Sooner Blue

That's what Rachel Maddow called the Egyptian revolution, also, "It is a dangerous moment, it is a beautiful moment, but the world will never be the same."

I agree, when they learned that Hosni Mubarak had fled Cairo, the Egyptian people roared with the same euphoria, danced in the streets with the same jubilation as the East Germans did the night they tore down the Berlin Wall.

And the Egyptians did it without a '2nd Amendment' .. millions of unarmed men, women and children brought down a powerful corrupt dictator in 18 days. Is this why our American Right is not cheering very loudly for this great democratic movement?

Of course, we have not reached the end of this history lesson .. to want the next few phases of liberation to run as smoothly would be too much to expect. Egypt has been an inspiration, whatever lies ahead.

Some people in the West are uneasy that power has been handed to Egypt's Supreme Military Council .. even on a temporary basis. But the Egyptian people seem okay with it, they respect the military .. maybe because it's a conscript army made up of their sons and brothers, and is rotated every few years so that almost all young men serve.

Remember - the army kept the peace and refused to fire on their own people. If the top brass gets greedy, the lower ranks out number them.

Many fear a repeat of what happened in Iran - a revolution that was hijacked by Islamist theocrats. Egyptian People Power would probably fight that. They are brave and determined - remember that thousands were wounded or "disappeared" .. 300 are dead.

The revolutionaries have opened the door to change .. and now we in the West have to hold our breath and keep our fingers crossed about what happens next. We are on their side, cheering them on.

One thing for sure - no one put up a banner that says, ‘Mission Accomplished.’

How about going from 31 degrees below zero (no, not wind chill) to 70 plus degrees within a week?

In Oklahoma we joke about the weather - "the only state in the union where you can stand in mud up to your knees and have dust blow in your eyes" .. or we sing, "Oooooo-kla-homa where the wind blows the paint right off your car..." .. or "It's so hot I saw a funeral procession pull into a Dairy Queen" .. but we have no jokes about the snow because we go several years without seeing any. So we are absolutely gob smacked about what's happened recently:

".....Nowata, Okla., recorded 31 degrees below zero — setting a new record low for the state. The previous lowest temperature in Oklahoma history was 27 below in 1930 and 1905, said Gary McManus, associate state climatologist with the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. ... McManus said temperatures in Oklahoma should rise to the 60s over the weekend and the 70s next week...."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41507564/ns/weather/

How 'bout - It was so cold that Brett Favre was texting pictures of his chestnuts roasting over an open fire. Ba-dum-ching!

"Keith Olbermann has a new show on Al Gore’s new network. I’m not saying the audience is small, but he begins his show with, Good evening, Al." –Jay Leno

"The Catholic Church has approved a new app that lets you make confessions over your iPhone. It also raises the possibility of accidentally butt-dialing God." –Conan O'Brien

"Michelle Obama says her husband, President Obama, has quit smoking. Fox News reported this as 'Obama Destroying the Tobacco Industry.'" –Craig Ferguson

"Russian astronomers say an asteroid is heading toward our planet and will hit us in 2036. You have to keep in mind that Russian astronomers use empty vodka bottles for telescopes." –Craig Ferguson

"President Obama had lunch with Republican leaders at the White House today and had to do without salt, pepper and butter. Not for dietary reasons. The Republicans refused to pass anything." –Jay Leno

"The Catholic Church has approved an app that let’s you confess on your iPhone. You can now cheat and atone right on the same device. Perfect for Brett Favre." –Jay Leno

"The actual name for this app is "Priest in your pocket." Don’t they read the paper? Couldn’t they come up with a better name?" –Jay Leno

"The demonstrations are getting bigger in Cairo. The Egyptian government tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas, and when that didn’t work, a Black Eyed Peas halftime show." -Conan O'Brien

"A California man is suing Disney because he was trapped on the 'It’s a Small World' ride for 40 minutes. When they heard it, the Chilean miners said, 'Wow, we got off easy.'" –Conan O'Brien

