Tuesday - April 14, 2009
Not Enough Gun
Here’s a news story that begs for Snopes.com to verify ...
I know what you’re thinking ... sure, maybe if you put about $10,000 in ones in there it could do some good. But she’d have a hard time trying to avoid that “stuffed with cash” lumpy look. Sure, save your life, but be a fashion disaster. Probably not worth it in Brazil.
This story comes to us from the eternally cold and icy land of Brazil, where folks have to bundle up in heavy layers of wool and leather just to survive. NOT!! [ I’m pretty sure Brazil is one of those “clothing optional” countries. I’ve seen some of the pictures from Carnival, and even the sequins are small. Forget modesty. Hell, forget clothing. ]
Bra saves woman’s life in robbery shooting
Local media reported that the woman was travelling on the bus on Saturday in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia when it was held up by two armed men. The incident took place in Bahia’s capital, Salvador, where 58-year-old Ivonete Pereira travelling to her summer home in the nearby town of Lauro de Freitas.
Because of frequent bus attacks in the region, she hid 150 reals (£45) in 20 and 10-real notes coiled inside the left cup of her bra. When the bus passed through the Boca do Rio neighborhood, the robbers suddenly announced their intention. A shoot out ensued with a police officer on the scene and a stray bullet hit Miss Pereira.
Her bra was stuffed with just enough cash to absorb most of the impact, although she still had to be taken to hospital to have the bullet removed. A retired police sergeant was shot dead during the clash with the assailants, who managed to escape.
It’s very early Spring here. Brazil is below the equator, so it’s very early Fall there. And at 13 degrees South latitude, Salvador is in the part of the world that’s bloody hot all the time anyway. I checked their local weather. It’s a brisk 90°F. Brrr!!
And 150 Reals in 20s and 10s is ... at most 14 pieces of paper money. So we’re supposed to believe that 2 thin layers of cloth and 14 thin bits of paper stopped a bullet. Um, NO. Oh wait, it only “absorbed most of the impact” and she had to have it removed. Um, NO. Don’t think so, at all.
What I think is that the banditos held up the bus with a BB gun. But, but they shot the cop dead! So it couldn’t have been a BB gun. Maybe they used a puny gun to begin with, and Miss Stuffin’ got hit with the bullet that went through the cop first. That could work. Maybe. Or the “stray” bullet went through the seat in front of her and it’s metal backing plate. Or maybe the cop and then the seat. So let’s give her bra the credit. Sheez.
I’m just pointing out that this is an odd bit of news, and it’s pretty obvious that one of the reporters wasn’t doing such a good job of actually getting the whole story. Which isn’t exactly news either.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/14/2009 at 11:55 AM
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Permalink • Monday - April 13, 2009
FLYING SCHOOL APPLIES FOR PLANNING PERMISSION. BUT CITY COUNCIL IS LAUREL AND HARDY,
The Goons ...
Abbott and Costello
THE KEYSTONE COPS ....
This little blurb appeared last week in a Richard Littlejohn column. Sorry, no link so am copying. It’s funny but it’s stupid too and shows how much thinking does not go into a council’s decision. Jeesh.
A FLYING school at an airport in Essex applied for planning permission to build an accommodation block for trainee pilots.
They were initially turned down because they didn’t have a bathroom with disabled access. EVEN THOUGH THEY PROTESTED THAT THE FLIGHT DECK OF A BOEING 737 wasn’t wheelchair compatible, the council insisted. So now they have a huge bike storage room complete with disabled toilet.
HOW DID DOUGLAS BADER MANAGE?
I should explain for Yanks who may not know. Bader was a highly decorated RAF fighter pilot in last war. Had no legs. Check out the link below. This guy was Unbelievable.
He was shot down by Germans, escaped and was captured and tried again.
The Germans so admired his bravery, they allowed an artificial leg to be air dropped at POW camp.
DOUGLAS BADER - “personification of RAF heroism during the Second World War.”
Posted by peiper
on 04/13/2009 at 01:51 PM
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Permalink • WELL NOW, IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY …. PIRATES.
Mary Beard is a wickedly subversive commentator on both the modern and the ancient world. She is a professor in classics at Cambridge and classics editor of the TLS. (That’s what it say on the site where I found this.)
Help me here guys. Is she being “wickedly funny” or just plain dumb?
