So the Republicans are going to see just how fast they can fuck things up. The Republicans have sat on their asses the past 12 years and promised the world to the oil companies, drug companies and just about any other industry, and on my levels, they forgot to deliver. Now that the end is near, the gravy train has run out of track they are going to see just how fast they can fuck the nation over in the lame duck session.

From the AP

The Democrats' return to power is increasing pressure on House Republican leaders to accept a limited expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling.

Supporters of such exploration say the next Congress, with Democrats in control come January, probably will not tamper with the long-standing drilling bans that have protected most coastal waters for a quarter-century.

A stubborn standoff has festered for months between the House and Senate over developing more of the oil and gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf. The dispute is expected to be an issue in the final days of the Republican-run Congress this week when lawmakers meet in a lame-duck session.

-snip-

House Republicans pushed through a bill that would open coastal waters for drilling everywhere unless a state objects. That essentially would end a ban on such drilling that Congress has imposed annually for the past 25 years in most areas outside the western Gulf.

Even drilling supporters said there was no chance that measure can pass the Senate, which has approved a compromise: opening 8.3 million acres in the east-central Gulf, no closer than 125 miles of land, and leaving other areas alone.

Today the Fake heroes the Republicans show America that they will use homeland security and scream 9/11, but when the rubber hits the road, they could care less about the homeland.

Today, House Homeland Security Committee voted down an amendment by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) that would have mandated 100 percent scanning of American-bound shipping containers for radiological weapons. Those are weapons like dirty bombs, the Republicans said No! I want to make sure my right wing readers understand, the next time the Republicans say that everyone but them are weak on security, they are blowing smoke up your ass…

ThinkProgess picks it up from here.

The vote followed an “aggressive lobbying campaign” by a “coalition of industry groups” who pressed conservative members to oppose the amendment. Yesterday, committee chairman Peter King (R-NY) announced that he was caving to industry interests. His excuse was that Markey’s plan was “not realistic“:

There’s no sense putting something in the bill if it’s not realistic, if it’s not going to be implemented and can’t be done. We want a real bill, not a headline.

In fact, the plan in realistic: for well over a year, Hong Kong has been successfully using high tech screening machines to inspect every single container. Achieving that in the United States will undoubtedly take time, but it is technologically feasible, and should be our number one port security priority. Businesses that rely on shipping simply don’t want to spend the money, and conservatives are bending to their will at the expense of our homeland security.

The Pew Research Center has done a poll, and the outcome is Bush is almost as crappy a "President" as Nixon was. I mean like 5 or 6 points and he will be in Nixon Watergate range.

In the aftermath of the Dubai ports deal, President Bush’s approval rating has hit a new low and his image for honesty and effectiveness has been damaged. Yet the public uncharacteristically has good things to say about the role that Congress played in this high-profile Washington controversy.

Most Americans (58%) believe Congress acted appropriately in strenuously opposing the deal, while just 24% say lawmakers made too much of the situation. While there is broad support for the way Congress handled the dispute, more Americans think Democratic leaders showed good judgment on the ports issue than say the same about GOP leaders (by 30%-20%).

The new Pew survey underscores the public’s alarm over the prospect that an Arab-owned company could have operated U.S. ports. Fully 41% say they paid very close attention to news about the debate, which is unusually high interest for a Washington story and is only slightly lower than the number tracking Iraq war news very closely (43%). There was broad opposition to the proposed deal from across the political spectrum, including two-to-one disapproval among conservative Republicans (56%-27%).

Bush’s overall approval measure stands at 33%, the lowest rating of his presidency. Bush’s job performance mark is now about the same as the ratings for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders (34% and 32%, respectively), which showed no improvement in spite of public approval of the congressional response to the ports deal.

The president’s ratings for handling of several specific issues, particularly terrorism, have also declined sharply. Just 42% now approve of Bush’s job in handling terrorist threats, an 11-point drop since February. In January 2005, as Bush was starting his second term, 62% approved of his handling of terrorist threats.

Just as I thought, in true Republican nature, once it is out of the news, do it anyway. Well that what it looks like with the port deal that Bush wants so bad. You know the one, the one that would sell 23 US Ports to a nation that has known ties to terror. Republicans have said that if they do not find a buyer then the original buyer can go forward.

