EckerNet.Com

Finally details are starting to emerge

The Bush administration 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.

See these are the type of things you should have been discussing with Congress months ago. Why all restrictions weren’t imposed is a little puzzling…and worrying. After all, precautions are warranted don’t you think?

The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to orders by American courts. 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.

See now the quesiton would be why weren’t these restrictions put in place? Certainly they seem reasonable requirements. If these requirements are “routine” then why weren’t they imposed in these circumstances? Or have more strigent requirements been imposed in place? What makes this deal so special that these requirements were skipped.

Now I don’t ask that these requirements and restrictions be made public. Certainly some degree of discretion is warranted. But when politicians on both sides of the aisle line up to such a degree that they claim to be able to overturn a veto, even when your own party has the majority, that tells me there have been no such restrictions put in place.

Bush personally defended the agreement on Tuesday, but the White House said he did not know about it until recently. The AP first reported the U.S. approval of the sale to Dubai Ports on Feb. 11, and many members of Congress have said they learned about it from the AP.

Bush wasn’t even aware of it? And Congress learned about it from the press?? Who is running the show up there?? Is there any level of communication going on?

More and more this looks like this received less attention than naming a highway.

Harvey of Bad Example (my drunken blog-uncle-in-law-eight-times-removed) has seen fit to force another meme on me. This one is apparently entitled “12 Things Meme” which is awfully clever considering it has 12 questions…which may or may not be a coincidence.

1: Black and White or Color; how do you prefer your movies?

Well I’m always a big fan of explosions and things blowing up in my movies. And really, what good is an explosion in black and white?? I mean that’s gonna make it pretty hard to see the bad guy liquified right?

2: What is the one single subject that bores you to near-death?

Interior decorating. Really any type of decorating. Actually we could just sum it up as anything that is intended to make other things appear more appealing.

3: MP3s, CDs, Tapes or Records: what is your favorite medium for prerecorded music?

CDs. Tapes and Records don’t look as cool when you put them in the microwave. Seriously.

4: You are handed one first class trip plane ticket to anywhere in the world and ten million dollars cash. All of this is yours provided that you leave and not tell anyone where you are going … Ever. This includes family, friends, everyone. Would you take the money and ticket and run?

I would take the money and then push Al Franken on a plane to Tehran, lock the door and run. I’m usually not that cruel to other cultures, but Iran has had it coming lately. At the very least we can then claim Iran has WMDs (Wacko Masquerading as a Dumbass).

5: Seriously, what do you consider the world’s most pressing issue now?

Why the world hasn’t realized what an incredibly cool guy I am. Which ranks right ahead of the cultural clash between radical Islam and the West, amongst important world issues.

6: How would you rectify the world’s most pressing issue?

Man, if I were that smart you’d think I’d be sitting here blogging for free??

7: You are given the chance to go back and change one thing in your life; what would that be?

Should of doubled down on that 11.

8: You are given the chance to go back and change one event in world history, what would that be?

I’d go back and have a beer with the Founding Fathers, whereupon I would explain the horrors of taxes, socialism, the nanny state, and Democrats.

9: A night at the opera, or a night at the Grand Ole’ Opry –Which do you choose?

Which ever one serves alcoholic beverages. Because neither sounds that appealing.

10: What is the one great unsolved crime of all time you’d like to solve?

How the hell Jimmy Carter managed to get elected as president.

11: One famous author can come to dinner with you. Who would that be, and what would you serve for the meal?

Thomas Sowell. The man is an incredibly writer, able to boil incredibly complex subjects down into something you can actually sit down and read.

What would I serve?? Well he better like steak. Rare.

12: You discover that John Lennon was right, that there is no hell below us, and above us there is only sky — what’s the first immoral thing you might do to celebrate this fact?

I’ve rarely let the idea of heaven or hell stop me, so probably whatever I was about to do anyway. Which is a pretty tame and boring answer, isn’t it? Um, coitus.

Now I get to inflict this pain upon others.

I tag Uncle Ben for being French and for posting the indecency that is cockatiel porn

I tag the axe-wield maniac otherwise known as the Mall Diva.

And I tag Cathy in the Wright for not showing up to Keegan often enough.

In September 1796, having decided not to seek a third term as President, George Washington composed a farewell address. This address, written with the assistance of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, was intended to inspire and guide future generations. It sought to defend the record of Washingtons administration and was a classic embodiment of Federalist doctrine

This address sought to warn of factionalism within the political structure of the country, still within it’s infancy. Geographic sectionalism, he argued should be set aside in favor of common national interests. Washington also warned against the establishment of permanant alliances with other countries. These, he warned, would inevitably be subversive to national interest. Both of these are prevalent problems facing our country still today.

