Thousands of workers walked out from their jobs, piling pressure on a political leadership already rocked by protests Control of Egypt’s economy appeared to be slipping out of the government’s hands, as strikes multiplied across the country and leading business figures sought to disassociate themselves with the Mubarak regime. Thousands of workers in key industries walked out from their jobs, piling pressure on a political leadership already rocked by the 17th straight day of street protests calling for the president to stand down. In a further blow to leading NDP members, who in recent years have styled themselves as pro-business reformers, several large companies took out adverts in local newspapers putting distance between themselves and the regime. “There’s a lot of nervousness among the business community,” said Issandr El Amrani, a prominent analyst and blogger. “Elements of this regime are clearly on their way out, and that worries certain businessmen who have made a fortune off the back of their links with parts of that regime. With those connections now crumbling, a big realignment is taking place and people are unsure about where the new centre of power is going to be. It’s not surprising that in that environment some businesses are seeking to distance themselves from the political elite.” Senior business sources who preferred to remain anonymous confirmed to the Guardian that there was a great deal of concern over political transition, but insisted that it was tempered by optimism that a stronger Egyptian economy would emerge from the turmoil. “Not everyone has succeeded because of their links to Mubarak’s circle; some have done well in spite of the government, not because of it,” said one. “Behind the scenes many business leaders have been furious with the regime for years over the hurdles placed in their way when they wanted to expand. A lot of people you might think are in bed with Mubarak have privately lost patience with it for some time.” Earlier this month Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian telecoms tycoon and one of the world’s richest men, gave his tacit support to the anti-government uprising, claiming that the end result would be “a more solid foundation for future growth”. Despite worries about short-term instability, other major business players appear to be backing Sawiris’s position. “Anti-government sentiment is not calming down, it is gaining momentum,” Wael Ziada, head of research at Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes, told the Guardian. “This latest wave is putting a lot more pressure on not just the government but the entire regime; protesters have made their demands clear and there’s no rowing back now. Everything is going down one route. There are two or three scenarios, but all involve the same thing: Mubarak stepping down – and the business community is adjusting its expectations accordingly.” Labour unrest has erupted in a wide breadth of sectors, including postal workers, electricity staff and service technicians at the Suez Canal, in factories manufacturing textiles, steel and beverages and hospitals. A bus strike snarled traffic in Cairo, a city of 18 million where many of its impoverished residents rely on public transport. Few buses were seen on the streets, which were jammed and slow moving because of the extra reliance on cars. Around 800 public transport workers blocked a main Cairo thoroughfare with a protest, demanding salary increases, and they said at least 3,000 of their co-workers were rallying in other parts of the city. If demands are not met, “we will join Tahrir and camp there,” said one bus driver, Mustafa Mohammed, who said he has been working since 1997 and only earns 550 Egyptian pounds a month (£58). “We are immersed in debt,” he said. On Thursday, hundreds of doctors in white coats marched down a street from one of the biggest state hospitals, Qasr el-Aini, to Tahrir Square, chanting “Join us, oh Egyptian,” witnesses said. From another direction, crowds of lawyers in black robes marched from their union to the square, waving Egyptian flags and circling Tahrir’s roundabout with chants of “Mubarak, you pilot, how did you get $70bn?” referring to the president’s past as the air force commander. Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Condescending ‘Morning Joe’ Panel Praises Imam Rauf and Wife as Moderates; Questions Opponents of Ground Zero Mosque
February 11, 2011 No Comment
Tuesday's “Morning Joe” featured guest Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Rauf who tried to establish a mosque two blocks away from the site of the 9/11 terror attacks. The panel praised Khan and her husband as peace-making moderates, and arrogantly questioned why more Americans couldn't accept the mosque at Ground Zero. “America is the beacon of the world,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said echoing Khan's earlier words affirming American freedom. “And yet, we had such a controversy about the community center that you and your husband were trying to start blocks away from Ground Zero,” she added, questioning the American “understanding” of the center. “One of the most depressing things to me was the fact that in 2010, Americans seemed to be less accepting of Muslim Americans than they were even in the months after 9/11,” co-host Joe Scarborough lamented from his soapbox. “Why do you think we Americans had such a reaction – again, in New York, a place that's supposed to be the most open-minded and pluralistic?” he asked guest Lesley Jane Seymour, editor-in-chief of More magazine.
