Tuesday, February 24

Maritime Monday 150 Posted at gCaptain

This week's edition of Maritime Monday has been posted at gCaptain.


You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find Maritime Monday 100 here. (Published 02 March 2008).

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Sunday, February 22

$198 Million in 'Stimulus' Money to be Distributed in the Philippines

Don't get me wrong, the people that are going to get this money certainly deserve to be recognized and compensated. However, this should never have been done through a bill that was intended to stimulate the US Economy.
Senators say their goal is to stimulate the U.S. economy, but the Senate's economic recovery package spends up to $198 million in lump-sum payments to aging Filipino veterans of World War II -- two-thirds of whom don't live in the U.S. and are unlikely to be pumping much money into the economy.

The money, long-sought by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii Democrat, would go to about 15,000 living veterans who served in World War II as a part of U.S.-led forces and who were promised postwar benefits, including U.S. citizenship. - Washington Times
This is something that should have been done decades ago. But guess what, Congress blocked it. And odds favor that it would have been a Democrat-Controlled Congress that reneged on the promise.
Those promises were revoked by Congress soon after the war, and Filipino veterans have spent the years since pressing for compensation. Mr. Inouye said the payments are long overdue, and are urgent. - Washington Times
Anyway, here is a good-sized chunk of 'stimulus' money that will stimulate nothing more than printing machines at the US Treasury. This money should have been passed in a simple bill that specifically honored their service instead of treating this payoff like it was a secret. (Because it was intended to be a secret. One costing us $198 Million.)

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Thursday, February 19

Ammunition - "A year's worth of inventory was sold in two months"

I was talking with an ammunition manufacturer at the Nation's Gun Show over this past weekend. I was looking for some ammo for my M1 Carbine and figured that I would just pick some up at the show instead of ordering it over the internet.

Short story, they did not have any ammo and they didn't know when they would be able to make more. He then clarified that they don't know when they will have more .30 cal. carbine ammo because they cannot source the parts to make more. He said that there are all sorts of shortages because a year's supply of ammunition was sold in a period of two months. This caught the industry by surprise and they have been unable to adjust fast enough to meet the increased demand.

Seems that I need to do an inventory of what I have.
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Monday, February 16

Maritime Monday 149 Posted at gCaptain

This week's edition of Maritime Monday has been posted at gCaptain.


You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find Maritime Monday 99 here. (Published 25 February 2008).

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cove-point-feb-2008-010-500 Maritime Monday 99

LNG Carrier ARCTIC DISCOVERER

cove-point-feb-2008-030-500 Maritime Monday 99

cove-point-feb-2008-057-500 Maritime Monday 99

cove-point-feb-2008-059-500 Maritime Monday 99

cove-point-feb-2008-058-500 Maritime Monday 99

Click on the image below for more details about LNG:

LNG Primer Animation

Also, be sure to check out Maritime Monday 36 which has photos of the Statoil LNG carrier ARCTIC PRINCESS, a tank diagram and Statoil’s presentation ‘The Long Road to LNG’ which gives an overview of an LNG plant.


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Saturday, February 14

SS UNITED STATES going up for Sale/Scrap

The classic American oceanliner, SS UNITED STATES appears to be going up for sale:

The SS United States Conservancy has learned that the SS UNITED STATES will soon be listed for sale. The SS UNITED STATES was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) in 2003, and ownership of the vessel was recently transferred to a holding company controlled by NCL’s parent company, Hong Kong-based Star Cruises. In light of current economic conditions, the SS UNITED STATES is now in grave danger of being sold for scrap. The Conservancy’s press release related to the impending sale of the ship is available here. - SS United States Conservancy




Looks like the clock is ticking. Unfortunately, I can’t see this ending well. After all, the ship has been out of service since 1969.

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Friday, February 13

"Failed - house.gov"

I attempted to download the latest Stimulus Bill mess this morning with no luck. The download failed each time a couple minutes into each attempt.


I guess this is par for the course with this new Congress. Word is that it is not possible to do a word search on the document. I was trying to download the document so that I could convert it back using text recognition so that the document could be searched. I can't see how the document could have been created that way (turning the text into unsearchable images) other than on purpose. This is a pretty nasty thing to do to people who are interested in reading this legislation, worse so given that it is over 1,000 pages long. So shame on the Democrats for this. Not that it matters, given that their behavior is so poor to begin with.

Not for anything but I suspect that this very bill will come back to bite President Obama and a number of other Democrats, eventually. This is provided people start caring a little bit more.

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Thursday, February 12

Bank Inside European Parliament Building Robbed at Gunpoint

You just have to love how bold the person who did this was, especially considering that he got away with it. I would think that this would be like robbing someone inside the US Capital Building:
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A lone robber attacked a bank located inside the European Parliament building in Brussels on Thursday (12 February) afternoon, causing major disruption.

The attack occurred at around 4pm local time at a branch of the ING bank inside the parliament's Paul Henri Spaak (PHS) building in the heart of the European quarter.

