Andrew Leonard is almost certainly right that there is a basically sound and legal deal behind the takeover of US ports by a global firm acquired by the Dubai govt. And it can work in present conditions.

But he ignores a very important lesson of history, which, interestingly, the US public appears to have learned itself, but the Bush administration has ignored.

From Algeria to Iran, when the predominant kingdoms and thugocracies have been overthrown in the Moslem world, they have been replaced by governments with Islamist leanings or outright control by the mullahs.

The Gulf kingdoms are just that--duchies run by families, with leadership staying in one family.

That status quo can't last. As Islamic-fed unrest grows, the govts will make deals with extremists to stay in power. This is what the Saudi royal family has done. And if an endangered govt controls US port operations, well, that could include some special access for groups who need to be mollified.

And and eventually there will be revolutions and elections, and a lot of new Islamic republics, basically democratic, and despising the West, or as in the case of Iran's president, even planning for the Rapture of Conquest by the Prophet.

And I doubt very much THESE folks will waste an opportunity to wield their economic power any way they can.

AFter 9/11, and invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the American public wants to steer clear of unnecessary MIdeast entanglements. Bush knows this--that is why he is playing up this independence of Arab oil (a fairly phony issue).

Given this background, the only reason why the govt is choosing to approve this deal now must be some sort of arrangement by the Administration with the UAE govt, who have indeed been useful allies.

However, another less friendly description some might choose for this is "collusion of elite oil executives to maintain control."

And I don't think the US public will stand for it without a fantastic amount of detailed explaining and convincing from the Bushies.

And as unless the Bushies can learn--fast--- how to "do" the convincing thing, I think there will be a showdown.

Best regards

Jeffrey Harris

A one line Google search for "basic compiler os x" yields a page of links, here is the first:

http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/

"Ron's BASIC Programming and Chipmunk Basic Home Page"

And it's free

And there are more Basic implementations, for Mac OS, OS X, Windows, Linux, DOS, you name it. The free ones are probably just fine for getting started.

What a silly article, and what blathering about it.

Jeffrey Harris

In response to the poster who tells us that Sarah Palin does support birth control, I beg to differ. The group Feminists for Life, of which she is a vocal member, is coy on the issue, saying that "some of its members support the use of non-abortifacient birth control methods." But when you dig in to this, you discover that they consider "hormonal birth control" methods, know generally as birth control pills, to be abortifacients. This is a point that needs to be more widely understood. Many anti-abortion activists have as their ultimate goal the restriction of birth control. This explains why they defund programs to support giving out birth control information, and pass laws allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control bills. No big deal for people in cities, you say, you just go to another pharmacy. But for rural women, often that means a very long drive. Women who use birth control pills and are ga ga for Palin because "she is just like me" are in for a shocking surprise if this ignorant person---who is on Youtube speaking in tongues in her church, and believes the world was created 6000 years ago---gets into power.

A short time after 9/11, an airline pilot (United I think) came on the intercom on his flight with a request to the passengers. Should someone try to hijack this plane, please throw your shoes at him. All of you. A fitting response to the guy who hijacked the US from Americans.

You are certainly right about the copilot deserving praise, and the flight attendants too---they all worked together to get the plane down and the passengers out super fast.

As for heroes, pros or whatever---well, I am a scientist, and in my biz, the rule is that "chance favors the well-prepared mind."

And the capt and co pilot were obviously well prepared to take best advantage of the situation they found themselves in.

Competence, professionalism, heroism ---whatever it is, this country needs to see more of it after the failures, dishonesty, corruption, cowardice, cruelty, and downright nastiness of public life in the US over the last 8 years of the Reign of W and the GOP wrecking crew.

So God bless our airplanes and the crews that fly them. Maybe we'll thank them more often for getting us home safely.

My family all use AT&T, with a Sony Ericsson W810i, a Nokia N82, and a Samsung A707. At home in Tennessee, ny son has signal trouble sometimes in his basement room, but the rest of the time things are OK for all of us. We have used AT&T all over the US without a problem---including cities like Boston, Washington, New York, LA etc.

The problems the author and some posters are having are so different from my experience that I wonder if it is something other than the network that is at fault. The iPhone reception is not as good as that of less grandiose phones. Or perhaps the author might try using EDGE rather than 3G (if it is a 3G iPhone).