US President bowing to a King?

Why, he’s the Potentate of Saud, the guardian of Islam’s two holiest shrines.

Meanwhile, my belle Michelle, wrestles Elizabeth around like a senior citizen in some Chicago group home!

Look about 50 seconds in for the bow

Maybe that offhand comment “my Muslim faith” on the Charlie Whathisface show wasn’t such a weird accident.
Hmmmm?

The Democrat Party, that is. But first, conservatives are deluded if they believe, as Sean Hannity claims, that domestic drilling and “energy independence” are the path to less expensive gasoline. Crude oil is a commodity, subject to commodities speculation. Engine fuel prices that are lower than world market prices result from government controls, such as in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, where you fill your tanks with a wink and smile.

Government control is the only conclusion one can draw from Hannity’s leap from domestic exploration to lower prices at the pump. Increased supply wouldn’t account for a large reduction in price with consumption growing in India, China and other developing countries. Government control is not a conservative viewpoint (If there’s something I’ve missed, I’d welcome a comment) There are other reasons to develop domestic energy sources.

It’s a complicated issue, nevertheless. THIS from Powerline illustrates the party divide on domestic energy development, but how much of the price increase is due to restrictions? I don’t know. Does anyone?

This week, Maxine Waters said that she wants to “socialize” the oil companies if they can’t guarantee lower fuel prices with expanded drilling rights.  I don’t think Maxine used “socialize” instead of “nationalize” and therefore spoke a concealed truth. Maxine is simply inarticulate and ignorant, and couldn’t capture the right word in her cranium with a seine net.    

Here it’s appropriate to restate Christopher Hitchens doctrine that stupid people have a right to representation, but not to representation BY stupid people.  Maxine’s probably also among those brainless Congressional flatheads who plan to sue Saudi Arabia to increase oil production, under some anti-trust mechanism, to increase supply and lower prices at the American pump.     

Well, about 15% of our annual oil imports come from Saudi Arabia according to this article, so the court-ordered (laugh line) increase in production would have to be huge, about comparable in size to the parched Sahara of imbecility inhabited by our Congressional doltocracy.  

Has it ever been more apparent that we have elected the most debased and incompetent horde of buffoons since…never.  Government without expertise, without even furtive glances at reality; and without clarifying perspectives on human nature don’t govern, they rule, and rule in the most fantastic and ludicrous ways. 

Check THIS out, and read THIS from Powerline for more realities.  I’d send a copy to Maxine, but what’s the use? 

At the beginning of the week, Hotspur, in commentary, opined on the scrabbling in DC for protectionist legislation.
The government is the problem; nowhere in DC is the solution. Decibels of ululating amend not some very harsh facts. One may not eternally spend that which one does not have. Once more congress will violate that rule and hold a drowning economy’s head underwater. Shall we acquire the benefits of Carteresque economic policy once more?

When the Japanese acquired everything from Rockefeller Center to Movie studios, they over paid for businesses that they did not understand and for places that were mis en place. Today, the foreign buyers are procuring manufacturing, not moviemakers. While the physical plant may be immoveable, profits travel well. Globalization does quite well in textbooks; reality stains ones mellow like chaw drippings in a beard.

Overseas Investors Buy Aggressively in U.S.

Last May, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate bought a Massachusetts plastics maker. In November, a French company established a new factory in Adrian, Mich., adding 189 automotive jobs to an area accustomed to layoffs. In December, a British company bought a New Jersey maker of cough syrup.

For much of the world, the United States is now on sale at discount prices. With credit tight, unemployment growing and worries mounting about a potential recession, American business and government leaders are courting foreign money to keep the economy growing. Foreign investors are buying aggressively, taking advantage of American duress and a weak dollar to snap up what many see as bargains, while making inroads to the world’s largest market. [snip]

The surge of foreign money has injected fresh tension into a running debate about America’s place in the global economy. It has supplied state governors with a new development strategy — attracting foreign money. And it has reinvigorated sometimes jingoistic worries about foreigners securing control of America’s fortunes, a narrative last heard in the 1980s as Americans bought up Hondas and Rockefeller Center landed in Japanese hands.

With a growing share of investment coming from so-called sovereign wealth funds — vast pools of money controlled by governments from China to the Middle East — lawmakers and regulators are calling for greater scrutiny to ensure that foreign countries do not gain influence over the financial system or military-related technology. [snip]

Debate is swirling in Washington about the best way to stimulate a flagging economy. Despite divided opinion about the merits, foreign investment may be preventing deeper troubles by infusing hard-luck companies with cash and keeping some in business.

The most conspicuous beneficiaries are Wall Street banks like Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, which have sold stakes to government-controlled funds in Asia and the Middle East to compensate for calamitous losses on mortgage markets. Beneath the headlines, a more profound shift is under way: Foreign entities last year captured stakes in American companies in businesses as diverse as real estate, steel-making, energy and baby food. [snip]

As the German company ThyssenKrupp Stainless broke ground in November on what is to be a $3.7 billion stainless steel plant in Calvert, Ala., its executives spoke effusively about the low cost of production in the United States and the chance to reach many millions of customers — particularly because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allows goods to flow into Mexico and Canada free of duty.

“The Nafta stainless steel market has great potential, and we’re committed to significantly expanding our business in this growth region,” said the company’s chairman, Jürgen H. Fechter, according to a statement.

