California Free Press

Security on the Border

The debate over illegal immigration is full of non sequiturs, mixed messages and false assumptions. First of all, no one in his right mind is against immigration, per se. A lot of people, including myself, however, are against illegal immigration. To be against illegal immigration does not mean that you're a racist! Everyone wants secure borders.  No one believes the borders should be sieves because the people crossing them illegally only want to come here to work. And the garbage that illegals are doing "jobs that Americans don't want to do" is just that: garbage!

Let's have a sane approach to immigration shall we? That means first and foremost that it's got to be legal immigration. The US also has a Visa program. That means that people can come here legally for periods of time for specific purposes. There's nothing wrong with these basic concepts. We don't need a ton more legislation. What's on the books now is probably enough.

Securing our borders is something that really needs to be done especially after 9/11, especially in view of the War on Terrorism. The fact that the majority of people coming across the border are not terrorists is irrelevant. It only takes a couple of terrorists to come in along with the others who are only looking for work to knock us cattywampus, and we cannot afford to take that chance.

The technology  that is available today could certainly secure the borders if only we decided to use it. If satellite technology can read a license plate in Iraq, it can certainly locate people running over the border. Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones can patrol the border. Outposts along the border every 100 miles or so manned with helicopters could pick up communications from satellites and drones identifying the location of people trying to cross illegally. They then could be tracked and picked up. Electronic barriers can alert border personnel when tripped. There is so much that technology and additional manpower could do. Why not build our military bases along the border instead of in posh interior locations?

Instead we waste billions of dollars in Iraq and in building military bases all over the world leaving our homeland border security a joke. Camp Pendleton which is located about 50 miles from the border is stocked with hundreds if not thousands of helicopters. Not one of them is used for border security. Our military personnel, the best trained military force in the world, are not used for border security. Why not? Isn't it their job to protect the homeland as in homeland security? We could make it impossible for anyone to cross our borders illegally if we had the will to do it, and a correct assessment of our priorities.

The approach to the war on terrorism has to be first and foremost defensive as in defending the homeland as in border security. The big threat is not a missile, but someone bringing in a bomb in a suitcase. If workers can't come across our border illegally to pick lettuce so that we can pay less for lettuce in the supermarket, what is that compared with preventing mass destruction and chaos due to infiltration of terrorists? And, in addition, stepped up border security would also prevent the importation of illegal contraband such as drugs. What a nice little bonus that would be!

As far as what to do with the 12 million or so people who are here illegally, why all the talk about giving them a "pathway to citizenship." As a practical matter it would be impossible to deport them all. However, the important consideration is to deter future illegal immigrants. President Reagan supposedly solved the problem once and for all with his granting of amnesty in 1986 to what were then only 2 or 3 million illegal aliens. What a farce that turned out to be! Supposedly the idea was OK, you guys are here, you can be American citizens, but NO MORE of you need apply. You better not come here illegally from now on. And the result is...12 million more illegal immigrants in 20 years. Nice result, Reagan. Smart move. I guess you solved the problem once and for all.

From Juan Mann:

Today, the number of aliens is four fold what it was in 1986. And the US is grappling with the prospect of another amnesty—in large part because of the example set by Reagan.

Instead, the Democrats have a plan to put the illegals at "the end of the line" on a pathway to citizenship. Why put them on a path to citizenship at all? They're here. Let them be here, but you don't have to grant them citizenship, and, because you can't deport them all, doesn't mean that you can't deport some. My solution would be to give them a 90 day period to come forward and identify themselves and be issued an ID card. Then they're accounted for and not part of some underground.

They should then have the full protection of US laws that protect every other American citizen and worker such as worker's compensation and the right to unionize. They should not, however, be full-fledged citizens and should never have the right to vote unless they want to go back to where they came from and apply to immigrate legally. Other than that they should have the full protection of American laws. Those who didn't come forward would be subject to deportation. Those who've committed or commit in the future criminal acts would be subject to deportation. Those who came here yesterday and have no job or family ties would be subject to deportation. Those who had jobs, family ties, etc, could stay, but I wouldn't put them on a path to citizenship. And ones who come from now on would be deported. I am not in favor of President Bush's "guest worker" program because it does not afford "guest workers" the full protections of US law, but makes them chattels in the hands of the corporations that employ them. But the key to preventing new arrivals is getting serious about border security and that includes airports, seaports and tunneling under the border.

We should have satellites tracking the entire border, both land and sea, with rapid deployment forces capable of intercepting planes, boats, people on foot, in vehicles etc. And our military should be redesigned to handle defense of the homeland instead of military adventurism overseas!

Fortunately, there are people like Lou Dobbs who are  talking sense to the American people about the situation, and, finally, people are starting to listen. Some of them are even Congressmen and women!

The Real Reason US is in Iraq: It's About the Bases, Stupid!

The debate about when the troops will be coming home, when the troops will be leaving Iraq, how many are coming, whether there should be a timetable for withdrawal etc. etc., is a sideshow. The US is in Iraq permanently although the Bush Administration will not tell you that. They are building huge military bases there (which has been their policy in general wherever they can) in order to (and in accordance with neocon philosophy) project US power throughout the Middle East. If the US was even considering withdrawing, why is KBG (formerly Kellog, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton) pouring tons and tons of concrete? Why are they building 4 super-mega-humungus bases about 20 square miles each that are as large as small cities? Why are they constructing shopping centers, roads, housing, providing all the amenities of home such as Pizza Hut and Burger King?

In an article in today's (March 24 2006) LA Times entitled: "Bush's Requests for Iraqi Base Funding Make Some Wary of Extended Stay," it says:

WASHINGTON — Even as military planners look to withdraw significant numbers of American troops from Iraq in the coming year, the Bush administration continues to request hundreds of millions of dollars for large bases there, raising concerns over whether they are intended as permanent sites for U.S. forces.

This is the 21st century version of colonization: extending American power by virtue of building colossal military bases all over the world, but, in particular, in Iraq. So while the public debate is over whether or not we should bring the troops home and under what conditions, the administration's real intent is to base military assets there in perpetuity. The real debate should be about whether or not we will have any permanent US bases in Iraq at all thus turning it into a satellite country,  a client state, of the US. Permanent US military bases in Iraq will enable the projecting of US geo-political power throughout the Middle East. As for oil, once geo-political control is established, all other assets (including oil) will be by-products of that. As early as 2004, it was reported  that the US was building 14 “enduring” military bases in Iraq consisting mainly of former Iraqi military bases.

Billions of dollars are being spent on these immense bases some having several bus routes just to get around. Are billions of our tax dollars being spent foolishly? Well, they would be if we had the actual intention of “leaving” Iraq.