Washington never publicly delivered his Farewall Address. Instead, it was published in newspapers throughout the country. Then on February 22, 1862, with the union endangered by civil war, the 130th birthday of George Washington was commemorated by Secretary of the Senate John W. Forney reading Washington’s address to both Houses of Congress.

It wasn’t until 1893, that the Senate began observing Washington’s birthday by selecting one of it’s members to read the Farewell Address. The honor alternates between members of each party, and at the conclusion of the reading the member signs his name, and brief comments, within a leather-bound book maintained by the Secretary of the Senate.

On this February 22, this is Washington’s Farewell Address.
(more…)

I was really hoping Bush would see the light on this ports management issue, even if it was just the muzzleblast from the end of Cheneys shotgun. But unfortunately it appears as if our fearless leader has drawn a line in the sand with his own party.

President Bush said Tuesday that the deal allowing an Arab company to take over six major U.S. seaports should go forward and that he would veto any congressional effort to stop it.

First of all, on the veto issue, allow me to say “bullshit”. You haven’t vetoed a damn thing the entire time you’ve been in office. And you’ve had plenty of reason to. Every piece of pork that’s come down the pipeline you’ve dutifully signed. You’re telling me you are gonna start with this?

That’s a bit disconcerting considering you’re our Commander-In-Chief. Most great leaders wouldn’t decide to make their last stand in a swamp, at the bottom of the hill, when his own troops abandoned him three towns ago.

“After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought to go forward,” Bush told reporters who had traveled with him on Air Force One to Washington. “I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We’ll treat you fairly.’”

Well for one the British have been loyal allies for something like a hundred years by now. And their citizens generally don’t wish us ill will, and certainly haven’t played a role in blowing shit up in our cities. While the leadership of the United Arab Emirates may be have decided it’s in their best interest to play along with their War of Terror thing, I somehow have my doubts the entire country is real enthused about it.

Granted the idea of foreigners managing our ports doesn’t exactly give me a warm fuzzy, but if we were gonna have someone do it, the Brits and the Aussies would be at the top of my list. UAE ranks somewhere between Kazakastan and France.

If you could present us with something indicating that it’s really gonna work out okay it might be another story. Or that you put more thought into it than you do deciding which tie to wear. But essentially all you’ve given us is “trust me”. Last time I heard that was the whole Harriet Miers fiasco and some of us are still bitter about that.

Plus, Mr. President, you haven’t exactly established a real great track record on this. Had you demonstrated that your administration has a clue regarding illegal immigration, I might give you credit. But if you can’t come up with a plan to guard an open border in the middle of the desert, how can I trust that you’ve given something as complex as a major port the thought necessary??

Even if this made sense from an operations standpoint, it stinks politically. And to fight both the Democrats AND the Republicans on this issue is pure insanity.

And while we’re talking politics, I mean you are a politician after all, may I remind you that while you are not up for re-election, much of your party is. And for many of them, the issue of national security is what makes all those rigged Diebold machines count a vote for Republicans (Liberals : That’s a joke. You laugh here). By making your stand on this you not only shear of whatever coattails you had left but you hinder your own parties efforts.

Now hopefully Rove gets done teaching Cheney hunting safety in time to let you know you f-ed up again. Or be a big boy and realize this is not an issue you want to pursue. Not like this.

The Top Ten Presidential Errors have been published. Oddly enough Chimpy McBushitlerburton’s illegal imperialist Vietnam in Iraq failed to make the list.

Better luck in 2006 George. Especially if you’re going to keep up the title of “worst administration in history” title given by Hillary. But look what did barely make the list:

10: Bill Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Just saying.

UPDATE : And for your reading pleasure, 20 things you didn’t know about Presidents. Among them:

20. George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, and his wife Laura got married just three months after meeting each other.

So that whole rushing to war thing?? It wasn’t just because he’s Chimpy McHitler, it’s just the way he does things. That, and intelligence indicated Laura had WMDs…

I’ll let you decide what that means, because I’m not sure and I’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to come up with something clever.

Since it’s Presidents Day, a lot of the talk shows have been discussing past Presidents and highlights of their administrations. Hugh Hewitt had someone on (I wasn’t really paying attention) his program and they were talking about one of the presidents (once again, not paying attention). But the guest referred to that President as a “Whig in name only”.

That caught my attention. A WINO?? Heh, he just called one of my presidents a bum!!

