Day 77

Saturday April 5th,

Tomorrow may be a big day in Egypt's History. The protest is getting a lot of attention and a lot of people are supposedly going to show up. I really don't think much is going to happen, because apparently Egypt is notorious for a lot of talk and no action. Even if there was going to be a lot of people, I don't suspect it would last too long, as Mubarak has a knack for sniffing this stuff out. This means if I know something is going down, Mubarak definitely knows about it and will be ready to act against it. The only question then becomes do the leaders of the protest know how to react against the initial crackdown. This I believe becomes the determining factor as to the success of the protest, because I don't think either say is mobile, competent, and agile enough to adapt quickly to an unexpected condition. So if the protesters can some how find a way to not get shut down immediately they might have a chance at getting whatever goal they want. Since nobody seems to be talking about specific goals, or at least from what I have heard, it will be pretty hard to work out a solution to the problems. This seems just like organized chaos and I don't think that really accomplishes anything other than some pain and suffering. If both sides don't have any room to give, if it's too hard to understand the other's demands, then they are never going to be able to find the room for reconciliation.

I heard that even the taxi drivers were going on strike. This to me is complete hogwash. They get subsidized by over 5 billion dollars every year. The pay almost nothing at the pump. Which makes me hate oil even more. If the government wasn't spending so much money on oil, it could spend some money on other fields, like basic infrastructure, cleaning up the pollution, maybe some public works programs. If they could just switch to massive solar plants, they could start saving tons of money and start making money by selling energy to Europe. Where is the problem in this solution? It can't be so simple... but investing in solar and wind here seems like a panacea, just too many people in government seem to be too stuck in their ways. Too resistant to try something new. Too constrained by what people say is possible and not dream of things that never were and ask why not? Why is it so impossible to stop pollution, to get off oil, to live your life based on something more than a paycheck. Cash does not rule everything around me. There is something more important than the dollar sign. Once we realize that how much money we make and how much things cost is secondary to the upholding of human dignity, in all its forms, then we can start moving places. I am not saying economics and liberalism is whack. I do believe that Capitalism and the market economy are good ideas. However, I do not believe they adequately calculate the value of human life. So yes, CSF requires some expensive start up costs, and yes, it is untested, but it can do so much good in this world.
I hope to never be satisfied in this life, because once we say this is it this is good enough, we are giving up and failing. There is a reason that the pyramid on the back of the one-dollar bill is unfinished.

As for my personal day, it has been pretty low key today. I did some more research on my paper but didn't get around to writing it. I should be more time efficent, because I could be doing so much, but for some reason I just don't want to be. I enjoy taking my time, and this kind of scares of me. I mean granted there are times when you need to watch the time pass you by, but its morally hard to do that when their is so much disparity around you. It's like not moving when the somebody is calling for help, except this time that somebody is the world. I'll work on it.