Regarding the Bush administration's decision to allow operations at six big American ports to be sold to a company from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). DP World, owned by Dubai's government, has won a bidding war with Singapore's port operator to buy P&O, a British firm. P&O operates the ports of Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
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Once again, Bush is oversimplifying the risk and doing favors to the detriment of the nation as a whole. My concern is that the risk, as Bush perceives it, seems to revolve around what is coming over 'in' the cargo and 'who' is working the ports but I really don't think that is the salient threat. I would be more concerned about the fact that foreign governments now have better access to the information about what kind of cargo is being shipped to the United States. Sure, DP World may be clean and is, as Flynn says, "not exactly a shadow organization for Al-Qaeda" but seeing how port security internationally is a disgrace (or so I am told; I really know nothing about internatinal freight), information is probably pretty cheap on both ends.

Nina and I made it to California. Back in NYC it is now 4:55am. Our plane was flying against serious headwinds and had to make a stop in Albuquerque, NM to re-fuel before continuing on to Long Beach, California. Once we got here, our cab driver was really nice but it still cost us $65 for a 10min cab ride; welcome to the REAL OC. We're both pretty beat but we're going to try and get some rest before the whole bridal shower thing kicks off tomorrow. Don't remind me how much grief I got from the guys at the office about going to a bridal shower... (You know that's just for chicks right? Bring me back some nice stemware or let me know what kind of lingerie you get) Yea, not the most creative bashing, just brutal on a trading floor.

I read half of "Stages of Meditation" on the plane today and found that I still have a lot more living to do. Looking forward to what that holds...
Really too tired to write anything but a couple of random notes.

We should cast George Bush on Big Brother; give him a taste of the wire tap.
People from Brooklyn curse a lot. On public access one would think that they are broadcasting in Morse code.

Tags: long beach
Current Mood: exhausted

Made in Japan
35N42, 139E46 (1979)
33N36, 117W52 (1979-1993)
41N29, 71W19 (1993-1997)
39N57, 76W21 (1997-2001)
40N43, 74W0 (2001-Present)

Current Mood: anxious