The Scriptorium

I have a theory as to why President Bush has been so silent on the Dubai Ports deal. As he said in one of the first speeches he gave after the story broke, he’s “trying to conduct diplomacy here”. I’m starting to think that Bush didn’t want to be the one to nix a business deal with the U.A.E. because his relationship with that country will affect our national security and the war on terror. Maybe it’s true that a U.A.E. company shouldn’t be trusted, or maybe it’s not, but it’s a fact that the U.A.E. has been a valuable ally in the war on terror since 9/11, and in the war in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. We need their ports, we need their cooperation on intelligence, and we will need the military base we have in the U.A.E. should we have to use the military option against Iran.

Bush could have defended the deal. I’ve heard several news analysts, government officials, and former and present political advisers say that he could have made a convincing case to the American people. The fact that he didn’t even try tells me he’s more concerned about the diplomatic fall out if Dubai Ports is stopped from doing business in the U.S. than he is about the deal going through. That’s understandable. Our war ships are currently using ports in the U.A.E. that are run by Dubai Ports World, and we need to keep using them. If Congress ends the deal and the President at least gave the impression that he tried to save it, perhaps diplomatic efforts will be able to continue uninterrupted and unaffected. He’s got to know that any veto of legislation to stop the deal will likely be over turned by a two thirds vote in Congress. Maybe, he’s counting on that.

Republican congressional leaders told President Bush Thursday the House and Senate both appear ready to block a Dubai-owned company from taking over operations at several U.S. ports, officials said.

The GOP leadership delivered the assessment in a private meeting at virtually the same time White House spokesman Scott McClellan reiterated Bush’s vow to veto any legislation to interfere with the deal.

The developments came one day after a GOP-controlled House committee voted 62-2 to block the transfer, which has prompted an unusual, election-year Republican revolt against the administration.

Across the Capitol, Senate Democrats demanded a vote on the issue, placing Republicans on the political defensive as they tried to prevent the roll call from occurring.

A company spokesman said DP World officials were not present at the discussions between congressional leaders and the White House.

Senate GOP leaders had been hoping to prevent any votes until the conclusion of a 45-day review of the deal. At the same time, administration officials were using the time to try and ease the concerns of lawmakers.

That strategy collapsed in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, when the House committee overwhelmingly signaled its opposition to the deal.

BREAKING NEWS UDATE:

The whole problem may be a mute point, anyway. Fox News is reporting that Dubai Ports has announced it will sell the U.S. piece of deal to another investor.

You know it’s getting bad when specifying your parent’s gender can get you in trouble at school. That’s what will happen if the governor signs a new bill that’s currently working it’s way through the California Senate. What are we supposed to call them if not mom and dad – parental unit 1 and 2? Even prom queen and king would have to be banned under this bill. Students will be voting for the prom “its” instead. That one I just don’t understand. Wouldn’t a homosexual guy prefer to be called Queen?

The fact is that humans come in 2 genders, male and female. But, liberals and homosexual activists have decided this fact of human nature is offensive. Even gender specific bathrooms, in their opinion, must be replaced by one “it” bathroom. It doesn’t bother them at all that non-homosexuals will be uncomfortable going to the bathroom in the same room with people of the opposite sex. What a field day that will be for sexual predators. The homosexual lobby can’t be bothered with trivialities like that, though. All that matters to them is that homosexuals, transgender, and bi-sexual persons feel comfortable using the toilet together. I’m so sick of this group shoving their lifestyle in our face and demanding that we change our language, our values, our morals, our religious beliefs, and our traditions to accommodate them.

A traditional-values organization in California is warning the state’s residents that a bill pending in the Legislature, if approved, could remove all references to gender in public schools – threatening even references to “mom” or “dad” in textbooks.

If the bill, SB 1437, were to become law, warns the Capitol Resource Institute, “it could potentially require gender-neutral bathrooms in our schools and all references to ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ or ‘mom and dad’ removed from school textbooks as the norm.”

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl – a lesbian actress best known for playing Zelda in “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” in the ’60s – the legislation would add “gender” (actual or perceived) and “sexual orientation” to the law that prohibits California public schools from having textbooks, teaching materials, instruction or “school-sponsored activities” that reflect adversely upon people based on characteristics like race, creed and handicap.

Why is Congress just now figuring this out?

Congress today will be presented with a new study that documents the Palestinians have inflated their population numbers by over 50 percent and that almost $3 billion in United States taxpayer funds may have been provided as aid to the Palestinians in part based on fraudulent data.

“American tax dollars and other international humanitarian aid have been based on inflated population numbers which have been accepted without question by governments and aid agencies. Our researchers pointed out that money has been spent to help Palestinians who were double-counted, never born or not present in the West Bank and Gaza,” Bennet Zimmerman, head of the new study, titled “Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza,” told WND.