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DeMint to Force Vote to End Taxpayer Subsidies for Murtha ‘Air-Pork’Airport received $200 million in tax dollars, averages only 20 passengers and 3 flights dailySeptember 16, 2009 - Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Senate Steering Committee and Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee, announced he will offer an amendment to end taxpayer subsidies for the John Murtha Airport, a little used 650-acre facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that has received at least $200 million in taxpayer funding. U.S. Congressman John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania), who the airport was named after, has personally directed $150 million...

Note: Video included. SNIPPET: "WALLA WALLA--Hundreds of pounds of explosives were stolen from the Port of Walla Walla." SNIPPET: "It’s enough explosives to do serious damage." SNIPPET: "No one knows the intent; the goods were locked up at a storage unit somewhere at the Port of Walla Walla." SNIPPET: "“They took a lot of time to do what they were doing, it was secure,” Jessie Summers said." SNIPPET: "Investigators call this a "significant safety threat."" SNIPPET: "There is a reward if you know anything about this crime. Call 1888-ATF-BOMB if you can help."

WASHINGTON -- The feds are spending tens of millions of stimulus dollars to repair and build toilets across the nation, in an outflow of taxpayer funds that critics have branded "potty pork." From humble sylvan outhouses to "historic" restrooms, cash from the $787 billion stimulus is going to spruce up or completely replace aging toilets, government releases show. In New Mexico alone, the feds are spending $2.8 million for toilets in national forests.

Blog: Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Blog Details Iranian Navy Gets Three Locally Made Submarines The Iranian army has received three light locally made Ghadir-class submarines. The submarines were handed over at a ceremony at Bandar Abbas port in southern Iran, which was attended by Iranian security officials. Source: Mehr, Iran, June 1, 2009 Posted at: 2009-06-02

Venezuela's military has taken control of key airports and sea ports under the terms of a move rubber-stamped by parliament a week ago, reports say. The move centralises the running of the country's main transport hubs. President Hugo Chavez has pushed for the move, describing it as "reunifying the motherland, which was in pieces". Critics of Mr Chavez says the plans are unconstitutional, but the National Assembly backed them a week ago, saying they would improve essential services. State-level governments in Venezuela have controlled the country's most important airports, sea ports and major highways since a move towards decentralisation began...

Paper no. 3068 Admiral Sureesh Mehta, the Chief of the Naval Staff sounded a stern warning on 18th February 2009, about the possibility of nuclear weapons being smuggled in to the country through the ever increasing container traffic. The warning was issued at a seminar to discuss Port Development and related security issues. At one level, there is nothing new in the warning. Similar warnings were issued post 9/11 by US and other maritime analysts who expected the seas to be the next medium for transportation and manifestation of terror. It is this fear that prompted the US to examine...

Nearly seven months after taking delivery of a mobile X-ray system manufactured in the People's Republic of China, the Port of Los Angeles is on the verge of canceling the controversial contract. The staff at the port has recommended that the Board of Harbor Commissioners find DULY Research, Inc., the California-based broker who represents the Chinese manufacturer, in default of the terms of the contract, when it next meets on Feb. 5. "Cancellation of the purchase contract is recommended because after delivery of the mobile scanning unit to the Port of Los Angeles on July 8, 2008, field tests and...

Per email from Americans for Prosperity: We’re coming down to the wire on this Pelosi/Reid/Obama trillion dollar spending bill and I'm asking you to join me at a rally in Richmond tomorrow to put pressure on our two Virginia senators -- Mark Warner and Jim Webb. And beyond just putting pressure on these two senators to vote NO, by attending the rally you'll send a message to the media in attendance that there is a strong, energized grassroots movement rallying against the big government, pork barrel politics in Washington, DC. Here are the details on the NoStimulus event: When: Tomorrow,...

Geraldo just reported on his show, that the Houston Channel, a major waterway and port facility, weathered Hurricane Ike suffering only minimal damage. this is very good news, and relates directly to how fast things can be returned to a new normal down there. :-)

Commodities are offloaded from ships at the UMM Qasr Port, from all over the world to be distributed throughout Iraq April 11. These goods will be transported to different provinces through out the country. The Port of Um Qasr, is a small port city southeast of Basra. DoD photo. UMQASR — UmQasr, a port city southeast of Basra, is filled with daily activities, as Iraqi workers load export and unload imports last week.“The estimated flow of goods into Iraq is 60,000 tons with 15,000 passing through UmQsar,� said Todd Stratton, Task Force to Support Business and Stability Operations in Iraq.“The...

