Mr. President, How About Supporting Democracy in the U.S.?

Posted: February 12, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Anti-War, Barack Obama, Civil Liberties, Egypt, executive orders, FBI raids, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Iran, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Yesterday, President Obama hypocrically praised the Egyptian pro-democracy demonstrators and argued forcefully in favor of the Egyptian government listening and responding to the demands of its people.

There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments. This is one of those times. The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same.

By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change. But this is not the end of Egypt’s transition. It’s a beginning. I’m sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt can find the answers, and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks. For Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.

Back here in the U.S., President Obama listens only to the rich and powerful while ignoring a level of inequality higher than that in Egypt and an unemployment rate approximately the same as Egypt’s!

In the speech, Obama quoted a man who really stood for nonviolent protest and the fight for democracy:

As Martin Luther King said in celebrating the birth of a new nation in Ghana while trying to perfect his own, “There is something in the soul that cries out for freedom.” Those were the cries that came from Tahrir Square, and the entire world has taken note.

How dare you, Mr. Obama? You are a disgrace. You repeatedly imply comparisons between you and Martin Luther King, while behaving more like Mr. Mubarak.

What happens here in the U.S. when people peacefully protest the government’s policies? If it happens at Democratic or Republican party conventions, protesters are put in cages ironically called “free speech zones” that are far enough from the action to prevent the powerful from being disturbed by democracy-seeking rabble. Peace activists who identify as socialists or dare to support freedom movements in foreign countries are targeted by thuggish FBI raids and secret grand juries.

Mr. President, you and other members of your administration have repeatedly called for the Egyptian government to repeal its emergency laws. What about the emergency laws that have been in place here in the U.S. for many years?

Although most Americans would be surprised to hear it, the United States is technically experiencing more than one ongoing national emergency. In 1979, during the Iran Hostage Crisis, president Jimmy Carter declared a national emergency by executive order, which every president since has renewed. George W. Bush declared a separate state of emergency after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which Barack Obama renewed.

These emergency measures are limited rather than general in nature. The 1976 National Emergencies Act set a two-year term on emergency declarations (although it’s possible to extend a declaration indefinitely), and requires the president to specify what, exactly, the state of emergency empowers him to do. The Sept. 11-related emergency gives the president the right to call retired officers back into active duty (among other powers). The Iran emergency prevents American citizens and companies from entering into oil development contracts with the Islamic Republic.

Those states of emergency have allowed you and your mentor predecessor George W. Bush to gain authoritarian powers for the executive branch through the USA Patriot Act and other unconstitutional laws like the Military Commissions Act. The powers granted by these laws have frequently been abused by government agencies.

Free Speech Zone at Democratic Convention, 2008

The Patriot Act has been reauthorized multiple times and is currently up for renewal.

So, Mr. Obama, what is your position on the latest attempts to keep the most intrusive parts of the Patriot Act from expiring?

When the act was first signed into law, Congress put in some “sunset” provisions to quiet the concerns of civil libertarians, but they were ignored by successive extensions. Unfortunately, those concerns proved to be well founded, and a 2008 Justice Department report confirmed that the FBI regularly abused their ability to obtain personal records of Americans without a warrant.

The answer to that question is that the President wants those provisions extended for three years–two years longer than the Republicans in the House are pushing for!

The Senate is working on an extension also, and one of the leaders in support of that effort is “Democrat” Diane Feinstein (whose investment banker husband has profited handsomely from defense contracts and other government largess related to the financial crisis)

At least one mainstream journalist has called attention to the hypocrisy of your policies this morning, Mr. President–focusing on your disdain for the poor and unemployed in the U.S. In the NYT, Bob Herbert writes:

As the throngs celebrated in Cairo, I couldn’t help wondering about what is happening to democracy here in the United States. I think it’s on the ropes. We’re in serious danger of becoming a democracy in name only.

While millions of ordinary Americans are struggling with unemployment and declining standards of living, the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite. It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance.

So what we get in this democracy of ours are astounding and increasingly obscene tax breaks and other windfall benefits for the wealthiest, while the bought-and-paid-for politicians hack away at essential public services and the social safety net, saying we can’t afford them. One state after another is reporting that it cannot pay its bills. Public employees across the country are walking the plank by the tens of thousands. Camden, N.J., a stricken city with a serious crime problem, laid off nearly half of its police force. Medicaid, the program that provides health benefits to the poor, is under savage assault from nearly all quarters.

