Jim, I hate to break this to you but if you know the 'right' people you can ship your sister and all her skankish 13 year old girlfriends to any foreign country in the world... and recieve 25 asian or russian prostitutes for every head you ship in return... inside of those so called secure containers coming from the ports.

Let's not go into all the cars, guns, drugs and other things that come i and out of our ports daily. All of this is with US control, now imagine what it's like with foreign control.

Dude, the company that runs those ports now is a UK one.


We are doing the security now, and will when the Dubai company takes over.

Why aren't people getting this?

Oh christ, I nearly peed myself when i saw this
:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

For what it's worth, Paris Hilton getting into the senate isn't that far-fetched .. you had an ex-actor as President and you've got Hercules Goes Bananas as your CA governor. And she does have the most important thing anyone needs to get into power ... cash money.

:helpme

So are you saying it's ok to go from bad to worse? :Oh crap

all your ports are belong to us




meheh

IMO Americans should be watching are own ports.


:2 cents:

Nothing would change ONE iota. What we NEED to be doing is installing land mines along the the Rio Grande. Funny how the people all up in arms over a fucking business deal want rights for illegal aliens; like SSI and student loans and such.

Liberals make my head hurt, and my trigger finger spasm.

Jesus on a jumped up chariot. WE Are.




Ok I officially give up.

Not realy but if you want to belive that you can.

:)

Turbo Angel has contagious ass warts and she cheats on her taxes.

Now that wasn't very nice.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh
mwah


I need a valium and a nap. My superior intellect is just too large a responsibility at times. :(

I would hook you up with one but you're soooooo far away.

;)

HOW ABOUT THE BIGGER QUESTION...

WHY THE FUCK ARE WE OUTSOURCING THE MANAGEMENT OF OUR PORTS IN THE FUCKING FIRST PLACE????

This is just plain fucking stupid! When the government of the United States is not 'buying American', what do they expect the citizens to do?

Why are we NOT employing Americans to do this job? What losers is allowing this kinda shit to happen and not give a damn?

If you think this is OK, you should be shot for treason!

er, couldn't you say the same about the airports?

would you rather have government workers running all the planes, boats, coaches and push bikes?

It's not really outsourcing or 'contracted' out work. This is a privately run business.

Every employee who works at the ports IS American, so the above statement is void.

Its not a Government company that owns the ports currently, in fact its not an American company.

I guess you are familiar with the Russian strippers that came in through the Newark ports.
The ports are like the wild west!

A lot of stolen high end cars get shipped out of Newark.

I hate to break it to you on this one but you are wrong. At least about the security of the ports part. Here is why:

Not too long ago the TV show 20/20 did an experiment. they went to Malaysia and put a "sumulated dirty bomb" in an antique chest and shipped it to Los Angeles. The port they chose was in a city that is known for it's pro-terrorist politics and is a known haven for various terrorists. The "bomb" was a good size thing that looked like a bomb and had some old radioactive material in it. It wasn't enough material to do any harm but it was enough that it would set off scanners and get someone's attention.

the ship docked in Los Angeles the crate was unload on the docks and the chest was put into a truck shipped across the country. nobody looked in it, nobody caught it. They then take the tape and all the info to the FBI who, understandably, shit their pants. They were less then happy with 20/20 and the show recieved many letter from various people in charge saying that things were changing and would be getting much better and tighter.

Exactly one year later to the day they did the exact same thing. And they got the exact same results. So to say that our security is too tight for anything to get through is just incorrect.

Now as for the UAE taking over operational control of these ports. Here is why it should not be allowed to stand.

1. Before 9/11 the UAE was both a physical and financial location/training area that some of the 9/11 terrorists used.

2. After 9/11 the UAE and it's finacial insitutions refused to help us track and shut down terrorist bank accounts that may be within their country.

3. Until 9/11 the UAE acknowledged and did business with the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

So you have to ask yourself a question. Was their sudden turn and now strong stance against terrorism something that they really belive, or is it that taking that position and allowing us to build more military bases in their country and working with us is just a good business decission? We can't be sure one way or the other.

