In Cairo they’re singing, “Walk Like An Egyptian, But Pick Up The Pace If There’s Tear Gas.”   Looks like they’re set to repeal President Mubarak’s job-killing killing.  Uncle Jay explains, plus he gets you ready for the Super Bowl!

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9 Responses to “Uncle Jay Explains: Jan. 31, 2011”

1. Tweets that mention Uncle Jay Explains: Jan. 31, 2011 | Uncle Jay Explains The News -- Topsy.com Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 9:03 am

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by RedHatty, Uncle Jay Explains. Uncle Jay Explains said: In Cairo they're singing "Stampede Like An Egyptian." Uncle Jay explains in his new episode, plus Super Bowl! http://tinyurl.com/5uarxv9 [...]

2. Q-Hack Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 9:48 am

   I am one of the nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth.

3. ThisIsn'tMyName Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 5:40 pm

   I’ve forgotten how much I love this, I’m 18 and I’ll still laugh until it hurts
   KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

4. vanrana Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 7:50 pm

   Although no kid, except perhaps at heart, I really look forward to your “Uncle Jay Explains” each week. You usually are right on the target, excuse the metaphor, but I think that referring to the tea tax as the “tipping point” for the Colonies is not quite accurate. The tax did “add fuel to the fire”, but if you will recall your history, a shooting revolution did not begin until the government (British in those days) attempted to disarm the citizens. The colonists protested tax without representation, the Boston massacre, the military occupation of Boston, but they did not resort to a full-scale revolution until the tipping point was reached when the government marched on Lexington/Concord to strip the colonist of their firearms and ammunition.

5. Marc Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 10:16 pm

   Thanks to you, I now have a much deeper respect for revolutionary camels!

6. kathy Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 11:02 pm

   THX Uncle Jay. You were able to take the news and make it funny again. That is quite a gift.

7. Pat Says:
   January 31st, 2011 at 11:25 pm

   OMG thank you Uncle Jay for the rational analysis. How soon TUNISIA is forgotten, which, to my eyes DID appear to be a TIPPING-POINT, nothing less.

   Already the hysterical emails from the ‘right’ are coming in, “explaining” Egypt. Here’s a sample which I think might amuse you:

   “With socialist revolutions, the rule is: “take out a Czar and you will get a Stalin!
   Keep in mind the fire of revolution that engulfs Egypt was ignited by socialists and later embraced by Islamists. It is true that the Muslim Brotherhood was banned as an organization in 1954 but it’s been tolerated and has forged alliances with legal and political groups in the last two decades; the liberal socialists, the Wafd, and other socialist labor parties have been allies.”

   I would give you the name of the author of that, but I hesitate to appear to blemish or slant by my appearing to take a (left-wing/right-wing) stance, which might impinge upon you — if you know what I mean, and i think you do lollll

   Anyway the author’s initials are W.S. [Walid Shoebat--I love saying that name, gives me chuckles]

   Do you think this SNOW will EVER END, Uncle Jay? I may have to rent a motel room for the next round tomorrow, only for their garage parking, so I can at least have use of my car when the roads are cleared.

8. Blue Rose Says:
   February 1st, 2011 at 4:06 am

   Well, now that it’s a history lesson, a little refresher course in American history seems good, and we might as well note the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770, then 3 years later the Boston Tea Party occurred:

   In 1770 there is an incident in Boston of a kind
   familiar in northern Ireland two centuries later. An unruly crowd throws stones at the much resented troops. The soldiers open fire, killing five. The event becomes famous in folk history as the Boston Massacre. Even more famous, three years later, is Boston’s response to cargoes of tea which are subject to the most resented of British taxes.

   The British were actually marching to Concord, but Lexington was on the way. They wanted to get from Boston to Concord MA to seize the ammunition stored there, so the colonial militia wouldn’t use it against the British. In that time, there were really only a few routes from Boston to Concord because everything was forest or farmland. The route ran through Lexington, and the militia there were alerted to the British approach, so they came out to delay the British from getting to Concord. This delay, which became the “Shot Heard Round the World” when a skirmish broke out, gave the Concord militia enough time to remove a lot of ammunition and gave revolutionary leaders time to escape capture. The “battle” on Lexington Green was the first actual battle of the American Revolution.

9. RobtO Says:
   February 1st, 2011 at 8:31 pm

   Hi Oncle J:
   Ideally, democracy is fine. But what’s going on in Egypt is so unpredictabe, we may wish that Mubarak was back in power when it’s all over. And why have we been such strong supporters of the Egyptian dictatorship? Because it’s better than an irrational theocracy. This is the same sort of “fundamental pragmatism” that led us to support a Facist regime in Spain rather than accept a communist govternment in its place; and Franco was a friend of the USA (as well as one of Hitler’s close buddies).

   Sincerely,
   Robert Coupdecog

Discuss!