-
It's that time of year again - our ISP is asking for money. If you have some spare change, please click the Donate link... Thanks!
- About Us
- Search
- Need Help?
- Donate
- Login/Register
Latest Entries
Actions Menu
Blog Roll
- 4F Facebook Page
- Turn Up The Night with Kenny Pick
- Stephanie Miller Show
- The Tim Corrimal Show
- The Rachel Maddow Show
- Angry Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
- Thom Hartmann Program
- Turnips! Fans of Turn Up the Night Facebook Page
- Snopes.com
- Factcheck.org
- Official White House Page, if you must.
- The Brad Blog / Green News Report
- The Poorly Written Political Blog (Joe Santorsa)
Avast, ye scurvy dogs!
Author: TriSec
Date: 04/13/2009 11:12:57
Good Morning. I just remembered that Raine asked me to write this...and I've got to make an airport run in less than an hour. So here goes!
This weekend, most of you probably were keeping up with the dramatic pirate situation off the coast of Somalia. Somehow, New England seemed to be at the center of it, as the captain being held is from Vermont, and he attended the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
In any case, yesterday afternoon the news broke that he had been rescued!
Like many things that happen far from our shores, the US media took scant notice until an actual American was captured. To us, pirates are are part of history. Weird guys with eye patches and a language unto their own, honored annually by Talk like a pirate day.
But it's more serious than that. The BBC has an extensive Q & A section about the pirates and how they are able to capture these huge vessels from small boats.
But what irritates me about all this is our rending of garments and gnashing of teeth over it. President Bush didn't care; the pirates weren't Al-Qaeda, so they didn't exist for him. President Obama seemed caught unawares by the situation....and made some curious remarks about "investigating the problem".
There's been much debate about how to deal with the pirates. Unfortunately, it's all been tempered by avoiding injury and death....but that's the problem. Piracy in the area isn't going to stop unless a few pirate ships and their entire crews are at the bottom of the ocean. This has to be treated like a war zone.
70 years ago, merchant vessels faced a similar threat while crossing the North Atlantic ocean. US and Royal Navy ships escorted them through the danger zone in a convoy system, and some merchantmen even carried RAF Hurricane fighters on their decks to be catapulted off at a critical moment to fend off an attack.
Seems to me this would be an easy thing to implement in the area.
Unlike the nebulous 'terrorists', here pirates have attacked American property and held Americans hostage, but we seem reluctant to do anything about it.
This weekend, most of you probably were keeping up with the dramatic pirate situation off the coast of Somalia. Somehow, New England seemed to be at the center of it, as the captain being held is from Vermont, and he attended the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
In any case, yesterday afternoon the news broke that he had been rescued!
US navy snipers have shot dead three pirates holding a US captain in a boat off Somalia, in a dramatic rescue authorised by President Barack Obama.
They opened fire from a nearby warship as a pirate pointed a gun at the captive, the navy said.
A fourth pirate, who was on a navy ship at the time, surrendered.
Capt Richard Phillips, hailed as a hero for his actions during the hijacking of his vessel last week, was unharmed and has been resting aboard a US warship.
He has spoken to his wife and family back in the US and is said to be looking forward to celebrating Easter when he gets home.
While defending the rescue operation, a navy spokesman acknowledged that the incident might increase the threat from pirates, whose mounting attacks on shipping have been relatively bloodless to date.
Mr Obama said he was very pleased that Capt Phillips had been rescued and that his courage was a "model for all Americans".
He said he was resolved to deal with the threat of piracy in the region.
Like many things that happen far from our shores, the US media took scant notice until an actual American was captured. To us, pirates are are part of history. Weird guys with eye patches and a language unto their own, honored annually by Talk like a pirate day.
But it's more serious than that. The BBC has an extensive Q & A section about the pirates and how they are able to capture these huge vessels from small boats.
But what irritates me about all this is our rending of garments and gnashing of teeth over it. President Bush didn't care; the pirates weren't Al-Qaeda, so they didn't exist for him. President Obama seemed caught unawares by the situation....and made some curious remarks about "investigating the problem".
There's been much debate about how to deal with the pirates. Unfortunately, it's all been tempered by avoiding injury and death....but that's the problem. Piracy in the area isn't going to stop unless a few pirate ships and their entire crews are at the bottom of the ocean. This has to be treated like a war zone.
70 years ago, merchant vessels faced a similar threat while crossing the North Atlantic ocean. US and Royal Navy ships escorted them through the danger zone in a convoy system, and some merchantmen even carried RAF Hurricane fighters on their decks to be catapulted off at a critical moment to fend off an attack.
Seems to me this would be an easy thing to implement in the area.
Unlike the nebulous 'terrorists', here pirates have attacked American property and held Americans hostage, but we seem reluctant to do anything about it.
