February 1, 2011
February 1 is … Serpent Day. Not related to Rattlesnake Roundup Day.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
Wait until you see the people born on February 2nd throughout history. I am excited.
EGYPT 101
TIMELINE OF KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Tuesday, 1/25: Protests Begin, 'Day Of Rage'
Wednesday, 1/26: Second Day Of Protests
Thursday, 1/27: Egypt Shuts Down The Internet
Friday, 1/28: Mubarak Speaks, Says He'll Form A New Government
Saturday, 1/29: Anonymous Internet Users Help Egypt Communicate
Sunday, 1/30: Al Jazeera In Cairo Being Shut Down
Sunday, 1/30: U.S. Embassy In Cairo Urges Americans To Leave
Sunday, 1/30: Hillary Clinton: Egypt Must Transition To Democracy
Monday, 1/31: Egypt's New Government Is Announced On TV, Sworn In
Wednesday, 1/26: Second Day Of Protests
Thursday, 1/27: Egypt Shuts Down The Internet
Friday, 1/28: Mubarak Speaks, Says He'll Form A New Government
Saturday, 1/29: Anonymous Internet Users Help Egypt Communicate
Sunday, 1/30: Al Jazeera In Cairo Being Shut Down
Sunday, 1/30: U.S. Embassy In Cairo Urges Americans To Leave
Sunday, 1/30: Hillary Clinton: Egypt Must Transition To Democracy
Monday, 1/31: Egypt's New Government Is Announced On TV, Sworn In
What's Going On In Egypt?: Protests started on Tuesday, January 25, when inspired by the successful revolution in Tunisia thousands began taking to the streets to protest poverty, rampant unemployment, government corruption and autocratic governance of President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for 30 years. These were the first protests on such a large scale in Egypt since the 1970s.
Why Egypt Matters: Why is the story gaining traction? There are a number of factors that make Egypt's unrest important, in that country, the Middle East, and the world. Egypt should matter to you.
Quick Facts About Egypt: Established in 3100 B.C., Egypt today has a population of approximately 79 million. Its people speak Arabic and 99% are Egyptian. The country staged its first modern revolution in 1919 and established independence in 1922. Continued instability due to remaining British influence led to a second revolution in 1952 and the creation of the Egyptian Republic in 1953
The President of Egypt is not really a President, as Americans know a President. He has ruled under a state of emergency for nearly his entire thirty years in power. He runs for re-election with only token opposition. He effectively has absolute power. As most despots discover, you can’t keep a good man or woman down for long.
Thousands of protesters have been occupying Cairo's Tahrir Square calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and the military on Sunday flew fighter jets over downtown Cairo and used tanks to close roads in the Egyptian capital. Here are five facts about the Egyptian leader, his life, his power, his love of control and, of course, his regime, discovered while researching this situation on the internet. Although the United States is an ally with Egypt, that provides Egypt with huge sums of foreign aid, we have never been entirely comfortable with President Mubarak, his government, his style of governing and the corruption so ingrained in Muslim leaders, Muslim countries and the entire Middle East. Only the rulers are rich.
1. Born in 1928 in a small village near Cairo, Mubarak is a former bomber pilot and the former head of the Egyptian air force. He and his wife have two adult sons, Gamal and Alaa. Opposition groups fear Gamal, a former investment banker, is being groomed for the presidency.
2. Mubarak is the fourth president of Egypt, and the country's longest-serving president. He has ruled Egypt for almost 30 years. Notably, a state of emergency has remained in effect in Egypt for almost all of those years, giving the government far-reaching powers.
1. Born in 1928 in a small village near Cairo, Mubarak is a former bomber pilot and the former head of the Egyptian air force. He and his wife have two adult sons, Gamal and Alaa. Opposition groups fear Gamal, a former investment banker, is being groomed for the presidency.
2. Mubarak is the fourth president of Egypt, and the country's longest-serving president. He has ruled Egypt for almost 30 years. Notably, a state of emergency has remained in effect in Egypt for almost all of those years, giving the government far-reaching powers.
3. He served as vice president of Egypt beginning in 1975, assuming the presidency after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated during an October 1981 parade in Cairo. Mubarak was sitting next to him, but escaped the shots.
4. Mubarak has not had a vice president in over a decade, until appointing Omar Suleiman to the post on Saturday. He won his first three presidential elections running unopposed, but for the first time had a rival candidate during the 2005 elections.
5. Mubarak has survived several assassination attempts; the BBC says he's survived at least six. Perhaps most notably, his entourage was attacked by men toting AK-47s in Ethiopia in 1995, but he was safe inside his armored Mercedes-Benz which Suleiman, a trusted aide, had insisted be flown there for the state visit.
