Posted on 04/11/2009 1:24:23 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
UNDERHILL, Vt. At sea he is intense and resolute, so when Capt. Richard Phillips tried to escape his pirate captors Friday by leaping off their slow-moving lifeboat, some of his closest friends did not blink.
But at home, friends and relatives said, Captain Phillips, 53, is a consummate regular guy who worships Boston sports teams, particularly the Celtics, shoots hoops at the Y.M.C.A., plays golf with retirees and faithfully picks up muffins for Sunday brunch with his family. When he is away, plying dangerous ocean waters as a merchant ship captain, the image his neighbors here remember is of him placidly riding his lawnmower.
Now he is at the center of an extraordinary international incident. When he went for that swim today, it didnt surprise me at all, said Peter Wakefield, who grew up with the captain outside Boston and visited him last month. Hes got good intuition, and hes a very determined guy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
No doubt about that at all. Until he 'switches' sides back to 'American', he is operating as the Enemy Within(-in-chief). Clearly a role model (or at least enabler) for terrorists everywhere! The State Department needs to publish a new list of dangerous countries if you're an American travelling abroad...All of them. Don't expect help from the State Dept. under this administration! Carter was Obama lite!
You said — Clearly these ships need security; and clearly America needs leadership that is as authentic as Captain Phillips.
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Yeah they need security, but why should the U.S. be the one who provides it, pays for it and does it all — with the rest of the world, subsequently complaining about us “doing it” — once we get in there and start solving a problem.
I say it’s about time for the U.S. to let the rest of the world deal with their own problems — if they can... LOL...
You said — The United States is the undeclared police organization of the world. We may not like it but it is fact. When we get the hostage back, we need to erase a couple of pirate villages. We know where they live. We should have wiped them out long ago.
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It’s time for the U.S. to get out of that mode — especially since the rest of the world talks out of both sides of their mouths about it (they want problems solved, but they don’t like the U.S. doing it, or not the way it does it... LOL...)
So, let them solve it for once... :-)
You said — I hadnt seen it. Thanks for posting.
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Yeah, I kinda knew that was the case for many reading on Free Republic. It’s the same way for me. I don’t catch all the threads, and I miss a lot. And so, when someone posts something that is listed somewhere else, I may catch their comments and not the original one... that’s the way it works here since everyone can’t cover every post...
Thanks for your thoughts...
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