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On the afternoon of Thursday, February 11, rumors flew that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, in power now for 30 years, planned on resigning – a step that would fulfill the hopes of protesters who have occupied central Cairo’s Tahrir Square for 17 days. Instead, late on Thursday night, Mubarak delivered a meandering, 15-minute speech in which he delegated powers to his vice president but refused to resign. The crowd reacted with anger, and protesters vowed to redouble their efforts.
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It looks like Justice Clarence Thomas has a bit of a memory problem, and when combined with Ginni Thomas’ lobbying efforts, a picture emerges of a deep ethical problem corrupting the highest court in the country. The video above outlines Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’ relationship to Liberty Central and Liberty Consulting. They suggest that Liberty Consulting is a front for Liberty Central, but I’m not sure about that, since the two organizations still keep separate websites, and one is for-profit while the other isn’t. What is clear, however, is that there is direct intent to cloak both operations behind a veil of secrecy while one of our Supreme Court justices takes up questions that deal directly with the very same issue. That’s problem #1. Problem #2 is a little stickier. While we knew that Justice Thomas did not disclose his wife’s income from the Heritage Foundation and Liberty Central for the past six years, as was required, it seems that non-disclosure stretches back farther than that. For twenty years, Clarence Thomas has not disclosed his wife’s income, nor the source of that income. Twenty years. Roger Schuler, at Daily Kos thinks Thomas’ failure to disclose could be a felony. News reports on the Thomas case generally have referenced 5 U.S. Code app. section 104, which calls for a misdemeanor punishment of up to $50,000 and one year imprisonment, or both, for each violation. Given that Thomas apparently violated the statute for roughly 20 years, he could wind up with a substantial penalty under that law. But the punishment becomes much more severe under 18 U.S.C. 1001, which also appears to apply in the Thomas case. It is a felony statute carrying at least five years in prison, and a former official with the U.S. House of Representatives currently is under indictment for actions that almost mirror those in the Thomas case. Reports POE : While 5 USC app section 104 makes this conduct a misdemeanor punishable for up to a year in prison, 18 USC section 1001 is a felony statute carrying at least five years in prison. In fact, Fraser Verrusio, former Policy Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, is awaiting trial under section 1001 for not reporting income on his “United States House of Representatives Financial Disclosure Statement for Calendar Year 2003.” You can read more about the charges against Fraser Verrusio at the link below. It appears that he was given no opportunity to amend his filings: Indictment in U.S. v. Fraser C. Verrusio (PDF) Verrusio once worked for U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-AK), and the case has received extensive coverage in the Alaska press . The prosecution reportedly grew out of the Jack Abramoff affair. His post goes on to discuss the fact that a similar case was heard by the Supreme Court in 1985, six years before Thomas was seated on the court. The court held that failure to disclose required information was a felony, not a misdemeanor. Up to now, Justice Thomas has simply shrugged off his failure to disclose his wife’s income and sources as a mere oversight, despite the fact that he “forgot” for 20 years. But what if it were intentional? ProtectOurElections.org has a theory that he didn’t disclose her income or source because he might have been challenged for recusal due to conflict of interest. In fact, from 1993-1998, Virginia Thomas worked for Dick Armey. enlarge Source: Amendments to original disclosures, filed on Saturday, January 21, 2011 (PDF) If we were to crowdsource an investigation and look at every case Justice Thomas heard from 1993 to 1998, I believe we would find a number of cases then, and possibly later than that where a conflict might emerge. Or, as PreserveOurElections.org suggests: Kevin Zeese, attorney and spokesperson for ProtectOurElections.org, believes that Justice Thomas may have intentionally withheld the information in order to keep litigants from moving to disqualify him in cases where his wife’s employment could cause a conflict of interest or where she could benefit from a decision. “Justice Thomas cast a critical vote in the Citizens United case allowing conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and Liberty Central to raise millions of dollars in secret funds to support and elect conservative politicians,” he said. “Had Justice Thomas disclosed that his wife worked for the Heritage Foundation, litigants may have had good cause to disqualify him from hearing that case. In fact, we are left to wonder if Justice Thomas knew that his wife was planning on leaving the Heritage Foundation to launch Liberty Central once Citizens United was decided. Clearly, she has benefitted personally from that decision.” Now my response to his specific assertion about the Heritage Foundation is that it was known and a challenge could have been made, disclosures or no disclosures. Her associations with Hillsdale college and the Heritage Foundation were known before the Citizens United case came to trial, I believe. But what wasn’t known was her association with Dick Armey, who is the founding member of Americans for Prosperity, a close cousin of Citizens United. THAT’s the connection everyone should be looking at.
