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'This Week' Transcript: Crisis in Egypt
Transcript: Crisis in Egypt
WASHINGTON, Jan 30, 2011 -- (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR (voice-over): This morning, a special "This Week." Nation on the brink, an ancient civilization, land of the pyramids and home of the pharaohs, now swept up in a massive political uprising with uncertain consequences for all of us.
Which side will blink first? We go inside a historic political showdown. What will the outcome mean for America?
OBAMA: The United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people.
AMANPOUR: We get the very latest from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and an exclusive interview with Egypt's ambassador to the United States, Sameh Shoukry. Live from Cairo, a special "This Week," "Crisis in Egypt," starts now.
AMANPOUR: Good morning. How often have we asked, when will democracy come to this part of the world? And what will it look like? Well, here we are in what looks like a massive tectonic shift, first Tunisia and now Egypt, the biggest, most populous Arab country and America's biggest ally.
Here, for the sixth straight day, tens of thousands of people are out on the streets. The military is arrayed in tanks and on foot. The question: Will the army fire if ordered to do so?
For Complete Coverage of the Crisis in Egypt, Featuring Exclusive Reporting From Christiane Amanpour, Click Here
Today, in the last 10 minutes, we have heard and seen fighter jets buzzing Tahrir Square, where the crowds are, an enormous, alarming, incredible sound. They have been flying low.
But the protesters are still out there. They've been reacting. They're carrying slogans and chanting right now down below me "Illegitimate." Despite the reforms that President Mubarak has done shuffling the government, the people are saying that's not enough and that he must go.
So far, what they're saying and what we're seeing -- and you can hear the fighter jets behind me now -- they are saying that this is secular, this is a popular uprising. We have seen no signs, no slogans, no clerics of any Islamic favor or flavor.
And in the meantime, as we wait and watch and wonder how long the government here can hang on, the United States and other countries are urging their nationals to leave. The U.S. wants all Americans out and, we understand, is arranging special planes to bring them home starting tomorrow, Monday.
We saw many, many people stranded at Cairo's airport when we landed last night.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): It was nighttime, well after curfew when we landed in Cairo. We found the airport full of stranded tourists, desperate to leave the country, and residents returning, but afraid to venture into town until the curfew was lifted in the morning.
(on-screen): We've got a small car. As you can see, all the baggage has been strapped to the -- to the roof of the car, and we're going to try and get to our hotel tonight.
(voice-over): It's a long drive from the airport into Cairo. And at first, it was eerily quiet. But every hundred yards or so, we were stopped.
(on-screen): We're driving from the airport into town. It's practically deserted, very few cars. But there are bands of vigilantes, ad hoc neighborhood watch groups, young men and boys out with wooden batons, metal bars, even machetes. They are watching out for looters and any kind of crime spree, because there is no security.
(voice-over): They had gathered to protect their property. And while it was tense, they were also friendly and waved us through.
(on-screen): So you've mobilized your own security?
(UNKNOWN): Absolutely. There's no...
AMANPOUR: Is there none?
(UNKNOWN): There's nothing (inaudible)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): By morning, police are still nowhere to be seen, but the army is out in force, especially here around Tahrir, or Liberation Square, and yet the people keep coming.
(on-screen): In full view of the tanks of the army deployed, these people are shouting that the people want the regime's downfall.
(voice-over): Mubarak's steps to try to pacify the protesters by reshuffling the government has simply stiffened their resolve. They say they want him gone.
(UNKNOWN): All the people, Egyptian people (inaudible) go out, go to the Hell, and your family (ph).
AMANPOUR: And the tense standoff between the president and the people continues.
It's been an extraordinary week in Cairo and across Egypt. Day after day, tens of thousands of Egyptians young and old demonstrating in dramatic defiance of President Hosni Mubarak, braving water cannon and rubber bullet, daring to believe the unthinkable, that this popular uprising might actually mean the end for a military strongman who has ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades.
To the United States, Mubarak is a rare pillar of strength in the troubled Middle East, a staunch ally, and one of only two Arab leaders who've made peace with Israel.
To his own people, however, Mubarak is an authoritarian whose repressive regime has imprisoned dissidents and engaged in widespread torture. This, alongside the grinding poverty and mass unemployment, is driving the protests.
The past few days have been marked by sometimes violent clashes with police, as protesters openly defied a government-imposed curfew. On Friday, restaurants and even Mubarak's party headquarters were set ablaze. Dozens have been killed, and some of the bodies have been carried through the streets.
Mubarak himself finally addressed the nation in the early hours of Saturday morning, announcing that he would dismiss the current government, but making it clear that he wasn't going anywhere.
MUBARAK (through translator): And -- and putting a new government in place that will achieve our new goals, one that protects the security and safety of all Egyptians. This is my responsibility.
AMANPOUR: President Obama, who'd spoken to Mubarak for 30 minutes by phone, had this to say.
OBAMA: Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people. And suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.
AMANPOUR: The United States gives Mubarak's government more than $1 billion in aid every year.
(UNKNOWN): They're throwing tear gas.
AMANPOUR: Now, tear gas canisters marked "Made in America" are raining down on protesters who are demanding freedom. Saturday, the protests continued, and now there was also widespread looting, including at the famed Cairo Museum, home to priceless antiquities.
(UNKNOWN): They destroyed two mummies, and they opened one case. What really scares me now is the building that located each side of the -- of the Cairo museum. This building is burning. If this building is destroyed, it will go above the Cairo museum. And this will be a disaster.
AMANPOUR: The military has so far held its fire. Soldiers have been received warmly, and they're actually giving protesters rides through the city on their tanks.
The army is a revered institution in Egypt. And the big question is whether they will stand by the embattled president, even if he orders them to fire into the crowds.
Mubarak, meanwhile, appointed his first-ever vice president, Omar Suleiman, the head of Egypt's intelligence service. Suleiman has long been one of Mubarak's most trusted advisers. He is the chief go- between with Israel, and he also has deep ties to the United States.
But Egyptians in the streets tell us they don't see this as change. They tell us they won't stop until Mubarak and his whole circle are gone. What they want, they say, is the chance to freely elect their government for the first time in the history of this ancient land.
AMANPOUR: Perhaps no one is watching this situation more closely than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and she joins us this morning from the State Department.
Has the United States administration, whether yourself, whether the president, or Secretary Gates, told the Egyptian government specifically that any military crackdown will result in a cutoff of U.S. military assistance?
CLINTON: No. Right now, we're monitoring the actions of the Egyptian military, and they are, as I'm sure your contacts are telling you, demonstrating restraint, working to try to differentiate between peaceful protesters, whom we all support, and potential looters and other criminal elements who are obviously a danger to the Egyptian people.
We have sent a very clear message that we want to see restraint, we do not want to see violence by any security forces, and we continue to convey that message. There is no discussion as of this time about cutting off any aid. We always are looking and reviewing our aid.
But, you know, right now, we are trying to convey a message that is very clear, that we want to ensure there is no violence and no provocation that results in violence and that we want to see these reforms and a process of national dialogue begun so that the people of Egypt can see their legitimate grievances addressed.
AMANPOUR: Madam Secretary, do you believe that what President Mubarak has done already, which is to appoint a first-ever vice president and to shuffle the government, does that amount to enough reform? Is that all you've asked him to do?
CLINTON: Oh, of course not. But there has been for 30 years a both public and private dialogue with the Egyptian government, sometimes more public, sometimes more private, but all with the same message, from Republican and Democratic administrations, that there needs to be reform.
One of the items on that long list was appointing a vice president. That has happened. But that is -- that is the beginning, the bare beginning of what needs to happen, which is a process that leads to the kind of concrete steps to achieve democratic and economic reform that we've been urging and that President Mubarak himself discussed in his speech the other day.
AMANPOUR: There are people still on the streets in great numbers. On Tuesday, you said that the U.S. government's assessment is that the government of Egypt is stable. Do you believe that was a mistake? Or do you think today that the government of Egypt is stable?
CLINTON: Well, Christiane, you know, I know that everybody wants a yes-or-no answer to what are very complicated issues. Obviously, this is a volatile situation. Egypt has been a partner of the United States for over three decades, has been a partner in achieving historic peace with Israel, a partner in, you know, trying to stabilize a region that is subject to a lot of challenges.
And we have been consistent across those three decades in arguing that real stability only comes from the kind of democratic participation that gives people a chance to feel that they are being heard. And by that I mean real democracy, not a democracy for six months or a year and then evolving into essentially a military dictatorship or a so-called democracy that then leads to what we saw in Iran.
