Morning Coffee (146)

Good Morning. I meant to get this Brewed yesterday, but was unable to do so as I went to the Mariner's Museum in Newport News to check out the preservation effort of the USS Monitor. I recommend checking this museum out if you ever make it to the Norfolk region. Interestingly, on the way to the museum we saw in the distance the commissioning ceremony for the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). It was a good day, but I failed as the Brewer.

Man on Wire:
The other night I watched a fascinating documentary about a Frenchman named Philippe Petit. I really hope you've heard of him, but I sort of doubt it. Petit was a high-wire artist, and by 1974 had used his skills to walk on wires strung across a number of famous structures including Notre Dame de Paris and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. But since 1968, Petit had aspired to tackle the ultimate - to walk on a wire strung between the not-yet finished World Trade Center towers. Amazingly, he did just that. After years of meticulous planning, going so far as making a scale model of the towers, Petit spent 45 minutes walking, kneeling, sitting, and laying on a wire that stretched across the 140 foot gap that separated the towers, all at a height of 1,368 feet. The story is spell-binding, and the feat is truly amazing.

Petit got arrested, as he did after most of his stunts involving breaking into or trespassing on certain sites, but he came out alright in the end. His punishment was to perform for a group of school children, which he did. He also helped bring positive news to the towers, which weren't at all popular at the time of their construction. And he received a lifetime pass to the observation deck to the towers.

While the man himself somewhat annoys me, being a melodramatic beatnik whose passion likely immolates everything and everyone he touches, I cannot deny that his feat is one of the most wondrous I've ever seen. I am glad he did it. Perhaps it will help exorcise the other images of the towers from my head.

Blagojavich to be Deposed:
Moving on to something far less inspiring, it appears that the Illinois House finally grew some guts and have voted to impeach Governor Blagojavich. The trial could start within a couple of weeks, and a two-thirds majority of the Illinois Senate, which will act as the jury in this trial, could see Blagojavich removed from office. Considering that the vote in the House to impeach Blago was 114-1 with one vote of present (116 total), I assess that Blago's days are rather numbered as the Senate has about the same amount of love for the man as the House. Blago's response to the impeachment was to go out for a run, which he does a lot of, apparently. It's probably some deep-seated psychological issue; running away from his problems. He actually compared his recent trials and tribulations to the loneliness of long-distance running. Right. Every 10 mile run I ever did was just like being impeached and forced from office. He then said his work to help the people of Illinois is not an impeachable offense. This is true. But it's possible that trying to sell a US Senate seat is.

In other Blago-related news, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Blago's appointment of Roland Burris to the US Senate doesn't need to be consummated with a signature from the State Secretary of State, and that the Court would not force the Secretary to sign the appointment. I find this to be wonderful. The Court's job is not to legislate from the bench, but merely to determine what is legal. And Blagojevich still has the legal right to appoint the replacement for Barack Obama. Separation of powers, folks; it's really a beautiful thing so long as we understand it (which most of us apparently don't). I'm sure many of us will look at the Court's decision as supporting Blago and Burris, but that's not the case at all. They're doing their job. No more, no less.

More Corruption, Brought to you by the Uncorruptable:
Further disproving Democrat assertions that only Republicans are morally bankrupt buffoons whose ranks teem with the corrupt, yet another Democratic politician has been outed. This time it's Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, who although is the city's first female mayor, also seems to be as corrupt and immoral as her male counterparts (Spitzer, Blago, Kilpatrick, Patterson, etc, etc). Dixon was yesterday charged with a mere 12 counts of relatively minor infractions such as felony theft, perjury, fraud, and misconduct in office. She allegedly accepted $15,348 in gifts from a former boyfriend who happened to be a city developer, and also may have used $3,400 in gift cards to buy electronics for herself and her staff. What's the big deal? Some of the gift cards were donated to her office so that she could give them to needy families. I guess she needed them more than they did.

She didn't go for a run after the charges were made public, but she says that she won't let those charges deter her from "keeping Baltimore on the path we have set." Some path, Mayor. Some path. Perhaps all Baltimoreans (this is a real word) would like to be set on the path to a possible 85 years in prison too.

