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Daily Archives: March 10, 2006
Keep investigating port deal
March 10, 20061:03 p.m.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, abstained from the House Appropriations Committee’s vote Wednesday to block the port transfer deal. Here was his reaction to Dubai’s decision Thursday to pull out:
“While many see this as a victory for national security, I am still greatly concerned about the bigger issue of how this transaction occurred in the first place. We must continue to investigate the process that led to the initial approval of the DPW deal. Why was Congress not briefed? Why did the president of the United States and the secretary of defense not know about this until they heard about it through the media? This particular incident may be over, but we must thoroughly examine the flawed process that potentially exposes our national security to unnecessary risk.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Should U.S. build a fence to help stop illegal immigrants?
March 10, 200612:07 a.m.
I’ve haven’t made up my mind yet about whether to build a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico. Many smart people say it will be another costly and ineffective government boondoggle. Still, we need to do something to better secure and regulate our borders.
Here is Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson’s take: “The imagery is appalling, but it beats the alternative: a growing underclass and social tensions. Moreover, a genuine fence would probably work. The construction of about 10 miles of steel and concrete barriers up to 15 feet high in San Diego has reduced illegal crossings in that sector by about 95 percent since 1992, reports Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a supporter of a U.S.-Mexico fence. Sure, there will be tunnels and ladders. But getting in will be harder. Policing will be easier.”
Samuelson also favors stiffening employer fines for hiring illegal immigrants and legalizing the immigrants already here. “It is not desirable or ethical to force most illegal immigrants to leave,” he wrote. “Yes, they broke the law, but we were complicit by making the law so easy to break.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Wrongly imprisoned in the name of freedom
March 10, 200612:05 a.m.
A New York Times story and subsequent editorial about the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay underscored concerns that our editorial board has voiced in the past. Thanks to a lawsuit that forced the release of records about the prisoners, the Times learned that among the prisoners at Guantanamo who deserve to be locked up, there are those who do not. For instance, Abdur Sayed Rahman appears to be nothing more than a chicken farmer unlucky enough to have a name similar to a Taliban official. There are others like Rahman, and they are being jailed indefinitely. If we truly value freedom, we should apply the rule of law to separate the innocent from the guilty.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Brownback to the rescue?
March 10, 200612:03 a.m.
It’s always instructive to see our members of Congress through outsiders’ eyes. Consider an admiring piece on Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., in The Economist, complete with cartoon casting the squinty senator as sword-wielding slayer of all things evil. The commentary notes: “His enthusiasm for saving children in Darfur as well as fetuses in Kansas makes his social conservatism more acceptable to moderates (so does his mellifluous manner).”
But of Brownback’s presidential prospects, it concludes: “Americans are growing weary of a born-again president who wants merely to transform the Middle East. They will need a lot of convincing to back a man who wants to abolish suffering wherever he can find it.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Dubious, bogus and utterly phony headlines
March 10, 200612:01 a.m.
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com:
AVIAN FLU NOW MORE POPULAR THAN BUSH; Bird Pandemic Surges Ahead of President in Latest Poll
BIN LADEN TRIED TO WARN BUSH ABOUT KATRINA; In Newly Released Teleconference, Madman Expressed Concern About Levees
GOLDDIGGERS, GIGOLOS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF ANNA NICOLE; Thousands March on Washington to Show Support for Former Playmate
SADDAM SENTENCED TO BE PRESIDENT OF IRAQ; Angry Hussein Demands Retrial
U.S. OUTSOURCES HOMELAND SECURITY TO NORTH KOREA; Little-known Korean Firm ‘Seems OK,’ Says Chertoff
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
