I'm with George and Jimmy...

If bi-partisan opponents can point me to one shred of conclusive evidence that America's ports will be less safe operating under this company -- one rational example of where and why they believe our security will be compromised -- I'll listen.

It's like other arguments where you ask opponents to present one shred of evidence -- not a future fear or long-held belief or a categorical lumping -- to support their contentions. Usually, they can't.

After 9-11, we the American people were clearer about protecting the liberties of Americans with the same ethnic background as the plane hijackers. We had it right then. No guilt by mere similarities. No collective punishments for group members not associated with the acts.

Today though, we're more trigger happy. Shoot them before they shoot us, kinda thinking. Lock em up now, think about charging em later. That's not the American way I know (and hey, my primary school years coincided with the Bicentennial, so we spent a lot of time on America the idea, and how her roots were tended.)

Some pundits are touting this newfound bipartisan unity... Tell you what, give me one good reason, one solid speculation regarding why say, you'd turn down a Danish company with the exact background as incapable of getting the port job done. If so, then the arguments are based on merit, not fear and group generalizing.

If not, if it's just based on who they are and not something they may have done or participated in, then I say STICK TO THIS FIGHT, PRESIDENT BUSH. It's not too late to stick your heels and fight to lead, not be led. (Personally, I would have like to have seen Ms. Miers go through the confirmation process, and if necessary, be found wanting there before being summarily rejected as a SCOTUS candidate. It just looks cleaner, like we don't try things in the press and based on insider info, but you get a fair shot and let's see how you do.) They say our ports are poorly run now; I haven't seen anything yet that leads me to believe this company is knowingly unqualified.

Making decisions based on racial speculations, punishing people for coming from the same country as wrong-doers, it just doesn't seem to be the American way that has worked so well for us up to now. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself...
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HERE'S MORE:

Growing criticism puzzles many in shipping industry
'We haven't done a good job of explaining how we work'

by Meredith Cohn, Baltimore Sun reporter

Just about any given time, it's possible to find a Greek-owned ship flying a Liberian flag, employing a Filipino crew and carrying cargo from China into a U.S. port terminal managed by a British company that hires American longshoremen.

This is how Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and others get their socks and stereos for the U.S. consumer.

So, some in the shipping industry have been taken aback in the past week by growing criticism in Washington and in state capitals to a deal that would transfer control over some operations in several major U.S. ports from a British company to one owned by the government of Dubai.

...

In the major U.S. ports where Dubai Ports World would operate terminals - Baltimore, New York, New Jersey, Miami, New Orleans and Philadelphia - many of the shipping lines, the stevedores that load and unload ships and terminal operators have foreign owners.

The top 10 containership fleets are based in Denmark, Switzerland, Taiwan, China, Germany, France, Japan, Hong, Kong and Singapore, said Peter S. Shaerf, managing director of AMA Capital Partners LLC, a merchant banking firm that focuses on the maritime and transportation industries. All call on U.S. ports, and some of the shipping lines manage terminals.

Other terminal operators with U.S. operations are based in England, Denmark and Hong Kong. Panama has the world's largest ship registry, and Liberia is second. Brad Berman, president of the company that runs the Liberian registry, said about 2,300 ships fly that country's flag and that they carry 10 percent of the world's cargo tonnage.

Shaerf described Dubai Ports World as a respected international company.

The Bush administration announced last month that it would nominate David C. Sanborn, director of operations for Europe and Latin America at the Dubai company, to be administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation, which aids marine commerce and ensures that a U.S. fleet is prepared for emergencies.

"The real risk is in a poorly run port. A badly run port is more of a terrorist target than perceived bad ownership," Shaerf said. "This is an international business. If you welcome their commerce, you have to welcome them."

...

The Coast Guard, one of the agencies on the front lines of port security, said everyone with an interest in the port is treated the same.

"The Coast Guard recognizes we live in a global economy and that foreign-owned corporations are operating within the United States," said Jeff Carter, a spokesman, in a statement yesterday. "Laws and international conventions are currently in place."

The Coast Guard and other Homeland Security agencies collect information on crews and cargoes and flag a small number of the millions of containers that arrive on the estimated 5,300 commercial ships that make more than 60,000 calls on U.S. ports each year.

...

Many of the deal's critics say they just want more information or further review by the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment, which examines investments that could pose security risks. The committee reviewed and cleared the $6.8 billion deal in recent months. But lawmakers say the review was done in secrecy and that the committee has released no specifics.

Helen Delich Bentley, a former Maryland congresswoman and a port consultant, said the committee has always operated that way and approved many deals that she objected to.

She said the Dubai deal should not be blocked because it would be unfair to single out one foreign-owned company. But she said foreign ownership should be addressed, with questions about job opportunities examined along with security issues.

"I don't think we ought to pick just one," she said. "I almost give up hope this is a wake-up call. America has been much too complacent."
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*edited copy. 1418CST