Blogging For Kicks

I guess all the uproar over Bush’s plan to farm our port security out to a country that may or may not have our best interests at heart has struck pay dirt. Dubai has decided to postpone their take-over of our ports for a while, until, as one pundit reported, Bush can convince the people it’s a good thing. Looks like it might be a cold day in Hell before the take-over happens, if that’s their reasoning. I truly believe the people of the United States realize that’s too much like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, so to speak, and Bush will find it’s not going to be that easy to convince us differently. All I can say is, “HOORAY!!!” Partisan unity has blocked what could be the stupidest decision this fool has made in the last five years, or one of the stupidest, anyway, and that gives hope for a future of less contention and name calling. Slim, that’s true, but hope just the same.

I have a new renter this week, My Corner Of The Web, and I’d like to encourage everyone to go pay her a visit. This is a really nice, comforting site, filled with the writer’s thoughts on everyday things that happen in her life. It feels like going for a visit to a really good friend’s house and conversing over a nice cup of coffee, and I know you will enjoy your time there. Welcome to the neighborhood, Suzanne.

The story:

United States Senators Robert Menendez and Hillary Clinton announced today that they are introducing legislation to prohibit companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from purchasing port operations in the United States. The legislation would block such transactions as the proposed sale of operations at six major U.S. ports to Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates.

Legislators from both parties continued today to sharply criticize the Bush administration’s approval of a recent sale that would give a Dubai company control over shipping facilities at six leading American ports, saying that it raised fundamental security issues.

The homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, reiterated the Bush administration’s defense of the arrangement, saying today that such transactions were closely examined by a committee that includes several federal departments or agencies, including his own, the Treasury Department and the F.B.I. He noted, too, that Dubai is considered an American ally in fighting terrorism.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said the administration’s approval of the transaction was “unbelievably tone-deaf politically.” He told Fox News, “I don’t think now’s the time to outsource major port security to a foreign country.”

The Sept. 11 plotters funneled money through Dubai, and two came from the United Arab Emirates, but Mr. Chertoff insisted that this “doesn’t mean that every company there is automatically guilty or automatically has to be excluded from owning something here.”

These are selected quotes I found while looking into the bill Sen’s Clinton and Menendez have submitted to block foreign ownership of our ports. Yes, that’s right, they have to try to pass a bill to keep our ports out of foreign hands. What the heck??!?!?

George W. Bush, in what has to be one of the stupidest moves yet, agreed with and approved the sale of six of our most important ports to Arab companies to run. I tell you, I feel like I must have fallen asleep and I’m in the middle of a nightmare here. How is this possible, and what on earth was he thinking? Just how much did they pay him to get him to turn the security of our ports over to them?

The fact that Dubai, the country in question, is already linked to the 9/11 hijackers should be enough to stop him. Oh, but no. They tell us Dubai is our ally. Uh huh. Just like Saudi Arabia, where most of the hijackers came from, and who have made a cottage industry of blocking our attempts to get the info we need, not to mention not allowing us to do what we have to in order to stop those that are left. Just like Pakistan is our ally, yet they can’t figure out how to keep Bin Laden and his buddies from living the high life in their country. Right, our allies.

I find it somewhat calming to know that at least some Republicans feel the same way about it I do, but…..how many? Enough to stop the sale, or negate it? Enough to pass the law that will stop this kind of stupidity or reverse it? I don’t know. Just how much money is enough to make them keep their mouths shut, and how long will it take to get it to them? I’m sorry, but I simply don’t have any faith whatsoever in these people. They seem to back their guy no matter what, when it comes right down to it, and I have no reason to believe this will be any different.

All I can say is, God Bless Hillary and Robert, and any other Senator who backs and votes for their bill. And dear Lord God, let it get passed quickly, on the Fast Track. Having the ports of this country under the control of the United Arab Emirates scares the bejeebers out of me. I’m not a racist, I don’t think all Arabs are followers of Bin Laden and his crew, but I’m not so trusting that I want to have the security of my country, and thereby my children and grandchildren, left in hands that I can’t be totally sure will have our best interests at heart. Can you?

Contact your Senators, and any others you care to, and tell them to get this bill on the Fast Track and get it passed quickly, and then do something to reverse this sale. Do it today!

Oh, really? Making a simple “I made a mistake, I’m so sorry” story into a “Why the heck did they hide this?” story, turning it into a major brouhaha, is the right thing to do? Sure, Mr. President. But then, we already know how convoluted his thinking is anyway, so it’s not that big a surprise, is it? And, relatively speaking, the human cost of this mistake is pretty minor - unless you happen to be Mr. Whittington - compared to most of the others he’s come up with, right?

This is my entry into the Valentine’s Day Contest at Mystikal Incense And More. I hope you enjoy it, and that you all have a chance to feel love like this in your lifetime. And I hope you all have a wonderful, Happy Valentine’s Day.

                                            FROM CHAD, WITH LOVE

I love you with every fiber of my being
And without you, the days are long and harsh.
Your face is what keeps me going in the bleakest of times
And your voice lifts me up from whatever quagmire
I find myself sucked into.
I fall into the warm depth of your beautiful mahogany eyes,
Lost and loving every moment of the trip,
And when I lie in your arms and hear the beating of your heart
I know this is where I was created to belong.
You will be my harbor in times of storm
My loving, all encompassing shelter from life's sorrows
I will stay with you until my dying breath speaks your name
And then lies silent through the endless lengths of time.
Whitney is the name my heart will love 'til time ends
And eternity closes it's doors.