Foreign giants like Toyota Motor and Sony have been sinking capital into American plants. Investment in the American subsidiaries of foreign companies grew to $43.3 billion last year from $39.2 billion the previous year, according to the research and consulting firm OCO Monitor.

“This is a vote of confidence in the American economy, the American marketplace and the American worker,” the deputy Treasury secretary, Robert M. Kimmitt, said. “These investments keep Americans employed and keep balance sheets strong.”

Five million Americans now work for foreign companies set up in the United States, Mr. Kimmitt said, and those jobs pay 30 percent more than similar work at domestic companies. Nearly a third of such jobs are in manufacturing, which explains why Rust Belt states have been wooing foreign investment. [snip]

“It’s the culmination of a series of fool’s errands,” said Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers. “We’ve hollowed out our industrial base and run up this massive trade deficit, and now the countries that have built the deficits are coming back to buy up our assets. It’s like spitting in your face.”

Other labor groups take a more pragmatic view.

“We need investment and we need to create good jobs,” said Thea Lee, policy director for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. in Washington. “We’re not in the position to be too choosy about where that investment comes from. But it does bring home the consequences of flawed trade policies over many, many years that we’re in this position of being dependent.” [snip]

Never mind that it is these very unions that put most manufacturing job overseas to start.

“This is a phenomenon that could be called the growth of state capitalism as opposed to market capitalism,” said Jeffrey E. Garten, a trade expert at the Yale School of Management. “The United States has not ever been on the receiving end of this before.” [snip]

If fear of foreign money now inspires Americans to erect new barriers, that would damage the economy, said Todd M. Malan, president of the Organization for International Investment, a Washington lobbying group financed by foreign companies.
[snip] (Emphasis mine)

No such outcry has greeted the purchase of stakes in major Wall Street banks by state investment funds in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, Singapore and South Korea. This is largely because the banks sold passive slices and ceded no formal control, which would have set off a federal review of the national security implications. But the silence also reflects the imperative that these enormous institutions swiftly secure cash.
[snip]

“They’re buying financial assets at well under book value,” said Gary C. Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
[snip]

“The forces sucking in this capital are much bigger than the political forces,” said Mr. Garten, the Yale trade expert. “If there is a big controversy, it will be between Washington on the one hand and corporate America on the other. In that contest, the financiers and the businessmen are going to win, as they always do.”

Maybe the Donkephants should raise taxes to confiscatory levels, suck the economic marrow right out of US fiscal growth. That will solve the protectionist problem; the companies’ values drop to zero.

Bush says economy is in good shape despite recession fears.

more below from him

Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

China threatens ‘nuclear option’ of dollar sales

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

· Blog - Dollar to collapse?

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

Canada’s Dollar At Parity on U.S. Weakness, Commodity Surge

Canada’s dollar rose, trading equal to the U.S. dollar for the first time in 31 years, as climbing commodity prices boosted the outlook for the world’s eighth-biggest economy.

Oil prices jump above $82 a barrel

Commodities prices on Wednesday rose with crude oil hitting its sixth consecutive record high above $82 a barrel and spot gold approaching a near 28-year high of $730 an ounce troy. Base metals registered rises of between 2 and 10 per cent.

Agricultural commodities were down on profit-taking and signals that some food importing countries, such as India, had bought enough cereals for their inventories.

Crude oil jumped to a $82.51 after a larger-than-expected fall in US crude oil inventories last week.

China Freezes Some Prices in Move to Contain Inflation

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government has ordered some prices frozen and told officials to closely monitor others in its most drastic step yet to contain a surge in inflation.

The order, issued late Wednesday, came after inflation rose to 6.5 percent in August — its highest monthly rate in 11 years — propelled by a double-digit rise in politically sensitive food prices.

The order stressed the importance of maintaining “market stability” ahead of a key Communist Party meeting next month. It said controlling inflation would affect China’s development, reform and stability.

Oil Up Again As Low Dollar Spurs Buying

Crude Futures Surpass $83 a Barrel, Driven Largely by Weakening Dollar

NEW YORK (AP) — Crude oil prices surged further into record terrain Thursday, breaching $83 a barrel as the weak dollar and some worrisome weather in the Gulf of Mexico spurred buying.

Gasoline futures jumped as well. {snip]

A weak dollar supports oil prices by making futures cheaper for foreign investors, noted Antoine Halff, head of energy research at Fimat USA LLC.

It also prompts buying by domestic investors, who sense that demand for Nymex oil is rising overseas, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

Bush Optimistic About Economy

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Thursday cited “some unsettling times” in the U.S. housing and credit markets as he sought to assure jittery Americans that the economy basically is in good shape despite worries about a recession.

…and the question is, what’s this all about?”

For starters, it’s about our failure to save for the future. With childish glee we buy anything we see in a hedonistic frenzy: plasma screen TV, cars with a 60 month loan package, 5000 sq ft houses with ARMs, lavish vacations, spa treatments, plastic surgery, every electronic gewgaw, and oversized waistlines. If not borrowed through a bank, then on plastic it goes.

Given that we ceased manufacturing most of these items through offshore means and outsourced many more jobs, our capital (dollars) followed the production and jobs. This is one reason.

