Posted on 02/22/2006 6:31:33 AM PST by rattrap
Can't get Jesus Juice very easily in Dubai.
You know I have felt that way since the day Mrs Bush went to that stupid morning show to cut us down for not supporting Mier's nomination. That told me, there are a bunch of idiots over there. BUT, knowing the president... he will never do that. BUT, we, on the other hand, CAN AND SHOULD voice our disagreement when confronted with a situation such as this one. Maybe the White House will figure us out sooner or later.. that is to be seen.
I know not everyone in FR agrees with my position and that is fine, but I feel compelled to raise my voice when something like this happens
Clue: for me this is not JUST about the ports... it has do do with the "inconsistency" of having people dying in Iraq in the name or SECURITY, when the president has demonstrated - clearly to me - for whatever reason, he does not have will or desire to secure the borders FIRSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!... and then, deal with the rest of Immigration problem.
I saw that story. If this is the case, then heads need to roll. What other "deals" is the White House administration making without knowledge of the President? It becomes a bona fide national security concern if there's covert activity IN the White House.
So either the WH quickly retracts this, or this could get ugly, and quick.
You're absolutely correct! The dims are already coming off like they're the ones that have been tough on terrorists and this is allowing them to get to the right of the GOP on the issue.
GWB better have a slew of aces up his sleeve or I'm going to wonder if he's literally lost his mind! Not only is this a threat to the security of the Country, but also a political nightmare for the GOP!
The PR efforts of the administration are so poor as not be believed. In today's world it isn't what is, it is how does it look and this looks really bad. The threat of his first veto after 5 years in office is nothing more than outright arrogance and it isn't being lost on anyone. From a PR stance the administration stepped into it big time.
I've done that. Lost 40 pounds in the past year.
I like a lot of what Neal says, but I believe the above is incorrect.
Bush has to find and dust off that veto pen before he can use it!
Cool.
DNC propaganda...move along folks. They are playing us for suckers.
There is another thread floating around FR today that says the President just found out about it last week. I sure did not hear about it in November and I bet you didn't either.
It may have been public knowledge for three months but it was not broadly known. It did not become news until some moron approved the transaction and that was just recently.
Technically speaking, you may actually be right about that. The deal was formally announced on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 -- and I first read about it in the December 5th issue of The Journal of Commerce (which probably would have reached my desk on Friday, December 2nd).
Some details of the article are as follows:
Scaling New Heights
Acquisition of P&O puts Dubai Ports World in the Top Echelon of Global Terminal Operators
The author of the article is Peter T. Leach, and the article appears on page 32 of that issue of the JOC. I hope this evidence is sufficient to convince you that this story is "old news" to some of us. In case you haven't figured it out by now -- I just pulled this off my magazine rack and I'm reading it at my desk as I type this message.
There are two key points about this article that stand out right now, in light of the idiocy we've been seeing over the last week from people in the media and in government . . .
1. There is absolutely no mention of the U.S. regulatory process that would be required, which leads me to believe that the process is much more of a mere formality than most of us seem to think.
2. The U.S. angle to the acquisition isn't a major element of the story. From an industry standpoint, the most highly-prized assets in the deal are the P&O operations in Australia, India, and Europe.
It's not surprising that it wasn't mentioned. The Foreign Investment Committee which approved this deal is pretty much of a rubber stamp. I saw on CNN last night that of some 1500 deals they have reviewed since the law was created that they have approved all but ONE. The last controversial one which they approved was for the acquisition of UNICAL Oil by the Communist Chinese. That also rightly raised a hue and cry in the Congress and the public. Apparently this Committee has never seen a strategic asset that they are not willing to sell to an enemy.
The Chinese weren't flying planes into buildings.
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