I have to think Mr. Whittington must be wishing the picture above, provided by allhatnocattle.com, was from this year, and that this duck hunt was the one he missed. I know this isn’t really funny for anyone involved, and I’m not going to try to make it seem Cheney is so old and feeble he can’t even shoot straight anymore, because I have no idea what happened. What I was touched by, however, was the fact that this seems like the logical progression of the Old West Cowboy Story we’ve been “treated” to for the last five years. I mean, what old western movie would be complete without the grizzled old sidekick telling someone he’s going to fill ‘em full of buckshot for one reason or another, and then doing it?

Everyone click on my new renter’s icon at the top of the page and go look around. It’s called “The World According To Aaargh”, and it’s a fun place to visit. I even took a test to find out how evil I am. Turns out I’m neutral. I was hoping for “You’re the most evil witch in history!” Oh, well, maybe you’ll have better luck. Go on over and look around, you won’t be sorry.

Good Lord God Almighty! What were the Pizza Hut people thinking when they came up with their newest commercial, the one for the pizza with the little cheese-stuffed bites around the edges? Where are the Morality Keepers when you need them?

Come on, guys. With all the stories we are getting every day, almost, about adults - from teachers, to neighbors, to priests, to who-knows-who - having sexual relations with kids, you would think people in charge of commercials and the like would realize that’s not a really good subject to flaunt right now. Yet, there’s Jessica Simpson, dressed in a slinky, short red ……. ?dress? and singing provocativly to a kid who can’t be over 13 or 14 years old, popping a bite in his mouth while ogling him as if she wants to do the same to him.

Honestly, what the heck is up with that? Who thought that would make just the best commercial ever? Certainly no one with a son who’s been victimized by a grown woman he should be able to trust. I’m not a prude, and I can find something funny about most things, but this is beyond the pale, and someone needs to let these guys know that.

Why couldn’t they have used a doofy looking adult male, someone who’d never have a chance with a woman that looks like Jessica? It would have given us the same message - without the child molesting aspects - and it would have been really funny. This way it’s just sick. I am so surprised I haven’t heard one word from the groups that usually keep watch on stuff like this and bellow like wounded elephants whenever something offends their sense of morality. Where are they now? This is a case where their objections could really be used, and yet, so far, I’ve heard nothing.

Maybe a lot of you think I’m going overboard on this, but as the mother of three sons I find it just too much. A younger girl, closer to the boy’s own age, dressed in their regular uniform and popping a bite into his mouth would get the same laugh factor, so why did they feel they had to use an adult in a way-to-provocative costume? I guess we won’t know, unless the Guardians of Morality finally do decide to speak up. I’d really like to know, tho. It’s such a stupid thing to do.

$270 billion increase in spending for war, and cuts for everyone else. Is that the way we really want things to be? So, let Grandma starve, freeze to death, or die from not being able to get the medicine she needs, but make sure the War Machine and those who run it make out like bandits, huh? So, what’s new?

I tell you, I don’t understand it at all. Oh, I know, the campaign against the poor and elderly has been waged quite successfully, to the point that most who are going to argue with that statement don’t even realize what makes them feel that way, but good Lord, just how long are we going to allow this stuff to continue? And the punch line is that even with the cuts they are making, we are still going to be running a deficit, adding to the massive debt Georgie Boy and Buds have built up for our great-grandkids to struggle with when it becomes their job.

It’s only been five years, yet all the gains Clinton made have been wiped away and buried under the debt these fools have spawned. Remember 2,000? The deficit had been wiped out and we were finally running within our budget, building up a surplus, even. Then Georgie got in, and wiped it all out, then added the over $14 billion dollar deficit we have today, with more to come. And people are proud of this? Somebody pinch me, I must be having a major nightmare!

George W. Bush has ruined this country, both fiscally and as far as our standing in the world at large goes. We are more hated now than ever, thanks to him, and to all of you who will say “So what? We don’t care”, I say “What kind of idiots are you, anyway?” There have always been enough people who hated us as it was, but now that number has increased exponentially and it’s pretty hard to find a country in this world that truly and totally backs us now. Oh, sure, England, at least it’s government does, but quick - name another one. Not that easy, is it?

I was taught growing up that in the End Times, tribulations will come, and then the Kindom of God will follow, where there’s no sickness, no hunger, no envy and strife, and no war. Well, I’d say the Tribulation is pretty near, if not already here, and I can’t wait for the KOG. It simply can’t come too soon for me.

I thought I posted a “Welcome” to my new renter, Mystical Incense, when I first added it to my Blog Renter box, but apparently I was dreaming it. I am so sorry to be so late in doing this, and I only hope those who come here regularly have already visited this site. It is a very interesting place, full of wonderfully written, humorous posts about the life of the lady who runs the place, plus you can buy her incense, bath products, etc, also. Stop by her site and enjoy yourself, and take home a bottle or two of her wares. I know you’ll enjoy it.