Here’s another. We will not fix the drain on the tax base by Medicare, Medicaid, Prescription drug plan, and Social Security. Instead, we financed this huge burden by selling Treasury bonds and T-bills. Worse, the government uses abnormal accounting methods to cover the gaps. When they amalgamated the Social Security fund with the general fund, it permitted the Great Society programs to survive until they enrolled too many voters to scrap it. When one robs Peter to pay Paul, Paul never complains.

So what happens?

The entire outflow of capital (dollars) goes somewhere; they convert to treasury notes with a guaranteed rate of return of principal and interest (future taxes). Countries are investors like everyone else; they go where the return rate is best.

The pop of the housing bubble forced banks and mortgage companies, by banking law, to initiate foreclosure proceedings. By law, at 120 days, bad loans are collected or written off against profit, which really electrifies the stockholders. The market saw them bail out of lending institutions, resulting in the drop in stock prices: Countrywide, Citi, Stanley Morgan, and Merrill Lynch to name some.

The Fed jumped in to improve liquidity by reducing interest rate by 50 basis points. The stock market went up, the banks took happy pills, and there was joy in Mudville.

Except

Other countries didn’t like the rate change (they lend money from overnight to 30 year investment bonds) and cashed in dollars for something other than greenbacks. Anything worked fine. The US is required to redeem these notes, which we pay for with Pounds, Euros, Swiss Francs, Ryials, clamshells, or worse gold. The US just became poorer.

To correct this, we will have to reduce the National Debt, (not just the deficit) by either cutting spending, raising taxes plus manufacturing goods here once more. Putting Americans to work in jobs we offshored starts the program. Getting the illegals out and cutting welfare programs forces the non-workers to change or get hungry.

We will find foreign imports more expensive; buying them will be inflationary (Remember Carter’s stagflation). To cut off the outflow of money, interest rates go up on short term borrowing which cuts into corporate growth, further damaging the economy. What say you Yogi. Something about Deja?

We can correct all this. We will have to put the socialist/liberals/Marxists on Thorzine to quiet them down

Now read the above links again to see just how serious this will be.

One more item needs addressing. China is threatening to utilize the “nuclear option” of dumping dollars onto the open market ($1.33 trillion), which would require our redeeming them, or suffer bankruptcy.

In past times, this construed an act of war.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in the middle of a 3 day visit to Iran.  I’m sure his close ties with Shiite led Iran are disconcerting for Sunni politicians who are now boycotting his “unity” government.  If he put half the effort expended on his Iranian relationship into political rapprochement with the Sunnis, perhaps key legislation would be making some headway.

This budding relationship must also have played a role in recent US arm sales to the region.  Saudi Arabia and Egypt are hardly our best allies, but arming neighbors makes sense if you’re trying to contain Shiite led Arab governments.  Although arming the volatile region is not great foreign policy, it’s the one policy Washington has the resources to pursue at the moment.

Hugh Fitzgerald words on this.

Fitzgerald: Throw in a copy of Slut

The Bush Administration announces in the same breath that “over ten years” Israel will receive “$30 billion in weapons,” and that Saudi Arabia will get “$20 billion” in weapons to stave off Iran (over what time period? 10 years, like the Israelis? Or more like a year or two?). And it announces also that, furthermore, a country that is in every way hostile to us, Egypt, will receive “$13 billion” in weapons as a gift. [snip]

If this doesn’t produce some questions about our State Department, what will? Israel is the only place in the Mideast that is friendly without reservations.

The House of Saud controls by a secret police similar to what the Shah had in Iran. All of the wealth produced by oil mollifies some residents. Zealots are unconcerned by wealth; Wahabists are nothing if not zealots.

Carter’s involvement in the Mideast is well known. Put Hillary in the White House, who is to say the Saudi’s governing structure continues as is. Her involvement in the Mideast, as far as I seen, consisted of kissing Arafat’s wife. What becomes of those weapons, or the ones in Egypt’s toy box? We may get them delivered to us, but not handed back

The ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times” approaches reality, very interesting, no?

The unintentionally funny and nearly defunct LA Times reported on July 15th that about “45% of all foreign militants in Iraq……are from Saudi Arabia”.  15% are from Syria and Lebanon, with 10% from North Africa.  The stats came from “US military figures, and were made available to the Times by the senior officer”.   Nearly half of the 135 detainees in US military custody are Saudis. 

What can we deduce from a sample of 135 cage-hangers?  Thousands of troublemakers are in Iraqi custody, many of whom might even lie about their names and country of origin. So the LA Times report is based on a sample of 135 guys, half of whom have Riyadh Planet Hollywood ID cards.  I have information from a reliable participant in the war that Chechens even fall out for morning terrorist formation, and stray Pakistanis, Westerners and lots of others.   Iranians, too, are a small but vocal minority shouting  “HERE!”.

The same enigmatic “US military figure” said that 50% of all  Saudi fighters in Iraq go there as suicide bombers.  An interesting statistic, to say the least. To derive it, one needs to poll all of the free-range “Saudi fighters” about their life plans, and whether they have round-trip tickets.   It’s fair to say they don’t show up for interviews.

But the Times  raised two worthy questions, probably intentionally.  We are “allied” with the Saudis in the inaptly-named War on Terror, and Bush Herbert Walker and Bush George Dubya are unashamedly friendly with figures in the disgusting monarchical House of Saud.  Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the royal’s “national security advisor” is a pal of the House of Bush, as is King Abdullah.   

