It's not going to go away

For Obama, this may be a distraction, but the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden is not going to go away:

Defiant Somali pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at another U.S. cargo ship on Tuesday but failed to hijack it, officials said, just days after Navy SEALs rescued an American hostage after an earlier unsuccessful hijacking.

RPGs, eh?   Doesn't that sound familiar?  

"Our latest hijackings are meant to show that no one can deter us from protecting our waters from the enemy because we believe in dying for our land," Omar Dahir Idle told The Associated Press by telephone. "Our guns do not fire water. I am sure we will avenge."

This is an interesting take on the situation.  Never mind that the majority of incidents happen in international waters.  This sounds positively Islamic, if I may be so un-PC to say so.

The Egyptian boats were taken in the gulf off Somalia's northern coast. Said Mursi, Egypt's ambassador to Somalia who is based in Kenya, said the trawlers probably did not have licenses to fish Somali waters. "From my experience, I think that they were illegally fishing," he told The Associated Press.

Commercial fishing boats have been illegally harvesting Somalia's rich and varied sea life, including sought-after yellowfin tuna, since the country collapsed into lawlessness in the 1990s. The United Nations estimates the illegal fishing costs the Horn of Africa nation $300 million annually.

Ok, so some of this is two bunches of criminals fighting over territory.  Piracy isn't exactly a civilized repsone to illegal fishing, but whatever.  The thing that bugs me is the sentence in bold (my highlight).   It only costs Somalia $300 million if that nation had the capability of fishing their own waters.  Which they don't, because they're a bunch of savages.

Hell, I estimate that it costs me $10 billion annually when Microsoft sells their operating system, because I could otherwise be selling an operating system.  Never mind that I have no capability to do so.  Maybe I should hold a few Microsoft software engineers hostage so that I can get my fair share of the operating system profits.

All right, this post has kind of spun off the rails from a "We should do something about this before it really gets out of hand" kind of thing into a "The UN is completely stupid" thing.  The bottom line:  Nobody is going to take this seriously until it's completely out of control.  Which is kind of the stage where much of "Western Civilization" is at in regard to most issues right now.  Good luck with all that.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 7

Woo-hoo! One week smoke free!  I'm overjoyed thrilled happy utterly fucking miserable.

The good news is my brain shut itself down completely today, so I have almost no recollection of anything that happened.  Which is almost too bad as there's enough loose fur lying around the cave to make me wonder what the fuck did happen.  Maybe I have a subconcious urge to shave squirrels or something.  Once I have enough energy again, in a month or so, maybe I'll look around for some suspiciously naked animals in my neck of the woods.

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Cutting through the Economic BS

As much of the blogosphere has stagnated, and almost everyone who tries to discuss economics or markets has no clue whatsoever, I'm always on the lookout for new sites (at least new to me).

The Market Ticker, after a bit of reading, reinforces a lot of my own views on economics, while at the same time challenging my thinking in regard to inflation and several other areas. It's a bit apocolyptic, but then again so are my opinions ... hell, I feel like I could have written a number of the posts myself. Er, that is if I were blogging when I was actually coherent and not from the depths of nicotine-deprived hell.

Anyway, it's a site to keep an eye on.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 6

Note to self:  Dried pine needles wrapped in leaves go up way too fast to smoke.

Side notes:  Research methods for rapid eyebrow regrowth/replacement.  Cancel order for nose hair trimmer.

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Time to riot!

Phil Spector has been found guilty of murder. This is a racially-motivated outrage that cannot be ingnored! White people everywhere should get in their minivans, drive down to the nearest Lowes or Best Buy and start rioting and looting! There's a really nice table saw I've had my eye on that is just screaming to be liberated in the name of truth, justice, and extremely bad hair.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 5

Woke up in the middle of the night, hearing something rummaging around in my cave.  Forgetting what day it was, I figured it was just that damn possum again, looking through the trash.  Extremely pissed-off as the only time I can forget about my nicotine cravings is when I'm asleep (or unconscious).   Got out my trusty 4-iron (the perfect club to whack possums with) and proceeded to flail wildly around the cave.

Well, of course, it wasn't the damn possum, it was the fucking Easter Bunny.  Forgetting just how nasty the Easter Bunny can be, I tried to threaten him with the 4-iron into giving me a pack of smokes for Easter.  You can imagine the result:

The intense pain of my injuries have mostly overwhelmed the nicotine cravings, so I guess that's something.

