I think I woke up in the Bizzaro universe. WTF is the Bush administration thinking by approving a deal in which a company based in the Unite Arab Emirates will take over six major US ports? WTF is wrong when the leading federal opponent of this is Senator Charles Schumer, who it turns my stomach to note, I agree with?
Gah. I held my nose and voted for Bush -- with whom I hadn't been all that pleased -- because I thought he'd better than Kerry. Now I wonder. Sure, Kerry probably would've tried to ram through more gun control and other noxious policies, but ASSuming the Republicans retained control of Congress, they probably would've stalled it in the name of partisan politics.
Bush seems to be determined to turn his second term into a first class clusterfuck. Despite his protestations that Islam is a Religion of Peach, the clear evidence -- historical and currently -- is that it is a Religion of the Sword. It was spread by the sword and its most vocal adherents continue to espouse violent jihad against unbelievers. Islamic doctrine separates the world into two realms: "Dar al Islam" (realm of peace, i.e., Islamic rule) and "Dar al Harb" (realm of war, i.e., everywhere else). Unbelievers who fall into Dar al Islam get the choice of converting or being reduced to "dhimmitude," i.e., second-class citizenship subject to special taxation and reduced rights.
Don't forget that if you criticise Islam in any way you open yourself up to getting blown up or your head hacked off. Welcome to the 7th Century.
Now, a half dozen major US ports are supposed to come under the ownership of a company owned and run by Muslims from a country with a history of financially backing jihadis. As an aside, why the hell are any of our ports owned by any foreign entities?
All US ports should be under US management, as a matter of national security.
Coupled with the Bush administration's flat out refusal to do anything about border security and we have a disaster in the making. While TSA goons cops a feel on grandmothers and hassles Congressional Medal of Honor winners at airports, we leave the back door open to anyone who can walk in.
Aside from "OTMs" -- Other Than Mexicans -- the border regions are seeing an increased influx of gangs like MS-13. We need to erect real barriers to unauthorized entry -- walls and fences where geography makes it feasible, patrols on foot and horseback, and UAVs where not. Legal immigration is good but illegal immigration needs to be brought under control. The federal government's
first responsibility is national security and maintaining integrity of the borders is key to that. Even if it takes a few billion a year it's money well spent, certainly better spent than pissing it away on foreign aid to countries whose inhabitants hate us anyway. Our current situation is akin to Rome welcoming the barbarians, or the Indians watching the wagon train come over this hill, ultimately impotent to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, US energy policy is a fucking joke. The enviroweenies need to be told to go FOAD, we're building nuclear power plants, exploring for oil in more domestic areas, and figuring out realistic ways to partially sate our appetite for fossil fuels. Conservation is needed but as Jerry Pournelle has pointed out, you cannot conserve your way to prosperity. We need new energy sources. Domestic oil, coal, natural gas, biogas, biodiesel, solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, whatever. Having multiple options makes the most sense. We shouldn't put all of our eggs in one basket, but whatever we do, we need to get them out of the Arab basket. Failure to do so will ensure that we never extract ourselves from the Middle Eastern quagmire. Eventually, failure to deal with these problems dooms the Republic to dissoultion and authoritarianism.
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