Is this deja vu, or what?

I remember when the Brits convinced Jimmy Carter that antagonizing the Iranians right after a fresh revolution was really a swell idea. But, hey, the Brits were sueing Iran in the World Court over those British financed oil fields that the Iranians nationalized.

Now the Brits ... our good buddies ... pulled this stunt on us and the UAE knowing full well what was going to happen. But, hey, they've aleady got the money and run for it. And, best of all, they've got 'W' doing the Jimmiy Carter knee bend.

I guess this is how 'W' is supposed to reward Tony Blair for his unwavering loyalty to the U.S.

Or maybe 'loyalty' is the wrong word here.

Let's ask Jimmy Carter what the right word is.

Oh, yeah, we already did.

Another great column Ann that hits the nail on the head. One question no one seems to ask is not why are the Arabs taking over port security, but why do the Brits have it in the first place. Is there no one in America that wants to run our ports? There must be a dollar or two in it - Chuckie Schummer even suggested Haliburton run it today!
Does America own nothing anymore. I used to laugh that the reason the Arabs don't own everything here in America because the Japanese won't sell. Now, it's true.
I think the other point to consider is that while the ports will still have American unions there to run things (that's a scary thought too), but, Arab ownership means one less ring of security between us and those intolerent tent-sellers.

Ann,
I love your instinct to be cynical of anything Carter advocates.
As much as I like to argue I’ve yet to take issue with any of your pros I’ve read to date, perhaps that means we weren’t meant to be together??? Well, until now(as dangerous as that may be indicated from your last paragraph) I agree with your logic path and application of principle here but in this specific case when you drill down into the mechanical change in secure operation of the ports it's simply changing the CEO's. Security & Customs for our container ports is all govt. employees and is pretty much a sieve. So one must ask why would the UAE spend billions to buy and then blow up it’s own port when they could slide one in right now and do it all on the cheap? Heck if I were ___ Arab terrorist group, I’m sure while planning I’d be shipping my WMD’s though another port owned by __ (insert infidel) and blow that port/town up and bypass the UAE’s ports just as a professional courtesy.
When you think about it, Bush just diplomatically bought some protection for these ports. Perhaps then we could afford send the passionate civil servants working in security to the other less protected ports. Thereby, leaving the UAE’s ports protected only by our govt. civil servants still employed only because they can’t be fired. You see, I feel safer already!

Want to know about Jimmy Carter's foreign policy? Can anyone say Anastacio Samosa? Carter aided in the ousting of this Nicaraguan dictator and helped Daniel Ortega to install his Communist regime in that country. It took Ronald Reagan to help undo it. When the country got free elections (Ortega was stupid enough to allow truly free elections) the people were smart enough to oust the bums.

Anyone remember Reza Pahlavi? He was the Shah of Iran that Carter betrayed into the Ayatollah Khomeini and his Islamic dictatorship. Even Bani-Sadr (I think that is how he spelled his name) had to flee for his life because he was trying to lead a moderate government, but was standing between power and the Ayatollah.

It is interesting to note that the "brave" media personalities are not willing to exercise their free speech and publish the cartoons. Let's face it, they are afraid. Remember Satanic Verses author Salmon Rushdie? They do not want to spend the rest of their lives living under threat of a fatwah like him.

As for the UAE company, why allow them to make money off of our ports? At the very least, this is a good question. Do they support terrorists? I don't know, but I do not want to take the chance. As for the Longshoremen, I don't like unions. Look at the situation here in the PDRNY. Where I live, the unionized government employees are overpaid and underworked. But would they protect us against spying or other security ristks or would they put their union benefits/contract ahead of national security? Can't take their word for it. By the time it happens, it's too late.

So here we are at a crossroads, with the "Port-Issue." We have the big-time radio people divided as well as the bloggers. I only hope that if we make a big deal out of the "Dubai Ports World Agreement," then we will also focus on the Chinese that operate ports in, and for, the country. I am more for helping the United Arab Emirates becoming an economical friend to this country, than I am supporting a communist country like China, but not by much! Especially when they are loaded with nuclear missiles that could make it to the mainland thanks to the Clinton administration. The main thing that send shivers up my spine is that Jimmy Carter agrees with me.

Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.

I know I am naive, or is it just i am so damn strait forward and practical I can't get my puny amoeba brain around all this crap. It's past the point of an occasional cow pie we can step around. There is no place to step anymore. Truth and deceit have been tangled into an inseparable knot. It's become disgusting and obscene. And it permiates the world. This is Ann's magic.. She's one of the last places we can step, She's that string of clarity and honesty that has not been tangled in the CF of contemporary maddness. You're welcome in my house any time Ann, just wipe your feet firt please!

Ann, you should reprint those cartoons on your web site and maybe you could pose by them. That would show the whole world that you won’t back down to anything when you’re right. O’Reilly talks tough but he knuckles under on the big things. The entire country is depending on you to show us the way.

Ann,

A great column as always. I will take a small exception to your remark "Isn't it enough that we're already patronizing the savages over the cartoons?" What is your rationale for insulting savages?

