Saturday, January 29, 2011

[1591] CHRIS MATTHEWS ‘THE PANAMA CANAL IS IN EGYPT’!- Okay- this past week a lot has been going on in the world- I really wanted to title this post ‘we didn’t start the fire’ [Africa’s revolution] but the Matthews thing was too tempting. First- as I write- protestors are in the streets of Egypt- a popular uprising calling for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Why? The same discontent that we saw on the streets of Europe- low wages- a rich/poor caste system- and an overall economic rebellion- people do not want what they see as an unequal balance. These past few weeks the African continent has been in a sort of revolt; Tunisia and Ivory Coast want their ‘dictators’ out- Sudan overwhelmingly voted for independence from the north- and Egypt- the most stable Arab country in the region [though Egypt is technically the northern most country on the continent- it really is a major player in the middle eastern conflict- it borders Israel’s southern border] is in the middle of a popular uprising that no one expected. Egypt has the largest military in the area- has made peace with Israel- and has a proud history of a continuous rule dating back all the way to the Pharaohs- for this country to possibly fall into the hands of the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’- the other major political player in the country- this would not be good. Okay- why the title to this post? Last week- yes- Sarah Palin did it again- in a very short response to Obama’s state of the union speech- she criticized Obama for using the term ‘Sputnik Moment’ [it was very weird- to be honest- I’m sure the speechwriter has been removed from his job after this blunder]. And she kinda criticized Obama for pointing to the former Soviet Union as an example of ‘our moment’. So she says the Russians launched their space program –did beat us with the Sputnik satellite in the space race- we came back fiercely under good old J.F.K. and put a man on the moon. In the end we won the race- and the U.S.S.R. lost- plus they eventually bankrupted themselves with their soviet system. So in Palin’s quick response- I guess you could read it like she was blaming the Russian space program for their financial woes- but it just seems like she was making a legit criticism that using ‘the Sputnik Moment’ was way out in left field. Then of course Chris Matthews spends a few days seriously concerned about the intellectual criteria for the Tea Party crowd- I mean he asks whether or not they really need to go back to Elementary school and get educated- on and on- Bachman, Palin- etc. So as Matthews is covering the Egyptian story- yes- he talks about the importance of Egypt- and he says one of the major reasons that Egypt is so very vital- is because we ‘all know’ that the Panama Canal is located in Egypt. Okay- if you don’t know history/geography- we can forgive you- but when you spend a week critiquing the ‘low level of intellect’ of your political enemies- and do this- then you too need to take a few moths/years off and simply get an education. I mean it’s possible to not know the whole history of the region- but the PANAM CANAL- in Egypt- It’s the Suez.

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