The People Have Spoken!

Aren't we all proud of ourselves right now?

Aren't we all proud to be a part of a Representative Republic, now that The People have spoken?

I'm not.

I haven't posted in a couple of days because I really wanted to take a little time to calm down, and to try to pull myself out of the severe depression and sense of hopelessness into which I decended on Thursday when the UAE (not The Taliban, not Terrorists) announced that they were withdrawing their offer to lease (not buy) operations (not security) of eight (not all) terminals (not ports) in six (once again, not all) ports located in the United States, from a company in Great Britain (not from President Bush.)

We Americans really stepped up and showed the World our collective butt this week, whether you know it or not. Do you have any idea what a fustercluck this whole situation has degenerated into?

Let me lay it out for you, just so you know what happened.

This deal had been in the works, and in the News, since October of last year. There was never anything secret about it. It followed the process which the United States Government put into place the whole way. Everyone whose job it is to check these things out was comfortable with the transaction all the way up the chain. It looked like a good deal for everyone involved.

Then, about three weeks ago, some Scandal Monger at the New York Times figured out that if they could spin this thing to make it look like the President was allowing Terrorists to take over our ports, that the American public might buy it, and it could possibly depress the President's aproval numbers a little more.

And in an Election Year, you all know how important THAT is...

And We The People bit. Hard. We held on like a turtle.

The President, upon hearing about the uproar over the deal and the plans by Congress to meddle in it, at first was surprised, not that the deal was happening, but that anyone had a problem with it. (He knows the level of cooperation that the UAE has extended to us over the last few years, whether we know about it or not.)

Then he lost his temper, and threatened to Veto any attempt by Congress to alienate this valuable strategic and economic ally.

The Scandal Mongers ran poll after useless poll. They put microphones and cameras on any prominent politician who was willing to flap his (or her) gums about how bad the deal was, whether he (or she, as the case may be) knew anything about it or not, and ignored the facts of the deal every step of the way. "Eighty percent of the American Public are against this deal!!" they screamed, not bothering to mention the fact that Eighty percent of the American public had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

Meanwhile, those who were actively trying to inform themselves about it were starting to say things like "Well, it doesn't seem too bad, from what I have been able to learn..." and the more they learned, the more they supported it.

But they were ignored, while the Media continued to broadcast the bleating of the sheep.

The UAE, as a show of good faith, offered to put the transaction on hold for an additional 45 days so thet the details could be examined and made public.

But by then, it was too late. Not even Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter put together could save the deal. (Side Note - Ask yourself briefly what Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush have in common...Besides the fact that they all had interns, in one capacity or another...)

The Scandal Mongers, Congressmen, and Senators, realizing that if any real information got out about the deal that any political advantage would be lost, and opposition to it might even hurt a potential candidate who spoke too harshly of the deal.

So they threw aside the additional 45 day educational period, and attatched a bill to kill the deal to the only piece of Veto-Proof legislation they could think of, an appropriations bill for funding for the War effort and still more Hurricane Katrina Relief. (Why can't we get ANWAR attatched to that thing?)

Then while they tripped over themselves to get in front of even more cameras and microphones and take credit for "standing up to the President" and "making sure our ports are safe...", the UAE threw up their hands, said "Screw you people. We don't want to do business with you bunch of stupid, racist, biggoted hillbillies anyway."

They withdrew the deal.

The President signed the Patriot Act back into Law, and then disappeared into the bowels of the White House to get on the phone with representatives of the UAE, and try to repair the damage.

So now, when a Terrorist does carry out his plan to bring mayhem to the United States, think about whether information from sources in the UAE might have been able to stop the attack, but we didn't get it because we offended an ally who was trying to help us.

When Boeing starts laying people off because the UAE bought fifty wide body Jet Liners from Airbus instead, think about the families of those workers who would have had jobs if this deal had gone through.

Think about all of the effects of being uninformed, and reactionary, and about the consequences of running your mouth more than your ears.

Think about the long range effects of believing everything you hear and see in the Media, and about the problems that can be created by a run-away, agenda driven News Media.

The People have spoken.

Can we listen to someone who knows what they are talking about now?