I am heartened to see that a previous poster to this column added some clarity to this situation, even if it was said tongue-in-cheek. We will still be in charge of the security, as lax as it is. I would be remiss if I did not add that the company in question would control not all of the ports but some 11%. (Though most will agree that any percentage is too many.) Additionally, there are other Middle-eastern concerns that already own and/or control docks in those same ports.

That said I, too, feel very uncomfortable that ex-Appeaser-in-Chief and current Leader-of-the-Free-World-Basher, Jimmy Carter, thinks that is a swell idea.

It is interesting to see the notoriously camera-shy Chucky Schumer pontificating on the need to do something now about our security. I surmise that Punch (or is it Pinch, I can never remember with physical attack he is) Sulzberger gave him a big "okey-dokey" to express a modicum of common sense for once. (Is it my imagination but the NY Slimes -"All the News That's Fit-To Wrap Fish In" - can only come to realize that national security is important only if it puts the President in a bad light? Nah, I must be mistaken.)

But, if we let nature take its course, let water seeks it own level and employ other trite phrases, this may soon become a moot point. The blowing up of the Golden Mosque yesterday is, as the term has been over-employed, a tipping-point for civil war in Iraq. I know it is tricky to tell the Shi’ites from the Sunni’s without a “Michelin Guide to Burkas”, but perhaps we should let these outstanding citizens have their way with each other. With their proclivity for violence, perhaps they can significantly diminish each other’s ranks until the few remaining chaps can be rounded up for an extended vacation in sunny Cuba.

It will then be only a matter of time until other like-minded climes might act and react in a similar manner. In short order the threats from this region will be gone along with the perpetrators and we can get back to business status quo ante.

I would like to continue but I have exhausted my supply of hyphens.

God Bless, God Speed, God Protect our Troops!

I must be stupid,I just don't get it. The butt kissers are saying the muslims are misunderstood and their religion is one of peace. Yesterday, they blew up one of their own churches. Don't print cartoons but its ok to blow up our own religious sites. They are sick SOB's that not only butcher the evil westerners but each other over their peaceful religion. I think the world has a rodent problem that we need to take care of and now.

Aside from all that the defenders of the sale have said, the fact is that increased ownership means increased access. And who are they likely to hire? People from their own country of course! And people in the middle east are much more likely to be of a mind with the terrorists than people from, say England! Even if we could trust the owners, and I don't think we can, can we trust their employees? This would be a perfect opportunity for terrorists to slip someone in to a secure area. Bush can't win on this one.

Oh, and by the way, I voted for Carter in '76' but not in '80'. I just wish the man would shut-up, I'm sorry I had anything to do with putting him in office. You can depend on him for one thing, he is ALWAYS on the wrong side of an issue.

Now that I've been cynically against the Big W ... and the Brits ... now I'm going to say something very cynically in favor of W.

The Prez has been lamenting the mental malais that the country has fallen into over security issues ... especially Homeland Security ... and all of the BS the Dems have been shoveling.

Could it be that he engineered this stunt to snap everyone out of it??? And even force the Dem scarecrow to screech like a Hawk for a change???

I don't know ... I guess if I were a lame duck Prez with nothing to lose, why not?

I'll probably be accused of being 'Rovian' for coming up with this.

(So put on your green glasses Dorothy) :)

I live in Dearborn, Michigan, where we have a large population from the Middle East. The city for good reason does it's best to address the cultural differences. In the schools, the students are allowed to wear traditional clothing required by their religions, including a fake plastic knife with a curved blade (I forget the name). Fine. Freedom of religion. When will Christians have the same rights?

Where do you go
When your own government

Demands you surrender
Tells you to raise your hands
Threatens and punishes you
For being a freedom loving man

Where do you go
And who do you talk to
When they call it a conspiracy
If you say what is true

What do you do
And what does it take
When the sell out is from within
When the leadership goes fake

Where do you go
And what do you do
When it becomes against the law
To fight what is coming for you

When stealing your heritage
Isn't even any longer disguised
When they look you in the face
And laugh handing you their lies

When are we allowed to resist
How do we address our own fate
When permission will only be granted
When....

It's too late

Neils
5:23 pm
02/17/2006
*
transcribed this time
6:03 pm
02/23/2006

N....again

So, 3 Muslims Walk Into A Port...

They walk out with their profits and give some to their families, some to their tribe and the rest to the Allah's work...killing the infidels. Lovely. Brilliant.

Wow Red ... how poigniantly to the point :)

She takes two-hundred shots at far better people than George "W" Bushieboy will ever be, but for once, she's correct about her central thesis.

I still think she's a female Andrew Dice Clay, though.

OH- Your guy's beloved GOP Dominatrix may also be a felon:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/celebrities/content/local_news/epaper/2006/02/17/a2a_jose_0217.html

Hope she gets lets than the maximum 5 years in prison.

Oh come on now. Every one knows that the rich, famous or powerful do not use the same legal system as the rest of us and why should they? Does any one really think Ann should be prosecuted for breaking this law? This is just the sort of thing the Dems and the liberal media would love to jump on and trump up. So what if it’s a felony. It’s not that big of a deal so every one should just let it drop. My goodness, you’d think she cheated on her spouse and diddled a bimbo the way some people want to play it up.

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