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I had to look up Quorum Sensing to see how clever this punning is.<br>
<br>
Fisk's original use of "bacillus" implied a disease-causing organism
(hope he's OK), so I hope you noticed the continuation of the image
in the next line of the psalm:<br>
<br>
<i> Virga tua et baculus tuus, ipsa me consolata sunt: parasiti in
conspectu meo mensam adversus eos qui tribulant me.</i> <br>
<br>
"Your rod and your staff have comforted me" - bacillus means a
little rod, and Fisk says Mubarack was "sealed off from his (staff)
like a bacillus" - <br>
<br>
"but the parasites in my view are those who make trouble for my
Smart Guy" [mensam - I suppose that means Suleiman]...<br>
<br>
The complaint may be more general, so to speak, if "mensa" be taken
as "organizational chart" [see "staff," above]... --CGE<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2/11/11 3:14 AM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4D54FDF3.2080204@pigs.ag" type="cite">
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"<span style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">sealed off from his ministers <u><b>like
a bacillus</b></u>"
<br>
<br>
(like a bacillus???)<br>
<big><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
Not sure that I can verify the verisimilitude of the
simile but it is
worth a smile.<br>
<br>
</font></big></font></span><big><font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif"><small>Mu Barak always did remind
me of some sort of single cell lifeform but I would have <br>
thought him more like an Amoeba or maybe a Giardia.<br>
<br>
</small></font></big><span style="font-family:
'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"><font color="#000000"><big><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This
probably accounts for the lack of Quorum Sensing?<br>
<br>
</font></big></font></span><big><font face="Times New Roman,
Times, serif"><small>"</small></font></big>Virga
tua et baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt.<big><font face="Times
New Roman, Times, serif"><small>"<br>
</small><br>
</font></big><br>
<br>
On 2/11/2011 11:05 AM, Morton K. Brussel wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:07E8DE96-1E00-49DF-87E2-53826F83FE77@uiuc.edu"
type="cite">Here is Fisk's report of the happenings on Feb.10,
2011.
He says "<i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana">Yet
for
Mubarak's opponents, today will not be a day of joy and
rejoicing and
victory but a potential bloodbath."</font></i>
<div>Everyone is holding their breath.
<div>
<div>--mkb</div>
<div>
<h1><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">As
Mubarak Clings
On... What Now For Egypt?</span></font></h1>
<p>The fury of a people whose hopes were raised and then
dashed</p>
<p class="byLine"><span id="date">February 11, 2011</span>
<br>
<br>
By <b>Robert Fisk</b> <br>
Source: Independent <br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://zcommunications.org/zspace/robertfisk">Robert
Fisk's
ZSpace Page</a> <br>
</p>
<div> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">To the horror of
Egyptians and the world, President
Hosni Mubarak – haggard and apparently disoriented –
appeared on state
television last night to refuse every demand of his
opponents by
staying in power for at least another five months.
The Egyptian army,
which had already initiated a virtual coup d'état,
was nonplussed by
the President's speech which had been widely
advertised – by both his
friends and his enemies – as a farewell address
after 30 years of
dictatorship. The vast crowds in Tahrir Square were
almost insane with
anger and resentment.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Mubarak tried –
unbelievably – to placate his
infuriated people with a promise to investigate the
killings of his
opponents in what he called "the unfortunate, tragic
events",
apparently unaware of the mass fury directed at his
dictatorship for
his three decades of corruption, brutality and
repression.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">The old man had
originally appeared ready to give up,
faced at last with the rage of millions of Egyptians
and the power of
history, sealed off from his ministers like a
bacillus, only grudgingly
permitted by his own army from saying goodbye to the
people who hated
him.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Yet the very moment that
Hosni Mubarak embarked on
what was supposed to be his final speech, he made it
clear that he
intended to cling to power. To the end, the
President's Information
Minister insisted he would not leave. There were
those who, to the very
last moment, feared that Mubarak's departure would
be cosmetic – even
though his presidency had evaporated in the face of
his army's decision
to take power earlier in the evening.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">History may later decide
that the army's lack of faith
in Mubarak effectively lost his presidency after
three decades of
dictatorship, secret police torture and government
corruption.
