George W. Bush is about to fritter away his party's last advantage.

Washington Times ^ | February 24, 2006 | Wes Pruden

[When_Penguins_Attack]

George W. Bush is about to fritter away his party's last advantage. What Republicans have had going for them is that they aren't Democrats. Over the past few days we've seen the men at the top of the Grumpy Old Party drifting toward something that looks suspiciously like an Old Boys' Party. When he hears applause only from Jimmy Carter, who gave away the Panama Canal (now controlled by the Chinese), and Bill Clinton, his newly adopted little brother, George W. should be looking for the panic button. Once they're no longer regarded as the toughest party on national security the Republicans will be burnt toast.

[CWOJackson]

Now, back to your silly claim that we're giving DP World anything. You do know that they "won" the contract based on their bid don't you?

[sinkspur]

Name one incident in which Tommy Franks has openly disagreed with Bush.

In his book, he openly stated that Douglas Feith, who worked on the NSC, was "the dumbest SOB he had ever met."

[CWOJackson]

LOL! No, we don't take out families with us on operations...strange ideas they give you folks in the AF.

As for boardings, nope they were done by the Coast Guard. Quite and interesting process actually. The Coast Guard boarding officers travel on Navy ships and when the suspect vessel is interdicted the ship's CO gives "operational control"...one of those terms that means so much in these matters...to the Coast Guard boarding officer who is then in charge of all...yep, you guessed it, the operations.

Then the boarding team, lead by the boarding officer go to the vessel by small boat and board by ship's ladder...quite an interesting evolution with any kind of seas.

Fortunately we only lost one person this second time around.

[onyx]

I do not blindly follow anyone.

LOL. Thanks for the laugh.

[seanmerc]

OK, Chief--I stand corrected (BTW, did you participate in any of those boardings in the Gulf?).

You still haven't explained why it's unreasonable for me to hold my leaders accountable and ask them to explain their actions to me.

[LibLieSlayer]

I have read so much my eyes are bleeding.

LLS

[shield]

LOL...I believe you are so right on, love to hear your take on all that's GOP...

[trubluolyguy]

What Republicans have had going for them is that they aren't Democrats.

---

Democrats are Pro Abort.

I am Anti-Abort.

Repubs (in general) are Anti-Abort.

I will vote Repub, even though on many other issues, they are at best detestable.

[sauropod]

Wes Pruden is an American treasure! I've read him for years.

[TXBSAFH]

What is to laugh, I owe nothing to GW. I will suport issues I believe in and oppose on issues I am against. It is as simple as that.

[CWOJackson]

During Desert Storm I was at it for 90 days. That was following two weeks in Germany working on the loading of rapid response vessels and an additional two months with port security issues.

I was only there a short time this last time. That was just until the port was back in operation.

So, regarding your concern, why haven't you been concerned about the contract a UAE company already has in a U.S. port? Or the contract that a Saudi firm has in a U.S. port? And how is this any different then the commercial air operations the UAE has at three major U.S. airports?

[seanmerc]

I know what you mean.

[ARCADIA]

the truth has come out.

Judging by the effectiveness of port security on the drug war we can probably expect only a few hundred tons of nuclear weapondry to make it through in any one year.

"More than 90,000 merchant and passenger ships dock at U.S. ports. These ships carry more than 9 million shipping containers and 400 million tons of cargo. Another 157,000 smaller vessels visit our many coastal towns. Amid this voluminous trade, drug traffickers conceal cocaine, heroin, marijuana, MDMA, and methamphetamine shipments for distribution in U.S. neighborhoods."*

Inspires confidence huh?

"It is estimated that total cocaine seizures now amount to approximately one quarter of the total amount of cocaine shipped to the United States..."**

25%!!!! is that the batting average you want us to bet our security on?


* http://www.dea.gov/concern/drug_trafficking.html

** http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/RL32334.pdf

[CWOJackson]

LOL! Now there's libertarian national security logic for you.

[CWOJackson]

Now, back to how DP World got the contract. Do you understand how the bid process works?

[seanmerc]

There you go again--assuming that I wasn't concerned. Actually, I think we're talking apples and oranges here. I will say it again, unequivocally, that I have not decided whether the UAE deal is a good one or not. I may very well conclude that it makes sense and that we should pursue it (in fact, I'm leaning in that direction). I'm just trying to gather facts before coming to a conclusion. Again, that seems reasonable to me.

[MamaB]

You know, this has been so anti-Bush that I think I am on that other site. Thank you for a voice of reason. Have a wonderful day. The sun is shining here in Dixie with a few clouds floating by.

[MamaB]

Well, I have done a lot of research. This is much ado about nothing.

[MamaB]

Well, you do the same! It is like the pot calling the kettle black.

[maica]

The US is not GIVING the UAE anything. The US CFIUS has said that there was no reason to object to the DPW corporation assuming the work that the P&O corporation has been doing.