The Good

The big news this week, of course, is that President Hosni Mubarak has finally conceded defeat and stepped down from his thirty-year presidency. While we celebrate the success of the people’s movement for democracy in Egypt and hope that Suleiman and the army won’t pervert the victory for their own ends, read up on the women participating in the revolution. One of the first things I thought when I read the accounts of “thousands of people thronging Tahir Square” was, “does that include women?” I’m so happy to see it most certainly does. Also, here’s a piece on how the Muslim Brotherhood is not a threat to Americans. Finally, I’m disappointed in Obama and his Administration’s response to this international situation. Here was a perfect opportunity to support the people of Egypt in a true democratic movement (rather than an imposed democracy ahemIraqahem), and instead Obama waffled, threatened to end military aid but never did so, and allowed the entire world to see just how committed the United States is to a despot just because he’s been friendly to American interests sometimes.

The Bad

Speaking of poor decisions on Obama’s part, his overwhelming need to be seen as bipartisan seems to have led to a despicable proposal: slashing funding for energy assistance to poor people. In this miserable winter. Look, I know we have a deficit and the budget has to be balanced somehow, but is letting people freeze really the way to do it?

If you have an ounce of intelligence, how do you work at Fox News and not bang your head against a desk all day?

The Silly

Ha, Malcolm Gladwell is such a pompous hack. This website makes perfect fun of him. (Thanks, Mlle. O’Leary!)

A lovely poem on Michigan, and on home.

Okay, so there’s a lot more news from this past week, not least of which is the horrendous HR 3, but this is going out late as it is. I promise a post on HR 3 next week. Have a good weekend!