Mubarak says "No Mas!"

After a week of non-stop protests across the country, Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt, will announce he is not running for another term. A powerful reminder that political change can happen without violent revolt.

President Obama's special envoy delivered a message to embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday about the need to prepare for an "orderly transition" of power in the country, a U.S. official said.

Word of the meeting between retired ambassador Frank Wisner and Mubarak came as Al Arabiya television reported that the longtime autocratic leader would say in a speech that he will step down at the next election but stay in office until then to meet demands of mass protests now rocking the nation.

Tunisia has been transformed. Now, Egypt. We are seeing a transformation of the Middle East. The question is, will it be for the better or for the worse, long-term? I am hopeful. But nervous.

My Health Care Advice: CALM DOWN!

You know that the Health Care debate has gotten out of hand when you start reading about one protester biting off a counter-protester's finger. You know it is even MORE insane when people begin trying to win political points off of the incident. Please, America, calm down. Neither Universal Government Health Care nor Private Insurance is the end of the world.

O'Hanlon says the man got into an argument and fist fight, during which he bit off the left pinky of a 65-year-old man who opposed health care reform.
A hospital spokeswoman says the man lost half the finger, but doctors reattached it and he was sent home the same night.
She says he had Medicare.

Protesters vs Police

I have been saying to friends that many post-9/11 reactions need to be rolled back, no matter who the next president is. We have gone too far in our reaction to 9/11 in many areas, and now need to regain some perspective. One of the areas must be the treatment of protesters around political conventions. In 2004, we saw huge new restrictions placed on protesters in the name of safety and protection for politicos. But now these restrictions have escalated to the point that it is impossible for person A protesting person B to get anywhere near them. And the police are encouraged to do whatever is possible to contain protesters. Consider this article and this video from Denver.

Now, Denver has the added excuse of the last Democratic Convention there having turned ugly, and threats from some demonstrators beforehand to do the same. So, I cut them a lot of slack. But the fact is that the Republican Convention will be as locked down, in Minneapolis. Protest is a fundamental thread of the American experience, and more needs to be done to allow it at these monuments of political theater. A political convention where no dissenting voice is allowed is simply a show with no heart and no point.

Should the USA boycott the Beijing Olympics?

The news is out that China is cracking down on Tibet, and there are reports that between 30 and "hundreds of people" have been arrested and killed as protesters and dissidents. Now, protesters around the world are calling upon nations to boycott the Olympics being held in Beijing. The USA is caught between a policy of engagement - and the fact that China has a significant trade surplus - and the desire to support the peaceful protests in Tibet.

In Sydney, protesters scaled a wall surrounding China's consulate and removed the Chinese national flag and tried to replace it with a Tibetan flag. Four people were arrested when police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd after a plain clothes officer had been attacked.

Tibet's government-in-exile urged the United Nations to intervene to end what it called "urgent human rights violations" by China in the region.

What do our readers think? Should America boycott the games over these violations of human rights? Or would such a move be counterproductive... or simply none of our business?