Am I not reading her correctly? But then, she’s a professor. So that could explain it.
Pirates? Try the Pompey-the-Great solution?
By, Mary Beard
Times Literary SupplementExactly who is to count as a “pirate” as such will always remain a matter of opinion and dispute. for ‘pirates’ are no more objectively defined than ‘terrorists’. To most of the world, after all, Sir Francis Drake was a dreadful pirate, to the British he still somehow manages to qualify as an ‘explorer’.
But however you define them, the Romans had plenty of trouble with criminals sailing around the Mediterranean. It must sometimes have seemed hard to decide which was the greater danger of a sea voyage in antiquity: shipwreck or kidnapping by one of the many gangs of thugs looking to make quick money by getting ransom for the wealthy individuals they captured (or alternatively by selling them into slavery).
The most famous victim of this was the young Julius Caesar, who fell into pirate hands in the 70s BC. The story of this crime was almost certainly later embellished to make it a nice prequel of Caesar’s later character and career. It is said that when the pirates told him that they were going to demand 20 talents ransom money (a hefty sum), Caesar replied that he was worth much more than that —and insisted that they double it.
Some of his party went off to get the cash, leaving Caesar to live for a month or so with this captors. He is supposed to have treated them as servants, telling them not to make too much noise when he wanted to rest, making them listen to him practising his oratory, and threatening that when he was released he would have them crucified. When the ransom arrived, he was set free—and indeed, in due course, he did crucify the lot of them.
But it was Caesar’s great rival Pompey the Great who had greatest success against the pirates, with a rather more liberal approach.
By the early 60s BC, pirates had become such a menace to Mediterranean shipping that in 67 Rome gave Pompey a “special command” and vast resources to try to get rid of them. It was great opportunity for this general ‘on the make’ to demonstrate his military genius. So he divided the sea into separate operational regions and, using loyal subordinate officers, he swept the pirates off the waters in just a few months.
But Pompey was smart enough to realise that, unless they were given some other form of livelihood, they would soon be back. (This is basically the Afghanistan problem: if they don’t make their money out of the poppy crop how ARE they going to survive.) So in a wonderful, early ‘resettlement of offenders’ initiative he offered the pirates small-holdings near the coast, where they could make an honest living for themselves.
In fact Servius, the late Roman commentator on the works of Virgil, was convinced that his poet had given one of these reformed characters a walk-on part in the Georgics (4, 125ff): a old man, living near Tarentum in South Italy, peacefully keeping bees, his days of piracy long behind him.
Might this not be a better solution than a shoot out for the Somali pirates?
Posted by peiper
on 04/13/2009 at 11:59 AM
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Permalink • Dear DoD Wonk: You’re Fired
Defense officials said the U.S. military is considering attacks on Somali pirate bases on land and aid for the people there to help stop the hijacking of ships off Africa’s coast, Bloomberg.com reported.
The plan would include helping Somalia create their own coast guard and train security forces, the officials, who requested anonymity, told Bloomberg.com.
Officials said the plan would be submitted to the Obama administration as they decide how best to tackle the increase in pirate attacks off the Somali coast.
The only way to make shipping routes safe from pirates would be to disrupt their support network on land, security analysts have said.
Any actions against the pirates, defense officials said, would require the support of the Somali people, who are usually not in favor of foreign intervention.
First up, ass biscuit, the Somali government, or whatever passes for it these days, said months ago that anybody in the world could do whatever they wanted to the pirates. So, you are fired because you have ZERO awareness of what’s going on.
Next, when the ships of one nation attack and hijack the ships of another nation, it is an act of war. Go back and read your books; I think this one is on page 2. Do you have the slightest idea what a proxy is? Or a cut-out? Since the “official” Somali navy consists of 3 hungry kids with slingshots floating on a log, and Somali forces have done EXACTLY NOTHING to stem these pirates for several years, then they are actually, de facto, supporting and encouraging the pirates.
Do I need a “Thirdly”? Doctrine of hot pursuit? This is why we have Marines? Ever hear of Tripoli? Don’t Tread On Me? Being the World’s Policeman? Remember Mogadishu? Revenge? War On Terror?
You are a wiener. Go get a job with the Sierra Club. You have no business working for, or being a spokesman for, the Department of Defense. You’re fired.
The rest of the dickless dribble can be read here. Send them food! Send them aid! Send them money! Help them rebuild! Blame America! Understand their problems and provide a multi-billion dollar cure!
NO. Kill them. In quantities unseen since Dresden and Hiroshima. Without warning. Find 50 of their ships at sea and sink them. Burn everything that floats up and down their entire coast, then leave them to suffer. Scare the living hell out of the entire world. Then find another bunch and do it again. Send the message, Chicago Boy. That’s the Chicago Way.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/13/2009 at 10:38 AM
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Permalink • Canada’s Green Party urges U.S. booksellers to ban hate material.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Oh good grief. Do people actually believe that to be the truth, the whole truth and nothin’ but? I know the answer before you tell me.
Unfortunately, yeah. It is mind boggling that anyone today with all the research at hand, would still buy that out and out forgery. Even worse is the fact that if looked at rationally, it isn’t even logical. Ah, never mind. The issue is censorship. The kind of people who want to buy that, along with The Turner Diaries, already have their minds made up. These books merely confirm for them what they already believe.
I have another issue though. It’s The Green Party. My take on them is that they’re very left and I have this (I admit it) propensity to be against anything they are for. And if they’re against it, well. There may be times I have ta be for it.
They say (as does the Simon Wiesenthal Center) that the book sellers are “distributing hate material.” I say, NO THEY ARE NOT. They are selling to individuals who are looking for and buying that material. But I question the idea of distribution as it has connotations (to me anyway) of some sort of official agency of the govt. responsible for seeing to it that material is “pushed” on the public. It’s commerce. All the bans in the world will not stop people from reading what they want to. Ban it and all ya do is build a conspiracy theory with people saying, ah ha. I knew it. They don’t want me to have any information. Why? Because it’s possible that it’s all true.
I think the Wiesenthal Center was correct in asking (ok, they demanded) that the seller in question also post a notice that the Protocols were a forgery. Of course, that won’t make any difference to those buying the book who already “know” the truth. Not to make light of a serious subject but I’m even surprised that so many of those folks can read at all.
But I believe they were dead WRONG to insist that “Mein Kampf"not be sold in Germany. It’s an over long and thoroughly boring book. I tried to read the damn thing once in a school project. Couldn’t finish it. Have since read extracts and it’s still a bore and still badly written. The point is, I do know those who have read the whole damn thing (? How?) and they weren’t turned into raving anti-Semitic sword waving Nazis.
Honestly I don’t even think the ban that some countries have (Germany,Austria,France) on Nazis or on Nazi art and memorabilia and the Nazi salute (which we once used in America when pledging to our flag in school long before the NSDAP), I don’t believe that ban has any effect on those who are already predisposed that way. On the other hand, perhaps their experience is different enough from ours, that is the USA, that they fear if allowed to be open then the hate mongers will again gain the upper hand. I suppose because I am American and because all those things are easily available in the US, and so far we haven’t turned ourselves into a Nazi state, I guess I have a hard time understanding the extent of that censorship.
Or to put it another way, and pardon me please if I have to quote a Nazi to do this but it is appropriate in this case.
When the NSDAP (Nazis) were banned once, Dr. Gobbels issued the following line.
TROTZ VERBOT, NICHT TOT.
BANNED BUT NOT DEAD.
April 13, 2000 2:00 PM PDT
Canadian group urges U.S. booksellers to ban hate material
By Troy Wolverton
Staff Writer, CNET NewsLeading Internet bookstores are under fire again for selling hate literature abroad, this time from Canada.
The Green Party of Canada has accused Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com of violating Canadian criminal and customs laws by selling racist and anti-Semitic books such as “The Turner Diaries” and “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in the country. Party leaders say that although they notified the companies in February, Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com have not yet responded.
“It’s important that they take responsibility for what they are distributing out into the public,” Green Party spokesman Richard Warman said. “They have to respect the laws of other countries.”
But Canadian officials expressed doubts about whether the sale of such books over the Internet by foreign companies constitutes a crime.
“This is not straight cut,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Paul Marsh said. “It’s not straight-forward when you look at the sections.”
Representatives for Amazon were not available to comment. A Barnesandnoble spokesperson declined to comment.