So we've been very clear about what is in Egypt's long-term interests. And we continue to be clear. And that is what we want to see come from this very -- this great outpouring of -- of desire for the people of Egypt to have their universal human rights recognized. And that is what we hope will come.
AMANPOUR: A lot of the people here on the streets are telling us that they're angry, they think the U.S. is hedging its bets.
CLINTON: I just want to reiterate what both President Obama and I have been saying. I said it in Doha. I've said it before. President Obama said it himself when he was in Cairo at the beginning of his administration.
We believe that democracy, human rights, economic reform are in the best interests of the Egyptian people. Any government that does not try to move in that direction cannot meet the legitimate needs of the people. And in the 21st century, it is highly vulnerable to what we have seen in the region and beyond. People are not going to stand by any longer and not be given the opportunity to fulfill their own God-given potential.
So what I'm hoping is that there can be a very difficult set of decisions made, that the government will be able to maintain a peaceful relationship with peaceful protesters, that where there is criminal activity, looting and the like, that can be handled in an appropriate way, respecting human rights.
But then we can see a national dialogue begin, where the government of Egypt recognizes that it must -- that it must take those concrete steps that many of us have been urging for democratic and economic reform. I think that is the best way for Egypt to navigate through this without unforeseen consequences that could further undermine the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people.
AMANPOUR: Secretary Clinton, thank you very much for joining us.
CLINTON: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: And when we return, can the Egyptian government ride out this storm? My exclusive interview with Egypt's ambassador to the United States when we return, a special edition of "This Week," "Crisis in Egypt."
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to a special edition of "This Week," "Crisis in Egypt," live here in Cairo. We're asking, can the government hold on? Can President Mubarak continue to govern? There are no government officials who we can speak to here in Cairo, so we turn now for an exclusive interview to Egypt's ambassador to the United States joining us in Washington, Ambassador Sameh Shoukry.
Thank you for being with us this morning.
SHOUKRY: Thank you for having me.
AMANPOUR: Let me ask you, I've been on the streets now for the sixth straight day. The people are out there. The military has been deployed. What is the government of Egypt expecting the military to do?
SHOUKRY: The military has been deployed in protection of the demonstrations and keeping order, peace and order on the streets of Cairo. And it continues to operate undertaking its responsibilities, as many have seen. It was received with great affection by the people and the demonstrators and continues to play an important role.
It's an institution that the Egyptians hold in immense pride and one that has always come to provide safety and security and a safety valve for the Egyptian society.
AMANPOUR: So, Ambassador, though, how long will President Mubarak continue to tolerate this number of people in the streets?
SHOUKRY: From the outset, the freedom of expression had been guaranteed. Egypt has been on a road of economic, political, democratic reform for the last 20 years or more, and it has achieved great strides in that regard. Freedom of expression, freedom of the press had been evolving and advancing with very important strides. I believe, in the president's speech, he indicated that there would be a guarantee of the freedom and -- and ability of all Egyptians to express their points of view in a peaceful manner.
AMANPOUR: So, Ambassador, you say that there've been important reforms for many years now, but, you know, on the streets, people aren't hearing that, and they don't feel it. And they're telling us right now that, no matter what President Mubarak does, they want him out. Are you afraid for the future?
SHOUKRY: Well, certainly Egypt is going through a difficult time, but Egypt is a resourceful country, a country of a long history, and its major strength is in its people and their ability to overcome adverse situations.
The process of reform is an ongoing one. And definitely the people on the streets have indicated a desire for speedier reforms. That I'm sure is the direction that Egypt will take within the institutions that are still in operation that are cognizant to what is the word that is coming out from the streets.
AMANPOUR: When you look at what's happening on the streets, do you fear for the future here? SHOUKRY: I think it's a demonstration of people involving themselves more actively in their future and their -- the composition of their government and how they want to see the future for themselves and their children and the values that will cover the Egyptian society. This is a right that -- and a value that we all respect.
AMANPOUR: As I say, they are saying that what's happening is not enough. What more should the government do to bring more freedom, political pluralism? There is no meaningful political space here. What more can the government do, and should it?
SHOUKRY: Well, the government is being formed -- the president has indicated a willingness to continue the national dialogue. And, of course, a consensus, a national consensus must be arrived at in terms of the direction of the reform process.
All of these things will be developed within the context of the conversation between various political representatives, those in the media, and other opinion-makers in Egypt. And it is a process that needs to be undertaken with the necessary speed and caution, in terms of impacting the social welfare of the population.
AMANPOUR: You know, so many Egyptian prominent people are leaving, businesspeople are leaving. And as I say again, the mood on the street is uncompromising. Do you expect President Mubarak to stay and battle it out or to leave?
SHOUKRY: People in Egypt have shown during this time a great deal of solidarity, a great deal of desire to see their country develop and prosper. And I believe that every loyal Egyptian will continue to undertake his responsibilities and contribute towards the improvement of his homeland.
AMANPOUR: On that note, Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, thank you for joining us from Washington.
SHOUKRY: Thank you very much.
AMANPOUR: When we return, we'll have much more about what's going on, on the ground, as our special, "Crisis in Egypt," continues.
AMANPOUR: As we've been broadcasting and consistently over the last 30 minutes, Air Force jets have been buzzing the square and the area of downtown Cairo where we are right now. Flying high, flying low, enormous, ear-drum-ripping sounds, potentially probably to intimidate the crowd.
Our producer down there in Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands of people are still there, are saying that they are not reacting well to this show of force.
Joined now by Lama Hasan, ABC's Lama Hasan, our colleague who's been here for the last few days.
This is a first, a show of military strength in the air. There's also military helicopters. People are not happy. What have they been saying to you in general over the last few days?
HASAN: It's remarkable, Christiane, because everywhere we went, every protest that we went to, every single protester said the same thing: They've had enough.
They used the word "kefaya" in Arabic. They've had enough of President Mubarak's rule. They say for the last 30 years they've suffered under him. They're tired of the corruption. They're tired of the high unemployment, the soaring food crisis. They told us they just want to live. They want to be able to find jobs. They want to be able to eat. So now they say is the time for change.
AMANPOUR: What -- what we're seeing and what we've seen is a fairly good-natured relationship between the army and the people, apart from those first few days when the police were obviously cracking down. Now it's developed into a better relationship. But this looks like a dramatic raising of tensions with these buzzing of Air Force jets.
HASAN: Well, this certainly is a turn of events. And I think the people will be even more emboldened by this. Some of the protesters that we spoke to yesterday said that they are not going to be deterred, they are defiant, and they're going to stay and protest until they bring down President Mubarak. They've had enough. They say now is the time for change. And they believe they can do it.
AMANPOUR: Lama Hasan, thank you so much for joining us. And we're now going to talk to Mohamed ElBaradei. You all know him. He used to be head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, a thorn in the U.S. side during the Iraq war, didn't want the U.S. to go to war with Iraq. And now, over the last year, he's come back to try to lead this protest movement.
It wasn't going anywhere for a while. He left, and now he's back again. We spoke to him earlier today.
AMANPOUR: Mr. ElBaradei, are the latest moves by President Mubarak sufficient, appointing a vice president, a prime minister?
ELBARADEI: Christiane, it doesn't even begin to address people's concerns. People's concerns right now is Mubarak has to go, immediately. The first step, if we need to get out of this mess -- and it's total mess, security is not there, it's a total chaos situation right now -- first step, he has to go.
Second step, we have to have a government of national salvation, in coordination with the army, so the people and the army will get together, go for a transitional period, where then we prepare for a free and fair election, a new constitution, and then move on toward a democracy.
Third point, that the army has the horrible task of ensuring security. Prisoners got out of prison. It's -- the -- the security force, which is over a million, has been disbanded. It's a criminal act. I don't know who did that.
AMANPOUR: You think the army will turn on the people, if they get the order?
ELBARADEI: I don't think it would ever turn on the people. I think the army is very much on the people's side, and the army is put in then impossible situation. I mean, normally, what should happen is that the police should be in the city to protect people and infrastructure. Somebody gives the order to the police to disband. And then what you have right now is thugs. You know, thugs are looting. And, you know -- and it's -- it's -- it's a horrible situation right now.
AMANPOUR: How do you assess the reaction of the U.S. administration?
ELBARADEI: Well, I think it's -- it's -- it -- it came here like -- like lead. You know, people expected the U.S. to be on the side of the people, you know, who are -- legitimate needs for democracy, social justice, it's -- and to let go of a dictator, you know?
AMANPOUR: But now President Obama is saying that the rights of the people need to be protected and reforms need to happen.
ELBARADEI: Sure. But, Christiane, he's also saying, I look to the government, you know, i.e., Mubarak, you know, to implement democracy. I mean, to ask a dictator to implement democratic measure after 30 years in power is an oxymoron. So they need to let go of Mubarak. They need to side with the people. They need to go for, you know, transition, smooth transition, through a government of national salvation. This is only way out.
AMANPOUR: As you know, the administration is very concerned that if Mubarak goes, the inevitable replacement is the Muslim Brotherhood or some kind of Islamic fundamentalism.
ELBARADEI: This is total bogus that the (ph) Muslim Brotherhood are religiously conservative. They are no way extremists. They are no way using violence. They are not a majority of the Egyptian people. They will not be more than maybe 20 percent of the Egyptian people. You have to include them like, you know, new evangelical, you know, groups in the U.S., like the orthodox Jews in Jerusalem.
I mean, that is -- you -- they are not. This is -- this is what the regime used to -- sold to the -- to the West and to the U.S. "It's either us, repression, or -- or -- or Al Qaida-type Islamists." That is -- that's not -- this is not Egypt.
AMANPOUR: Are the Islamists behind this uprising?
ELBARADEI: Not at all. I mean, what -- what you saw is the young people. I mean, it's all 30 and below. It is organized plan, implemented by people who are 30 and below who are -- absolutely have no ideology other than they want to see future hope, a respect for their dignity, and -- and basic needs.
AMANPOUR: How do you think this is going to end?
ELBARADEI: Well, I think -- I think everybody should understand, you know, that it will not end until Mubarak leaves today, until we agree with the army on a national unity government, until the army got hold of the street. If we do these three steps, you know, and ensure in the process the basic needs of the people, then we get a smooth transition, an Egypt that is democratic, that is moderate.
You know, it does not mean that Egypt will be hostile to the U.S. This is -- again, we traditionally in Egypt, in the Arab world, have always been friends with the U.S., friends with Europe, and I -- I have no doubt that that will continue, but under the basis of a stability and not pseudo-stability, where -- where you are oppressing people in -- in the country.
AMANPOUR: Mr. ElBaradei, thank you for joining us.
ELBARADEI: Thank you very much, Christiane, for having me.
AMANPOUR: And to delve deeper into this very issue, we're joined now by a man who has helped navigate U.S. foreign policy, way back during the Iranian revolution. He is Zbigniew Brzezinski, who used to be President Carter's national security adviser, joins us now. Thank you for being with us. I want to start by asking you, does Mubarak have to go? Or, as the administration seems to hope, he can implement enough reforms to get through this moment? Is that realistic?
BRZEZINSKI: I don't think that's realistic. What could be realistic is that Mubarak himself becomes convinced, with outside advice, that it is in his interest, as well as in Egypt's interests, that he goes and that he sets in motion a process which facilitates that.
I think the alternatives otherwise are much tougher. Either the army cracks down and the populace increasingly turns to fundamentalism, radicalism in reaction to the crackdown, or the regime perpetuates itself and an explosion comes later and even more violently.
AMANPOUR: Well, let me ask you then, because clearly the administration is grappling with a decades-long problem, how to have democracy in this part of the world without fundamentalism filling the vacuum. Do you think that is still -- particularly as you watch what happened in Tunisia, secular, young -- here in Egypt, it's mostly secular. We don't see the Islamic forces right now. Do you think that is still a fear?
BRZEZINSKI: Well, it still is a fear, but there are some examples which are warning to us, and there are some examples which are a possible source of encouragement. The warning is, of course, what happened in Iran, the takeover by theological fundamentalist regime hostile to the outside world, and particularly to us.
The other alternative -- and it's also an equal important historical nation -- is Turkey, where the army has played a role of the guarantor of democracy, a guarantor of democracy, even sometimes in an authoritarian transition. And the army has made possible the evolution of Turkey.
Now, if you look at the region in which you are now present, there are three great nations in that region: Egypt, with enormous history and civilization and culture; Iran, similarly so; and Turkey, with an imperial past of enormous impression.
Now, Turkey, certainly, I think provides the most relevant example. And Mubarak I think could play still a constrictive role by accepting the reality and making that change possible himself.
TAPPER: We lost Christiane for the time being. In the meantime, we're going have a roundtable discussion in just a moment with George Will, from Al Jazeera, Abderrahim Foukara, ABC News' own Martha Raddatz, and ABC News' own Sam Donaldson, as a special edition of "This Week," "Crisis in Egypt," continues.
TAPPER: Welcome back to our special "This Week," "Crisis in Egypt." Christiane will be back with us later from Cairo, but first our roundtable with George Will, Al Jazeera bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara -- I'm sorry, Abderrahim Foukara -- ABC News' own Martha Raddatz and ABC News' own Sam Donaldson. Thanks, one and all, for being here.
First of all, George, how does this crisis that we are spending so much time this morning and in the last few days talking about, how does it affect the American people?
WILL: Well, in three ways. First of all, this is a political contagion in a very sensitive region of the world. It began when a 26-year-old street vendor of fruit set himself on fire in a Tunisian city. It wasn't even in the capital. Now the next-door neighbor, Egypt, is ablaze, and who knows where it will go, given the dry tinder over there? The 300 million people in the Arab world, 60 percent of them under 25 years old, a quarter of those unemployed.
Second, this is what economists call an exogenous event. We are having a fragile recovery in this country. The immediate reaction of the Dow on Friday was to lose 166 points. Someone -- I mean, I don't know if anyone wants to say $5 gasoline yet, but it could happen. You could have a great energy supply.
But, third, this is Israel's nightmare. They have Iran and the presence of Hezbollah in the northern border. They have Hamas in Gaza. Egypt has been enforcing the embargo of weapons on Gaza, on Hamas in Gaza, coming through tunnels and elsewhere. What happens if Egypt drops out of that?
TAPPER: Abed, before we begin, there's been a lot of talk about the Egyptian government stopping the satellite feed of Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera English in Cairo. What is the status of that? And what do you think that says about the way that the government there is trying to monitor the freedom of information?
FOUKARA: Obviously, the offices of Al Jazeera in Cairo have been shut down. The -- as you mentioned, satellite, Nilesat, owned by the Egyptians on which -- on whose frequencies Al Jazeera has traditionally broadcast, has been switched off. So Al Jazeera has switched now to an Arab site.
Look, this is a classic example of a government in the region going in one way and its people going in another way, as far as coverage is concerned. We've heard this story about Al Jazeera from previous governments before.
I don't want to make too much propaganda for Al Jazeera, but let me just say this: Al Jazeera is an imperfect medium in an imperfect world. But the importance of what's going on in the Middle East right now, this is the story of a generation. Al Jazeera, despite its imperfections, has brought this story to 300 million people in the Arab world and beyond. This is a story of huge importance and consequence of the United States. And Al Jazeera is, in its own way, bringing this story to the United States, to the Arab world.
A few years ago, several years ago, Bill Clinton talked of Al Jazeera as a beacon of democracy. Should that be true, and to the extent that the United States is invested in the future of democracy in the Middle East, Al Jazeera will be an asset. It has provided a platform on which people in the Arab world, from one corner of it to the other, have expressed their grievances and aspirations.
TAPPER: Martha, one of the things that's so interesting watching this crisis unfold is the way that we cover the Egyptian military as if it is its own branch of government. How is the Egyptian army going to respond? What is going to happen with the Egyptian military? Explain this to people.
RADDATZ: Well, of course, all eyes are on the military. You heard Christiane talk about that, as well. And I think people say, there's -- there's choice A, the military will side with Mubarak; choice B, the military will side with the people. But I say it's choice C: The military will take care of itself.
They are the most highly respected institution in Egypt, as you can see. People are climbing on tanks, they're waving. It's pretty clear to me they haven't been given orders to fire on people. You heard the ambassador say they're just there to protect institutions. They're going to surround buildings to make sure they're OK, but somebody's got to blink at some point.
And the military, I think, first and foremost, is going to say, what does this mean for me? Do I want to lose the respect of the nation? So I would think that it is unlikely they would fire on the people and that you really might see a change.
Now, Suleiman, the vice president now, he's a military man, as well. He certainly wants to earn the respect of the military. You have to have the respect of the military there.
TAPPER: Sam, I follow in your footsteps as White House correspondent for ABC News. When you were there during the Carter years, you saw something like this -- not exactly the same -- but something like this unfold in Iran. How is President Obama handling this crisis, especially with that historical perspective you bring?
DONALDSON: I think pretty well at this point, because we're in the middle of a fluid situation, and the United States has really two imperatives, to be for democracy, to be for freedom of choice by peoples around the world, and he has said that, and restraint, of course, from the standpoint of suppression of this.