From CorpWatch in an article entitled "Iraq: US Digs in for the Long Haul with Base Building":

John Pike, a military analyst who runs the research group GlobalSecurity.org, has identified a dozen of these bases, including three large facilities in and around Baghdad: the Green Zone, Camp Victory North, and Camp al-Rasheed, the site of Iraq’s former military airport. Also listed are Camp Cook, just north of Baghdad, a former Republican Guard "military city" that has been converted into a giant U.S. camp; Balad Airbase, north of Baghdad; Camp Anaconda, a 15-square-mile facility near Balad that housed 17,000 soldiers as of May 2004 and was being expanded for an additional 3,000; and Camp Marez, next to Mosul Airport, where, in December, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the base's dining tent, killing 13 U.S. troops and four KBR contractors eating lunch alongside the soldiers.

From a SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER article entitled: "Building permanent U.S. bases in Iraq sends wrong signal":

May 2005: A year ago, President Bush boldly said: 'Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America.' Yet Congress is posed to finalize the president's $82 billion request for the Iraq war that includes a half-billion dollars for permanent military bases and another half-billion for building the world's largest embassy. Despite the president's assurances, the United States is preparing for a lengthy stay in Iraq.

And from TomDispatch.com:

There are at least four such "super-bases" in Iraq, none of which have anything to do with "withdrawal" from that country. Quite the contrary, these bases are being constructed as little American islands of eternal order in an anarchic sea. Whatever top administration officials and military commanders say -- and they always deny that we seek "permanent" bases in Iraq -- facts-on-the-ground speak with another voice entirely. These bases practically scream "permanency." Unfortunately, there's a problem here. American reporters adhere to a simple rule: The words "permanent," "bases," and "Iraq" should never be placed in the same sentence, not even in the same paragraph; in fact, not even in the same news report. And Balad Air Base, the largest of these bases, is stuck "smack in the middle of the most hostile part of Iraq:" The base is sizeable enough to have its own "neighborhoods" including "KBR-land" (in honor of the Halliburton subsidiary that has done most of the base-construction work in Iraq); "CJSOTF" ("home to a special operations unit," the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, surrounded by "especially high walls," and so secretive that even the base Army public affairs chief has never been inside); and a junkyard for bombed out Army Humvees. There is as well a Subway, a Pizza Hut, a Popeye's, "an ersatz Starbucks," a 24-hour Burger King, two post exchanges where TVs, iPods, and the like can be purchased, four mess halls, a hospital, a strictly enforced on-base speed limit of 10 MPH, a huge airstrip, 250 aircraft (helicopters and predator drones included), air-traffic pile-ups of a sort you would see over Chicago's O'Hare airport, and "a miniature golf course, which mimics a battlefield with its baby sandbags, little Jersey barriers, strands of concertina wire and, down at the end of the course, what appears to be a tiny detainee cage."

So no matter what events transpire on the ground in Iraq, the US is steadily building its enclaves to which the troops can retreat as construction is completed. The troops will withdraw not to the US but to the permanent military bases in Iraq. That way the troops can come home, but they won't be coming home. As Iraq stands up its own army, American troops will have less casualties by virtue of the fact that they will be within the perimeters of the super safe military bases. The rest of Iraq could be going to hell in a handbag, but the bases are impenetrable with miles of berms, moats and concertina wire, and the folks back home will be placated since the casualty rate will go down. America will be at the ready to provide air power. Iraqi troops will take the brunt of the IEDs.

In fact there are no plans to provide Iraqis with an Air Force. Therefore, the US will be the de facto Air Force of Iraq, and the insurrection could go on indefinitely without interfering with US interests. As long as American casualties approach zero, the American public will stop complaining and the American neocon government can get down to its business of completing, staffing and supplying its 4 mega-bases in Iraq and then projecting American geo-political power throughout the Middle East.

There is only one problem with this scenario. What if, whenever Iraq is able to form a stable government, that government wants the US out of Iraq completely, bases and all. Fat chance of that ever happening. Whatever government forms, it will be dependent on US air power to keep itself in existence. The US will seek to cut a deal to provide protection in return for its continued presence on the mega-bases. Both the eventual Iraqi government and the US public will tolerate a continued low level insurgency (IEDs and the like) since it will not really be any threat to US interests (they will not be able to attack the mega-bases) and the Iraqi government will be dependent on the US.

However, there are two larger threats to the US from its continued expansion of military bases throughout the world which, up to now, have been positioned in countries essentially friendly toward the US. There will be continued terrorism just due to the fact that US military bases are placed in Muslim countries. Remember that was Osama bin Laden's main beef: that there were US bases in Saudi Arabia.

Secondly, the US could suffer financial collapse just due to the continual expenditure of funds on militaristic adventurism which it has to increasingly borrow from overseas central bankers. No lesson has been learned from history here. This is eventually what led to the demise of the Roman Empire: continual spending on military expansion. Due to dependence on foreign central bankers to buy up US debt, the American dollar could collapse if and when these countries decide to move their assets out of dollars and into Euros, for instance. Increasingly foreigners are also snapping up US equity assets inside the US instead of buying US debt. As time goes on, foreigners will be in complete control of the US without ever firing a shot. Unfortunately, the US is in the position of being not only the world's most powerful nation but the world's largest debtor nation as well. Interestingly enough, the US needs to borrow approximately $1 billion a day almost exactly what it spends per day on the war in Iraq!

From today's (3/24/06) LA Times an update:

Here are four of the bases in Iraq for which the Bush administration has planned upgrades. Money spent through 2005 was granted through emergency spending bills since 2003: 1. Al Asad air base By some accounts the second largest military air center in Iraq and the main supply base for troops in Al Anbar Province, which includes the insurgent strongholds of Fallouja and Ramadi. It houses about 17,000 troops, including a large contingent of Marines. Spending: Unknown* Bush 2006 request: $46.3 million 2. Balad air base The U.S. military's main air transportation and supply hub in Iraq, with two giant runways. Also known as Camp Anaconda, it is the largest support base in the country, with about 22,500 troops and several thousand contractors. Spending: $228.7 million* Bush 2006 request: $17.8 million. 3. Camp Taji One of the largest facilities for U.S. ground forces in Iraq, the base also serves as home to about 15,000 Iraqi security forces. It has the largest military shopping center (PX) in the country. Spending: $49.6 million* Bush 2006 request: None 4. Tallil air base An increasingly important air and transportation hub, with a growing population of coalition troops and contractors. It has become a key stopping point for supply convoys moving north from Kuwait and is close to one of the Iraqi army's main training facilities. Spending: $10.8 million* Bush 2006 request: $110.3 million *Through 2005 -- Sources: U.S. Central Command, Congressional Research Service, Global Security.org

That totals to $463.5 million, a figure that's far lower than actual expenditures due to the "unknown" cited above. And don't forget the half a billion being spent on the world's largest US embassy there. No one seems to know exactly how many American and Iraqi troops, contractors and others can be housed in these 4 mega-bases, but I'm sure it's upwards of 100,000. So instead of our troops coming home from Iraq, they will simply be redeployed to secure American bases in Iraq while the US announces major troop reductions in a dog and pony show for the American people. Remember those names folks: Al Asad, Balad (Anaconda), Camp Taji and Talil. They represent the continued expansion and projection of American power and dominance in the world brought to you and financed by Chinese, Indian and Arabian central bankers without whose cooperation none of this would be possible!

