Ghost of BiB

Not that she's at any high level of hotness, but hasn't Kristin Dodd really changed her looks from where she started? She used to look like a drowned fat rat and now at least is attractive.

67 posts before it made PPP? Wow.

You must now resign.

When we set up the operation to dispose of the chemical weapons in Iraq, KBR was hiring Wackenhutt to provide our security. We were prohibited from having any weapons (yeah, right...that lasted about all of 15 seconds) Gee, thanks Halliburton. BTW, another marketing faux pas. Their national strategies for security and terror highlight regional partnerships.

I didn't get to see, but from what I heard they played a lot of 5 on 3.

As CTM says, they suck at marketing. They keep getting into these self induced dilemas by not anticipating the potential reactions. On the reality level, this port thing is actually pretty routine and mundane. I'm not surprised Bush knew nothing about it, because through the vetting process, why does he need to? The problem lies that someone in the administration should have enough sense to know how this could look, and pointed this particular issue out to him, plus devise a communications strategy for it. The Bush WH keeps handing this stuff over on a silver platter. It would all be amusing save for the fact that people here cast their votes based on their understanding of issues as presented to them. This admin doesn't present jack sh--. So, the only side to a story told is by their, for lack of a better word, adversaries. Maybe they don't care, as they aren't getting elected again. But they should, as they have some good policies in many areas and if those policies are going to go forward in the next administration someone should PR them.

At the risk of being called a Bush appologist again, it's more than xenophobia. It's another shot by Congress at large to show why they should have a greater policy role, limiting Presidential powers. Otherwise, I don't think we'd be seeing the rhetoric from both sides of the aisle. It's being sold as "concern for our security" and packaged that Bush isn't. Development of policy, though is the realm of the executive branch, not the legislative. Anyone with a shred of common sense that actually looks into this can easily see that there isn't a problem. So, there is a lot of posturing for other agendas. Unfortunately, they might be pretty short sighted. I can make a case that this brouhaha is actually hurting our security, not protecting it. Can the WH do that at this point? NFW. They'd get slammed worse than they are now. People have already been told what their opinions are.

No, I think she is another elected official who wrote a pretty dumb thing without thinking it through just to get the "airtime". That's "Realthink"

No...I won't do it...

The UAE company in question is predominantly run by Americans, including the CEO. The CEO is very widely respected in the shipping business and has been doing it for about 40 years, I think. The Director of one of their regional operations, an AMERICAN named David Sanborn (go figure) has recently been nominated to I think an Undersecratary position in the Maritime part of the commerce department. This particular arab terrorist also happens to be a US Naval Reserve Officer. Have fun folks. The UAE provides more services and docking rights to the US Navy than anyone else out there. What happens to us strategically if they decide not to anymore? Hey, but this is about selling out our security. We don't need a naval presence in the Gulf anyway, do we? Not that we'd ever want to interdict something on that end before it ever got here, or anything. Sorry, that was DOT -not DOC. Working from memory

Something not touched, is if this company is prohibited from operating the yards - who will be permitted? These are lucrative contracts. Is there any possibility that Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc. might want the contract for themselves? Not that there could ever be a profit motive here, or anything. They are RUNNING THE YARD, ANYWAY. So, doesn't cutting out Dubai increase their income? Hmmm. Hillary Clinton is co-sponsoring the anti-UAE legislation. Well, should she become President next time around, have fun conducting foreign policy there. Not a Hillary slam, I just think this is very shortsighted for someone thinking about becoming the POTUS. We'll have forgotten this by then, but better bet that the middle east won't. Especially the UAE.

OK. Just what seems so fishy and smells so bad? A company in the container business works out a deal to buy another company in the container business. The company doing the buying operates globally. The company being bought operates globally. Neither company is owned or is majority invested in by the US. The stock sale is set up by (with others) Morgan Stanley and Citicorp. This has been known about for awhile. Investors sort of keep up with that kind of stuff. The purchased company operates about 100 facilities in 19 nations, 6 of which happen to be in the United States. Neither company "controls" anybody's ports. The operate container yards for the transhipment of containers. In essence, guys driving forklifts and stacking boxes. The guys driving the forklifts are American Union members. In the same ports are also container yards operated by Chinese companies, German companies, Japanese companies, American companies, etc. It's called global commerce. In most cases, the actual physical operations have already been sub-let under contract to American companies. Those contracts are not affected by the sale, they have to remain in place on their own merit or the buyer could get sued for default. Great Britain and Australia have homeland security issues too, and they aren't crying. What's fishy? The only thing I see fishy is the spin.

