LikeTheDew.com

Though we cheer Captain Jack Sparrow and the pirates from the old Carribean at the movies, in real life we’re on the side of the crown. We want our navy to douse the blackguards and we’re cheering today for the U.S. Navy Seals off the coast of Somalia.

And although safe transport on the seas is certainly a standard worth defending, I can’t help but think that companies shipping through dangerous waters should bear more of the security expense.

Evidently merchant marines avoid arming their boats for fear they may provoke pirates to deploy even larger weapons. Also, some argue that an armed crew is a mutiny waiting to happen.

Still, aren’t the shipping companies a little like gas station operators who dumped wage-earning pump attendants in favor of self-serve pumps? A certain number of pirates drive off without paying and station owners rely on the police to stop them. If I stacked widgets by the roadside and complained about people stealing them, I expect the police would tell me to lock up my widgets.

We can’t assign a destroyer to every pleasure and merchant vessel on the water anymore than we can post a cop at every gas pump.

1. LikeTheDew (LikeTheDew) says:

   December 31, 1969 at 11:59 pm

   New blog post: Pirates Pump Pane http://tinyurl.com/cwrvvx

   Reply
2. Josh Maxwell says:

   April 13, 2009 at 7:31 am

   I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

   Reply
3. Billy Howard says:

   April 13, 2009 at 2:12 pm

   Aye matey!

   Reply
4. Jean-Pierre VERDEYEN says:

   February 14, 2010 at 9:04 am

   Can anyone tell me exactly what the expression “pumping pane” means. I’m a poor belgian of 64 years old but I grew up with the Creedence Clearwater Revival. In the lyrics of “Proud Mary” is a line saying: “Pumped a lot of pane down in New Orleans”. I’ve been asking over a dozen of U.S. citizens what it means: nobody could give me an answer. Some personal research lead me to: taking gasoline or serving in a gasolinestation to fill up tanks. Is that right?

   Reply