Thursday, February 23, 2006

John Gibson Gets it Right

Although I consider Fox News, and other cable news channels, to be more "newstainment" than actual "news" they do at times provide excellent content.

I'm not a big fan of John Gibson, but he recently expressed his opinion about the controversy involving the purchase of six ports by the United Arab Emirates and he actually made sense. Although I have not yet made up my mind about this story, I have to admit that Gibson's article expresses my still undecided point of view.

Also, the Christian Science Monitor (A world reknown newspaper) reported on the issue citing a fact from the 9/11 Commission Report that two of the hijackers were from the UAE and that, "The vast majority of the money funding the Sept. 11 attacks flowed through the UAE."

Also, to me, this issue seems to be bringing out the best in our government. It is a great example of the need and use of checks and balances and that the U.S. presidency cannot overlook the power of Congress wherein rests the power of the people.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nate,

You bring up an excellent point, that combined with the fact that our security agencies have given the thumbs up to the UAE seems to make the situation quite plain. Unfortunately we must also remember that terrorism in the U.S. has mostly been homegrown.

However, it also seems to me that major ports, airports and systems vital to America should be controlled by Americans, government or private. I suppose in the end we must trust that our elected leaders will continue to be dedicated and wise.

Great to have you around. Thanks for the post. I look forward to more insights.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't the power of the People rest in all three branches of the government, not just the legislative?

If you are against (or leaning that way) the UAE controlling east-coast ports, are you also against China controlling west-coast ports like they currently do?

Anonymous said...

The "power of the people," according to the framers of the constitution, lives and thrives among representative government. While there are obvious checks and balances the framers meant for the legislative body to be the "stronger" branch for two reasons:

1. The country did not want to empower another "king" in the presidency.
2. The legislative branch has the "power of the purse" and would hopefully have with them the will of the people.

As for your second question, I feel that I've already answered it in my comment above.