I have to wait for 2012? sh--.

They do not have an integrated AD C2 capability. It's locally controlled around areas of higher concern. Very limited on low altitude search as well, so I expect that will be a future buy.

SU-25 Sturmovik Nickname.

SU-25

A friend of mine flew search and rescue there as an Army medevac pilot. She probably put in more hours in one month than she did over the previous year. Gee, all those people doing stuff. How did they accomplish any of that with no one in government having any idea of what they were doing? Sort of like a beehive or something? All these individuals just instinctively know what to do on their own? Amazing.

It's not? Could have fooled me.

COSCO How come nobody is cranked about this? China already "controls" our ports, by that line of reasoning. This is a much ado about nothing. Would someone with an understanding of global commerce operations care to step up? How does one's stuff get to WalMart? Packed into a container in Indonesia, loaded onto a Greek ship flying a Liberian flag and crewed by Filapinos with a German Captain. Gets offloaded by American Union dock workers at a Chinese owned container terminal that is provided oversight by a ports authority, US Customs, the Coast Guard and the commerce department. Oh, and without going into detail there just might be some DOD representation in this process too. Financial sources have been commenting on this acquisition for quite a while. Geeze, ya think a multi billion dollar buyout might have investment implications? Why didn't anyone say anything 3 months ago? I keep riding this horse because of my underlying belief that the press shapes reactionary policy by sensationalizing at the start, and forming opinion before anyone actually researches the entire picture. By the time facts come out, people already have formed their opinion.

Isn't there an existing contract in place that would have to be violated? BTW, who is running the Niagara Wheatfield power plant? I'm pretty certain that there are several American companies that can handle this. Isn't the one running the port of Miami the one who surfaced this? I haven't dug deep enough to see the how and why this was bid out to an English company to start with, but did they simply sub-contract the actual operations to American Companies? That would be the smartest thing to do. Who is responsible for the individual operations of these ports? The state in question? Or, the Feds? Did the individual ports authorities hire this british company to start with? Maybe someone can explain to me just how this company purchasing the other company holding the contract weakens our security. Is Bin Laden now going to jump out of a cake at the port of NJ? As others said, because of events there is a visceral reaction to this, but practically speaking this public reaction looks like politics as usual from all sides. Hmmm...Operated by American Stevedoring? Typical Bid Document Hmmm, I don't see a Washington DC address mentioned here anywhere. Looks like the NY-NJ Ports Authority runs it's own show. Out of everyone, wouldn't they be the most sensitive? So, where does the responsibility lie? With the Bush administration? Or, with whoever hired out to start with?

I was hoping you'd show up because I thought you would know at the real world level. Doesn't everyone have to answer to, and be controlled by the respective Ports Authority? In effect, Government Oversight?

Without contractors, the government would grind to a halt quickly. The only alternative is to make the government three times the size it is now in order to accomodate the workload. "Corporations" are and have been "in charge" of our safety for a long time. There are a lot of people on this board who work for the government through one private company or another. How can one live in a global economy by making limitations to what is global? I once spent some time forming a Hong Kong LTD company in China representing an American company that was owned by another company in Belgium. I think that might be more the norm in this day and age than the exception. And bringing the unions into it as motivation isn't right. The dockworkers and their unions aren't going anywhere, and don't have anything to do with this. Anyone who tries to get the Longshoreman out of the ports had better be prepared to not ship anything for a long, long time.

Busted. It's really important to keep up on what a Carter Kid might say or do in 2006, though. That's about as relevant as a Kennedy kid who can't fly his own airplane. Oh, sorry.

Careful Ed, you are giving yourself away again.

Carter had a son? Wow. I only remember hearing about little Amy. Not an only child?