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God Hardened Their Hearts

May 29, 2009 in clergy sex abuse scandal, clericalism, Ireland, Uncategorized 3 Comments Tags: abuse, Edward Flanagan, Gerald Fitzgerald, Ireland

Father Gerald Fitzgerald in the 1950s and 1960s warned American bishops and Pope John XXIII and Paul Vi about abusers. A sample of his opinions: 

In a 1957 letter to an unnamed archbishop, Fitzgerald said, “These men, Your Excellency, are devils and the wrath of God is upon them and if I were a bishop I would tremble when I failed to report them to Rome for involuntary layization [sic].” The letter, addressed to “Most dear Cofounder,” was apparently to Archbishop Edwin V. Byrne of Santa Fe, N.M., who was considered a cofounder of the Paraclete facility at Jemez Springs and a good friend of Fitzgerald.

Later in the same letter, in language that revealed deep passion, he wrote: “It is for this class of rattlesnake I have always wished the island retreat — but even an island is too good for these vipers of whom the Gentle Master said it were better they had not been born — this is an indirect way of saying damned, is it not?”

The response: Fitzgerald was removed as head of the order he had funded, which was then run by abusers and suspected murderers.

Father Edward Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, in 1946 returned to teh land of his birth and  warned the Irish about their reform schools. The Irish also would not listen.

But Fr. Flanagan was unhappy with what he found in Ireland. He was dismayed at the state of Ireland’s reform schools and blasted them as “a scandal, un-Christlike, and wrong.” And he said the Christian Brothers, founded by Edmund Rice, had lost its way.

Speaking to a large audience at a public lecture in Cork’s Savoy Cinema he said, “You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it.” He called Ireland’s penal institutions “a disgrace to the nation,” and later said “I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child’s character.”

Flanagan  added

What you need over there [in Ireland] is to have someone shake you loose from your smugness and satisfaction and set an example by punishing those who are guilty of cruelty, ignorance and neglect of their duties in high places . . . I wonder what God’s judgment will be with reference to those who hold the deposit of faith and who fail in their God-given stewardship of little children.”

However, his words fell on stony ground. He wasn’t simply ignored. He was taken to pieces by the Irish establishment. The then-Minister for Justice Gerald Boland said in the Dáil that he was “not disposed to take any notice of what Monsignor Flanagan said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance.”

A hardened heart is deaf to the words of God; it is a stone which the Holy Spirit cannot touch – and many Catholics have this heart, and think that carrying outteh pope’s commands and obeying canon law assures their salvation as they let children be abused and tortured.

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Canada Strikes Back

May 28, 2009 in Canada No Comments

Canadians are not sentimentalists about animals. Fur is not a luxury in Canada, but a necessity for surviving the winters. Europeans are trying to punish Canadians for killing seals (although the Europeans do not express any sorrow over the fish that the seals eat).

Matt Gurney at the National Post has HAD ENOUGH!

Barbaric European food practices, Part I: The snail

The European Union is close to banning all Canadian seal products, and a grassroots campaign to boycott Canadian fish and seafood is gaining momentum. But what of Europe’s own barbaric culinary practices? In response, Full Comment will call attention to European hypocrisy and demand an immediate end to the brutal slaughter of helpless creatures. Today’s poor victim of continental cruelty: snails.

To be a snail born in the EU is a very poor fate indeed. The terrestrial land snail, found throughout Western and Central Europe, is a harmless creature. Subsisting on a diet of algae and plant life, they pose no threat to anyone, and are certainly not hunters.

Practically defenceless, they rely entirely on their hard shell for protection from predators. When confronted by a hungry animal, all they can do is pull themselves into their armour, hunker down, and cower in terror, hoping for the best. More

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Agents Provocateurs

May 26, 2009 in Communism, Germany, Uncategorized 1 Comment Tags: 1968, agent provocateur, Communism

The files of East Germany continue to reveal secrets. The NYT reveals

The killing in 1967 of an unarmed demonstrator by a police officer in West Berlin set off a left-wing protest movement and put conservative West Germany on course to evolve into the progressive country it has become today.

