Our Greatest Allies: Egypt

Our Greatest Allies will be a new feature on this blog. We will explore the United States relations with its many friends, debtors, and vassal states. Special attention will be paid to our allies in the Wars on Terror and Drugs, and those nations receiving large amounts of foreign aid and military assistance. First up is that bastion of freedom and tolerance in the middle east; Egypt.

We give Egypt up to $1.3 billion/year in military aid alone, along with close to another billion in economic and developmental aid. Egypt is nominally a republic but when President Hosni Mubarak allowed multi-candidate elections in 2005, they were plagued by accusations of fraud, voter suppression, and police brutality. He is, in effect, a dictator who has imprisoned his political opponents.

But before you think we are wasting our money, look how far they have come with human rights.

Egyptian police have stepped up arrests of persons suspected of having HIV, detaining four men this month in a crackdown that violates basic human rights, two international rights groups said Friday.

Don't you feel better about your tax dollars going to them now?

Egypt, a proud country with a rich history, a beacon of democracy and freedom in the Middle East, is truly one of Our Greatest Allies.

Dispatch from Freerepublic.com

This news report brought to you by Freerepublic.com

Tragically, 21 year old Sgt. Corey E. Spates of 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, MND-North was killed on February 10 when his vehicle was struck by an IED in Diyala Province, Iraq. Clearly greater IED protection would have been preferable.

However, in the face of that tragedy is a small silver lining. Sgt. Spates, you see, was the last American killed by hostile action in Iraq. Note the date. February 10.

Due to time zones, it is now February 17 in Iraq.

We’ve therefor gone a week without losing another good American to enemy action. Or put another way, Al Qaeda has become so impotent as to be unable to kill any of us in the entire last week.

Most cities of any appreciable size lose more Americans per week than the above to drunks, or to home fires, or to...drum roll...lightening strikes.

Al Qaeda has been obliterated in Iraq.


In other news 2 US soldiers were killed today in Iraq.

Fascism Watch: U.S. Customs will steal your information

A recent CNN report revealed that U.S. Customs agents can search your laptop or Blackberry, examine files within, and even copy your hard drive. Yet another example of our out of control police state.

Without even considering the legal, ethical, and Constitutional problems with this, it is simply an absolute waste of time. Unless someone has an obvious list of terrorist contacts in his address book, or a schematic of an airplane, there is simply no security benefit to this intrusion.

Given the bovine nature of most airport security workers, this will prove to be only an incredible hassle for already stressed travelers. It will however, allow for TSA to compile one hell of an iTunes playlist.

Hillary Clinton silences David Shuster

In a chilling foreshadowing of the next 8 years under her rule, Hillary Clinton recently caused the suspension and public shaming of MSNBC correspondent David Shuster. His crime? He used the term "pimped out" while questioning daughter Chelsea's role with her campaign. His actual quote from his conversation with Bill Press:

"Bill, there's just something a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea is out there calling up celebrities saying, 'Support my mom.' And, apparently, she's also calling these super delegates." After Press responded, "Hey, she's working for her mom. What's unseemly about that? During the last campaign, the Bush twins were out working for their dad," Shuster asked: "But doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?"

Hillary's chief hatchet man, the always reserved Howard Wolfson, called the remarks "beneath contempt". Coming from the communications director of a campaign that has used such principled tactics as wondering if Barack Obama sold drugs, or writing off his victory in South Carolina by comparing him to Jesse Jackson, one could view this statement as high praise.

Clinton herself used the controversy to show off her Thatcheresque strength and composure.

“I am a mom first and a candidate second and I found the remarks incredibly offensive,” ”I have sent a letter to the head of NBC expressing the deep offense that I took.”

Watch out Putin and Ahmadinejad, this lady means business! If Iran doesn't back off from its nuclear program Mahmoud's mother might even be getting a call.

Now, obviously Hillary is trying to score more points with her base, which at this point seems to consist of post-menopausal women trying to direct their hot-flash driven rage toward any sexist slight, real or imagined. That is her prerogative, and to expect better from her would require ignoring the last sixteen years of her Machiavellian use of her gender for political gain; yet this comes off as desperate, a cheap ploy even by Clintonian standards.

The tears in New Hampshire worked, she came off as an exhausted martyr, her emotions laid bare after years of fighting for YOU while fending off attacks from the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. But this is a harder sell, if it was Rush Limbaugh it would be one thing, but Shuster is virtually unknown, and MSNBC is not Fox News, no matter how hard Chris Matthews has been on Hillary.

The actual problem with Hillary's gambit is the absence of any real controversy in Shuster's remarks. Yes, it was kind of in bad taste, but this is 2008, and I highly doubt many people are really offended by the term in the era of "Pimp My Ride". Even today Chelsea was having breakfast with a 21 year old superdelegate in Wisconsin, not quite working the corner, but certainly not above scrutiny.

This shows just what we will be dealing with for the next 8 years if Hillary is elected. She is a vindictive, spiteful, woman with a very long memory, who will not stand for any attacks on her or her family. George Bush was happy to live in his bubble, I truly doubt he saw the worst of the criticism against him, and if he did it didn't seem to bother him. Journalists, bloggers, pundits, everyone had better learn to watch what they say about the Clinton dynasty.

And keep your resume up to date, just in case.

Mitt Romney shuts it down

Governor, CEO, savior of the Salt Lake City Olympics, Mitt Romney can now add failed Presidential candidate to his already impressive resume. Romney made the announcement today before he was scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Romney cited the need to unite against the Democrats as his reason for dropping out, saying

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror,"

Classic Mitt. Turning his concession speech into an attack ad against the Democrats, now that is efficiency! It is that kind of business acumen that allowed him to turn the mere $90,000,000 he raised into nearly 300 delegates, along with shocking victories in Utah, Michigan, and Massachusetts. He was even shrewd enough to tap his own fortune for $35,000,000, obviously a strategic maneuver for.... tax purposes, yeah, thats why he did it.