Take into consideration this: A guy works for this company that now controls the scheduling and opperation of several of our ports. His family is back in the UAE and a nice little terrorist comes along and tells him in no simple terms that if he doesn't do what they want, they will kill his family. All he has to do is switch a few things around in the schedule and make it easier for a certian crate to bypass any possible inspection. It won't seem like he is doing anything odd, just a normal switch. And that crate has either people in it or a bomb or something to make a bomb. the guy wants to save his family so he does it.

Given my choice I would say it will be more easy to potentially influence a guy who is working in Miami and who's family is living in the UAE than it would be to influence a guy working in Miami who's family is living in either London or a suburb of Miami.

Just my 2cents.

In response to your fucking book:

L.A. is a bad example, since it's NOT a port in question and everyone knows its a shithole as far as security.


I'll say it AGAIN, that company will NEVER be in charge of security at the ports.

If you wanna blame someone then blame our customs people that we have INSPECTING CARGO abroad, BEFORE it even gets on the ship bound for our soil; or the people doing the security once the ship does arrive.

i.e. The Coast Guard or DHS.

That's a great summary of the situation Kane. :thumbsup

This is the underlying fear everyone has but not everyone can verbalize. No one is really concerned with the CEo or the COO's issues on operation, the weak link in the chain becomes the people loading the cargo boxes on and off the ships. No one can control them.

True, I almost bought a Benz for $15k once at Newark. :1orglaugh


Yo, Senator, I need a copy of that app I bought from you in 2003.

J. Will AVS Lounge if you are wondering. :winkwink:

Hit me 15297O595

So because we have fucked up alot in the past and let go of alot of shit, we should keep on going? Not. :error

You, or some other dipshit, made that same ludicrous statement somewhere in this thread 8 hours ago.

It was niave then and it's STILL niave.

you said "If someone DOES get a dirty bomb into this country, the odds of it coming through a naval port are roughly that of Paris Hilton being elected to the Senate. The security we have in place in our ports is just to tight and too sophisticated. What you SHOULD be worrying about is a bomb coming ashore off a drug smuggling boat, or accross the Mexican or Canadian border.

It is categorically NOT a security issue, it is a political one."

I was giving an example that security is not all that you may think it is. Yes LA is not one of the ports that is in question here but you made a blanket statement that security in our navel ports is too tight for anything to get through and I was simply pointing out that that is an untrue statement.

I do blame the custome, and the coast guard and DHS I also blame the politicians and leaders for not helping these guys make security what it needs to be. I know that this country will not be in charge of security but I still think allowing a country that until only a few years ago did business with a known terrorist government (the taliban) to run several of our ports is just not a great idea. Maybe they have a perfect record maybe there will never be a problem with any of those ports but should we be willing to take even the slightest chance?

Dude I could make all kinds of jokes about your spelling of naval.

Such as: "My navel port is about a half inch in diameter, no bombs going through there."

But I wont. LOL


What I WILL do is address this:


Ok, you've apparently made the choice to ignore every single fucking pristinely logical statement I've made r.e. this issue today. Your choice and right, ok.

So fucking what if they did? The UAE has inarguably the BEST record of ANY Arab country as far as comprehending that a whole fucking lot of things changed after 911. We should be really, really, really happy that ANY nation in that region is wanting to do business with us after the fracas thats been going on. Can't you understand that?

The same fucking people that are lambasting this administration for "alienating" the moslem world are fucking salivating over this. They should be, they started this controversy. Kudos to them.

A few simple truths remain dude.

Not one fucking iota of our security or preparedness will change as a result of this sale. A sale of a CONTRACT between two sovereign nations. A sale that the Congress has NO CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY WHAT SO FUCKING EVER to meddle in.


Imho, this is not a national security debate. It's a blatantly political one.

There is an oversight commitee that has the job of evaluating the legal semantics of this sort of issue. They did their job, and said: "Ok, we find no direct threat to the interests or safety of our citizenry or economy, go ahead and do it."

The law my friend says that's the way it should be done.

You need to sit down for a few minutes and THINK.





Think about what will happen globally if we start becoming fucking unthinking bigots towards the Arab world. Think about how much this country would suffer ECONOMICALLY if we just start rewriting laws to suit this nonsensical beligerence towards the Arabs.

It makes no sense, and I'm LAUGHING at the fact that I am a republican and am having to explain TOLERANCE to a bunch of liberal pornographers.