From AP, via Yahoo (bolds are mine)

Congress will closely watch a Dubai-owned company to be sure it transfers its U.S. port operations to an American company, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday.

But Frist, R-Tenn., acknowledged that if an American buyer is not found, and the Bush administration determines there are no security risks, a deal for DP World to manage and operate major U.S. ports still could go through.

"If everything that the president, the administration has said, and that is that there is absolutely no threatening or jeopardy to our security and safety of the American people … I don’t see how the deal would have to be canceled," Frist said on ABC’s "This Week."

DP World pledged last week to fully transfer its U.S. port operations amid growing congressional resistance to its $6.8 billion purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. The British company handles significant operations at ports in New Jersey, New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia — plus lesser dockside activities at 16 other ports in this country.

DP World said the divestiture was "based on an understanding that DP World will not suffer economic loss." Some analysts have suggested finding a U.S. buyer willing to pay the $700 million that DP World wants might be difficult.

Today (Friday) Bush express concern about the message being sent to Middle Eastern allies by the collapse of efforts by a Dubai company to manage major U.S. ports.

It was once said, “[the president] doth protest to much” and this is a prime example. The Bush Administration has spent the better part of 5 years demonizing every Arab in the world. He has attacked them with the might of the US military. He has created an atmosphere of suspicion to anyone with more than 3 vowels in their name. He has in fact told us that they are all terrorist and should be converted or eradicated. Now, all of the sudden these Arabs are great! That somehow we should be ashamed of ourselves for being suspicious of anyone in the middle east. How dare us look at the UAE’s record and judge them. We are somehow un-American for not wanting KNOWN terrorist supporters running our ports.

Face it folks, the fake “War on Terror” is over, and Bush sided with them. Bush is chastising America for not allowing a nation who supplied 2 of it’s own to ram planes into buildings in New York. We, not him, are somehow wrong because we pointed out that to this day the UAE is still being used as a conduit for funding to terrorists, a conduit for illegal transfers of nuclear material and a conduit for safety of terrorist. In short, Bush wants these known terrorist to run out ports, and we are bad people for standing up and saying, “No”. Well I have a message for you Mr. Bush, after the impeachment you can go live with them, you seem to love them so much, I am sure they would welcome you into their terrorist organization.

It looks like George Bush and the Republican administration is going to go forth with selling of our US Ports to a known terrorist state. You may have thought, but wait, I thought we were going to have a 45 day wait, Nope…

Reuters via Yahoo

Dubai Ports World’s $6.85 billion acquisition of Britain’s P&O will close on Friday or Monday, despite an additional 45-day review by the U.S. government in response to security concerns, a U.S. Treasury Department official said on Thursday.

"My understanding is that the deal will not close today," Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt told a Senate panel. "Although they had announced March 2 as the closing date … that deal will not now close until tomorrow or Monday."

Kimmitt made his statement in response to a question from lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee.

Even more proof that Bush wants the ports of the United States to be run by known terrorist.

New evidence has emerged that key agencies of the United Arab Emirates may have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda. In May or June of 2002, al Qaeda officials wrote a letter to the UAE government claiming the emirates were “well aware” of the infiltration.

The letter, translated by the United States Government, is publicly available on the website of the West Point Combating Terrorism Center. The intro:

The key sentence:

During the initial 30-day review, the Coast Guard raised concerns that Dubai Ports World, which is owned by the UAE, could be infiltrated. An unclassified Coast Guard document cautioned, “There are many intelligence gaps, concerning the potential for DPW or P&O assets to support terrorist operations, that precludes an overall threat assessment”

The existence of the al-Qaeda letter – known officially as AFGP-2002-603856 – was first reported in a little noticed column by Scripps Howard.

Bush vehemently supports terrorism, mainly because they have paid him to. You may not know this, but over 8 billion in United Arab Emirate cash was sent to the Carlyle Group, a company that has George Bush Sr. as a major stake holder. What was the 8 Billion for? Who knows, the Carlyle Group does not have to show us their books.

In what I can also guess is a major shift in US Foreign policy, this nation no longer supports Israel. This is the only thing I can guess, because the company that Bush wants to turn over our ports to is a participant in an Arab campaign to boycott Israel. a position that runs counter to US Policy .

