hippoetry

Mostly limericks, based on current events.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Dubai deal is being given the --Bum's Rush-- by Congress

Not all the facts are on the table.

Is King and Schumer's 45 day investigation over with?

The DPW takeover of P&O is being given the "Bum's rush," by the same folks who are letting the Chinese government company (COSCO, which was involved in smuggling arms into the US), run a terminal on the West Coast.

From the Congressional record

On March 18, 1996, Federal agents surreptitiously seized a Poly shipment of 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles in Oakland, California. These weapons had left China on February 18 aboard a vessel belonging to another state-owned company, the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company (`COSCO'). On May, Federal agents hastily shut down the operation when they learned that the Chinese had been tipped to its existence. [snip]

Smuggling the weapons into the United States has not harmed the fortunes of COSCO.


A) In April 1996, with the support of the Clinton Administration, COSCO signed a lease with the City of Long Beach, California to rent a now defunct navy base in Long Beach, California. *


B)...the Clinton Administration has allowed COSCO's ships access to our most sensitive ports with one day's notice rather than the usual four


C) [The Clinton administration] has given COSCO a $138,000,000 loan guarantee to build ships in Alabama.

The [Clinton] Administration has made all of these concessions since the coffee with Mr. Wang. That COSCO participated in the shipment of illegal arms does not appear to have dampened the Administration's enthusiasm in any of these matters.

*The lease on the Long Beach Navy Base, which Clinton arranged for COSCO, got cancelled by Congress. But COSCO runs a terminal at the Port of Long Beach.

See, Foreign involvement is nothing new [COSCO-- Chinese gov't co --runs terminals]