Obama Bows & Pirates are blasted off of the Bow.

As Obama finishes his first tour in Asia, as President. Here are the two stories that have received some coverage, but they should have received much more. While in Japan, Obama clearly bows down to the Emperor of Japan Akihito. This is the second time Obama has bowed to a member of a royal family, the first being the Saudi King. As other news sources have mentioned, former US leaders never bowed to the Emperor or Saudi Arabia, so why is he doing it? Not to many people can probably answer that question, but it clearly shows the United States in a weak position, and it goes against everything our founding fathers fought for us in the 1700s. They fought British tyranny, and the monarchy to create a government where everyone is equal, and not one person was "higher" or "royal" or more power. With Obama bowing, he is clearly acknowledging royalty, and status in society. There are obviously bigger issues on our plate that we have to deal with, but this personally bothers me, and something is not right here, especially since this is not the first time. So President Obama, why do you bow?

Shifting gears from Asia and heading west to the African Coast off of Somalia. As one of the first stories I wrote about on my blog, has once again arrived in the spotlight. Several months ago, Pirates attempted to hijack an American vessel called the Maersk Alabama. While they never completely gained control of the ship, and the crew was able to capture a pirate, the 3 remaining pirates held the Captain hostage on the ships lifeboat at sea. South Park would create an episode regarding the incident and pirates.

Well this week, Pirates tried again to hijack the Alabama, and this time they failed miserably. The Alabama was a few steps ahead this time, as they had private security on board. While they are keeping quite on the tactics they used, guns and LRADSs have been reported to be used as the pirates quickly retreated. Something tells me the pirates were blown out of the water, as they should be. No injuries were reported on the Alabama. Last time the ship was attacked, I personally felt ships should arm themselves with guns, and use other tactics to stop piracy. With this latest event, it seems to be working, and will be interesting if more ships follow suit.

Fox News is doing a special report on 21st Century Piracy this Saturday, November 21.

American Ship hijacked, crew retake vessel

April 8, 2009,

Location: Near Coast of Somalia

Today for the first time since the Barbary Wars era, an American Ship, Alabama, was hijacked owned by Maersk Company but with an all American Crew.

Hours later, The Crew were able to retake the ship and were able to have one pirate in custody. The rest of the pirates are believed to be in the water, and also took the captain of the Alabama with them. 6 US Navy ships are now heading to the area where the ship was hijacked to assist the Alabama and to search for The Captain and the remaining pirates.

This incident along with others in the area only proves two things America, and the Ships must be allowed to do. We need to send troops INTO Somalia and take out these pirates and prove these thugs that if they want to enter this business, they will pay a price. The original creation of the Marines was to destroy Piracy in Northern Africa, tripoli, and the Caribbean. This actually was also the beginning of good relations with our former enemy, Great Britain, as we both had an interest in taking out the pirates. It is also in the Marines hymn, "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli."

It also proves that Ships must be allowed to arm themselves, or at least give them the option too. The US Navy cant protect the entire region (also other areas have piracy too, Philippines, parts of South America, and even some places in the Caribbean.) Right now International Law pretty much makes it impossible to carry weapons on board a ship in International Waters. It's only a matter of time before they capture a Cruise Ship. They have all ready attemped this twice with two high end ships, Crystal Cruises' Seabourn Spirit, and Oceania Cruises' Nautica. Some cruise lines have even told people to get off in Egypt, fly them to Dubai, and pick up thier passengers a few days later in Dubai.

Lets use our Air Force, and Troops, and Navy to attack these Pirate cities/ports, let the ships be able to defend themselves,  and maybe let the private industry be able to protect these ships. If we don't put a stop to Piracy, it is only going to rise because it is happening in areas where people make less than $5,000 and if you are making millions for one ship, it's only going to attract more business.