The article below could be revised to insert the name of any State in place of Washington. The inmate in this story has been sentenced to prison three times, twice for life. He is likely going to be getting his third life sentence. If he isn’t a cat, he sure is a pussy.
From KOMO in Washington State; A female corrections officer was strangled to death Saturday night at the Monroe Correctional Complex, and an inmate serving a life term for rape is the key suspect, officials said.
The attack, apparently carried out during an abortive escape attempt by the 53-year-old male inmate, took place as the corrections officer was alone and unarmed in the chapel of the facility, officials said. The slain officer was identified as Jayme Biendl, 34, of Granite Falls. She had been with the Department of Corrections since 2002 and had expressed concerns earlier about being the only guard in the chapel. She was Monroe's Officer of the Year in 2008. Her alleged attacker was identified as Byron E. Scherf, a repeat sex offender who was convicted in 1993 for kidnapping and raping a Pierce County woman at knifepoint, then setting her on fire with gasoline. He also was convicted of rape and assault in two other cases.
A spokeswoman for the Monroe Police Department said it was initially reported that Biendl was stabbed to death, but later reported that it appears she was strangled. The Snohomish County medical examiner will make the final determination of the cause of death. Biendl was fully clothed when found, and there is no evidence of sexual assault. A Department of Corrections spokesman said the killing was discovered Saturday night after an inmate was reported missing during a routine count of offenders in the prison.
The offender was found three minutes later, at about 9:17 p.m., in the prison chapel lobby and told officers he had planned to escape, said Department of Correction’s spokesman Chad Lewis. An hour later staff members completed an inventory of equipment and discovered that a correctional officer's keys and radio were missing, Lewis said. Staff members immediately went to the chapel area and found Biendl lying there unresponsive. The staff conducted CPR and called 911. Emergency responders declared the officer dead at the scene at 10:49 p.m. Monroe Correctional Complex is now on lockdown as local law enforcement continue to investigate.
Scherf, a three-strike offender, is serving a life sentence at Monroe and was being housed in a medium-security unit at the Monroe complex. He has now been isolated in a segregation unit, Lewis said. This is the first time a guard has been killed at the 100-year-old Monroe facility, Lewis said. Prison officials said Scherf, who has had a clean record at Monroe since a suicide attempt in 2001, had been serving as a volunteer worker in the chapel. Biendl led religious programs there, Lewis said. She was alone at the chapel Saturday night and was not carrying a weapon, as is typical for many corrections officers, he added.
A union spokesman said Biendl had complained several times to her supervisor about feeling unsafe working alone with no backup in the chapel, and was awaiting a reassignment to another section of the prison. "This is what we've all feared would happen, and now it has," said Tracey A. Thompson, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 117, which represents guards at the prison. Thompson said guards have been forced to work solo more often as budget cuts have reduced the size of the staff at the prison facility. "We are all shocked, saddened, and angered by this terrible tragedy," Thompson said. Monroe corrections officers picketed in November outside the facility to draw public attention to effects of the staff cuts, saying they could jeopardize public safety.
Court records show that Scherf was first convicted of second-degree assault in 1978 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was paroled two years later. While on parole Scherf kidnapped a young waitress and brought her to an abandoned house where he bound and raped her. He then poured gasoline over the waitress, lit it, and left. The waitress survived by wriggling, still bound, through a second-story window. Scherf was convicted of the rape and sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled again on Dec. 30, 1993.
During his second parole, he lured a female real estate agent to a remote home by posing as a potential buyer, then kidnapped and raped her. He again was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and is now serving that sentence at Monroe. The victim in that attack later sued the state, alleging that Scherf should never have been released on parole and was inadequately supervised after he was paroled. She lost the case after appealing all the way to the state Supreme Court.
Gov. Chris Gregoire issued a statement offering condolences to the family and friends of Officer Biendl. "I am truly saddened by her senseless murder," Gregoire said. "This young woman was devoted to an agency that works around the clock to ensure our communities are safe, which makes her death all the more tragic." Gregoire also said she has asked Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail to conduct a thorough review of the killing, as well as a look at the safeguards in place at the Monroe Correctional Complex About 2,500 inmates are housed at the Monroe facility.
At the top of the Music world on this date; we were listening to:
1944
1952 Slowpoke - Pee Wee King
1960 Running Bear - Johnny Preston
1968 Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) - John Fred & His Playboy Band
1976 Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
1984 Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available by February 15, 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
http://www.smashwords.com/ Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard NEW SOURCE FOR BOOK
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.
“Mistakes are oft the stepping stones to failure.”