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Well played on the pirate stand-off ... so far

Three scumbags dead and one in custody.  The captain made it out alive.  Nicely done Navy and big kudos to the captain who seemed to show courage and resolve throughout.  I'm not going to nit-pick Obama's ROE on this part of the operation, as it got the job done.

So, what next?  There had best be a 'next' as the current environment in the Gulf of Aden can not be allowed to remain as it is.  American lives and cargo were in jeapordy, and the Navy and FBI just expended a major amount of resources dealing with the situation.

As it looks like the remaining pirate basically turned himself in prior to the shootout, I'm fine with a range of options other than hanging.  I'd prefer that he not get an American trial, as that would just turn into a circus and cost us money keeping him behind bars the rest of his life.  I'm not sure what the best option is in dealing with him.  I doubt he wants to go back to piracy, as he'd likely be killed by other pirates at this point anyway.

However, the most important part of this saga is yet to come.  Will Obama have the balls to order a serious anti-piracy military operation?  I strongly doubt it ... I expect him to just breathe a sigh of relief that the captain is alive and get on with the business of spending the US into poverty.  Clinton did exactly that with far more serious attacks on the US around the globe (although the business he got on to was a bit more .... personal).  Come on Obama, surprise me and grow a pair.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 4

Apologies for there being no day 3 to this diary.  I had every intention of making an entry, but during a massive nicotine fit, I rammed my head into the cave wall so hard I knocked myself out until this morning.

Woke up with a terrible headache.  Comforted myself with about 2,000mg of ibuprofin.  Starting to think that repeatedly knocking myself unconscious, followed by massive doses of painkillers, may be the best strategy to overcome nicotine addiction.  Ran headfirst into the cave wall again.

Came-to once more at about 3pm in a pool of mostly-dried blood.  Found an interestingly shaped patch of scalp and hair stuck to the cave wall above me.  Tried to light it on fire and smoke it.  The smell of singed hair reminded me of the abuse I used to take during welding lessons in shop class.  Never really caught fire, though.

Decided to take out my frustration and aggression against defenseless inanimate objects.  Spent the rest of the afternoon smashing everything in the cave that looked like it couldn't hit back.  Feel much better now, and remembering that exercise is supposed to help with withdrawl symptoms.

I'd try to get some more exercise, but one of the things I seem to have smashed is my Wii-Fit board.  Just as well, as that fucking thing was always bitching at me about how long it had been since I had last used it.  Reminds me of a nympho-psycho-girlfriend from ages ago.  Tried to look up her phone number.  No luck.  Damn, I hate life.

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I'm sure the pirates are terrified now

In one of the single most appalling news articles I have ever read, the AP (via Fox) discusses the FBI's investigation into the pirates:

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.

...

"If there were ever a U.S. victim of one of these attacks or a U.S. shipping line that were a victim, our Justice Department has said that it would favorably consider prosecuting such apprehended pirates," Stephen Mull, the acting undersecretary of state for international security and arms control, told Congress last month.

Hey FBI -- thanks for supporting the military with your crack hostage negotiation skills, now GTFO.  And while I'm glad that the short-bus boys at Justice would at least consider prosecuting priates, why should they even be involved?

I sincerely hope that this is not the approach the administration is going to take.  This is not fricking Bonnie and Clyde running around hitting up banks.  If we don't take some serious military action, not only is the Somalia situation going to continue to degrade, the rest of the world is going to know it's open season on Uncle Sam.

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Belated Congratulations to Lindsey Vonn

I don't follow mainstream sports much these days, but I do follow the World Cup of Skiing. This year, American Lindsey Vonn cemented her spot atop the womens' ski universe by winning her second straight World Cup overall title, as well as the downhill and Super-G titles. Best of luck to her next year in the Winter Olympics, where she'll have the burden of being the heavy favorite in at least two events.

Oh, as an added bonus, she's rather attractive:

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Can I choose the activity if I win?

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Thoughts on the Pirate Standoff

The latest news report on the situation is here.  My thoughts:

• The only reason to drag this out is to allow the armed forces to gather intel on the pirates' operations.  Once they have sufficient intel to completely dismantle their operations, they should move to end the showdown.
• The pirates must not be allowed to move the captain to land, nor can they be allowed to transfer him to another vessel.  The military knows exactly where he is right now and that advantage cannot be handed away.
• The pirates want $2 million?  Our counter should be plain and simple:  Turn him over immediately and we'll let you live ... for now.  If you don't, we'll take no prisoners and you can either die fighting or be hung after capture.
• Once the immediate situation is resolved, which may unfortunately include the death of the captain, the forces built up in the area should give the warning that the shelling of pirate ports and vessels will commence after a reasonable time for people to leave the area.

