Ghost of BiB

Because we can? I take it you don't browse PPP.

I get ya. I took the opportunity for the one liner. In case you're serious, Dubai Ports World.

I wouldn't have expected less. To me, this is not a small thing. It's also very, very easy to dissect. We just made Imperialistic Total Asses of ouselves on the world stage, without any excuse to try to prove otherwise. There will be repurcussions. People here forget that other folks don't go "ding - hot pocket" like we do, and forget as soon as Lost or Idol comes on. We are having well enough problem with Iraq. Well, thanks Chucky - lets throw fuel on the fire.

When it comes to selling ideas, yeah - pretty much. I can also understand the other side, i.e. - the secrecy thing. If you're going to get blasted no matter what you do or say, say little. I think there's people within the administration that realize that the public is collectively ignorant by choice. When has anything happened in the last 20 years where there wasn't an outcry before anyone knew anything? I still don't think this fits into that, though. I still think this was a fairly routine deal that never got surfaced up the chain as a potential political problem until it got mediaized by the Florida lawsuit, which BTW I think has nothing to do with security. Those guys sure fell off the radar fast, didn't they? I'm still very, very disappointed in the whole thing. I'm not going to do the search, but it's probably safe to say that there is also Saudi majority ownership in some things that could be called sensitive. I keep hearing "critical infrastructure" tossed around. New buzz word. Does anyone know what critical infrastructure is much less read the critical infrastructure protection plan?

Has anyone read "Castles of Steel" by Robert Massie? My boss gave it to me to read last night, looks like it might be pretty good but it's about 110,000 pages long.

Was supposed to be for the non-PPPers who might have had rational comment, but that lasted one post.

It's a little town between Lancaster and Cheektowaga.

I've been saying Hartwig since this whole thing started. He probably wouldn't be real expensive, either and the youth is an upside.

That's not limited to Buffalo. It's considered sport in the DC Metro area.

You're nothing if not consistent.

DPW pulls out of America PLEASE let the American Company be Halliburton. It's what this fiasco deserves. How shortsighted can people be?

It's Official...

Snowbirds. With blue hair.

It doesn't matter now, the damage has been done. Americans are being shown "for what they are". Even if it's not true, nor the motivation for this. Thank you for all your help, Mr and Ms Elected Representatives.

Eh, have to give this round to Mickey. As I said, I placed my faith in the idea that Congress might be able to operate without self serving short sightedness. If anything good comes out of this at least in our little world, maybe this was a wakeup call to a few that things are NOT usually what they appear to be. A soundbite doesn't carry the same level as waiting for facts and knowledge and this was a real easy example to demonstrate that. Most everyone here, at least posting is more or less in general agreement over the real issues. Anyone going to remember that for the next one? Write your Congress Critter. This escapade has done a lot to seriously harm ANY inroads we might have had in adjusting any attitudes in that region.

Off the top of my head it sounds like "Piss Off". Al Jazeera will get some local mileage out of this fiasco.

Not any more. It's about political manuevering for the upcoming elections. Too many people jumped in with both feet before anything was known, and now have to dance with the girl they brung.

And then to top it off, people get "secretive" in an attempt to try to avoid it, which always backfires. Was sh-- this bad on the Hill when you were up there? Or has it gotten this much worse recently? I'm really bugged by all the critters that have been publicly demanding more access to certain things as a result. I see things that would set off a feeding frenzy because of how easily they can be misrepresented, and shudder as to what the parties and high profile politicians would do with them. Being a Congress Critter should not result in unfettered access.

I just wish someone could do something, anything without politics getting involved.

Isn't this fun? It's always fascinating to actually look over the dynamics of things. I sure wish the media would consider it. I'm still hearing "Bush sold our ports to the Arabs, and we're all going to die" out of people who watch "Headline" News as a sole source. If the Republicans wanted to, they could play this one into Democrat stupidity for future elections, but it's gotten too selfish.

Neat. A friend of mine has a wolf hide on his den wall that he shot in Iran. Huge.

I'm surprised that more people on the Hill don't read WSJ. Been in there for months.

Don't forget chewing it to make it supple.

It ain't over yet...but, I was banking on somebody in Congress having a rational mind. Silly me.

No, but they can cross the Great Lakes. I'd look much harder at the southern border. Not that the drug cartels are in cahoots with the terrorists or anything, spinning up in the triangle area, and have been successfully smuggling sh-- into the US longer than many here have been alive. Point of my blathering is that instead of hyperbole, address what what the actual threats are. AQ is loving this sh--. Let's force the US into spending billions on what amounts to feel good measures that have the sidebar of increasing operational costs and slowing the efficiency of port operations. And, we can drive up the anti-American sentiment to boot. Also, passengers may get looked at at airports, but is every single piece and item of air cargo fully inspected? I've shipped stuff FEDEX that ....well, never mind, there.