The controversy is the latest incident in which an e-commerce player has been taken to task for carrying hate-related merchandise. Last month, Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com agreed to post a statement from the Anti-Defamation League calling the “Protocols of Zion” an anti-Semitic forgery.
Earlier this year, online auction giant eBay bowed to pressure from outside groups and banned the sale of items that promote hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation.
And last August, Amazon, Barnesandnoble and Borders Online came under fire from the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center for selling Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” in Germany. The companies later banned sales of the publication in the country.
Canada prohibits advocating genocide or publicly inciting hatred via spoken or written words. The country also bans the importation of hate propaganda.
The “Turner Diaries” and the “Protocols of Zion” are on a list of books that the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency consider illegal to import into the country, agency spokesman Michel Cl?roux confirmed. But with $1 billion worth of goods crossing the border from the United States into Canada every day, the agency cannot check every package that comes over the border, Cl?roux said. In any case, if the agency intercepted a shipment of banned books, it would contact the Canadian importer, not the U.S. exporter, he said. He added that the agency did not have authority to regulate the actual online sales of the books.
“Electronic commerce is outside our jurisdiction as customs officers,” Cl?roux said.
Complying with scores of complex international laws is a “classic issue” of doing business on the Internet, said Maureen Dorney, an attorney with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich. Amazon and Barnesandnoble could have some criminal liability for the sales of banned books even if they don’t have a presence in the countries they are shipping to, she said.
“If you are willing to make your products available internationally, you are potentially subject to the laws of all those jurisdictions that you are shipping to,” Dorney said.
Regardless of whether the sales are illegal, Green Party officials said the companies had a moral obligation to refrain from profiting from the sale of hate literature.
“We would like to express our general concern about the decision by Amazon.com to carry works that are self-evidently racist,” the party said in a letter to the leading e-tailer. “We do not doubt the right of these individuals to hold racist ideas, but we do question the moral and ethical basis of Amazon’s decision to profit from their distribution and how this reflects upon Amazon’s presumed desire to be a responsible corporate citizen.”
Posted by peiper
on 04/13/2009 at 09:46 AM
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Permalink • Three Flawless Shots
A little update on the pirate story
US captain freed; Somali pirates vow to retaliate
Bracing themselves on a rolling warship in choppy seas, U.S. Navy snipers fired three flawless shots to kill a trio of Somali pirates and free the American sea captain being held at gunpoint, a Navy commander said Monday.
Angry pirates vowed retaliation for the deaths, raising fears for the safety of some 230 foreign sailors still held hostage in more than a dozen ships anchored off the coast of lawless Somalia.
“From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages),” Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old pirate, told the Associated Press from one of Somalia’s piracy hubs, Eyl. “(U.S. forces have) become our No. 1 enemy.”
The nighttime operation was a victory for the world’s most powerful military, but few experts believed it would quell a rising tide of attacks in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Interviewed from Bahrain, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command chief Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said the takedown happened shortly after the hostage-takers were observed by sailors aboard the USS Bainbridge “with their heads and shoulders exposed.”
U.S. Defense officials said snipers got the go-ahead to fire after one pirate held an AK-47 so close to Capt. Richard Phillips’ back that the weapon appeared to be touching him. Two other pirates popped their heads up, giving snipers three clear targets, one official said.
Asked how the snipers could have killed each pirate with a single shot in the dark, Gortney described them as “extremely, extremely well-trained.” He told NBC’s “Today” show that the shooting was ordered by the captain of the Bainbridge.
“This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it,” said Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
A Somali pirate agreed.
“Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying,” Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan, told The Associated Press on Monday. “We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men.”
Posted by Drew458
on 04/13/2009 at 09:40 AM
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Permalink • The Free World Bars Free Speech.
After years of international scorn, the United States can claim the high ground by supporting the right of all to speak openly about religion. Otherwise, free speech in the West could die with hope of little more than a requiem Mass.
That headline caught my eye this afternoon and I thought, hello. Can it really be that bad outside a few places here and there?
Then I remembered the persecution of Bridget Bardot a couple of times for having the nerve to voice an opinion. And worse yet. She actually wrote a book giving her views on the world.
So I read the article here and while it may appear damned silly of me I must confess. I had no idea it was quite this shaky. I knew the UK was getting pretty bad in some areas. Mostly the usual PC BS.
This is from The Washington Post. It’s quite long so I’m only posting a part of it. The rest of course can be found at the link.