Think Our Ports Are Safe Now That the Dubai Ports Deal is Dead? Think Again.

After the big hue and cry about Dubai Ports World taking over management of 6 US ports, the deal was finally quashed. Dubai Ports will sell it's US ports operations to a US company. However, there is another company, Inchcape, fully owned by the United Arab Emirates (as was Dubai Ports World) that manages a number of other US ports. The same logic that applied to not wanting the UAE to control US ports via Dubai Ports World should also apply to their Inchcape operations. But there is no hue and cry. Why not?

Foreign ownership of US assets including US ports is nothing new. In an article by Loren Steffy in the Houston Chronical entitled "A Collision of free Trade and Fear":

About a half dozen foreign entities already operate at U.S. ports, unloading cargo and managing terminals, according to Bloomberg News. They include companies from Denmark, Japan and even a company controlled by the Chinese military. Just last month, a UAE investment company bought Inchcape Shipping Services, the world's largest private shipping manager, which has operations in Houston. Two years ago, DP World acquired the global ports business of Florida-based CSX Corp.

It seems UAE based investment company Istithmar bought Bristish owned Inchcape (with responsibility for managing the port of Houston) in January 2006, and then later in the year, Dubai Ports World, wholly owned by Istithmar, bought British owned P & O. Is there a pattern here? One wonders why Istithmar bought Inchcape itself while it had it's subsidiary Dubai Ports World buy P & O. And then Dubai Ports had bought the port operations of CSX Railway (formerly CEOed by current Treasury Secretary John Snow) without much notice. So the bottom line is that the UAE still owns major port operations in the US via Inchcape and CSX. Inchcape manages over 210 ports in 50 countries including Port Everglades, Florida and Houston.

For example: according to The Houston Chronicle "UAE-based firms have operated in Houston for years" and "their presence hasn't raised any misgivings about port security."

Houston Chronicle Besides the Middle Eastern nation's company whose U.S. port business is causing political headaches for the Bush administration, other companies associated with the Muslim country have been at work in Houston for a while, without any known misgivings about port security or terrorism. There was little to no public attention paid in January when UAE investment company Istithmar bought Inchcape Shipping Services, the world's largest private shipping manager, which has a longtime presence in Houston.

The Bush family including first brother Neil Bush has close ties with Dubai. He's been paid big bucks to give speeches there. Also The George W Bush Presidential Library accepted a $1 million donation from a UAE sheik .  The fact of the matter is that foreign ownership of US assets is continuing apace as the US needs capital inflows to finance its way of life. Dubai already owns US assets such as Manhattan's Essex House hotel, the Helmsley Building,the Church's Chicken chain and many others. Formerly, the Westin Essex House, the hotel is now called Jumeirah Essex House. Jumeirah is a Dubai based hotel chain.

As David Ignatius says in the Washington Post, "Get used to it!" Increasingly, foreign countries will be less interested in buying up US debt than in buying up US equities. As long as the US has an insatiable need for capital and not paying its bills, that is the inevitable consequence. Ignatius says: "Greater foreign ownership of U.S. assets is an inevitable consequence of the reckless tax-cutting, deficit-ballooning fiscal policies that Congress and the White House have pursued."

Finally, Inchcape operates out of more than a dozen US port cities including Houston, Miami and New Orleans arranging pilots, tugs, linesmen and stevedores among other things. According to Time magazine:

The firm is also a defense contractor which has long worked for Britain’s Royal Navy. And last June, the U.S. Navy signed on too, awarding ISS a $50 million contract to be the “husbanding agent” for vessels in most Southwest Asia ports, including those in the Middle East, according to an unclassified Navy logistics manual for the Fifth Fleet and a press release from ISS.

Classical Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Rapper Yo Ma-Ma do a Recording Session Together

The date is set and the venue is famous sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s recording studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The rapper and the cellist will each bring one additional colleague to round out the group. Yo Ma-Ma has brought rapper R. Kelly and Yo-Yo Ma has brought basso profundo R. Peggio. It’s around 10 AM when the troops come wandering in.

Yo Ma-Ma  (to R. Kelly amid much virtuosic handshaking): Whassup niggah! Good to see you, man!

R. Kelly (to Yo Ma-Ma): Whassup niggah! How you is, man?

Yo Ma-Ma  (to Yo-Yo Ma): Dis heah be R. Kelly.

Yo-Yo Ma (to R Kelly): Whassup, niggah!

Yo Ma-Ma  (to Yo-Yo Ma): Whatchu call him?

Yo-Yo Ma: Well, I...

Yo Ma-Ma: Whatchu call him?

Yo-Yo Ma: Well, I…you called him a niggah in an endearing and affectionate way. I was just trying…

Yo Ma-Ma: You can’t call him no niggah. What are you, a racist or somethin? How would you like it if I called you a chink?

Yo-Yo Ma: Well, no, Chinese people find that very offensive.

Yo Ma-Ma: Well then, don’t you be usin the N word around heah agin, heah?

Just then in walks R. Peggio, the basso profundo with the San Diego Symphony.

Yo-Yo Ma (to R. Peggio): Hey, my man. Whassup, chink?

R. Peggio: Hey, whassup, chink? Good to see you, Yo-Yo.

Rudy Van Gelder: Hey, I didn’t know he was Chinese. How’d he get a name like Peggio. That sounds Italian.

Yo-Yo Ma: Yes, his father’s Italian, but his mother is Chinese.

Yo-Yo Ma (to Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Kelly): This is R. Peggio.

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Kelly: Whassup, chink?

Rudy Van Gelder: Awright, places everyone. Time to do the sound check. Yo-Yo, give me an A flat.

Yo-Yo Ma: We always tune up to a concert A at the symphony.

Rudy: Yeah, Yeah. Well these guys are always so out of pitch, what difference does it make. And besides my parents are asleep upstairs, and an A always wakes them up.

Yo-Yo Ma: Oh, so solly, I didn’t realize this is your parents' living room.

Rudy: Yo, give me some rap in mike 2.

Yo Ma-Ma: Mutha humpin, mutha frumpin, piss, shit and…

Rudy: That’s good. OK. Mr. basso profundo, give me an arpeggio in mike 3.

R. Peggio: Dah, duh, duh, dah, duh, duh, dahhhh.

Rudy: Very good. Now, R. Kelly, give me some rap in mike 4.

R. Kelly: Shake yer booty, baby. Get down with it. Up yer ying yang…

Rudy: OK. That’s fine.