Then there’s The Carlyle Group, in which Bush Herbert Walker is a  prospering partner.  Those interested can investigate it on their own.  It’s the most powerful ethical missile in the left’s arsenal of accusations about the Bush family’s relationship with the Saudis.   The Carlyle Group has wide access to Saud investment funds.  There’s also Herbie’s lecture tours in Arab lands, paid for by the Saudis, and generous gits to his Presidential Library for scholarships to Andover, Dubya’s prep school.

It is, at this point, obligatory to mention that 15 of 19 hijackers on 911 were Saudis. Bin Laden is a Saudi.  Saudi Arabia has lots of sand and oil (although the oil power might be shaky).  Saudi Arabia is profligate with walking-around money, and has a national strategy of buying off enemies and buying up friends.  There’s a lot more, none of which is particularly damning for the Bush family, but appearances are everything.   The Saudis are low, self-seeking, and devious; relationships are contaminated by their presence in them, and our leaders should know it.

True, the Saudis have been fighting Al Qaeda, but for reasons of personal survival.   The ethical issues associated with advancing Wahabbism by subversion and Madrassa remain.  True, also, that the Saudis are troubled by Dubya’s strategies, worred about their extensive Iraq border and Persian ambitions.  This is a convergence of interests, ours and theirs.   They are not our friends. 

The reality is this:  We are allied with a vicious, reactionary, repressive Arab regime in our pursuit of liberalization of the Middle East.  We should be troubled by the first proposition in that last sentence, because they Saudis are troubled by the second.  The two can’t come together, and Dubya appears not to know it.

Bush to cede power to VP

Cheney to rule during colonoscopy

WASHINGTON - President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday and temporarily hand presidential powers over to Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House said.[snip]

Cheney’s office issued the orders to shoot on sight all southern border crossers and cross dressers. “Permitting Kos/kids to join the Marcus Garvey trans-oceanic canoe race for world diversity is our first priority,” said a Cheney spokesperson off the record.

The New England Senatorial delegation and Hollywood elites are receiving a 6-month educational trip to Iran and Saudi Arabia courtesy of AA and the Alzheimer’s Meet Your Constituents program.

On 6/29/02, Bush underwent colorectal screening for severe pain and constipation. As reported at the time they removed two polyps, several democratic congressmen, and Al Gore’s brain.

Cheney assumed power at that time, but was unable to act due to time constraints.

Further news as it develops.

The Dubai Ports World hysteria culminated with the Republican Congress falling all over themselves trying to do what they think will protect their jobs and just do “something” before the Democrats beat them to it.

How a handful of emails, erroneous MSM reports and the Union leadership pressure convinced them to panic like this is a disgrace.

That Sen. Schumer of NY was against anything that would harm his Union contributors is at least understandable, for him, even as it hurts America in general. He is hardly much more then self-focused in any matter. But for the House Republicans who ran for cover and tacked on an amendment to an existing Bill, they are worse then cowards.

The precedents of state-controlled operators from China, Saudi Arabia and Dubai at other American ports didn’t bring out the Anti-Muslim hyperventilation before. Neither did the fact that the majority of port terminals across the country are foreign-run. For instance, more than 80 percent of the terminals in the largest U.S. port, the port of Los Angeles, are operated by foreign companies.

(http://www.cfr.org/publication/9918/)

Plus, DP World already owns port operations in Miami and has for some time. Democrats and the House Republicans have not shown how many Nukes Dubai has brought in through Miami to date.

(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3720795.html)

Of course my instinct to object to this deal almost took over when our own best friend of any Dictator or Terrorist leader, Jimmah Carter endorsed the deal without reservation and again when it was revealed that Bill Clinton was cashing Dubai checks at the same time Hillary was denouncing the Bush Administration for approving it

But I looked into the facts vs. following the House Republicans off the cliff. Let me share some facts and some opinions with you.

Security will actually deteriorate, not get better.

Unlike the noble sounding speeches by our Congressional politicians, the security issue of our ports has now gotten worse, not better. It doesn’t take much concentration to recognize that the risk to Americas ports are from containers ALREADY on the ships coming into US ports. The risk to America by the company unloading the containers is nominal. Searching the container HERE is already too late. Clearly this security risk is meaningless in comparison to the security issues of the containers being loaded elsewhere by others. The Bush Administration knows this. The initial sale makes sense FOR security as this excerpt from a White House email published by PowerLine shows.

“The Transaction Is Not About Port Security Or Even Port Ownership, But Only About Operations In Port. DP World will not manage port security, nor will it own any ports. DP World would take on the functions now performed by the British firm P&O – basically the off- and on-loading of cargo. Employees will still have to be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. No private company currently manages any U.S. port. Rather, private companies such as P&O and DP World simply manage and operate individual terminals within ports.

The UAE Is An Established Partner In Protecting America’s Ports. Dubai was the first Middle Eastern entity to join the Container Security Initiative (CSI) – a multinational program to protect global trade from terrorism. Dubai was also the first Middle Eastern entity to join the Department of Energy’s Megaports Initiative, a program aimed at stopping illicit shipments of nuclear and other radioactive material. Port Security Begins Abroad. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) created the CSI to enable CBP to inspect 100% of high-risk containers at foreign seaports before they are loaded onboard vessels destined for the United States. Dubai was the first Middle Eastern entity to join CSI. Cooperation with Dubai has been outstanding and a model for other operations. DP World currently manages 19 container terminals and has operations in 14 countries. The United States government has a strong working relationship with DP World.”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/013223.php

The security agreement worked out by the administration had DP World increasing security in the ports they were shipping FROM with American input. This is where the security needs to be done before the potential bomb gets here. Once it’s here, it’s here.

