■"Egyptian Judges Are Entering Growing Reform Movement," by Hassan M. Fattah, New York Times, 21 May 2005, p. A5.

■"Guantanamo Comes to Define U.S. to Muslims: A Champion of Rights Is Accused of Torture," by Somini Sengupta and Salman Masood, New York Times, 21 May 2005, p. A1.

Here comes the judges in Egypt!

Thousands of them recently gathered in Cairo to "demand greater independence from the government." As one local political expert put it, "The return of real politics has put many institutions back in the limelight, and these institutions are beginning to work for change."

Good, good stuff.

Meanwhile, our Dirty Harry-like handling of terrorist suspects is continuing to poison the well across the Muslim world. If America wants the Big Bang to keep on banging, we have to establish the broad Core-wide rule set on the Global War on Terror. That was the essential message of my Feb article in Wired and it's a big pillar of the Blueprint for Action.