Yo-Yo Ma: Hey Rudy, can I get some more low end in my monitor.

Yo Ma-Ma: Hey, that sounds like what I told my girlfrin lass night. Gimme sa Mo a Dat Low End, Babuh. Hey R. I think we can use that today in the ‘cawdin session. That sounds like the name of a tune.

R. Kelly: Yeah, good hook!

Yo-Yo Ma: You mean you didn’t bring the music with you. You’re going to make it up right here on the fly, so to speak.

Yo Ma-Ma: Thass right, baby. It’s more spontaneous that way. Hey Rudy, what we gonna call dis album anyway?

Rudy: How about Yo Ma-Ma  and Yo-Yo Ma: Together again for the first time.

R. Kelly: I like that, man. It has a nice ring to it.

Yo Ma-Ma: Yo … Yo-Yo. Whatcha tink a dat?

Yo-Yo Ma: Yo … Ma-Ma. I can live with…

Yo Ma-Ma: Don’t be callin me by my last name. It’s Mr. Ma-Ma to you … or you can call me Yo, like Yo … Yo, but don’t be addressin me by my last name without putting a Mistah in front of it.

Yo-Yo Ma: OK, Yo. By the way I like your bring bring.

Yo Ma-Ma: You mean my bling bling doncha?

Yo-Yo Ma: That’s what I said: bring bring. Chinese people have problem pronouncing l and r.

Yo Ma-Ma: Oh that’s hot. Hey, R. There’s another song: “Bring bring my bling bling” or in Chinese “Bling bling my bring bring.” Yeah put some words to it, man. We can use dat today. Bring me all da bling bling, man, as in money, moolah, cash as in Johnny Cash, paycheck as in Johnny Paycheck, price as in Sol Price. That’s what I tell my girls, man. Bring me all the money. I’ll give you a taste after Big Daddy checks it out first. I call them my Poosah Posseh. They sure is good to me, you see what I’m sayin?

Yo-Yo Ma: I understand what you mean, but isn’t it hard out there for a pimp.

Yo Ma-Ma: Yeah, man dat be da song dat won da Oscahs dis yeah: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" by my man Cedric and my man Jordan.

Yo-Yo Ma: I thought it was by Deejay f and Shug.

R. Peggio: Actually it’s by the Three 6 Mafia.

Yo Ma-Ma: Oh, who cares who it’s by, but my man, my men, my bros, my soul brothers, they sure knows how ta rake in da dough.

Yo-Yo Ma: I heard they couldn’t say “fuck, “shit” or “niggaz,” but “bitches” and “hos” was OK at the Oscars.

Yo Ma-Ma: Yeah, you know the censahs man. They had to clean it up fa da Oscahs.

R. Kelly: Yeah, but they be rakin in da dough. Whooeey!! Did you hear they gonna license it to that Abu Dabi Dubai Ports seafood company and they gonna do a commercial: “It’s Hard Out Here for a Shrimp.” And Pixar studios is a gonna come up wit a cute cartoon shrimp, and Will Smith be doin da voiceovah.

Yo Ma-Ma: Yeah, dat’s mah man. He thinks of everythin. Dey be gettin residuals on they residuals.

R. Peggio: Yeah, and did you hear that Revlon has spun off a subsidiary called “Girl Stick” to market cosmetics to girls in the hood?

Yo Ma-Ma: That’s hot, man. My man can license they pimp song to them and cut a commercial, “It’s Hard out Here for a Primp.” That’s perfect man, cuz when my girls - the Poosah Posseh as I calls em - are out they workin the streets, they be primpin all the time. Puttin on lipstick, pluckin they eyebrows…

R. Kelly: Yeah, and then they backup groupies is gonna do another follow-on called “It’s Hard out Here for a Ho, Too, Dammit.” They gonna call theyselves "Deb Occle and the Ho Down!"

Yo Ma-Ma: That’s perfect, man. Man, they be rollin in dough. And just think we be marketin all this shit to da white man and be takin all his money just to listen to our shit.

R. Kelly: Beats reparations, man. We deserves it after all the slavery and shit.

Yo Ma-Ma: Yeah, da Indians be takin most a da white man’s money wit da casinos and slot machines and crap, and we be takin da rest of it wit rap and hip hop. Dat’s justice, man. Dat’s justice!

Yo-Yo Ma: Maybe we could do a cover of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp" today to round out our album.

Yo Ma-Ma: Great idea, man. Hey bah da way, why did you, a world famous classical musician, want to do a hip hop album?

Yo-Yo Ma: We need to repay student loan.

Yo Ma-Ma (incredulous): What!!!

Yo-Yo Ma: Yes R. Peggio and I went to Juilliard, and we have $100,000. in student loans to pay back. The symphony pays so poorly and…

Yo Ma-Ma: So you decided to make a rap album. Jeesh, I went ta da school a hard knocks in the ghetto. The only student loan I ever heard of was when some niggah comes up to me, sticks a knife in my rib, and says, “Hey, student, gimme a loan.” I say, “Sure Perfessah, how much do ya need?”

Rudy Van Gelder: OK. OK. Let’s get on with it. Yo-Yo, did you bring in any tunes?

Yo-Yo Ma: Well I thought, this being Easter and all, it might be nice to have something seasonally appropriate like “Here comes Peter Cottontail.” You know (sings) “Here comes Peter Cottontail. Hip hopping down the bunny trail.” Notice how I cleverly change lyrics to get real hip hop feel.

Yo Ma-Ma: That’s some sad shit, man! I can’t be singin no shit like dat, man. I’d be laughed right outtada hood! Dere goes mah street cred, rot dere. Whaddaya think R. Can you make somethin outta dat?

R. Kelly: Let me work on it, man. Maybe I can come up with somethin.

Rudy: Ok. Let’s get something down. Time’s a wastin.

Yo Ma-Ma: Awright. Let’s do the first tune: “Bring bring bring me some bling bling bling. Yo-Yo, just give me something like dang dang dang a dang a dang dang on the cello and just keep playing that over and over.

Yo-Yo Ma: Don’t you have a score, man, or at least a lead sheet. I’m a classically trained musician, you know.

Yo Ma-Ma: No, we don’t need none a dat shit. Jus do what I tells you.

Yo-Yo Ma: Well, what key?

Yo Ma-Ma: Yuh can figuh dat out as we moves along heah.

LATER:

Rudy: OK folks, we got lotsa good tunes down in the can. We need one more though. Hey R., did you come up with anything on that Cottontail tune?

R. Kelly: Yeah, how’s this:

I’m Peter pimpin Cottontail. I be down heah in da hood. I lives in a breier patch, and dat makes all my bunnies good. My girls be workin overtime turning tricks and rollin johns. I’m Peter pimpin Cottontail down here in da hood.