The failure of the Republican House to comprehend this is so staggering on this one issue I would be hard pressed to vote for any MA Republican House member, if we had one of course.

I personally believe that this whole issue initially started due to Union leadership fears of DP Worlds efficiency programs lowering the number of workers needed in the ports it serves around the world, hence less Union employees here.

(http://www.dpa.ae/itwork/itefficiencies.htm)

The economic fallout of sticking a finger in the eye of the UAE will affect the US on a number of levels.

First there is the effect on exports. Last year, US companies exported goods worth $8.5 billion dollars to the UAE, making the small country of 2.5 million people a bigger export market for the United States than much larger India and Spain.

(http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/10/060310180934.v39xq8d9.html)

Along with normal US exports being in jeopardy, is the current multi-billion dollar deal with Boeing, who Dubai chose over Airbus, and the potential of being left out of the future $115 billion in Middle Eastern purchase projections for commercial aircraft. Another sector potentially to take a hit is the $30 billion per year worldwide military sales of Boeing.

(http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B60511631%2
DF54E%2D43DF%2D9812%2DC8C7F2EE3F0E%7D&dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&keyword)

The additional financial damage this rebuke may cause is in reduced US exports to other ME customers, adding to the fallout. According to Forecast International, “the UAE’s military budget for 2006 is estimated at about $3.7 billion dollars, compared with $20.2 billion dollars by Saudi Arabia, the Middle Eastern nation with the largest single defense budget, followed by Israel ($9.9 billion dollars), Iran ($7.9 billion dollars) and Kuwait ($4.9 billion dollars).”

(http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32273)

The impact also will be felt as the pressure on US exchange rates comes into play due to Arab banks and companies shifting out of the US greenback and their holding reserves in the Euro or other currency’s. A double whammy putting pressure on export pricing and import costs.

Add in the potential shift of ME investment in the US now going to other countries and the Republican House may have set the stage to plunge the US aerospace manufacturing industry and other US exporters into a death spiral.

“Arab central banks move assets out of dollar”

(http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article351127.ece)

Republican political fallout will keep coming as the Democrats finally have a security theme to get out front on.

When the Clinton team realized that by using their straw men in the MSM they could politicize this issue and use it as an issue to make it appear they were to the Right of the Bush administration, they jumped on it. Then the Union funded Democrats jumped on board and together with the “Fake-but-accurate” group they misrepresented the entire issue to the American people.

Instead of stepping up as a single group and explaining the facts of the deal to Americans, the cowards in the Republican House started running for cover because their interns began receiving phone calls from the now ill-informed voters.

I believe the underlying plan now by Democrats is to nationalize the Ports, making the port workers Civil Servants with all the taxpayer funded benefits, retirement schemes and inability to fire any poor performing workers that go with it. Add into this dynamic the voting pattern of government Union workers and you see why the Democrats and their Union counterparts in the news business embraced this.

Why the Republican “leadership” can’t get on the same page and provide clear communications to the people of America of what and why they are doing what they do, will go down as the single biggest failure of this administration and this period of Republican majority of Congress.

Because, lets be honest here for a moment. If this Republican Congressional leadership is going to continue being out-smarted and out-politic’d by some of the dimmest bulbs of any political party in history with the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Joe Biden, perhaps this Republican leadership should just be “out” period, and the Republican base can find some real politicians who have a brain and a spine and just start over. They work for us after all, not the other way around.

Perhaps its time to “hire” a new group in the House after what they just did to America in their self-preservation based “Chicken Little” panic.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still alive. I have had a very busy summer at work (we had 2 people leave in the middle of a major project) but I should be able to get back to full blogging after the first couple weeks of September. In the mean time I will try to post sporadically.

I also want to say thanks to the Northeast Dilemma for doing such a great job holding down the fort in my absence. To those of you who have emailed me, I have been reading your email and will try and respond soon. If you emailed about being added to the blogroll, I will be updating it soon as well.

Speaking of email, I thought I would pass along this little piece of hate mail that I just received from another hateful liberal with too much time on his hands. If you would like to respond, he can be reached at csmachine@yahoo.com.

Dear Clueless Self-Referential Male Fool,

the heading at the top of your homepage says it all…

“the ramblings of a lonely Republican stranded in the
People’s Republic of Massachusetts”…

it’s always about you, isn’t it?

Why don’t you try stepping aside for a moment from
your Republican narcissism. If Massachusetts, USA is
so unbearable for little baby to live in (all alone
and so “lonely”) perhaps why not try living in the
People’s Republic of China, one of Pappy Bush’s
favorite hellholes, or how about Saudi Arabia, home of
Bush Oil and Sugar Daddies. (Oh can we please have
some more oil, Daddy? Please, Daddy?)

Or perhaps a right-wing hellhole such as Colombia is
more to your liking.

Or how about growing up and getting your head out of
your ass and seeing that you’re lucky to be in the
USA, “lonely” or not. Massachusetts or not.

