Look, it sounds slightly offensive here, but are you saying that Saddam's contempt for his subjects is shown by how he reduces them to the level of dogs, or that those oppressed, even against their will, and not rising up and just making a living to save their Goddamn necks, are the equivalent of dogs? I'm somewhat confused.

No one who has seen a little dog posturing---barking loudly at strangers to impress the owner---would claim that dogs aren't political. Their politics are simply more direct.

Saddam Hussein is exactly the kind of egomaniac who would be pleased with every bark for his benefit.

Obviously an "oh, shit" moment for the minister.

I hear he begged for mercy - "So shoot me. I just can't listen to that crap anymore."

My girlfriend's dog Kirby is so old and he's politically incorrect. He poos on the rug. He'd poo on Saddam's rug. If he were a pet for the Hussein family Saddam might have put him to death, or he might have loved the dog enough to give him his own palace. Kirby wouldn't see the connection between his treatment and his crapping.

He's lost the connection between his brain and his bowels. Many people are like dogs. Many people aren't like dogs.

The point is this: dog owners (like dictators) are deluded into believing that their dogs genuinely like them, when in fact dogs (like people) are simply displaying their instinctive reflex to submit to power.

cont...

To be even more blunt, saying things like "genuinely like" presupposes a degree of free will which simply does not exist, any more than your aura, karma, or eternal soul. Feelings like "like" are just words that we use to describe the ways in which our neural pathways are being stimulated, much in the same way we use the word "red" to describe stimulation by 700 nm light.

My little dog is extremely manipulative and skilled in politics, both domestic and foreign. Not to mention economics.

Not sure what it has to do with Saddam admirers, though.

Aren't we all POLITICAL ANIMALS? Does not matter what one's field, journalism, teaching, law, medicine, politics etc etc, we say or do not say and do or do not do something because it is convenient or beneficial at the moment ( Of course, there will be some who will act according to their beliefs irrespevtive of any gains and a FEW of them may even gain something because it just happened to be politically right thing to do at that moment!).
Regards Mr Rogers statement--wonder if he had one dog or more. If he had one, I can may be accept it. If he had more than one, probably he did not know, he made a statement too soon!

Some other words of wisdom from Will Rogers...

Everybody is ignorant. Only on different subjects.

You can be killed just as dead in an unjustified war as you can in one protecting your own home.

I don't care how little your country is, you got a right to run it like you want to. When the big nations quit meddling then the world will have peace.

All I know is what I read in the papers.

One more...

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.

sorry, four more...

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

You can't say that civilization don't advance; for in every war they kill you a new way.

I have a scheme for stopping war. It's this - no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one.

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

Were there electric fences in Will Rogers' day?

Were there electric fences in Will Rogers' day?

Yes, they were brand new. Probably there were a nontrivial actual number of men who did pee on the electric fence for themselves. A surefire story that would quickly make the rounds via the Sidetrack Cafes of the country...

It should be a new rule that all stories, blogs, newscasts, advertisements, etc. should have a dog or two in them.

And any and all future references to Saddam should be deleted (or at least explained when they have a dog in them).

When we have our own models based on and verified against reality, like Winston Smith's 2+2=4, we have freedom. When the models are from outside, a product of evolution or accident of birth, perhaps once correlating with reality, but no longer so, or even constructed entirely for the benefit of others, we are constrained. Then there is the gray area: political necessity. Where the models come from outside, but we shape them to become as free as we can.