Plans have been finalized by Mexico to develop Punta Colonet as a West Coast Mexican alternative to the U.S. ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The proposal includes a deep-water Pacific Ocean port on Mexico's Baja California peninsula about 150 miles south of Tijuana that could serve as a destination for the 30 million containers headed to North America from China and the Far East each year, according to a report published Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times. The on-again, off-again plan to develop Punta Colonet has been discussed before as the number of containers from China grows and...

DISCOVERY: Oldest lighthouse at ancient Roman port The New Anatolian / Ankara 06 February 2008 Turkish archaeologists unearthed a 2000-year-old lighthouse at the ancient Roman port of Patara, near southern town of Kas, Antalya, discovering probably the oldest such structure that managed to remain intact. The 12-meter-high lighthouse was built under the reign of Emperor Nero who ruled from 54 to 68, Professor Havva Iskan Isik, head of the excavation team reported. "The oldest known lighthouse is the one in Alexandria but there is nothing left of it. So, the lighthouse at the Patara port is the oldest one that...

Dubai is investing $600m in one of the poorest counties in the US to set up a manufacturing and distribution complex that would serve as a major logistical hub for North America. The long-term aim, according to people familiar with the deal, is to take advantage of a new generation of larger merchant ships passing from Asia through the soon to be widened Panama Canal and docking at ports such as Charleston and Savannah, seen as future primary gateways to the US. The project is being handled by Jafza, a unit of the government-owned Dubai World group, which has bought...

Institutions take on the worst characteristics of the people who head them. In the case of the Port of Seattle, this means sickening arrogance. Faced with a damning state audit showing the port to be rife with sloppiness, waste and the potential for rampant fraud, the man long responsible for shaping port culture -- its former chief executive, Mic Dinsmore -- replied with haughty grandeur. "I have no doubt that there is nothing of substance in anything that has been alluded to," Dinsmore huffed to the Seattle P-I after the audit blast came last week. "Let the process show what...

LONG BEACH - Days after port authorities approved a $35 environmental fee on containers shipped through Southern California's harbors, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that he would support a similar fee at the state level. Schwarzenegger, who previously said container fees would hurt the economy, now considers them an option to help fund trade-related infrastructure and environmental programs. "I think fees are good; we just have to work it out with the various stakeholders," Schwarzenegger said during a visit with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. "It's extremely important that we find a way to create economic development and increase...

New Berth Increases Umm Qasr Port Capacity Army engineers oversee berth project that was designed and built by Iraqis. By Mohammed AliwiU.S. Army Corps of EngineersGulf Region South District BASRAH, Iraq, Sept. 28, 2007 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has turned control over the newly completed “roll-on/roll-off� berth at Umm Qasr Port to the Iraqi Port Authority. "The Iraqi people can be proud of this project because it is theirs alone."Rebecca Wingfield, project engineer Known as a RoRo because it serves “roll-on/roll-off� ships that share the acronym, the $2.7 million berth project doubles the number of the...

Mexico has canceled the disputed mineral concession at Punta Colonet that has held up development of a massive port-rail project geared to create a trade route from Asia into the American heartland through Baja California.

May 11, 2007 U.S. Port Contractor Has Terrorist Ties A foreign company set to build a massive tunnel project at a major U.S. seaport has close ties to the government of a country that has long appeared on the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism. The French construction giant (Bouygues Travaux Publics) is the preferred contractor to build a $1 billion tunnel at the South Florida Port of Miami, the world’s top cruise ship terminal with nearly 4 million passengers annually and one of the country’s busiest cargo ports with about one million containers a year. It turns...

Grassroots Americans of all parties and economic classes rose up out of their political apathy a few months ago and forced President Bush to reverse his administration's decision to allow a Middle East government to own America's major ports. But the push for foreign ownership continues: the next port scheduled to be taken over is Kansas City, Missouri. Even though public schools stopped teaching geography a couple of decades ago, most Americans (especially residents of the Show Me state) are surprised to learn that Kansas City (where the only waves are "amber waves of grain") is a port. We are...

The television advertisement starts with an ominous warning about 9/11. Then it shows a nuclear explosion, followed by a photo of Osama bin Laden and a ship loaded with cargo containers. "Since 9/11, it is one of the greatest threats we face, a nuclear weapon in the hands of Osama bin Laden shipped through an American port," says the voice-over. Finally, the ad reveals its villain: an outfit based in Arkansas that has a network of 1.8 million workers around the world who operate at 3,900 locations in the United States. Its corporate name is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. What's the...