But it’s always about you and your claims to
“victimhood” and “persecution”, isn’t it?
If you give me your mother’s phone number, I’ll call
her for you and maybe she can soothe you. Or is it
your daddy you need? (Just like GW Bush, the Boy
“King”.)

Poor baby.

Pathetic ramblings indeed

Here is my response, not that he/she deserved one. Feel free to post in the comments any reponses that you sent to him/her. We should have a contest to pick the best response.

Dear Deeply Troubled,

Maybe you should visit the doctor to have your medicine adjusted. While you are there, ask him if he can find your sense of humor. The subheading on the top of my blog is meant to be funny, that’s all.

I am quite happy here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts even though I am surrounded by hateful lunatics such as yourself. As for America, I am quite proud to live here. In fact, writing on this blog is just a way for me to exercise my first amendment rights.

Anyway, it would seem by your crazed rantings that you are the one that is unhappy. Maybe you should try a place more to your liking such as France. Would you like some cheese with that “whine”?

As for calling my mother, I would ask you for your mother’s phone number but I already have it on speed dial. If you see her, tell her last night was wonderful.

Have a nice Day,
NER

I thought this description of the left’s reaction to events in the Middle East was funny. Of course it doesn’t hurt that it references Monty Python.

One of my favorite cinematic moments is the scene in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” when John Cleese’s Reg, the leader of the People’s Front of Judea, is trying to whip up anti-Roman sentiment among his team of slightly hesitant commandos.

“What have the Romans ever done for us?” he asks.

“Well, there’s the aqueduct,” somebody says, thoughtfully. “The sanitation,” says another. “Public order,” offers a third. Reg reluctantly acknowledges that there might have been a couple of benefits. But then steadily, and with increasing enthusiasm, his men reel off a litany of the good things the Romans have wrought with their occupation of the Holy Land.

By the time they’re finished they’re not so sure about the whole insurgency idea after all and an exasperated Reg tries to rally them: “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”

I can’t help but think of that scene as I watch the contortions of the anti-American hordes in Britain, Europe and even in the United States itself in response to the remarkable events that are unfolding in the real Middle East today.

Little more than three years after U.S. forces, backed by their faithful British allies, set foot in Afghanistan, the entire historical dynamic of this blighted region already has shifted.

Ignoring, fortunately, the assault from clever world opinion on America’s motives, its credibility and its ambitions, the Bush administration set out not only to eliminate immediate threats but also to remake the Middle East. In the last month, the pace of progress has accelerated, from Beirut to Kabul.

Confronted with this awkward turn of events, Reg’s angry successors are asking their cohorts: “What have the Americans ever done for us?”

“Well, they did get rid of the Taliban in Afghanistan. ‘Orrible bunch, they were.”

“All right, the Taliban, I grant you.”

“Then there was Iraq. Knocked off one of the nastiest dictators who ever lived and gave the whole nation a chance to pick its own rulers.”

“Yeah, all right. Fair enough. I didn’t like Saddam.”

“Libya gave up its nuclear weapons.”

“And then there’s Syria. Thousands of people on the streets of Lebanon. Syrians look like they’re pulling out.”

“I just heard Egypt’s going to hold free presidential elections for the first time. And Saudi Arabia just held elections, too.”

“The Palestinians and the Israelis are talking again and they say there’s a real chance of peace this time.”

“All right, all right. But apart from liberating 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, undermining dictatorships throughout the Arab world, spreading freedom and self-determination in the broader Middle East and moving the Palestinians and the Israelis toward a real chance of ending their centuries-long war, what have the Americans ever done for us?”

The column ends by giving President Bush the credit he deserves.

But something very important is happening now, something that will be very hard to stop. And, although not all of it can be directly attributed to the U.S. strategy in the region, can anyone seriously argue that it would have happened without it? Neither is it true, as some have tried to argue, that all of this is merely some unintended consequence of an immoral and misconceived war in Iraq.

It was always the express goal of the Bush administration to change the regime in Baghdad, precisely because of the opportunities for democracy it would open up in the rest of the Arab world. President Bush understands the simple but historically demonstrable thesis that freedom is not only the most basic of human rights, but also the best way to ensure that nations do not go to war with each other.

In a speech one month before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, Bush laid out the strategy: “The world has a clear interest in the spread of democratic values, because stable and free nations do not breed the ideologies of murder. They encourage the peaceful pursuit of a better life.”

I doubt that anybody, even the most prescient in the Bush administration or at 10 Downing St., thought the progress we now are seeing would come as quickly as it has.

But what was clear to the bold foreign policy strategists in Washington was that the status quo that existed before Sept. 11 no longer could be tolerated. Much of the Muslim world represented decay and stagnation, and bred anger and resentment. That was the root cause of the terrorism that had attacked America with increasing ferocity between 1969 and 2001.

America’s critics craved stability in the Middle East. Don’t rock the boat, they said. But to the United States, this stability was that of the mass grave; the calm was the eerie quiet that precedes the detonation of the suicide bomb. The boat had a hole and was listing viciously.

As a foreign-policy thinker close to the administration put it to me, in the weeks before the Iraq war two years ago: “Shake it and see. That’s what we are going to do.” The United States couldn’t be certain of the outcome, but it could be sure that whatever happened would be better than the status quo.

