Michael Maiello's picture

    Joe Lieberman Wants To Be Dictator Of Egypt

    Simply stunning.  The lesson that outgoing (but not outgoing) Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman has learned from Egypt's oppressive dictator Hosni Mubarak is that the President needs to be able to order the shutdown of Internet access in the U.S., too.

    Lieberman's been pushing this cause since last summer but even in the face of current events, he's not backing off.  It's just so depressing.  We should be having the exact opposite conversation.  Were I in any position of power I'd be pressing the FCC to revoke the U.S. licenses of any telecommunications companies that complied with Mubarak's edict.

    Countries block Internet access not just to stifle expression but to take away people's ability to coordinate their actions and, of course, to know what's going on.  A successful crackdown depends on fear and you stoke fear by making people uncertain.  In the old days, dictators would shut down the newspapers and television stations at times like this.  Now it's the Internet.

    I don't mean to take sides in Egypt.  I don't know enough about the country, its history, culture or current events to really take sides.  But I know that the fraud of Mubarak's repeated "election" victories are an open secret and though I somehow doubt that the protesters share my view of the perfect classically liberal society, they do have my sympathies as they are certainly are victims of oppression.

    This is not the time to bring Mubarak's policies to the U.S. and once again, Lieberman should be ashamed of himself.  But I get tired of writing that last bit.

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    My oldest son is a SOC Unix engineer and they knew something was going on because suddenly their clients in Cairo were gone, no access and it took several hours to reroute those servers. We were google chatting last night when it happened, suddenly he said, crap things are going crazy, talk to you soon Mom. They did coordinate, and the government will not be able to cut them off forever. I certainly do hope that my cousins who are in Cairo and their families remain safe. It is difficult to keep contact at this point. Joe Lieberman will be gone soon, that is one thing for which we can be truly thankful.

    Far from being ashamed, honorary co-chairman Lieberman and cronies are quite proud of themselves.  

    http://www.committeeonthepresentdanger.org/

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_the_Present_Danger

    This organization has been around since the 1950s so maybe they should change their name to Committee on the Ever Present Danger.

     


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