Obama to Assad – My Missile is Bigger Than Yours

Well, well, well. Looks like 'ole “BO” is about to make another foreign policy boo-boo, this time in Syria.

REWIND

I have figured out, up to a point, the rules of the “BO” foreign policy:

• never put more boots on the ground
  
• skeddadle the ones you have at maximum speed you can get away with
  
• chuck a few Tomahawk missiles from a couple of Arleigh Burke-class Aegis Destroyers at your strategic target
  
• dust off your hands, and say “done and done”
  
• favor the Muslim Brotherhood, cuz you think they will win in the end
  

WHERE 'YA GOIN? SIT AND HAVE ANOTHER BREWSKIE

Team Obama originally made a mistake by drawing a line in the sand, regarding use of chemical weapons. Assad used them on a dare, TO just backed up and drew another line. This time, he seems determined to use them. The scuttlebutt is that he does not want to topple Assad, but just destroy the CWs.
Congress is not helping: some demand that he “consult” with Congress first, others are jumping up and down, demanding that TO “do something”.
Question: where the CW delivered via missile or Soviet-built fighter? Makes mucho difference. There are doubts that the Assad-regime has technical know-how to deliver CW via missile. If they can only deliver CW via military plane, then simply bombing the few known airfields in Syria might be more effective with little, if any, collateral damage.

RING-A-DING-DING-STOP

This is one case where sitting on his hands might be the most prudent choice. There is no telling what the end result will be: you might just as well spin the wheel-of-fortune. TO apparent plan is bad for several reasons:

• the CW have been scattered about, meaning that destroying them will have some pretty good civilian collateral damage
  
• an attack might simply ratchet up the complicated political tensions, kinda like sticking a mop into a hornets' nest
  
• China, Russia, Iran support Assad. Who knows how they will react when someone shoots at their catspaw
  
• If TO does shoot and accidentally topples Assad, the replacements could be even worse (viz Egypt)
  
• total death toll is already 6 figures, and the refugee number has 7. Not increasing these numbers should be a top priority of any operation. This does not seem to be so with TO.
  
• We will be seen as taking sides again, angering the other side (viz Egypt). Sitting back and letting them self-immolate might not be such a bad idea

Egypt – what a mess

I wish to disabuse you of the notion that Egypt's problems are anything but simple or easy. I shall add yet another discordant voice to the cacophony.

Factoid #1 – It's Not Him, It's Us

Do not forget the original, and still valid, reason the anti-Mursi protests began in first place: the economy. Under Mubarak, there was a yawning gulf between the haves and the have-nots. Egyptians voted for the Muslim Brotherhood, cuz they figured any change would help their pocketbooks. Not. MB were totally uninterested in financial stuff. They could care less if the IMF cuts financial aid.

Factoid #2 – The Military Has Strangled Democracy

Not even close. Just cuz there was a vote, does not mean there is democracy. MB, once in power, consolidated power with breathtaking speed. Freedom, liberty, and representative government was not on the menu, but autocracy was. They were trying to construct an old-time tin-horn dictatorship a la sharia. The military is trying to reconstitute a more or less secular country.

Factoid #3 – They Killed The Protesters

Not. Yes, the military killed hundreds (~500), but they were not political protesters a la OWS. The dead were MB partisans: shock troops, foot soldiers, paramilitary, or whatever label you wish to give them. Certainly not innocent bystanders or American-style protesters.

Factoid #4 – They Hate The US

Not exactly: they hate and distrust Obama and his foreign policy minions. Why? Because he cheered rather than jeered when MB seized power. They think (and it is hard to dispute the claim: witness a statement by him that the military should hand back power to the 'democratically' elected 'civilian' government) that “BO” still favors MB, whereas huge swaths of Egyptian society hate the MB in the same way that AQ hates the US.

Factoid #5 – Hey It's A Coup d'Etat And We Should Cut Off Foreign Aid!