This is a cliche, yes. But this IS in way how Nazi Germany got started.

SO fuck you. LOL

Oh yeah, the USSR supported the Taliban too. When are we gonna start boycotting Russia???




hahahahahaha please.

You do realize that Bush created this reaction by selling us the fact that we must fear "evil" and fight the people that bring "terror and evil" to the united states, while not really quantifying who those people are specifically. Because of his generalizations in the "War on Terror" Americans now pretty much hate all Arabs, at least that is what I see in my day to day life.

First, I admit, I suck at spelling.

Second. You are correct. the AWE is one of the better of the Arab countries and in recent times they have shown themselves to be helpful to us and at least seem to have an interest in helping us in our war against terror. Still their exact motives remain to be seen. I will say it again because you don't seem to understand that until 9/11 this is a country that did business with a terrorist government. Now they do business with us (well, they probably did business with us back then too). So for me the question is this.

1. can we fully trust a country that will seemingly do business with anyone?To say that we should be happy that any country in the region is willing to do business with us is just ignorrant. these contries will sell their oil/natural gas to anyone that is willing to pay for it. All the Arab countries hate Isreal and we are a friend of Isreal and yet they still line up to sell us their oil. Bush is alienating people and countries but in the end our money speaks louder than our politics.

2. do we reward countries that until only a few years ago did business with terrorists and who we not terribly helpful right after 9/11 in helping us track these terrorist down?

3. As I stated before it doesn't need to be a person in security that causes the problem. If they take control of the ports they will have some of their people over here to help run things. All it takes is one of them to help "sneak" something into the country and bad things can happen. I'm not saying that this couldn't happen now, but there will be more opportunity if this deal goes through.

4. I would disagree that congress has no authority to step into this. If I own a company that makes something of a sensative nature for our government and then I decide to sell my company to China the government can (and most likely will) step in a tell me I can't do this. Tell me exactly what may be more sensative than controling our ports? Before you lecture me I understand that they are currently being run by a British company but there is a big difference between a country that has been our freind and ally for 200 years and a country that we've been freinds with for about 10 minutes.

Do I have tolerance? Yes, without a doubt. I consider myself someone that is very tolerant of other peoples thoughts and ideas. Does this mean that I don't say to myself "hum, maybe this isn't the best option availible to us." on some things? No it doesn't.

You seem to me to be a lot like the Bush White House. Bush runs a "fuck off" leadership. they do whatever they want and then they spend a ton of time having to fight with people in an effort to defend their poistion. they refuse to think that maybe they are not 100% correct on something and maybe there is a happy medium that can be achieved. Instead, they will cut off their nose to spite their face.

On closing (I'm starting to feel like I'm writing thesis) don't bother answering most of the questions above but answer me this:

If you knew me 5 years ago and I was really good friends with someone you hated and thought was evil. If I supported someone that beat his wife and his kids and did bad things to other people then one day a few years later I have a change of heart and I start running a pre-school. I passed all the legal stuff. I say I'm a good guy buy you know about my past. Are you going to send you kids to my school?

I like you man.

Well, you are writing thesis statements but that's ok at least you're thinking.

Unfortunately you're thinking like a retarded 7 year old kid in a coma.


God dammit dude, that is the most confusing analogy I have ever read, and I once got a love note from a 19 year old vegan "hippy". She spent 15 pages trying to convince me that it was ok for her to wear fur and leather, but that I was the antichrist for eating a fucking hamburger at Applebees.



Do that whole thing again. K?





ahahahahah

It must be in the food...I became Vegan about 9 months ago. . . maybe it fucks up your brains :)

oh,
and I guess in the end what i'm trying to say is that I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with this whole deal and maybe it's not a bad thing to take some time to look at it and make sure that it is in the nations best interest.

You don't get it... some time when you realize how business works, call me.

In November 1999 the CIA had OBL tracked and located and was getting Presidential authorization for the cruise missle attack when it was determined that the other people Osama was on a hunting trip with were members of the Royal family from Dubai, UAE.

The White House then nixed the missle launch because of this and we missed the best opportunity to date to have popped Osama.

:disgust

look, here's a direct quote:

"...The White House said on Wednesday that counterterrorism experts had looked at the deal and concluded there was no threat to national security..."

honestly - do you know better than counter terrorism experts?