So, what set off Thursday’s ultimately frustrating series of events? Among other things, this:

“Based on the responsibility of the Armed Forces, and its commitment to protect the people, and to oversee their interests and security, and with a view to the safety of the nation and the citizenry, and of the achievements and properties of the great people of Egypt, and in affirmation and support for the legitimate demands of the people, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces convened today, 10 February 2011, to consider developments to date, and decided to remain in continuous session to consider what procedures and measures that may be taken to protect the nation, and the achievements and aspirations of the great people of Egypt.”

Looking at the brass involved, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces appears roughly equivalent to the Joint Chiefs. It’s the kind of group you might expect Mubarak to chair — only he wasn’t in the room.

But unlike the Joint Chiefs, the Supreme Council isn’t a standing operations committee. It’s only been convened twice before in Egypt’s history: the Six-Day War and the October War. Mubarak may have thrown sand in their gears, but Thursday was not a drill.

After a day of Will He or Won’t He, Hosni Mubarak has announced on Egyptian television that he won’t — he’s remaining in power.

Earlier…

Read more »

As far as Congressional Sex Scandals go, Wednesday’s short-attention-span edition wasn’t much of a story — at least, until the subject resigned. In fact, until the resignation, we thought the whole thing beneath notice. Marital infidelity? Please. Where are the diapers? Where’s the wide stance? Where’s the zazz?

Consider: Married Congressman Solicits Relationship on Craigslist. Yes? And?

And, well — nothing.

Nothing, that is, but a “hip” gossip site sounding downright puritanical about it. Because to us, the story isn’t about a sex scandal that doesn’t even involve sex, but Gawker becoming your mother. Call it the Scolden Age.

Read more »

Our guest columnist represented New York’s 26th District until this afternoon.

Through the Internet, with a few keystrokes and the click of a button, a young person can call up information for a research project, make new friends or discover new hobbies.

At the same time, responding to what may seem like a friendly e-mail or an appealing marketing offer can have serious consequences. Private information and images can so easily be transmitted to friends and strangers alike.

Indeed, for as much promise as the Internet offers young people in the form of educational resources and social connections, there is great concern about the dangers and unknowns associated with a medium that is growing by several billion web pages per day.

Read more »

Allen West, whom we still can’t get excited about, issues a Dire Warning:

“You look out there, you see that AOL has purchased the Huffington Post. Now all of a sudden a very far left liberal blogger such as Arianna Huffington has a huge influence in the Internet world,” he said.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be suppressed. We cannot allow them to take over the Internet,” he said, as audience members nodded vigorously and started clapping.

Set aside the Abject Silliness of Arianna Stassinopoulos being a Far Left Liberal Blogger, as opposed to a Wily Spam Queen. Instead, consider the consequences of teabaggers turning AOL into the Ogre du Jour.

Read more »

For any Catholic who can’t dilly-dally at confession, there’s now a church-approved iPhone and iPad app that allows a person to categorize and organize his/her sins in anticipation of the Rite of Penance.  The app provides a checklist of the Ten Commandments, as well as questions a priest might ask at confession.

Penance isn’t free. The price? Only $1.99.

[Christian Science Monitor: Confession app for iPhone approved by Catholic Church]

“The high-level state Government has no fucking right to drive down my fucking property values, especially with local authorities opposed.”

-Site Commenter Miles SG

There’s an interesting discussion going on in the comments section at Matthew Yglesias’ site. It concern the establishment of a Tea Party organized group called “The Campaign for Liberty” that was founded in opposition to a state law restricting localities ability to place land use restrictions on private property. What the law says, essentially, is that localities must designate areas where medium-density and mixed use contruction is permitted. Basically what we’re talking about here are apartment buildings and light commecial real-estate, such as a 7-11 or a dentist’s office. But this law has some local residents up in arms, worried that letting another man do what he wants with his own property will negatively affect someone else’s property values. Yglesias notes the odd contradictions in play:

This is a country where the free market position is that for-profit colleges should have a right to unrestricted government subsidies. So why shouldn’t “liberty” mean the liberty of rich suburbanites to ban medium-density construction? Here’s a group of people being forced to do something they don’t like and they don’t like being forced to accept urbanization any more than conservatives like being forced to let gay couples get married or the conservatives of yore liked being forced to integrate the Montgomery bus system. Change feels coercive to people.

Read more »