Now a discovery in the archives of the East German secret police, known as the Stasi, has upended Germany’s perception of its postwar history. The killer, Karl-Heinz Kurras, though working for the West Berlin police, was at the time also acting as a Stasi spy for East Germany.(

For the left, Mr. Kurras’s true allegiance strikes at the underpinnings of the 1968 protest movement in Germany. The killing provided the clear-cut rationale for the movement’s opposition to what its members saw as a violent, unjust state, when in fact the supposed fascist villain of leftist lore was himself a committed socialist.

There is the sobering reminder of the Stasi infiltration of West German structures, but also the question of whether it went much deeper than has ever been uncovered.

The most insidious question raised by the revelation is whether Mr. Kurras might have been acting not only as a spy, but also as an agent provocateur, trying to destabilize West Germany.

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Misery Loves Company

May 24, 2009 in Celibacy, clergy sex abuse scandal, Episcopal Church No Comments Tags: child abuse, Episcopal Church, James Lydell Tucker

A priest molested a boarding school boy – but this case didn’t happen in Ireland. It was an Episcopal priest, James Lydell Tucker, a father of five, who molested boys at an upper-class Episcopal school in Austin, Texas. And the Episcopal diocese conspired to cover it up.

What are the lessons? Men don’t have to be celibate to have a messed-up sexuality, and organizations protect themselves, not the children entrusted to them.

But at least the Episcopal Church doesn’t claim that if you leave it you risk going to hell.

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The Curses of Ravaged Innocents against the Catholic Hierarchy

May 22, 2009 in clergy sex abuse scandal, Maciel, Population, Uncategorized 2 Comments Tags: damnation, John Paul II, Lawrence Murphy. St. John's School for teh Deaf, Weakland

Ireland been shaken by the revelation of the tens of thousands of children physically and sexually abused by Catholic priests, brothers, and nuns.

Archbishop Cousins of Milwaukee knew that the Rev. Lawrence Murphy, the head of St. John’s School for the Deaf, was an abuser. In 1993 victims came to Archbishop Cousins, but Cousins defended Murphy for all the good work he had done. But Cousins, to avoid bad publicity, had to transfer Murphy to a parish.

Archbishop Weakland’s main concern was to preserve Murphy’s reputation, and he went to Rome to discuss “at great length” with Vatican officials how to do this.

One victim wrote to Murphy, and sent copies to Weakland and Pope John Paul II. This is some of what the victim said. Murphy liked this victim because this deaf boy was especially vulnerable:

My mother had just told you the trauma I suffered over the past three years. She told you my oldest brother was electrocuted. She told you my father told me of his suicide plan, went through with it and let me find him staring dead at the basement ceiling with a rope laying beside him . She told you all of that and BEGGED you to take care of me . I was numb with grief and fear and looked to you for some kind of comfort and security. You were all I had. No one at home signed_ I could not communicate with them. I turned to you and what did you do? You molested me, that’s what. You took advantage of a lost little boy who had no one else- Because if you remember, as I do, you told me that my mother no longer loved me and only loved my brother who had died. You isolated me from the one person who possibly could have rescued me. I hate you for that.

Murphy was like Jesus to the boys:

Remember the big statue of Jesus hugging the children beside our old school? The statue showed him being very kind to them_ You fooled us by copying that pose, got us close and molested us. You should have never been a priest in the first place- I remember when my friend wanted to become Catholic so he asked me to be his Godfather. You baptized him . . . then molested him after confession.

Murphy molested 30, 100 200, all?  of he boys. No one knows the individual hells the boys lived in.

I cannot keep our secret about your life as a terrible molester at our school for many years_ I must tell the truth to Archbishop Weakland about you and how you ruined mine and many other children’s faith in God and Jesus- You made us hate the Catholic church because we couldn’t t understand how you could be such a hypocrite of a priest who taught us about God while you were the secret molester.

Every time I see other priests I wonder, `Are they molesters, too?” They always remind me of you; a clever wolf, a mortal sinner, a heavy luster who walked among us every night in the Catholic dorm . We couldn’t even hear you coming. I would lay awake every night shaking in fear that this would be a night you would touch me. Can you imagine that? Can you? Jesus on the cross on the wall saw you coming every night to molest us. He must have been shocked and grieved every time- I hope he cried like we did, because we were innocent children, pure Christians, good altar boys, and cute lambs. I hope Jesus is very furious at you and will send you to hell very soon.