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President hands some powers to vice-president Suleiman but will remain in control until September elections President Hosni Mubarak dashed the hopes of hundreds of thousands of Egyptians celebrating what they expected would be his resignation speech by defiantly telling them he would not bow to domestic or foreign pressure to quit. Mubarak said he would hand some powers to his vice-president, Omar Suleiman, but would remain in overall control until September to oversee what he called an orderly transition to an elected government. He repeated a pledge not to seek re-election. He also said that there would be no going back on a commitment of long-term political reform after the two weeks of growing protests to demand his resignation. However, he ominously referred to the army playing a role in ensuring an orderly transfer of power. The president’s defiant tone angered the crowds packed in to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the centre of protests against Mubarak’s 30-year rule, and may have set the stage for an ugly confrontation at the mass demonstrations called for across Egypt. Many of the protesters waved their shoes, a traditional sign of contempt, and chanted: “He must leave”, and shouted “Mubarak you are finished”. Egypt’s opposition leaders immediately said they would escalate the protests which in recent days have spread to include strikes that have shut down the public transport system, some hospitals and factories. Mubarak said he would transfer some powers to Suleiman to prove that the demands of protesters for political change will be met but did not specify which ones. But he rejected foreign pressure, notably from the US, to immediately take major steps toward democratic rule. “I have spent most of my life in defence of our homeland,” said Mubarak. “I have never succumbed to any international pressure. I have my dignity intact.” In the hours before Mubarak’s speech, thousands of pro-democracy activists poured in to Tahrir Square for an impromptu victory party in expectation that the president was about to quit after 30 years in power. The prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, and other senior politicians said they expected him to announce he would step down as the political crisis continued to deepen. The mood of optimism was reinforced when General Hassan al-Roueini, the military commander for Cairo, told the crowd: “All your demands will be met today”. Hossam Badrawi, the new secretary general of the ruling National Democratic party, was quoted in the state press as saying he had requested Mubarak to transfer his powers to Suleiman, who had appeared to be effectively running the country in recent days. But behind the scenes, a political struggle appeared to be under way over the terms of Mubarak’s departure. The military’s role was not immediately clear but the Muslim Brotherhood, a leading political force although banned, said it appeared the army had taken over behind the scenes. “It looks like a military coup,” one of the group’s leaders, Essam al-Erian, told Reuters. “I feel worry and anxiety. The problem is not with the president, it is with the regime.” The huge crowds served as a warning that the popular pressure for change is not likely to ease. Besides Mubarak’s resignation, opposition activists have been demanding an immediate lifting of the country’s 30-year-old state of emergency, which has been used to lock up the government’s opponents without trial. They have also pressing for parliament, elected in a tainted ballot last year, to be dissolved. Some opposition leaders have said that they would accept an interim administration, controlled by civilians with a military presence, for up to a year to make constitutional changes to permit free elections and also to allow for the creation of new political parties and to give them a chance to become rooted. Despite his defiance, Mubarak’s position is increasingly threatened by the spreading strikes and protests. The regime had expected the protests to lose steam this week but the largest crowd to date descended on Tahrir Square on Tuesday as ordinary Egyptians sensed the government’s weakness after it made a series of political concessions even if they fell short of the opposition’s demands. Doctors and thousands of other medical workers joined transport workers, Suez canal employees and thousands of other workers across the country in walking out. On Wednesday, Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, rejected Washington’s demand for a demonstration that major change is underway – specifically the lifting of the oppressive 30-year state of emergency, a particular grievance of pro-democracy campaigners – by saying that Washington should not “impose” its will. The White House responded by warning that Cairo has not done enough to satisfy what the Obama administration has previously characterised as the legitimate demands of the protesters. “I think it is clear that what the government has thus far put forward has yet to meet a minimum threshold for the people of Egypt,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman. Earlier this week, the US vice president, Joe Biden, phoned Suleiman, the former intelligence chief who is now overseeing dealings with the opposition and the promised political transition, to urge him to immediately lift the state of emergency. Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Dept. of Better Late Than Never? New York Fed Realizes Crappy Bankruptcy Bill Made Mortgage Crisis Worse
February 10, 2011 No CommentIn 2005, the Billionaires for Bush stumped for the new bankruptcy bill. See how well that worked? And isn’t funny that the NY Fed had to take all this time to figure out what so many of us already knew? WASHINGTON — Economists at the New York Federal Reserve have concluded that a controversial 2005 law backed by banks and credit card companies pushed more than 200,000 people into foreclosure and exacerbated the subprime mortgage crisis. Consumer advocates fought hard against the law, which made it much more difficult for individuals to alleviate credit card debt in bankruptcy. This inability of homeowners to eliminate other debts, the New York Fed economists conclude, in turn made borrowers unable to pay off their mortgages, spurring foreclosures . Despite opposition from public interest groups, the 2005 law easily cleared both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by President George W. Bush. In a paper released Tuesday, New York Fed researchers Donald P. Morgan, Benjamin Iverson and Matthew Botsch determined that the law sparked about 116,000 additional subprime mortgage foreclosures a year after going into effect. What’s more, they note, these foreclosures pushed home prices down, which may have lead to additional foreclosures. When the value of a home drops below what a borrower owes on the mortgage, it becomes nearly impossible to get out of the loan by selling the house or refinancing, making foreclosure more likely if they become unable to afford the monthly payment. “By making it harder for borrowers to avoid paying credit card debt, [the 2005 bankruptcy law] made it more difficult for them to pay their mortgages, so foreclosure rates rose,” the economists wrote. Although borrowers have been unable to alleviate mortgage debt in bankruptcy since 1993, they remain able to discharge credit card debts by filing for bankruptcy. But the 2005 law made it much more difficult for consumers to file for bankruptcy at all — and then limited their ability to reduce credit card debt burdens once they did.