Three Arabs Detained Trying to Sneak Into Port of Miami http://www.truthnews.net/daily/2006100455.htm Webcast News Service, 7 January 2007 Three Arab men have been detained as they tried to sneak past a security checkpoint at the Port of Miami. The incident occurred around 8:00 a.m. According to local authorities, a security office became suspicious when the driver of a truck attempting to enter the port area did not have the required paperwork. Officers searched the truck and found two other men in the cab trying to hide, Williams said. The three men were two Iraqis and one Lebanese national who are legal...

Three men detained at Port of Miami after giving suspicious statements By Vanessa Blum South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted January 7 2007, 4:22 PM EST MIAMI -- Three men were detained Sunday after trying to gain access to the Port of Miami, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The driver drew suspicion at the port's delivery entrance around 8 a.m. after making inconsistent statements, said Judy Orihuela. The driver could not produce the requested paperwork to identify himself and his cargo. The vehicle was subsequently searched and two additional men were found in the truck's cab, Orihuela...

MOGADISHU, 30 October (IRIN) - Sacks of sorghum from the United States swing out from the docked ship in a large rope net, are winched slowly to the port jetty, and loaded by chanting porters on to rusting trucks in Mogadishu port. The food is destined for southern Somalia – which means it must arrive at the port, be loaded on convoys of trucks, and driven out of the city, protected and intact. Until a few months ago, Mogadishu port had been a no-go area for more than 11 years while heavily armed faction leaders fought over resources – particularly...

Homeland Security: The FBI is concerned about potential links between al-Qaida and the mob. So why do Democrats and labor unions want felons working our docks? Port security, according to the Democrats, is one of the gaping holes in the defense against terror, evidence of how the Bush administration’s war in Iraq is a “distraction” from the things we should be doing.... ...So it was interesting to see that when Congress passed the Port Security Act on Saturday, it did not include a provision pushed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., that would have barred the hiring of felons for dock...

Islamists at gates of Somali port Fighters seized control of the capital Mogadishu in June Islamist fighters have reportedly advanced to the outskirts of Kismayo, the only port outside their control in central and southern Somalia. Residents say the local militia withdrew in 40 trucks without a shot being fired as fighters loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) arrived. Thousands of people are reported to have fled the city in recent days. The UIC had said it will occupy Kismayo to stop a foreign peacekeeping force using it as a bridgehead. Earlier this month, the African Union supported...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Thursday formally approved rebuilding plans for the site of the World Trade Center destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The deal with developer Larry Silverstein, approved at the authority's monthly board meeting, gave the developer four and a half years and an additional one-year grace period to complete the building of Towers 2, 3 and 4 on the site, or lose his lease. In addition, the Port Authority agreed to pay Silverstein $300,00O a day if it failed to prepare the site for rebuilding by...

Terror fears as radicals reopen vital port By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi (Filed: 25/08/2006) Islamic radicals who have seized most of southern Somalia yesterday celebrated the reopening of Mogadishu's main seaport, a key gateway between the Horn of Africa and the Arab world. The strategically crucial harbour had been largely unused for 11 years. A Kenyan registered cargo ship, Ronja, is the the first ship to dock in Mogadishu's seaport Now it is in the hands of radical clerics whose leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, appears on an American "watchlist" for suspected terrorists. His alliance, the Supreme Council of Islamic...

PATTANAM, India -- Pottery shards, beads, Roman copper coins, and ancient wine bottles litter the strata beneath this small seaside village in India's southern Kerala state. The 250 families, mostly agricultural laborers, who live in Pattanam, 260 kilometers (161 miles) north of Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram, find the objects pretty, but would rather dig up the ground and build larger homes. But according to archaeologists K.P. Shajan and V. Selvakumar, they may be destroying the remnants of Muziris, a well-documented trading port where Rome and India met almost 3,000 years ago. They say that, based on remote sensing data, a river...

PORT MAURA, Brunei (NNS) -- Sasebo, Japan-based USS Patriot (MCM 7) arrived in Brunei for a scheduled port visit June 25, meant to enhance the relationship between the U.S. and Brunei. The visit will be highlighted by a number of social and goodwill opportunities between Patriot Sailors and the people of Brunei, including top dignitaries, members of the Royal Brunei Navy and special-needs kids. “Our primary mission here is to interact with the people of Brunei so that we can work to create a stronger mutual relationship between the United States and Brunei,” said Lt. Cmdr. Richard D. Brawley, Patriot...

