Thugs in Power

Update on Libya: Rebels advance, NATO taking over.

With the help of brothers who share his power, the head of government moves on his enemies in defiance of the law.

And then there's that whole Gadafhi thing in Libya.

No, I'm talking about Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker, with the support of the Fitzgerald brothers who run the legislature (and their father who runs the state patrol), is defying a court order and trying to implement his union-busting law.

Meanwhile in Libya the rebels seem to be gaining ground, but Old Man K/Q/Gadafhi is (according to change.org)using state media to urge his supporters to hunt the opposition “alley by alley, house by house, room by room.” It's been reported that state programming is used to send coded instructions to loyalists and hired mercenaries. He's also given out machine guns to every family in Tripoli to make that easier. Apart from sparking a human rights petition campaign, this seems like evidence that might push NATO towards making Gadawful's removal a goal, in order to protect civilian lives.

President Obama will speak to the nation about U.S. action in Libya on Monday, presumably to repeat in more dramatic circumstances what he's said before, including in Saturday's radio/YouTube message. But the logic of it may come down to this: if you are in position to prevent a child from walking into traffic, can you refuse on the grounds that there are many other children walking into traffic where you can't get to them? This may seem like only a moral argument, but think about it.