Comments on: Strategic hate initiative http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:38:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: david http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-606 david Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:14:40 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-606 i cite the headline and <a HREF="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32275" REL="nofollow">article</a>  "Neo-Con Superhawk Earns His Wings on Port Flap" as evidence that we are still under the influence of xenophobic white-hat-black-hat peddlers who are making it (a) hard to think straight and (b) <i>much</i>  easier to rob everybody blind. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a>david i cite the headline and article  “Neo-Con Superhawk Earns His Wings on Port Flap” as evidence that we are still under the influence of xenophobic white-hat-black-hat peddlers who are making it (a) hard to think straight and (b) much  easier to rob everybody blind. 

Posted by david

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-605 Anonymous Tue, 28 Feb 2006 07:25:12 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-605 Glad to know you survived that trash compactor, Saurabh. I wasn't so lucky. I lost my frontal lobe. All posts will henceforth be dispassionate to the point of banality. I suggest we fire me.<br/><br/>Apropos of this event: I was at a gym where CNBC was blaring from a TV in the dressing room (it was that kind of gym -- more bankers than boxers) and Steve Forbes was saying that companies is companies, Arab or British or whatever. I said aloud what I thought: "Never thought I'd agree with Steve Forbes." <br/><br/>My mother was moved to fury by the MoveOn e-mails. She rightly demanded what the Administration is thinking to go ahead with this deal while forcing old ladies to take off their Hush Puppies at the airport. Still, I couldn't join her righteous indignation, and this was before the lobotomy. I wrote:<br/><br/>"The Dubai situation is less grave than the congresscritters are making it out to be. I have a hard time worrying more about a foreign government than about a multinational corporation. If the port managers were really able to get away with mischief, most likely the managers we already have would be doing so."<br/><br/>The Teamsters you can see raising their fists on the cover of Tuesday's New York Times don't seem to care about loading union-busting, pro-dictatorship goods from China. But they're mad now. It looks to me like what really bugs them is that they will have to, in the words of Mark Twain, "humble myself to a nigger."<br/><br/>Just for that, let me remind this little comment thread of the <a HREF="http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Twa2Huc.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=15&division=div1" REL="nofollow">full paragraph</a> . "It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn't ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn't do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn't done that one if I'd a knowed it would make him feel that way." <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="rhinocrisy.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">hodgepodge</a> Glad to know you survived that trash compactor, Saurabh. I wasn’t so lucky. I lost my frontal lobe. All posts will henceforth be dispassionate to the point of banality. I suggest we fire me.

Apropos of this event: I was at a gym where CNBC was blaring from a TV in the dressing room (it was that kind of gym — more bankers than boxers) and Steve Forbes was saying that companies is companies, Arab or British or whatever. I said aloud what I thought: “Never thought I’d agree with Steve Forbes.”

My mother was moved to fury by the MoveOn e-mails. She rightly demanded what the Administration is thinking to go ahead with this deal while forcing old ladies to take off their Hush Puppies at the airport. Still, I couldn’t join her righteous indignation, and this was before the lobotomy. I wrote:

“The Dubai situation is less grave than the congresscritters are making it out to be. I have a hard time worrying more about a foreign government than about a multinational corporation. If the port managers were really able to get away with mischief, most likely the managers we already have would be doing so.”

The Teamsters you can see raising their fists on the cover of Tuesday’s New York Times don’t seem to care about loading union-busting, pro-dictatorship goods from China. But they’re mad now. It looks to me like what really bugs them is that they will have to, in the words of Mark Twain, “humble myself to a nigger.”

Just for that, let me remind this little comment thread of the full paragraph . “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger; but I done it, and I warn’t ever sorry for it afterwards, neither. I didn’t do him no more mean tricks, and I wouldn’t done that one if I’d a knowed it would make him feel that way.” 

Posted by hodgepodge

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-604 Anonymous Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:23:46 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-604 I have to disagree, Dan. This is clearly an issue worth talking about because of the continued and ignored nonracist criticisms of port security, as well documented by Krugman and others. The disgusting or unfortunate thing (depending on your opinion of the American media, public, and officials) is that timing and the zeitgeist seem to allow this issue only to be talked about when something like racism or xenophobia is a frame for it.<br/><br/>And as for the intersection of the interests of commerce and foreign policy--well, isn't that the sort of thing that the nation state is all about? <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://darkdaysahead.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sendyourspamhereifyoumust at gmail dot com">someone else</a> I have to disagree, Dan. This is clearly an issue worth talking about because of the continued and ignored nonracist criticisms of port security, as well documented by Krugman and others. The disgusting or unfortunate thing (depending on your opinion of the American media, public, and officials) is that timing and the zeitgeist seem to allow this issue only to be talked about when something like racism or xenophobia is a frame for it.

