red rocker fan
03-03-2003, 05:50 AM
Don't know if you are familiar with the past governor of Georgia, Zell
> Miller, who is now Georgia's junior senator in Washington or not. By the
> way - he is a democrat. I thought this article in the paper was very
> apropos.
>
> Zell Miller knows how to boil things down to the basics. That's what
> Georgia's junior senator did when he explained why it's important that
> Saddam Hussein be defanged. But he's also a good storyteller.
>
> Here's the text of Mr. Miller's remarks, made on the Senate floor about the
> need to help President Bush deal with Iraq. We couldn't say it any better.
>
> "Mr. President, I have signed on as an original co-sponsor of the Iraq
> resolution, and I'd like to tell you a story about why I think it is the
> right path to take:
>
> A few weeks ago, we were doing some work on my back porch back home, tearing
> out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I uncovered a nest
> of copperhead snakes. Now, I'm not one to get alarmed at snakes. I know they
> perform some useful functions, like eating rats. And when I was a young lad,
> I kept snakes as pets. I had an indigo snake, a bull snake, a corn snake and
> many others. I must have had a dozen king snakes at one time or another.
> They make great pets and you only had to feed them a mouse every 30 days.
>
> I read all the books by Raymond C. Ditmars, who was the foremost
> herpetologist of his day. That's an expert on snakes. For a while, I wanted
> to be a herpetologist, but the pull of being a big-league shortstop outran
> that childhood dream. I reminisce this way to explain that snakes don't
> scare me like they do some people. And I guess the reason is that I know the
> difference between those that are harmless and those that will kill you. In
> fact, I bet I may be the only senator in this body who can look at the last
> three inches of a snake's tail and tell you whether it's poisonous or not. I
> can also tell the sex of a snake, but that's another story.
>
> A copperhead will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It could kill one
> of my grandchildren. It could kill any of my four great grandchildren. They
> play all the time where I found these killers. And you know, when I
> discovered these copperheads, I didn't call my wife Shirley and ask her
> advice, like I do on most things. I didn't yell for help from my neighbors
> or take it to the city council. I just took a hoe and knocked them in the
> head and killed them. Dead as a doorknob. I guess you could call it a
> unilateral action. Or pre-emptive or even bellicose and reactive. I took
> their poisonous heads off because they were a threat to me. And they were a
> threat to my home and my family. They were a threat to all I hold dear.
>
> And isn't that what this is all about?"
> Miller, who is now Georgia's junior senator in Washington or not. By the
> way - he is a democrat. I thought this article in the paper was very
> apropos.
>
> Zell Miller knows how to boil things down to the basics. That's what
> Georgia's junior senator did when he explained why it's important that
> Saddam Hussein be defanged. But he's also a good storyteller.
>
> Here's the text of Mr. Miller's remarks, made on the Senate floor about the
> need to help President Bush deal with Iraq. We couldn't say it any better.
>
> "Mr. President, I have signed on as an original co-sponsor of the Iraq
> resolution, and I'd like to tell you a story about why I think it is the
> right path to take:
>
> A few weeks ago, we were doing some work on my back porch back home, tearing
> out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I uncovered a nest
> of copperhead snakes. Now, I'm not one to get alarmed at snakes. I know they
> perform some useful functions, like eating rats. And when I was a young lad,
> I kept snakes as pets. I had an indigo snake, a bull snake, a corn snake and
> many others. I must have had a dozen king snakes at one time or another.
> They make great pets and you only had to feed them a mouse every 30 days.
>
> I read all the books by Raymond C. Ditmars, who was the foremost
> herpetologist of his day. That's an expert on snakes. For a while, I wanted
> to be a herpetologist, but the pull of being a big-league shortstop outran
> that childhood dream. I reminisce this way to explain that snakes don't
> scare me like they do some people. And I guess the reason is that I know the
> difference between those that are harmless and those that will kill you. In
> fact, I bet I may be the only senator in this body who can look at the last
> three inches of a snake's tail and tell you whether it's poisonous or not. I
> can also tell the sex of a snake, but that's another story.
>
> A copperhead will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It could kill one
> of my grandchildren. It could kill any of my four great grandchildren. They
> play all the time where I found these killers. And you know, when I
> discovered these copperheads, I didn't call my wife Shirley and ask her
> advice, like I do on most things. I didn't yell for help from my neighbors
> or take it to the city council. I just took a hoe and knocked them in the
> head and killed them. Dead as a doorknob. I guess you could call it a
> unilateral action. Or pre-emptive or even bellicose and reactive. I took
> their poisonous heads off because they were a threat to me. And they were a
> threat to my home and my family. They were a threat to all I hold dear.
>
> And isn't that what this is all about?"