"Michelle Obama says she has gotten President Obama to stop smoking. Now, maybe she can get John Boehner to stop sobbing." –David Letterman

"G.I. Joe was created on this day in 1964, so tonight G.I. Joe’s going out with Ken to celebrate his birthday and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell." –Craig Ferguson

"Vice presidents love technology: Joe Biden with the trains, Al Gore with the Internet, and Dick Cheney with the electric torture clamps." –Craig Ferguson

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is the richest man in the world, with more than $70 billion in hidden assets. That will go up even more once his unemployment kicks in." –Jimmy Fallon

"Prince William’s nightclub owner friend is said to be planning a wild bachelor party. It must be weird stuffing a bill in a stripper’s g-string when it has a picture of your grandmother on it." –Jimmy Fallon

"Washington, D.C. is updating its traffic cameras to enforce traffic laws. How about enforcing bribery and corruption laws?" –Jay Leno

"There was a power outage at Newark Airport. Who wants a TSA pat-down with the lights off?" –Jay Leno

"The head of Homeland Security told people at the game, if they saw anything not right give them a call. They got 50 million calls as soon as Christina Aguilera started singing the National Anthem. The good news, you can’t accuse her of lip syncing." –Jay Leno

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told ABC news that he would like to step down from power immediately, but if he did, it could cause chaos in his country. Well, you would hate to see that happen." –Jay Leno

"Over the weekend Dick Cheney declared Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a good friend. Mubarak said, 'Dude, that's not really helping.'" –Conan O'Brien

"During his interview with President Obama, Bill O'Reilly asked him to explain how he deals with so many people hating him. In response, Obama said, 'You first.'" –Jimmy Fallon

"This year's Super Bowl was the most-watched event in history. Take that, moon landing." –Craig Ferguson

"Do you know where Osama bin Laden watched the Super Bowl? In his man cave." –Jay Leno

"I mean Rush Limbaugh makes a crack about this every week, because who better to get your health advice from than a drug addicted fat man. Rush, I have proof that no one in the government is forcing YOU to eat right and exercise!" —Bill Maher on Limbaugh's criticisms of Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign

[a tip of the hat to Daniel Kurtzman, NYT-laughlines, and newsmax.com]

The South lost the Civil War war almost 150 years ago .. and still they nurse their wounded pride. Far from dying out, the Klan is becoming more and more bold.

"Mississippi group proposes license plate to honor KKK leader"

"African-American leaders have reacted with shock at a plan to feature an early Ku Klux Klan leader on Mississippi license plates.

The proposal by the Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) asked that the state issue a series of license plates between now and 2015 to honor the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

A 2014 plate would feature Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who became an important leader of the Klan after the war.

Forrest was most known for directing a massacre of black Union soldiers who had already laid down their arms at Fort Pillow in April 1864.

"It is in connection with one of the most atrocious and cold-blooded massacres that ever disgraced civilized warfare that his name will for ever be inseparably associated," according to an obituary published in The New York Times at his death in 1877. ...

"The news of the massacre aroused the whole country to a paroxysm of horror and fury," the Times added.

Following the war, Forrest worked to bring disparate Klan groups under a centralized authority. He was eventually elected Grand Wizard. ...

"I am not an enemy of the negro," Forrest was quoted as saying. "We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.""

Yep, just the kind of Real American that we want to celebrate today ...

Just goes to show you how deeply tribalism and pecking order are hard-wired into human brains .. so it's a dang miracle that we elected as president a mixed-race, dark-skinned, ethnic male whose grandfather herded goats in Kenya and whose father was a Muslim.

A dang miracle.

Sure we have free speech, but the South lost the war .. how long are they going to fly their confederate flags?

Hell, after Germany lost the war, Nazi symbols and memorabilia were verboten.

Symbolism is a powerful tool .. to ignore its insidious consequences could allow some of the more hateful things that have occurred in our past to seep back into our souls.