From Reuters:

Police fought with thousands of Egyptians who defied a government ban on Wednesday to protest against President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-old rule, firing rubber bullets and tear gas and dragging away demonstrators.

In central Cairo, demonstrators burned tires and hurled stones at police. In Suez, protesters torched a government building as protests intensified in other parts of the country…

If the security forces remain loyal to the government, then the government will prevail – and the thing about long-term dictatorships is that the people running the show tend to build up a cadre of people who can only live well as long as the regime is in power. That means that at least the mid and upper echelons of the security forces would lose out in a revolution, thus giving them a reason to fight the people. But, also, some times even one’s own position isn’t enough to keep up the fight…especially if it gets about that the top leaders are running away (we’ve had reports that Mubarak’s son has already fled the country).

I hope this works out for the best – there is not too much we can do about it. My larger worry is that my brothers and sisters in Egypt – the despised and much-oppressed Coptic Christians – will get hit hard no matter who comes out on top. The New Year’s Day massacre is fresh in memory, and stories that Egyptian Moslems stood as human shields for Christians after that event look greatly exaggerated, at best.

This is what comes from promoting “stability” rather than liberty and human decency. Let this be the final lesson we have to learn in this matter – never, ever back a regime which does not live up to our Declaration of Independence. We hold that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed – no government which doesn’t have this should obtain American aid or trade. Have done with these petty tyrants.

As Reagan once said – some people go through life wondering if they made a difference: Marines don’t have that problem. From Instapundit:

MICHAEL YON EMAILS:

Glenn,

Tonight, I read a detailed message on a private forum from a highly experienced combat writer. Unfortunately, due to the bylaws of that forum I cannot reprint it. What I can say is that it sounds like the US Marines are waging death and destruction on the Taliban in a way the Taliban are not used to. Average patrol finds 1 IED and kills 1 Taliban and they are going night and day.

I made these photos on those battlefields.

Thanks, Michael.

I hope Yon is right – I’ve been growing more concerned about Afghanistan of late, but if the Marines (and soldiers and the rest of the magnificent men and women of our armed forces) are doing the job, then it will all work out right in the end. There won’t be a pretty end to Afghanistan, but if we can at least keep the Taliban from coming back to power and do a good job or wrecking the desire for Jihad in that area of the world, then we’ll have done enough – and as much as we’ll be able to do as long as Obama is President.

President Obama gave his speech last night and it was pretty much as expected and the commentary on it will, also, be pretty much as expected. The SOTU has become a bit of theater which we endure once a year – the real work of what will be done in American politics happens after the SOTU and with little reference to it. And the three main battles of 2011 will be over spending, spending and spending – and the results of these battles will go a long way towards setting the political field for 2012. But, what of America? What of our Union?

During the recent State dinner for the dictator of China, it was noted that at this event the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner hosted the man who imprisons the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner. A strange world we live in, indeed. What has started to generate a bit of controversy is the playing of an anti-American song by Lang Lang – the song, it seems, comes from a propaganda flick well known among the Chinese and that movie portrays our soldiers as little better than predatory beasts. Some have said this insult – which no American was apparently aware of as it happened – as symbolic of America’s decline. To me, it means something else – it means that the Chinese are a small minded and contemptible people; and the fact that they feel it necessary to stick pins in us like that indicates the truth of our world: America still rules it.

I don’t think that anyone who reads this blog can doubt that I consider our President to be a fool – a man entirely out of his depth. If we’re patient, skillful and ardently pray for our President, we’ll get through his Administration without too much trouble. But for all his flaws, President Obama towers above the likes of China’s “President”, Hu Jintao. Hu is just the public face of a corrupt and cruel oligarchy which has fastened itself upon the Chinese people. He and his like maintain themselves in power by a combination of brute force and bribes to a select portion of the Chinese people – the sort of people who have become the most swinish money-grubbers ever seen…people willing to tolerate anything, as long as they can make money. These are the sort of people who will be happy over the insult offered by Lang Lang.

As for us, it rolls off our backs – what American gives a hoot what the Chinese think of us? This unconcern over the opinion of the world is not arrogance, it is just a recognition that the slings and arrows are just a symptom of ultimate failure. They hate us because they are not and cannot ever be as successful as we are. Only Americans can do what Americans do. People who volunteer for arduous tasks are of a higher quality than those who don’t – and America is made up of people who are volunteers, or descendants of same. All that is best in the world has poured itself in here, and thus we became – and remain – the greatest nation in human history.

Certainly, we have our problems. We made some fabulous errors over the past century. We fell for some siren songs about how things should be done, and we’re now in quite a jam. But while the rest of the world faces absolute collapse, what we face is merely the task of getting back to work. China can fall, the United States can just have some bad times. Revolution spreads in tyrannical regimes, the United States has peaceful elections and prepares to slug it out in the realm of policies and ideas. Welfare dependent Europeans scream for more welfare from their bankrupt States, Americans steel themselves to the fact that belts are going to have to be tightened. We are just different from everyone else.