And so America, the revolutionary power, plunged in and shook the region to its foundations. And it already is liking what it sees.

Update: Speaking of giving credit, David Brooks gave some to Paul Wolfowitz today:

Let us now praise Paul Wolfowitz. Let us now take another look at the man who has pursued - longer and more forcefully than almost anyone else - the supposedly utopian notion that people across the Muslim world might actually hunger for freedom.

Let us look again at the man who’s been vilified by Michael Moore and the rest of the infantile left, who’s been condescended to by the people who consider themselves foreign policy grown-ups, and who has become the focus of much anti-Semitism in the world today - the center of a zillion Zionist conspiracy theories, and a hundred zillion clever-Jew-behind-the-scenes calumnies.

It’s not necessary to absolve Wolfowitz of all sin or to neglect the postwar screw-ups in Iraq. Historians will figure out who was responsible for what, and Wolfowitz will probably come in for his share of the blame. But with political earthquakes now shaking the Arab world, it’s time to step back and observe that over the course of his long career - in the Philippines, in Indonesia, in Central and Eastern Europe, and now in the Middle East - Wolfowitz has always been an ardent champion of freedom. And he has usually played a useful supporting role in making sure that pragmatic, democracy-promoting policies were put in place.

If the trends of the last few months continue, Wolfowitz will be the subject of fascinating biographies decades from now, while many of his smuggest critics will be forgotten. Those biographies will mention not only his intellectual commitment but also his personal commitment, his years spent learning the languages of the places that concerned him, and the thousands of hours spent listening deferentially to the local heroes who led the causes he supported.

To praise Wolfowitz is not triumphalism. The difficulties ahead are obvious. It’s simple justice. It’s a recognition that amid all the legitimate criticism, this guy has been the subject of a vicious piling-on campaign by people who know less than nothing about what is actually going on in the government, while he, in the core belief that has energized his work, may turn out to be right.

Read the rest here.

Since we took Baghdad, the enemy has been able to determine when and where he will attack our forces in Iraq. He can take as much battle, or as little as he desires. The enemy enjoys TACTICAL INITIATIVE in Iraq. The media has reported this ability to strike and then melt back into the sunni triangle, as an insurmountable problem. They have reported each attack, each car bombing as the approaching footfalls of doom. To listen to the media, our defeat is assured and our ignominious withdrawal only a matter of time.

But Iraq is but a campaign in an overall war, which extends beyond Iraq, and spills over into the greater region as a whole. For it is that greater region that is the petri dish of terror, unfreedom, poverty, tyranny, sectarian strife, tribalism, gender apartheid, religious intolerance, Islamic and arab supremacism. This list is hardly exhaustive.

Though the MILITARY clashes occur primarily in Iraq, the overall battle of ideas extends throughout Islam itself. And in that greater sphere, that wider battlefield, that STRATEGIC arena, WE ARE WINNING. Tactically, the enemy can set off a bomb, initiate an attack, but STRATEGICALLY, WE are dictating the pace of events.

Saudi Arabia holding municipal elections for the FIRST time, Palestinians voting and Arafat forgotten, Egypt announcing it will hold a real election with multiple parties, and now the Syrian controlled government in Beirut resigning en masse, these events are milestones passed on the road to victory. It does NOT mean “there is light at the end of the tunnel.” But it DOES mean our strategy is gaining traction and we are seeing results.

We are on the strategic offensive, and our military actions were the catalyst for these dramatic events. We need to keep the pressure on.

The protest marches and rallies in Lebanon are HUGE, and cannot be underestimated. In short, the people of Lebanon, whether they know it or not, just joined up for the War on Terror and opened a brand new front.

What will happen in Lebanon next? Probably bloodshed. Syria entered Lebanon, and has justified its presence ever since, because of fierce sectarian strife. It all began in the early ’70s when Lebanon welcomed the Palestinians. The Palestinians repaid the people of Lebanon by starting a savage war for control of Lebanon.

So expect Hezbollah, {at the secret behest of Syrian Intelligence} to try to restart that sectarian violence, and provide a new foundation for a Syrian presence. Recall the Palestinians commenced a wave of homicide bombers to distract the United States from removing Saddam. So anticipate a similar maneuver in Lebanon. Hezbollah will start killing and try to ignite a new civil war. Such a war would allow the Syrian government to portray itself as a moderating influence in Lebanon and the region. {Syria the good cop, Hezbollah the bad cop} And Washington running to Damascus begging for help “restraining” Hezbollah.

But that was how the game was played on September 10th, 2001. And our Texan has decided to change the rules of the game. Some are beginning to get it, some aren’t.

Fox News is reporting that Lebanon’s pro-Syria government has resigned:

Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced the resignation of his pro-Syrian government Monday, two weeks after the assassination of his predecessor, Rafik Hariri, triggered protests in the streets and calls for Syria to withdraw thousands of troops.

“I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon,” Karami said.

The announcement prompted cheers from more than 25,000 flag-waving demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers outside the parliament building.

Well, well, well, it looks like President Bush’s plan to spread democracy in the Middle East is working. In the last 6 months, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the Palestinians have all held successful elections. Saudi Arabia recently held elections at the local level and yesterday Egypt’s president declared there will be an election with multiple candidates for President. Now Lebanon’s Syrian puppet government has resigned amid widespread protests for Syria to withdraw its troops.

