Sometimes something so grabs you that you have to share it:

From today’s Washington Post on the Egypt demonstrations.

Ahmed, 25, squared off with baton-wielding police officers this week in large part because he wants to join their ranks, but can’t without paying a substantial bribe. He went to law school for four years, only to find that being a lawyer in Egypt means endless payments to clerks just to have his cases heard. He’d rather be a police officer, he said, so he can shake down others.

“But to become a police officer, I have to pay a big bribe, and I don’t have the money,” said Ahmed, who would not give his last name because he said he does not want to hurt his chances of some day joining the police.