Counterpoint: The Ports Deal
You got me convinced. Thanks, a lot of work there.
Posted by Oink
02/23/2006 at 11:03 AM
Thanks Skipper for convincing me to write this up and then publishing it here, I appreciate it a great deal.
This deal is NOT the huge thing the media is making it out to be, and it should be allowed to go through without any congressional BS to stop it.
The congresscritters are going with public opinion, and that opinion has been manipulated by the press. The congresscritters need to sit down and shut up..
All you really need to know is that Jimmy Carter Supports handing the ports over.. Jimmy’s never met a Terrorist or Dictator that he didn’t like..and has seldom seemed to be for whats best for america
And Fidel Castro loves baseball.
Even a blind hog finds an acorn occasionally .. I’ve witnessed it. Don’t worry about Jimmy, he’ll pick himself up and rush on to the next asininity as if nothing had happened.
Posted by Oink
02/23/2006 at 11:28 AM
Thanks for all your hard work and typing Jag. Now if we can just get the congresscritters and MSM to 1) read the truth and 2) sit down and shut up, maybe this will go away!
Great post. Now, let’s hope reason can overcome the yellow press and stupidity of our elected buffoons.
Posted by markmc
02/23/2006 at 12:05 PM
USA Today has the same basic message in their “Our View” editorial section today. AMAZING! (are they MSM?)
Nice work Jag - you provide a most excellent rebuttal to topic. However, I remain a little skeptical of allowing DP that kind of access to our ports. Granted, they will not “own” the ports and will not run security for the ports. No matter how “cooperative” the UAE has been in routing terrorism, that cooperation reeks of lip service. Furthermore, what has the UAE been doing to help stabilize the matters in the Middle East? Certainly this is key in helping to crippling terror operations. And I’m certain that most would recognize the role the UAE has played in funding/assisting terrorist organizations.
Nevertheless, having had past experience with security operations and contraband detection, I think that allowing DP management of those port terminals will be making security of those ports even more difficult. I don’t think that anyone would question this company’s ability to manage the ports and to do so effectively and efficiently. However, the problem as I see it is that we are allowing access to people who should be regarded with suspicion. In comparision, I would feel equally, if not more nervous about this kind of matter if a company from the UAE were placed in charge of the management of my city’s International Airport. Sure, the city of San Antonio would OWN the airport and the NSA would RUN security for it...but you have just placed people of questionable background a hell of ALOT closer to security sensitive areas. Furthermore, I would question how run background checks for security clearance are going to run for people from the Middle East...last I heard from from of my buddies from various L.E. agencies is that its a nightmare.
Jag - you’re probably right. This thing is probably the proverbial “mountain out of a molehill”...an interestingly timed polical hot potato that puts “W” in the hot seat yet again. And who knows how many other “back room” deals get done that we never EVER will catch wind of...yet our lives will go on, blissfully unaware? Nevertheless, I can’t help the feeling like we’re inviting the fox into the henhouse. That’s just my opinion for what it is worth.
Good Lord my grammer went straight into the toilet in that 2nd paragraph. Where’s spell and grammar check when you need it?!?
Very well written and presented, Jaguar.
Jinmmah might be in favor, but then he also has had encounters with UFOs and Swimming Killer Rabbits, and Drunken Brother Billy peeing on the airport runway, waiting for the Libyan representatives’ jet to land. Yes, even a blind pig roots up the occasional truffle. And then there was Lillian offering a megabuck bounty of Assahola Komeini’s head, the drunken harmonica player episodes, etc, etc, etc… The stuff of legends
Lest we forget, there was that “excellent” Billy Beer. Even Der Schlickmeister never got a beer named after his dumb misfit kid brother.So, what all that means, is that Jimmah’s opinion doesn’t count for
, just ‘cuz he may have stumbled into some correct thinking, for once in his otherworldly life.
Not only does Fidel love baseball, he was a minor leagues ball player, and a “bit part” Hollywood movie actor way back, before he became career dictator. Maybe if he had actually succeeded in one of those two pursuits, Cuba wouldn’t be Commieland today.
and now for something completely different - and totally unrelated to the topic:
If one rearranges the letters in “MOTHER IN LAW” it can spell “HITLER WOMAN”
Jaguar
I’m in the middle of a busy, hectic work day....but i just had to stop long enough to say
EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT TOPIC POST !!Thank you so much for bringing all of this into a logical concept that i can better wrap my brain around....
This is certainly one hot button topic where it is *essential* to put American pride- emotionalism (and yes, predjudice) on the back burner a bit , so that one can think about and form an opinion in a palpable way.
Again, thank you! the links are great also
okay! back to work- have a lovely afternoon everyone!
Posted by SouthernDoll
02/23/2006 at 01:58 PM
shin: But I approve of your democratic spelling of “gramm(ae)r” Good show!