Frankified Elections:
Joe Carson, of the online magazine Salon, says, in essence, that unless critics can prove that Franken stole the elections, they should just shut up and accept his win in Minnesota. I wholeheartedly agree; good advice for Republicans to follow, lest they sound like their opposition once did. I just wonder where this Joe Carson guy was 8 years ago when liberals were accusing George Bush of the same thing? Consistency, friends. Just try it once. You might like it.

Silver Ladle of Justice Pours its Foamy Cream Over the Just-Picked Strawberries of Piracy:
In a laughable turn of events, it seems that the Somali pirates who hijacked the oil tanker Sirius Star, got what they asked for, and then some. Well, they sort of got what they asked for; they had to settle for a $3 million ransom, rather than the $16 million they wanted. But they got an immediate return on their investment of time and energy; five of the eight pirates died when their boat capsized. So much for stellar seamanship. Blackbeard is rolling in his grave. Apparently, the pirates argued over the loot and how to split it, and then, on their high-speed trip back to shore, ran into some heavy waves and sank. And the ones who died took their cash with them. Oh, sweet justice. (Thanks to The Tick for the header to this segment - the cancellation of this show was a tragedy.)

The news of dead pirates comes on the heals of an announcement by the US Navy that it will head a new anti-piracy task force. From what I've read, this new task force will have no authority to do anything, but is expected to make command and control more efficient. Wow. What an exercise in bureaucratic futility. A task force that cannot take the fight to the pirates, but instead focused on coordinating...I don't know what, is worthless. Better communications between warships of dozens of navies is important, but it does little if there isn't a combined effort to bring the might of those warships to bear. Maybe we're moving in that direction. Someone needs to establish some clear rules of engagement.

To close this segment, a eulogy for those brave, albeit foolish pirates, as read by The Tick:

"Death. The eternal blink. The capricious dance of Now You Stop Moving Forever. Well, contrary to popular belief, death isn't just for dead people. It can happen to anyone. I know, it's news to me too. And it's not just people either, it's all kinds of stuff. Horses, fiddler crabs. Did you know that even a potato... can die?"

Word of the Day: Fastidious (adjective): Hard to please; extremely refined or critical.

On This Day in History: Emperor Theodosius I is born (347). Theodosius was a very important figure in early Christianity. The Michigan Territory is created (1805). Insulin is first used to treat diabetes in a human patient (1922). Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies. Japan captures Kuala Lampur (1942). The US and UK give up territorial rights in China (1943). US Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry states that smoking may be hazardous to health, which is the first government statement saying as such (1964). East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh (1972). Legendary US Marine aviator and recipient of the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross Gregory "Pappy" Boyington dies (1988).

"Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct." - Thomas Jefferson. Because this bears repeating.

Morning Coffee (138)

Your Brewer is still in the Coffee business, I assure you. There's just so little time these days.

Semi-Change We Can Sort of Believe In:
Everyone, how is your change? No, I'm not asking for a status report on your pocket change. I'm asking about the change you were promised during the recent election and how it's working out for you. Personally, I'm impressed. President-elect Obama's choices for his Cabinet consist largely of unknowns. Tom Daschle, Hillary Clinton, Emanuel Rahm. Arizona governess Janet Napolitano. Senator John Kerry. New Mexico governor and recent Presidential candidate Bill Richardson. I've heard Dick Gephardt's name thrown around too. Oh, wait. They're sort of well-known; infamous even. Good times. Well, when you're candidate's entire platform is as vague as "change" then I suppose you sort of get what you paid for. I mean, it is technically change, right?

Since we're talking about change, we might as well discuss the debacle of the Clinton nomination to the post of Secretary of State. Some say it's impossible, that Obama is suggesting her to placate some Democrats who feel jaded by Obama's failure to select her as his running mate. Some say that Obama will use Bill Clinton's many donors as a reason not to select her for the top diplomatic spot. Some say she won't accept it because after all, she's a Senator already. On one had, she should be wary, because as Colin Powell once noted, the Secretary of State serves at the President's leisure. He could fire her in two years. Then she'd be out of a government job altogether. But I say that she'll take the post, and will be confirmed with ease. This will be good in one sense, as New York will hopefully get a Senator who, you know, actually lived in New York.

