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ping to Thread #35

Thanks.

Have there been any predictions about WWIII in the TM the last 2-3 months?

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU nw.

Thanks for the ping -- as always.

Good Morning and thank you!

Thank you for all your hard work at this busy time in your life.

I love the new look, very easy on the eyes...

One thing when we transfer to a new thread, you can't reply to the old. Therefore, I'm bringing this over.

Transcript from yesterdays DHS hearing from Lou Dobbs show.

Snipped~

WIAN (voice over): It's mainly because only 5 percent of the 11 million containers entering our ports each year are physically inspected. Now homeland security officials admit far few containers are scanned for potential nuclear bomb-making materials. Lawmakers are outraged.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: What percentage of all containers are screened by gamma ray technology and by radiation scanners.

JAY AHERN, CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: One percent.

NADLER: One percent of all containers are screened in a way that would assure us that you no nuclear materials are aboard?

AHERN: That is the correct number today, yes.

NADLER : One percent. And when are we going to get to 100 percent?

AHERN: As we continue to deploy additional resource and technologies in these ports.

NADLER: I asked for a date.

AHERN: A specific timeframe, I don't have that.

NADLER: I think it's absurd. The same department that determined that the Dubai deal is not high risk determines which containers are high risk.

WIAN: At a hearing on foreign operation of U.S. ports and port security, lawmakers of both parties hammered the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see any sense from the administration that you've changed your tone deafness on this issue of the Dubai Ports, in specific, or the port security in general.

WIAN: Congress is angry that provisions of the 2002 Maritime Security Act are not being enforced, including long-range tracking of commercial ships and secure IDs for port workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I find it totally unacceptable that the department has allowed this program to be delayed for this long, clearly not giving it any priority.

WIAN: Stewart Baker is the homeland security official who approved the Dubai Ports deal without consulting superiors. Lawmakers asked him about the lack of background checks for port workers, and reports that murders, sex offenders, ID thieves and MS-13 gang members were found working at East Coast ports. Baker blamed local officials and questioned the character of port workers.

STEWART BAKER, ASST. SECRETARY, HOMELAND SECURITY: There are not a lot of former choir boys who sign up to be longshoremen, and the longshoremen are concerned that irrelevant criminal behavior far in the past might be considered disqualifying.

WIAN: Union leaders didn't address that claim but said port workers often uncover security breaches and are told to ignore them by terminal operators.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: The Department of Homeland Security's response to all this, they admit a lot more work needs to be done. But they say they've made a lot of progress in improving port security since 9/11 -- Lou.

DOBBS: And it's clear that the focus on our port security has only begun. For that, I suppose, we should, Casey Wian, thank Dubai Ports World and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. At least there is that positive from all of this.

Thanks for the ping.

This thread should get interesting with warmer weather approaching.