The Right Message . . .

When the sale of our ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates was announced, there was a cry from the people that would not be silenced. How is it that the administration would condone selling our security to the very people who attacked us on 9/11? This was the position that I, myself, took earlier.

Last week, legislators on both sides of the isle made it clear that they would do whatever it took to investigate this incident and prevent such a sale. Now, after much debate and even more pondering of just what the company headquartered in Dubai would do, most thinking people realize that such a sale would have no substantial effect upon our security. Their operation would be almost entirely financial and logistical, as it is in many other countries around the world, while security would remain the province of the United States.

With all of that said, and the President ranting that stopping such a sale would "send the wrong message" to the rest of the world, I have a different belief. First, we should understand that the "American" company to which the port deal will be "transferred" is still owned, indirectly through Haliberton (Vice President Cheney's old company) by the UAE, so nothing has really changed but the names. More importantly, though, is that Mr. Bush's own party members deserted him on this issue. They remembered that there are elections coming soon, and they didn't want to be caught in the backlash that now surrounds "W" regarding his incredible incompetence and mendacity involving everything from 9/11 to Katrina, and now the port deal. They remembered what Bush, Cheney, and their cronies seem to have forgotten. The legislators, are still elected by the people and are responsible to them. After years of blindly following Bush, they finally acted as a co-equal branch of government and did their duty.

Send the wrong message, Mr. President? NO! We have finally sent the right message, not only to the world, but to congress and, most especially to the administration – we are still a democracy! Once more the United States has demonstrated that the state of the Union is strong. We can even survive you, Mr. President.