Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Idiots In A Boat
The US media's all atwitter over some idiots in a small boat. They want to make them into the latest version of Al-Qaeda. Two things: -- Pirates have been in those waters long before 9/11. Furthermore, as the CNN article mentions (but only at the very end), Somalia doesn't have a central government, much less a navy, and hasn't since 1991. The pirates have had a free hand for the better part of two decades. (So have the world's fishing vessels, which have taken advantage of the lack of governmental environmental oversight to essentially strip-mine Somalia's fisheries.) -- Granted, the pirate boat is speedy and maneuverable. But it's also vulnerable. And since pirates aren't suicide bombers, they're not particularly interested in dying. (Making other people die is probably another story.) Their rocket launchers didn't do much at all to the cruise ship. But return rocket fire would have sent these bozos and their boat to the bottom. Hell, the cruise ship wouldn't have needed to score a direct hit: The wake from a near miss would have been enough to swamp the boat. And assuming the fishing fleets haven't already crashed the local shark population, that would have been all the punishment needed in those waters. Of course, the real solution is for the UN to go back into Somalia. But since they don't have any oil to speak of (and because the world's fishing industry likes having a wide-open playground), nobody will -- Clinton was forced to pull out the US troops that GHW Bush put there because the Congressional Republicans and their media allies made the mother of all political stinks about two-dozen-odd American deaths. (Nowadays, we typically get that many dead troops in less than two weeks in Iraq.) But until that happens, all cruise ships plying those waters should start carrying their own small rocket launchers -- or perhaps a couple of four-inch guns mounted discreetly fore and aft. That would at least deal with the stupider pirates. (Too bad no one wants to do anything about the land-based warlord pirates, or the ones raping Somalia's offshore bounty so we can have cheap fish sticks.)
Piracy is almost a way of life since there isn't much of a market for locally caught fish - with the exception of some tuna processing and some small amounts of lobster.
Most foriegn fishing vessels operate by paying off the local warlords or operating well offshore.
: 11/08/2005 09:43:00 AM I'm glad that the fisheries haven't crashed yet. Perhaps the presence of the pirates is serving to protect them.
Wait!
I can see it now!
Carnival changes its product line from the Love Boat to the Gun Boat...
Imagine the ads: "Spend two carefree weeks on the Horn of Africa hunting pirates in a well-armored liner equipped with deck guns and 50 caliber machine guns."
Guns...exciting and new....Come aboard -- you can shoot a few...
The Guuuuun Boat! Going to take out some pirate craft!
The Guuuuun Boat! Set up with mortars fore and aft!
...Fade to Captain Steubing looking through a gun sight...
cheers
HoundDog
PS someone already has HoundDog here so i am HoundDogg. You know I met SnoopDogg personally so I think this is okay. LOL
: 11/08/2005 04:02:00 PM What a brilliant idea. Do you realize how much some folks would pay to go on Pirate Hunting Cruises? This would be great. Like the ruise they pulled in Master and Commader.
Apparently, defenseless cruise ships could slowly troll along the Somali coast and other known pirate waters. And as soon as a group of Pirate Attack, Surprise.
The sheets could come off the supposedly life boats to reveal 50 Caliber Machine Guns, RPGs, Uranium Tipped Anti-tank guns, etc. And the passengers could go to town.
Of course, we might need to have a liscening system, like with dear, so just a couple of fast hunters there first don't take down all the Pirate Game.
And you could also charge for mounting and stuffing your Pirates.
Hey this could work in Iraq too with the Terrorist. These could be a whole new fund raising idea for the Republican. Forget about overnight stays in the White House. Yes, folks, for our $250,000 contributors, we have all expense paid hunting tours to Iraq. Each contributor get to ride in a fully armed BlackHawk helicopter and take out up to six Iraqie or other "terrorists." Stuff them and send them home as Trophys. Imagine the secondary income from E-bay auctions.
Of course, there would have to be a weight limit. If you wanted to Trophy Mount, huts, Temples, or small villiages you would have to pay extra for air freight.
This could also be a great breakthrough for the NRA. Who says there are no legitimate reasons for citizens not to have assualt weapons, bazookas, hand grenades, and anti-aircraft weaponry? Any historian knows the "original intent" of the framers with the second amendament was to enable the population to fight back in the event our government went corrupts. But how is this seriously possible with todays military technology and training superiority. Civilian anti-aircraft rockets, artellery, machine guns, and other assault weaponry could give folks a fight chance at least.
A non-partisan, and bi-partisan pursuit of high crimes and misdemeanors in the White House and Pentagon
by HoundDog on Tue Nov 08, 2005 at 01:37:07 PM PDT
: 11/08/2005 06:14:00 PM Who says there's no role for privatization?
Think what we could do with enforcing ethics rules. I bet a bunch of people would pay big money to be able to tell Scooter Libby that lying to the FBI and a Grand Jury violates the Miss Manners handbook.
<< Home
More blogs about politics.