But on the other hand, we have learned the hard way that a Pax Americana cannot be imposed on other people. We tried it in Iran. In 1953, our CIA overthrew a democratically elected prime minister, a reformer who was bringing reforms to the country named Mohammed Mosaddegh, because we wanted the oil. Well, we established the shah in power. When he was overthrown by the people, it hasn't worked out that well for us. And in Iraq, I think we're in a situation where we don't know the end of this.
RADDATZ: We're kind of like the fence-sitters now, right? Sam...
DONALDSON: But we have no choice.
RADDATZ: Yeah, we have no choice, but it's the fence-sitters that everybody talks about, they're going to side with the winner. And I think that's what you're seeing in the administration. And it's a very difficult fence to ride.
DONALDSON: I read in the newspaper this morning, Elliot Abrams, a former assistant secretary of state and in the George W. Bush administration National Security Council, he didn't say we should intervene militarily, not by a long shot, but he implied that we needed to do more than just speak out. He didn't tell us what more, of course. But I don't think we're going to send in the Third Armored Division into Egypt or anywhere else now.
TAPPER: George?
WILL: Well, picking up on what Martha said, we have seen authoritarian regimes more or less successfully overturned, the Philippines and South Korea, but generally what happens is the very aspects of the society that bring about an upheaval like this and we're seeing in Egypt right now is the weakness of civil society, no parties, no press, no tradition of persuasion, courts, et cetera.
Therefore, the one institution that exists that brings order is the military. The archetypal modern revolution was the French revolution. Order was restored by a Corsican captain of artillery called Napoleon, hence, the tradition of Bonapartism, which we might see come back in Egypt.
TAPPER: Abed, do you think that it's possible that Mubarak is letting some chaos reign right now so that Egyptians, who basically want to live their lives, even if they want their freedoms -- they -- they don't want to die, they want their stores to be able to open on Sunday -- so that they embrace a -- a restoration of order, a martial law? Do you think it's possible that Mubarak is doing that?
FOUKARA: It is entirely possible. And should that be the case, what happened in Tunisia has proven the failure of that strategy, because we had a similar thing. After the president of Tunisia fled the country, there were bands of gangsters who in some cases turned out to be secret police or goaded by secret police to do that -- to undertake that -- that -- that sort of action in Tunisia. We've seen in Egypt militias of civilian Egyptians basically taking care of the protection of various places, such as the National Museum. So there is definitely that scenario in Egypt.
I just want to quickly go back to the issue of the army. The United States has, obviously, through the decades invested in military-to-military cooperation with the Egyptians. I think...
RADDATZ: They were here just last week.
FOUKARA: They were here just last week. The -- the -- the chief of the Egyptian army was here in -- in Washington. He cut his visit short, went back to Cairo for the obvious reasons.
It seems to me that that kind of investment was the right investment, because eventually the army will always play a role in whatever happens in Egypt.
I think the second component that I would like to talk about now is that, in the same way the United States has invested time and treasure and other things in the Egyptian army, they need -- the Obama administration needs to be investing in democracy. This is not about the Muslim Brotherhood leading this or -- do not exclude that they may have something to do with it. This is about the Middle East not going back to what it was just two months ago.
So the United States needs to be on the right side. If the United States had the kind of openness in Egypt, we would have a much better picture of what's going to happen in Egypt in the future. But because of 30 years of iron fist, we do not now, but it's not too late for the United States.
DONALDSON: I agree we need to be on the right side from the standpoint of talking about democracy, urging peoples to move toward that, if they can. But my question to you would be, what should we do now? Should we demand publicly that President Mubarak leave? And if we do that, should we now demand that Abdullah leave Jordan? Should we now demand that the house of Saud fall in Saudi Arabia? Where does that end? But, basically, forgive me, for U.S. interests, where does that leave us?
TAPPER: And, yeah, as they say, be careful what you wish for when it comes to democracy, as we saw in Gaza, and this is something that the Egyptians have been impressing upon the U.S. As we saw in Gaza, there were elections there, and they elected Hamas.
Martha, this has been a very difficult time for this White House, you and I both know from covering it. Talk a little bit about -- and we only have a minute left in this segment -- talk a little bit about the sturm und drang and the angst they've had in that building?
RADDATZ: Well, you and I have been talking for several days about this and -- and watching the administration really all tied up about this. On Friday, making calls to administration officials, it was basically, we don't really know what to do. We don't know really where we're going with this. And you and I were also talking about these -- these statements they put out. Well, you have to do these three things. You have to-- you have to have a dialogue. You have to get away with emergency law, do away with emergency law.
Basically what they're saying is, just do what you did two weeks ago. They're not saying, let's take it forward very far. So it's been really tied up in knots, the administration.
TAPPER: We're going to take a quick break. And more on the crisis in Egypt and Christiane Amanpour from Cairo when "This Week" returns.
TAPPER: And a special edition of "This Week," "Crisis in Egypt" continues. We will continue with our roundtable.
As always, George Will, from Al Jazeera's D.C. bureau, Abed Foukara, ABC News' own Martha Raddatz and ABC News' own Sam Donaldson.
Abed, I want to start with you. I think a lot of Americans are probably looking at what's going on in Egypt and thinking, "Oh, my god. What is going to happen to that country? Should we be afraid of what happens next?"
FOUKARA: I mean, there's definitely reason to be afraid and to worry. This is a time of great peril in Egypt, no doubt about it. But I think if the Egyptian people, the Egyptian political formations, the Egyptian army, and the United States government somehow manage to get Egypt to safety through this, then the domino effect theory -- based on the history of the region -- does not necessarily have to hold.
What I'm trying to say is, if you get a -- a stable government in Egypt, that somehow somewhat changes the course of the country in ways that Egyptians have been clamoring for in these protests, other governments in the region do not necessarily have to topple, but they will have to readjust. And I think that that would be the best outcome that the region and the United States could hope for.
TAPPER: Well, that's the best-case scenario. George, what's the worst-case scenario?
WILL: Well, the worst case is for us to assume that we can master these events. Beginning in the fall of 2001, when we easily toppled the Taliban, and March 2003, when we easily toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, since those two events, we have been learning the hard lesson -- or at least being taught, whether we've learned it or not's another matter -- that it's easier to set in train events and to bring down regimes than it is to fashion a replacement for them. So we should have great modesty about the ability of the United States to influence events far around the world in cultures we do not understand.
TAPPER: And what do you think, Martha? What are you -- what are you going to be watching going forward? And what are you worried about?
RADDATZ: Well, I think the one thing that we forget is, this -- this really is a dialogue between -- and the angst in the White House -- is, it's national security or human rights and democracy? And you've got to talk about national security, because that is really the important thing here to -- to Americans.
Egypt has helped fight terrorism in that region. They are the anchor for the U.S. in that region. And one other thing we haven't really talked about or thought about is that, at the end of this year, U.S. troops are supposed to all be out of Iraq, so that region has a degree of instability there already which could be worse by the end of the year.
So they -- they need Egypt. They need the support of Egypt. I agree that perhaps it'll be an even more stable situation. Perhaps who you get in there will be remarkable. But the U.S. counts on the support from Egypt, counts on the support to counter everything else in that region.
TAPPER: And just to remind our views, it's not just counterterrorism. Egypt has been allied with the United States when it comes to Iran's nuclear program...
RADDATZ: Radical Islamists.
TAPPER: ... radical Islamists...
RADDATZ: Absolutely.
TAPPER: ... when it comes to recognizing the new Iraqi government, when it comes to the Mideast peace process. Sam, you were saying you're concerned that the new government might not recognize the peace treaty it has with Israel that Anwar Sadat gave his life for.
DONALDSON: Well, I watched Jimmy Carter help these two leaders, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, put together this historic peace -- it kept the peace. Egypt is still the most powerful of all of the military nations in the Arab world. It's kept the peace.
If that should somehow unravel because of events in Cairo, the whole region would be the poorer for it. But I think the lesson that everyone here has talked about, we're not saying that we should put American interests for oil or any other -- of -- above the people of Egypt.
We hope that democracy -- and we hope that it will work out there, but we do have to, as Martha put it, pay attention to that. In 1954, we created the nation of South Vietnam. That didn't work out. The Vietnamese wanted to live together. They do today, and we have perfect relations with North and South Vietnam, which is one country.
RADDATZ: And as smarty-pants as we all try to be, we have no idea. I mean, this is a situation where you've got social media thrown in there. You've got a country that's uniting in ways we've never seen before. So you really have to wonder what's going to happen. We don't know. The administration didn't know. That's why we've had these few days of back-and-forth, and what do we say?
