Mike & John

Honestly, I'm not terribly worried about the security of the 6 U.S. ports under question with the sale of operations to a U.A.E. firm. The Security will still be run by U.S. Customs and Coast Guard like it always has. It does worry me a little that the company wouldn't be held to some of the standards that others are, like keeping business records on U.S. soil that are subject to U.S. courts. Maybe even more worrisome is that the Bush administration had worked on the deal for three months, but Mr. Bush himself apparently didn't know about it until it was already decided upon. Is he simply a figurehead that rubber-stamps memos and spins on his chair while the grown-ups do the work? Oh and yay! The company has hired lobbyists to convince congress that its a great deal. Just what Americans want, more lobbyists who are just so concerned about what's best for us.

Karl Rove said, "I think the more information that people get about this proposed transaction and the more they come to understand that the security of America's port terminals remains under the direction of the United States Coast Guard and Customs, the more comfortable people are becoming with it." The problem is that Americans didn't have the information in the first place. Once again we got the standard, "It's classified." "Don't worry." "Trust us." Trust what? Secrecy? An administration that has launched us 25 years into the past into another cold war? Trust that our actions in Iraq were the best possible even though the country is ripping itself apart? That government contracts to companies like Halliburton get the job done and don't waste any precious government funds? Trust that the world is a much safer place and not at all coming closer and closer to a nuclear attack ala WWIII? Personally I'm about ready to soil myself.

One last little bit here. Why the absencese of the need for the firm to have business records in the U.S.? What is going on that the administration doesn't want Americans to know about? I wonder if there is some kind of special cargo that will be going through these ports. I guess to sum things up...once again the Bush administration has seen fit to do whatever it wants without real regards to the people that they represent. To some it seems like the administration is "politically tone deaf" this implies a sense of innocencese and naivete, but I think that this administration is anything but.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. How do you know if your representatives have been corrupted? Well, for me the refusal to leave office has always been suspicious. No matter how old and out of touch some of our representatives may seem, they still cling to their cushy jobs in Washington, collecting a pretty nice salary and complaining that they won't be getting as many freebees now that the jig is up.

I believe we should challenge those in office to answer to the people - to the masses. Certainly there are special interest groups out there that do represent valid constituencies. And some of them even advocate causes that are relevant to those people. But it shouldn't be the job of a public official to bow down to those who forked over the most money to their campaign. They should weigh the needs and wishes of their constituencies as a whole and use the best information possible to find the best solution to issues impacting them. Just remember, public officials work for those who they represent, not some large national party or agenda.