The poor, who are suffering from an all-out depression, are never heard from. In terms of their clout, they might as well not exist. The Obama forces reportedly want to raise a billion dollars or more for the president’s re-election bid. Politicians in search of that kind of cash won’t be talking much about the wants and needs of the poor. They’ll be genuflecting before the very rich.

It’s noteworthy that Bob Herbert is saying such things out loud these days, but what we really need is some serious consciousness-raising among the American people as a whole. We could be joining together to fight back against encroachments on our liberties and our economic stability like the people in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. When will Americans wake up and see what is happening right here in the USA and begin to demand the restoration of our freedoms and our living standards? When will we fight back against growing government tyranny right here in the USA?

Saturday: Permission to Narrate

Posted: February 12, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads | Tags: , , , , | 26 Comments

Click image to go to Al Jazeera Live Blog on Egypt

Photo: via the NYT Lens. Egyptian antigovernment protesters celebrated under fireworks at Tahrir Square in Cairo. (Marco Longari/AFP/Getty)

Good morning all!

It’s the morning after Egypt took its first step toward self-governance, and I can’t stop thinking “power to the people!”

[See Al Jazeera Feb 12 Egypt Live Blog for the latest]

Just wow! Whatever happens in the long and challenging road ahead, the Arab youth and the rest of the Egyptian protesters have changed the narrative forever. Gone with Mubarak is the mythology that Arab peoples don’t want democracy and have to have it imposed on them, as if they were somehow intrinsically “different” from Lady Liberty’s tired, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Over the course of the past 18 days, the whole world saw what Egyptians wanted (freedom, dignity) and what the West wanted (first “stability,” then “orderly transition” to Suleiman-the-torturer).

Check out the headline on this new interactive map from the BBC: “Egypt: The camp that toppled a president.” (While you’re at it, check out the map, because it will answer the question that inquiring minds have been wondering, about just how did the protesters answer nature’s call!)

My rough timeline/liveblogging from yesterday:

The brutal police murder of corruption whistleblower Khaled Said was the turning point. Tunisia’s overthrow of Ben Ali was the awakening. Millions of people took to the streets and risked their lives. Thousands were wounded or “disappeared.” 300 are dead. Wael Ghonim’s interview after his release gave the protesters new life and the strength to carry on in the face of all the people who second-guessed them. The way I see it, though, the real “catalysts” were those 30 years of a regime that not only oppressed its people but served other countries’ interests, in the name of “stability” and stuffing their own pockets, while neglecting the needs of Egyptians.

I’ve had a helluva time trying to narrow down some Saturday reads to share with you, let alone getting myself away from the Al Jazeera live feed long enough to write this post. I’ve settled on a few favorites.

First, the Egyptian woman who has been holding down the fort in the Western media almost single-handedly–yes, that would be Mona Eltahawy–yesterday on the Brian Lehrer Show, reacting live to the news that Mubarak had resigned:

“I want to be realistic as well as kind of really love this moment. This is just a first step. We’ve said all along we want the regime to go. This is not about Mubarak. This is about getting rid of a regime that has suffocated the life of Egypt for the past sixty years. Egyptians deserve so much better. This is a wonderful moment in our life. And, it’s not going to stop. Everybody I know in Egypt is saying ‘We did it, but we’re not going to stop.’ And, I have total faith in them. I love Egypt, and I love being Egyptian today.” –Mona Eltahawy, breaking down emotionally, after weeks of nonstop tireless work pushing the Western media to look beyond its narratives on the Arab world.

Mona’s reaction reminded me of what MLK once said: “This is where we are. Where do we go from here?”

Dr. King’s next words: “First, we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must stand up amidst a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values.”

On Tuesday, I posted about Women’s Voices on Egypt, as inspired by Mona Eltahawy’s twitter query for analysis on Egypt from women’s voices instead of all the balding old men on tv. One of the writings I linked to was an excellent, must-read piece by Azza Karam — “The dignity of Egyptian youth.” In light of Friday’s historic developments, I’d like to revisit a couple passages from Karam’s essay:

The youth bulge in the Arab world (where nearly 60 percent of the population is under thirty years of age) has produced a dividend of human dignity across the region and way beyond. Regardless of what actually transpires, priceless milestones of social awareness, political savvy, cultural pride, and creativity have arisen. A deep yoke of humiliation—from a fear born of oppression and injustice, from a silence created by decades of clinking chains and printed lies, and from the combined pains of hunger, sexual frustration, and the stigma of poverty—has been thrown off. […] What are the specific demands of the youth? Not only the President, but the entire regime “has to go.” […] Their want, their demand, is not just a matter of a verb or a matter of course; it is the act of making this demand in and of itself that is critical.

