Luther King, Malcolm X or Mahatma Gandhi somewhere amongst the thousands of demonstrators. As I always say, ‘Heroes come from the most un-expected places and at the most un-expected time’ and, alas, it is not Mr. El Baradei.
As always,
BB

* Madeline Albright
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#41418459

Mubarak to protesters: I made you and I can break you

It is not unusual for a person to feel ownership of another. It happens all the time. When a person feels scorn by a person whom they loved and groomed for a period of time and that person turns on them, it hurts. Big time!

In my opinion, when Pres. Mubarak would not go quietly into the night and appointed Omar Suleiman as his Vice President, his anger was apparent. His anger has escalated due to the fact his people are still calling for him to abdicate his position and to leave the country.

And so it is, seeing pro and con groups clash in the streets is, to the President, heart warming. He will not leave his office without a fight, even if it is a street-fight. It doesn’t matter. He is angry. If the fight gets bloody, so be it. It doesn’t matter now.

His heart is with his sympathizing street fighters. He feels he is the best man and should win even if winning is through the vicarious experiences of his surrogates. The good Pres. Mubarak is now a very angry man. He knows he can stop the melee if he wants to do so or he simply may be getting bad advice. Whatever the situation, human nature will have its way.

As always,
BB

Cairo: What I see, heard and don’t see on TV

In background pictures, I see what appears to be well maintained apartment/office buildings. I do not see broken windows or ragged Venetian blinds, curtains flying out of windows or various signs of graffiti.

I see clean streets. I heard the women come out in the evenings to clean the streets after the men protesters have moved on.

I have not seen homes of the rich nor scenes of the Presidential Palace. I do not see gasoline lighted shakes darted along roads outside of Cairo with emaciated animals roaming around thatched gardens with rusty, dilapidated chicken wire fences a la the movie “Tobacco Road”.

I have not seen women wearing jeans or mini-skirts or dresses and especially dresses that say ‘I’m gonna git me a man this time!'

I have not seen men with punk hair styles and hair dyed the colors of their flag. I have not seen half-naked men wearing shorts or carefully altered jeans

I have not seen small pro and con Mubarak groups arguing and threatening each other in the streets of Cairo.

I heard Americans are in worst shape than Egyptians regarding employment, health, diet and education.

I smile at reports stating the average Egyptian earns $2.00 a day just like they say the average person in India earns $1.00 a day and twenty cents a day in some of the more desperate African countries. Reporters reporting such nonsense should be banned from the profession.

Noting I have listed more of what I don’t see in Cairo and ask “Where’s the beef?” to consistent replies, “We want Democracy just like in America and we want Pres. Obama to help us get it!” I am mindful of the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” (Smile)

As always,
BB

Dr. World, what’s wrong with Johnny?

“Ma, my stomach hurts” were the first words she heard when she entered his bedroom to awaken him for school. Those dreaded words that send all parents into a state of controlled panic. Words just as painful as you imagine the stomach ache to be. You know the sounds of your son.

She didn’t say it hurts because you are a Christian, Muslin or Jew. She didn’t say “If you were a Christian, it would hurt this way” or “If you were a Muslin, it would hurt that-a- way” or other specific for being a Jew, etc.,

Johnny had never complained about his stomach before. Not like he said it hurt that morning. ‘Ma’ took that consideration very seriously.

And so it was early one morning in December, Tunisia awakened with a stomach ache. The morning after that it was Cairo, and soon afterwards, it was Alexander. There had to be answers and cures. The stomach aches were viewed by many as a paradox, a dilemma, a mere nuisance from a people not to be taken seriously.

Western media has tried to diagnose the problem and apply a cure with one theory after another to no avail. Its pseudo Omnipresence once again exposed. Its many Schools of Journalism put to shame. Its competence questioned for the umpteenth time on the world stage.

Dr. World (the people) will render the correct diagnoses and prescribe the appropriate cure. Who will hear? Who will listen? Once again we witness “The times, they are a-changin'!”

As always,
BB