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2/22/2006
This week we have not one, not two, but three reports for ya.
Sure, each of 'em are a bit spartan, but enjoy 'em while you can 'cause soon we
may not have time for in-depth reporting. Details are unconfirmed, so stay
tuned.
Meanwhile:
EAR PLUGS
Reverend Larry's wake at Lenny's:
www.degeneratepress.com/vault/reverend_larry_2006/index.html
Trader Vic's Polyester Exotica party with Tongo Hiti and the Dames Aflame:
www.degeneratepress.com/vault/trader_polyester_2006/index.html
DEGENERATES ABROAD
26 hours in Washington D.C.:
www.degeneratepress.com/travel/DC_2006/index.html
BLASPHEMY
Salon.com does a fine job pointing out some
of the absurdities in our current administration. I hate to steal, but this is a
fine write-up of yet another example of why you should expect your leaders to
appoint qualified people rather than their college drinking buddies:
It seems like just yesterday -- and, in fact, it was -- that George W. Bush was
insisting that the plan to turn over control of six U.S. ports to Dubai Ports
World, a company controlled by the government of Dubai, had been subjected to
"careful review" by "people responsible in our government."
But just before Bush spoke yesterday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Peter Pace said they didn't hear about the plan
until this weekend. And now the White House is saying that the president didn't
learn about the plan until "the last several days" -- which is another way of
saying, after his administration had already approved it.
So here's a question: If the "people responsible in our government" aren't the
president, the secretary of defense or the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, who are they? The answer, it seems, is the Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States, which is headed by Treasury Secretary John
Snow, who used to be the chairman of CSX Rail, which sold its own port
operations to Dubai Ports World in 2004. Snow's committee approved the Dubai
Ports World deal earlier this month after a brief review. Federal law requires
that the committee engage in a 45-day investigation -- and leave the final
decision to the president -- when the plans of a company controlled by a foreign
government could affect U.S. national security.
Snow's committee didn't engage in such an investigation, and administration
officials are apparently at a loss to explain why not.
The president is going to have to explain that one away if he has any hope of
quelling a rebellion in his own party and shutting down criticism from
Democrats. Bush tried to push back with blunt force yesterday, threatening to
veto any legislation aimed at stopping the deal. Opponents, unfazed, are saying
that they have the votes in Congress to override any such veto. Now the
administration is trying another tack, saying that the president didn't know
about the plan and that others in his administration should have done a better
job of informing Congress along the way.
It's hard to see how a "they-a culpa" is going to be enough here. Members of
both parties are calling on the White House to take a longer look at the deal
and the national security concerns that may arise out of turning over the
nation's ports to a company controlled by a country with ties to international
terrorism. And while the White House usually wins such fights by playing the
terrorism trump card -- see, warrantless spying, stymieing of investigation into
-- that card is in the other hand this time. With Republicans and Democrats both
charging the administration with exposing the country to unnecessary risk, the
White House is going to have to say more than it should have handled the matter
better. It may even have to answer the kinds of questions it is usually allowed
to ignore. Among them: Is it just a coincidence that the president's nominee to
run the U.S. Maritime Administration is currently a senior executive for Dubai
Ports World?
-- Tim Grieve
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