The Grand Inquisitor

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The Grand Inquisitor is plotting against you.

It’s Almost Happy Hour Open Thread

Good afternoon. I know from our site stats that this is the time of day when most of you stop in to waste time at work. Welcome. Please open an excel spreadsheet that you can quickly switch to when your boss walks by. In honor of the President’s Day weekend here is some presidential trivia.

• George Washington was the only president who did not represent a political party.

• James Madison was the first president to wear trousers rather than knee breeches.

• John Quincy Adams regularly swam nude in the Potomac River. The first American professional journalist, Anne Royall, knew of Adams’ 5:00 a.m. swims. After being refused interviews with Adams many times, she went to the river, gathered his clothes and sat on them until she had her interview. Before this, no female had interviewed a president.

• Andrew Jackson was the first American president to experience and survive an assassination attempt. Jackson was at the Capitol when an unemployed house painter fired a pistol at him. The pistol misfired. The would-be assassin drew a second pistol, which also misfired.

•William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address, and was the first president to die in office, about 32 days after elected. On March 4, he gave a 105 minute speech and did not wear an overcoat or hat. He developed pneumonia and died in the White House exactly one month after giving his speech, on April 4.

• Chester A. Arthur was nicknamed “Elegant Arthur” because of his fashion sense.

Have a great weekend. I will be celebrating in Washington DC because I love America more than you and I don’t want the terrorists to win.

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning lovlies. Hope that you had the sweetest of dreams and are ready to face the day. I am traveling this weekend, so I will give you three stories from the magazines I only have time to read when I am sitting on an airplane.

The Atlantic takes a look at video games inspired by great literature. Apparently, the Great Gatsby is pretty good, but Dante’s Inferno was kind of disappointing.

Scott Horton at Harper’s investigates the case of a US consular officer being held for shooting 2 men in Pakistan. Raymond Davis was traveling on a diplomatic passport in the country, but his Special Forces background suggests he was doing intelligence work.

Damn I love The Economist. Here is their fantastic analysis about the past few weeks of protests and change in the Middle East and North Africa. The article is excellent and the other people on the plane will think you are smart because you have a copy of The Economist.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Late Night Open Post: Bark at the Moon

Protests in Wisconsin in opposition by public service employees continue tonight as 3800 state workers were joined by students from the University of Wisconsin. The demonstrations have spread to Ohio and union leaders are calling for a national fight.

The Army has moved in and taken control of  Manama, the capital of Bahrain. Four people were killed  yesterday in clashes with riot police.

Conspiracy nut Alex Jones just released a new video. He is ready to save you from the impending police state. Best line: “In my 16 years of doing deep research…”

Buy gold and start hoarding your ammo.

Your Happy Morning Open Thread

Well good morning, sleepy head. Thanks for dropping by. Here is some breakfast related news to provide you with a nutritious start to your day.

Attention promiscuous teens. A new study suggests that teen mothers who eat breakfast have healthier eating habits overall. The study also suggest teen mothers who eat breakfast promote healthier eating habits for their kids.

Contrary to rumors that he is in ill health, Hosni Mubarak was seen having breakfast on the beach of his private resort yesterday. The interim government is reportedly shocked by the amount of corruption and graft they have uncovered since Mubarak’s departure.

Also yesterday, Miley Cyrus had breakfast with her mom. I am not sure why this is important.

Have a wonderful day.

The Heart of Darkness: Your Overnight Open Thread

Good evening/morning and welcome to the open thread. Here’s some headlines from our strange world.

The Smoking Gun reports on a Florida woman arrested for baring her breasts at an elementary school. Interestingly, she did this to register her displeasure with another parent who she believed was showing too much cleavage. Won’t somebody think about the children? Continue reading

Democracy Protests Rock the Middle East and North Africa

This story is a joint effort by Waspy, BBQ Cornnuts, Lady_E, Dürers Rhino, and The Grand Inquisitor.

Demonstrations and riots are sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa this week as protestors, emboldened by the success of the Egyptian Revolution, have demanded reform from their own governments. Demonstrators and government security personnel have been killed in several counties. According to the Associated Press, Hillary Clinton urged civic leaders in effected countries to “seize the historic moment for democratic change

In Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi has been in power since 1969, demonstrators are organizing for Thursday commemoration of the 2006 deaths of 14 protesters. Dissidents have organized a Facebook group is calling for a February 17 Intifada.

