Quote of the Day and Must Read

The US is as responsible as anyone for the human rights abuse in Egypt. We have supported the Mubarak regime and many others around the Middle East as long as they let American Interests have their way with the native natural resources. Unfortunately the system cannot be maintained forever and eventually the people can't stand it anymore. The problem is that when the totalitarian regime is taken down by the people, the groups most likely to move into the power vacuum are other totalitarian regimes, such as the radical Islamic religious organizations. Of course this just robs the people of their revolution.

The tipping point in Egypt may well be the release by WikiLeaks of compromising state department documents that prove their government has been colluding illegally with foreign interests for decades against the well being of  the populace of Egypt. Does 60 minutes applaud WikiLeaks doing the job 60 Minutes has claimed to be doing all these years...Rooting out corruption and hypocrisy?

Why, no! They go after Assange.

It's all the more frustrating to watch this crap (60 Minutes interview with WikiLeaks' Julian Assange) after having spent days watching actual live television news reporting from Egypt on Al Jazeera English.  The lack of journalism in the United States is not a function of the medium of television.  It is a function of many systemic weaknesses, but also of our willingness to treat the pretense of journalism like the real thing.