Randi Rhodes: Stubborn Mubarak & Unemployment Drops

It's Friday, ya bastids! Today hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Egypt for what’s being called a “Day of Departure” for Hosni Mubarak. Watch Al Jazeera Live The big question is whether Mubarak is on board for this departure. It’s like a going-away party and a surprise party rolled into one. “Surprise…You’re going away!” Mubarak might not want to go on his “Day of Departure.” It’s like an episode of A&E’s Intervention. “Hosni, all of your bags are already packed for you. All you have to do is say yes.” Maybe right now Mubarak is in a room with Candy Finnegan and a bunch of people reading letters that say “Hosni, your dictatorship has negatively affected my life in the following ways… Over the past 30 years I have watched you abuse emergency rule until I don’t even recognize you any more.” Hopefully we’ll end up seeing a shot of Mubarak on an airplane with the caption “Hosni is headed for New Beginnings Dictator Rehab in San Diego, California.” Mubarak shows no signs of willingness to step down. He’s 82, and he’s been president of Egypt for 30 years. Talk about stuck in your ways. Convincing him to step down from the presidency would be like convincing your grandmother to give up her landline telephone. “Honest, you don’t need it anymore!” I mean, Mubarak tried to break up the protests with camels, for Godssakes. That’s such a “grandpa” thing. Mubarak said in an interview “I’m fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough.” 62 years of public service? The problem is that the last 30 years of that public service was against the will of the public. Call me picky, but I don’t know if dictatorship really qualifies as “public service.” A dictator calling his dictatorship “public service” is like a kidnapper saying he was providing his victims with housing. Unemployment dropped to 9 percent last month—the lowest it’s been in two years. The bad news is that, although unemployment went down, job creation numbers failed to meet expectations. Part of the reason that fewer jobs were added than expected are the severe snow storms last month. Well, that just gives conservatives another reason to deny global warming—it’s hurting the unemployment numbers for Obama. 886,000 people in the survey said they did not work in January because of severe weather. We can’t get the unemployment numbers to thaw out until we get the country itself to thaw out. Today’s Homework | Discuss