A foreign company cannot own a television station in America...
but it can own a water company...
and operate our ports.
Huh.
Screw the TSA!
Hell, lets allow an UAE or an Egyptian corporation "secure" our airports too. I bet Osama Bin Laden would certainly put in a low bid.
Jeeze. Talk about stupid.
17 comments:
The only face-saving way out of this I see is if the business were operated as a kind of blind trust in which the nobody in the UAE had either operational or financial control; ownership in name only.
However this comes out this is but one more example of the incompetence of Dubya's administration. The hits just keep coming.
Dont blame me. I voted for Kerry.
Hello, FOX NEWS... owned by none other than Rupert Murdoch, Australian citizen. *cough* a foreigner. Those foreigners sure do a fine job of muck{rak}ing up the news with their 'fair n balanced' reporting.
Mahkno,
FYI: On September 4, 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only United States citizens could own American television stations.
Foriegn operated ports were common in the Clinton administration also.
Chase, after the plethora of suicide bombings of late, I would think you would realize it is entirely possible that the UAE might very well hire someone who doesn't give a rat's ass about profit but ridding the world of a few more "infidels."
Polly
You assume all Muslims, all Arabs, and all UAE citizens are evil. This is sterotyping, at best and outright racism at worst.
I hope at least now that liberals realize that they are endorsing something they have villianized conservatives for; racial profiling. We now see people, liberal and conservative, scrutinizing a company because of it's ethnic/racial make up. I do not have a problem with this. There needs to be scrutiny. But we need to realize that the scrutiny stems from a stereotype that justly exists.
Does Murdoch having a citizenship of convenience make it better? It isn't like he had to wait X number of years like most folk have to. He essentially bought his citizenship and is campaigning to have Australia recognize him as a dual citizen. Perhaps the Emirate should buy himself a citizenship too? We have lots of dual citizens in the U.S., what's one more. Would that be ok? Then it wouldn't be a 'foreign' company.
For what it's worth, I agree this move by Bush Co. is a big fumble politically. But there is a lot of misinformation going around as to what exactly the UAE would or would not be doing. I think this has less to do with running ports and more to do with Iran.
Dear Anon,
Re: "You assume all Muslims, all Arabs, and all UAE citizens are evil. This is sterotyping, at best and outright racism at worst."
No, I don't. Quite the contrary. However, I do recoginize the fact that some of the 9/11 hi-jackers were UAE citizens, that many UAE citizens despise the US, and that a UAE company would likely not be as concerned -naturally- with the welfare and safety of U.S. citizen as they would their own countrymen.
There is a fine line between being a racist and a nieve twit, don't you think?
Polly, you sound like the rhetoric of the 1960's when whites were saying "Hell, lets allow a black to drink out of the same water fountain. Jeeze, Talk about Stupid".
Nobody will forget 9/11 but how are we ever going to get the Arab nations to fight Terrorisism if we shut them out from doing legite biz with the U.S.? Or anyone else for that matter. The U.K isn't complaining.
There are so many conflicts in the positions, intentions and interests in this deal that we'll never know the truth. Some of these folks change focus and positions as often as Chase. Of course, just as Chase is a complex and highly intelligent man capable of being both friend and defender of Matt Hale and of persons of many nations, defender of the poor and promoter of development, the current "leaders" of this country are also capable of waffling when to their benefit.
The very symbols of the global market place came down on 9/11 at the hands of people who, while hating this country so much, were financed in large part by their countrymen who enrich themselves by taking advantage of our dependance on foriegn oil.
This has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with refraining from and opening the door to the possibility that additional catastrophes aren't allowed here. Nothing more, nothing less. The joke is that the UAE and other countries in that region very much restrict how or if American countries do business there and they wouldn't allow us to perform similar services in their country.
Americans should protect American ports.
