Egypt loves me! This I know
Even as tear gas, I throw
Been in power far too long?
Havoc: wreak; the protests strong

All Egypt loves me!
The Arabs love me!
The Mid-East loves me!
Obama sends me dough   [1]

Egypt loves me! See votes flow
Each election: my way, go   [2]
Pretense of de-moc-racy
Counting your votes all for me   [FL]

I got rich, old-fashioned way:
Bargaining to make war pay   [3]
My mistakes, my peeps forgive
Six tries: kill me; still, I live   [4]

One opposed me? Surely lied
Finds himself, soon, jail, inside   [5]
Long-declared emergen-cy
Disagree? Be detainee   [6]

Egypt loves me! I will stay!   [7]
'Spite what rest of world might say
Drown your protests in Red Sea
Life is so un-Phar-aoh, Gee!



[1] A shot at the POTUS' "tough" stance: "You'd better play nice with those protesters, or we just "might" consider reducing the billions of dollars of foreign aid our debt-ridden nation has given you"! ... That'll show 'em!

[2] Getting 80-90% of the vote in every "election" for the past thirty years. Unfortunately, with O hailing from ChicagO, criticizing the rigging of elections is like the pot calling the kettle black... uh, strike that. "People who live in glass houses.... "

[FL] "It isn't who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes." (attributed to Joseph Stalin)

[3] Egypt was a willing member of Coalition Forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when Iraq was forced out ot Kuwait after invading it. The media published reports that sums as large as $500,000 per soldier were paid for Egypt's participation. After the war, Mubarak's reward was that America, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, and Europe forgave Egypt of about $20 billion of debt.

[4] According to the BBC, Mubarak has survived six assassination attempts. Does that get him in the Guinness World Records? That's more than even ol' Adolf! ... and wethinks, perhaps a "hint" (cough)?


[5]
After the elections of September 2005, Dr. Ayman Nour, a dissident and a competing candidate, contested the election results and demanded a repeat of the election. In a move widely seen as political persecution, Nour was convicted of forgery and sentenced to five years at hard labor. On the day of Nour's guilty verdict and sentencing, the White House Press Secretary released the following denunciation:

"The United States is deeply troubled by the conviction today of Egyptian politician Ayman Nour by an Egyptian court. The conviction of Dr. Nour, the runner-up in Egypt's 2005 presidential elections, calls into question Egypt's commitment to democracy, freedom and the rule of law...." ... And yet, US citizens' tax dollars continued to flow to Egypt *under both administrations", previous and present.


[6]
Egypt is a "semi-presidential republic" that has been under Emergency Law since 1967, except for an 18-month break in the 1980s. Under the law, police powers are extended, constitutional rights suspended, and censorship is legalized. The government has the right to imprison individuals without trial for any period of time.

Hmmm... We've previously satirized the use of "emergency powers" by US Presidents, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 confiscation of gold belonging to US citizens, citing his authority to do so as being the Wartime Powers Act of *1917*, even though World War I ended in 1918. [See footnote #10 to that song.]

And under the USA PATRIOT Act (That's actually an acronym. Challenge: Does anyone know what it stands for, without looking it up? ... Answer way below.) and other orders, directives, etc., , we're still holding 173 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, without trial and without rights, despite Candidate Obama's 2008 pledge to close the camp. On January 7, 2011, President Obama signed the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill, which contains provisions preventing the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the mainland or to other countries, thus effectively stopping the closure of the detention facility.

Constitutional rights suspended? Said "Patriot Act" dramatically reduces restrictions on law enforcement agencies' ability to spy on telephone and e-mail communications, and on medical, financial, and other records, acts for which the Constitution requires a warrant signed by a Judge, based on probable cause and sworn testimony in support thereof. Yet the warrantless wiretaps, e-mail sniffing, etc. that started under G. W. Bush continue under Obama, the latter signing laws extending portions of the Act that were set to expire. Change, you can't believe in.

So, why aren't *we* all protesting, and trying to overthrow the government? Just asking ...


[7] As this was being written, Mubarak has dismissed his Cabinet and is installing a new one in an attempt to make a show of reform, but shows no signs of stepping down himself, nor of allowing truly free elections. ... Hey, wait a minute! Doesn't the US have a President who recently replaced a large number of staff members (including Keith Olbermann, as Old Man Ribber so cleverly quipped here), to give some illusion of moving toward the center *as per our other post today*? (heh!)