DONALDSON: May I say just a word -- talks about propaganda for Al Jazeera -- thank you for what you're doing. People say Al Jazeera fanned the flames here by bringing the fact that democracy is in existence and that people are being suppressed. That's what we need; we need more communication in the world. It's not Al Jazeera's fault...
RADDATZ: They watched Tunisia...
DONALDSON: ... that Mubarak is under a siege now.
WILL: On the other hand, we in the media tend to think the media drives the world. And I have a feeling this would be going on across this region regardless of the media.
DONALDSON: But the world drives the world to the extent the world knows about what's happening everywhere else. That's what media does.
TAPPER: We only have 30 seconds. Abed, quick question for you, OK? This new guy, this new vice president, Suleiman, is he going -- is his appointment going to satisfy the Egyptian street?
FOUKARA: Well, two things. The fact that Mubarak has appointed a vice president for the first time in his 30 years is a significant event. I mean, remember, Mubarak has said several times, I will continue to rule Egypt literally until the last breath in my body. So the fact is he has appointed this guy -- that he's military from the old guard is a different story.
TAPPER: All right. The roundtable will continue in the green room at abcnews.com/thisweek, where you can also find our fact checks, in conjunction with PolitiFact.
Christiane will be back with a final word live from Cairo after this.
AMANPOUR: Back live in Cairo now.
And curfew has fallen, and yet thousands of people are still in the streets, still in Liberation Square, and so is the army. During my many years of covering this part of the world, like so many people, I've wondered how change, if ever, would come here? Would it be by evolution or revolution? And what, as we asked before, what would it look like?
Well, at the very least, now it seems a tipping point has been reached with this uprising. At the very least, fear, generations of fear have been shaken off, and the people have raised their voices for freedom. You know, when this uprising started on Tuesday, President Obama was delivering his State of the Union address, extolling America as having been founded on the strength of an idea. Well, now the people here say that they, too, are grabbing that idea of democracy, of self- representation in government, and of economic opportunity.
It was here in Cairo during his first year as president that Obama came to speak to the Muslim world. It was his first interview that he gave to an Arab television station where he said that the United States could no longer afford to have yet another generation of Muslim youth who see the United States as the enemy.
Well, now here people are rising. They want, they say, democracy. They say that they have extended their hand, they've put their hand out, and they hope the United States is ready to grab it.
That's all for "This Week." I'm Christiane Amanpour live in Cairo. Stay with ABC News for continuing coverage of this breaking story.


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Breschi, A., Gingeras, T. R., and Guigó, R. (2017). Comparative transcriptomics in human and mouse. Nature Reviews Genetics [doi: 10.1038/nrg.2017.19]I was confused by the comments made by the authors when they started comparing the human and mouse genomes. They said,
Cross-species comparisons of genomes, transcriptomes and gene regulation are now feasible at unprecedented resolution and throughput, enabling the comparison of human and mouse biology at the molecular level. Insights have been gained into the degree of conservation between human and mouse at the level of not only gene expression but also epigenetics and inter-individual variation. However, a number of limitations exist, including incomplete transcriptome characterization and difficulties in identifying orthologous phenotypes and cell types, which are beginning to be addressed by emerging technologies. Ultimately, these comparisons will help to identify the conditions under which the mouse is a suitable model of human physiology and disease, and optimize the use of animal models.
The most recent genome assemblies (GRC38) include 3.1 Gb and 2.7 Gb for human and mouse respectively, with the mouse genome being 12% smaller than the human one.I think this statement is misleading. The size of the human genome isn't known with precision but the best estimate is 3.2 Gb [How Big Is the Human Genome?]. The current "golden path length" according to Ensembl is 3,096,649,726 bp. [Human assembly and gene annotation]. It's not at all clear what this means and I've found it almost impossible to find out; however, I think it approximates the total amount of sequenced DNA in the latest assembly plus an estimate of the size of some of the gaps.
The golden path length for the mouse genome is 2,730,871,774 bp. [Mouse assembly and gene annotation]. As is the case with the human genome, this is NOT the genome size. Not as much mouse DNA sequence has been assembled into a contiguous and accurate assembly as is the case with humans. The total mouse sequence is at about the same stage the human genome assembly was a few years ago.
If you look at the mouse genome assembly data you see that 2,807,715,301 bp have been sequenced and there's 79,356,856 bp in gaps. That's 2.88 Gb which doesn't match the golden path length and doesn't match the past estimates of the mouse genome size.
We don't know the exact size of the mouse genome. It's likely to be similar to that of the human genome but it could be a bit larger or a bit smaller. The point is that it's confusing to say that the mouse genome is 12% smaller than the human one. What the authors could have said is that less of the mouse genome has been sequenced and assembled into accurate contigs.
If you go to the NCBI site for Homo sapiens you'll see that the size of the genome is 3.24 Gb. The comparable size for Mus musculus is 2.81 Gb. That 15% smaller than the human genome size. How accurate is that?
There's a problem here. With all this sequence information, and all kinds of other data, it's impossible to get an accurate scientific estimate of the total genome sizes.
[Image Credit: Wikipedia: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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|January 2008
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William Newton's Zenit piece today takes as a starting point Pope Benedict's address earlier this month, but doesn't really go anywhere with it. For starters, the use of "relativism" in the headline is another example of the erosion of meaning in that term. It might as well be defined as "something I don't like," for all the times it gets used, abused, and misapplied. Getting back to the content of the essay, I thought there were two glaring omissions.
First an acknowledgement:
While the Convention points out that the welfare of children is best secured by being part of a family …
… but without any reference to the millions of children worldwide who have no parents, and nothing to say on adoption, the harping on same-sex unions seems pretty hollow to me. The Church is likely powerless to do anything about the sexual orientation of people, especially its five billion non-members. But it seems to me that the Pontifical Council for the Family could do much more to promote the right of a child to have parents. A perusal of recent meetings, addresses, and other documents on the Vatican web site shows no mention of adoption anywhere going back five years.
Number two: speaking of rights, this emphasis on "rights" strikes me as evidence of an entrenched narcissism. When Mr Newton writes:
Another contradiction that has emerged in recent years (and this was foreseen by the Holy See in its main reservation to the Convention) is to pit the rights of the child against those of the parents; minimizing the influence of parent while increasing the influence of the state.
… it makes me want to grind my teeth. Children have rights. Parents have responsibilities. Parenting a child isn't a right. This sense of entitlement, something we see in such statements like, "Every adult has a right to a child," or "I have a right to control my child," can be taken–and is indeed held–to unhealthy extremes. I'm amazed that otherwise self-styled orthodox Catholics don't recognize this line of reasoning is all wrongheaded. The harping on rights cheapens the role of the parent. And at worst, it becomes a sort of competition. We see it when parents are pitted legally against children, or one parent against another.
In continuing to miscast duty, obligation, and responsibility as "rights," otherwise well-intentioned people are totally missing the boat. How can I drive the point home?
I have a friend. I don't have a "right" to hang around significantly with a peer. But I do have obligations to anyone I consider a true friend. I have a duty to listen to my friends, to spend time with them, to be gracious, accommodating, generous, and the like. They don't have a "right" to my attentiveness. But in mutual friendship, we have mutual responsibilities, as long as we agree to maintain our friendship. In this mutuality of giving, of sacrifice, the friendship blossoms and functions as an aid to both our lives. That's the way it should be.
I also have a spouse. Marriage brings certain privileges, but I don't think any of the shared legal and moral obligations can be termed "rights," at least not in a Christian context. I don't have a "right" to sexual intercourse, for example. Intercourse is part of the privilege of marriage. I would say that a spouse has a responsibility for the overall physical, emotional, and spiritual care of the partner. Sex is part of that, but sex becomes a means to an end, not the ultimate value in the marriage itself. By framing the context in this way, it keeps the notion of sacramental sacrifice in the foreground. And it shades any sense of entitlement to the rear.
When we approach friendship, marriage, or parenting as containing privileges and rights for the self, I think we do ourselves and our partners an injustice. Not to mention Christ's notion of self-sacrificing love.
Let's take adoption now. Children live without parents, despite the UN and the Church saying they have rights to a family. By inaction or by distraction, these rights, these needs go unaddressed. This is a grave moral omission on the part of society, and it convicts the Church as well–as long as we are unable or unwilling to promote a far more widespread adoption of needy children. That few of these children are in the direct care of the Church is irrelevant. The Church feeds hungry people, cares for sick people, advocates for disenfranchised people–and we don't require membership for this work of charity and justice.