Obama said one thing last night which was very true – none of us would trade places with any other country. Meanwhile, if we opened our borders 20 million people would move here next year, and another 20 million would be lined up to get in the year after. Even now with unemployment above 9% and the economy teetering on the edge of a double dip recession, people still try to flood in to this nation. We will endure our trials, we will work out the best means out of them and then, like Americans, we will triumph over adversity.

For decades this issue just never really came up in Democrat circles, but all of a sudden its very important:

As states get ready to redraw their congressional maps for the first time in a decade, two Democrats in Congress are resurrecting proposals they say will inject more transparency into the process and prevent the new boundaries from being drawn in a way that gives a lopsided advantage to one political party.

U.S. Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, and Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, N.C., said the bills they intend to file this week would lead to more evenly balanced districts and ultimately a Congress that better reflects the will of voters.

“We think it’s what the American people deserve and need,” Shuler said Monday…

Uh, yeah – except for one, little thing: for the past 70 years we GOPers have been cut off at the knees by Democrat-led gerrymandering.

The sheer arrogance of this proposal is astounding – but also reflects the deep fear Democrats have for the future. For the most part, Democrats have been able to control the re-districting process since the post-1940 census. Even after the big GOP gains of 1994, Democrats still held the balance of State power for the post-2000 census. It is only now, in 2011, that the GOP has the advantage last held in 1931. And while it may seem a bit unfair, all that can happen in 2011 is a re-adjustment away from too many districts drawn to unfairly advantage the Democrats. It would take many decades for the GOP to gain the sort of advantage Democrats have built up – we won’t be able to undo it right away. But here are the Democrats, trying to deflect the wrecking ball heading their way – they really don’t like a level playing field.

Well, there is a cost for defeat, Democrats – and this is it. And you have no one to blame but yourselves…had you not spend the last 10 years lying about everything and had you not chosen a hidden leftist as your standard bearer in 2008, you would not have been so soundly beaten in 2010 and thus would retain at least some control of the re-districting process. Next time, try being honest and putting forth candidates everyone knows about – you might lose, but not this badly.

Over at Noonan for Nevada I note the story that the son of Egypt’s dictator has fled the country – and, naturally, I heard a statement from SecState Hillary that Egypt is stable and working to address the legitimate desires of the Egyptian people. Meanwhile, riots spread in Cairo and have been sparked in Lebanon over Hezbollah’s coup.

Well, we’re shortly to have Obama’s take on what is best for America…from what I’ve gathered, it amounts to freezing the budget at its current, bloated, bankrupting levels and then spending bags of money on liberal special interest groups in front of the 2012 election. He may surprise us, but I doubt it.

We’ll also have the “Date of the Union” where some GOPers and Democrats will sit side by side, presumably to keep all us TEA Party types from going off on a murderous rampage. Other than Cantor’s tongue-in-cheek offer to Pelosi for a milk shake and movie, the GOPers and Democrats who will sit next to each other are showing the one thing they have in common – bottomless fear of the TEA Party. It is good that they fear us – and their sitting next to each other will avail them nothing: the revolution will continue.

UPDATE: Text of the SOTU.

UPDATE II: Lots of reactions out there, mostly negative. No, I didn’t check liberal sites because they will be full of enthusiasm for The One…I was looking to see if any right-of-center person was floored by the President’s performance. So far, no.

Interesting bit over at NRO’s The Corner on the leftist demands for Beck to be taken off the air because, horror of horrors!, he quoted a leftist and thus revealed to the general public a truth about the left – it is very, very nasty.

…Dreier’s defense of Piven is completely at odds with the upshot of her writings, which lovingly chronicle efforts by community organizers to intensify riots and violent protests. I explain Piven’s strategy on NRO’s homepage today in “Frances Fox Piven’s Violent Agenda.” Dreier’s efforts to turn Piven into a latter-day incarnation of Martin Luther King are absurd. Piven looks forward to rioting and urges community organizers not to waste time channeling violent protests into conventional politics but to escalate disruptions for maximum leverage. Dreier’s defense of Piven’s latest controversial editorial in the Nation leaves out the crucial passage where she calls for Euro-style protest riots in the United States.

The hope of silencing Beck in the wake of Tucson has lured the left into a strategic blunder. They’ve decided to turn Piven into a martyr. Yet in doing so the left has tied itself to Piven’s wild writings and over-the-top radicalism…

As Glenn Beck rips off the mask we can expect more and more of this – outraged liberals demanding that Beck and others like him be silenced. The left’s hate and the left’s plans are not for general consumption. They are for small magazines and websites where only the liberal leadership is wont to go – let everyone in on it and…and…well; you see, what will happen is that the left will be rejected, even by quite a lot of the rank and file.

