It seems that pirates and the US Navy are active off the coast of Africa, especially off the Somalia coast.
We at The Study do not know the numbers, but a lot of ships and crew have been taken this year.
Lots of ransoms have been paid.
And there have been some rescues.
The waterways concerned are said to be among the busiest on the planet.
And we are sure that pirates are active elsewhere as well.
What to do?
Payment of ransom is one thing to do.
Ransom is not a solution that will cure the problem. On the contrary, it will doubtless prolong the odious practice of seagoing crime.
Rescue of ship and crew is a good thing to do.
Trial of pirates is good, if they are severely sentenced, even executed.
The seagoing crime rate seems to thrive off the coasts of failed nation states.
Creating successful nation states out of these failed states is not an option.
The best option is prevention of the act itself. The African and Asian failed states whose coastlines provide safe harbor for the seagoing kidnappers, killers, and robbers cannot be turned into successful members of the international community.
Instead, their coastlines and offshore seas must be scoured by naval forces of the successful nation states who have vested interests in maritime commerce.
The un has called for naval nations to enter into negotiations with the failed states to allow for police actions within their territorial waters.
Such police actions should take place with or without the cooperation of the failed states. Cooperation is the best way. But regardless, naval forces should act when and wherever pirates are detected.
Piracy is as old as prostitution and is at least as unsettling to law and order. Correction: it is more unsettling.
And finally, it goes w/o saying what nation must lead the effort.
Guess which one.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
MITIGATION
And a new film has been or is about to be released concerning the alleged attempt by Ford Motor Company to steal an invention from its creator.
We have no idea if the premise is true.
If it is true, it would seem that the spirit of the old Robber Barons still lives.
If it is not true, than the spirit of the anti-capitalists still lives.
We know, of course, that both spirits still live.
And more importantly, we know that the Barons mitigated the evil they did with lots of good that they did, and that the good the anti-capitalists have done is mitigated by lots of evil which they have done.
We have no idea if the premise is true.
If it is true, it would seem that the spirit of the old Robber Barons still lives.
If it is not true, than the spirit of the anti-capitalists still lives.
We know, of course, that both spirits still live.
And more importantly, we know that the Barons mitigated the evil they did with lots of good that they did, and that the good the anti-capitalists have done is mitigated by lots of evil which they have done.
INSULATED?
We have been seeing a lot of b.o. (obama) signs in the countryside around two of the towns we frequent in the lazy, hazy days of summer.
The towns are delightful.
They are friendly, clean, and prosperous, full of folks we believe to be intelligent, hardworking, and on top of things.
And so we wonder.
How can such folk put up signs for such a national dem as b.o.?
We theorize that perhaps these Northern Folk feel that they are indeed in God’s Country; that they are insulated from all or most of the harm that a b.o. can inflict on the Republic; and that it is time for a change; that change is good once in a while; and that after a dose of change they will be able to return to a leader who really knows what is going on.
It is amazing how wrong otherwise intelligent people can be.
The towns are delightful.
They are friendly, clean, and prosperous, full of folks we believe to be intelligent, hardworking, and on top of things.
And so we wonder.
How can such folk put up signs for such a national dem as b.o.?
We theorize that perhaps these Northern Folk feel that they are indeed in God’s Country; that they are insulated from all or most of the harm that a b.o. can inflict on the Republic; and that it is time for a change; that change is good once in a while; and that after a dose of change they will be able to return to a leader who really knows what is going on.
It is amazing how wrong otherwise intelligent people can be.
IT IS CALLED BEING IN CHARGE
mitch album, in his weekly Detroit Free Press article, advises parents that he sympathizes with the dilemmas they face.
mitch has no kids, but he apparently feels he is as much an expert in dealing with difficult children as he is in understanding and explaining the intricacies of our American political scene.
It is our sense that he fails on both scores, again and again and again.
This universal, renaissance young man knows all and is quite ready and willing to set us all straight.
Only the task is beyond him.
Items: mitch suggests that parents cannot spank their kids these days; that they cannot deny kids their toys, cell phones, ipods, etc.; cannot even keep them home from school.
How could they face their peers w/o 'toys'? Spanking parents would be reported. Kids kept home from school would be in violation of the law.
Of course, as any effective parent knows, one can spank, moderately, at least at home, until the kids are too big and it is too late.
I was once told by an animal control person that I could not kill squirrels he had failed to catch and which were inhabitating our attic area.
I asked him, why not?
Why, he said, what would your neighbors say?
I said, I don’t care, for heaven’s sake, what my neighbors would say. I would not tell them.
And parents can deny the toys. It is called being in charge.
And parents can ‘ground’ little devils. He doesn’t even mention this option.
And the idea of keeping kids out of school is ridiculous, unless the miscreants are suspended. They probably want to be kept home anyway.
Write your books, mitch.
Prattle on about sports.
Be glad you have a city and a radio station and a listening public dumb enough to enjoy your mindless chatter.
mitch has no kids, but he apparently feels he is as much an expert in dealing with difficult children as he is in understanding and explaining the intricacies of our American political scene.
It is our sense that he fails on both scores, again and again and again.
This universal, renaissance young man knows all and is quite ready and willing to set us all straight.
Only the task is beyond him.
Items: mitch suggests that parents cannot spank their kids these days; that they cannot deny kids their toys, cell phones, ipods, etc.; cannot even keep them home from school.
