Naturally

Apparently as part of the Super Bowl pregame festivities (between new super expensive male enhancement ads) the NFL and Fox (naturally) are going to note it is nearly Reagan's 100th Birthday.

As Charles Pierce noted you may have missed the 100th Anniversary noting of the far greater President's, FDR, 100th birthday by the NFL in 1982 because it didn't happen.

An important thing to understand about the protests in Egypt

Not that the FoxNews crowd would understand:

The Catholic Cardinal in Egypt was witnessed hand in hand with a Muslim cleric, both in their religious dress with the pro-democracy demonstrators. He was speaking about national unity, stating that the myth of sectarian strife is only made by the failing government security apparatus and urge people to unite as Egyptians. The Muslim cleric also stated the same.

Never gets old

Letterman last night:

"The good news is that Hosni Mubarak may step down.

The bad news is that he may be replaced by his idiot son Hosni W. Mubarak."

Super Bowl Prediction

Mixed-breeds over purebreads on the strength of their less dysplasiaed hips.

So long, and thanks for all the fish?

Will it be the helicopter on top of the roof method?

The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately and turn over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats said Thursday.

Suleiman, as you might expect, is a real prince. It may, however, be a "relatively" fairly broad coalition so the Right in this country can still go remain insane.

But it's not like Mubarak will not be leaving without the traditional parting gifts of a long-time tyrant who has benefited in part from the West's largess:

Egypt’s embattled President Hosni Mubarak’s and his family’s net worth is estimated to be between U.S. dollars 40 and 70 billion, a media report said. The wealth of the Egypt’s first family was built largely from military contracts during his days as an air force officer...

For some reason this argument is more compelling than Leviticus

Which I often say over a nice dinner of crabcakes.

In Iowa, the GOP is slobbering to try to outlaw same-sex marriage -- rather than y'know helping the economy and shit like that. Well, here's a 19-year who pretty much has come to dominate the debate.

For Husni, Newt, and Grandpa McCain

Um, a Spelling Bee?

The Banality of Evil

I know that many will still hold out Neville Chamberlain as an example, but surely Tony Blair's statements yesterday before Mubarak's thugs took to the streets will merit some eternal mark in the Hall of Shame and Ignorance:

Tony Blair has described Hosni Mubarak, the beleaguered Egyptian leader, as "immensely courageous and a force for good" and warned against a rush to elections that could bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power.

Say what you will about the Obama Administration's customary fecklessness, it beats a pair of false claims straight out of a Glenn Beck rant. Or maybe just John McCain's playbook.

Meanwhile, somewhere the Ghost of Hannah Arendt surely noticed this happening seemingly right after Blair's statements about this "immensely courageous" "force for good":

In one almost medieval scene, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-government crowds, trampling several people and swinging whips and sticks. Protesters dragged some riders from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating their faces. The horses and camels appeared to be ones used to give tourists rides around Cairo.

Straight out of central-stereotypical-casting.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

You've got to be fucking kidding me?!

Apparently the recruited and paid "pro-Mubarak" thugs came straight out of tragi-comic stereotyping.

Wham! Bam! O'Reilly's on

With FoxNews there are no winners:

"We didn't even do that. He was too busy watching Fox News, he didn't want to cuddle."

"Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Camille Grammer telling Joy Behar on Monday what went wrong in her marriage to her estranged husband Kelsey Grammer

I guess it's better than what usually happens when Kelsey Grammar rams things, exchanging insurance information.

New Zealand's not even on the map Motherf**ker!!

WORST RISK PLAYER EVER!

"I believe that I can make a case in the end that there are three powers that you will see really emerge. One, a Muslim caliphate that controls the Mideast and parts of Europe. Two, China, that will control Asia, the southern half of Africa, part of the Middle East, Australia, maybe New Zealand, and God only knows what else. And Russia, which will control all of the old former Soviet Union bloc, plus maybe the Netherlands. I'm not really sure. But their strong arm is coming. That leaves us and South America. What happens to us?"

Always remember people

What would Chuck Todd think?

Dear Egypt

I'm just sayin' I'm going to be available, other Joes have done it and I have my own Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (hint, it's my winning smile).

Meanwhile, Al Gore is soooooo fat

What global climate change? It still snows in the Winter.

Tens of thousands of people fled the path of a monster storm bearing down on northeastern Australia as officials warned that the life-threatening cyclone had increased in strength overnight.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh urged residents of low-lying areas to evacuate quickly as gusts up to 174 mph (280 kph) were expected ahead of Cyclone Yasi, forecast to hit Cairns late Wednesday.

There are times to avoid Sully

After he completely kissed Bush's ass toward Iraq in 2003, but it is telling...and I wonder if Sullivan noticed...to compare these pictures of the central squares of Baghdad that he was so taken by and those of Cairo.

Naturally, this was written not by Sullivan but by Chris Bodenner.

Johnny One Note

John Bolton set the moral tenor of his life early on by saying:

"by the time I was about to graduate in 1970, it was clear to me that opponents of the Vietnam War had made it certain we could not prevail, and that I had no great interest in going there to have Teddy Kennedy give it back to the people I might die to take it away from."

Thus began a life-long tradition of presumptively blaming liberals for all bad things while having no problem watching others die for a situation he didn't want to get personally involved in. A real moral giant. A real Neo-Con.

And so it goes:

Bolton: Mubarak’s Downfall Would Mean We Need To Bomb Iran Sooner

What else calls for the bombing of Iran? Bolton's a war mongerer for all seasons. The coming of Spring; Summer; Fall; and Winter.

North Korea does something, bomb Iran! Gaza protests, bomb Iran! And, of course, Iran protests in Iran, bomb Iran!

Packers win, bomb Iran. Steelers win, bomb Iran.

There's only one instance where John Bolton did not want to bomb Iran, when he wanted to bomb Chicago.

Fill In The Blank

Welcome to a fun new Rising Hegemon feature: "Our Trolls are so stupid that _________". To play, all you need to do is fill in the blank!

I'll get us started.

"Our trolls are so stupid that they believe the New York Times is 'leftist'".

You play along in comments.

Maybe they should put some of that bonus money

The Tax Payers have given them into security?

NBC New York says that over the past few weeks, law enforcement agencies have been briefing banks on this new, terrifying terror threat. What kind of threat? Well, let's see: it's "general in nature." But a terror blogger did write about "targeting financial sites." And Al Qaeda wrote about the same thing in its magazine.

Wait a minute, Al Qaeda has a magazine?

"Better Homes & Bombings"?
"Good Jihading"?
"Highlights"?

Why don't we just wait for them to go bankrupt on it?

Richard Cohen's Nightmare

All those brown people, little people, silly people, demanding a Democracy.

Ooh, icky!