Blogger Kareem Amer is Free!!!

Great News from the Free Kareem Website and confirmed by Reuters!

Kareem Amer, whose real name was Abdel Kareem Nabil was set free Monday 15th of November 2010, after spending 1470 days in prison.

The Egyptian blogger who was held in prison for his writings has finally been released after serving over four years in prison, held longer than his original sentence. Kareem's crime was insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. There is virtually no freedom of speech in Egypt and almost anything can be construed as a violation of their restrictive laws.

Reports coming out of Egypt from friends said that Kareem was in bad health and had been badly beaten by security officers immediately before his release on Tuesday.

A student at the state-run religious al-Azhar University, Amer was arrested in 2006 on charges of insulting Islam and the Egyptian President in his blog posts. He was immediately expelled from the university and then was sentenced to four years in prison.

"Kareem was released on Tuesday morning and his health is bad but he is safe now," Gamal Eid, head of ANHRI, a middle eastern human rights group.

"He was detained for 11 days beyond his court sentence and beaten by officers who did not give any reasons," Eid added.

The first blogger to face trial in Egypt for online content, Kareem's arrest and conviction were thought to be done as a warning to other Egyptian students and bloggers to keep silent about the abuse of women in Egypt.

A large number of bloggers throughout the world, including The Metaverse, had united to protest Amer's arrest and lobby for his release. For the last for years protests and demonstrations have taken place in front of various Egyptian embassies.

Principle above Party

I've been meaning to write a few lines about the rapidly expanding war in Afghanistan and the strong presence the United States is still maintaining in Iraq, but President Obama's (supposed) Health Insurance Reform has captivated our attention as a society and my attention personally.

The other day, during my two hour morning monitoring of Morning Edition on National Public Radio, I was astounded to hear that President Obama expected US Troops to be involved in Afghanistan for at least ten more years. Troop strength has already doubled from President Bush's inadequate allocation and may increase again this fall.

What struck me most was the complete lack of protest or concern on the part of most Americans to our continued adventures in Nation Building.

I paused for a moment to consider what would have happened if a newly elected President McCain had maintained over 100,000 troops in Iraq for the next five years and then announced that as many as 100,000 troops might be needed for as long as ten years in Afghanistan.

Had my imaginary President McCain merely echoed Obama's exact strategy, there would literally be rioting in the streets.

And this is why I so strongly hate the current climate of loyalty to political parties (Republican or Democrat) instead of principle. If 150,000 plus American troops adventuring over in the middle east was wrong a short seven (7) months ago, shouldn't it still be wrong today?

I'm confident that, had we elected John McCain, our involvement in the middle east would be rapidly winding down. Not because McCain wanted smaller involvement, but because he would be battling Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid tooth and nail for every dollar. McCain would be forced by Congress and the American people to speed up his exit and cut his forces and costs. Hell, we might actually be talking about deficit spending!

But the Democrats in Congress support their President, right or wrong. The very few of them with an ounce of integrity are holding their noses and focusing on the Health Care battle and pretending Iraq doesn't exist.

What caused me to remember this issue from a week or so ago was Cindy Sheehan, a woman with immense principle. A woman that should be representing Nancy Pelosi's district in the House instead of the opportunistic and totally unprincipled Pelosi.

Cindy is a woman who puts principle way above party labels. This week she is taking her August vigil from President Bush's summer home in Crawford, Texas to President Obama's summer vacation spot at Martha's Vineyard.

"We as a movement need to continue calling for an immediate end to the occupations [in Iraq and Afghanistan] even when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office," Sheehan said in a statement. "There is still no Noble Cause no matter how we examine the policies."

She will fight the battle alone. She will have only a handful of followers. There will be no television interviews. And no one, not even Chris Matthews, will wonder why the President doesn't have the courage to walk down the road and meet with her, even though he strongly urged then President Bush to hold such a meeting.

And this is exactly why I put PRINCIPLE above PARTY. President Obama and most of the Democrats have betrayed most of the most cherished liberal principles. Calling protesters a "mob." Dismissing the genuine concerns of American Citizens. Harry Reid and many Democrats refuse to even hold town meetings, calling American Citizens who actually care "evil doers." Hell, Reid even sounds like President Bush. "Evil Doers" indeed.

Democrats do not somehow magically deserve my support because they have a "D" behind their title. They have to earn my respect through honor, honesty and integrity.

In Praise of The Huffington Post

The Wizard is praising The Huffington Post?

O.K., O.K., I know it's impossible, but it's true. I have been a harsh critic of Arianna Huffington and her cadre of Hollywood Glitteratt for years. At times her corral of bloggers smell a lot more like a pigsty, wallowing in a mud hole of hate. A quick review of today's blog posts show that nothing much has changed.

But let's give Arianna and her news staff a great deal of credit and prise for their 24 hour a day reporting of the Iranian Election and subsequent protests. While our cable news networks slept and generally ignored this extremely important story, The Huffington Post was all over it.

Using every resource available to them from bloggers, to Twitter, to international news networks, including al-Jezeera, Huffington has continuously put together one compelling story after another.

A great deal of praise and credit goes to the legions of people worldwide who contribute daily or hourly to Twitter. The Twitterati have provided much needed information and solidarity and support for the people of Iran. Twitter has been so fascinating it is literally difficult to turn off at night. It is our window tot the world. Literally.

Which brings me right back to The Huffington Post. I've "tweeted" several times in the last 72 hours that Nico Pitney deserves and should win a Pulitzer Prize. In fact, if he doesn't win, they simply need to throw the prize away, because it will be meaningless. He writing and editing of video, stories and tweets has been nothing short of masterful. Using the methodology often referred to as "live blogging" he has chronicled the unfolding story in the way television should, but hasn't.

I believe we have actually learned the weakness of television. It is a singular medium, video only. Pitney can seamlessly combine video, written word, audio and still images to a maximum effect.

We can only hope and pray for a good and safe outcome for the people of Iran. But I am certain this is the event that changed the nature of news forever.

The Speech of the Century

President Barack Hussein Obama has rocked the world to its very core.

Speaking before a very diverse crowd of 3,000 people yesterday at Cairo University, Barack Obama did the unthinkable. He spoke from the heart and spoke the truth, two things most politicians rarely do. That he did it in a hostile part of the world, among people who hate American and all it stands for, made it all the more remarkable.

A transcription of his complete speech is available here.

President Obama spoke with his usual polished eloquence, mixing his personal history with the history of the region and the history of the Muslim people.

What was most remarkable was that President Obama DEFENDED the United States and its principles and its policies in the only way possible before the worldwide Muslim audience, he told the truth!

In taking this amazing path, Obama gained credibility and honor. When he said the United States stood for Democracy, peace, respect and honor, the Egyptians in the audience and the millions watching worldwide in every Muslim country believed him.

Voice of America has some remarkable feedback, including some personal stories and reactions from the region: Obama's Speech to Muslims Well-Received in Egypt

The path forward will be difficult and may not, in the end, yield any positive results. But in one single, honest and honorable speech, Barack Hussein Obama has done more to bring peace to the region that his last three predecessors accomplished, combined.