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Peggio: He’s Peter pimpin Cottontail. He be down here in da hood.

R. Kelly: I said to my girl, Tawanda, get yo ass on outta bed. She just look at me and pull da covahs ovuh huh head. I said get on outta heah; get up outta da bed. You could be up on da street givin some john some head. I said get on up and outta heah. Get up on da street.

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Peggio:  Get yo ass on outta heah and get out on da street. Get yo ass on outta heah and get out on da street.

R. Kelly: My babies call me “Big Daddy.” Dey’s cute as dey can be. You know it’s just a wondah how they all done look like me. Dey all be different colors and some a dem are black. I done raised em good down in da hood. I tell you thass a fack!

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Peggio:  He done raised em good down in da hood. I tell you thass a fack! He done raised em good down in da hood. I tell you thass a fack!

Now dat old Brer Rabbit, he be cuttin in my turf. I told him he better watch his ass if he know what it’s wurf. He look at me and said “No shit. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll whip yo ass and call it grass and make a meal of you!”

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Peggio: He’ll whip yo ass and call it grass and make a meal of you! He’ll whip yo ass and call it grass and make a meal of you!”

R. Kelly: I said dis hood ain’t big enough fa da likes a you and me. Cuz I’m Peter pimpin Cottontail, and you’re not shit, you see. I’ll carve  yo ass and you’ll throw up glass when I get done wich you. You piece a crud. You be spittin up blood, and then you be turnin blue.

Yo Ma-Ma and R. Peggio: You piece a crud. You be spittin up blood, and then you be turnin blue.

R. Kelly: I saw old Grandpa Moses. He be walkin pritty slow. He said, “Cotton, you be da man now. Ole Brer he gotta go. You watch your back cuz he be sellin crack and da Man he gotta know."

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Peggio: You watch your back cuz he be sellin crack and da Man he gotta know. You watch your back cuz he be sellin crack and da Man he gotta know.

R. Kelly: I’m Peter pimpin Cottontail and now my tale be told. I’m sittin mighty pritty. Cuz of all da snatch I’ve sold. And as for old Brer Rabbit, he better watch his back. Cuz if I see him, I’ll cut his ass, and I ain’t be smoking no crack.

Yo Ma-Ma  and R. Peggio: If he see him, he’ll cut his ass, and he ain’t be smoking no crack. If he see him, he’ll cut his ass, and he ain’t be smoking no crack.

Yo-Yo Ma (playing): dang a dang a dang a dang dang a dang a dang a dang dang

Rudy Van Gelder: That’s it, man. It's in the can. Good as gold!

Global Warming

There's no doubt that we're entering an era of extreme global warming. The arctic and antarctic ice caps are diminishing as can be clearly seen from satellite photos. The Greenland Ice Sheet – a mass of glacial ice and snow covering 1.9 million sq km – is twice the size of France and Germany put together. The quantity of ice coming off Greenland's glaciers into the Atlantic has almost doubled in the past five years. It could raise the global sea level by 7m if it melted entirely. The arctic ocean is expected to be ice free by the end of the century. Sea levels could rise by 12 meters.

Greenhouse gases are being released into the atmosphere 30 times faster than the rate that produced extreme global warming 55 million years ago. We are already reaping the effects of these changes. The hurricane season is longer, and hurricane intensity and scope have increased dramatically. This is directly attributible to rising ocean temperatures since hurricanes derive their energy directly from the oceans. Hurricane Katrina is just the most recent example of the ferocity that can produce devastation over extremely large areas. As ocean temperatures rise, hurricanes will become more destructive in direct correlation.

Tornadoes are produced when cold air masses and warm air masses collide. They are becoming more destructive as well as warm air masses become warmer. As sea levels rise, lower lying coastal areas will become inundated. This destruction will start gradually and accumulate. Already we are seeing that the destruction in Louisiana will not be fixed before the next hurricane season is here. This pounding will continue year after year and only get worse as global warming proceeds and as more greenhouse gases are dumped ionto the atmosphere.

Consider these facts:

Most of the United States has already warmed, in some areas by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, no state in the lower 48 states experienced below average temperatures in 2002. The last three five-year periods are the three warmest on record.

Many places in North America had their hottest seasons or days on record in the late 1990s.

Since 1980, the earth has experienced 19 of its 20 hottest years on record, with 2005 and 1998 tied for the hottest and 2002 and 2003 coming in second and third.

America's cars and trucks pump 1.4 billion tons of heat-trapping CO2 into the atmosphere every year. Power plants are also big contributors to global warming. The technology exists to reduce the amount of pollutants from cars and trucks. Auto manufacturers, however, are reluctant to incorporate it. Courts have ruled that the US Government is not responsible for carbon dioxide emissions spewed from cars and trucks. George Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty which would have reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

Shift Bidding

Shift bidding is a relatively new phenomenon found only in hospitals as far as I can determine. It has come about due to the nursing shortage, and was instituted primarily to save hospitals money although it has the additional effect of giving nurses a sense of empowerment over their work schedules and wages. The way it works is this: nurses go to their computers, and, after logging in to the hospital's web page, view the shifts that are still available for the coming week. They then decide what shifts they would like to work and place a bid for their hourly wage for that shift. The hospital administrator then surveys the total number of bids and accepts the lowest bid informing that nurse by email that the shift is hers.

Typically, bids will start above the nurse's regular hourly wage. For example, if a regular shift wage is $35. an hour, nurses will bid on unfilled shifts with rates of $40. to $50. an hour. This works out good for the hospital since, if they have to call the agency to fill unfilled shifts, it will charge $60. an hour. Part of that is the agency's fee, so the nurse they supply will typically make $45. an hour. Therefore, if the hospital can fill the shift with one of their own nurses, they can save $10. or $15. an hour, and the nurse will make approximately what the agency nurse would make. It's a win-win situation for the hospital and the nurses.

Nurses like the flexibility of being able to pick and choose their shifts as well as the possibility of making more money than they would on a regular shift. They can work part time if they so desire. They can also pick the department or area of the hospital in which they would like to work thereby expanding their skills and experience. Of course they must have the necessary qualifications for any assignment. As it got closer to the time, if there were any unfilled shifts, the maximum rate at which nurses could bid might be raised in order to avoid having to go to the agency. Hospitals prefer their own nurses to agency nurses since they consider them to be more dedicated. For more information on how shift bidding works, you can go here and here and here and here and here and here.

Shift bidding is a rudimentary form of Preferensism. If the concept of shift bidding is extended in such a way that each nurse can submit a range of preferences for work and wage schedules instead of submitting just one wage per shift, then nurses can be matched to shifts in such a way as to give, insofar as is possible, every nurse their highest preference. In a Preferensist approach a total budget would be set over all shifts instead of the hospitals' trying to minimize the outlay per shift. Then the final assignment of nurses to shifts would have to be brought in under budget rather than each shift's budget being minimized. There would be a constraint on the overall process instead of each shift.

