Emma Berry

March 26, 2011

Remember, the most important news happens from Friday Afternoon until Sunday Afternoon.and there is a reason:  fewer people are paying attention on the weekend

This day in history In 1981 Police and Albanian demonstrators battle in Kosovo Yugoslavi; 1969 Nuclear reactor Dodewaard Netherlands goes into use; 1960 Iraq executes 30 after attack on President Kasse; 1942 20 tons of gelignite in a stone quarry at Easton Pennsylvania kills 21.

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WISCONSIN REVOLUTION

Republican lawmakers continue to push forward with their My Way or the Highway

Late Friday the Wisconsin Republican lawmakers/breakers unexpectedly published despite a temporary restraining order barring publication, sparking confusion and more animosity among legislators who have fiercely debated the issue for weeks. State officials disagreed over whether publication of the law — a procedural requirement — would allow it to be in force on Saturday.  See New York Times

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MICHIGAN REVOLUTION

Michigan’s Rick Snyder may not take care of the working people but he and his crones take care of their Insurance buddies.

The Detroit Free Press reports that Starting July 1, Michigan motorists will pay more than ever — $145 per vehicle – to cover the state’s cost of treating severe accident injuries.

The MCCA fee has fluctuated since it began in 1979. It is based on predictions of future costs of current and new severe injury claims. Next year, it’s predicted that 850 insured Michiganders will be catastrophically injured. That’s down from the 1,200 severe injuries that were predicted in the past year – a 29% decrease.

QUEEN’S COMMENTS BETWEEN THE LINES: So if there are going to be almost 1/3 fewer accidents in the coming year, why are the rates being raised on Michigan people?  Remember: one of the reasons the number of accidents anticipated is reduced is because there are few customers for the insurance companies in Michigan to take money from as people are leaving Michigan to find jobs elsewhere as Michigan has the highest rate of unemployment in the nation.  Thus less potential for profit for the insurance companies.  They have to make it up somewhere. I wish that people who work for a living would start paying attention to what the Republican/Tea Party really mean when they talk about lower taxes–they mean lower taxes for the rich. They make up the difference by nickel and diming the majority of us.

Michigan loves the insurance corporations even more than Texas. Michigan is the only state that requires all drivers to have unlimited medical coverage for injuries suffered in auto accidents.

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JAPAN AND WORLD-WIDE NUCLEAR DISASTER

Conditions at Japan Nuke Plan Worsen
Despite some signs of hope in the past week at Japan’s troubled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plan, conditions have taken and increasingly alarming turn.  The Chicago Tribune reports that the Japan disaster puts spotlight on 4-decade old Exelon-owned nuclear plant and the campaign that a small group of environmentalists and nuclear critics have fought to shut down one of Exelon Corporations nuclear power plans in New Jersey just got a boast.

The Oyster Creek plant which is America’s oldest operating nuclear reactor, sits about 5 miles inland from a string of beaches on New Jersey’s coastline known as the Jersey shore.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is now rushing to inject the reactors with fresh water instead amid concerns about the corrosive nature of the salt in seawater, Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan’s Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency said at a briefing Saturday. Workers have begun pumping radioactive water from one of the units, Masateru Araki, a TEPCO spokesman, said Saturday. [Queen Comment: Is anyone asking what they will do with that radioactive water? ]

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REVOLUTIONS IN NORTHERN AFRICA

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LIBYA

Friday at 9:41 PM (Remember the rule about weekend news) The Washington Post reports that:
U.S. ALLIES PONDER ARMING LIBYAN REBELS
(Queen’s analysis of headline:  Notice that the Washington Post refers to those who are against Gaddafi as “rebels”. The word “rebel” has certain connotations as–being leftist; against ‘legitimate’ authority.  Other media outlets that are more sympathetic with the people of Libya refer to those against the Gaddafi regime as “pro-democracy fighters”. You may think that I”m nit picking here, but what something is called has a huge influence on our reaction to it. In spite of the cliche about stick and stone. . . Words can indeed influence and hurt you. )

According to the Post:  “International opponents of arming the rebels have said that both the identity and the aims of the opposition are too uncertain, or that the arms embargo authorized by the United Nations applies to both the Gaddafi government and the rebels.”

According to CNN, coalition fighter planes in a 24 hour period took out 7 Libyan tanks and people are clinging to the hope that Gaddafi will be defeated. Citizens in the city of Ajdabiya heard that Gaddafis’s thugs were breaking into houses and taking the men away so many families have fled that city and driven away as far as their cars could take them before running out of fuel.  Thousands of them are now huddled with their children out in the desert without any protection.

QUEEN’S COMMENT: There are three huge problems with this revolution: 1) The people are scattered among the various cities and  2) the overwhelming majority of them have no military experience  3) At least 1/3 if not more of the Gaddafi forces are mercenaries who have no hesitation about firing on the Libyan people.  If you contrast the Libyan situation with that of Egypt, you can easily see that there is no comparison whatsoever.  The heart of that revolution was concentrated Cairo–a city with a population of about 80 million people–most of whom came out in person to support the revolution. The Egyptian army is primarily made up of Egyptians, most of whom were hesitant to fire on other Egyptians. But if you will just consider the sheer number:  80 million to what? several hundred thousand in the military?  Mubarak had no choice unless he wanted to use nuclear weapons against his own people.

