NDP dissolved

Egypt’s longtime ruling party has been dissolved BY COURT ORDER, and its assets confiscated.

This, plus the recent arrests of the family, do have the look of legitimate moves to change things.

Alaa the doorman is free

I heard wrong about the outcome of Alaa’s trial for burglarizing my upstairs neighbor. He wasn’t found guilty. Instead, the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. (This news just came to me this evening from an unimpeachable source within the building.)

My reaction to this news is relief, both because I’d like to see the kid get a second chance, and also because I’m glad to hear that the military tribunals here are capable of dropping charges for lack of evidence. That inspires confidence.

We all have the pretty strong sense that he’s guilty, but unless the proof was ironclad, it would seem like a pretty cruel way to ruin a life, sending him to military prison for 7 years.

that’s a bit pricey, U.S. Embassy

Just found out that they’re now charging $82 to have new pages added to your passport. I’m out of pages and have no choice. They add the small consolation that if you’re a frequent traveller you can request a 52-page passport in the first place, but they never told me that at the time, and it should have been obvious to anyone that I’m a very frequent traveler the last time I renewed.

I don’t like going to the U.S. Embassy. It always causes a lot of stress. First, the whole place is a war zone, and you can’t take anything electronic inside with you, so you’re cut off from the world for as long as you’re in there.

Second, the quality of the service generally ranges from lukewarm to brutally rude. One guy in particular always seems to pretend not to understand what I’m saying at least 3 times, and on the 4th time when he finally understands me, he apparently enjoys simply turning and walking away in mid-sentence without letting me know by using words in the normal fashion that he has finally understood.

They now have an appointment system. If this really means that the lines inside will be smaller, then it may reduce the stress of the experience. But my suspicion is that the lines will somehow be just as long, and this is merely a way to cut down on the number of people they see. There are also coded warnings on the website that since I now have a very special appointment, I’d better be sure that I come with all of my paperwork prepared, and yet I’m still having no luck finding the correct paperwork on their website. Sounds like a good excuse for the unpleasant gentleman at the window to scowl and lecture if I miss some hidden minor document on the site this time.

Why can’t I be from a small country? My friend from Portugal always gets invited to parties with the Ambassador in Cairo! That’s what happens if there are only a few dozen of your compatriots living in a city. You’re treated like a precious social resource. But Americans in Cairo, in the eyes of our Embassy… we are meat to be managed in factory-like style. There are thousands upon thousands of us here, and that’s the problem.

more free wifi airports

Tim Morton reports that both San Francisco and Sacramento airports have free wifi.

That is to be added to our earlier list: Philadelphia, New Orleans, Burlington VT, Cedar Rapids IA

I haven’t been to San Francisco since 1992, and haven’t been to Sacramento since a high school trip in 1984.

Lenny Dysktra

The former baseball star is ARRESTED.

The strange thing about this case is how long it’s taken to develop. For several years now, there have been occasional feature stories on Dykstra’s strange degeneration into a professional con artist. The stories have been quite detailed– the sort of thing you expect to read after someone is already convicted and imprisoned. The feds must have been taking their time for some reason. But it looks like Dykstra’s house of cards is about to come crashing down.

In 1991, Dykstra and Philadelphia teammate Darren Daulton were lucky to survive A CAR CRASH while Dykstra was driving drunk and slammed into two trees.

He later impressed people with his toughness while playing Los Angeles: his saliva glands were destroyed by radiation treatment for cancer, yet he continued to play anyway.

But recent reports of his fraudulent business activities, which included attempts to defraud his own family members, reminded me more than anything else of former Ohio State and Colts quarterback ART SCHLICHTER, whose problems were rooted in compulsive gambling, and whose recurrent criminal schemes became almost comical after a certain point.