And:

Every moment lost in removing the strongest symbol of oppression is causing not only loss of life, not only mounting internal dissent, confusion, and violence, but, critically, every moment Mubarak remains in power is an opportunity for those calling on God to dominate the emerging scene. There is already a culture of appealing to God (and those who speak in his name) when there is a sense of helplessness. The Egyptian youth who have been fashioning—with their lives—a new discourse of change over the last eight days, without resorting to Islamist discourse of any kind, but with dignity, with passion, with love for their country and their heritage, must not be let down now. If they are, we will have to accept responsibility for allowing the forces of Islamism to step in as the people’s liberator.

Next up, as quoted by Dan Sisken of Mideast Brief, via his post at Mondoweiss — Arabs seize the ‘permission to narrate’:

Facts do not at all speak for themselves, but require a socially acceptable narrative to absorb, sustain, and circulate them. . . . as Hayden White has noted in a seminal article, “narrative in general, from the folk tale to the novel, from annals to the fully realized ‘history,’ has to do with the topics of law, legality, legitimacy, or, more generally, authority.”
– Edward Said, Permission to Narrate (1984)

Sisken writes:

Just as the Egyptian revolution has liberated the Egyptian people from the grasp of a US-backed authoritarian leader and seems likely to wrench Egypt out of its nearly total reliance on US support and largesse, the Egyptian people–as covered by AlJazeera–may be bringing about a new international media order. […] So, as we watch the unfolding drama of Egyptians reclaiming their voice and destiny, we watch and are enlightened by young and extremely well-informed Arab, and in many cases Egyptian, reporters and analysts. There is no western filter of former government officials, DC think tankers, former military officers, and other US policy wonks. No, what we are now witnessing is Arabs and Egyptians, not only making their own history, but having the international stature and reach to narrate it as well.

If you didn’t click on the link, you are missing the excellent and completely spot-on side-by-side comparison that Sisken put up of the Egypt coverage from Al Jazeera and the garbage rotating on Fox News.

The screengrabs that Sisken drew on were, by the way, from Salon’s reporting at the end of January that “Al Jazeera’s Egypt coverage embarrasses U.S. cable news channels.”

I could not bear to flip to Fox News for most of the day as hour after hour of celebration continued in the streets of Egypt, but the one and only time I did take a peek, it lasted a painful two seconds–the newsdesk gal was talking about illegal immigration. I thought that spoke volumes.

As you likely have already heard by now, and as the Guardian poetically notes here, February 11th was the day “Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran, his Islamic revolution cementing the downfall of the Shah, who had fled into exile – to Egypt.” And, now 32 years later on that same day, Hosni Mubarak has become the former president of Egypt. Another milestone you probably came across in the coverage of Egypt yesterday– exactly 21 years ago from yesterday, Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island after 27 years of political imprisonment. But, the Guardian also points out that, “On the same date in 1975 Margaret Thatcher succeeded Edward Heath as Conservative party leader. And continuing the theme of divisive female politicians – for Sarah Palin the date has an entirely different significance: it’s her birthday.”

Now, I don’t know what it all means that Palin and Thatcher are tied to February 11th as well (not that it means anything at all), but I’m going to switch gears for the rest of this post. Incidentally enough, earlier in the week the theme I had been thinking of centering my roundup on was “America’s Adaleens.” I don’t know how many of you watch HBO’s Big Love, but the character Adaleen Grant–played by the wonderful Mary Kay Place–is a strong-willed woman, all moxie, yet brainwashed and sells out the sisterhood. Sound familiar? I’ve been seeing her face all week watching the assault on American women continue to unfold–an assault which is unsurprising to me, as I’ve been waving that guttmacher pdf of mini-stupaks erupting across the country in every post I can for the past six months.

