Category Archives: Morality

Captain Coward Will Pay

Barack Obama, Bush, Business, Crime, Ethics, Europe, Government, Morality

How 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.

UPDATE II: War Games: Smash ‘Em & Put Them Together Again

Criminal Injustice, Ethics, Middle East, Military, Morality, Natural Law, Terrorism, The State, War

Look; isn’t Uncle Sam wonderful? This little Pakistani girl below “was burned beyond recognition by a U.S. drone and left for dead in a trashcan. … She was found by a medical mission team two years ago and was described as ‘lucky’ by staff as two other children found with her were killed by the military attack.”

The child was “brought to the U.S. from her home in Pakistan,” where American surgeons patched her up, sort of. That’s the least we Americans can do. One of her new caregivers named the child Shakira, which means thankful. Evidently some dolt thinks little Shakira should be grateful that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men COULD put little Shakira together again.

UPDATE I (Dec. 23): FROM “JUST WAR FOR DUMMIES” (March 12, 2003):

I’m no pacifist. While I don’t condone the lingering American presence in Afghanistan, and while I doubt the abilities of the U.S. military to contain al-Qaida there, I supported going after bin Laden’s group in that country. That was a legitimate act of retaliation and defense, accommodated within St. Augustine’s teachings, whereby a just war is one “that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects.”
Al-Qaida was responsible for the murder of 3,000 Americans. The Taliban openly succored the organization and its masterminding leadership. Mr. Bush had asked the hosting Taliban to surrender bin Laden and his gang. The Taliban refused, insisting on defending their murderous guests.

UPDATE II (Dec. 24): In reply to Theodor Lauppert below: And this writer “isn’t generally considered a source for” the strengthening of the positive law, international or other.

UPDATED/Cain Campaign Suspended: Steamy Windows Or Steamed-Up Liberals? (& Does It Matter?)

Elections, Ethics, Media, Morality, Politics, Uncategorized

Dennis Miller, a very funny neoconservative (that is a liberal who really likes war), threw in the towel over the Cain fracas. Quoting a caller to his radio show, Miller said that when it comes to Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, there is too much steam on the windows and too little in the engine. Bloody funny, for sure.

Still, I tend to think that Ann Coulter makes a good case about the meritless evidence against Cain. Writes Coulter: “Most people say, ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ I say, ‘Where there’s smoke around a conservative, there are journalists furiously rubbing two sticks together.'” Read her assessment of that evidence.

Yes, Cain’s alleged consorts are trashy. But it could be that Mr. Cain is drawn to trashy women. The fact that these women are trashy is no proof that he has not consorted with them. Either way, alleged moral or ethical indiscretions don’t disqualify Mr. Cain for the position of “the boss of all bosses at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”; if anything, they make him eminently suited to be Capo di tutti capi of America.

“Saturday Is ‘Decision Day’ for GOP Presidential Contender Herman Cain.”

UPDATE (Dec. 3): Cain Campaign Suspended:

Herman Cain announced Saturday he was suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, citing the “painful price” sexual harassment and extramarital affair allegations have had on his family.

UPDATED: Newt Gingrich Slithers Around in Jacksonville

Conservatism, Elections, Morality, Political Philosophy, Politics, Republicans

He was supposed to be courting the tea party in a town hall meeting in Jacksonville, Florida. But Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich did everything but. Google reflects the focus in the media on a single question one toadying attendee asked the speaker; she was bemoaning media bias against Newt, who is the consummate insider. They’ve all neglected Gingrich’s reply to a preceding and very poignant question from a tea partier.

For this reason, I am unable to bring you the question and the answer arrogant Gingrich gave. But the speaker, in essence, told this hard-core fellow that he had asked the wrong question with respect to the candidate’s fidelity to conservatism. He, Newt, would be governing an enormous country and he would, therefore, tailor and aim his policies to holding a 60 percent majority.

Can anyone locate the snake’s exact words?

UPDATE (Nov. 19): Kerry, unless I missed it, the link you provided doesn’t feature the question to which I was referring. It was from a pissed-off tea-partier. He wanted to know how faithful NG would be to tea party principles. Not at all was the sum of the arrogant Gingrich’s reply.