So, lets lay it out right here and now. We have a company that wants to run 21 US Ports, they are a government owned corporation. That government is currently harboring members of Al Qaeda, was one of the main sources of funding for the 9/11 attacks, and many "issues" point that they are currently funding terror. Let us not forget that the main conduit for the transfer of nuclear secrets from Pakistan to Iran and North Korea (Think axis of evil) was done through the nation of the United Arab Emirate. So we know they will transfer nuclear secrets, why not ship a box-load of terrorist here?

Fact: Bush has placed money over National Security, Americans, Our Troops and the victims of September 11th. Thanks Bush, at lease we know where you stand now.

So here is the real issue, we have but two options, Bush is a liar, or so dumb and/or drunk that he has no clue what is going on…

Let’s look… This is what Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said, “He became aware of it over the last several days,” McClellan said. Asked if Bush did not know about it until it was a done deal, McClellan said, “That’s correct.”

So he wants us to know that Bush, the “President of the United States” did not know that terrorists were in the market for American ports, and that he learned of it from the media? This is where Bush gets info? Am I the only one that is scared? But wait… How do you reconcile that statement with this new news here from the AP…

Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement

The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.

As part of the $6.8 billion purchase, state-owned Dubai Ports World agreed to reveal records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at U.S. ports, the documents said. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment.

The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.

"They’re not lax but they’re not draconian," said James Lewis, a former U.S. official who worked on such agreements. If officials had predicted the firestorm of criticism over the deal, Lewis said, "they might have made them sound harder."

Bush is working with the Enemy, like grandson, like grandfather. So Scott and Bush are fucking liars, the "War on Terror" is over and we lost, Bush WANTS to sell 6 US ports to a nation that REFUSED to allow the United States to track down terrorist money that lead to it’s shores, is known to have helped in the funding of 9/11, has hosted Osama bin Ladin once or twice and was the motherland of 2 of the hijackers. The War on Terror is over, and Bush sold us out. The next time I hear one of you right-wing shits try to tell me that we are safer under Bush, I am going to punch you in the mouth.

Most of the time I expect nothing from the Bush-bots out there, you know the ones, they would cheer Bush on as he rounded up African-Americans orphans and used them to club baby seals over the head. Well it looks like they are pissed about this whole sell our ports to a known terrorist state thing. Let’s hope they start seeing the truth, that Bush and the Republican Party he leads (as they are today) hate Americans, period.

Michelle Malkin, Fox News contributor, has a great breakdown that follows the money.

The resr of the blogs are almost dead silent about this. Over at the America Hating Free Republic, and this thread as well, and this one, many of the Bushbots are not happy at all about this…

Some of my favs…. (My comments)

Some live in a plastic bubble world, graced only by FOX News.

To: Chong
I travel frequently to Dubai. If this is true we a crazy to allow this to happen, (Oh it’s true jv1, your god Bush hates you and the rest of America, How does it feel to be used?)

5 posted on 02/12/2006 1:03:27 PM PST by jv1To: EagleUSA
What ever happened to the soverignty and independence of America??? (dumb question, right?) WHAT THAT (That was gone as soon as you dumb-asses voted for him)

4 posted on 02/12/2006 7:59:56 AM PST by cope85
To: cope85
This is beyond stupid! If this is what the Republicans call Homeland security, we are realy in trouble.  (Welcome to the real world, I am Marq, your server)

Ops4 God Bless America!
21 posted on 02/12/2006 10:32:43 PM PST by OPS4 (worth repeating)

Oh yah, you know nothing in this administration is on the level, and why should this deal be any different.

Did you know that the current Treasury Secretary, John Snow runs the department that signed off of this deal with Dubai Ports World. Did you also know that when he was the chairman of CSX (a railroad shipping company) he sold the port operations of CSX to Dubai Ports World. So the man who heads the group that signed off on this deal was once in business with the buyers… Can you say conflict of interest?

That is not all, David Sanborn, who runs Dubai Ports World’s European and Latin American operations, has been asked by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. Hmmm.

We do not know YET, but I am sure that the Carlyle Group (Bush Sr’s company) and maybe even Halliburton have there claws in this deal somewhere.