Confronted by even greater demonstrations on the
streets of Egypt
today, even the army could not guarantee the safety
of the nation. Yet
for Mubarak's opponents, today will not be a day of
joy and rejoicing
and victory but a potential bloodbath.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">But was this a victory
for Mubarak or a military coup
d'état? Can Egypt ever be free? For the army
generals to insist upon
his departure was as dramatic as it was dangerous.
Are they, a state
within a state, now truly the guardians of the
nation, defenders of the
people – or will they continue to support a man who
must be judged now
as close to insanity? The chains which bound the
military to the
corruption of Mubarak's regime were real. Are they
to stand by
democracy – or cement a new Mubarak regime?<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Even as Mubarak was still
speaking, the millions in
Tahrir Square roared their anger and fury and
disbelief. Of course, the
millions of courageous Egyptians who fought the
whole apparatus of
state security run by Mubarak should have been the
victors. But as
yesterday afternoon's events proved all too clearly,
it was the senior
generals – who enjoy the luxury of hotel chains,
shopping malls, real
estate and banking concessions from the same corrupt
regime – who
permitted Mubarak to survive. At an ominous meeting
of the Supreme
Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Defence
Minister Mohamed Tantawi
– one of Mubarak's closest friends – agreed to meet
the demands of the
millions of democracy protesters, without stating
that the regime would
itself be dissolved. Mubarak himself,
commander-in-chief of the army,
was not permitted to attend.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">But this is a Middle
Eastern epic, one of those
incremental moments when the Arab people –
forgotten, chastised,
infantilised, repressed, often beaten, tortured too
many times,
occasionally hanged – will still strive to give the
great wheel of
history a shove, and shake off the burden of their
lives. Last night,
however, dictatorship had still won. Democracy had
lost.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">All day, the power of the
people had grown as the
prestige of the President and his hollow party
collapsed. The vast
crowds in Tahrir Square began yesterday to move out
over all of central
Cairo, even moving behind the steel gates of the
People's Assembly,
setting up their tents in front of the pseudo-Greek
parliament building
in a demand for new and fair elections. Today, they
were planning to
enter the parliament itself, taking over the symbol
of Mubarak's fake
"democracy". Fierce arguments among the army
hierarchy – and apparently
between Vice-President Omar Suleiman and Mubarak
himself – continued
while strikes and industrial stoppages spread across
Egypt. Well over
seven million protesters were estimated to be on the
streets of Egypt
yesterday – the largest political demonstration in
the country's modern
history, greater even than the six million who
attended the funeral of
Gamal Abdul Nasser, the first Egyptian dictator
whose rule continued
through Anwar Sadat's vain presidency and the three
dead decades of
Mubarak.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">It was too early, last
night, for the crowds in Tahrir
Square to understand the legal complexities of
Mubarak's speech. But it
was patronising, self-serving and immensely
dangerous. The Egyptian
constitution insists that presidential power must
pass to the speaker
of parliament, a colourless Mubarak crony called
Fatih Srour, and
elections – fair ones, if this can be imagined –
held within 60 days.