The boys had no one to turn to:

Do you remember another time I cannot stand to think about? A time that a poor deaf helpless boy went to St . Francis Police Station and told them that you molested him. You told the policeman that “The kid is mentally retarded.”.The policeman believed you and left . I want to know how you live with yourself. How do you look in the mirror knowing the number of lives you’ve destroyed? You are such an expert liar I guess you have convinced yourself that you have done nothing wrong .

Murphy shared the boys with other molesters:

One of my sickest memories is how you shared your secret molesting of boys with(—-) at St. Rita’s School for the Deaf . You two had nothing less than a Catholic pornography ring. You molested the children in your Catholic elementary dorm and sent them on to a Catholic high school dorm where he then took his turn molesting them.

Do you remember when (—–) caught you molesting me? I wished and prayed he would help me and I also wished he could report you to Archbishop Cousin. But guess what? He figured since you were molesting us then he was free to do it, too. And he did.

Some boys were damaged irreparably:

You and (—–) responsible for one boy who has been in a mental hospital since his twenties . He, too, was a good friend of mine.. He too has never enjoyed the life the Catholic church has provided for you. I curse you and (—-) both!

And another boy:

Do you know that he later committed suicide? You and (—) are responsible for his suicide. God must punish you and send you to hell to stay forever.

But Weakland in his new book explains his transfers of abusers:

“We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature,” Weakland says in the book, “A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church,” due out in June. Weakland said he initially “accepted naively the common view that it was not necessary to worry about the effects on the youngsters: either they would not remember or they would ‘grow out of it.’

I wonder how the bishops and popes could have such hearts of stone. I also wonder if they have ever read that God avenges the oppressed poor. If, in fact, members of the Catholic hierarchy believe in God. The evidence against it is mounting.

Pius XII should not be beatified until the Vatican archives are opened and his role in dealing with the Nazis is examined. From what I know, he made mistakes (who didn’t) but I think he will be exonerated from the accusations against him.

John Paul II should not be beatified until the Vatican archives concerning sexual abuse are open for examination. I have grave doubts that John Paul’s reputation would survive the revelation of how he dealt with abuse. If I were he, I would have feared the curses of the children whose souls were ravaged  while I protected the reputations of their ravagers.

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Blasphemers Beware!

May 19, 2009 in Uncategorized 1 Comment Tags: blasphemy

The National Post reports  

Europe’s top security and human rights watchdog is urging Ireland not to preserve “blasphemous libel” as a crime in a draft media law, saying this would flout international free speech covenants. Reuters reports that the Irish justice minister is changing a law that provides prison sentences for blasphemous libel and instead making it an offence that carries a fine of 100,000 euros. However, Milos Haraszti, the media freedoms overseer in the 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said a blasphemy law violated international standards upholding the right to freely discuss issues of religion. “It is clear that the government’s gesture of passing a new version of the ‘blasphemy article’, even if milder than the dormant old version, might incite new court cases and thereby exercise a chilling effect on freedom of expression,” Mr. Haraszti said. In 1977 in England — which got rid of its blasphemy law last year — a gay newspaper was convicted of blasphemy libel for printing a poem suggesting Jesus was gay. The editor was given a suspended prison sentence and the paper fined £1,000. There have also been unsuccessful attempts to bring private prosecutions against Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses and the musical Jerry Springer: The Opera. Canada still has blasphemy libel on its book. 

An atheistic government could have a blasphemy law, because such laws may be necessary to preserve public order. It does not matter whether the ruler believes in God (or the gods); if some of his subjects believe in God enough to cause violence over blasphemy, the ruler might well prohibit it. However such laws should be evenly enforced, and Christianity is regarded as fair game for blasphemers in Europe who would not dare insult Islam.

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Springtime in Berlin

May 18, 2009 in Uncategorized 1 Comment

After much trepidation and soul searching, The Producers has finally opened in Berlin. 

Here are photos from Der Spiegel.

 

This means something, but I am not sure what.

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Not Just Celibates

May 16, 2009 in Canada, clergy sex abuse scandal 1 Comment Tags: Celibacy, Selwyn House, sexual abuse

 

Although I know that many people suspect that celibacy is the source of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, abuse, alas, is not prevented by marriage.

Selwyn House, a prestigious private school in Montreal, has had several cases of abuse.

The newly arrived headmaster had to inform the school that one of its employees was just arrested.