Be careful what you wish for. Technically the statement is correct (Congress passed such a law long ago). However, the $$$ we send mainly goes to the military, not the civilian government. Cutting off the aid would be further evidence that “BO” favors MB, further alienating non-MB Egyptians. I would make a reference to the Dance of Shiva, but most Americans have not read the Rig Veda.

Factoid #6 – Sinai: The Boil On Egypt's Hiney

During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Sadat crossed the Suez with the First Armored Division, Egypt's only major armor force, not to mention her pride and joy. Israel easily cut it off, isolating the unit. Begin could easily have just bombed it into oblivion. However, demonstrating his chivalry, he allowed Sadat to withdraw his tanks back across the Suez unmolested. It was this act that finally persuaded Sadat to sign the historic peace treaty with Israel (which also transferred the Sinai back to Egypt), a peace that has thrived up until the election of Mursi. Sinai is again front and center: with the collapse of the civilian government, assorted and sundry terrorist groups have set up housekeeping there. Therefore, any peace solution will have to include this lawless area in the plan.

Factoid #7 – Aha! So You Think The Military Is Egypt's Savior?

Not even close. True, the military is the moderating force preventing Egypt from descending into the bowels of sharia. Conversely, economic development has never been a priority. The military is simply another force in the Egyptian landscape looking after its own. Like us, Egyptians are not concerned so much with religious orthodoxy as with jobs and economic recovery. Adam Smith and Milton Friedman are just as apropos to Egypt as to the US.

Factoid #8 – Aha...wait: say what?

To quote a previous HedFed:

...if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said.

Your head should be spinning with many possibilities, forcing you to sit down for a few moments to regain your balance. This is the truth about Egypt's current problems. No other conclusion is possible. Perhaps you should read the Rig Veda after all.

Correction

Well, my memory is clearly faulty. I skimmed the Rig Veda looking for the specific Hymn(s) that reference the Dance of Shiva, which I always understood to be a cosmic dance of destruction and renewal. Could not find one. That's cuz it is a Tamil concept called Nataraj, and has nothing to do with Rig Veda, which are hymns dedicated to Indra. Sorry 'bout that.

Why I Fear the Federal Government (Mark Levin's latest book)

If this sentence does not scare the living bejeebers out of you, then you are not paying attention:

It is the nation’s largest creditor, debtor, lender, employer, consumer, contractor, grantor, property owner, tenant, insurer, health-care provider, and pension guarantor.

This quote is from page 6 of Mark Levin's latest book, The LibertyAmendments. The first chapter is available for download free of charge from his website.

He is totally correct.
Most of the defects of our country and even our society can be traced, directly or indirectly, to the Federal Gov't. We cannot hope to improve our country unless we improve the federal gov't first.
I could, at this point, give you a laundry list of complaints, but one presumes that a word to the wise is sufficient.

This is credo, whether you are liberal or conservative.

Benghazi? Hillary? SA7? CNN? WTF?

Well, well, well. Seems that Jake Tapper and CNN have written a new chapter in the upcoming book “Benghazigate” by Hillary Rodham Clinton. If you are searching for the eye of Hurricane Benghazi, look no further.


REWIND
on 9/11/12, the American Embassy in Benghazi was attacked by rebels linked to Al Qaeda. Three died that night, including Ambassador Stevens. In the immediate aftermath, there were several odd occurrences that smelled of cover-up:

• Administration spokesman Susan Rice, appearing on all 5 Sunday TV talk shows, claimed that the attack was instigated by an obscure YouTube video that no one saw. Turns out that the State Department knew it was AQ weeks before it happened.
  
• The SOP military rescue mission was deliberately suppressed, and an explanation was never forthcoming (in fact, we still do not know why)
  
• in response to Congressional inquiries, the Administration simply clammed up.
  
• It eventually released 100 pages of emails that, as far as I can tell, had nothing to do with the attack that night
  

IT IS RUMORED THAT...
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the usual assortment of discountable rumors swirled about. The most outlandish of which was that the CIA was using the Embassy to transship arms and trained troops to Syria via Turkey to hide their CIA pedigree. Well, this story has resurfaced, only this time it is surface-to-air missiles rather than small arms. I found an old story about "SA7 man-portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude surface-to-air missile systems" being found in Benghazi back in 2011.


