I’m back from my exile and I thought I’d ease back into the fray with a couple of things on my mind.
First, let me thank all of you who kept reading and to Mrs. VW and Desert Dame for helping out. It’s been a long trip and I’m glad to be home. I left Honolulu last night on a crowded 757 and landed at SeaTac at 5:45 this morning.
When I first heard of the Dubai Port kerfuffle, I was concerned. My first thought was we were handing the key to the ports over to people who might have ties to terrorists. You know the line of thought. But the more I’ve read from both sides lead me to rethink my opinion a bit. First, It’s a management company and they will not be in charge of port security. That will remain a given. Homeland Security and the FBI will still be in charge of that and they don’t report to the management company. They will not be loading or unloading any ships. That will remain in the hands of the longshoremen. Frankly, I trust their mob infested union less than just about anyone I can think of. I can’t imagine how much contraband slips through because of them. It’s not beyond the realm of impossibility that if the pay off was big enough, they might turn their heads.
They are not buying the ports. They are being hired to manage them.
What I believe is that the Democrats are playing the hysteria card and some Republicans are buying into it. The UAE recognized the Taliban. So did most middle-eastern countries and even some western ones. Many Democrats support the likes of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. For whatever reason, we can’t target Muslims in searches at an airport or a train station, but we can if they own a management company. That is somehow not the same.
And the second thing? Ted Kennedy’s (D – Inebriation) car has killed more people than Dick Cheney’s gun.
It’s good to be back!
VW
Welcome Back
Posted by: Jon | Sunday, February 26, 2006 at 01:59