As for the UN .... well nothing surprises me there and I do believe you all know how I regard the UN.
The Free World Bars Free SpeechBy Jonathan Turley
Sunday, April 12, 2009; B03For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments. Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem.
But now an equally troubling trend is developing in the West. Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting more individuals for criticizing religion. The “Free World,” it appears, may be losing faith in free speech.
Among the new blasphemers is legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, who was convicted last June of “inciting religious hatred” for a letter she wrote in 2006 to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that Muslims were ruining France. It was her fourth criminal citation for expressing intolerant views of Muslims and homosexuals. Other Western countries, including Canada and Britain, are also cracking down on religious critics.
Emblematic of the assault is the effort to pass an international ban on religious defamation supported by United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann. Brockmann is a suspended Roman Catholic priest who served as Nicaragua’s foreign minister in the 1980s under the Sandinista regime, the socialist government that had a penchant for crushing civil liberties before it was tossed out of power in 1990. Since then, Brockmann has literally embraced such free-speech-loving figures as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he wrapped in a bear hug at the U.N. last year.
The U.N. resolution, which has been introduced for the past couple of years, is backed by countries such as Saudi Arabia, one of the most repressive nations when it comes to the free exercise of religion. Blasphemers there are frequently executed. Most recently, the government arrested author Hamoud Bin Saleh simply for writing about his conversion to Christianity.
While it hasn’t gone so far as to support the U.N. resolution, the West is prosecuting “religious hatred” cases under anti-discrimination and hate-crime laws. British citizens can be arrested and prosecuted under the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act, which makes it a crime to “abuse” religion. In 2008, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for holding up a sign reading “Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult” outside the organization’s London headquarters. Earlier this year, the British police issued a public warning that insulting Scientology would now be treated as a crime.
Sure, I’m aware that there’s a lot going on under the banner of free speech. But some of what we’ve seen and heard over the years does give one pause for thought. And one thought comes to mind is, where will it end?
Posted by peiper
on 04/13/2009 at 08:49 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - April 12, 2009
Barack Obama’s brother stopped from entering UK after lying to police over sex allegations.
I wonder if this fella will turn out to be the Billy Carter to Obama.
By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
Last updated at 7:20 PM on 12th April 2009The half-brother of President Barack Obama was refused an entry visa to Britain after lying to police officers about an accusation of sexual assault.
The deception occurred in November when Samson Obama, who lives in Kenya, was in Britain staying with his mother, who lives in Berkshire.
He was questioned by police about the alleged assault – which he denied – but during the investigation he used a false name and he later received a police caution.
When he applied for another visa, hoping to visit Britain last week, he was refused.
The news will be embarrassing to the US President, who had given his younger half-brother a personal tour of the White House in January when he attended the historic inauguration.
Samson, 41, and Barack, 47, are sons of Barack Obama Snr, a former goat-herder from Kenya.
Samson’s mother Kezia was Barack Snr’s first wife in Kenya. The President’s mother is Barack Snr’s second wife Ann Denham, a white American from Kansas.
Barack Snr left America in 1965 with his third wife to return to Africa where he rekindled his relationship with Kezia and Samson was born. Barack Snr was killed in a car crash when the President was 21.
President Obama and Samson first met in 1987 when Barack traced his family in Kenya.
Samson’s mother now takes pride of place at family gatherings, after the death of President Obama’s mother in 1995.
It is understood that immigration officers scrutinising Samson’s recent visa application had discovered that, at the time of his arrest in November, he had been living illegally with Kezia in Bracknell for the previous seven years.
After the alleged sexual assault, Samson told police that he was a binman called Henry Aloo, giving them his mother’s address.
His DNA, fingerprints and photograph were taken. Samson was given a caution for a public order offence but he denied sexual assault.
Detectives did not take any further action over the alleged attack.
Samson returned to Kenya and successfully applied for a transit visa to the UK in order to travel to his half brother’s inauguration in January.
His plane landed at Heathrow during the trip and he spent a night there.
After returning to Kenya again, he applied for a tourist visa to visit his mother in Bracknell, and immigration officials discovered a mismatch.
His fingerprints matched details for Henry Aloo – the name he had given officers in Britain following the alleged sexual assault.
Samson was confronted at the UK Borders Agency office in Nairobi where he was denied a visa on the grounds of deception.