USS PORT ROYAL (CG 73), North Arabian Gulf – Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 3, U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Carl Jensen, turned over command of Combined Task Force (CTF) 158 to Royal Australian Navy Commodore Peter Lockwood June 23. CTF 158 is responsible for Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the North Arabian Gulf (NAG). This coalition force works with the Iraqi navy to protect key oil producing assets. MSO help set the conditions for security and stability in the NAG and protect Iraq 's sea-based infrastructure which provides the Iraqi people the opportunity for self-determination. “These are some tough...

Remember Dubai Ports International? The first-rate Emirates-based firm that, fair and square, tried to buy the operations of several U.S. ports? They were reviled as terrorists, a public outcry followed and then U.S. Congress stuck its nose into the whole business, baselessly condemning the company for no good reason until they were ignominously forced to withdraw from those plans. It was totally unfair to them, they didn’t deserve that kind of treatment, and it sent an incredibly bad message to the rest of the world that the U.S. was flamingly hypocritical. That whole debacle made me ill. Anyway, this setback...

The silence on Capitol Hill has been deafening. On April 28, 2006 the White House announced the approval by President George Bush regarding the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) of its recommendation that Dubai International Capital LLC (DIC), a subsidiary of Dubai Holding and a Dubai government owned conglomerate, to assume the U.S. operations of Doncasters Group Ltd. Just seven weeks prior, there was political posturing, grandstanding and outrage expressed by both political parties in the U.S. Congress when it was revealed, through the U.S. media, that Dubai Ports World, also of Dubai Holding, would takeover...

President George W. Bush was expected on Friday to approve Dubai's $1.24 billion takeover of Doncasters, a British engineering company with U.S. plants that supply the Pentagon, an administration official said. "It's in the pipeline to be approved," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Bush was expected to attach conditions to the deal to keep military technology in the United States, the official said. Bush's expected decision followed a congressional uproar over security fears that scuttled another Dubai state-owned company's plan to acquire operations at major U.S. ports. The administration has attempted to head off that kind...

WASHINGTON Answering criticism about security gaps at U.S. seaports, the Bush administration said Tuesday it will conduct background checks on an estimated 400,000 port workers to ensure they do not pose a terrorist threat. Names of employees who work in the most sensitive areas of ports will be matched against government terror watch lists and immigration databases, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. Additionally, the Homeland Security Department will issue tamper-free identification cards to roughly 750,000 workers _ including truckers and rail employees _ who have unrestricted assess to ports.

SAMI AL-ARIAN ADMITS CONSPIRACY IN PLEA AGREEMENT " There is no conspiracy to support terrorism ."  - Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for Tampa chapter of Council on American Islamic Relations From what I’ve been able to gather, there seems to be enough evidence to prove a web of conspiracy . Let’s have a look and see if that’s true! American Muslim Council (AMC)1. Former Spokesman: Faisal Gill.2. Founder: Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi.3. Former Director: Erik Vickers 1. Faisal Gill Former spokesman for the American Muslim Council (AMC) Former director of government affairs for the Islamic Free Market Institute (Islamic Institute) in Washington, D.C.,...

The 950' container ship New Delhi Express has grounded at the entrance to Port Elizabeth in NY harbor. She is listing heavily to her starboard and her draft has increased from 35' to 44' since striking the edge of the ship channel at Bergen Point. No news organizations covering this yet.

22 smuggled Chinese arrested at the Seattle seaportICE launches probe into human smuggling scheme SEATTLE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are continuing to piece together the details this morning of a human smuggling scheme that resulted in the arrest of 22 Chinese nationals at the Seattle seaport overnight. Several of the Chinese were initially spotted by private port security personnel wandering in a cargo area at around 1:00 a.m. today. The port personnel contacted the Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents and officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) responded. This morning, ICE agents...

WASHINGTON - New legislative proposals responding to the scandal over a Dubai-owned company's attempted takeover of major operations at some major U.S. ports, which touched off a political firestorm, are getting attention in Congress on Thursday. Measures coming before committees in the House and Senate aim to strengthen U.S. cargo security and port safety, and to bring the federal panel that approved the DP World ports deal under tighter oversight by Congress. The multiagency panel, called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, would be required to investigate any proposed transaction that involved a foreign government or "critical...

Despite published reports, former President Bill Clinton says he and his wife always stood together in opposition of the United Arab Emirates port deal. NY1’s Rita Nissan filed this report. There was no Clinton family feud over the Dubai ports deal. That's the word from the former president. “I supported Hillary's position, and the news reports to the contrary were wrong,” Clinton said Tuesday. These were his first comments since the controversial deal fell apart last week. He told reporters at an event in Harlem the agreement for a company owned by the United Arab Emirates to take control of...