How could they face their peers w/o 'toys'? Spanking parents would be reported. Kids kept home from school would be in violation of the law.
Of course, as any effective parent knows, one can spank, moderately, at least at home, until the kids are too big and it is too late.
I was once told by an animal control person that I could not kill squirrels he had failed to catch and which were inhabitating our attic area.
I asked him, why not?
Why, he said, what would your neighbors say?
I said, I don’t care, for heaven’s sake, what my neighbors would say. I would not tell them.
And parents can deny the toys. It is called being in charge.
And parents can ‘ground’ little devils. He doesn’t even mention this option.
And the idea of keeping kids out of school is ridiculous, unless the miscreants are suspended. They probably want to be kept home anyway.
Write your books, mitch.
Prattle on about sports.
Be glad you have a city and a radio station and a listening public dumb enough to enjoy your mindless chatter.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
nancy AND harry
nancy p. and harry r. have been hard at work with colleagues hashing out solutions to our current financial difficulties.
I am only a retired history teacher, and boy, have I forgotten a lot of history. But these two are really two pieces of work. They must at least rival doings of the most disgusting national leaders ever to have crossed our national stage.
Partisan; self-seeking; blind to priorities other than that of their own political survival; very, very economical with the truth; and, to coin a term used over at The Anchoress, execrable, at least in the case of harry r.
I am only a retired history teacher, and boy, have I forgotten a lot of history. But these two are really two pieces of work. They must at least rival doings of the most disgusting national leaders ever to have crossed our national stage.
Partisan; self-seeking; blind to priorities other than that of their own political survival; very, very economical with the truth; and, to coin a term used over at The Anchoress, execrable, at least in the case of harry r.
THE COLLIDER AND THE BIG QUESTIONS
Something called called the Hadron Collider is about to be put online.
It apparently had something of a glitch at its startup…but will soon be humming along just fine.
And one of the things it will be used to unravel will be questions about what the universe was like before the ‘big bang’ occurred, the event which ushered in what we know as reality.
Or which science things ushered in the big bang.
Options are many: parallel universes, multi-dimensions, big bangs, or even many ‘big bangs’.
Will such a time, the time before our ‘reality’, ever be knowable to empirical testing?
What a fascinating hope.
An age-old hope….
And if an answer ever comes to this question via this machine, whatever will humankind do with that answer?
And another question: how will mankind ever extend scientific research into the other end of an important reality: the afterlife.
How can anyone ever declare and feel that life is boring when there is so much to wonder at, marvel at, worry about, and feel all sorts of emotions over?
It apparently had something of a glitch at its startup…but will soon be humming along just fine.
And one of the things it will be used to unravel will be questions about what the universe was like before the ‘big bang’ occurred, the event which ushered in what we know as reality.
Or which science things ushered in the big bang.
Options are many: parallel universes, multi-dimensions, big bangs, or even many ‘big bangs’.
Will such a time, the time before our ‘reality’, ever be knowable to empirical testing?
What a fascinating hope.
An age-old hope….
And if an answer ever comes to this question via this machine, whatever will humankind do with that answer?
And another question: how will mankind ever extend scientific research into the other end of an important reality: the afterlife.
How can anyone ever declare and feel that life is boring when there is so much to wonder at, marvel at, worry about, and feel all sorts of emotions over?
THE DEBATE AND 'PROTECTING SARAH'
Debate #1 is over.
Senator McCain won hands down, in our opinion. Why pundits see the result as a draw is beyond us.
Senator McCain had the facts, the right perspective, and the gravitas.
Not a draw.
A walkaway (sp?).
And the dem pundits are suggesting that the ‘bloom is off Sarah’s rose’, that the voters have tired of her already.
They further suggest that the McCain camp has been sheltering her from the prying eyes of the press in order to save her from embarrassing gaffs, mistakes, etc.
We feel that she is instead being somewhat restricted…much as a prize racehorse is sheltered during practice before a big race…in order to fool the opposition.
We feel that she will engage joe biden and decisively defeat him…at the very least, completely equal him. And the public will be as surprised as the McCain camp hopes they will be.
There will be a bump in the McCain polls…indeed, more than a bump. Perhaps a hill.
Cannot wait for Thursday.
Sarah is being ‘protected’ from the msm in order to shock the public in how great she is and is going to be as the next VP, if our voters do the right thing.
Senator McCain won hands down, in our opinion. Why pundits see the result as a draw is beyond us.
Senator McCain had the facts, the right perspective, and the gravitas.
Not a draw.
A walkaway (sp?).
And the dem pundits are suggesting that the ‘bloom is off Sarah’s rose’, that the voters have tired of her already.
They further suggest that the McCain camp has been sheltering her from the prying eyes of the press in order to save her from embarrassing gaffs, mistakes, etc.
We feel that she is instead being somewhat restricted…much as a prize racehorse is sheltered during practice before a big race…in order to fool the opposition.
We feel that she will engage joe biden and decisively defeat him…at the very least, completely equal him. And the public will be as surprised as the McCain camp hopes they will be.
There will be a bump in the McCain polls…indeed, more than a bump. Perhaps a hill.
Cannot wait for Thursday.
Sarah is being ‘protected’ from the msm in order to shock the public in how great she is and is going to be as the next VP, if our voters do the right thing.
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