Having watched the last few nights of The Colbert Report [cn] I was well aware of the kerfuffle of the sale of the British ports shipping firm P&O to the United Arab Emirates [bbc]. The controversy is that P&O opperates ports all across the world, including significant numbers of them in the United States and that the United Arab Emirates are known to be softer on terrorism that the American government would like and that two of the 9/11 bombers were from that nation.

The whole thing has been a big deal in the U.S. because it’s created a rift between the President and the other Republicans who tend to all Arabs as somewhat dangerous. What has been quieter is that the deal includes several Canadian ports, all along the west coast of Canada [po].

All of this information was gleaned by me after spending about three minutes on Matthew Good’s re-launched blog [mg]. Matthew Good, Stephen Colbert… it’s true celebrities are the best conduits for the news.

As for whether it’s a good idea to let the sale go through, well let’s hear from Stephen Colbert:

“This time, and I hesitate to say this, but while he may be in fact right, it feels like George Bush? is wrong. Oooo! That hurts my gut. My gut tells me that George Bush is always right. Ooo! That hurts my brain, ‘cuz this is so clearly not the right gut political decision for him to have made. Ooo! There’s my gut again. Bush is right. No, wrong. But he’s right! Ooo! No! He can’t be right and wrong at the same time!”

Related posts:

1. More on ports
2. Dubai
3. Sam Sullivan’s kinda a tool isn’t he?
4. Filmed in Vancouver: X2: X-Men United
5. New Orleans to leave the United States