lieberman

"What we are seeing is nothing less than an Egyptian Tiananmen Square," says Khaled Fahmy of American University in Cairo. He watched today as bands of armed men descended on peaceful protesters in Cairo, heading for Tahrir Square. Some of the people, who Fahmy called "thugs" rode through crowds on horseback and camelback, trying to drive them back. Mubarak "has burned all his bridges with his people," Fahmy notes via phone from Cairo, and the violence today was a last gasp for the regime. "The one predictable thing about revolutions is that they are unpredictable," notes Benjamin Barber, fellow at Demos and author of Consumed and Jihad vs. McWorld. Barber points out that as revolution rocks the Arab world, each country will find its own solution and destiny. The important thing to note, he says, is that autocratic regimes hollow out their states' civil society, leaving little infrastructure in place for citizens to use to govern themselves. Benjamin joins Laura in studio to discuss the situation in Egypt and to update us on the conflict he wrote about in Jihad vs. McWorld years ago, between consumer capitalism and Islamism. Why can we picture no alternative to the two extremes, when revolution comes? "If Internet freedoms have to be secured with policy then as far as I'm concerned there are no Internet freedoms," says Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed. He notes that what we've learned from the Internet shutoff in Egypt is that there is too much centralization on the Web, and when people like Joe Lieberman can call Amazon and knock WikiLeaks off their server or convince PayPal not to process their payments anymore, there's too much control. Doug joins us from his home via Skype to talk to us about the problems with the Internet we have, government control over it, and how we can create a 'Net they can't shut down. Distributed by Tubemogul.

It's holiday season. And besides I've been feeling too grumpy to take the news "straight." So I came up for a ditty for today. You're welcome to send us yours. Here's mine: The President asked the banks to meet, and the bankers said they might, but the weather was just too awful and the timing was too tight. The banks are still too big, it seems, and we've only watched them grow. Poverty's up, but what to do? Hell if Geithner knows. On the healthcare front, there's Lieberman, whose voter calls him Joe. Every health reform he once approved, well, now the answer's no. Fifty votes was once a lot, now Harry says that's few. So hey ho Joe. Way to go. Here's to health care just for you! In Cokenhagen, the climate's hot. Island nations are on the brink. If we don't act, and make a pact, that's it. Millions will sink. Obama knows, so, back from Oslo, climate's on his mind. There's just one hitch. Those corporate folks. They don't like pacts that bind. So happy holidays all. Obama's peace laureate for war. That's no mean feat. Some have hit the street. In '10 will we see more? -- Laura Flanders