There is no shortage of blame to go around for Mitt's failure.

• The rise of Huckabee drained off social conservatives that might have made the difference in several states.
• He could never shake the flip-flopper label, even having to endure a humiliating segment on Meet The Press where Tim Russert brandished actual flip-flops while reciting Mitt's many position changes.
• Conservatives were largely split between Thompson and Romney, even after Thompson dropped out, their support of Romney seemed half-hearted, more rooted in hatred for McCain than enthusiasm for Mitt.
• He spent incredible amounts of money in Iowa and New Hampshire, only to lose both badly. This gave Huckabee an opening and allowed McCain to come back from the dead.

The real killer of Mitt's campaign was ultimately Mitt himself. Something about him just turned people off. Despite his clean-cut image and lack of obvious scandals, he couldn't get the base to rally around him, even in the absence of a clear front-runner. Watching him in the debates, he was at once arrogant and condescending. He used his business experience as a shield against criticism, but even in the Republican party, people had trouble rooting for the rich guy. Most of the other candidates had their own fallback positions, Giuliani had 9/11, McCain his military experience, and Huckabee his faith. These are all sacred cows, impossible to go after without being demonized, but Bain Capital isn't NYC, the Olympics aren't Vietnam, and Staples, unfortunately for Mitt, does not equal Jesus.

This presents an interesting dilemma for his supporters, while many of them will bite the bullet and switch to McCain, many more are anyone-but-McCain people, and it is unknown where they go from here. They have many of the same reservations about Huckabee, and considering the animosity between Romney and Huckabee, I don't think he can expect much of a bump from this. It will be interesting to see if Ron Paul picks up any of these anti-McCain votes, he is the only remaining candidate who is strong on taxes, immigration, and social issues, which may trump his anti-war stance for some people.

Mitt Romney proved that even American voters have a limit in the amount of phoniness and slickness they will tolerate in a candidate. Despite the blessing of talk radio, limitless funds, a squeaky clean personal life, and a glowing resume, Romney just couldn't close the deal. He has not yet announced his current plans, but it is believed he will likely go into the shop for a temporary shutdown, and much needed refurbishing.

Huckabee wins West Virginia, Ron Paul 2nd.

At least in delegates, that is. Ron Paul was eliminated in the first round of voting, but his supporters cut a deal with Huckabee's where Ron Paul would get 3 of the 18 national delegates in exchange for supporting Huckabee. This put Huckabee over the top for the win. This hurts Romney, who was in WV today, and proves that Huckabee's presence in the race is helping McCain. Of course you can't blame the Ron Paul supporters who picked up some delegates while helping to keep the votes split, which helps their strategy of hoping for a brokered convention. Not much else going on right now.

Stupor Tuesday

Today, February 5th, millions of uninformed Americans will vote in their Presidential primaries.

Many will vote for the candidate whose name they recognize from television.
Many will vote for who they think has the best chance to win.
Many will vote for Obama because he is black.
Many will vote for Hillary because she is a woman.
Many will vote for McCain because he is a veteran.
Many will vote for Romney because he is a Mormon.
Many will vote for anyone but Hillary.
Many will vote for anyone but a Republican.
Many will vote for Hillary because they think Obama is a Muslim.
Many will vote only because they think it is their "civic duty".

All of these people are fools who, dare I say it, are unworthy of their right to vote. It has become almost blasphemy to suggest that the right to vote should require more than a pulse and a 5 minute trip to City Hall, yet shouldn't we at least consider the idea of Democratic reforms? If our democracy makes no distinction between the most apathetic, ignorant voter, and one who carefully studies the positions of each candidate and makes an informed decision based on reason, then you might ask yourself, is it really a fair system?

Pollsters will parse and analyze every possible demographic today, trying to figure out why people voted for whom, they will exclaim over McCain's strong showing from independents, or watch closely to see who wins the Hispanic vote. One group that is never accurately measured, or even discussed, is the highly prized idiot vote. That would include everyone I have listed above, those who wait to see the latest polls to make sure they "vote for a winner", as if a Cabinet position awaits them if they back the right candidate. It is impossible to know for sure what percentage of the electorate votes for specious reasons such as these, as no one will admit their ignorance to a pollster.

The pollsters are also complicit, instead of asking why someone voted the way they did, they will give them dozens of options to choose from, allowing the average simpleton to feel like they made an informed decision. "I voted for McCain because.....I think he has a lot of character, uh.., at least that's what I heard on tv. And wasn't he a war hero?" Sadly, this is what drives a huge chunk of our electorate, the mainstream media's sound-bite journalism, name recognition, and blind allegiance to "The Party".

It would not be an easy task to change the current system, it would certainly require amendments to the Constitution, something it is hard to rally people around unless it involves granting or denying marriage rights to certain minority groups. Demagogue politicians would scream "Disenfranchisement!" if they thought they had to appeal to the intellect of the people, rather than their most basic fears and prejudices. Any supporters of such reforms would be derided as intellectual elitists and snobs, for daring to question the American way of ignorance. But think about this, we require tests for everything from selling hotdogs out of a cart, to working as hairdresser, if such trivial pursuits as this require certification from the State, shouldn't our most precious right as citizens require similar diligence and study? I don't think this is ever likely to happen, therefore the best thing you can do is make an informed decision yourself, don't let the media choose for you, don't vote along party lines, don't vote just because you feel it is your duty. Most importantly, remember that voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. Vote your conscience, and you will feel a lot better about yourself, regardless of who wins the election. I will close with a couple of quotes.

Charles Spurgeon: "Of two evils, choose neither"

John Quincy Adams: "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost"