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April 07, 2009 03:32 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 44 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.”

–John Foster Dulles

Comments

44 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread

    1. and vague: “I cannot accept in its current form”.

      Don’t try to offer up what you’d change about it or anything Sen. Lincoln.

      But the point I think you were trying to make, LB, was that with a Democrat announcing she’ll vote against it as is, it’s going to be that much harder to pass. I agree with that analysis.

    2. because I really don’t care one way or the other about this bill. Does this mean that there aren’t enough votes to pass EFCA in the Senate?

          1. isn’t this a next logical step?

            Some multi party household might have this desire and more beneficial, legalizing the FLDS so they stop the taking of child brides and come in from the dark would be helpful.

  1.  .

    than having an aircraft carrier sunk ?

    Having a Carrier strike Force ignored.

    .

    Somali Pirates captured 5 more ships yesterday, ignoring the F-18’s flying overhead.  

    What’s with those guys ?

    Don’t they know that they are supposed to shrink in fear of death ?

    Oh, right.

    They have a choice between getting blown out of the water by high tech weapons,

    or going home to starve to death, and watch their family starve.  

    .  

    1. the pirates are murderers and thieves, and justifying thier behavior through some sort of Ward Churchill relativist argument that Somalia is poor dosen’t make it right.  I expect better from you Barron !

        1. .

          I took artistic license.

          Somali pirates are now taking ships off the coast of Seychelles, almost a thousand kilometers from Somalia,

          and halfway to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, in Omani waters.

          While we have dozens of aircraft looking for these guys in their 25-foot skiffs, its a big blue vastness of over a million square miles that they operate in.  The area is nearly half the size of Australia.  

          The US, NATO, EU and other countries that include China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea, have managed to station about 25 ships there to conduct Maritime Surveillance Operations.  Admiral Gortney, Commander of the US 5th Fleet, has estimated it would take 300 warships to cover that area.  

          The Spanish, Greek and French Tuna fleets that have been poaching in Somali waters have withdrawn all the way to the channel between Madagascar and Mozambique.  

          Sushi, as well as “Rock Lobster” and shark fin, will be more expensive.

          On the bright side, Filipino seafarers get triple pay for working in those waters.  Filipinos make up about 1/3 of all commercial mariners, crewing everything from Very Large Crude Carriers to luxury boutique cruise ships.  

          1. What they hell are they good for if they can’t track pirates?  Pardon the pun, but it can’t be rocket science.  

            To say nothing of aerial reconnaissance.  

            These vessels do not appear out of nowhere.  They all leave port somewhere.  I think I recall that there are only three of them on that long coast around Somalia.  

            Maybe the latest crop of military grads weren’t given classes on how to set up a blockade.  

            1. .

              is dotted with thousands of vessels at any one time, now that the weather has improved.  

              Most local artisanal fishermen, who use hand-cast nets or hooks on a line, stay within 20 miles of shore.  

              Most of the European and Asian mechanized fleets, with their dragnets and factory processor ships, do their best poaching over the continental shelf, relatively close to shore.  

              If foreign vessels could be persuaded to stay outside the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, I think it would be pretty easy to track the handful of vessels that originate in Somalia and are 200+ miles from home.  

              I know that the Navy paid billions for systems to track enemy and unidentified vessels during wartime.  

              I agree that the Navy ought to be able to track these, despite the fact that the main technology for spotting watercraft is surface radar, which does not pick up the small craft used in the attacks.  

              .

          1. .

            Not well reported, but that ship the Indians blew out of the water was a Yemeni fishing vessel that had just been taken over by pirates.  The Yemeni crew was still aboard.

            .  

      1. .

        but thanks for the comparison to Professor Churchill.  Others, less kind than you, have sometimes compared me to losers.  Ward, as we read here earlier this week, is a definite winner.

        .

        1. Just kidding about the Churchill thing.  Your position on many issues just surprises me a lot of times. I would think if the Navy (ours or any) were to wipe out just one of these pirate groups in action it would make the others a lot less willing to pillage and hijack.  The more they gain from doing this the more powerful they become as well, and tthe problem gets a lot bigger.

          1. .

            This is their version of suicide bombing, in a way, except that once in a while they score a big payday.  

            In their version of reality, they are defending Somali sovereignty against dumpers of toxic waste and poachers of Somali natural resources, who are protected by the Goliath military of the most powerful nations on earth.  

            I just don’t see how killing some of them would discourage others.  I don’t think that’s how the concept of jihad works.  

            According to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, the humanitarian situation in Central and South Somalia is far worse than the situation in Darfur, where people can at least escape the violence in squalid camps operated by international NGO’s.  

            In such circumstances of utter desperation, people do not make rational decisions.  

            .

            1. One definition of jihad is to struggle in the way of God, and another is to struggle to improve ones self or society.  Given that I just don’t understand how piracy would fall under the definition of jihad, but then again we have seen a lot of perversion of the muslim faith lately…

  2. Jack Pommer owes the state $20k in delinquent campaign finance report violations.  It’s nice to see that Colorado Ethics Watch is all over this one…oh wait…Pommer is a Dem.  Nevermind, nothing to see here.  Move along.  These aren’t the campaign violations you’re looking for.

    http://facethestate.com/articl

    1. There’s this neat function called “NEW DIARY” which you’ll find at the upper left corner of your Pols page when you’re logged in. If this is so newsworthy, then POST A DIARY. Hell, if you do a good job then at least Laughing Boy will promote it.

    1. The last two letters that are mad at Franken for this stupid charade!

      Like the guy that flips you off because you blow your horn defensively.

      Republicans!

  3. While I care not a whit about baseball, whenever the season starts I have a sense of relief.  We made it again, we didn’t blow ourselves up, the Republic still stands.

  4. from Claims Journal

    Waterville police say seven young adults and youths have been arrested after Molotov cocktails were set off in a former Boys and Girls Club, shot on video and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.



    Police said the video, which has since been taken off YouTube, showed the faces of the suspects as well as text naming those who were pictured. Each of the seven, who range in ages from 14 to 20, is charged with arson and burglary.

  5. from Metro.co.uk

    A Swedish pastor faces expulsion from the Church of Sweden after admitting that he drunkenly made offensive comments to women while chatting on a Christian dating website.

    The pastor, from VГ¤xjГ¶ in southern Sweden, told one woman: ‘You look really drab and dreary. You probably have to pay for sex.’

    Another woman was informed: ‘You look like a bearded lady.’

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