The main complicating factor is that the pirates also hold hostages from other nations.  One hopes the administration is doing some behind-the-scenes work with their nations regarding that situation.  If the pirates attempt to bring those ships into play in the current standoff, it would create a huge set of additional problems, which makes prompt resolution of the standoff even more important.

America needs to send a very strong message that this activity will no longer be tolerated in any way, shape, or form.  Will we?  Probably not, as we've become so emotionally risk-averse as a nation, that securing the life of the captain will likely be our top priority, rather than doing our best to stop the pirates from committing more hijackings and hostage takings.  I sincerely hope the guy comes out of this in one piece, but it simply can't be our top priority.

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Diary of an Ex-Smoker -- Day 2

Note:  There is no Day 1 for this diary, as it's impossible to type when you're curled up at the back of your cave whimpering like Al Gore after Tipper has just found your porn stash.

Today, I had a somewhat better day.  I managed to work my way out of the fetal position around noon.  Spent a few hours searching for any shreds of tobacco lying around, and cursing myself for being so thorough in disposing of my old nemesis.

Found a scrap of cardboard from an old carton of Marlboros and spent about 45 minutes licking it.  Didn't really help.

Rummaged around the cave aimlessly until finding an old pellet rifle.  Put that aside and filled up the bird feeder hanging from a tree near the cave entrance.  Spent the rest of the afternoon taking pot-shots at the birds coming to feed.  Hands so shaky from lack of nicotine that I only managed to hit a crippled sparrow that couldn't even get off the ground to get at the feeder.  Tried to light the sparrow on fire and smoke it.

Well after dark and I gave up trying to smoke the sparrow.  The good news:  It's pretty well cooked through (although smelling strongly of butane), so at least I have something for dinner.  That's it for today.

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Zombie fanatics getting out of touch

I know everyone over at DPUD reads the failblog, so I find it extremely surprising that this hasn't shown up there yet.

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The danger of using market levels to score political points

On January 16th, the last trading day prior to Obama's inauguration, the market levels were 8281, 844, and 1529 for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indicies respectively.  During the subsequent fall to their March lows, conservative blogs continually pointed at the collapse in these indicies as proof that Obama's financial policies were a disaster.

Today, after rallying for about a month, these same indicies closed at 8083, 857, and 1653.  Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of conservative blogs have stopped talking about the index levels.  Using their previous logic, Obama would have to get credit for somehow reversing the course of the markets such that they're now above (on balance, the Dow being the narrowest index) where they were prior to his inauguration.

In fact, if I were a typically idiotic lefty blogger, I'd be trying to give Obama credit for the entire rally, while laying the sell-off at Bush's feet.  It wouldn't be too hard to make a seemingly good case that the markets sold off due to Obama's honesty in detailing the trouble Bush left us in, but then rallied due to his approach to the situation.

Do I actually believe this?  Of course not.  Of course, I didn't believe that Obama's policies had much to do with the sell-off either.  The only extent to which Obama should get credit in either direction is the initial uncertainty about his policies (Geithner running around like a chicken with his head cut off), followed by some indication of a plan (the quality of the plan is largely immaterial in the short term).  Markets hate uncertainty, and short of Obama saying he was going to nationalize everything and wipe out the equity holders, they were going to rally on any semblance of organization in the new administration's approach to the financial situation.

The lesson?  Most bloggers know nothing about markets and should stick to discussion of policy rather than pointing to index levels when they seem to support their positions.

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If a blog is written from a cave, does it make the intertubes?

Finally, after being a blog consumer / commenter since the early days of blogging (when we had to use tin cans and string to make comments), I've started a blog.

Hermit Dave, you are asking yourself, why the fuck would a hermit start a blog?  First, go find your own cave.  Second, I started quitting smoking for the 7th time today and I'm going insane.

I don't expect this blog to be read by anyone.  I don't give a rat's ass about my statistics.  The sole purpose of this blog is to amuse myself while I try to forget about how much I want a smoke.

So, there you have it ... the one and only reason for this blog.  Now, go away.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 07:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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