Terror ports?

What's all the hubbub about our ports. It was OK when the Brits were administering them but now when a Arab owned firm takes control, its not OK? Hey, look at it from THEIR side for a second. Western oil, mining, and other corporations have been practically running their governments for them for the last umpteen years. With the exception of a few radical fundamentalists, THEY have accepted OUR unique Western "administration" for the most part. When it comes to administering a number of ports here, all of a sudden it's "they're all terrorists". These Emirates have kooks within their populace just like we have kooks in ours. Can we control all of the kooks here? Of course not!
So why are we so up-in-arms because a couple of terrorists were from there?
It makes no sense.
Look, this is a business deal. That's it!
Security will still be under US control and I am sure that because of this media spotlight, there will be even more security considerations.
We want to be multicultural and have THEM be more like US but yet we are condemning all Arabs because of a few kooks.
It's political grandstanding time using patriotism as the "hook". Except now, for a change, it's also a lot of Democrats using this ploy to gain "brownie points".
Its hypocrisy at its worst.

Riot

The rioting going on in many cities in the predominantly Muslim countries over the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper should not be viewed as a unique event. Rioting due to some kind of grievance has been a common occurrence in countries all over the world throughout history. The people that are most affected by the rioting are usually the poor or disadvantaged who happen to live in those parts of the cities where the rioting takes place. Even though these rioting people believe that through their acts of violence and destruction, they are making a bold statement against their perceived oppressors, they are only hurting themselves. Each shop or business that is affected will most likely not resume doing business there again because of the increased risk of recurrence.
In 1992, the Los Angeles riots, caused death and destruction so severe that even now almost fourteen years later, many of the stores and businesses have never returned. In South-Central, there are still shells of burned-out buildings that remain unchanged and makes this district look like a war zone. Supermarkets and other stores, which were looted, never re-opened. Who were the losers in this? The people who lived there. They had to travel very far to get basic services like shopping for groceries, banking, a haircut, etc. Not only that but the jobs that these businesses provided were also eliminated causing further hardship.
It has always amazed me how stirred-up violent passions can be so destructive. It is a process where the rioters are, in effect, punishing their very own families and neighbors by their actions. The problem is that the people that suffer in the aftermath are always the people that are the most vulnerable amongst us and in most cases they do not even know why the rioting took place in the first place.
I don't mean to criticize those who boycott and protest but when there is violence, destruction and death, it just does'nt make any sense.

What and Where.

A tag from one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Fahd Mirza, has prompted me to divulge some things that may give some insight to who I am.

Four jobs I've had:
Taxi Driver (Checker- Boston)
Sidewalk vendor of sweets/nuts (Haymarket- Boston)
Part time campus security officer-Boston College
General Manager - Commercial Printing

Four movies I watch over and over:
2001, A Space Odysey
Blade Runner
The Constant Gardener
War of the Worlds

Four places I've lived:
Genk, Belgium
Waterschei, Belgium
New York, New York, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Four TV shows I watch:
Saturday Night Live (if I'm awake)
CSI (all of them)
Crossing Jordan
Night Stalker

Four places i've vacationed:
Antwerp, Belgium
Hawaii (Maui)
Antigua, West Indies
Can Cun, Mexico

Four websites I visit daily:
All my links (well, almost daily)
Boston.com (news)
Wikipedia (resource)
Russia- Special Radio 6'th Button (music)

Four of my favorite foods:
Italian Ice (lemon slush)
KFC (crispy)
French Fries (MacDonald's)
Fried Fish (any kind)

Four places I'd like to be right now:
The last three where I vacationed plus Kauai.

Six folks I would like to tag:
Everyone that I dare to tag has already been tagged so I will
defer this part to a later date (promise).

Not funny!

It is sad to learn about devout Muslims getting killed here and there on a daily basis protesting the cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad. It is also equally sad that there is violence and destruction being perpetrated by some Muslims in reaction to these cartoons.
Disrespect for religious beliefs as expressed in today's media had not yet reached the Muslim world before these cartoon depictions were somehow widely distributed outside Denmark. The distribution into the Muslim world needs to be investigated closely due to how it agitated and fomented rioting by the populace. Who gains from inciting these riots?
We, here in the West have had our religions insulted many times in the guise of "artistic expression". A couple of notable examples; the Madonna painted with elephant dung or the crucifix in a jar of urine by Maplethorpe. To make matters worse, the promotion of this "art" was paid for with our tax money. We have been gradually numbed and desensitized by these exhortations of "free speech" to such a point that the words "blasphemy" or "sacrilege" mean little to nothing. We have had our religious innocence gradually stripped away over the years. This process, however, is being exposed to the followers of Islam so quickly that they are reacting to this shock with anger and frustration. It's almost as if someone screamed "fire" in a crowded theatre and caused uncontrollable panic but in this case instead of panic it produced outrage and shock.
These cartoon depictions might not seem a worthy reason for rioting and violence to us here in the West but who are we to judge the religious fervor of devout Muslims? What could the world possibly expect after distributing such provocative images? Yes, I believe in free speech but the dissemination of these images outside of Denmark was irresponsible to the point of being criminal.