It is understood that Samson denied that the offences related to him and claimed his passport had been stolen.
To support his visa application, Samson is believed to have submitted documents showing that he had a business in Nairobi. Last night it was reported that the documents were forged.
A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: ‘We oppose the entry of all individuals to the UK where we believe their presence is not conducive to the public good.’
In President Obama’s 1995 book, Dreams From My Father, he writes of meeting Samson for the first time and how he expressed disappointment that the portable tape recorder Barack brought for him as a gift was not a Sony.
Posted by peiper
on 04/12/2009 at 01:39 PM
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Permalink • US sea captain ‘released’ by Somali pirates. NAVY SEALS … RESCUE .. 3 GREMLINS BYE,BYE!
The American sea captain held hostage by Somali pirates was freed unharmed last night when the US Navy mounted a rescue mission, according to news reports.
By Mike Pflanz in Mombasa
Last Updated: 7:04PM BST 12 Apr 2009Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama, was captured last Wednesday when four Somali pirates stormed his ship in the Indian Ocean. He was held in one of the ship’s lifeboats, adrift in the Gulf of Aden, while the cargo vessel itself managed to escape. At least three American warships, including the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer from the Fifth Fleet, kept watch near the 15ft dinghy holding the American and his Somali captors.
Mr Phillips, 53, has now been released in an operation which saw three of his pirate captors killed and the fourth arrested, an American official told CNN. If so, this would be one of the few successful rescue missions mounted against Somalia’s pirates, who have captured scores of ships and hostages in recent years.
Earlier, Mr Phillips was hailed for his response to the attack on his ship. “He is a hero, he saved our lives,” said Ken Quinn, the second mate of the Maersk Alabama, which is now anchored in the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The sailors described how the pirates fired in the air and boarded the ship using “hooks and ropes”. One crew member, who gave his name as ATM Reza, said he lured one of the four armed pirates into the engine room. Then Mr Reza attacked the Somali with an ice pick, overpowering him and tying him up.
Meanwhile, Mr Phillips ordered the rest of his men to lock themselves in a cabin. He tried to ensure his colleagues’ safety by offering himself to the pirates as a prisoner.
Mr Phillips then suggested that they release him in return for their captive colleague. A deal was reached – and the American crew handed over the Somali. But the pirates reneged and bundled Mr Phillips into a lifeboat before escaping.
Before the rescue mission, the pirates were believed to have demanded their own freedom, as well as a ransom, in return for releasing Mr Phillips. This was seen as unacceptable. “The weight of American public opinion will not allow that,” said a diplomatic source in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “It would be too much of a humiliation for four guys with a couple of rifles to outwit the combined might of the USA.”
H/T GRAYJOHN who alerted me . Thanks John.
ARTICLE APPEARS IN THE TELEGRAPH
UPDATE
BBC NEWS REPORTS,
An unnamed US official told the Associated Press news agency that Capt Phillips was freed in what appeared to be a swift firefight.
Reports say he jumped overboard for a second time, and the pirates were shot and killed before they could take action to get him back.
US forces apparently took advantage of the fact one of the pirates was negotiating on the USS Bainbridge when the incident happened.
Posted by peiper
on 04/12/2009 at 01:18 PM
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Permalink • POSSIBLE SYMPATHY FOR HIJACKING PIRATES? YOU GOTTA BE CRAZY OR PLAIN STUPID. OR BOTH.
I am not going to post the whole article. Not that it doesn’t have some interest. If you’re interested, the link is below.
Some background.
A journalist named Colin Freeman, working for the Telegraph, was kidnapped in Nov. of last year while covering the pirate story along with his photographer. They were held captive for six weeks.
That’s he on the left in the photo.
Now then, I have a gripe with one statement he makes in the article, and I truly believe it’s indicitive of the thinking among many hand wringers who’d rather kiss and make up. It also appears to me, though I may be entirely mistaken, that his thinking is very much a part of Brit mindset these days. It’s as though they feel awful when they have to hurt someone who is hurting them. ?? I’ll never understand that sort of thinking.
Mr. Freeman says the following, and he can not be more wrong.
“When pondered for real, the mere thought that somebody might die because of you ---
even if it’s a kidnapper ---
---- is hard to face.”
Photo appears to have been taken while in captivity.
