Friday night

So......NO VIOLENCE TODAY!!! There were small clashes in side streets as the "pro-Mubarak" supporters tried to clash with the protesters. It is widely understood as fact now that these "supporters" are two groups - police and security personnel in plain clothes and poor Egyptians paid with money and food to support him. They number about 3,000 today in the streets, whereas the protesters are past a million today. So we know the real truth in Egypt.

I got goosebumps today when they announced the Coptic Christian priests and nuns had marched into Tahrir to join the protests. Onlookers said "...the spirit of 1919 is upon us." And actually I just got goosebumps again writing that... lol. The last time they were in the streets protesting were the protests of that year when they were fighting to be free of British rule.

This is TRULY uniting all Egyptians. They are sacrificing EVERYTHING to join these protests and DEMAND change and DEMAND their rights. I continue to be inspired daily by their courage and heart and the peaceful way the demonstrate. The only violence has been from the police masquerading as protesters and by the protesters responding to the tear gas and rubber bullets fired upon them. And for that - on them I can place no blame. The only buildings they damaged were the police stations (where the corrupt arrest the innocent) and the Mubarak NDP party headquarters (from which they corrupt and terrorize Egyptians). And for that I can place no blame on them either.

The Ayotollah of Iran (Khomenei) came out today speaking more insanity. He has tried to take the protests in Yemen, Tunisia and Egypt and say these are mere extensions of their 30 year old Islamic revolution. He is calling them Islamic revolutions - which NONE of them are - and he is taking credit for the "inspiration" behind them. What a crazy man. That's one more man that NEEDS TO GO. First NONE of these are about religion - they are about freedom, democracy and rights. Second - 30 years is a BIT too late to be the "inspiration" for anything.

Yesterday I gave an interview with Fox news in Evansville, IN (my hometown area) and today I am about to give an interview with Evansville ABC. I am able to share my experience and thoughts with my fellow Hoosiers. And for that I am grateful.

I cannot help but think. Just as I once set in a classroom and learned about the Birmingham events that helped facilitate a civil rights movement in the US. And later how the iron curtain fell in Eastern Europe and freedom blew through the region. This too will one day be in the history books of how freedom finally came to this region. And not only was I alive to experience it - but I have had the unique opportunity to EXPERIENCE it. That is of course in no way meant to make light of this situation. On the contrary - this is a somber set of events unfolding before me. But I am in the situation. IN Cairo, my friends and roommates are Egyptians - I walk the streets by day and night. I hear the guns and helicopters and taste the bitter tear gas in the air.... I am living in history being made before my very eyes. Long live Egypt. Mother Egypt. Mother of all Peoples.