Just Want to be Free – the Mistakes of Tyrants: There are some in my family who are convinced the CIA/US is behind the Arab uprisings. For the life of me I cannot understand THAT one. The left sees the US behind every nefarious activity and plot and the right sees leftist socialists as the men behind the curtain pulling the strings. I'm very confused. Doesn't anyone think that human beings can act in their own self interest and impulse without anyone necessarily being behind it?

Allegedly this all began when one Tunisian vendor had had it up to his earlobes with his government's injustice. If true that was quite a feat. It seems our own revolution began when someone got a bit miffed that a tax on tea was levied and they had no say in the matter. Then bam in an instant British Red Coats fired on a group of probably drunk rabble rousing colonists. John Adams later argued the British were intimidated and it was merely self defense. That may be so but I bet the British said, if only if only as they lost what would become later quite a thing of value, their colonies. If only George the III did a small thing like say hey wait a minute I'll give you some representation. Seems like it would have been a small price to pay for what would become George the III's BIG mistake.

So how does this apply to the Middle East? Well, if only the Tunisian government under Ali, the Egyptian government under Mubarak, and now the Libyan government under Qaddafi could have been so prescient to have seen all that oil money they made, hid in banks and squandered on great villas, estates, cars and women could have been distributed through jobs to their people paying them for work and thus giving them a better life and little less unemployment.

There are, I think, lessons to be learned for ALL governments including our own. When 2% of the people own 98% of the wealth, gas prices and food prices are in the stratosphere unaffordable for most, the housing of the American Dream foreclosed upon do NOT for a happy country make.

I say to our illustrious elected representatives, CEO's of our HUGE banks, corporations and hedge funds LOOSEN UP A LITTLE WILL YA? How about releasing ALL that cash so our country can stand upright again even IF it might stand upright during a black president's administration? It might just ensure, in the long run, your way of life prevails and someday even under a white Republican. Injustice is a nasty thing. It makes people very mad.

I suspect while Qaddafi is holding his Tripoli, in the long run, he will lose just as the Brits in 1789 lost the colonies. People get mad as hell and will simply not take it any more and they have the wind of purpose at their back.

If only George III had thought of that. Instead of Old Glory flying high on our Capitol the Union Jack just might have. This is food for thought you tyrants and holders of all the wealth in the world. “People everywhere”, in the end, as the Young Rascals of the late sixties sang, “just want to be free”!