The Magic 8-Ball let me down

Obviously, I don't know jack about Egypt. Yesterday I was predicting that things could get very bad and suddenly there is light. Mubarak ordered his tanks into the square where the protests have been going on, and the tank commanders and drivers refused. Mubarak then headed off to the Red Sea and shortly after that finally resigned, turning over control of the country to the Military. No word yet if Glenn Beck will be joining him.

In many countries, turning everything over to the Military would scare the crap out of me. Not so much this time. In effect this actually changes very little. The military already ran the country - Mubarak was a military commander himself, as was Sadat before him. This comes across to me more like when Russia began to shrug off communist control than a military coup.

You know what it also says? Just how irrelevant we were to the whole process. I honestly think that Obama made a couple of missteps on this one, specifically with the envoy he sent over there to try and work things out, but all in all it didn't matter one damned bit. I think this would have played out as it did no matter who was running things here. I can't think of any other administration playing this in any other way - confused. Face it, we were caught off guard by all of this, and the speed at which it unfolded reminds me greatly of when Eastern Europe began its transition.

Conservatives will say this is all a validation of the Bush Doctrine. Obama's supporters will say this validates his foreign policy approach. Both are laughably wrong. Bush's efforts had nothing to do with Egypt - everything he did was all about might and might was curiously absent from all of this. Obama's administration continually changed positions, following the tide of what they say in the street, but didn't actually offer any leadership - just reactions. No, this is all on the people of Egypt.

Of course, this could still all end badly. After all, over 300 people have died in the midst of all of this. But there are signs of guarded optimism here.

Cheap shots (get yer drink on):

Steve King is a fucking twit. Tase him.

He'll be back.

Maine's election in 2012 has the potential to be truly entertaining.

I get the feeling that someone finally attempted an intervention, but it didn't work. Careful, we might soon see him screaming obscenities shirtless on COPS.

Talk about an unfriendly crowd.

Remember a couple of months ago I talked about infrastructure? Well? Remember?

Apparently these fucking idiots don't.

And because I love you, The Church