Open Thread

I had Thanksgiving dinner with my sister-in-law’s side of the family, and one of them, a former merchant marine man, works for a shipping line that has tankers. He said that arming merchant ships would lead to bigger problems all over the world, much worse than just off the coast of Somalia. Every paranoid or lawless country with a coastline could fire on them with “cause”, crippling shipping all over the world. The general public doesn’t realize many billions of dollars of goods are shipped, and how much we rely on shipping for import/export. Ships kidnapped by Somali pirates are a drop in the bucket.

That said, the real problem is that Somalia has no government, no infrastructure, no one doing squat, EXCEPT for the pirates, who have established entire industries in that country out of pirated goods and ransoms. Like poppy growers in Afghanistan or coca growers in Columbia, it’s unrealistic to expect a dirt poor, starving Somalian to bite the only hand that’s feeding them. More effort needs to go into rebuilding the country from within, so becoming a pirate isn’t the only job available, and public sympathy both within the country and without, isn’t with the pirates. That, of course, will not happen anytime soon, if ever, unless oil is discovered in Somalia.

I think Tiger Woods is HOT.

Kens, if you were my tenant I’d let you roast a goat in the yard. I love roasted goat, especially baby goat!!!

Hola losers! I’m baaaaaack!

Cargar, I think Tiger is doing the right thing by refusing to speak on it in detail. Society has this ridonkulous notion that everything a celeb does is automatically their business and it’s not. No crime was committed so I also agree with his refusing to talk to the police. I think the only person he owes an explanation to is his neighbor whose tree he hit (and only if the tree is severely damaged).

“Do you think that if you backed out of your driveway at 2:30 a.m. and hit a fire hydrant in a gated community, you’d be required to explain to the world?”

Well, not to the world, unless I was a ubiquitous public figure. If I was a mere mortal, and I also hit a neighbor’s tree at 2:30am, and my wife smashed the car windows with a golf club, I would expect to be required to explain it to the investigating police at least.

“And weekly cash allowances from DIBS.”

ROFL, spit out my coffee on that one, Biff!