printHow does a subhuman like Francesco Schettino get a job ferrying 4000 people across the seas? It could be worse. Someone of George Bush’s ilk or Barack Obama’s caliber could—and did—get the endorsement of millions to shepherd them into war and economic ruin. Not once, but twice in Bush’s case. So, in counting the sick-making ways of the Captain who capsized the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast—causing the death of five, so far (least 15 people are still missing, including two Americans)—remember this: Schettino will be punished. Bush, Obama and their progeny will be pampered and paraded around with pride for the rest of their sorry lives. Back to Costa Concordia:
The dumb-as-a-rock captain blames a rock that was not supposed to be there.
Schettino insisted he was twice as far out and said the ship ran aground because the rocks weren’t marked on his nautical charts. “We were navigating approximately 300 meters (yards) from the rocks,” he told Mediaset television. “There shouldn’t have been such a rock. On the nautical chart it indicated that there was water deep below.”
What sickens me is that this excuse for a captain concedes to “maneuvering the ship in ‘touristic navigation,” a mere 300 meters from the shore, “implying a route that was a deviation from the norm and designed to entertain the tourists.”
Costa captains have occasionally steered the ship near port and sounded the siren in a special salute … Such a nautical “fly-by” was staged last August, prompting the town’s mayor to send a note of thanks to the commander for the treat it provided tourists who flock to the island, local news portal GiglioNews.it reported.
Schettino had been paid by the passengers of the Costa Concordia. Yet he was attempting to entertain and impress spectators at the cost of those who had trusted him with their lives, and had paid him too.
Not having a sense of who your asset is; where your financial/fiduciary loyalty/interests belong; who you should treat well because your endeavor depends on him: this is a phenomenon I’ve encountered a lot.
Also clear from the reports is that “the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped. According to the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.”
A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays, told the Associated Press they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship.
This is not the first time that a captain of one of these floating cities jumped ship first.
A civilizational metaphor, like the Titanic in 1912. Capt. Smith went down with his ship; Bush, Obama, Coorzine, Romney et al. will all be watching the oncoming carnage from their private Greek islands and Paraguayan ranches. Or so they think.
Excellent observations. At least America occasionally produces people like that Captain who safely landed his plane off New York and got the people to safety.
Also excellent observations about Bush and Obama. Ironically, the soldier who appears at the Ron Paul rally faces prosecution (better if he was just bragging about his lovers in a gay bathhouse, for example) while Presidents who use the troops as campaign props for “Mission Accomplished” get plaudits.