But, getting back to Adaleen and women selling out other women. We’ve got quite a few grizzlies in a skirt helping the bastards in Congress avoid doing anything on the economy by declaring armageddon on women’s civil rights. (If you missed Dakinikat’s righteous rant on the war on our rights, please go read it: “They think they own our bodies.”)

Speaking of which, did you happen to catch this piece of tripe from the warped mind of Phyllis Schlafly this week? Is it supposed to be a birthday present to Sarah Palin or something? Whatever it is, it’s a mess. Everything I have to say, I already said on the anniversary of Roe. That’s not feminism Schlafly is criticizing. It’s a figment of her imagination–a convenient strawman to prop up a house of canards. Feminism isn’t about hating housewives. It’s about creating the sociopolitical and economic opportunities such that a woman’s sphere can be *wherever* she makes good. It’s the Schlafly nuts who are hellbent on ostracizing and marginalizing any woman who won’t tow their traditionalist line. They want to assume power by undoing all the work of our foremothers who fought for our rights. And, they want ‘permission to narrate’ on feminism that they have not earned.

So, what do you want to say this Saturday morning? And, what’s on your reading list? Do your thing in the comments and have a great weekend.

[originally posted at Let Them Listen; crossposted at Taylor Marsh and Liberal Rapture]

TGFriday Reads

Posted: February 11, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Egypt, Foreign Affairs, John Birch Society in Charge, morning reads, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Good Morning!

I’ve thought about writing some posts about the CPAC circus but frankly, any thing that gives Donald Rumsfeld a “Defender of the Constitution Award” plus features Dick Cheney and Donald Trump is just way too over the top for me.  There were several interesting things and most of it came via Ron Paul and his very dedicated groupies.  One of them shouted Dick Cheney down as a “war criminal”.  Most of the Fundies were AWOL because they didn’t want to be seen networking with folks that might be out there trying to convert them to the “radical homosexual agenda”.   Then there was The other Donald with your zen moment of the day saying that Ron Paul was a nice guy but had “zero chance” of get elected.  Next question, Mr. Trump.  What are your chances of being elected then?

One shout of “where’s Bin Laden?” rang out as Cheney spoke of Rumsfeld.

That led to the pro-Cheney contingent (which it should be said greatly outnumbers the opposition) to shout the hecklers down with the familiar “USA, USA” chant.

It was all very odd, especially considering that when Cheney appeared as the “surprise guest” at last year’s CPAC he was greeted with the kind of cheers generally reserved for a rock star.

But Team Paul — whose numbers appear to have grown at CPAC in 2011 — were not going to let that happen this time around.

“Uh, Defender of the Constitution?” Justin Bradfield of Maryland scoffed when I caught up with him after he walked out of Rumsfeld’s speech. “Let’s see: he expanded the Defense Department more than pretty much any other defense secretary and he enforced the Patriot Act.”

“[Speaking] as a libertarian, that’s not really the type of person who should be getting Defender of the Constitution,” he added.

Wow, this is the sort’ve thing that calls for popcorn and chagrin.  The Hill covered the Trump card.

Business mogul Donald Trump said Thursday that Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) could not possibly win the 2012 presidential race.

“By the way, Ron Paul cannot get elected, I’m sorry to tell you,” Trump said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday. “I like Ron Paul, I think he’s a good guy, but honestly he just has zero chance of getting elected.”

Then, the Caucus at the NYT covered the background on the Trumped-up decision to run for President.  Oh, the drama!  Oh, the pathos!  Oh, the ratings boost!

“Obviously, it’s a tremendous forum to espouse his views and to express the fact that he is legitimately contemplating on this run,” said Michael Cohen, the executive vice president of the Trump organization, who confirmed his attendance at the forum. “He is seriously considering doing this because he’s disgusted with how the country is being run.”

Mr. Cohen, a special counsel to Mr. Trump, has started a Web site, http://www.shouldtrumprun.com, to serve as something of a draft movement. But the Web site is far from an organic outpouring, considering that it is run by people on Mr. Trump’s payroll.

Advisers to Mr. Trump say that he will decide by June whether to go forward with a Republican presidential bid. The timing is built around his television program, “The Apprentice,” which is scheduled to end by June.

I have to admit that I was more interested in who WASN’T as much as I was in hearing about the theatrics concerning the attendees.  What does it say when two of the top draws in Republican Straw polls find better things to do?

