Loyalists & Protesters unify to defend Egypt's museum

During a rebellion/revolution/riot/unrest, there are always debates over whether the crowds defying the government are thugs or heroes. And, as in the American revolution, sometimes the line between the two is a fuzzy one. For those wondering about the protesters in Egypt - and the police - there is an indication that both sides are full of men and women of conscience, as they worked together to defend the Egyptian museum from would-be looters. Even amidst societal chaos, they found common ground on true universal priorities.

When fire broke out on Friday night at the ruling party's headquarters, Khaled Youssef, an Egyptian film director who has made movies critical of government policies, issued an urgent call on the Al Arabiya television channel: "I am calling on the Egyptian army to head instantly to the Egyptian Museum. There is a fire right next to it in the party headquarters," he said in a report relayed by Reuters.

As the fire raged, would-be thieves started entering the grounds surrounding the museum, The Associated Press reported. But other young men, some armed with truncheons taken from the police, formed a protective human chain outside the museum's main gates. "I'm standing here to defend and to protect our national treasure," one of the men, a 40-year-old engineer named Farid Saad, told AP.

AP quoted 26-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim as saying that it was important to guard the museum because it has "5,000 years of our history. If they steal it, we'll never find it again."

Hamas recognizes Israel's Right to Exist

There are some sentences I never thought I'd read outside of Science Fiction. This is one of them.

Hamas has accepted Israel's right to exist and would be prepared to nullify its charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel, Aziz Dwaik, Hamas's most senior representative in the West Bank, said on Wednesday.

Hamas, you may recall, has historically been dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state in its place. They have fired thousands of rockets into Israel and killed many, many innocent civilians. But now, in control of the Palestinian territories, they are realizing that there may be more to gain by accepting Israel and actually considering peace.

There is no way to know how long this will last. It may simply be a PR stunt to facilitate getting foreign aid. But previously, this was unimaginable. And who knows what will happen, once you have crossed the rubicon

BBC: Recession Has Ended

Economics is messy business. You can never know where you are in the monetary cycle. You have to wait and look backward to see where you were. That being said, according to the BBC, the USA has emerged from the "Great Recession".

The US economy grew at an annual pace of 3.5% between July and September, its first expansion in more than a year.
The growth was helped by a substantial government spending plan, including a scheme to boost car sales.

The official figures indicate recession has ended, but some economists think there could be further setbacks...

The return to growth of the world's largest economy also sent shares on Wall Street sharply higher. The main Dow Jones index closed up 200 points, or 2.1%, at 9,962.58.

Here's hoping they are right. I have a lot of friends and family members who could use an improved economy. Then again, it may be a while between the first small improvements and an economy that produces jobs for most of us.

A Happy Trend - Abortion On the Decline

The article pretty much speaks for itself.

The number of abortions in the United States fell to the lowest level since the procedure was made legal some 35 years ago, according to a national study released Thursday.

The Guttmacher Institute... said there were about 1.2 million abortions in 2005 -- 25 percent fewer than in 1990, when the number of abortions was about 1.6 million procedures.

In 2005, the US abortion rate was 19.4 abortions for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to figures compiled from surveying abortion providers. The 2005 figure represented an eight percent drop from the number of abortions in 2000.

The finding underscores a continued a downward trend that started after the abortion rate peaked at 29.3 procedures per 1,000 women in 1981, according to the institute.

Of course, it would be better to see even fewer. But the continuing decline of abortions is an encouraging trend, and gives hope that one day they may be essentially confined to the hard cases: rape, incest, and life of the mother.