Senator's word is now 'final,' says the ex-Prez WASHINGTON - After being surprised by her husband's role in the Dubai ports deal, Sen. Hillary Clinton has insisted that Bill Clinton give her "final say" over what he says and does, well-placed sources said. The former President agreed to give his wife a veto to avoid his habit of making controversial headlines that could hurt her chances of returning to the White House, multiple sources told the Daily News. "He knows it's Hillary's time now," said an adviser close to both Clintons who expects to play a key role in her...

Anto Joseph Mumbai Sunday March 19, 2006 The Observer The controversial £3bn bid by Dubai Ports World to take over P&O has hit another serious problem. Indian states have indicated that they may refuse to sell key ports to DPW over breaches of what they say are long-standing ownership agreements.

The controversy over Dubai Ports World was a great victory for them—but a defeat for candor and sensible security and economic policies. Untruth by Robert Samuelson March 20, 2006 issue - The idea of letting an Arab-owned company, Dubai Ports World, run container terminals at five U.S. ports struck many Americans as an absurdity. Why not just turn control directly over to Al Qaeda? In late February, a CBS News poll found that 70 percent of respondents were against the deal and only 21 percent in favor. The company's withdrawal last week can be seen as a triumph of public...

This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume" from March 10, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. JIM ANGLE, GUEST HOST: Different people draw different lessons from the two-week debate over port security and whether to let a company from the United Arab Emirates own the unloading operations at six U.S. ports. Several experts repeatedly tried to tell Congress that it was focusing on the wrong thing. One of them is John Carafano of the Heritage Foundation and author of "Winning The Long War." He argues that the U.S. is less safe without the deal than...

WASHINGTON - The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll might sound like a broken record, but the tune grows louder as congressional midterm elections get closer and closer: President Bush is once again facing the lowest job approval rating of his presidency, the lowest percentage of Americans who believe the country is headed in the right direction, and an electorate that greatly prefers a Democratic-controlled Congress over a Republican-controlled one. Yet the poll also shows something else that goes beyond the November midterm elections: A strong majority believes Bush is experiencing a long-term setback from which he’s unlikely to recover....

The Presidency: Deepening Questions By George Friedman Readers know that we have been tracking one issue almost above all others since last fall: the strength of the Bush presidency. The question that emerged following Hurricane Katrina was whether the administration would become a classic failed presidency or whether, having flirted with disaster, it would recover. Last week, the first indicator (apart from routine approval polls) came in: Congress, in essence, blocked a deal that would have put a state-run company from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in charge of several U.S. ports.

The Dubai-owned company that promised to surrender its U.S. port operations has no immediate plans to sell its U.S. subsidiary's interests at Miami's seaport, a senior executive wrote Monday in a private e-mail to business associates. (snip) "As for the 'pending situation,' I myself am not aware of anything about it that would alter the ownership of POMTOC, so unless one or both of our esteemed partners have separately advised you that they plan to sell their interests, you should assume for your own purposes of managing the company that ownership of POMTOC is not going to change," Scavone wrote.

There is much hand-wringing over the collapse of the Dubai port deal. There is much gnashing of teeth in Washington. There is much finger-pointing going on – much blame being spread. President Bush says he's troubled by the political storm that reversed the deal: "I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East." Then, of course, it stands to reason he should have thought this process through a little better. The political storm is of his own making. It was predictable – if only he didn't...

Private equity firm The Carlyle Group established a team to acquire public-purpose facilities such as ports a day after a United Arab Emirates company said it would transfer newly acquired operations at American ports to a U.S. organization. Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group announced an eight-person team would invest in public-purpose infrastructure projects such as ports, transportation and water facilities, airports, bridges and stadiums. The team will begin work March 13. The new infrastructure team had been planned for six months, but the Carlyle Group decided Thursday to launch it. DP World, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, acquired...

The Ports and the President by William J. Murray The transfer of the operation of six American ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became a major controversy, with virtually the entire Congress on one side and the President on the other. Both Republican House Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Frist have started the process of passing laws to ban the transfer, while the President stands by the decision of the Treasury. Democrat Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer of New York also wanted the deal blocked and have accused the President of continually allowing...

Dean Criticizes GOP on Ports Security By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago The chairman of the Democratic National Committee sought to capitalize Saturday on the recent divide between President Bush and congressional Republicans over ports security, arguing that the GOP has a "pre-9/11 mind-set" on ensuring safety at U.S. entries. In his party's weekly radio address, Howard Dean trumpeted the Democrats' success in helping to derail a plan for a Dubai-owned company to manage some operations at six U.S. ports. Bush strongly backed the deal involving the United Arab Emirates-based company, but many lawmakers, both Republicans and...