I’m not sure if you caught the WAPO editorial written by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abedel Moneim Abou el Fotouh but you may want to give it a read. I’m basically of the opinion that we should worry about the Fundies in our back yard before we worry about the Fundies in some one else’s back yard. El Fotouh tells us we shouldn’t worry at all.  He also reminds us that peoples of a nation have a right to self-govern. That’s the basic American principle that does make the US exceptional.

Contrary to fear-mongering reports, the West and the Muslim Brotherhood are not enemies. It is a false dichotomy to posit, as some alarmists are suggesting, that Egypt’s choices are either the status quo of the Mubarak regime or a takeover by “Islamic extremists.” First, one must make a distinction between the ideological and political differences that the Brotherhood may have with the United States. For Muslims, ideological differences with others are taught not to be the root cause of violence and bloodshed because a human being’s freedom to decide how to lead his or her personal life is an inviolable right found in basic Islamic tenets, as well as Western tradition. Political differences, however, can be a matter of existential threats and interests, and we have seen this play out, for example, in the way the Mubarak regime has violently responded to peaceful demonstrators.

We fully understand that the United States has political interests in Egypt. But does the United States understand that the sovereign state of Egypt, with its 80 million people, has its own interests? Whatever the U.S. interests are in Egypt, they cannot trump Egyptian needs or subvert the will of the people without consequences. Such egotism is a recipe for disaster. With a little altruism, the United States should not hesitate to reassess its interests in the region, especially if it genuinely champions democracy and is sincere about achieving peace in the Middle East.

I have to admit that any one who lives in Louisiana usually has a huge number of Mississippi jokes up their sleeve.  The same was true for Nebraska on Iowa.  Nebraska had a red and white license plate design and we always called Iowa Drivers out as ‘blue plate specials’ for there blue tags.  I got to use that same joke down here on the folks from Mississippi; especially my New Yorker transplant boyfriend who taught molecular biology and lived in Forrest County.  I just learned where the Forrest came from and  I’m not even sure I can express what I want to say about this tidbit on a proposed Mississippi license plates: ‘Mississippi May Honor Early KKK Leader On Commemorative License Plate. Some historical figures are best left dead  and  buried’.

Controversies over honoring Confederate heritage are not uncommon in the South, but some activists in Mississippi are pushing the envelope even further. The Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans is proposing a license plate that honors Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was also an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Following the Civil War, Forrest was involved with the very first incarnation of the KKK. He was so closely associated with the group’s formation that he is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the KKK’s founder — though he was quickly elected Grand Wizard, and began centralizing disparate KKK groups under his authority. He believed that while blacks were now free, they had to continue to toil quietly for white landowners. “I am not an enemy of the negro,” Forrest said. “We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.”

Perhaps even more disturbing, however, were Forrest’s violent actions during the Civil War, specifically a massacre of black soldiers at Fort Pillow, TN in April 1864.

Yup, this guy slaughtered black union troops that had already dropped their rifles.  What is wrong with modern Mississippi and what will its Governor Haley Barbour say about this?

So, here’s an interesting YouTube with Noam Chomsky on ‘How Climate Change Became a ‘Liberal Hoax’ in a series from The Nation’.

Known for his criticism of the media, Chomsky doesn’t hold back in this clip, laying blame on mainstream media outlets such as the New York Times, which will run frontpage articles on what meteorologists think about global warming. “Meteorologists are pretty faces reading scripts telling you whether it’s going to rain tomorrow,” Chomsky says. “What do they have to say any more than your barber?” All this is part of the media’s pursuit of “fabled objectivity.”

Of particular concern for Chomsky is the atmosphere of anger, fear and hostility that currently reigns in America. The public’s hatred of Democrats, Republicans, big business and banks and the public’s distrust of scientists all lead to general disregard for the findings of “pointy-headed elitists.” The 2010 elections could be interpreted as a “death knell for the species” because most of the new Republicans in Congress are global warming deniers. “If this was happening in some small country,” Chomsky concludes, “it wouldn’t matter much. But when it’s happening in the richest, most powerful country in the world, it’s a danger to the survival of the species.”

Okay, so, just so you know that our Congress is on the up and up these days, I’m going to leave you with this headline: ‘The Pajama Party Is Over, Ethics Group Tells Congress’.

