Template for Idiocy
By Paul Shelby Lewis
 
Forgive the grammar, but just how stupid can one Congress be?  That's the question many pundits are asking after the House of Representatives, disregarding the pleadings of the President and the Secretary of State and anyone else with a brain, passed a resolution (HR 106) condemning the Armenian genocide of the early 20 th century.
 
Among other points, the House found the following:
 
"Despite the international recognition and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, the failure of the domestic and international authorities to punish those responsible for the Armenian Genocide is a reason why similar genocides have recurred and may recur in the future, and that a just resolution will help prevent future genocides."
 
That sentence alone is enough fodder for anyone with an ounce of historical understanding.  "Despite the international recognition and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.   .  .  ."  Talk about asking for a point; if there has been considerable international recognition of the Armenian Genocide (see below), why are we wasting time giving it more recognition?   Exactly how many times does this same pat-us-on-the-back-because-we-are-sensitive-styled resolution have to be passed?   The international community recognized the genocide as early as May 24, 1915; Presidents Wilson, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush (43) are each specifically cited in the resolution as making strong declarations and official proclamations against said acts; as early as February 9, 1916, the United States Senate "resolved that `the President of the United States be respectfully asked to designate a day on which the citizens of this country may give expression to their sympathy by contributing funds now being raised for the relief of the Armenians;'" similar "resolving" was done by the Congress (Senate, House, or both) in 1920, 1975, and1984; and none of the aforementioned includes the statements (official resolution or otherwise) made by the United Nations and other independent groups over the last 90 years.  
 
"The failure of the domestic and international authorities to punish those responsible for the Armenian Genocide is a reason why similar genocides have recurred and may recur in the future.   .  .  ."  But doesn't this same resolution state that Minister of War Ismail Enver, Minister of the Interior Mehmet Talaat, and Minister of the Navy Jamal Pasha, leaders of the Young Turk regime, were through a series of courts-martial tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for their crimes? Granted that the death sentence was never carried out, it would be the irony of ironies to think that our increasing liberal congress actually wants us to be upset that these men were not given the death penalty.
 
"A just resolution will help prevent future genocides."  Right, because resolutions have proven so powerful a deterrent in the past.   Encyclopedic volumes could be written on the list of fruitless resolutions that have been passed by Congress and other international bodies.  More than that, what exactly is being resolved?  The Ottoman empire no longer exists.  We institutionalize people who talk to imaginary friends and dead relatives; just how nuts is the Congress for giving a "stern talking to" to an empire that has only existed as a part of history for more than 80 years.
 
In addition to being a waste of time, money, and trees, the only effect that this resolution is going to have is to irritate one of our few allies in the Middle East.  For a group (such as the democrats that put forth this resolution) that prides itself on building bridges with our enemies and increasing the strength of relationships with allies through intelligent diplomacy, this resolution ranks high in the annals of the Galactically Stupid.
 
Social Security is a mess, Medicare is worse, people are being taxed and getting no return in the form of highways, border security, and other essentials for which the United States Government is actually responsible.   Perhaps in their next meeting, the House ought to resolve to get off their overpaid duffs and do something resourceful.