And as for the intersection of the interests of commerce and foreign policy–well, isn’t that the sort of thing that the nation state is all about? 

Posted by someone else

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-603 Anonymous Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:18:27 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-603 yes - it's made me realize how elastic the "with us or against us" statement was - it sizes to fit both political idealism and bald extortion - and many other translucent-to-opaque goals to boot. who "us" means is apparently also negotiable. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a>david yes - it’s made me realize how elastic the “with us or against us” statement was - it sizes to fit both political idealism and bald extortion - and many other translucent-to-opaque goals to boot. who “us” means is apparently also negotiable. 

Posted by david

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-602 Anonymous Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:41:32 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-602 Sure, the Hillary Clintons and the Atrios' of the world look the worst in this whole thing with their brutally racist language. But the supporters of the deal are pretty awful themselves, saying that UAE are "good Arabs" because they cooperate with the terror war. Is it just so obvious that it isn't worth talking about? How crass can you get when you hinge commercial deals on "agreement" in foreign policy decisions? It looks like the world "democracy initiative" is taking its model democracy from Duke Cunningham. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">Dan</a> Sure, the Hillary Clintons and the Atrios’ of the world look the worst in this whole thing with their brutally racist language. But the supporters of the deal are pretty awful themselves, saying that UAE are “good Arabs” because they cooperate with the terror war. Is it just so obvious that it isn’t worth talking about? How crass can you get when you hinge commercial deals on “agreement” in foreign policy decisions? It looks like the world “democracy initiative” is taking its model democracy from Duke Cunningham. 

Posted by Dan

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-601 Anonymous Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:14:32 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-601 my favorite part of all this is the bush administration signing off on giving such a contract to a state-owned company of a non-democratic country without blinking or even really waking up, or feeling like they need to explain how these things are consistent with either their privatization or "democracy" crusades. their domestic political supporters must be smoking things. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a>david my favorite part of all this is the bush administration signing off on giving such a contract to a state-owned company of a non-democratic country without blinking or even really waking up, or feeling like they need to explain how these things are consistent with either their privatization or “democracy” crusades. their domestic political supporters must be smoking things. 

Posted by david

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-600 Anonymous Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:41:24 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-600 I second someone else. :-) <br/><br/>Besides not being a substitute for principles, it's also not even a substitute for carefully assembled realpolitik. I'd be willing to listen to any of these people at least for a few minutes if I thought they might have some solid policy analysis to present. This is, after all, an issue that boils down to operations. But no, it's not likely to come any time soon. <br/><br/>Oh and my friend <a HREF="http://ssrdatta.blogspot.com/2006/02/ports-schmorts.html" REL="nofollow">Colin is also griping about this over at my place</a> . :-) <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://ssrdatta.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sahelidatta at hotmail dot com">Saheli</a> I second someone else. :-)

Besides not being a substitute for principles, it’s also not even a substitute for carefully assembled realpolitik. I’d be willing to listen to any of these people at least for a few minutes if I thought they might have some solid policy analysis to present. This is, after all, an issue that boils down to operations. But no, it’s not likely to come any time soon.

Oh and my friend Colin is also griping about this over at my place . :-) 

Posted by Saheli

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2006/02/strategic-hate-initiative/#comment-599 Anonymous Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:24:41 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=561#comment-599 Glad you're alive! I always spend more time on the bloggitude when I'm procrastinating, but that's just me.<br/><br/>Anyway, winna has <a HREF="http://www.werefish.com/mt/archives/2006/02/p_o_ports_what.html" REL="nofollow">a good read</a>  on this issue. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://darkdaysahead.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sendyourspamhereifyoumust at gmail dot com">someone else</a> Glad you’re alive! I always spend more time on the bloggitude when I’m procrastinating, but that’s just me.

Anyway, winna has a good read  on this issue. 

Posted by someone else

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