But then I also started to wonder if it’s a requirement for every major political party to have a name that combines well with “INO” (in name only).

Whig In Name Only (WINO) = Bums, all of them…Okay they eventually gave birth to Republicans. See!! Republicans have “working” class roots!!
Republican In Name Only (RINO) = Rhino, an animal that’s damn near blind and can’t tell what it’s even charging towards.
Democrat In Name Only (DINO) = Dinosaur….okay, insert the obvious puns here.

Which other parties???

Independent In Name Only (IINO) = Huh? Probably why they aren’t a major party.
Libertarian In Name Only (LINO) = Again not a major party
Green In Name Only (GINO) = ….er, okay I’m not touching that one.

Looks like we’ve completed a scientific study on harddrives here at EckerNet. And we’ve concluded this site is REALLY hard on them. The site as down for a couple hours since the replacement harddrive we’re hosted on blew (after 3 months on the job). This time the backups were in place and transfer to yet another harddrive was no problem.

Causes a momentary panic on my part as I realized I forgot to backup my site last night. I can’t wait until my host gets the new RAID in so this whole single point of failure thing is more a thing of the past.

So far the scores are as follows:
Triple_A : 2
Dan S : 1
Aelfheld : 1

Onto Round 5

For this contest you get to make up your own answers!! That’s right…just pretend you’re a real life journalist and just make shit up. Post answers in the comments. They will be judged on creativity, plausibility and humor.

Question : What party is this guy going to?

Past Contests :
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Spent about 4 hours trying to get tires for my vehicle. Every possible thing that could wrong (while not costing me money) did. Finally, I was convinced that everything was settled, they couldn’t possible screw up anything else (I was wrong) but I felt my temper rising. So I thought it best to walk out of the store and visit some other commercial establishments while they gave the current plan a go.

While on my way back, I notice a man walking into a different store, and that he had a bumper sticker attached to the back of his jacket. It read “Don’t Fly Northwest Airlines”, complete with the skull&bones symbol.

I guess originally it was the symbology that struck me. A skull&bones huh?? Is this the working man’s version of the union bosses prediction that Northwest Airlines planes were going to be falling out of the sky due to faulty maintenance once they started using replacement workers? How many accidents have we heard about since the beginning of the strike?? I can’t think of one. How many Northwest flights have plummeted into the turf due to faulty maintenance?? None. I mean sure, their service is as shitty as it’s always been but that’s hardly the fault of replacement workers.

And attempting to scare people into not using your (hopefully) future employer?? Sounds a bit self-defeating doesn’t it? On the other hand they’ve been pretty much permanantly replaced by this point, so what could it hurt?? Other than showing the public the mentality of union labor is rougly equivalent to their children.

I thought about telling the guy that putting such a bumper sticker on the back of your jacket was pretty pathetic. But then it occurred to me the guy looked like he had just mowed down a couple children will fleeing a bank heist, and thought better of it.

Remember the famous dust-up the liberals gave Katie Couric for her supposed right wing bias??? Bias for challenging Howard Dean when he angrily stated that only Republicans took money from Abramhoff?? “Not one dime” of money went to Democrats said Dean. In fact you can find video of the exchange here.

But what’s that?? Katie was right???

We now know Mr. Reid wrote at least four letters to assist Indian tribes that hired the since-convicted lobbyist, that the senator’s staff had many contacts with the lobbying firm on behalf of their boss, and that Mr. Reid accepted nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff’s associates and his Indian clients — often right after he wrote the requested letters.

Harry Reid took money from Jack Abramhoff as well?? Dean!! Tell me it ain’t so?!?! You mean Dean misspokelied?

And yes I feel comfortable using the term “lied”. After all, according to Democrats, Bush lied about there being WMDs in Iraq, even when everyone told him they were there. When even his opponents agreed they were there, he still should have had the super-human foresight to know it wasn’t true.

Apply that same standard to Dean. Even if he was told by every single Democrat in the party, “No I never took money from Jack Abramhoff and I’ve forwarded documentation proving it to you”. By the standards applied to Bush, Dean lied. Or do these unreasonable standards only apply to Republicans? I’m sorry, I forgot that Democrats are given a double-standard. A much lower standard.

Of course, many liberals will make the claim “But when Bush lied, people died”. Even if it were true that Bush lied (BIG if), does that making lying okay?? Most people grew out of the “If they can do it, so can I” mentality sometime in grade school.

In the end, you still have non-illegal bribes happening in both parties. If you think these dealings are wrong, you’re gonna have to condemn both parties. Probably be easier to start cleaning your own house, before you try to clean your neighbors.