Michael Kane, a computer technician and audio-visual co-ordinator since 2000, was arrested Wednesday in Chateauguay and arraigned in Valleyfield on one count of sexual interference with a minor.

and

Kane, 40, is married and has two young children. The victim is allegedly a friend of his family.

The problem is not celibacy, but male sexuality, and there is no cure for that.

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Notre Dame

May 16, 2009 in abortion, Liturgy, Uncategorized 2 Comments Tags: Church discipline, Notre Dame

As the Catholic bishops in the United States are discovering, it is much harder to tighten discipline than to loosen it, as any teacher or parent could have told them. For decades, over a generation, the bishops did nothing to publicly rebuke or discipline Catholic politicians who want abortion to be legal. Catholics got the message: abortion was not an important matter. Now Notre Dame is honoring a president who wants, he has said, to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. But Barbara Mikulski, a reliable pro-abortion senator, received the Andrew White award, Maryland’s highest Catholic honor, and critics of this action  were dismissed as red necks, who didn’t understand the nuances of politics .

In Baltimore a priest was suspended by Archbishop O’Brien. The priest said a funeral mass for a person whose family was both Episcopalian and Catholic. The priest allowed the female Episcopal minister to read the Epistle. For this the priest was suspended,

But in the 1980s I was having lunch at a restaurant near the Episcopal cathedral in Baltimore. At the table next to me were Bishop Thomas Murphy and the Episcopal bishop. They had just come from concelebrating the Eucharist, and were discussing strategy for making gay marriage legal. When I was in Charlottesville, Bishop Walter Sullivan allowed Catholic and Episcopal priests to concelebrate.

But now letting a Protestant do one of the readings at Mass gets you canned.

People are understandable resentful.

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Narcissist Bishops: Homo- and Hetero-

May 13, 2009 in clergy sex abuse scandal, Narcissism, Uncategorized 8 Comments Tags: Narcissism, Rembert Weakland, Robert Sanchez, sexual abuse

Archbishop Rembert Weakland was one of the more loathsome bishops who shuffled abusive priests from one parish to another without warning anyone. The history and details are at BishopAccountability and videos of his depositions can be seen here, here, here, and here.

In his 1994 interview with the Milwaukee Journal, the archbishop was more effusive and less restrained in his speculations.

An ephebophile’s sexual interest in an individual, explained the archbishop, “usually begins at puberty—say 12 or 13…What happens so often in those cases is that they go on for a few years and then the boy gets a little older and the perpetrator loses interest.  Then is when the squealing starts and you have to deal it.”

“Squealing” – that’s how Weakland regarded the accusations of victims of sexual abuse.

Charles Sykes describes how Weakland handled the case of one victim:

He was lying in bed, the bed of a Catholic priest. The priest, Father Dennis Pecore, had gotten up and answered the knock at his door. He stood in the doorway in his bathrobe, talking with another priest, who had come to his room. The visitor could see the boy lying in the bed. “Hi, Greg,” he said to the boy.

“Nothing else was said or asked of me,” recalls Greg. He was 14 years old.

Greg is just one of hundreds of young men who were sexually abused by priests they trusted. But his case casts a shadow over the Milwaukee archdiocese and the legacy of Archbishop Rembert Weakland.

It should. Because Weakland’s handling of this case stands as his most shameful moment.

By the mid-1980s, it was an open secret that Pecore was using Greg, a student at the Mother of Good Counsel School, as a sex toy. Greg says that other priests knew, as well as teachers and school officials. “My mother used to call up at the rectory and they would say that I was not there, and she would ride by and see my bike out front and know I was at the rectory.”

In July 1984, one of the school’s teachers had become so alarmed that he wrote a letter informing Archbishop Weakland that a priest at the school was taking young boys to his private bedroom, one at a time, suggesting that he was abusing the youngsters. He urged Weakland to do something “before it goes public.”

Weakland’s response: a threat. He wrote that “any libelous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers.”

Frustrated, the teacher and two others continued to warn about Pecore’s behavior. All three teachers were fired. In a lawsuit filed several years later, the three teachers say they were fired because they had tried to warn Weakland about what was happening at their school.

Weakland didn’t like people trying to protect boys who might squeal.

Weakland, it turned out, had a homosexual affair with a 31-year-old man, who blackmailed him. Weakland used a half-million of the archdiocese’s money to keep his lover silent.

And now Weakland has written a book about his homosexuality and his handling of sexual abuse in his archdiocese – we shall see whom he regards as the real victim – himself or the abused children. I can make a fair guess.

Freud thought that narcissism was the source of homosexuality. Whether this is universally true I do not know, but in the case of clerical homosexuals the two go together very, very often.

Americans have short memories, and no has brought up the memory of Robert Sanchez, the former archbishop of Santa Fe, who presided over an endless orgy of abuse fueled by the pedophiles at the Paraclete center at Jemez Springs.

Sachez was heterosexual. In his deposition he talked about his girlfriends A, B, C, D, E etc. He had to resign when the girlfriends started squealing.

He was equally hard-hearted about the suffering of children. At one Catholic institution, La Hacienda de los Muchachos, a boy ran away in mid-winter to escape abuse by the Rev. Ed Donelan, and froze to death in the mountains.

In case after case, people pled with him to end the abuse, and he did not act. He was much too busy enjoying his girlfriends, sometimes in his private chapel.

At his deposition, Sanchez was asked if had tried to fond out what the effect of abuse was on children.

  1. When allegations of child molestation by priests
    9 first started coming in to you —
    10 A. Yes, sir.
    11 Q. — did you make any effort to learn about it?
    12 I’ve asked if you asked any psychologists or
    13 psychiatrists. But did you go to a library, call up a
    14 cardinal, call up the Vatican, get a book, read a
    15 magazine, do anything to develop an understanding
    from
    16 what literature or information there was about the
    17 consequences of childhood sexual abuse?
    18 A. No, sir, I did not make that effort.

Narcissists come in both homo- and heterosexual versions. They are attracted to the clergy, because they can be the center of attention and manipulate other people. Within the clergy, they tend to rise to the top, because they want more attention and more opportunity to manipulate people.

And so the People of God get archbishops like Weakland and Sanchez. And children are abused and die.

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Schweinhund

May 12, 2009 in Uncategorized No Comments

Der Spiegel (who else) informs us

Manni, a wild boar piglet, was found abandoned and starving in a field near Ehringhausen in rural southwestern Germany. The lucky pig was adopted by the Dahlhaus family, who bottle-fed him back to health.

The family also introduced the perky porker to their Jack Russell terrier Candy. It turned out to be a match made in hog heaven. According to Dahlhaus, “the pair play together every day. They play hide and seek, romp around in the hedges and bushes and just have a lot of fun together.” Apparently Manni, who is now five weeks old, is even figuring out how to communicate with Candy — he’s learning to bark.

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My Take on Politics

April 26, 2009 in Uncategorized 1 Comment

T-shirt seen at the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow in Albuquerque:

Sure You Can Trust the Government: Ask an Indian

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Two Jews, Three Opinions

April 20, 2009 in Anti-Semitism, Uncategorized 1 Comment

David Ben Gurion observed that where there are two Jews, there are three opinions.

One Jewish web site agrees:

Although Jews have excelled in many different sports, only one sport truly has a claim as being the Jewish national sport. Soccer? Dreidel? No. The Jewish national sport is…arguing!

Jonathan Kay in the National Post reports the opinions of a Moslem in Egypt:

Ever wonder how Jews took control of the U.S. government, the international banking system and the entire world economy? If so, please direct your attention to www.memritv.org, where you can watch footage of a televised interview with archeologist Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Segueing deftly from a discussion of the failed Jewish revolt against Rome, Dr. Hawass brings the discussion into the modern age: “For 18 centuries [the Jews] were dispersed throughout the world,” he declares. “[Then] they went to America and took control of its economy. They have a plan. Although they are few in number, they control the entire world … The reason is that they are always united over a single view. They always move together, even if in the wrong direction. We [Muslims], on the other hand, are divided. If even two Arab countries could be in agreement, our voice would be stronger.”

But truth be told, Dr. Hawass’s flattery is off the mark. As The New York Times’ David Brooks wrote last week, argument is Israel’s national sport. The same acrimonious spirit runs through the Diaspora. After all, what anti-Israel protest is complete without a bunch of left-wing middle-aged Jewish women wailing about the sins of Zionism?