Continue reading …CNN Religion Blog Publishes Religion Prof’s Take on Bible’s ‘Mixed Messages’ on Sexuality
February 10, 2011 No Comment
It's apparently all the rage this week among mainstream media religion features to hype the unorthodox views of Boston University's Jennifer Wright Knust. On Monday, Newsweek's Lisa Miller uncritically presented her readers with a summary of arguments from the professor's new book. The next day “On Faith,” — a joint Newsweek/Washington Post online religion news/comment feature — published the first of a multi-part series of guest columns by Knust. Yesterday, CNN's Belief Blog joined in,, granting Knust a “My Take” blog post focused on attacking Scripture's teachings on homosexuality. To be fair, CNN offers a disclaimer that “[t]he opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jennifer Wright Knust,” but the writer's claims are so suspect that one wonders why editors didn't hold off on publication until they had a counterpoint ready to go. For example, Knust reads present-day cultural assumptions backwards into scriptural text when she sees homoeroticism in biblical accounts of the close friendship between King David and King Saul's son Jonathan: Despite common misperceptions, biblical writers could also imagine same-sex intimacy as a source of blessing. For example, the seemingly intimate relationship between the Old Testament's David and Jonathan, in which Jonathan loved David more than he loved women, may have been intended to justify David’s rise as king.
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By refusing to leave office the Egyptian president has exposed America’s inability to decisively influence events The Obama administration was embarrassingly wrongfooted when the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak confounded expectations by refusing to leave office. Mubarak’s speech came just hours after Barack Obama and the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, appeared to give credence to the rumours that the Egyptian president was heading for the exit. Obama has been putting pressure on Mubarak since last week to stand down straight away, but Mubarak, in a televised address tonight, said he would not bow to international pressure, a direct snub to the US president. Mubarak’s response provides a graphic illustration of America’s slow decline from its status as the world’s sole superpower to a position where it is unable to decisively influence events in Egypt, in spite of that country being one of the biggest recipients of US military aid. Since the uprising began, the Obama administration has shifted from solidly supporting Mubarak, to suggesting a few days later that he should go now, only to back him at the weekend to remain in office until the autumn – a decision that the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, reversed hours later when she threw US support behind the Egyptian vice-president, Omar Suleiman. But even support for Suleiman may leave US policy trailing behind events in Egypt, with the vice-president seen as too close to Mubarak. Obama, speaking in Michigan, sought to align the US belatedly with the demonstrators of Tahrir Square, acknowledging their role in the uprising. His words seemed to pave the way for Mubarak to go, but, as throughout the crisis, they were ambiguous enough to be open to various interpretations. The US president can now say he was only speaking generally about the Egyptian crisis. He told an audience of students: “What is absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfolding. It’s a moment of transformation that’s taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change. “They’ve turned out in extraordinary numbers and all ages and all walks of life … And so going forward, we want all Egyptians to know America will continue to do everything we can to support an orderly and genuine transition to democracy in Egypt.” Barack Obama Hosni Mubarak Egypt Protest US foreign policy Obama administration US politics Middle East United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Hosni Mubarak gave a speech in which he was anticipated to announce his resignation. Instead, the 82-year-old Egyptian president repeated his intention to remain in power until the presidential elections in September.
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