Lacking a more convincing pro-life witness on the adoption front, I can't consider the institution's stated opposition to same-sex unions as a support for the family as anything more than a smokescreen. Now, don't get me wrong: I believe the Church has a responsibility to preach moral virtue. But we do not have the right to be wrong or wrongheaded about blaming one problematic aspect of family life (the lack of support for married couples) on the willingness of some same-sex couples to add a legal dimension to their acknowledged personal commitment and responsibilities.
When I see more support for Catholic families* and couples adopting fatherless and motherless children, I think our pro-life witness on the family front will ring less hollow than it does these days. And if the institution is looking for ideas, I'll clue you in: my phone hasn't been ringing off the hook about it, not unlike the phones of the overburdened secular social workers.
* Adopted children are not solutions for the fertility problems of couples. I applaud infertile couples who do want to adopt out of a sense of addressing a need in the life of another person. But adoption is not a "cure" for infertility. This is why families with children probably should be considering adoption more seriously, especially families that have discerned that being large is a basic good. For the record, I have no problem with families of six, eight, or more children. As long as they don't mind my suggestion that maybe a few of their children could be adopted.


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Moderator: Moderators - Public
CCXX wrote:(v. 148) 3. Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance. I shall deal hardly with them.
Jim Eshelman wrote:Since the antecedent is not likely to be "War and Vengeance"
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It's always a thrill to see a major TV drama take a detailed swipe at topics like creationism or climate change denial, and I was especially excited to see the lengthy discussion in last night's episode of The Newsroom. In an interview based on the real candidate Santorum's comments, the fake news anchor (Will McAvoy) in Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom mixes it up with a Santorum-pumping fake spokesman for the League of Catholic Voters (Randall Dell). The show is set 2 years in the past, when Santorum was a leading candidate for the presidency.
Transcript (omitting control room chatter where the guys behind the scenes are pulling up graphics for the show):
McAvoy: The common wisdom is that political candidates shouldn't be asked about their religious beliefs.
Dell: I agree with that.
McAvoy: But what if the candidate makes their religious beliefs part of their candidacy.
Dell: Is there a candidate who's doing that?
McAvoy: The candidate you support is doing that.
Dell: That's not true, sir. Is Rick Santorum devout? Yes. Does his faith guide his actions? Y—
McAvoy: Does he say so every day in campaign speeches? He does. Let's put this quote up on the screen. It's Rick Santorum speaking at a Tea Party event in Columbus. He said this in regard to President Obama's climate change agenda: "It's not about your quality of life. It's not about your jobs. It's about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology." Mr. Dell, one of Rick Santorum's problems with the president's plan to combat climate change is that its roots can't be found in the Bible.
Dell: We have a lot of reasons to be concerned with Obama's plans, but you're plainly distorting Rick Santorum's words—
McAvoy: I don't think I am, but let's go to this instead. This is Rick Santorum's statement at the Press and People of Faith in Politics Forum in 2008: "I think there are a lot of problems with the theory of evolution and I do believe it is used to promote a world view that is antitheist, that is atheist. You should have academic freedom in the classroom when teaching about life."
Dell: That was 2008. Mr. Santorum made those remarks when he didn't hold office. He was speaking as a private citizen.
McAvoy: He was speaking in defense of an amendment he offered in 2001 when he was a US Senator, making it a federal law that "where topics are taught that may generate controversy (such as biological evolution) the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist." By "full range of scientific views," he's including Genesis, right.
Dell: That's right.
McAvoy: It seems like far from objecting to religious views being brought up in political campaigns, he's insisting on it.
McAvoy's (and writer Sorkin's) point is about the shifting role of religion in presidential politics, a reversal from the days when John F. Kennedy argued he could be trusted with the White House by promising not to be driven by his religious beliefs, but by the secular beliefs he shared with the citizenry.
Of course, those of us who follow the creationism/evolution struggle were especially thrilled to see the infamous Santorum Amendment get airplay, and to see the absurd creationism claims about "academic freedom" called out for what they are.
It's important to remember, as we've reported since 2002, the Santorum Amendment never became law. The Newsroom gets that wrong, and while it isn't an important error in their plot, it's important for school administrators and teachers to understand. In many instances, policymakers, parents, and teachers have wrongly claimed that the Amendment represents federal law, and that creationist lessons therefore may not be excluded.
The Amendment was drafted by Phillip Johnson, known as the godfather of intelligent design creationism, and Santorum added it to the Senate's version of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. When science education advocates realized what had happened, they worked with the conference committee sorting out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill to rub out Santorum's handiwork. In the end, the amendment persisted only as a passing reference in the conference report, not in the binding text of the law itself.
Santorum's attempt to smear evolution education has had long-term consequences, and serves as a reminder to us all that vigilance is a constant necessity. While Santorum's role in the creation/evolution battle played little role in the frothy mix of the 2012 presidential race, we can be glad that The Newsroom is not letting that part of the story be forgotten.


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Student Works with English-Language Educators in Africa
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—Colleen Shaughnessy, a doctoral student in adult education, is no stranger to the African continent. This College of Education scholar has spent almost five years in total, in countries such as Zimbabwe, Ghana, South Africa and Rwanda. This past summer, Shaughnessy spent nearly four weeks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) working for the U.S. State Department as an English language specialist.
In this position, Shaughnessy traveled throughout the country speaking with high school teachers, teacher trainers and professors conducting a needs analysis of English language programming.
"My goal was to understand the situation from the perspective of teachers and students and to honor the teachers' expertise and knowledge, as many of them had been teaching for 15 years or more," said Shaughnessy. "I saw myself as a gatherer of information in order to enhance what was already taking place and to encourage the ongoing efforts of current teachers."
During meetings with teachers and English learners, Shaughnessy said she learned about the education system in the DRC and the national and private English-language-learning and teacher-training efforts.
"The teachers demonstrated their dedication despite incredible obstacles and challenges," said Shaughnessy. "Their hunger for knowledge and up-to-date teaching methods and techniques was evident in every conversation."
Shaughnessy said she has had a long relationship with education in Africa.
"I studied abroad as an undergrad in Zimbabwe and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana," said Shaughnessy. "When I received the opportunity to go to the DRC to assist English teachers to develop their educational efforts, I could not pass it up. Sub-Saharan Africa has become my second home."
Shaughnessy said on most days she met with teachers, observed classes and visited schools. She also presented one workshop for teachers.
"I was largely based in Kinshasa, the capital, but I also spent a few days both in Lubumbashi and Kisangani," said Shaughnessy.
According to Shaughnessy, this project was more related to her past academic and professional pursuits. However, she hopes to maintain involvement in English as a Second Language (ESL) after she completes her doctorate.
"My current research involves prison education," said Shaughnessy. "I hope to continue to work internationally as a consultant while engaging with ESL and prison education in this country, likely at the community college level."
Asked if this is something she sees herself doing again, without delay, Shaughnessy answers with a definite, "Yes."
--by Kevin Sliman (October 2013)


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Daunorubicin citrate liposome (By injection)
Daunorubicin Citrate Liposome (daw-noe-ROO-bi-sin SIT-rate LYE-poh-some)
Treats Kaposi sarcoma in patients who have HIV.
Brand Name(s):There may be other brand names for this medicine.
When This Medicine Should Not Be Used:This medicine is not right for everyone. You should not receive it if you had an allergic reaction to daunorubicin citrate liposome, or if you are pregnant.
How to Use This Medicine:
- Your doctor will prescribe your dose and schedule. This medicine is given through a needle placed in a vein.
- You will receive this medicine while you are in a hospital or cancer treatment center. A nurse or other trained health professional will give you this medicine.
- It is normal for this medicine to turn your urine red for 1 or 2 days after your treatment.
- Missed dose: This medicine needs to be given on a fixed schedule. If you miss a dose, call your doctor, home health caregiver, or treatment clinic for instructions.
Drugs and Foods to Avoid:
Ask your doctor or pharmacist before using any other medicine, including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products.
- Tell your doctor if you have been treated with doxorubicin or daunorubicin before.
- This medicine may interfere with vaccines. Ask your doctor before you get a flu shot or any other vaccines.
Warnings While Using This Medicine:
- It is not safe to take this medicine during pregnancy. It could harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant.
- Medicines used to treat cancer are very strong and can have many side effects. Before receiving this medicine, make sure you understand all the risks and benefits. It is important for you to work closely with your doctor during your treatment.
- Tell your doctor if you are breastfeeding, or if you have any infection, heart disease, liver disease, or kidney disease.
- This medicine may cause heart problems, which can occur months to years after your treatment is complete.
- This medicine may make you bleed, bruise, or get infections more easily. Take precautions to prevent illness and injury. Wash your hands often.