"The man showed a gun, or something that like looked like a gun, the staff were afraid so they gave him the cash in the drawer and he escaped," European Parliament head spokesman Jaume Duch told this website. - EUobserver
He managed to rob the bank with something that looks like a gun? I guess when you disarm the population, anything that remotely looks like a gun is all you're going to need to pull off your robbery.
"It is not known whether the gun involved was real or fake," said the parliament spokesman. "Of course if it was a fake, it would be very difficult to prevent this sort of thing." - EUobserver
What, security doesn't look for fake guns? In the end it would not have mattered if it was real or fake, because in this incident all he needed was a fake gun. As a bonus, if he got caught, a fake gun probably would earn him gun crime charges as well. This is a good example of why the acts need to be punished not the gun. Guess they will have to outlaw fake guns as well. Maybe they should make robbing banks illegal as well...

How long before we see fake gun copycat crimes across the EU?

UPDATE (13 Feb): "European Parliament robber got €50,000"

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The bank heist at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday scooped €50,000, with police still looking for the robber on Friday. - Link
Not bad for a couple minutes work.

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"Good News" from the United Nations, Nigeria

You have all seen dozens of variations of the Nigeria money scam. Here is a new one you probably have not seen, yet.

According to the email, the whole world is getting bailed out...
From: United Nations [mailto:mailer@un.org]
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 8:07 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: GOOD NEWS.

Attn:Sir/ma.

How are you today and hope all is well with you and family?You may not understand why this mail came to you,but i will implore you to take your time to carefully go through this mail.

We have been having a meeting for the pass 7 months which ended 4 days ago at our office head quarters New York(UNITED NATIONS). This email is to all the people that feel they have been scammed in any part of the world,the UNITED NATION have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$ 100,000.

This includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.

We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you,this have been agreed upon and has been signed. You are advised to contact Mr. Jim Ovia of ZENITH BANK NIGERIA PLC, as he is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your Cheque/International Bank Draft of USD$ 100,000. This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose OK? so he will send it to you and you can clear it at any bank of your choice.

Therefore, you should send him your full Name and telephone number/your correct mailing address where you want him to send the Draft to you.

Contact:Mr. Jim Ovia immediately for your Cheque:
Person to Contact Mr. Jim Ovia
Email: mrjimovia1968@gmail.com

Thanks and God bless you and your family. Hoping to hear from you as soon as you cash your Bank Draft.

Making the world a better place.

Regards,
Mr. Kofi Anann
Former Secretary (UNITED NATIONS).
Good luck with that!

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Wednesday, February 11

"The economy will recover faster if workers are willing to seek out and seize distant opportunities"

I have said this before. People should look at moving to where the work is:
Barack Obama has been caught spouting some of his socialist thoughts. Too bad he is close to the right idea, he just has it backwards. Instead of calling to redistribute wealth to the poor, the poor should be encouraged to move to where the jobs and money are today.

Don't Redistribute wealth. Redistribute the poor.

Think about it. Businesses and their related jobs move all the time. Sure, some go away due to advances in technology and others move out of the country entirely. Still, the United States has more manufacturing jobs than any other country on the planet, including China. (There were reports that China will overtake the US in 2009, but I doubt that now that the credit crisis has struck China.)

The poor are to a degree the victims of local government. Local governments fail to keep businesses, but they manage to keep many local residents from moving away, mainly with promises, handouts and programs such as rent stabilization and rent control.

and

Even better is using the money to help people move to where the jobs are. And there are many jobs out there. Look at all the immigration raids where they detain hundreds of illegal aliens at a single factory. The poor can relocate to take those jobs.

One group sure to oppose this suggestion is the Democrat politicians. By keeping the poor where they are, they have trapped a very reliable voting block and allowing them to move will put their own careers, and reason for wasteful socialist spending programs at risk.

The rest of us move around the country for work all the time. Migration of the workforce is one reason why the US traditionally has a low unemployment rate. As it states in the quote above, many Ohioans are 'voting with their feet' moving out of the state to greener pastures. The poor should be encouraged to move as well. This would not only help them escape a life of poverty, but would also help them escape high crime areas. That is something much better to assist them with, instead of trying to train them for work that does not exist in their part of the country anymore. - Don't Redistribute wealth. Redistribute the poor
Imagine my surprise when I heard a confirmation of my comments on NPR's Marketplace Morning report on my drive in to work:
Staying busy and socially active is crucial. But nothing compares to quickly getting back to work. Of course, that's easier said than done in this economy. And the best advice for many may be the hardest to swallow: pull up roots and move to where the jobs are.

If you're near a city with lots of opportunity, it can make sense to stay put and search locally for something new. But when the one big employer in your small town shuts down, it's easy to fall into the trap of waiting for something to come around the bend -- of hoping your congressman will wrangle stimulus money for your hometown's shovel-ready salvation. But the longer you wait for a job to come to you, the worse the sting of unemployment can get.