One by one the dominos are beginning to fall in the Middle East. There is still a ways to go, but as Jackson Diehl points out today, the collapse of corrupted governments usually happens quickly:

Virtually no one in Washington expected such a snowballing of events following Iraq’s elections. Not many yet believe that they will lead to real democracy in Egypt, Lebanon or Syria anytime soon. But it is a fact of history that the collapse of a rotted political order usually happens quickly, and takes most of the experts by surprise. In early 1989 I surveyed a panoply of West German analysts about the chances that the then-incipient and barely noticed unrest in Eastern Europe could lead to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. None thought it possible; most laughed at me for asking the question.

At some point, the president’s critics will have to acknowledge the success of the Bush Doctrine or risk looking like bigger fools than they already are.

Update: Peter Brookes has a better summary of the events in the Middle East since 9/11:

But why are the Syrians giving in so fast? Just consider what they’ve see since 9/11:

Right after the September attacks, Syrian strongman Bashar Assad heard Bush proclaim that there had to be a break with the past. That turning a blind eye to evil because it was easy or convenient was no longer an acceptable policy for America — or others.

Assad’s Baathists watched Bush topple Taliban/al Qaeda rule in Afghanistan in late 2001. They saw the first democratic elections in Afghan history late last year and the inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Assad also watched what happened to his old pal, Saddam Hussein, wondering about the effects at home of 8 million brave Iraqis casting ballots in Iraq’s first real democratic elections last month.

Syria also had to notice Libya’s coming in from the cold in late 2003, swearing off not only terrorism, but agreeing to give up its WMDs as well. Even the Palestinians, whose cause Syria has championed for years, held several rounds of successful elections in recent months.

Bad guys are falling left and right due Bush’s relentless pressure for change. Even a Syrian alliance with the hard-line, fundamentalist Iranian mullahs isn’t going to stem the spread of freedom in the region.

The Lebanese people have had “enough” of Syria as well. Outraged by the grisly assassination of popular former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Syria’s heavy-handed occupation, tens of thousands of Lebanese poured into the streets last week.

Inspired by President Bush’s re-election inaugural address, the recent Iraqi and Palestinian elections, Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Lebanon’s own Red and White (or Cedar) Revolution is underway.

He concludes with three demands for Syria, the second one came true today, the day the column was printed.

It’s premature to call the Lebanese revolution a success, but it’s likely to have a profound, lasting effect on both Lebanon and the region. That’s why we can’t rest on our laurels just when we have Syrian repression on the run in Lebanon.

The free world must continue to champion Lebanese “people power” at every opportunity, demanding:

• The complete withdrawal of Syrian military — and intelligence — forces from Lebanon;

• the resignation of Lebanon’s Syrian-backed puppet government, and
• free elections in Lebanon at a suitable time after Syria’s full withdrawal.

If Syria doesn’t comply, the U.S. should implement additional economic sanctions under the 2004 Syrian Accountability Act, as well as seek multilateral sanctions at the United Nations. The European Union shouldn’t implement its pending trade and political agreement with Syria, either.

Dislodging Syria from Lebanon is another important step in transforming the Middle East and the Muslim World. But it can’t end with liberating Lebanon.

Syria must also be pressured to open its political system, end its support for terrorism, make peace with Israel and swear off WMDs. No, Syria is unlikely to go quietly, as evidenced by the (probable) Syrian-backed Islamic Jihad terrorist attack in Tel Aviv last week.

But Syria is swimming against the tide of history — revolutionary, democratic change is taking place in the Middle East. Thanks to President Bush’s unwavering stance on freedom and democracy, a new, free Muslim world is just over the horizon.

The Manchester Union understands why Bush needs to be re-elected:

IN THE PRESIDENTIAL campaign, the foreign policy focus has centered almost entirely on Iraq. John Kerry and the Big Media have done a masterful job framing the debate around the day-to-day operations in Baghdad, Fallujah and other trouble spots. Nearly forgotten have been the big successes of the past three years.

President George W. Bush’s critics begrudgingly credit him with deposing the Taliban, but are quick to note that Osama bin Laden remains at large and we have serious problems in Iraq. It is important to step back and look at the big picture.

The Taliban fell because Bush assembled a coalition that included Pakistan, which had been an enabler of the Taliban, a leaker of nuclear secrets, and a hideout for al-Qaida. Pakistan is now a hugely important American ally whose police and military are capturing and killing our enemies.

The President is responsible for disarming Libya, a significant sponsor of terrorism, by threatening to do to Tripoli what we did to Kabul.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war, Bush did build an international coalition to destroy the Hussein regime. Today, a murderous, torturing despot who harbored and funded terrorists and attacked American allies is now in jail, and the Iraqi people are on the path to democracy.

Al-Qaida is disrupted and on the run. Most of Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenants are no longer capable of killing Americans because they are either in prison or in the ground.

Because of American pressure, Saudi Arabia is finally tracking and killing al-Qaida members and other terrorists. The current situation in Iraq is unsatisfactory, and the Bush administration made mistakes there. But on the whole, the War on Terror has succeeded in eliminating some threats to this country and reducing others. The big picture shows that President Bush’s strategy of staying on the offensive is paying off. It would be a major mistake to halt our momentum by electing a President who is more comfortable playing defense.