- Your doctor will do lab tests at regular visits to check on the effects of this medicine. Keep all appointments.
Possible Side Effects While Using This Medicine:
Call your doctor right away if you notice any of these side effects:
- Allergic reaction: Itching or hives, swelling in your face or hands, swelling or tingling in your mouth or throat, chest tightness, trouble breathing
- Chest pain, trouble breathing, fast, pounding, or uneven heartbeat
- Fever, chills, or sore throat
- Flushing, chest tightness, back pain
- Pain, numbness, or tingling in hands or feet
- Rapid weight gain, swelling of hands, ankles, or feet
- Redness, swelling, or pain where the needle is placed
- Unusual bleeding, bruising, or weakness
If you notice these less serious side effects, talk with your doctor:
- Hair loss
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain
- Tiredness
If you notice other side effects that you think are caused by this medicine, tell your doctor
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088
Last Updated: 5/1/2020
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites.
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Will the draft order be posted here before hand?Kevin
This will be my first live draft - is there a special area in yahoo that we go to get to it?
good question. do i need to be prepared in any way?
The league will be scored with a rotisserie scoring system for ten categories:Field Goals MadeFree Throws Made3-PT Shots MadeTotal PointsOffensive ReboundsDefensive ReboundsAssistsStealsBlocked ShotsTurnovers
Page created in 0.068 seconds with 18 queries.


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*Please check with our online customer service team or your local store for stock availability
Sound you can feel
Love your new Bose Soundbar 700 but want to kick the performance up a notch? Add the Bose Bass Module 700—it's the difference between hearing bass and feeling thunder. Designed exclusively for the Bose Soundbar 700, it's the best wireless bass module we've ever designed for any of our home cinema systems. In fact, it's the best performance you can get for a subwoofer this size. It connects wirelessly to your soundbar and adds even more depth and impact to everything from explosive movie effects to house-rocking playlists.
Beautiful inside and out
With its premium glass-top finish, the Bose Bass Module 700 offers a sophisticated look you won't find in typical subwoofers or home cinema equipment. Of course, this isn't typical equipment. This subwoofer delivers a dynamic range of bass from a powerful driver and generously sized port with QuietPort technology that virtually eliminates distortion. So go ahead, turn up the music and feel that rhythm move through the house.
Complete the package
Ready for more? Take your listening experience to the next level by adding full-on surround sound. Just add the Bose Surround Speakers to your Bose Soundbar 700 and Bose Bass Module 700 to feel completely immersed in every moment of your music, movies and TV. The surround speakers have a wireless range of 9 metres. Even better? They stand less than 11 cm high and blend nicely into your room.
Can the Bose Bass Module 700 be wired?
Yes. If for some reason a wired connection is preferred, the Bose Bass Module 700 and the Bose Soundbar 700 can be hardwired together using a standard 3.5-mm audio cable. Contact your local Bose customer service centre or purchase this standard cable at any electronics store.
What placement guidelines should be considered to ensure optimal audio performance of the Bose Bass Module 700?
For best sound quality, the Bose Bass Module 700 should be placed on the floor against the same wall as the television and soundbar, with an electrical socket nearby for the power cable. The bass module should not be placed on a shelf or table. For more bass, the bass module should be placed closer to walls and corners. For less bass, the bass module should be pulled away from walls and corners.
Can the Bose Bass Module 700 be added to other one-piece Bose speakers, such as the Bose Home Speaker 500 or SoundTouch 10 wireless speaker?
No. The Bose Bass Module 700 can only be added to the Bose Soundbar 500, Bose Soundbar 700 and the SoundTouch 300 soundbar.


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Condusiv Addresses Concerns about the Intel CPU Security Flaws
Read More
How to Achieve 2X Faster MS-SQL Applications
How to Recover Lost or Deleted Files BEFORE Resorting to Outsourced Data Recovery
New Dashboard Finally Answers the Big Question
Read More
VMware® virtualization is a thorough progression
in computing benefits. Such benefits include substantial reductions in hardware
resources, considerable space and energy savings, and much more. Moving to cloud
computing with VMware virtualization of desktops, applications and servers allows
for greater efficiency and agility while retaining control and freedom of choice.
An enormous amount of I/O traffic is completely unnecessary—and the problem is exacerbated
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text: "Having the opportunity to create a stamp set was the experience of a lifetime! I wanted to create a set that represented both of my children. They are complete opposites but are so adventuresome and full of spunk. I included some inspirational quotes and sayings that we all live by."—CONNIE FITZGERALD (Million Sales Achiever and creator of this stamp set)Photopolymer stamps* Are totally transparent for perfect image placement.* Have just enough give to create a perfectly stamped image every time. * Cling like crazy to our clear blocks so you don't have to worry about slipping.* Save space—you need only one set of blocks for all your photopolymer stamps (blocks sold separately). * Come packaged in cases with images on the spine for easy storage and quick reference.Quantity: 15 photopolymer stampsSuggested clear blocks (sold separately): a, b, c, d


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panzermk2 wrote:Visceral_Malice wrote:Rapier I'm actually pretty sure mine is defective now, but thanks for checking that out. We shot some 45 colt through it the other day at about 10' and it was reading either 200fps or 1100 fps, either of which is ridiculous.
Did I mention that I hate Chronographs?
So let me get this straight....You hate chronographs Jay?? I hope I don't get to that place but I'm sure I will if mine starts to work like yours have.


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Passionate about drawing, painting, sculpture, teaching, reading, cats, physics, questionable housekeeping, furniture rearranging, culinary experiments, miniatures, jazz, board games, and travel, I hope you will enjoy visiting my site. The posts here will be about art, but they may be influenced by all of the above.
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Well, duh, obviously tastes change. Most of the bestselling authors from forty or fifty years ago have already been forgotten, since they and their core audiences have grown elderly or died. But what about classic genre writers?
Consider the case of Robert Heinlein. For forty years, he was the science fiction writer, a hugely influential, dominant, and generally beloved figure who shaped or created entire subgenres of fantastic literature, from urban fantasy to military space opera. He was controversial, but almost universally admired, and tremendously popular, becoming the first SF writer to reach the New York Times Bestseller List with Stranger in a Strange Land in 1961. But since his death in 1988, his popularity and significance have dwindled. According to Jonathan Strahan, one of the major editors in the SF field, very few young writers in their twenties and thirties have read Heinlein or are familiar with his work, beyond maybe seeing Verhoeven's Starship Troopers movie. It's not likely that Heinlein is going to go out of print any time soon, but it's harder to find a lot of his stuff in bookstores, besides bestsellers like Stranger and Troopers. It's not like when I was a teenager in the '80s, and even mall stores would have, say, Glory Road or Door Into Summer on the shelves.
As a counterexample, look at H.P. Lovecraft. He was never popular or even respected in his time, and his work wasn't even collected in book form until several years after his death. Even when he did become popular in the '60s and '70s, he was still considered a pulpy hack writer by many critics and a lot of fans. But today, he's more popular and respected than ever. Cthulhu is a recognizable pop culture figure (even Autocorrect knows he's legit!), and you can buy nice annotated editions of Lovecraft's work from Penguin Classics and Library of America. Not bad for a guy who died in total poverty and obscurity almost eighty years ago.
Maybe you could argue that these are simply reflections of larger trends. One argument goes that after Vietnam and Watergate, folks stopped looking to the stars in hope and began to look upon Space Age technology with dread and anxiety. But as far as I can tell, people still read Heinlein's contemporaries like Asimov and Bradbury. And while Lovecraft is bigger than ever, horror literature's popularity cratered in the early '90s and has never recovered the sales it enjoyed during the '70s and '80s. So there's something more complex going on beyond demographics or changes in social attitudes.


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Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Kate Bloom - The Legend of the Dwarf - Review & Giveaway
About the Book
Ever Trollkiller is a young dwarf, twenty-three years old, who had lived her entire life in an isolated cave far away from the dwarven kingdom. She lives with twelve other dwarves who have raised her in complete isolation, keeping the surviving dwarves a secret from the rest of the word. They hide form Terrisino, the Great and Evil Sorcerer, who demolished their kingdom a quarter century ago. But when Ever accidentally meets an elf, she decides that she is no longer satisfied with the stories she hears from her clan. She decides to seek out the mysterious elf so that he might show her the world. But it isn't long before she realizes that the freedom of the world and the future of the races of elves, men, and dragons will soon end like the dwarven race. Orcs run rampant in the land, killing innocents and plundering the villages. Strange creatures are given rise as they bring death to those who dare harbor the dwarf that they seek. Evil men lie in wait till they might strike. And each of them is allied under Terrisino himself. The stories of hope reach Ever. The stories of legends that all center around one strange dwarf who is destined to defeat Terrisino and ensure the freedom to the world. Convinced that she is the dwarf of legend, she unites with the unlikely company of men, sorcerers, elves, and dragons to save the races and discover who she is.