There are only a few choices with Libya:  1) Special forces can come in and take out Gaddafi–capture him and turn him over to and International court.  2) Make a deal with Gaddafi whereby representatives from the U.N. can come into the country and monitor what he is doing–put Gaddafi on probation and protect the people.  3) Send in trained ground forces.  Giving these people weapons would be about like giving me such weapons.  I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to use it.  And there is even more:  Because of the scattered locations, in order to defeat Gaddafi, these people, or a least a few of them, need to be skilled military strategists.  Victory for the Pro-democracy fighters is not going to happen without assistance from military professionals.  I don’t see it as a possibility barring a miracle.

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EGYPT

I’m hoping that the U.N. have sent people to Egypt to offer assistance in forming a democratic political party. They will need help in doing this and in learning about campaigning strategies. At the moment there are only two organized parties in Egypt and neither of them are very promising in terms of effecting a democracy.

All is not well in Egypt.

In Egypt yesterday (Friday), thousands gathered in the Cairo square that was the heart of Egypt’s uprising to protest a proposed law that would ban protests — and to voice fears that their revolution may not have been much of a revolution, after all.

Six weeks after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, protesters in Tahrir Square said they worry that some things have not changed. Exacerbating those worries was the decree this week by Egypt’s civilian Cabinet that will ban protests and strikes deemed harmful to the economy if the military approves it. (SOURCE)

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TUNISIA

AFP reports that Italy offers Tunisia a Line of Credit

Italy is to give Tunisia a line of credit of 150 million euros to help it relaunch its economy, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Tunis Friday. It is also to give Tunisia 80 million euros ($113 million) to fight against clandestine immigration. The line of credit should “help priority areas in Tunisia”, Frattini told reporters.He said cooperation could take the form of training young Tunisians, combatting marine pollution, improving fisheries and encouraging tourism. “Every year 60,000 Italians visit Tunisia and we must encourage these potential tourists to come back to the country this year,” he said. A publicity campaign promoting Tunisia will be launched in Italy next month, he added.

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YEMEN

The Scenes in Yemen are beginning to look more like those in Egypt in the last stages of its revolution. Last week’s bloodshed prompted a wave of defections by military commanders, ruling party members, and others, swelling the ranks of the opposition and leaving the president isolated.

Like Mubarak, Saleh has made gestures trying to appease the protesters, to no avail. Over the past month, he has offered to not run again when his current term ends in 2013, and promised to step down by the end of the year and open a dialogue with the leaders of the demonstrators. That offer was rejected as too little, too late.

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REVOLUTIONS IN MIDDLE EAST

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SYRIA

BBC reports that U.S. and the U.N. have condemned the Syrian Government

There has been international condemnation of the Syrian government following reports that troops fired on peaceful demonstrators on Friday. The US said Syria was trying to “repress and intimidate demonstrators”, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Damascus to exercise restraint.

In the US, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: “We strongly condemn the Syrian government’s attempts to repress and intimidate demonstrators,” Mr Carney said late on Friday. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to urge “maximum restraint” And he also stressed that Damascus had an obligation to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens. Amnesty International – which expressed fears that 55 people have died in Syria in the past week – also condemned the treatment of demonstrators by Damascus.

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BAHRAIN

Los Angeles Times reports that on Friday the Bahraini government set up military and police cordons at the main roads into Shiite villages. By mid-morning, ski-masked soldiers in tanks and armored personnel carriers and riot police with batons, guns and tear gas had established checkpoints and taken up positions on the Budaiya highway, which threads together villages such as Sar, Bani Jamra and Duraz.

But protests flared around 3 p.m., as groups of young men ranging in number from a few dozen to a few hundred gathered by mosques and cemeteries in villages and moved toward the blockades. On the highway by Duraz, riot police surged down a street leading into town, firing tear gas. In the village, young men collected before a small Shiite mosque and walked down the main street toward the police, unarmed, some wearing scarves and white rags to shield themselves from the tear gas, whose acrid smell hung in the air. [Queen's comment:  tear gas that is supplied by American manufacturers.  When will our  millionaire Congress make it a crime to sell weapons to dictatorships?]

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JORDAN

The New York Times has a very descriptive article of the fighting in Jordan that was published on Friday.

Witnesses said the violence — the worst since demonstrations began in Jordan in January — came after some 200 pro-government counter-demonstrators using sticks and rocks attacked the protesters, who fought back. The riot police were called in, and they broke up the fighting as well as the tent camp.

The Interior Ministry said the man who died in the fighting, Khairi Jamil Saad, 56, an unemployed father of five, had suffered a fatal heart attack. But his son Nasser Saad said in an interview that the riot police had attacked and beaten them both. He said he saw his father’s body at the hospital. His teeth were broken, and he had signs of being beaten on his hands, legs and ears.

Note:  Two previous articles on Jordan from the Queen yesterday.

Jordan has fully entered into its revolution today

A Different Perspective on the Jordan Revolution from the Wall Street Journal