Pro-government demonstrators showed support at Sunday’s prayers to commemorate the birth of the prophet. The government is also making an effort to discredit the opposition. Libya is facing unrest in part because of government-subsidized housing projects. Many homes are not completed and thousands of residents are without a place to live.

Dissidents have circulated a petition emphasizing “the right of the Libyan people to express their opinions in peaceful protest, without any form of harassment, threats or provocations” by the regime. The opposition also called on Gaddafi and his family to relinquish authority and “revolutionary, political, military, and security” powers.

In Iraq, citizens of the city Fallujah protested to demand a stop to arbitrary arrests. They also asked the government to resume conscription and to dismiss any foreign citizens, including Americans, from government positions. They also accused the Talabani administration of corruption. Local officials joined in the demonstration and called for basic services, such as rations and electricity.

Meanwhile, unrest has continued in Iran. Two people were killed and dozens were injured during Monday’s protests. New clashes broke out on Wednesday at the funeral in Tehran of a student who was killed in a recent protest. The government blamed the killing on anti-government protesters, but conflicting reports suggest security forces might have been responsible.  While information has been difficult to get out of the country, some estimates have put protest numbers at 350,000 people. In what has become a familiar cycle, Iranian pro-government forces have called for a counter-demonstration against the opposition leaders. In turn, opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who are under house arrest, have called for more anti-government protests.

Yemen is in its sixth day of protests calling for democracy. Dwindling oil reserves and a looming water crisis have motivated an increasingly impoverished public to call for regime change. The President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been in power since 1978. He has attempted to quell the protests by announcing that he will not seek re-election in 2013, urging the public to use democratic solutions rather than violence, and entering talks with individual tribes to bolster support for his government. However, the demonstrations have become increasingly violent as police, military, and plainclothes government supporters have attempted to disperse protestors. Police shot and killed two demonstrators in the main southern city of Aden and several people were wounded in the capitol city of Sanaa.

In Bahrain, protests continued into a third day. Ruled by a centuries-old Constitutional Monarchy, Bahrain’s Sunni minority and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa have been accused of discrimination against the country’s 66% Shia majority. Demonstrations calling for fair representation in Parliament have become more peaceful after police killed two protesters and the King subsequently issued a rare apology on Monday. Demonstrators are setting up a “Protest Camp” in the capitol’s Pearl Roundabout Park and have stated that they will not leave until their demands are met.

The Washington Post is reporting on a potentially explosive development.  In a speech delivered to Jewish American leaders and later repeated in an official press release, Israeli Foreign Prime Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, claimed that two Iranian warships are preparing to enter the Suez Canal, a move that Israel would view as highly provocative.  Mr. Lieberman also claimed that the warships were crossing the Canal to reach Syria, an Iranian ally, presumably to deliver weapons for Hezbollah to use against Israel.  Mr. Lieberman offered no evidence to back up his claims and Egyptian authorities denied the report.  Egypt requires 48 hours notice for entry into the Suez Canal.   However, the US State Department did confirm the two ships were in the Red Sea near the Canal.

The possibility of an Israeli-Iranian conflict poses serious concerns for the region, Egypt’s transitional government, and the anti-government movement in Iran. A confrontation between Israel and Iran could halt the reform movements region-wide dead in their tracks and divert media and world attention from the current uprisings, a situation which would have additional perils for protests that have seen state sanctioned violence slightly curtailed in recognition of the attention focused on the government responses.

The former Mubarak regime considered Iran to be the greatest threat to regional stability and Egypt’s 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel and assistance in enforcing the blockade of Gaza put Egypt in direct opposition with the Iranian government.  The Treaty and blockade are widely unpopular among the Egyptian population, but, this past Sunday, the current Egyptian military government released Communiqué No. 5 pledging to abide by all of Egypt’s foreign treaties and commitments, which includes the Peace Treaty, during the transitional period.  A direct challenge to the Egyptian-Israeli alliance by Iran could greatly complicate the military’s already precarious role as a caretaker government and potentially derail constitutional and statutory reforms that the military has pledged to oversee.

Iran is currently facing the largest anti-Regime protests since the 2009 Green Revolution. A confrontation with Israel would allow the Iranian government to rally the nation against Israel and could lead to deadly violence and treason charges (which carry the death penalty) against any protest participants.  It is not out of the realm of possibility that this is a strategic plan by the Iranian government to undermine both the Egyptian military and its domestic opponents.