"Let There be Jobs...and Other Stuff!":
By 2011, Barack Obama will "create 2.5 million jobs...to rebuild roads and bridges and modernize schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars." And on the Seventh Day, he will rest.

Final Political Thoughts of the Day:
Term limits. Term limits. Term limits.

Also, I would like to propose that all persons seeking higher office must relinquish their present position in order to run for that higher office. For example, if I'm a sitting senator, and I'm say, selected as a running mate to a Presidential candidate or if I decide to run for President myself, then I give up my seat in the Senate. If I fail in my VP/Presidential bid, then I'm out of a job. I'm welcome to run for office again in the future, of course.

Why would I have such a stupid idea? To avoid situations like in Delaware, where Joe Biden kept his seat in the Senate, but will not serve out his term as he's the next VP. I should also mention that he refused to debate his challenger, which meant that she was unable to do much campaigning. There are rules in Delaware that forbid certain campaigning unless both candidates are present. So now the governor of Delaware gets to pick the Senator, which doesn't sound terribly democratic in my humble view.

More pragmatically, I don't get to tell my boss that I'm going to leave work four days out of five in order to look for work elsewhere, but that I expect to be paid as if I were doing my job, and that if I fail to secure another job, I expect to be able to come back to work as if nothing had happened. Why should politicians be afforded something so utterly unfeasible most American workers?

Arrrr, these be pirate waters, matey:
Have you heard about this piracy situation? Well you would have five months ago had the Morning Coffee not been hijacked (pun intended) by the Presidential election. I had been planning on writing expressing my assessment that the problem would explode by 2009. Now I just look like a jumper of bandwagons.

Regardless, the problem has indeed exploded, most notably off the Horn of Africa (get a map), but also in the Gulf of Guinea. The Somali pirates have attacked more than 140 ships this year, and hijacked 36 of them, including the largest ship ever captured, the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star, which is carrying two million barrels of oil (~$100 million worth) and was destined for the United States. A few months ago, the pirates took the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying Soviet/Russian made weapons. The Kenyan government estimates that the Somali pirates have made $150 million so far. Nigerian pirates, both in and out of water, were blamed as part of the reason oil soared above $100 a barrel. Where is that money going? Some fear to Islamic extremists in Somalia. Check out THIS map to see the global activity of pirates.

Clearly, these pirates have become more brazen. I attribute this to companies' willingness to pay ransom demands for ships and crews captured. This is a cycle: pirates capture ships, demanding on average $2 million per, companies pay them, they buy new equipment intent on taking more ships and making more money. The problem grows. I think, though, that these pirates will become victims of their own success. The capture of the Sirius Star is likely the breaking point. Two million barrels of oil is a lot, and that does have an impact on the global markets. If these pirates get $35 million or more for the ship and its cargo, then they will be encouraged to do it again, and most nations don't like having their oil supply messed with.

The US Navy has been chomping at the bit for a mission, with the Army and Marine Corps getting all the glory in Iraq and Afghanistan. It now looks like they might have one. Problem is, the Navy has been shadowing the MV Faina since September, and hasn't really done anything. This is not due to a lack of capability, but a lack of guidance and direction from higher (i.e. the President/NATO/UN). The US Navy would make mincemeat out of most pirate vessels, and the Marine Corps and special ops units deploying from Navy ships have a capability called VBSS - visit, board, search, and seizure. I will say though, 2.5 million square miles of ocean is a lot of area to cover, so finding ships is sometimes problematic. But again, someone has to direct the Navy to act. This is all very touchy with the Law of the Sea and what not. Of course, the United States and its sailors and Marines do have some experience fighting piracy.

That is all for today. Perhaps more tomorrow?

Word of the Day: Nabob (NAY-bob) (noun): 1. A native ruler in India in the Mogul empire; by extension, a person from Indian who has made a fortune there. 2. A very wealthy and prominent person, a mogul.

On This Day in History: British pirate Edward Teach (Blackbeard) is killed off the coast of North Carolina by a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robery Maynard (1718). President John Kennedy is assassinated (1963). Mike Tyson defeats Trevor Berbick to become the youngest heavyweight champ in history (1986).

"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned." - Anonymous.

Edit: Corrected my apparently atrocious spelling.