Thursday, April 16, 2009

That's Cap'm Ron Paul to you, me mateys!

I thought Ron Paul was cool before he endorsed that bunch of hatemongering religious loonies who masquerade behind the name "The Constitution Party". Clearly, he was reading this blog, and has been working for months to try to find a new platform that would get us behind him.
Ron Paul: Bring back private pirate hunters with "letters of marque"
WASHINGTON – A congressman from Texas who's known for broadsides at U.S. foreign policy says Somali piracy has an age-old solution" - letters of marque" empowering private citizens to chase the criminals from the oceans.
Of course, he clearly doesn't really understand what Letters of Marque are all about. He thinks they're used by pirate hunters, when in reality they were used by pirates. It's piracy with a veneer of respectability that only matters when you go back to home waters. If France were at war with Spain, then France would issue civilian vessels letters saying "we won't consider it Piracy if you raid Spanish ships". Likewise, if the US issues letters vs Somalia, it'll mean US ships will start arming up, and sailing around Africa attacking any ship that "looked like a pirate" or sailed a Somali flag. If you start issuing such letters again, you'll be increasing, not decreasing, the number of individuals engaging in piratical behavior in the ocean.

But, since it would mean more opportunities to wear me dandy coat and little pants, I'd be a'for it. Maybe that's Ron Paul's angle on this as well. -->

1 comment:

List with Laszlo said...

The only problem is when Somali's raid a ship it's got millions of dollars worth of stuff. If we raided a Somali ship we'd get a 45 horse motor and a bunch of skinny kids.

Although this new trend could lead to an increase in parrot sales.