Feb. 25, 2006 - 18:23 MST

ANOTHER LOOK

Things come up that make me rethink about things I have said -- and how wrong I can be. All too often it seems. Case in point, an article by Jay Ambrose of the Scripps Howard News Service in a column of February 24, 2006. Brings out things of which I was not truly aware. In full:

A NOD TO U.S., LIEBERMAN FOR KEEPING THEIR HEADS

"In his poem, If, Rudyard Kipling wrote about keeping "your head when all about you are losing theirs," and today I would like to award a couple of Kipling IF Awards in honor of those whe demonstrate that praiseworthy capacity."

"Let's start with Sen. Joe Lieberman, D.-Conn."

"Among the politicians in Washington, he was one of the few on either side of the aisle who stayed calm and rational after the Bush administration said the P&O navigation company could continue operating terminals in six American ports even though the British firm had been purchased by Dubai Ports World that is owned by the United Arab Emirates."

"The hullabaloo on this issue has been ear-splitting. Republicans, Democrats, editorials in scads of papers and pundits on both the left and the right have joined in loud complaints that if the Dubai firm takes on these port duties, the terrorist threat in America will increase."

"The argument goes lilke this: Some Arabs are terrorists. The United Arab Emirates is an Arab country that has in fact produced terrorists. At some point in the discussion, you would think the perpetrators of this non sequitur would slow down long enough to explain exactly how it is that terrorists are more empowered to do Americans harm now that Dubai Ports World owns P&O than before the acquisition."

"Will Dubai be in charge of security in the affected cities ? No. That will continue to be the work of the Coast Guard, Customs and local police. Will Dubai hire longshoremen from its own country ? No. The company will continue to employ American longshoremen. Will ships from Arab countries have access to our ports previously denied them ? No."

"As Lieberman has noted, United Arab Emirates is an ally, many port terminals in this country are operated by foreign countries, it would be unfair to rule out a country just because it is Arab and more needs to be found out before firm conclusions are reached."

"The other prize goes not to a person, but a country, namely America."

"Though it is hardly perfect in protecting freedom of speech, it is far superior to most nations and vastly superior to Austria where a court sentenced British author David Irving to prison for three years because he has denied that the Holocaust took place. Irving is a repulsive, anti-Semitic fraud, but if Austria thinks it can avoid a second encounter with its fascist past by quelling free expression, it should think again. It wasn't free speech tht typified fascist regimes, but a denial of free speech and every other human right and a notion that the powers of the state were unlimited."

"Austria is not alone. Eight other European nations, plus Israel, outlaw Holocaust denial, and England has been considering a law that would make hateful criticism of religion a crime. In the Muslim world, thousands have been rioting in protest of Danish cartoons that offend them, and China -- along with other dictatorial states -- happily tosses journalists and others in prison for saying what officials don't want said."

"Our country gets it that free speech tends to defeat error, that outlawing despicable speech will lead to outlawing speech that is not despicabhle, and that restrained government is an important protection against the inhumanity practised by monster regimes."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, I ranted before I knew much about the whole thing. My apoligies for that.

However, I do still feel that ownership or supervision of our companies and ports should remain in American hands - - - always.

And my same questions still live, have our companies and politicians lost their will and abilities to run things here ? ? ? ? ?

Why have many container shippings into this country not been thoroughly inspected before leaving terminal properties ? Where are the security measures we should be using ourselves ?

Many of my questions and remarks remain the same after ANOTHER LOOK . . . . . . . . . .

Blog