Self-Imposed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has failed in flexing his ever-decaying muscle to replace the legitimately selected Prime Minister of the Palestinian people, Mahmoud Abbas because the newly elected prime minister is demanding genuine authority.

 Now, smack me upside the head if I have this wrong but when it takes an eon to select a person for a position of great importance, when an entire government goes through a painstaking search for the perfect person and someone is finally selected above all others shouldn't that be the person for the job? What right did Arafat have to disregard this process in order to search out another candidate for the job just because he didn't like the idea of relinquishing the power to influence the PLO's day-to-day operations? I'll tell you how much of a right he had to do this, none.

 The ego this guy has is enormous. He has billions of dollars to his name yet his people are starving while he walks around in surplus Army fatigues from an American Army/Navy store pretending to be some kind of war hero when all the PLO has ever engaged in is terrorism. He isn't a military leader he is a terrorist leader. If it weren't for two idiots, Carter and Clinton (I normally don't call ex-presidents idiots but these two morons have chosen to ignore the unwritten rule that ex-presidents aren't supposed to interfere in current political situations so what’s good for the goose…), he wouldn't even be recognized now as a legitimate leader.

 President Bush has pretty much told him to back out of the entire Israeli-Palestinian matter and quit interfering with the progress that the Palestinians are making to form a legitimate government but this writer will be very surprised if Arafat's ego will allow him to do what is right for his people. But certainly it is time for Arafat to step down, fade to black and just go away.

 I am starting to think that what is needed over in the Middle East is a strong women's movement. If we can get some of the outspoken women to stand up for their sisters over in the Middle East, get them organized and get them started in demanding equal rights we would see a complete and total end to the Arab world's male machismo. This pride thing would be dismantled and the insane fanatical clerics who can't see that there is a difference between church and state would be relegated to shaking hands after the services outside the mosques. "Oh, good to see you at service Mrs. Baba. And Mr. Baba, I see you have trimmed your beard. In trouble with the little lady?"

 Yup, a women's movement in the Middle East, that's what is needed. So, perhaps if NOW can pull their heads out of their rear-ends and stop the silly abortion positioning on whether Scott Peterson should be tried for the murder of the unborn, viable fetus that was being carried by his murdered wife Laci, they could do something great for the millions of women getting beheaded, raped and beaten throughout the Middle East and help make the world a safer place in the process.

 I wonder what Mrs. Arafat thinks about all this?

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.