[lit-ideas] Re: More on the Ports issue
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 02:10:38 +0900
On 2/23/06, JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx <JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=PORT-AGENCY-02-22-06&cat=AN
Here is my latest contribution to bestoftheblogs.com, where the
relevant links can be found.
======
Political Narrative and Global Reality
The firestorm of debate about Portgate has generated a series of memes.
1)The administration sellout: National security be damned. Those
crummy crony capitalists are selling out America to the highest Arab
bidder.
2)The crony network: Secretary of the Treasury and Maritime Safety
Administrator both have history of dealings with the Arabs in
question.
3)The dirt from the past: The Bush family's Nazi-connected history
4)The political tin ear: Lindsey Graham's remark, which contrasts
oddly with the widespread perception that the Repugs are, even if evil
and amoral, politically astute.
5) The "This narrative is good for us, let's kick 'em while their
down" meme recently espoused on this blog.
6) The "Isn't this racist?" Counter: If the Chinese can own operations
on the West Coast, why not Arabs on the East Coast?
Damned good question, that.
So, this morning I read on the Virginian Pilot website that
>>Foreign companies abound at Hampton Roads ports
Gregory Richard's story provides a wealth of detail that demonstrates
the truth of the following citation,
>>"The nature of the business is foreign ownership of foreign ships
trading to foreign ports," said Peter Shaerf, a managing director of
AMA Capital Partners LLC, a New York-based investment bank focused on
the transportation industry.
But does this sort of evidence let the administration off the hook?
Once again a penchant for doing cozy deals behind closed doors and
asserting executive privilege to make decisions without consultation
and disclosure has produced a political and PR disaster.
*This story highlights the huge contradiction between the
administration's favorite image of America, the embattled warrior
fighting against a hostile world and the realities of global commerce
like those described above.
*And it points clearly to how seriously averse the administration is
to a serious PUBLIC debate about port security—a debate in which
points like those raised by Stephen Flynn in America the
Vulnerable:How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism
will once again demonstrate its starry-eyed Keystone Cops
incompetence.
That's the real story here.
==========
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-0006, JAPAN
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