Saturday, March 16, 2013

WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CATCHING FLIES, ANYWAY?

16 March, 2013

My gentle friends - and I have many - consistently point out to me, as I trowel on the vituperative when speaking of liberals, that my harsh words and dire judgments will not convert anyone to my ideas.  Their favorite phrase is that old proverb, “You will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."  (For what it's worth, when we were putting fly traps in the stables, we didn't use honey for bait.  We used poop.  There's got to be a metaphor in there, somewhere.)

Humpf.

First, when I’m going on about liberals, I’m not talking about flies – well, perhaps the larvae of flies, but not the adult creatures.

Second, in my 50-odd years of debating with liberals (my first fist fight with a pro-crime, i.e. “anti-gun” advocate was in the 4th grade) I have just tired of pussyfooting around with ‘em.  They’re breeding faster than we can convert ‘em, anyway.  I do, honestly, make an effort to educate, convince, and convert, but I’m not going to live long enough to convert most of these dips, so I’m more concerned with strengthening the moral rectitude of those who already agree with me.

Finally, I submit that the whole honey vs. vinegar tactic is precisely what got us where we are, in the first place.  For example, “You have no right to the property of other people,” is sort of a vinegary statement to a measure of our countrymen, while, “Vote for me and we’ll smash the rich and take their stuff,” is taken as a honey-sort of statement.  When the people in Jamestown said if you don’t work, you don’t eat, it was the definitive vinegar idea, whereas Louis Blanc’s socialist mantra, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need,”  [from Wikipedia.  I’d always thought it was Marx.]  has always been the honeysong of the looter’s soul.  When Saint Barack said he’d tax the rich into extinction and give free phones, free Bubble Up, and rainbow stew to everyone who voted for him, he was spreadin’ around that honey.

And look at the all the flies it attracted.

(Ironically, the value of introducing maggots to an open wound for the prevention of gangrene has been known for centuries.  You see, maggots only eat dead tissue, which prevents the buildup of the bacteria that cause gangrene.  We revile maggots, but they are actually useful, and are probably the only reason for the existence of their parents.  America, in 2013, has a number of ghastly, open wounds, but the maggots that have been drawn to the smell of blood are of a species that eat live tissue.  In a very real sense, our nation is indulging in a frenzy of autocannibalism.  [or, in the case of Pelosi, Feinstein, Schumer, et all, semi-autocannibalism].)


Rebsarge

Monday, March 4, 2013

NOBODY IS REALLY THIS STUPID - UDALL ON MORSI

In February, 2013, I wrote to my congressvermin and told them I'd much rather the US not give a bunch of F-16's to the Islamic Brotherhood because they are not nice people and are not our friends.  This is the reply I received from Senator Tom Udall, D-NM.  It is one of the  most infuriatingly patronizing and disingenuous things I've read lately.


Dear Mr. Rodgers,

Thank you for contacting me regarding recent events in Egypt. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important issue.

In January of 2011 hundreds of thousands of Egyptians frustrated with corrupt governance and a stagnant economy took to the streets to demand political change. On February 11, 2011, after nearly a month of popular and largely peaceful protests, President Hosni Mubarak announced that he would leave office. After a year and a half of political transition in the wake of the revolution, Egyptians elected a new president, Muhammad Morsi. After his election this past June, President Morsi resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's dominant Islamist organization, and pledged to form a government in which all major factions in Egyptian politics would be represented.

As you may know, prior to Mr. Morsi's election in June, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) ruled Egypt by decree, angering many Egyptians who supported a faster transition to civilian government. After taking office, President Morsi dismissed Egypt's long-time defense minister, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, as well as other military officers. Mr. Morsi also reversed a SCAF decree that weakened the executive authorities of the president, giving him interim legislative powers until the election of a new parliament following the ratification of a new constitution. After being approved by public referendum, President Morsi signed the constitution into law on December 26, 2012. Protests again flared in opposition to his administration in the month following ratification, resulting in President Morsi declaring a new state of emergency on January 27, 2013.

Egypt has been an important U.S. ally in the Middle East for more than 30 years since signing a peace treaty with Israel. As such, it also has been a significant recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. In fiscal year (FY) 2011 Egypt received $1.5 billion in military and economic assistance from the U.S. This assistance was conditioned on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's certification that the Egyptian government supported the transition to a civilian government, including implementation of policies to protect freedom of expression, religion, association, and due process of law. However, Secretary Clinton waived this requirement on March 23, 2012. A State Department spokesperson said that "the secretary's decision to waive is also designed to demonstrate our strong support for Egypt's enduring role as a security partner and a leader in promoting regional stability and peace."

Related to this issue, on January 31, 2013, Senator Rand Paul (KY) introduced Senate Amendment 9, which would prohibit the sale or delivery of certain types of military equipment to Egypt including F-16 aircraft and M1 tanks. The restrictions in the amendment would have undermined our existing peace treaty with Egypt, weakened our counterterrorism efforts in the region and endangered U.S. commitments to the security of Israel. The amendment was defeated 79-19 with my vote against the measure.

A peaceful and prosperous Egypt is in the best interests of the United States and the region. Please be assured that I will continue to monitor Egypt's transition process, and will keep your thoughts in mind should I have the opportunity to vote on any legislation regarding Egypt in the Senate.