Posted by peiper
on 04/12/2009 at 12:54 PM
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Permalink • FRENCH RESCUE AND PHOTOS ….
Are you folks seeing this in the states?
Rescued French yacht captain Florent Lemacon may have died in friendly fire
The Frenchman who died during a military operation to free his yacht from the clutches of a Somali pirate gang may have been a victim of friendly fire, France’s government said on Saturday.
By Colin Freeman and Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
Last Updated: 2:22PM BST 12 Apr 2009In admission that will cast fresh doubts over the controversial decision to free Florent Lemacon and four other hostages by force, defence minister Herve Morin said he could not rule out the possibility that he had been hit by a French commando’s bullet.
Ok..take a good look at that woman’s face. Can there be any question at all that the French authorities acted correctly? Fresh doubts? Only among total stupid idiots! Btw, one of the pirates was below deck shooting up through the deck. French marine fired back. There is a report that a third pirate went into the drink but no report on anyone saving the savage. But it hasn’t been confirmed officially that I’m aware of. If true, I hope something with fins gets him. Stingers will do also.
An admission that will cast fresh doubts over the controversial decision to free Florent Lemacon and four other hostages by force, defence minister Herve Morin said he could not rule out the possibility that he had been hit by a French commando’s bullet.
“There will be a judicial inquiry and therefore an autopsy,” he told French radio. “One cannot exclude that during the exchange of fire between the pirates and commandos the shot was French,”The French navy also released dramatic footage of the hostage drama aboard the Tanit, the yacht on which Mr Lemacon was travelling with his wife Chloe, three year old son Colin, and another French couple.
The images, shot from a French military craft, show them sitting down in the yatch surrounded by Kalashnikov-wielding pirates on all sides. In one shot, a female hostage - looking visibly frightened - stared out to sea as a gunman pointed his assault rifle right at her head.
Other footage showed Friday’s ill-fated rescue mission itself, with a boatful of black-clad French commandos speeding toward the stricken yacht and clambering aboard. Mr Lemacon is believed to have died in an exchange of fire as he tried to duck down the yacht’s hatch. Two pirates also died in the operation, while another three were caught and are expected to be taken to France for trial.
The French government, which prides itself on taking a tough line on piracy, claimed that it launched the military operation after negotiations with the pirates broke down.
Officials said the gang had refused a ransom offer, and were intent on taking the hostages back to the mainland, where it would have been far harder for them to have been rescued. That Mr Lemacon, 28, ended up dead illustrates how potentially risky such operations are, even for special forces troops trained in hostage release. Supporters of such tactics argue, however, that the alternative tactic of paying ransoms simply encourages pirates further.
“The French assault does illustrate the real risks that are faced by ship owners, and explains why most of them agree to pay ransoms,” said Leslie Edwards, a British-based negotiations advisor with Clayton Consultants, who has handled numerous Somali hijack cases. “Their first duty is to the safety of their ship. As we say in most of the kidnaps that we deal with, it is better to be ransomed alive than rescued dead.”
The four remaining ex-hostages from the Tanit were due to arrive home in Paris today aboard a French-chartered plane. The death of the boat’s idealistic young captain, who was from Vannes, Brittany, brought to a tragic end what should have been the journey of a lifetime.
Mr Lemacon, an engineer, and Mrs Lemaçon, a sales engineer, had given up their jobs to restore the 33-year-old Tanit before setting sail last year, saying that they wanted to flee “the consumer soceity and its routine”.But as they sailed into the Indian Ocean, the dangers of the wilder, more lawless world they were entering into were spelt out to them in no uncertain terms. Last month, when they crossed paths with a French frigate participating in a European Union anti-piracy operation, they were “strongly advised” against continuing their intended voyage to Zanzibar.
The couple carried on however. In a blog of their journey, they said that they had merely been told to keep away from commercial shipping routes - although they also indicated a laissez-faire attitude to the risk of being hijacked.
“The danger is there and has indeed become greater over the past months, but the ocean is vast,” they wrote. “The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream.” In the end, that was exactly what happened.
The pirates claimed a fresh victim yesterday after hijacking an Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew - including 10 Italians - off Somalia’s northern coast. A Panama flagged bulk carrier that was also attacked yesterday managed to drive the pirates away by spraying them with waterhoses, although not before an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade landed in the commanding officers’ cabin.
