AT HOME WITH THE NEWS

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I've been enjoying the unpredictable turn the news took when the people of Cairo gathered to boot out the American puppet Mubarak. Then there was Bahrain, which I had to look up in the Atlas. I've heard the name in relation to Arab news for several years, but never had seen it on a map. I set out on a search and found it's an island just off the coast of Saudi Arabia, connected to land by a bridge, in the Persian Gulf. It looks like it's about the size of the island at the southern tip of Malaysia that is the city Singapore. Bahrain sitting in the Persian Gulf rings the alarm, OIL, and the other American alarm, MONEY. If there's trouble for us to get into in Bahrain, we'll find it. The king had a few people killed for being brazen enough to speak out about replacing him, another American puppet.

The best is Khadafy of Libya. Bringing down the American puppet by mass protest in Egypt caught on in Libya next door. Remember 30 years ago when Reagan sent some jets across the ocean in the secret of night to invade Libyan air space and bomb Khadafy's house with intent to assassinate him? They missed and bombed the French Embassy instead, killing a Chinese diplomat and one of Khadafy's children. Major diplomatic blunder, but no problem. It was the Gypper behind it, and the Gypper was on our side, unless you're in the middle class or the working class. Anyway, it helped Khadafy to see his vulnerability with a rogue government ruling the world that paid no mind to Geneva conventions, international law or anything unAmerican like the ACLU. Khadafy calmed down, took his bonus under the table and turned into a real nice guy where American power was concerned. Now he's on the line with the Libyan people for being an American puppet. I think I heard something like 50 or more dead in the Libyan protests. He's a true African dictator. He'll kill everybody in the country before he'll relent.

What surprises these are, people of the Arab world suddenly standing up to their dictators to get shot, beat up and thrown in prison that's bad anyway, but as political prisoners, much worse. Hilary Clinton cheering them on with platitudes about democracy, Obama mouthing empty words about democracy. I heard a pundit on the radio talking about dictators having demonstrators killed always works against them, the dictators. This was in reference to the King of Bahrain who evidently let 4 people get killed. Now Khadafy has stepped in it big time, more than 50. We'll see. It sounded a bit academic to me, somewhat hollow. I doubt Khadafy's troops are done yet with the killing. African dictators don't operate by American pundit forecasts. Khadafy is as ruthless as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He'll do what he has to do. He likes suitcases full of freshly minted greenbacks under the table. Smells so good. He'll be an American puppet if he wants to be.

I doubt any American pressure will be applied anywhere but Egypt, and that primarily for the Suez Canal. They could nuke Cairo and think nothing of it, but leave the canal of oil tanker commerce alone. The canal is bigger than Egypt. Egypt is just the gatekeeper and will wear a bow tie if told to. Odd little run of news in the last week or so. A little gust from out of the blue, democracy movements in the Arab world wanting to oust American puppet governments. And they were successful. Something about that says a great deal about Egypt. They have international tourism for the pyramids and international excavations going on. Alexandria is an an international city. Egypt is more in sync with the rest of the world than seemingly any place in Africa, bonded by the canal and the pyramids to the rest of the world. Egypt can't cut loose on its population like other African countries can, for these two umbilical reasons that keep it vitally connected to the rest of the world.

Surprise urban uprisings have made refreshing asides from all the present terrorist themes we're given to be alarmed over daily, entertained the way we wanna be. The thrill of being aghast at something I just heard. Like Jr would say, It ain't the world that's crazy, it's the people in it. Bernie Madoff in prison for life, his son a suicide, his wife changed her name. That's what you call outside of society. First day of one news story, they were out forever. The place they held in NY society closed up behind them like water closes after you step out of the pool. I can't stop listening to the news, even when I don't like hearing it, even when I don't believe it. There's something about it that feels necessary to hear. It's our collective agreed upon reality. It has the same urgency as Saturday morning cartoons for a kid. It's the constant surprise popping through the mundane same-o that tells me an awful lot. Like these democracy movements in Arab dictatorships, American puppets, wanting rid of the American dependence, wanting democracy and money too. After what democracy did to Iraq and Afghanistan, none of it makes sense. Thus it stays interesting. Makes it like it's alive.

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