"Blast you, Martin Kramer" and the Common Cold

I prepared for the worst case scenario of diarrhea. Short of adult diapers, I packed everything I could to remedy the cause or symptoms of defcon two diarrhea. My toiletry bag contained an array of pills akin to Hunter S. Thompson's case in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I failed, however, to adequately anticipate catching a common, yet nasty, cold. I've been sidelined for several days and I'm stuck with a nagging cough/wheeze that probably won't dissipate soon. I whipped up a decent chicken noodle soup and have been waiting this out, resting, drinking plenty of fluids, and sacrificing virgins. Classes end this Friday and I leave for two nights in Marrakesh Saturday morning, with further travel next week. I'll snap plenty of photos.

When ill, my genteel facade crumbles and I devolve into misanthropy and spewing of hatred in every direction. I now turn my ire to Martin Kramer and the blog Middle East Strategy at Harvard. Kramer has every right to disagree with the administration, and he makes a salient point or two every once in a while. For anyone who ever complains about liberal academia, I would gladly point them to MESH as evidence of how academics tied to the world's leading university espouse a line of thinking that is contrary to liberal or left wing thinking. Outside of an occasional post by Gal Luft, I'm not sure why I read the blog any further when they offer space to Mark Moyar, some jackass who practically advocates bombing Iran, and some old codger whose work drones on about the specter of monolithic Islam and the Middle East's tribal DNA that limits or drives all decisions.

Egyptian Tax Collectors

Via Arabist: Egyptian real estate tax collectors--after striking, protesting, and showing an incredible degree of solidarity in the past year--created an independent trade union today, the first since the late 50s when unions and class struggle were subsumed under and engulfed by Nasserism.

Arabist: brief tarikh
Beinin: Underbelly of Egypt’s Neoliberal Agenda (MERIP)