A more in depth analysis of shift bidding and an extended example with regard to preferensism can be found here

Walking San Diego: National City to Chula Vista

Today we are going on an excursion to some of the lesser traveled and touristy parts of San Diego, sort of a busman's holiday. We will also take our camera in order to document some of the scenic highlights as we travel first by trolley and then by foot from 22nd St in National City to H Ave in Chula Vista. When Ralph Kramden, who drove a bus, went on a holiday he'd say, "C'mon, Alice, let's take the bus to Jersey." Well, today we're going to take the trolley to our embarkation point, go on a walk which will take us about an hour and a half and then take the trolley home again. The trolley ride will cost us nothing since we have a senior pass from the Metropolitan Transit Service which allows us unlimited use of the trolleys and buses for $15.00 a month. From anywhere in downtown we get on the blue line going south - destination Tijuana. We go past the 12th and Imperial transfer station, through the trolley yard, under the Coronado bridge, past National Steel and Shipbuilding on the right, past Naval Station San Diego and disembark at 24th Street in National City. Head straight down 22nd Street toward Mt. Miguel. (Why they call it the 24th St. station, God only knows.) You will see the Auto Accessories building on the left. That's the tan building with the red sign.

As you continue walking west on 22nd St, you will pass a used car dealership on your left as shown in the photo below. The interesting thing about this sign at Prestige Auto Brokers is that Bad Credit, No Credit or Repos is OK, but then in the small print it says "On Aproved Credit." (You can click on the picture or any picture in this blog for that matter to see a larger version.) Well, aside from the misspelling of "Approved," the thing about this sign is the illogic of it. Bad credit is OK as long as they approve it. So they must approve of bad credit, right?. No credit is OK again "On Aproved Credit." Well, how can they approve your credit if you have no credit?!?  This puts them in the awkward situation of approving nothing! And then after all this, well, of course, they wouldn't have a problem with Repos. They could always repo the car they're selling you if you continue your downward bad credit spiral, and then, presumably, they would still have made something on the deal.

Continue walking on 22nd St. just a couple of blocks until you come to National City Blvd. Turn right and head south. You will now be on the Mile of Cars which I think is National City's main claim to fame. It is a very pleasant boulevard lined with a large number of very exquisite palm trees. You will walk past Ron Baker Chevrolet. Ron does his own ads on TV in which he poses the question, "Who can sell you a car?", and then proceeds to answer his own question with the punch line, "The Baker Man Can."

Continue walking past Frank Toyota and McCune Chrysler Jeep. Their slogan is "Honest" which is scripted right on the side of the building. The thing about this walk is, if you get tired of walking, you can always stop into one of the dealerships and buy yourself a spankin new vehicle or even a spankin old vehicle, but we'll get to that later. I don't know whether it's Mr. McCune or just some hapless pitch man that does the McCune ads on TV. At any rate it's a man in a very uncomfortable looking cross between a tuxedo and a dark suit that sits on the tailgate of one of his vehicles with his dog who also looks pretty uncomfortable come to think about it, and expounds on the virtues of McCune Chrysler Jeep. He promises you all kinds of stuff and then ends his speech with the exclamation "Honest!" One thinks that he can't wait to get off set in order to change into his shorts and flip-flops.

Continue past Jack Harrison and Mossy Nissan. The thing I like about Mossy Nissan is that Sandy Mossy does the commercials. I don't know what relation Sandy Mossy is to Mr. Mossy, but I assume she would be either daughter or wife, and a very attractive and petite thing she is too. She is always loading her ungrateful kids into a Mossy product. They're saying "No Way" and she says, "Well, it could happen." I never really got the point of the whole dialog, but Sandy has a really cute way of talking. She has a little lisp so that when she say "Mossy Nissan" it comes out "Mothy Nethon."  I like Thandy Mothy!

By the way the picture on the right shows the lot with those certified brand spankin used vehicles we told you about earlier.

If you do get tired of walking, there are numerous bus stops along the way so you can always hop on a bus. After walking about a mile along the Mile of Cars, you will finally come to the end of it right around 33rd St. Leaving the Mile of Cars you will cross over a bridge which separates National City from Chula Vista.

Walking over the bridge cast your eyes eastward and you will see the beautiful Sweetwater River flood channel bordered by Interstate 54. In the background again is Mt. Miguel just so you can keep your bearings. After you cross the bridge there will be a major shopping mall on your left with a Wal-Mart, a Best Buy and a Verizon wireless among other stores. If you're hungry there is also a Subway there.

I inquired as to the name of the shopping center so I could report it here, but, I'm sorry to say, without much success. First I asked a woman at the bus stop. She was at a loss, so I decided to cross the street and ask at Best Buy, the first store in. Well, I inquired of at least 3 employees and all were dumbfounded looking at me with blank expressions as if to say "We only work here. Why would you want to know something like that." Next I found Jonathan taking a cigarette break in front the Verizon Wireless where he was employed. I knew he was employed there since he had on his official Verizon employee badge. Well, Jonathan wasn't much help either, but Wal-Mart was next. Surely, the Wal-Mart greeter would know. Well, after a hurried bi-lingual conference among Wal-Mart greeters, the consensus was that the shopping center had no name.  I immediately conjured up visions of generating a lot of capital by having a contest for the naming rights to this shopping center. I know in La Jolla they have naming rights for everything. At the Atheneum Music and Arts Library, you can have everything from a chair to a whole room named after you. The chair might go for $5000., but the room will cost you big bucks...up to $50,000. It's amazing what lengths rich people will go to to immortalize themselves! I figure the naming rights for the "No Name" shopping center should fetch at least $100,000.

By the way, pictured above is one of the numerous and convenient bus stops along our tour route. You can always hop aboard the old 932 at any time if you feel tired, and I'm sure you will wind up at our destination, the H Ave Trolley station in Chula Vista.

Now that we're in Chula Vista the street changes names. We're no longer on National City Boulevard, but now we're on Broadway, and the streets are no longer numbered, but now we're into lettered avenues starting with A Avenue. We will be going all the way to H Avenue where we'll turn right and so go back to the trolley. Now that we've  left the Mile of Cars and entered Chula Vista the scenery gets much more interesting as can be seen by the picture on the right above. It's a mystery what this building is, but I did conclude that it was not a place of business. Otherwise, there would have been some indication of the nature of that business. So it must be a residence of some sort, but who lives there at 115 Broadway? It's nicely painted,  but it's just a block of a house surrounded by asphalt. No grass to mow! When guests come over, they can conveniently park just inches from the front door. However, they have a 2 hour time limit on their visit. Directions should be easy though. Hey, it's right between the Used Car lot and The Mattress Outlet.

