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February 27, 2006

Economic jihad? Ports deal: The here and... why? Jamaica selects female leader; The big heist; Geezer communes

Updated: 12:06 p.m.
Economic jihad? Maybe this is the source of the vague discomfort that the Dubai Ports World deal is not merely a business deal. By David Jonsson, at Canada Free Press (Dubai Ports — Strategic Implications), it begins,

The goal of Islamists, following in the footsteps of Muhammad is to create the Islamic kingdom of God on earth. The strategy to obtain this goal in our lifetime includes the control of the world’s energy infrastructure, the transportation systems, currency, media, elections, immigration and education....

3:26 a.m.
Ports deal: The here and... why? If you missed Saturday's Journal story, Arab bid for U.S. ports would include Davisville, Bruce Landis reports,

Although P&O operates ports elsewhere, state officials said its only role in Rhode Island is to provide stevedoring service -- that is, supplying the workers who drive the thousands of cars, primarily Volkswagens, off the ships and onto the dock.

At the end, this bit of cheerful news:

The other large commercial port operation in the state, the Port of Providence, is owned and operated by a local company, according to the man who runs it.

"It's American-owned through and through," said Ray Meader, the president of ProvPort Inc., and not just American-owned, but Rhode Island-owned, he said.

That's suddenly reassuring.

I read dozens of stories and blog posts about the Dubai Ports World deal this weekend, and wrote a few myself that I didn't push the button on. There's a lot of nonsense and misinformation floating out there, endlessly repeated. (I won't batter you with it -- headache would follow.)

But the analysis I read that largely makes sense to me is by William J. Murray in the Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star: Port of call: Security and economic nightmare Murray is described there as "the chairman of the Washington-based Religious Freedom Coalition and a resident of Spotsylvania." Here's a big chunk:

What is really happening? First: The power struggle at the White House between Dick Cheney's economic conservatives and the George Bush social conservatives is being won by Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney is a Richard Nixon Republican who honestly believes tax reduction and business growth are far more important than any other issues. His influence continues to grow in this regard in the second term of the administration, but has always been present....

Cheney wants business as usual with the Islamic world, despite the fact that our dollars are financing the Islamist war against us.

Secondly, the administration is desperately seeking ways to get money back into the United States that is bleeding out in a one-way direction. We give the Islamic states hundreds of billions of dollars for oil, but we have nothing to sell them to get the money back -- except equity in our businesses.

We have sold them everything from convenience stores to luxury hotel chains. Huge chunks of commercial real estate are purchased each year by Islamic interests financed by petrodollars.

Even the parent company of Fox News is slowly but surely being swallowed up by Saudi interests.

The ports deal is a way to get back a few of the bucks we have given the UAE in petrodollars. Yet there is one underlying issue no one seems to look at: When we sell them equity in corporations and business property, we get some cash back right away--but the profits from those deals then flow back to the Islamic states.

In the long run that makes the deficit flow from the U.S. even greater.

The Treasury Department continues to stand by its approval of the sale of a company to Islamist interests that will operate six American ports, for other reasons. At the Treasury Department, as with the Federal Reserve Bank, inflation is the No. 1 enemy, not terrorism.

To keep inflation down in a nation with an economic growth rate as large as that of the U.S. requires actions that are viewed by most as repugnant. This includes the outsourcing of jobs to India and other nations, which keeps down the costs of labor in the United States--as does the importation of illegal aliens from Mexico....

The fact that the middle class is being destroyed and the social fabric of the nation is being strained is not important to the Treasury or the Fed....

Who will speak for us?

Related: From the BBC, headlined, Political system faces 'meltdown'

The Power Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy, says voters feel they have little influence over decisions affecting their lives.

The inquiry's Power to the People report calls for a shift in control from ministers to parliament, and from central to local government.

State funding of political parties and a voting age of 16 are also suggested....

"Politics and government are increasingly in the hands of privileged elites, as if democracy has run out of steam," Lady Kennedy said.

"Too often, citizens are being evicted from decision-making, rarely asked to get involved and rarely listened to."

This point is hitting home here at home right about now.

Jamaica's first female prime minister: Jamaica is about to have its first woman prime minister and head of government: Portia Simpson Miller - Heart, soul and guts. From the Jamaica Gleaner,

WHO WOULD have thought that when this barely budding working class woman started a political career in the early 1970s, she would eventually become Jamaica's most popular politician and the first woman in the country's history to contend for the post of Prime Minister, not once but twice?...

Miller, 60, won the People's National Party presidential election; as head of the majority party, she will replace P.J. Patterson, prime minister for the last 14 years.

The money's hot: The Tonbridge heist: They pulled off Britain's biggest raid, but the police are closing in. What will the robbers do next?

They're baaack: Growing Old Together, in New Kind of Commune: NYT. Twelve folks whose average age seems about 80 have clustered together in a co-housing arrangement they planned and designed themselves. Their commons space will have an apartment above it that they'll rent at below market rates to a nurse.

Many such housing clusters are planned for boomers who want to pick up the '60s where they left off.

Old Folks Rock'n'Roll Rest Home, save me a spot.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 3:26 AM | Permalink