But many believe that Suleiman may choose to rule by
some new emergency
law and then push Mubarak out of power, staking out
a timetable for new
and fraudulent elections and yet another terrible
epoch of
dictatorship. The truth, however, is that<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">the millions of Egyptians
who have tried to unseat
their Great Dictator regard their constitution – and
the judiciary and
the entire edifice of government institutions – with
the same contempt
as they do Mubarak. They want a new constitution,
new laws to limit the
powers and tenure of presidents, new and early
elections which will
reflect the "will of the people" rather than the
will of the president
or the transition president, or of generals and
brigadiers and state
security thugs.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Last night, a military
officer guarding the tens of
thousands celebrating in Cairo threw down his rifle
and joined the
demonstrators, yet another sign of the ordinary
Egyptian soldier's
growing sympathy for the democracy demonstrators. We
had witnessed many
similar sentiments from the army over the past two
weeks. But the
critical moment came on the evening of 30 January
when, it is now
clear, Mubarak ordered the Egyptian Third Army to
crush the
demonstrators in Tahrir Square with their tanks
after flying F-16
fighter bombers at low level over the protesters.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Many of the senior tank
commanders could be seen
tearing off their headsets – over which they had
received the fatal
orders – to use their mobile phones. They were, it
now transpires,
calling their own military families for advice.
Fathers who had spent
their lives serving the Egyptian army told their
sons to disobey, that
they must never kill their own people.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Thus when General Hassan
al-Rawani told the massive
crowds yesterday evening that "everything you want
will be realised –
all your demands will be met", the people cried
back: "The army and the
people stand together – the army and the people are
united. The army
and the people belong to one hand."<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Last night, the Cairo
court prevented three ministers
– so far unnamed, although they almost certainly
inc-lude the Minister
of Interior – from leaving Egypt.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">But neither the army nor
Vice-President Suleiman are
likely to be able to face the far greater
demonstrations planned for
today, a fact that was conveyed to 83-year-old
Mubarak by Tantawi
himself, standing next to Suleiman. Tantawi and
another general –
believed to be the commander of the Cairo military
area – called
Washington, according to a senior Egyptian officer,
to pass on the news
to Robert Gates at the Pentagon. It must have been a
sobering moment.
For days, the White House had been grimly observing
the mass
demonstrations in Cairo, fearful that they would
turn into a mythical
Islamist monster, frightened that Mubarak might
leave, even more
terrified he might not.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">The events of the past 12
hours have not, alas, been a
victory for the West. American and European leaders
who rejoiced at the
fall of communist dictatorships have sat glumly
regarding the
extraordinary and wildly hopeful events in Cairo – a
victory of
morality over corruption and cruelty – with the same
enthusiasm as many
East European dictators watched the fall of their
Warsaw Pact nations.
Calls for stability and an "orderly" transition of
power were, in fact,
appeals for Mubarak to stay in power – as he is
still trying to do –
rather than a ringing endorsement of the demands of
the overwhelming
pro-democracy movement that should have struck him
down.<o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">Timeline...</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">11.00</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> As
demonstrators mass in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the
Foreign Minister warns
of a military coup if protests continue<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">15.15</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> The
Egyptian Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq, tells the BBC
Arabic Service
that Mubarak may step down<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">15.20</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> The
secretary general of the ruling NDP party, Hossan
Badrawy, says he
expects Mubarak to make an announcement that will
satisfy protesters'
demands<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">15.30</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> An
Egyptian army commander tells protesters in Tahrir
Square that:
"Everything you want will be realised"<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">15.45</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> Egypt's
military council releases a statement saying it is
in continuous
session and the army will take necessary measures to
"safeguard the
homeland", in the clearest sign that Mubarak will be
on his way out soon<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">16.04</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> The
Information Minister, Anas el-Fekky, says Mubarak is
in fact not
stepping down and remains Egypt's President<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">16.15</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> Al
Arabiya television station carries an unconfirmed
report that Mubarak
has travelled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh with his army
chief of staff<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">17.11</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> A
senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest
opposition group,
says he fears the army is staging a coup<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <font color="#000000"><b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;">20.50</span></b><span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif';
font-size: 10pt;"> Defying
expectations Mubarak speaks on state TV, giving no
indication that he
will step down soon<o:p></o:p></span></font></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><font color="#000000">Source: <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-as-mubarak-clings-on-what-now-for-egypt-2211287.html">The
Independent</a><o:p></o:p></font></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span
style="font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size:
10pt;"><o:p><font color="#000000"> </font></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<pre wrap=""><hr size="4" width="90%">
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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