The next point of interest is low Profile Tires. You know you never know when you're going to need some low profile tires. And they come in various sizes depending on how low you want to go. They come in your 15 inch size, your 16 inch size all the way up to your 22 inch size. Even if you don't need them today, when the need does arise, you'll always know where you can get them.

One of the things I appreciate about this particular walk is that there are plenty of amenities along the way. You never have to worry about food or drink because you're never more than a couple minutes walk from these necessities. On our walk already we've passed Fillipi's Pizza Grotto and Zorba's Greek Restaurant. If you've worked up a bit of a thirst you can stop in at Steve's Cabana, one of a number of distinctive, individualized watering holes along the way. Now Steve's isn't a franchise. You'll not find Steve's on every street corner the way you'd find Starbucks, for example. Incidentally, we will come to a Starbucks a little bit further on.

(By the way, we're almost to E Street where you can take a right and head on back to the E Street Trolley Station if you're a wuss and don't want to stick it out all the way to H Street.)

If you don't like Steve's, there's always Wild Woolly's where, I assume, they serve similar concoctions. Wild Woolly's was established in 1904 (click on the picture to verify the establishment date) so it's got quite a track record. For over 100 years Wild Woolly's has been catering to the tastes of Chula Vistans. With a lot of places here today and gone tomorrow, Wild Woolly's has survived the vicissitudes of changing tastes, trends and fads. The secret of their success is simple. Find a product that the public wants, and give them lots of it at a reasonable price. You know the family that owns Wild Woolly's probably retired about 80 years ago, but that little storefront on Broadway in Chula Vista is like the gift that keeps on giving. Who knows how many generations of Wild Woolly's family have been put through college with the profits that have been made here.

And if you're in need of a tattoo, there's always Lefty's as pictured at left. In fact there's a satisfied customer coming out of Lefty's right now. You know you can always stop in at Lefty's, get tattooed and then continue on your way. Why not? Now that you're all beered up from Woolly's or Steve's, this is the perfect time to get tattooed so go for it! Maybe a little butterfly on the lower back. If you're a male who wants to convey a more robust, hard-bitten image, you might want to get one of those cobras running up your arm. However, take my advice and don't get "Diana" tattooed on you arm. You never know when she might ditch you and you might wind up with Jessica, her best friend. How embarrassing!

Well, we're almost there folks! That big, little intersection, the corner of the world - Broadway and H Avenue in Chula Vista. The center of the universe! Now the eating and drinking establishments are coming on hard and heavy. If you're hungry for a dog, here's the Wienerschnitzel, World's Largest Hot Dog Chain! No apologies to McDonald's! They've found their niche. The good old American hot dog, something McDonald's left off their menu, fortunately!

And folks, go ahead reward yourself. You deserve it. You're almost there. And here's the reward for all your hard work right on the corner of H and Broadway. Ta Daaaaaa! Starbucks. And it's a drivethrough to boot. What a bonus Jack! Sorry McDonald's!

If you take a gander over to your left you can see the sign announcing the Chula Vista Center a mega mall with a name yet! Need to do some shopping. All the stores are here including Mrs. See's candies. There are tons of stores and restaurants around here. If you can't find it here, you can't find it anywhere, folks. And oh, did I forget to mention that sometime ago we passed the Vagabond motel where, if you had been tired and wanted a snooze after getting beered up at Wild Woolly's and the trauma of getting tattooed, you could have rented a room.

OK, take a right on H Ave , and there's only a couple of blocks to go to the H Ave Trolley Station. But fun-filled blocks they are chock full of shops and services! Just check out the National Cremation store front in the Banco Popular mini mall in case you're so tired you just want to check out!

And if you still need a cup of coffee or a taco before you get to the trolley station you can stop here:

Finally, we're at the H Avenue trolley station:

I always like riding the trolley because you meet some interesting people:

Climb aboard and after about a 15 minute ride we're back in downtown San Diego. I do hope you have enjoyed this exercise in photojournalism with me as your tour guide. Let's plan to travel together again soon!

The Waltons of Wal-Mart Fame

We have blogged before on the 5 richest Americans, how 4 out of 5 of them are college drop-outs and how their combined net worth is greater than the GDPs of most countries in the world. Now we will take a look at numbers 6 through 10 on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. They turn out to be all Waltons related to Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart chain. Number 6 is the widow of John Walton, Christy Walton, who is worth  $15.7 billion. John Walton, son of Sam Walton,  died in an experimental aircraft crash, and was, since we are tracking this, a dropout from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio.

Tied for sixth with $15.7 billion is Jim C Walton, youngest son of Sam Walton who did graduate from University of Arkansas. Number 8 is S Robson Walton, another son of Sam Walton with $15.6 billion who also graduated from the University of Arkansas. Number 9, Alice L Walton with $15.5 billion, is a graduate of Trinity University of San Antonio. Number 10, Helen R Walton, with $15.4 billion, the wife of the late Sam

Walton is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. Sam Walton was a graduate of the University of Missouri in Economics and, although he's not on the Fortune 400 list because he is deceased, is the first person encountered here that could actually claim that his college education had something to do with his success in life. Warren Buffet, although a college graduate, made his money as an investor which he had started before attending college so his college education had nothing to do with it. All the Waltons except Sam inherited their money so their college education had nothing to do with their financial success either. The total Walton wealth comes to $77.9 billion which would easily place them in first place if Sam were still alive.

So not counting Sam Walton's family who inherited their money, out of the top 10, there are 2 college graduates, Sam Walton and Warren Buffett, and 4 college dropouts: Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison. The total worth of the top 10 is $226.4 billion a figure larger than the GDPs of all but 27 countries of the world on the IMF list and 26 countries on the World Bank list. South Africa is the country that has a GDP closest to the combined wealth of these 10 individuals.

The Case for Ain't

The word “ain’t” has all but been eliminated from the English language. Why? Not because of legions of English teachers and grammarians who demonized the word, but because of myriad TV producers who banned it from television. However, looked at dispassionately and rationally, “ain’t” is a useful word, the banning of which has left a gap in the English language which no one has noticed but me, so I gather. It goes to show that people will take whatever arbitrary conventions are dispensed from above as Gospel, never questioning their arbitrariness or the fact that they are merely conventions. Let’s conjugate the negative of the verb “to be.”

I am not

You are not

He, she or it is not

We are not

You (plural) are not

They are not

Now let’s do the same thing (Hey, conjugation is fun) with the contraction of the verb “to be” and “not.”