The UAE government may not have a problem with the U.S. but many, many, many of their citizens do. America's creditbility problem in the Middle East is in large part due to the fact that we say we are fighting for freedom and democracy in Iraq all the while supporting suppressive governments/royalities/regimes in places like Saudi Arabia. Their people dislike us, en masse, and for solid reasons. Until we solve our creditbility problem, having a UAE company run a U.S. port is all but "asking for it." Scott, no way is that line of reasoning equalivent too "Lets just let blacks drink from the same water fountain as whites. Jeeze how stupid." One is a matter of is a rational concern/fear in response to a justified national anger/resentment. The other is an irrational fear due to pigmentation.
Wow. Who teaches the hyper liberal multricultrists how to THINK? Are you all mindlessly brainwashed?
"There is a fine line between being a racist and a nieve (sic) twit, don't you think? "
Polly,
I am becoming increasingly convinced that you are both.
The problem would be moot if an American company would just outbid them.
Anon,
"The problem would be moot if an American company would just outbid them."
Mmmm, no doubt. That would also make the Unions, especially the Teamsters happy. Although, don't you think in this specific area, security should be put before cost? Right now, less than 6% of shipping containers are inspected in the U.S., regardless of who is running/overseeing operations at ports. The UAE isn't the only company not doing such great job, to be sure.
BTW, I am too old and cranky to be naive and too swarthy to be racist.
Bu$hco is being hoist with their own petard on this one.
All we've heard for the past 5 years is "9/11 changed everything" and "you can't be too careful". According to the fearmonger-in-chief, we are facing an enemy more dangerous than we've ever faced before, more dangerous than Hitler and Hirohito; so dangerous that even the Constitution stands in the way of protecting us from them.
Yeah, maybe this same deal would have gone through without a hitch during the Clinton administration. But 9/11 changed everything! We're at war; we can't be too careful!
Karma. It's a bitch.
"BTW, I am too old and cranky to be naive and too swarthy to be racist. "
By swarthy, do you have a tan or are you ethnically endowed?
Also, just because your skin is dark, doesn't mean you can't be racist. As Americans, we did it to the "Krauts" in WW II. You painted arabs with a pretty wide brush, based solely on their religion or the country they come from. THAT sounds like stereotyping (in the least) to me.
Anon,
Kindly read EVERY word instead of every other one -or fifth, or sixth- before commenting. I do not think everyone who hails from UAE is a terrorist -and have written so a few times now- or that every last UAE citizen hates America. I do, however, think the most "successful" terrorists these days hail from the Middle East.
I also do not think that everyone behind the wheel is a drunk driver. However, I always buckle my seatbelt just in case. I also avoid being on the road on News Year's Eve, Labor Day, Fourth of July in an attempt to minimize my risk. However, I would not characterize America as a nation of drunks.
You are the first to mention the term "Arab" Anon. Which, btw, is considered an insult to many from the region. The term is considered the equivalent to "white trash" here. Frankly, since the 9/11 hi-jackers spent their last days in strip clubs I don't think they were particularly religious only pretended to be so. The attacks were politically motivated.
Not everyone from the Soviet Union is a crook, mobster, or hates America. How would have you felt if we allowed a Russian company to run a nuclear power plant during the cold war?
Tan? In March? In Peoria?! In my dreams. Nah. I am generically ethnically endowed.
"I am generically ethnically endowed."
That's a myth Polly.
By the way: When are you goign to migrate over to Blog Peoria?
Bill,
In re:
"That's a myth Polly."
How so? If one has two non-caucasian parents, would they not qualify as ethnically endowed? Especially if said parents were also children of two non-caucasian parents. Due to my latte skin tone, people ask what my heritage/race is rather often. Since the answer is long, complicated, boring, and because I have never been particularly interested in geneology, I always respond, "Oh, I'm a mutt."
One of these days, I will migrate. As you may have noticed, I have not been posting much. Work is nuts. It is grant season. I come home too exhausted to spew my know-it-all opinions, let alone figure out how to switch carriers. A few weeks back I tried your "orange" company. They required my identity AND some low life snatched up the PollyPeoria.com name.
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