March 21, 2006
WELL, THE RIGHT KILLED ANY CHANCE OF THAT:
U.S. eyes privatizing cargo security work (Audrey Hudson, 3/21/06, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)
Homeland Security officials are looking to have private companies validate the security procedures under which cargo travels from foreign ports into U.S. terminals.
The program, which would give speedier entry to U.S. ports to ships and suppliers that meet the security standards, is now in the hands of 80 Homeland Security inspectors who have to plow through more than 10,000 applicants.
Although Homeland Security plans to hire an additional 40 inspectors in the coming months, the department also is looking to outsource to private companies some of its duties, in particular the validation process, which has dragged for years and involves on-site inspections of ships and cargo abroad.
The port hysterics have handed Democrats the weapon with which to thwart such privatization of government functions, thereby damaging the conservative agenda. And so are nativism, isolationism and protectionism an iron triangle... Posted by Orrin Judd at March 21, 2006 8:28 AM
utter rot; no facts to substantiate; on this issue, you are the NYT of the 3rd Way
Posted by: Palmcroft at March 21, 2006 10:09 AMPalmcroft: Could you elaborate a bit, please? Do you really think that a gov't agency is the indisputably best way to do this? Do you really think that the post-9/11 creating of the TSA was anything other than a bureaucratic boondoggle with absolutely no safety benefits?
Posted by: b at March 21, 2006 10:14 AMPalm:
Haven't you wahoos declared the port issue a fact free zone?
Posted by: oj at March 21, 2006 11:01 AMRather like that "wahoo" label :-)
"...the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity."
Your house-of-lords, wear-a-helmet-in-your-livingroom-for-protection-from-falls perfectionism is, to put it charitably, an Achilles heel.
Posted by: Palmcroft at March 21, 2006 12:34 PMFree trade is the ultimate approximation.
Posted by: oj at March 21, 2006 12:59 PMNo, profiling is.
Posted by: Palmcroft at March 21, 2006 1:37 PMIt doesn't matter a damn who is in charge of port security.
I doubt there is any terrorists organizations on this planet stupid enough to ship their material in a container. That would be beyond the bottom of the barrel choice.
I would like to hear from those with experience shipping containers into the US what they think about it.
Posted by: Tom Wall at March 21, 2006 6:28 PMTom:
http://www.brothersjudd.com/blog/archives/2006/03/why_look_at_fac.html
Posted by: oj at March 21, 2006 7:04 PMPalm:
Yes, if anyone profiled this deal they'd have to let it go ahead.
Posted by: oj at March 21, 2006 7:43 PMThanks for the link, oj. While I'm on my rant here let me mention what's coming over the horizon. There appears more Congressional witch hunts for additional holdings that the UAE now has in the US. We keep this up and sure as shooting we're going to mess up big time. The UAE are NOT our enemy but appears Congress is woking to change that status.
Posted by: Tom Wall at March 21, 2006 9:10 PMTW If Republicans take that message to voters, we can make sure that doesn't happen. If not, and they pander to the panic makers, as a smart commenter said on a previous post, voters will vote for real Democrats, not turncoat Republicans.
Posted by: erp at March 22, 2006 9:25 AM