Demographers say Americans are more rooted, less mobile than ever -- despite conventional wisdom. But the economy will recover faster if workers are willing to seek out and seize distant opportunities. And despite the pain of relocation, many of the unemployed will recover lost happiness quicker if they recover a little of that lost spirit of American mobility. Jobward, ho! - Marketplace Org
Eventually, people are going to have to move to where the work is or they will become ever more dependent on Government aid. There is work out there, but it seems that much of it is in areas of the country that people will have to move to, to get those jobs.

And there are jobs out there. Look at all the illegal alien raids at factories in the south and in the west. Factories are hiring thousands of illegal aliens, not because they are cheaper, but because there are no legal aliens in the area to take all the positions. Unfortunately, you are not going to see any Democrats suggesting or even attempting to assist unemployed people move to where the jobs are. This is a shame and this is one reason why you have all the problems that you have in inner cities with high unemployment and crime. The jobs moved away but the people who did those jobs did not. That would have been OK if the jobs were replaced, but they were not. They were replaced with Government aid. (See my posts "Don't Redistribute wealth. Redistribute the poor" and "Don't Redistribute the Wealth - Redistribute the Work!" for more on that.)

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Tuesday, February 10

Senator Schumer on Theft: “The American people really don’t care”

Just got back from spending the day at the hospital to this fine example of why our leaders suck:

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“The American people really don’t care” - Senator Chuck Schumer on Government waste through pork projects
I am so glad to hear that Senator. Nice of you to stick your hands in my pockets and help yourself. Why not just take it all?!?!?!?!?!?

The Senator does point out one big issue for the Democrats. These guys are counting on the rest of us to not care. For the longest time they have gotten away with it, especially considering that the majority of people who do vote for the Democrats are net recipients and not net payers. But it does come at a price. For every $1 billion in what Senator Schumer admits is 'Porky Amendments' costs each American over $3. That is no big deal right? It is only $3, but they go and take that much from everyone. So for a family of 4, that comes out to over $13.

Take Ex-Governor Blagojevich's $2 Billion Earmark for an outdated/obsolete carbon energy plant that is apparently going to come back to life through the 'stimulus' bill, after being canceled by the Government as waste. This project alone will cost a family of four $26.

The $800 Billion 'stimulus' bill will cost each American about $2,700. That is over $10,000 for a family of four. And since half of Americans are paying no income tax, the price tag is much higher for the half of the population that is paying taxes. How much of this is for pet projects, payoffs and waste? Keep in mind that this is your cost for just this one spending bill! Congress tosses in crap pork projects in many bills that they pass.

When is America going to figure out that none of this spending is being done for their benefit?

And finally, I would like the Republican members of Congress to ask their three fellow Senators to re-think whether or not it is a good idea to vote against all their fellow Republicans for this sham of a 'stimulus' bill. They are selling the rest of us out almost more so than the Democrats, since they are the ones with the power to kill this bill. And all of the Republicans in Congress should be held partly responsible for the actions of Republicans Collins, Spectre and Snowe.

Video found via Michelle Malkin.
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Monday, February 9

Marion Barry Should Die in Jail

I last wrote about Marion Barry's allergy to filing tax returns in "Marion Barry has failed to file a Tax Return since 1998" This was posted in October, 2005.

Now this shining example of the types of tax cheats you can find in the Democrat Party has once again made it into the news for failing to file his tax return for the eighth time in nine years!
For the second time in two years, frustrated federal prosecutors took aim at Marion Barry's chronic failure to file his tax returns and urged a judge to put him in jail.

The move by authorities is the latest act in a long-running tug of war between authorities and the D.C. Council member over his tax status. In all, prosecutors say, Barry has failed to file his returns on time in eight of the past nine years. - Washington Post (Go read it all as the whole damn story on his behavior is just plain unbelievable)
Do you hear it? This is Marion Barry going F-You to all of us and the 'System'. This guy is the poster child for what is wrong with Washington, DC. He does not respect the law. He even flaunts that he defies the law. He does or at least did have a huge drug problem. Think of that, the Mayor of the Capital City of the United States a damn drug user/abuser. This is a guy who has also gotten so many free passes that he would probably have to live another 100 years to serve all the jail time that he would have earned if his crimes were taken seriously. Not for anything, but this guy should finally be made an example of. All he does is waste our time and damages the potential of inner city DC children who learn that this is the type of person who they should look up to as a hero. That is just messed up.

Jailing Marion Barry will do more good for Washington, DC than billions of dollars in stimulus!

If they decide against sending him to jail, he should run for Congress, or apply for a position in Obama's Cabinet. Looking at the clowns we currently have serving, this guy is qualified enough for two positions!

Marion Barry smoking Crack, 1990


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Maritime Monday 148 Posted at gCaptain

This week's edition of Maritime Monday has been posted at gCaptain.


You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find Maritime Monday 98 here. (Published 18 February 2008).

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M. T. RAINBOW



Cargo Plan



M.T. OLIPHANT



M.T. HELIX



Newbuildings for Unicorn
More photos on their website here.
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