WHAT'S GOING ON, HERE?
The CNN story has all sorts of unbelievable elements. People are being given new names and new identities and new lives? CIA employees are being polygraphed monthly and threatened with dismissal (plus threatening their families) if they talk? There were 3 dozen people on the ground that night, many CIA? What on earth did they do, just skedaddle when the bullets started flying? Where happened to them? Where are they now?


MATTERS A GREAT DEAL, MS. WHITEWATER
(reference to a scandal that popped up when she was FLOTUS; you young 'uns, Google it). When quizzed about this before a Congressional committee, she famously flailed her arms about and, exasperated, said “what difference does it make?” Well, SecState Apiarist (another fib she told while FLOTUS that she was named after the famous mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary: not possible, as he was still an obscure beekeeper when she was born), it clearly demonstrates that your soul is lacking. You see, your boss (& Valerie Jarrett) has done something very, very bad, and you just went along with it. The claim "I was only following orders" has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history (OK, I borrowed this sentence from the Star Trek TV series that has Patrick Stewart in it; it is also known as the “Nuremberg Defense”). The ethical thing to have done would be to resign in anger and disgust, as in: how dare you get me involved such immoral activities, POTUS?


JUST A GUESS
My theories are usually more disposable than the rumors they are based on, but here goes. During his presidency, Reagan illegally supported the Contras in El Salvador (the name “Ollie North” should ring a bell; again, you young 'uns Google it). I believe that POTUS has done the same thing in Syria. In both cases, the actions are illegal, unconstitutional, and therefore a theoretically impeachable offense. However, the former was not impeached for it, and neither should the latter. That is why “BO” is conducting a Watergate-style cover-up that in and of itself threatens his presidency, because he is paranoid and eerily resembles Nixon in this regard.


A FINAL WORD
There are many to choose from, but “presidential timber” would not be one of them (OK, two words).

Gov Romney – shut up

I was taught to mind my manners. In this case, I will make an exception.

As the Republican candidate for president in 2012, you lost. Not only did you lose, you lost every single toss-up state: the election wasn't even close. And all this against one of the weakest candidates the Dems have fielded in decades: it should have been a slam-dunk, sir.


Why are my BVDs up in a bunch? According to MSNBC, you said:

“...we need to exercise great care about any talk of shutting down government...What would come next when soldiers aren’t paid, when seniors fear for their Medicare and Social Security, and when the FBI is off duty?”

First of all, you beanhead, there is a category of federal employees that are "essential". They do not get sent home: only the "non-essential" go home. You know, just like the last time Clinton shut down the federal government.

Second, both SSI and Medicare have their own trust funds from which they withdraw moneys (even if the gov't is shut down), or didn't you know that? There is even “Social Security Bonds”: all the trustees have to do is go to the Treasury and redeem a few (this might require enabling legislation, which is totally independent of a “shutdown”).

Just because you are a Bushie does not qualify to be an Albert Einstein or even a Niccolo Machiavelli. I suggest you sit down and be quiet. You know, like one of those married couples where the wife (justifiably) says: “Honey, I will speak for us.”

Obamacare employees not eligible for Obamacare?

Ha...ha...ha...ha...ha...ha...
OK, this story comes from Batchelor's radio talk show. Right in my own backyard, Contra Costa County just east of the SF/Bay Area, is where the Obamacare help call center for California is.


Obama flunkees advertised for 200 full time jobs to man the phones, for which they received thousands of applications. Upon completion of their training, the hires where informed that many are part-time (i.e. less than 29 hours per week) and therefore not eligible for employer-required health insurance coverage. Many more are “on-demand” employees, and also not eligible. The total number of full time employees, surprise surprise, puts the call center under the threshold that would require the employer (HHS, a presidential cabinet department) to offer health insurance to its employees.


OK, you can't write comedy better than this. Take that, Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
Ha...ha...ha...ha...ha...ha...