Skymusings

“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation” -James Madison

Friday, February 24, 2006

Dubai/English port business

It is of course required for anyone with any political leaning on their blog, to comment on the insanity over the port business.....

Well, I'm busy with my own stuff at the moment, and there are people out there saying exactly what I would, had I their gift for words, not to mention patience to wade through the billions of pixels devoted to the subject.

Enter Jeff Harrell, keeper of the Shape of Days blog -- one of my personal favorites for many reasons. The guy tells it like it is, pulling no punches, yet with heavy cerebral weight and great supporting research. Even on the issues where I disagree with him, he presents arguments that make me think and truly question my own ideas, occasionally winning me over.

Sadly, his blog is about to take a nap for awhile -- starting a new job that frowns on outside writing, especially of a controversial/political nature tends to do that.

He has nailed exactly my thoughts and feelings on this subject.

I only have a few things to add.....

1.) To begin with, it is a private transaction between a British company and a Dubai company. Only the arrogance and shortsightedness of the average US congresstwerp could lend any idea to "stopping" this deal.....are we as citizens prepared to allow Congress to intervene in private business transactions? A "yes" answer means that we are in favor of economic fascism: heavy governmental regulation of private enterprise.

2.) Yeah, yeah, Jimmah Carter is for it and normally one would run the other way. However, looking at people who are far more relevant trumps this. When Hilary Clinton opposes something, conservatives should support it. Easy, easy, easy. Ditto Schumer.

3.) GWB showed his butt on this one: by not prepping the field by getting support upfront from congressional and state legislators, and then by admitting he "heard about it in the news," he has killed the apparent credibility of the DoD, FBI, and HomeSec checks that would otherwise have been sufficient. Now all three of those agencies look just like the INS and state agencies that kept issuing ID's to the 9/11 hijackers. And Bush looks at best out of touch and behind on the issue. This is dividing Republicans in an election year, on their signature issue. AIEEEEE!

4.) Something good came out of this: the Dems now profess to believe that Arabs might contain bad apples amongst their population, and that we have to look at them closer. Also that there is in fact a reason to practice effective border control.

5.) To reinforce Jeff Harrell's piece, it is simply amazing to me that people on both sides of the aisle jumped up so quickly, with so little information, to take a stand against ARABS RUNNING A US PORT. Not only is this blatantly discriminatory, it undermines both the Bush doctrine of peaceful cohabitation with the non-Jihadis, but also of the classic liberal line that you can't discriminate against an entire race based on the actions of a few. Both sides look terrible here, and it makes the US look mean, bigoted, shortsighted, and hypocritical.

6.) If the point to the WoT is to bring the Mideast into the 21st century, it makes sense to start with the trading of dollars and dinars. Dubai is already a friendly US port, and they service our naval fleets in the Persian Gulf. It is a very westernized place that has been as good an ally in the WoT as we can expect from a heavily muslim state. Do we agree with everything they do? Nope. Is it annoying that the company is state-run? Yup. Hmmmmm, sounds like our dealings with Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and even England -- our strongest and closest friends.

So much shouting, by so many malinformed people, missing the entire point, and recklessly ignoring future implications of their actions......it is rare I am ashamed of my country, but this is one of those times.

Pretty much everybody has gotten this one wrong, and Congress has not only blundered, but is also about to exacerbate that blunder. GWB has lost a lot of credibility, and this nonissue has sucked so much oxygen out of the room that nothing else (other than tired Cheney shotgun jokes) is being discussed.

By the way, Iran is still building nukes. Just thought you might want to look into that.

Update: DJ at Polipundit also nails it.

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