My Review
"Every great history starts with one brave soul."
These inspiring words serve as a rallying cry for the mystical creatures of a land, soon to be plunged into a pitched battle between good and evil. The only problem is, it is a land divided. Elves, dragons, sorcerers, all keep to themselves. No one wants to stick their neck out for anybody who doesn't look or act like them. Until a little dwarf arrives on the scene and changes everything.
A dwarf? Yes, a dwarf. They're not all dead, as commonly believed. Some did, in fact, survive the last massacre of the wicked sorcerer, some twenty-five years ago. And it's curious that now when the sorcerer is believed to be gearing up for another attack, this long lost dwarf suddenly appears among them, seemingly out of the blue.
And she does one thing that no one ever thought possible - she unites them under the banner of a common cause. She tells them what it's like for her race to face extinction, and she doesn't want it to happen to them. Together, she urges, they have a chance to make a difference before it's too late.
However, the enemy they're facing has no known weakness. He's an all powerful sorcerer. The only advantage they have is that he doesn't know who they are, not yet. They may have enough time to warn the right people.
What started off as a whimsical urge of humoring one of the last known dwarves in existence is now no longer a game. This innocent dwarf is willing to place herself in the direct line of fire in order to save them all. They had no idea what they were stumbling upon when they crossed paths with her, but now they have no doubt that by helping her fulfill her destiny, they have a chance to restore the light to their ever-darkening world.
The Legend of the Dwarf can be purchased at:
Prices/Formats: $15.00 ebook, $15.00 paperback
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 260
Release: December 18, 2016
Publisher: self-published
Click to add to your Goodreads list.
About the Author
Kate Bloom is a tenacious and edgy millennial with a BS in English and history, giving her a knack for story-telling. As a fantasy writer, her mind is constantly running wild in fictional worlds, such as that of her first project, Alice in Dreamland (kindle2016). Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1994, and where she has lived her entire life, Kate found the dry dessert scenery to grow tiresome to look at. She found her escape in the fantastical worlds that played out in her head. She has fallen in love with the idea of putting those worlds in print so that everyone else might see those worlds as well.
Links to connect with Kate:
Web Site
Blog Tour Site
About the Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Order Id: CQ6065S
PU: 80 Pieces
LogiLink 's Cat.6A PUR patch cable is especially suitable for use in industrial environments. The abrasion-resistant sheath made of durable polyurethane (PUR) protects against external influences such as heat, oil, moisture, UV rays and other adverse influences .This high quality cable is suitable for fixed network installation and occasional free movement in dry and damp environments, and outdoors at low mechanical stress. This cable is not waterproof and not suitable for underground!


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James Hagman, Ph.D. National Jewish Medical Research Center, Room K516-B email@example.com Phone: 303-398-1398
IntroductionDuring hematopoiesis multipotent precursor cells with many possible fates undergo differentiation with the progressive loss of developmental potential. This process can be divided into successive steps of lineage determination and commitment. In activating a new program of transcribed genes (determination), cells must overcome barriers imposed by epigenetic mechanisms, including CpG methylation, repressive histone modifications and chromatin compaction. The repressed states of chromatin are maintained by negatively acting remodeling complexes and repressor proteins, which act as safeguards against inappropriate gene expression. To initiate lineage determination, the earliest activators of the gene program begin the process of changing the repressed, or 'closed' state of chromatin to active, or 'open' chromatin. In concert with programmatic activation, the limitation of potential fate choices (commitment) is the function of nuclear factors that repress programs of other lineage contexts. In this manner a single fate choice is established, while other fate choices are blocked.
My laboratory studies mechanisms that control lineage determination and commitment in the context of B lymphocyte development. As a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Rudolf Grosschedl (UCSF), I was the first to identify and clone cDNAs encoding Early B cell Factor (EBF). Today, my laboratory continues our studies of EBF, which we have identified as a transcriptional 'pioneer': a protein that initiates early epigenetic changes necessary for the activation of target genes. We are also studying Pax5, the B lineage commitment factor. To understand how these proteins control B lineage development and function (Fig.1), my laboratory uses biochemical methods (including structural determinations) and genetic approaches, including the generation and use of knock-out, conditional knock-out and knock-in mice. Each of these areas of interest is highlighted below.
Fig.1-Stages of B cell development in normal bone marrow. B cell development in the bone marrow. At indicated stages, targeted deletion of transcription factor genes including runx1, spi-1 (encoding PU.1), ebf1 (EBF), tcfe2a (E2A) and pax5 (Pax5) resulted in arrested development. The onset of expression of various stage-specific markers is indicated above and rearrangements of Ig genes are indicated below.
Areas of Research InterestHow does EBF function as a 'pioneer' of B cell lineage determination? EBF initiates early events necessary for the activation of the B cell lineage program, including CpG demethylation of target gene promoters, nucleosome remodeling, recruitment of partner proteins and transcriptional activation. Recently, we determined that EBF functions, in part, by recruiting SWI/SNF nucleosome remodeling complexes. SWI/SNF counteracts the effects of Mi-2/NuRD, which maintains the closed inactive state of EBF target genes. We are dissecting this mechanism using novel cell lines and ex vivo cell systems developed in my laboratory, together with shRNA and inducible systems for expressing EBF and its co-factors. Other studies are addressing how EBF initiates DNA demethylation, which we are studying using inducible systems for transcription factor expression.
Which genes constitute the EBF-dependent transcriptome? EBF is of central importance in the hierarchy of B lineage-specific factors (Fig.2). To address the identities of EBF-regulated genes and B cell-specific transcriptional networks, we have developed ex vivo B cell progenitor cell lines from knock-out mice lacking EBF or EBF and Pax5. These cytokine-dependent cell lines can be transduced with retroviruses to restore all or part of the B cell program. Key experiments are using an EBF:ER fusion protein, which initiates chromatin remodeling and B lineage-specific transcription in response to tamoxifen in vitro.
Fig.2- EBF is of central importance in the hierarchy of B cell regulatory factors.
What is the molecular structure of EBF? EBF is a member of a novel family of DNA-binding proteins. We are carrying out mutagenesis and structural studies to understand how EBF binds DNA and activates transcription.
What is the significance of EBF interactions with Runx family proteins? EBF recruits Runx1 to target genes. To study these interactions in vivo, we have developed a mouse model of ebf1-runx1 haploinsufficiency. These mice exhibit severely depressed bone marrow B cell development suggesting defective lineage progression. We are also studying the effects of of ebf1-runx1 haploinsufficiency on peripheral B cell function, which is severely impaired in these mice. Together, our data suggest that EBF-Runx interactions are important for the humoral response to antigens.
How does Pax5 mediate B lineage commitment? Pax5 is the B lineage commitment factor. My laboratory previously demonstrated that Pax5 recruits Ets-1 to bind DNA by inducing allosteric changes in the Ets-1 inhibitory domains (Fig.3). To block recruitment of Ets proteins by Pax5 in vivo, we have 'knocked-in' point mutations into pax5 genes in ES cells for incorporation into the mouse germline. A second set of mutations will address how Pax5 is controlled by 'redox' mechanisms in vivo.
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Havnegade 5
1093 København K
Phone:3363 6363
Danmarks Nationalbank (The central bank of Denmark) is another architechural gem by Arne Jacobsen.
The building's stone and glass facade exudes an air of solemnity and restraint matching its trusted function as the nation's prime money manager.
The main entrance facing Havnegade is as discreet as they come, leading through a glass sluice gate into a wedge-shaped entrance hall. The hall rises with cathedral-like proportions to the height of six storeys.
All walls and floors are marble clad, and only a little daylight filters through the narrow, perpendicular window openings. At the end of the hall, opposite the main entrance, a sculptural staircase in glass and steel is suspended from the lofty ceiling.
An architechural gem by Arne Jacobsen
A characteristic trait of Arne Jacobsen's architectural work is his meticulous attention to detail.
Offices and corridors were furnished with AJ lamps, doors fitted with AJ handles, bathrooms equipped with AJ's 'Vola fittings', and his 'Banker's watches' came to serve as central bank clocks.
Danmarks Nationalbank is open to the public Monday to Friday at 09:00 - 16:00. Please note that, for security reasons, photography is not permitted inside the building.
All images belong to Danmarks Nationalbank
Havnegade 5
1093 København K