Posted by peiper
on 04/12/2009 at 12:17 PM
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! • Terrorists •
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Permalink • FROM AN ARTICLE BY WELL KNOWN NATIONAL DJ (PRESENTER) ON PIRATES.
There’s a very well known radio personality here named Terry Wogan, who also has a newspaper column.
It called, WOGAN’S WORLD.
From the one today I lifted this part of it and thought it deserved it’s own post.
Sorry, no link. It came from The Telegraph.
From Wogan’s World
Sunday, April 12
Terry Wogan
A listener queries the supposed technical omniscience of superpowers who claim that they can
spot a car number - plate from an orbiting satellite, and that their submarines can detect a sea-
horse breaking wind from a mile away. How then, prey, can scruffy pirates, in large rowing boats,continue to hijack the same superpowers’ shipping? We even know who these pirates are, and where they live. What’s the problem?
Don’t tell me it’s a tax dodge.
Posted by peiper
on 04/12/2009 at 11:18 AM
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •
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Permalink • NEWS …. Pirates and hostage drifting to shore.
Breaking News
Just booted and found this ... or has it already been on the news in US?
‘Pirates and hostage drifting to shore’2 hours 48 mins ago
ITNA lifeboat used by Somali pirates holding a US ship captain is drifting toward Somalia’s coast, as US warships track it to keep the pirates from escaping to shore. Skip related content
‘Pirates and hostage drifting to shore’
The boat, which has been out of fuel for some time, had drifted to within 20 miles of the Somali coast by late on Saturday, according to US military officials.
Somali pirate sources and coastal residents said they do not think the lifeboat is anywhere near that close to shore.
A Somali mediator headed to sea to try to secure his release.
Three US warships including the destroyer USS Bainbridge are in the area around the lifeboat.
Posted by peiper
on 04/12/2009 at 10:43 AM
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •
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Permalink • Saturday - April 11, 2009
Lift Rock, Find America Living Under It
I really hate to admit that the American news media is a bit egocentric, but come on. We’ve been covering the Somali pirate thing here for well over a year. Now that ONE American ship has been hijacked, freed itself and resulted in the pirates having ONE American captive, suddenly it’s all over the news nonstop. Oh noes, what should we do? I just pulled up Fox News, and these are the top headlines ...
Who would have guessed that one of President Obama’s biggest foreign tests in his first 100 days would come from a ragtag band of pirates and a high-seas hostage drama?
Um, we did. Because it was going on for Bush too, and pretty much nobody was willing to man-up and solve the problem
FBI agents planned to interview the crew of a U.S. cargo ship Saturday as the bureau began building a criminal case against Somali pirates who attacked the ship and took the captain hostage.
Boy, if nothing else lets you know that the Clinton Cabinet is back in power, this ought to. Terrorism is back to being a law enforcement issue, so let’s use an enforcement agency that is pretty much limited to national scope to “build a case”. What a bunch of idiots.
At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap.
Now that decision is haunting hundreds of homeowners and apartment dwellers who are concerned that the wallboard gives off fumes that can corrode copper pipes, blacken jewelry and silverware, and possibly sicken people.
Dudes, I’m pretty certain I covered this one a full month ago. Where have you been??
On Friday, Somali pirates have recaptured American ship captain Richard Phillips after he jumped from a lifeboat and tried to swim to nearby U.S. Navy ship. The drama was witnessed at some distance by the U.S. Navy, but it reportedly happened so quickly they could not provide assistance. For more on this story, click here.
YOU DECIDE: As the pirate standoff continues, what should the U.S. do? Share your thoughts. Click on “Leave a Comment” below.
Me, Peiper, Christopher, Macker, and about 100 other commenters have figured this one out ages ago. Here’s the simple answer, using no words at all:
I almost feel sorry for people who don’t get their news from the internet. Usually they’re anywhere from a day to a couple weeks behind on global events. But this is almost insulting. Especially since you and I both know that Fox and CNN troll the net to get a large part of their news stories. Let’s sit back and wait another month and then laugh when the news media discovers Obama is a bolshevik, and all his past associates are either commies, crooks, or terrorists. What a hoot that will be.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/11/2009 at 09:17 PM
Filed Under: • News-Briefs • No Shit, Sherlock •
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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