There's a diary on the rec list right now about Rush Limbaugh's pathetic spin of the Somali pirate incident. That's cool, Rush is a pig. But to compare the Somali Pirates to Hitler is just too much hyperbole. I'll admit my skin is not thick on this issue. It's a pet peeve and one that's in my blood.
I don't like comparisons to Hitler unless you're referring to pure evil or genocide (or something close) I don't like people using the word Nazi when they are searching for a synonym for strict. Come on people lets get creative, here's the thesaurus list of synonyms for strict:
authoritarian, austere, dead set, disciplinary, dour, draconian*, exacting, firm, forbidding, grim, hard, hard-boiled*, harsh, iron-fisted, no-nonsense*, oppressive, picky, prudish, punctilious, puritanical, rigid, rigorous, scrupulous, set, severe, square, stern, stickling, straight, strait-laced*, stringent, stuffy*, tough, unpermissive, unsparing, uptight*
But I'm really only speaking up now because the facts here are just wrong.
These pirates are in no way comparable to Hitler. There was a great article a few months back about this that didn't really catch much attention. From HuffingtonPost
You Are Being Lied to About Pirates
In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."
At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."
That's by Johann Hari. The whole article is worth a look. I love it all, the ancient pirate stories, the mob connections, overfishing. This story has everything... Is it true? I'm not sure, but it's a fascinating read.
Now it's time for some nonsequitur news:
SJ Considers Bag Fee; Plastic Bag Ban Effort Grows
Environmental group Save the Bay on Tuesday announced a large-scale public campaign against single-use plastic bags, showcasing San Jose's proposed fee on both paper and plastic offenders.
While Save the Bay has long advocated reusable bags, the new campaign attacks the notion that recycling disposable bags helps curb pollution, according to Save the Bay Executive Director David Lewis.
Fewer than 5 percent of the lightweight plastic bags handed out in California stores get recycled, he said. Even after a 15-year anti-litter campaign funded by the state, non-biodegradable bags blow into waterways and threaten wildlife, he said. When bags do make it to recycling plants, Lewis said, they clog up sorting machinery and cause expensive maintenance issues.
I think this is great. This is the type of taxation to account for externalities that I believe in as an economist and Democrat. It will help to alleviate problems like the Convergence of Plastic Bigger than Texas
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
In the broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean, there exists the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents. The area is an oceanic desert, filled with tiny phytoplankton but few big fish or mammals. The area is filled with something besides plankton: trash, millions of pounds of it, most of it plastic. It's the largest landfill in the world, and it floats in the middle of the ocean.
Update: LaughingPlanet had a reclist diary this past weekend about the GPGP. It's very thorough and well worth your time (if you missed it like I did)
Obama's Border Czar
WASHINGTON – A former Justice Department official has been picked to be the Southwest border czar — a new position created by the Obama administration to handle illegal immigration and border issues, according to an administration official.
The new Homeland Security post will be responsible for issues related to drug-cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and the hundreds of thousands of people there who try to enter the U.S. illegally.
I like President Obama's position on immigration very much. I think we need the reform that he believes in. It's very sensible. I just hope it can come along with some drug law reforms from Congress.
Updated with link to previous diarist, and spell check :)
Update 2: Title change, as usual, I suck with titles.