The thing is that the left is based upon a lie (perfectibility of Man by the actions of men) and anything based upon a lie cannot be sustained by experience or rational argument. When you box yourself in to an intellectual corner, as the left long ago did, then you’re only way out is to either admit error or to irrationally reject the truth. Those who stay on the left eventually wallow in irrationality – irrational devotion to unworkable ideas coupled with irrational hatred for whatever is opposed to the unworkable ideas. When you go a bit crazy, your judgment gets a bit warped.

Think about it – Franken called Rush a big, fat idiot; Nicholson Baker fantasized about murdering President Bush; liberal street demonstrators called on troops to shoot their officers…are these the actions of balanced people who are advancing truth? Or are they more like the actions of people unbalanced by lies and determined to protect a false world view? We report, you decide. Piven has called for Greek-style riots in the United States. To advance what, precisely? What on earth can anyone hope to accomplish by people breaking and burning things, and killing a few people, in to the bargain? Nothing that any rational person could want.

There is not much we can do for these poor people, but what we can do is precisely what Beck has done: expose them. Let everyone know the bug-eyed craziness which lies at the heart of the American left. Turn the rock over, and let’s see what scurries out. The more people get to know those who advocate violent riots, the more rejected such advocates will become. The truth really does set you free – even if it does very greatly offend our liberals.

From Life News:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie continued the strong relationship he’s developed with pro-life advocates in the northeastern state by attending and speaking at the Rally for Life at the Statehouse steps today.

New Jersey Right to Life is the sponsor of the event that received more publicity thanks in part to the governor’s appearance.

“I stand with you,” on opposing abortion, the governor told the crowd, and “with each and every one of those precious human lives.”…

So, let’s add this up: he fights corrupt unions, balances budget with spending cuts rather than tax increases, doesn’t take any nonsense from dimwitted MSMers…and to cap it all off, he’ll get right out there in his official capacity in a blue State and proclaim his pro-life principles?

We gotta draft this guy for 2012. Of course, it could be that he’s so completely fearless because he has no Presidential ambitions and if he did start really thinking that way, he’d start trimming his views…running Christie for President might ruin him.

Still, I have to say that for me its a matter of Palin or Christie or Jindal…a “not sure”, “not at all” and “not yet” set of candidates. Which all boils down to a bunch of “not fair” as far as I’m concerned….the best part of the GOP bench might sit 2012 out.

But this still heartens me – especially given the back drop of the very large pro-life march in DC on Monday which was so heavily attended by young Americans…we’re winning the war, even if the left some times still wins a battle and may even win a couple more before the end. But the end comes for the left – the time of renewed American greatness swiftly approaches.

From the PJ Tattler – 9 more Texas Democrats switch to GOP:

In what is believed to be one of the largest number of officeholders to change party affiliation in Texas, Lamar County GOP Chairman John Kruntorad and State Representative Erwin Cain announced today that 9 local elected Democrats have joined the Republican Party. This announcement follows unprecedented election gains by the GOP in 2008 and 2010 as Northeast Texans increasingly identify with the conservative platform of the Republican Party.

Those joining the Republican Party include District Attorney Gary Young; Pct. 1 County Commissioner Lawrence Mallone; Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace (JP) Don Denison; Pct. 3 JP Tim Risinger; Pct. 4 JP Ken Ruthart; Pct. 5, Place 1 JP Cindy Ruthart; Pct. 1 Constable Madaline Chance; Pct. 3 Constable Larry Cope; and Pct. 5 Constable Gene Hobbs…

Whatever they’re doing in Texas, we have to duplicate it around the country. Remember all the Democrat stories about how as America loses its white majority the GOP is doomed? Well, Texas has already lost its white majority – its 47% white, 37% hispanic and 12% black. To put it mildly, the Texas GOP is a bit more conservative than, say, the California GOP, which can’t get a hispanic to vote for it for love or money. And yet the Texas GOP is just crushing the life out of the Texas Democrat party. Clearly, Texas Republicans are showing how to do it – and it seems to be that a rigid adherence to pro-family, low tax and pro-business policies are the magical talisman.

Love it!

Attorneys for Rahm Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 mayor’s election without his name.

Emanuel’s legal team also said they will ask the state’s highest court on Tuesday to hear their appeal of a decision by an appellate court today to knock him off the ballot on the grounds he doesn’t meet residency requirements…

It is astounding that in Illinois the law would be enforced against a Democrat as regards an election – such a thing is just unheard of. The way it works it that Democrats can do whatever they please and on those rare occasions when law breaking becomes overwhelming, a few small fry are thrown to the wolves while the big boys never pay. That Rahm Emanuel – hopelessly corrupt and hip deep in Chicago politics – might actually have the law applied to him is something of a revolution in Illinois politics.

Next thing you know, Obama and his Democrats might be forced to stop raising illegal campaign funds! Foreigners might be prevented from influencing our electoral process – really, anything can happen, now.