I wish I could say that I am stunned that I haven?t heard anyone else calling the latest attack on muslims, specifically Arab muslims what it really is, racism. I am not talking about your standard run of the mill racial slurs, but rather the entire country getting their panties in a bunch about the possibility of a company based in the United Arab Emirates running some of our ports. Sure, this seems a little bit odd to me (is Halliburton too busy to take this contract?), but the blanket statements being made about ALL arabic muslims not being trustable are really quite stunning to me. I didn?t know we were allowed to distrust entire groups of people these days, but I guess I am not as progressive as I thought.
I doubt I will get away with making similar comments about all those Jews in Israel, or all those japs in Japan, and I still hold a grudge over what they did to pearl harbor (not the bombing, but the craphole they have turned Waikiki into). Seems like a holocaust or being nuked puts you off limits for some time period, I just can?t seem to find a copy of that memo. I think we are not even allowed to make fun of Germans anymore about that little mess they made of the first half of the 20th century. Our current allies though in the UAE are fair game. If the rest of us in the grand USA got blamed for every stupid move some jackass American makes overseas, it would probably piss us off?.. wait, that is kinda how it works, but I thought we were special.
Don?t get me wrong, I don?t really like muslims. Yep, I came out and said it, mostly to part of the ?in crowd?. The reality though is that I don?t like most people. I have yet to meet any group of people, be it an ethnic group, religious group, or even a bunch of idiots who happen to all live in the same country who really impressed me all that much (with the exception of exotic dancers, cuz someone has to stand up for them). I guess I am saying that I don?t really like humans as a whole, but until recently, I thought that it was not ok to pick on anyone for being a member of a specific group. I guess I was wrong. arab muslims are fair game. I am not calling for another crusade just yet, but I will say that I don?t trust them and that they should not be allowed freedom or business opportunities in our country. They should not be allowed to fly airliners in our skies or captain ships coming into our territorial waters. They should not be allowed to drive cars in school zones, cuz you never know when they may just decide to run little Timmy over as he is walking home, as part of some jihad (or maybe the little bastard was wearing a shirt with that stupid mohammad cartoon on it).
Most importantly though, muslims should not be allowed to provide security in our ports. I guess while I am at it, we should also make sure that there are no hispanics working to secure our borders, africans to be in our police forces, or red-headed firemen (come on, you know you were thinking it). Really, this should just be part of a bigger policy to not allow ANYONE to provide security of any sort in America unless they are white guys with no clear ethnic lineage (like I want to give a german a machine gun)!
Seriously though, next time some jackass makes a statement about how we can?t trust any arabic muslims, just replace those words with your favorite group and their stereotype crime against the world. See how it sounds when some idiot on the news says ?it is just stupid to trust the scandinavians to run those cruise ships after what the Vikings did to Europe?!
And yes, I know that most of those ethnic and national groupings are supposed to be capitalized, but how can I learn to hate someone if I use proper grammar in my rants about them? Kind of shows respect that I want to avoid for fear of being a sympathizer.
I had not heard of the issue with the ports, but I have to say, I’m not sure we’re in a good position to complain about a Middle Eastern company doing business in the US. I think your Halliburton comment was right on.
Your piece reminds me a lot of George Carlin, who is quick to say that he loves a lot of individuals, but hates just about every group out there, and has invented countless categories of people to hate. Plus humanity in general. As a whole, we can be pretty hard to love.
I think by now everyone here knows I have strong feeling towards many foriegn/religious groups.
Although I don’t brand all Arabs as terrorists, the UAE is known to have contacts who are directly related to previous major strikes against US property. Giving the UAE control over our ports without giving the public a CLEAR understanding for how security will be handled is a big mistake.
The British companies who owned some of the ports previously were not called on to prove themselves because all the recent Brits track record doesn’t involve terrorism in any way. (Although that new way they blog really pisses me off. You know, where they spell as they speak. Has anyone else seen this? Eets fookin’ ‘ard to reed z all um sayn!”)
This country has a bad practice of waiting until after-the-fact to make judgement calls and changes in policy. (Twin Towers, Katrina)
I think a “give ’em a chance” attitude has only gotten us in trouble in the past.
I hope I am wrong. Especially since three of the ports are right near where I live.
I bet there is a big swing in opinion depending on how close to the ports you live.
On a different note. Those cartoons.
I love all the threats Iran is making about having a contest to make Holocost cartoons, just to piss Israel off.
Go ahead, I say.
They may not like it, but the Jewish folk around the world won’t take violent riots to the streets over it will they?
Fucking animals, these people.
I don’t understand these non stop riots over anything and everything.
Go back to work! or your families. or school. or your Xboxes for goodness sake. They miss you.
I am going to riot over the weather. It really does piss me off.
I will shut up about the port situation, since I don’t know anything about it, and I’m prone to stupid assumptions (for some reason I often assume smart people are in charge, making reasonable decisisons.)
As for the rioting, it’s amazing how that crosses so many cultural boundaries and topics. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of coverage of peaceful Islamic protesters. Then I find out they’re not only rioting in Lebanon, but also Nigeria, Pakistan, Libya, and God knows where else. Of course, we’re not immune to it here, esp. in SoCal, where they riot over court decisions and Lakers games (when the Lakers WIN for Pete’s sake!). It boggles my mind how many idiots are out there, but at least they’re very considerate. They almost always riot in their own neighborhoods/cities/countries, so the people they’re actually pissed at aren’t inconvenienced.
It’s those “smart people making reasonable decisions” that worry me the most.
As it is right now, only about 25% of all cargo get inspected as it enters a port.
That leaves a reasonably good chance for a payoff to occur in which a dockmaster(?) must simply forget to count a few crates on the list and become 200,000 dollars richer.
It’s happening right now. That’s real life. People take money, look the other way, and drugs enter the US.
Here an example.
Now say your some bad-ass terrorist guy with plenty of cash and you have been tasked to smuggle 3 crated of explosives into the U.S. for later use in an attack on American soil. Your friend Akkbar has a brother who is involved with the inventory in one of the ports now owned by the UAE/Dubai company… hmmm
Are you starting to see my drift here?
Anyone who thinks this won’t/can’t happen is living in a fantasy world where no one steals and all races get along like in a McDonalds commercial.
Now for the comment about hispanics doing border patrol and blacks in the police force. This is a very extremist Liberal comment that can go both ways.
Would you be willing let anyone who jumps the border fence just sneak in and run for office? Or join the military or police force? Why not? Where’s your trust now?
Thankfully, there are LAWS in place preventing these things from happening.
It’s common sense people. You don’t give major import/export control to a UAE subsidary who has past dealings with terrorists.
Trust is earned, not givin’ out every Christmas.
The Brits can do what they want with our ports because the last time they “terrorized” us was by taxing tea.
And I hate tea.
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