I am not

You aren’t

He, she or it isn’t

We aren’t

You (plural) aren’t

They aren’t

There you see there IS no contraction for “am not,” thanks to the aforementioned legions of English teachers and grammarians who have eliminated a perfectly good word with a perfectly reasonable function from the English language for totally arbitrary reasons. “I ain’t” is the natural contraction for the verb “to be” in the first person singular. Ta Da. Every other person singular and plural has a contraction of “to be” and “not.” Why not the first person singular? It just doesn’t make any sense. Of course, ain’t could be used ungrammatically such as the vulgar “He ain’t,” “They ain’t,” “You ain’t” etc., but used correctly, it serves a very useful function. Apologists for English teachers will say that, since there were so many people using “ain’t” incorrectly, it had to be eliminated altogether and not having a contraction for “am” and “not” is a small price to pay for getting rid of a plethora of vulgar English and blah, blah, blah. I say Phooey; this never stopped English teachers before. They would drill correct grammar into their students’ heads no matter how much of an arbitrary convention it represented. Well, enough said, but, by the way, did you know that spelling is totally arbitrary as well. The guy who wrote the first dictionary, Samuel Johnson, in 1776, just decided arbitrarily how words were to be spelled and everybody has had to kow-tow to the dictionary ever since. “Night,” for instance, could just as well have been spelled “nite.” But this is another subject altogether, and I don’t have time to go into it right (rite) now. I ain’t gonna bite off more than I can chew.

The following is from Wikipedia:

Ain't would solve one logical problem of English grammar ; it would serve as a useful contracted inverted form in the question "Ain't I?" Many prescriptivists prefer "Aren't I" in this situation; this is illogical in conjugation (the Hiberno-English form Amn't I? follows other patterns), and for speakers of non-rhotic accents may only be a baroque spelling of one possible pronunciation of the eighteenth century an't. Ain't is also obligatory in some fixed phrases, such as "Say it ain't so". Ain't may also be mandatory if one accepts African-American vernacular English (AAVE) as an alternative set of grammatical norms. In AAVE, ain't is used as a substitute for didn't in certain past tenses. Thus, one would say "she ain't called me" for "she hasn't called me". Ain't is also found to be a stereotyped word for most peoples from the South-Eastern states of America, and is commonly used in most casual conversational settings. Most usage writers continue to condemn the word. The related word hain't is an archaic and very nonstandard contraction meaning has not or have not. It can be found in literature, particularly in Mark Twain's stories such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Dubai Ports Update!

There have been several recent developments:

James Kuhnhenn in an article entitled UAE backs Israel boycott, clouding ports agreement written for Knight Ridder News Service had this to say

WASHINGTON - The United Arab Emirates' participation in an Arab League economic boycott of Israel raised new complications Tuesday for a deal that would place a state-owned UAE company from Dubai in control of operations at six U.S. ports. The pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League called on the Bush administration to scuttle the deal and during a senate hearing Democratic senators peppered the company's chief operating officer with questions about its views toward Israel.

The article notes that US companies are prohibited from taking any action that supports the Arab boycott of Israel. Evidently, this does not apply to the US government which has approved the takeover of port operations by a non-US owned company that does support the boycott.

The activities of Treasury Secretary John Snow, the chairman of CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the US), which approved the Dubai Ports deal continue to come under scrutiny.

US Treasury Secretary John Snow took his pension as a $33 million lump sum payment when he left his job as CEO of the transportation conglomerate CSX last January. To qualify for this hefty sum, he was credited for 19 years that he never worked. As a CSX spokesperson said at the time, “John Snow’s benefits are consistent with executives’ at Fortune 500 companies.”

And this from David Stocker in an article entitled "Snow Job":

The gatekeeper to the seaport deal is John Snow, Secretary of the US Treasury, who replaced Paul O'Neill. Remember, O'Neill was fired because he refused to give in to pressure from the Bush people to support the invasion of Iraq. Until he was tapped to serve our government, John Snow was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CSX Corporation, "where he successfully guided the transportation company though a period of tremendous change." CSX is the massive railroad monopoly that controls almost all cargo movements across America from the seaports. Snow's knowledge of international industry "stems from his tenure as Chairman of the Business Roundtable, the foremost business policy group comprised of 250 chief executive officers of the nation's largest companies." This group advises the Administration on business policy. Prior to answering the call to serve in government, CSX Corporation under Snow, paid no federal income tax at all, "supplementing its over $1 billion in pretax profits over the four year period with $164 million in tax rebate checks from the federal government. During the same period, CSX joined the list of 100 top political campaign contributing corporations,(70% to Republicans) gave Snow $36 million in salary, bonuses, stock and options, and forgave a $24 million loan so he would not lose money along with other shareholders as the company's stock price declined." Not trumpeted on the government's website is the fact that Snow is now the head of a little known government committee that privately approves foreign business transactions. When CSX, was bought out one year ago this week by Dubai Ports World for $1.4 billion, Snow cashed in on his stock options. DPW, the very same U.A.E. state owned company that is now with help from Snow, closing the loop for packages moving from the slums of Dubai to your own home.

On Air America today a caller gave an erroneous report that John Snow's stock options for some $30 million had become vested due to the Dubai Ports takeover deal. Otherwise they wouldn't have become vested till 2011. This is incorrect. His stock options became fully vested in 2004. They were set to expire in 2011. There was also a clause in the agreement that said they would become fully vested if there was a change in ownership. There was a change in ownership when CSX sold their port operations to Dubai Ports in 2004. However, since that is the same year as the options were fully vested anyway, the point is moot. At any rate, they were vested 2 years before the current proposed change in ownership involving Dubai Ports takeover from P & O. According to CNN, he also received a generous retirement package in 2003.

The next disturbing news is a New York Post report that al Qaeda has infiltrated the UAE by their own admission:

Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military. The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of "mujahedeen detainees," who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. ...Little is known about the origins or authorship of the message. "You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies, along with other agencies that should not be mentioned," the message said. "Therefore, we warn of the continuation of practicing . . . policies which do not serve your interest and will only cost you many problems that will place you in an embarrassing state before your citizens."

The longshoremen are also up in arms regarding the Dubai Ports takeover deal:

About 200 teamsters and longshoremen joined three U.S. senators at Port Newark to protest the sale of some American port operations to a state-owned company from the United Arab Emirates. New Jersey's two U.S. senators, Democrats Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, and Charles Schumer D-N.Y., said the deal would compromise the safety of the United States and port workers. "Our message is very clear, that the ports of the United States are part of the critical infrastructure that are a big part of security and they should not be in the operational hands of a foreign government," Menendez said. The controversial deal would allow Dubai Ports World to buy major commercial operations at ports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia. But critics _ both Democrats and Republicans _ have questioned whether the deal would endanger domestic security, saying the United Arab Emirates doesn't have a strong record when it comes to the war on terrorism.

The above article continues: "The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey claims that the pending acquisition violates a 30-year lease the authority and the current operator, London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., signed in 2000.

The Port Authority wants the purchase blocked and a declaration that P&O broke the lease by failing to obtain the authority's consent for the takeover."

Hint: Do a "find on this page" under the edit menu to find relevant info when its part of a larger document. Eg: "Find what?" John Snow.