Salaan Sirhan, Irina Boulos

I thought when I saw the headlines this morning that if Mubarak had ever elicited the good will of the Egyptian people or anyone else in the world he lost it Wednesday.

I find that Sirhan agrees with me.

Appended at the end in the print ed of that truncated web edition story of the NYT:
"Hosni Mubarak thinks his chair is more important than the Egyptian people," said Salaan Sirhan, a 43-year-old teacher. "After today they will never forgive him for his crime."

As darkness settled over Cairo, Tahrir Square looked like an army field hospital. "We'll stay here until we die," said Irina Boulos, a nurse.

Sameh Saber, Non-Violence and the Muslim Brotherhood

My question to atthesametime and any other Cairo hands out there, is, are the middle-aged men glimpsed in the NYT coverage of the crowds at Tahrir Square who are acting as marshals, photographed linking arms to guide and protect the anti-government protesters, and in this vignette, encouraging non-violent response against Mubarak's private thug army, the Muslim bros?

Sameh Saber, another anti-government protester, started running toward the battle line [in Tahrir Square] with a tree branch.
"Put it down," an older man implored.
"Three of my friends are bleeding inside," Mr. Saber yelled back, "and my friend lost an eye!" But he put down the branch.">
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03egypt.html?pagewanted=2&ref=middleeast

Since its inception in 1928 the movement has officially opposed violent means to achieve its goals....

The Times identified them as the protesters who stopped last night at sunset for prayers. But everyone in Egypt does this, including the teenage protesters photographed by the NYT at the beginning of the week doing the same, and the soigne Orientalist golfers I saw at the Alexandria country club with prayer rugs rolled up in their golf bags -- caddied, to be sure, by Nubians. I don't know where the Nubians kept their prayer rugs. Rolled up inside their machetes, maybe.

Update at 2 pm MST:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/world/middleeast/04brotherhood.html?ref=global-home

Bugs

I love this whole idea.

http://www.ispot.org.uk/s159_info

And I Thought the One Thing Macondo Is Is Tough

Today was the coldest day in the history of Albuquerque.

The governor and the mayor have declared states of emergency.

There isn't enough natural gas in the whole state to heat everyone who needs it. We have been asked to turn our thermos down 10 degrees and not to use unnecessary electric appliances. I have turned down the thermo but I'll be damned if I'm turning off the oven. Having had fish for breakfast and spinach for lunch I'm by God having oatmeal fucking cookies for dinner. With clementines. If 10,000 little vaquero chillen have to freeze.

There are hundreds of closures.

It was a mere -7 this morning as I awaited the Navajo Geeky Gurl for our appointment in the car. With the heat on.

It was no biggie. 'Cause I'm from D.C.. Where it's a hundred in the summer and zero in the winter and e'rry day is a bad hair day.

What is this world coming to when these bad hombres are crying like little girls?

( Suck it up and bake some cookies, little man. )

You know you want to.