A Washington ethics watchdog says it is time for Congress to crack down on lawmakers who sleep in their offices rather than pay for a place to live. Reacting to a surge in lawmakers’ bunking down in their work spaces, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wants the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether the politicians are getting an unfair tax break and violating their own rules by making personal use of public resources. “House office buildings are not dorms or frat houses,” Melanie Sloan, the group’s executive director, said Thursday. “If members didn’t want to find housing in Washington, they shouldn’t have run for Congress in the first place.” Aside from the legal and rules questions, Ms. Sloan said she has heard reports from Congressional staffers about uncomfortable work environments. “Especially if you’re a woman and you’re working late and your boss is there getting ready for bed, that seems designed for discomfort,” she said.

They should just be glad their Senator isn’t David Vitter who probably uses campaign funds for hookers and diapers. Don’t make me think about what he’d be up to in his office!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Late Night: A Little Levity

Posted: February 10, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

By CarlosLatuff:

This is from Jon Stewart last week, but since we’re living a Groundhog’s day nightmare with both Mubarak and Fox News, this is still entirely applicable to today (H/T Minkoff Minx):

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And, because I still prefer Stephen Colbert over Stewart (sorry Jon)… another clip from last week, again not all that much has changed:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

This is a late night open thread. Do your thing in the comments!

Mubarak’s “I am not Crook Speech”: He’s not going anywhere

Posted: February 10, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Diplomacy Nightmares, Egypt, Foreign Affairs | Tags: , , , | 96 Comments

Well, this is interesting.  It seems that Al Ariabia got it right and every one else–including the Public face of our

Not going anywhere, not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent at this juncture

CIA–was wrong. Mubarak says he’s going to be a figurehead and the Torture VP is going to do the official duties.

Live Blog from UK GUARDIAN here:

9.02pm GMT: No one in Tahrir Square is listening to the rest of the Mubarak speech. The chant is: “Get out, get out.”

“We will be dignified until the very end, may God preserve Egypt, may peace be upon you,” is Mubarak’s final remark.

No sign he’s leaving. The “I have been ignoring international pressure” line suggests this was a “I fight on” speech by Mubarak.

9pm GMT: Mubarak’s not stepping down, that much seems clear, although exactly what that means with his previous statements about the army implementing change isn’t clear.

Tahrir Square is going nuts, based on the live footage.

8.58pm GMT: “I have spent most of my life in defence of our homeland,” says Mubarak. “I have never succumbed to any international pressure…. I have my dignity intact.”

So he’s not stepping down, it seems.

8.53pm GMT: Mubarak says he’s asked for the amendment of articles 76, 77, 88, 93 and 181 of the constitution, and abolishing the controversial article 179.

Article 179 is the emergency law that has been a huge issue and a major demand of the protesters. The rest involve the powers and terms of the presidency but we’ll get more details later.

8.51pm GMT: Mentions that the reforms will be “implemented by our armed forces,” and on-going dialogue.

Talking about a “national dialogue” and a “road map that is very clear on a specific timetable … until September,” but follows this by talking about the various committees he has had set up.

I’m not sure more committees are going to cut it right now in Tahrir Square.

8.50pm GMT: Mubarak speaking: talking of a “smooth transition of powers” but not much detail yet.

8.49pm GMT: Mubarak reaffirms that he’s not standing for election as president and that power will be transfered to “whoever the electorate chooses in the new fair and square elections”.

8.48pm GMT: Mubarak speaking: mistakes were made, he says.

I can tell you that I as the president of the Republic I have to respond to your calls but I am also embarrassed, and I will not accept or listen to any foreign interventions.

8.46pm GMT Mubarak now speaking on state television.

I can tell you before anything else that the blood of your martyrs will not be wasted and that I will not be easy on punishing people who committed these crimes.

Says he will “respond to your demands and your voices” and carry our promises.

Is this an appeal to Egyptian people watching him from their sofas in their living rooms?  He still seems to think that the protesters are still foreign agents and upset young people.  What does he see as the difference between ‘delegating’ power and remaining in power?

President Hosni Mubarak addressed an expectant Egypt on Thursday, saying that he had delegated his powers to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, but would not leave the country,  according to NBC News translation.

Saying he was addressing Egypt’s youth and people in Tahrir Square and the nation, he said he believed in the honesty of the demands of the protesters and their intentions.

“I am addressing from the heart,” he said. “The blood of the martyrs and injured will not go in vain … My heart aches for your heartache.”

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