Since rat started it: COURTESAN >> unscramble it into 3 words, the first of which is the article ‘A’.
Need help? It’ll be about 3/4 of the way down the list.
http://www.ssynth.co.uk/~gay/anagram.html
Posted by Oink
02/23/2006 at 02:00 PM
Yes, indeed..... something about a **** sore, I presume?
OCM, if the terrorists wanted the port information, they could get it just eaily now, with AMERICANS running them, then this company.
This company runs ports ALL over the fricking world, if ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING happens at one of our ports that they are managing, the Shit would hit the fan so fast, and they would lose SO much business etc, that it would make their heads spin.
These guys will run those ports more securely then ANY other company would, because they are going to be A: watched with a fricking microscope, and B: if they fail, they lose ALL thier business around the world. And we are talking BILLIONS of dollars a year.
And the UAE has done more to combat terrorism, and has cooperated with us, more then ANY other middle eastern country in the world.
Dubai is the only port that our military ships will go into, because it is the SAFEST in the middle east, as well as a staunch ally in the war on terror.
This whole thing is ridiculous OCM, it is nothing but emotional spewing with little regard to the facts of the matter.
rat: After all, what is a courtesan’s job?
shin: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posted by Oink
02/23/2006 at 04:34 PM
Jag, buddy, OCM has a damn good point. I hate to say it, but ya’ keep overlooking the unescapable fact that the UAE has done just as much to aid terrorism (and possibly more) in the past as they have to stop it. So what if they throw us a bone in terms of “combating terrorism”? It is merely a token gesture...they have done quite little in regards to combating the root source of terrorist networks in their neck of the sand dunes.
Here is an excellent counterpoint to your counterpoint Jag:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/23/ervin/index.html
My 2 cents: I have serious doubts about port “security” as it stand now, without asking for DP to provide an open door for smuggling.
Oink - I suppose my hobgoblin would be my shameful reliance upon spell and grAmmar checkers. I can’t do anything about the purported “little mind.”
Former Homeland Security inspector general and CNN security analyst, Clark Kent Ervin, said Thursday there needs to be presidential and congressional approval whenever key assets are sold. CNN anchor Daryn Kagan spoke with Ervin.
The entire article starts with utter NONSENSE....
NO assets have been sold, NONE....
P&O MANAGED the port terminals that are OWNED BY THE PORT AUTHORITIES of each city.
NOTHING has been sold.
The article started out as a lie, and just continues from there....
Jag - I still gotta’ tip my hat to you...I re-read your post and you are a hell of alot more cogent and lucid than I am online.
Sorry Shinjinrui, I am really starting to get angry at these articles that are out there, the whole basis of the article starts out with nonsense.
such as that CNN.
Most of the MSM are going for this PORTS SOLD, or the ports will be managed etc, and it is all BS…
P&O has been managing those terminals for over 10 years, FOR THE PORT authorities.
nothing is going to change.....
This is a bunch of faldara over NOTHING, and it is showing me that yeah, a few people will take the war on terror seriously, when it meets with their own agenda.
Their agenda fits right now, so the war on terror is the MOST important thing.
This is nothing but media manipulation at it’s worst.
I for one am tired of it…
After reading much on this subject, i am less troubled about it now.
Especially helpful : Jaguars post topic. Very well thought out, the time line is excellent. It is easier for me to understand and wrap my head around it now, seeing it set forth in a logical format for reading and further research.
More especially helpful: Gen. Tommy Franks- reading his thoughts and supporting pro argument for this has further helped me form an opinion that i can live with. I have the utmost respect for Gen Franks.
and again i state: It is *essential* to really research this, and while pride in America is a great thing, and we are a prideful nation....pride can lead to an emotional conclusion in ones thinking and the resultant conclusive judgement.
Don’t just let the media spoon feed your opinion to you, research it, gather thoughts, evidence per se...to help you decide.
Posted by SouthernDoll
02/23/2006 at 06:17 PM
Thanks Jaguar that was pretty comprehensive. I need to lay down in a darkened room now! Seriously though it has explained the situation to me much better than the poor media coverage.
I sense real progress here at BMEWS! People are reading what others have to say before jumping in. I am trying to demonstrate that I have read and appreciated previous commenters’ opinions, even if it’s just by beginning with:
“In spite of what that
OLDCATMAN says ...” 
Posted by Oink
02/24/2006 at 10:07 AM
"Courtesan” also rearranges to “Tuna Score”, FWIW.
”Arab Allies”, now that has to be the ultimate oxymoron :rulez:
In Boolean Terminology: Arabs XOR Allies
"ARAB ALLIES” resolves into ”As a liberal”. Coincidence?
Posted by Oink
02/24/2006 at 11:43 AM
Love this Jaguar post. I can kick ass with it, wake some people up.
02/24/2006 at 05:02 AM
