The angry music hour presents...

On this day in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in Harlem N.Y. In his honor, The Angry Music Hour offers his famous speech "The Ballot or The Bullet" Yes, you are required to listen to the entire 53 minutes. No cheating.

Some Light Reading

As the War On Working People heats up, it is essential one stays informed.
"First Amendment Remedies" sums up how working people are taking back their constitutional rights
"America the Baroque" examines similarities between modern America and 17th century Spain
"Bringing Home 150 Troops" puts Wisconsin's budget "crisis" in perspective vis a vis how much we waste daily in Afghanistan
"12 Things You Need To Know" lays out the lies surrounding Wisconsin's ginned up faux budget crisis.
"Egypt, Wisconsin and the Future of  Democracy" lays out the a global perspective.
Truthout has an article on the upcoming protests planned for February 26th
How to plan a "U.S. Uncut action on the 26th, from The Nation 
 Governor Scott's wingnut history is long and well documented

More Required Reading

The Arab World is On Fire - Noam Chomsky, via Truthout:

Observers compared the events to the toppling of Russian domains in 1989, but there are important differences.

Crucially, no Mikhail Gorbachev exists among the great powers that support the Arab dictators. Rather, Washington and its allies keep to the well-established principle that democracy is acceptable only insofar as it conforms to strategic and economic objectives: fine in enemy territory (up to a point), but not in our backyard, please, unless it is properly tamed.

One 1989 comparison has some validity: Romania, where Washington maintained its support for Nicolae Ceausescu, the most vicious of the East European dictators, until the allegiance became untenable. Then Washington hailed his overthrow while the past was erased.

 and this:

A common refrain among pundits is that fear of radical Islam requires (reluctant) opposition to democracy on pragmatic grounds. While not without some merit, the formulation is misleading. The general threat has always been independence. In the Arab world, the U.S. and its allies have regularly supported radical Islamists, sometimes to prevent the threat of secular nationalism.

A familiar example is Saudi Arabia, the ideological center of radical Islam (and of Islamic terror). Another in a long list is Zia ul-Haq, the most brutal of Pakistan’s dictators and President Reagan’s favorite, who carried out a program of radical Islamization (with Saudi funding).

Required reading

Why Mubarak is Out From the article:

Many international media commentators – and some academic and political analysts – are having a hard time understanding the complexity of forces driving and responding to these momentous events. This confusion is driven by the binary “good guys versus bad guys” lenses most use to view this uprising. Such perspectives obscure more than they illuminate. There are three prominent binary models out there and each one carries its own baggage:  (1) People versus Dictatorship: This perspective leads to liberal naïveté and confusion about the active role of military and elites in this uprising. (2) Seculars versus Islamists: This model leads to a 1980s-style call for “stability” and Islamophobic fears about the containment of the supposedly extremist “Arab street.” Or, (3) Old Guard versus Frustrated Youth: This lens imposes a 1960s-style romance on the protests but cannot begin to explain the structural and institutional dynamics driving the uprising, nor account for the key roles played by many 70-year-old Nasser-era figures.

The situation deteriorates in Egypt

The elation I felt last week as the masses took to the streets in Egypt has slowly turned to dread and apprehension as covert government forces brutally attack and murder people in the streets. Yesterday I watched as undercover police posing as counter-demonstrators charged into crowds on horseback and camelback, armed with clubs and machetes. Journalists were hunted down and beaten. Today, Journalists are being rounded up and arrested. Something is planned, and the security apparatus is trying to make sure we don't witness it. I just watched video of a police van plowing into a crowd of people - it is too disturbing to share.
There was no violence when the people took to the streets. None. The only violence is being perpetrated by the state. Until the violent acts of 'pro-government' thugs, what transpired was what always transpires when the masses reach the tipping point - They mass and become empowered by their numbers. Each one has a cathartic revelation - "I am not alone!" The state has a cathartic revelation as well, when it becomes apparent that the people have realized that they can organize and speak with a common voice.
What has been uncorked in the Middle East can not be contained. Indeed, it has already spread across the region. But these are brutal regimes, more brutal than the former Eastern Bloc, and they will most likely die a very violent death. I hope the forces of democracy will prevail over those of Theocracy and repression.
My fingers are crossed. There is not much else I can do.