Egyptian citizens are fed up with President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled for 30 years and whose son, Gamal Mubarak, was expected to be his successor. Mubarak became president of Egypt after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in the early 1980s.

The Egyptian people have grown increasingly restless recently, thanks to poverty and the oppressiveness of the regime. They're seeking government reformation, and Egypt's autocracy is pushing back -- with tear gas, police intervention, and pulling the plug on social media.

Julie MarshIs Chris Matthews destined to follow in Keith Olbermann's footsteps, heading right out the door at MSNBC? Based on his unprofessional characterization of Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) as a "balloon head" and his history of similar sexist remarks, I think Chris Matthews ought to be polishing his resume.

Yesterday afternoon on Matthews' program Hardball, he played a video of Bachmann speaking about how the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery. He then challenged his guest, Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo, to defend Bachmann's assertion and questioned the wisdom of choosing her to give the Tea Party sanctioned response to that evening's State of the Union address.

My third grader is learning to write in cursive. But according to the Common Core State Standards for English -- the guidelines that cover what kids should learn before graduating high school -- cursive writing is no longer a requirement of the elementary school curriculum in 41 states.

Reasons given for the abandonment of teaching cursive include the time required to do so -- time that could be better spent on skills that kids will actually use. Plus, it's not covered by No Child Left Behind testing, which, like it or not, is a significant benchmark in determining what receives teachers' and students' attention.