While the potential consequences of this report being true are alarming, Mr. Lieberman is well known for issuing dire, and later found to be untrue claims, about Iran and her allies.  Mr. Lieberman is considered by many to be a far-right, anti-Arab hardliner by many and while his party (the Yisrael Beytenu Party) is a part of the new coalition government, they are not the largest in the three party Coalition.  In this Q&A interview in Newsweek, Mr. Lieberman gives a good overview of his positions, his attitude towards Arabs and his view of the Peace process with Palestinians.  Finally, The United States would likely use its influence with Israel to attempt to dissuade any retaliatory response that could undermine the pro-democracy movements taking place.

Demonstrations are expected to continue throughout the rest of the week throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Watch all the action here.

Welcome to the First Crasstalk Writing Workshop

Well hello there, cuties! Welcome to the Crasstalk writing clusterfuck. If you have an author’s account or are planning to write in the near future, you are in the right place. Tonight we are going to try to get everybody ready to post or to improve your posts if you already are. I am going to try and cover some basic issues about the mechanics of posting, but I also want people to kick around some ideas and coordinate with one and other if you are working on related topics. I will be around for the next few hours and will occasionally add to the post, so refresh your screen now and again for new announcements. I will be in the thread so feel free to asks questions, but since I am drinking some delicious beer tonight look for the last 20 minutes or so to consist of my sending you bunny pictures and typing I love you guys in all caps through my drunken sobs.

All right, let’s get to work. First, everyone of you need to go and read this now. Yes, you! I don’t care if you read it yesterday, take 5 minutes and look it over again. I’ll wait.

Ok, so now I want to post something for those of you who are new to Word Press. First, click on this link and bookmark it. This will answer 99% of your questions about creating a post. Also, if you have never posted watch this video to help get you started.

Ready? Great! Now that you have Word Press mastered you are set. Now, let’s move to the next issue. What the hell are we going to write about? There are no content limitations for the most part and there are no assigned beats. Write whatever you are passionate about. Don’t feel like you have to have some amazing topic to get started. Write about what you find interesting and your enthusiasm will probably spread to your readers. Don’t be afraid to take the plunge. We are all pretty nice over here. Also, the beauty of Word Press is that if you really hate it you can just take it down. Take a deep breathe, you are going to be good at this.

So let’s go ahead and throw out a few ideas for each other and try to give each other some feedback so everyone can develop their ideas. Please post ideas if you have them, or if you want to see what people think about a topic. Also, I know several of you have similar interests, so maybe you can work together to come up with some stuff. I know there are a lot of TV fans out there, so we can try to come up with what shows you guys want to cover.

Here are a few things that myself, Dogs, and Meat want to stress:

  • Please try to take the time to write up good material. You don’t have to write a novel, but you are making this for our community, so give them something good.
  • Please don’t over post. Everyone who is taking the time to write here deserves to have their stuff seen.
  • Don’t be a jerk commenter to people who are just getting the hang of this. I should not have to add any more to this.
  • Let us choose the categories for the posts. It is necessary to keep the front page looking orderly.
  • Make sure you have a thumbnail image for every post. You must load the image into the media library and link it from there. You can not just copy the link from the internet.
  • Ask of if you have any questions are need help. The admin types here are doing this because we really enjoy all of you guys, we are here to help.

I am going to post a few links to some good stories that have been posted in the past. Please take a look at them because I think they will really help you.

Here is a wonderful story from Aunt Betty Crocker.

A great music column from Left Coast Lady.

Great political column from Arken. I think this was Arken’s first post so he deserves a bro hug.

I can’t even really explain this one, although it is an example of a post from a recurring column.

Ok, let’s get to it. Post your questions, ideas, irrational fears below and we will all try to make sense of this.

Quick note: If you are interested in a certain topic, put that word first in your reply so others can find you. Second, please thank Coffee and Cigs for being our sexy secretary this evening.

New Update:

I am putting some topic threads below. If you are interested in those topics, put a reply in the disscusion so I can see who is who. Also, I noticed no one said thank you to Coffee and Cigs for taking notes. Don’t make me take the cute bunny pics away.

BTW, here is a really fun TV column.

OK. I am going to take a break for a minute. Please take a brief dance break.

Also, I could really use a few news items for tonight’s overnight open thread. Send ’em if you got ’em.

Update: I think we have had a productive night. If you are reading this late still feel free to add comments and sign up under a topic section. I will check this post in the next couple of days to see what people are thinking and what they are interested in. I think the next step will be to have some posts for each section so we can help each other develop our posts. I will try to get that started in the next week. In the meantime, please feel free to put up posts and get started if you haven’t already. Let us know if you need help.

It has been an honor to serve with you all. Together, we will win the internet.