Sunday, March 19, 2006

21st Century piracy . . .

Looks like attempted piracy to me, and even Aljazeera News treats it as a liklihood.

Suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia started shooting at U.S. navy ships. We shot back and then fished what was left of the suspected pirates out of the water. This hearkens back to the original internationalisation of the U.S. navy -- Islamic pirates capturing ships and enslaving or beheading the occupants of the European ships, with the European response being appeasement.

Lately, the pirates around Somalia have been raiding ships trying to bring charitable aid to the starving Somalis, who were starving well before 1991 when the warlords wiped out the government and then turned on each other. Before, the government was socialist and disposed to make decisions based on tribal or religious grounds.

Hey folks. This sort of thing has been going on for hundreds of years. I bet Columbus wasn't looking for a shorter way to China. He was looking for a safer way.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Getting away with the crime . . .

The prosecutor says that the death of Milosevic in his jail cell is a defeat for the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

So they are going to call for an autopsy to show that Milosevic was or was not poisoned. His supporters would surely think he was poisoned. Right? Because when you want to terminate somebody, you have to lock him in a cell and put him on trial for years and years, and then poison him after four years of trial. You surely couldn't just go ahead and do it, right at the very beginning, when it might mean something. That wouldn't be the United Nations way.

I figure the United Nations war crimes tribunal was screwed up as soon as the trial went into the third month. A trial shouldn't have to last for years. If it does, probably the judge, the prosecutor and defense attorney are all dealing with something other than the guilt of the defendant. They are turning a trial into a career. Self-important clowns.

The same mistake is being made with Saddam and it's too late at this point to do anything about it, now that he figures he can game the system and make speeches. What should have been done right after the taking the photographs of him, dirty and mortified and having his teeth examined, was to hand him a pistol with one cartridge and lock him in a room to himself to consider his options and reflect upon his prospects.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

What passes for courage in SoCal . . .

I didn't watch the Oscars this year, pretty much like I haven't been watching for the last few years. The news from Holliwoodistan just annoys me. But Ben Stein watched all the stars and he's kind of Hollywood himself. Take a look at what he has to say.