The disagreements are intra-familial:

Dr. Hawass doesn’t seem like the type who goes in for inter-faith bread-breaking. Too bad, because I’d love to watch the man’s jaw drop when my Chomskyite cousin Melvin and I assail one another viciously from opposite ends of the Seder table. No doubt, Dr. Hawass imagines such family gatherings to be miniaturized versions of a Bilderberg Conference, at which we all pledge fealty to Zionism, neo-conservatism and who knows what else. The truth is that politics and foreign affairs are as divisive within the Jewish community as without — with endless bickering being the only constant.

But as is well known, the Elders of Zion have retired. Bernie Madoff (the anti-Semites poster boy) did them in. Now they argue about which restaurant in Miami has the best early-bird special.

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Births and Belief

April 18, 2009 in demography, Uncategorized 3 Comments Tags: birth rates, prayer, Worldwide Values Survey

Focus (April 11, 2009) in “Fructbarer Glaube” (not on-line yet) reports on the birthrate in Switzerland in 2000.

Children per woman according to religious membership

2.79 — Hindu

2.44 — Moslem

2.06 — Jewish

1.62 — Eastern Orthodox

1.42 — Buddhist

1.41 — Roman Catholic

1.35 — Protestant

1.24 — Jehovah’s Witnesses

1.11 — No religious association

The Worldwide Value Survey (1986-2004) correlated the number of children and the frequency of prayer

Number of children — Frequency of Prayer

1.48 — Never

1.61 — Seldom

1.86 –- Many Times Times a Month

2.24 — Many Times a Week

We have six children. I say grace at meals, morning and evening prayers (brief) and the Rosary. If Europeans would resume praying, they might not die out.

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Letters of Marque

April 16, 2009 in Uncategorized No Comments Tags: Baltimore, letters of marque, privateers

Many Baltimore fortunes were built on captured British ships. The Baltimore Clipper was built to run fast and function as a privateer. The idea has been revived. The National Post reports

U.S. lawmaker says Somali piracy has an age-old solution: “Letters of marque” empowering private citizens to chase the seaborne scoundrels from the oceans.

Republican Representative Ron Paul and a handful of conservative theorists say it’s time that the U.S. Congress used the technique, pioneered by European powers in the 18th century as a way to wage naval warfare on the cheap.

Major shipping companies should accept a “go at your own risk” approach and not expect government help when they transit through pirate-infested waters, Mr. Paul said this week in a video posted on the public Internet site YouTube.

“I don’t think just because people go into these dangerous waters that our army and navy and air force and everything has to follow,” he said, adding that letters of marque would allow merchant ships to sail armed.

“I think if every potential pirate knew that this would be the case, they would have second thoughts, because they could probably be blown out of the water rather easily if those were the conditions,” said the Texas lawmaker.

The U.S. Constitution explicitly allows Congress to issue such letters, in effect giving private parties a license to fight hostile seaborne forces like pirates, in theory without fear of being branded pirates themselves.

Typically, the arrangement offered privateers no reward from the government except a share of the booty recovered, taking all of the risk and attendant costs off the books of frequently cash-strapped global powers.

Some famous beneficiaries included Henry Morgan, famed explorer Francis Drake, as well as William Kidd — who stands as an example of the shadiness of the practice, having been hanged in London in 1701 for piracy and murder.

Lacking a potent navy of its own, the U.S. government relied on such letters in the young republic’s early days, notably in the War of 1812 against Britain, and never signed the 1856 Declaration of Paris outlawing the practice.

During World War II, Washington issued a letter of marque enabling the civilian-operated airship Resolute to patrol for submarines.

But even some modern supporters, like the free-market boosting Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in Washington say the concept needs updating to offer a viable solution to Somali piracy.

“It’s the type of free-market solution to a real problem that Congress should consider but hasn’t in any serious way,” said CEI senior fellow Eli Lehrer, who urged Congress “to revisit the concept.”

If the letters were issued to private pirate hunters rather than used as a way to allow merchant vessels to arm themselves, it would raise the obvious problem of how to reward them: Somali pirates, unlike their Hollywood colleagues, aren’t known for treasure chests piled high with gold.

The U.S. government stepped around the problem after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by placing a multi-million-dollar bounty on the heads of top al-Qaeda terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.

“Issuing letters of marque are one way to foster the protection of American citizens abroad without requiring an American military presence in foreign territory,” said CEI policy analyst Michelle Minton.

“If international governing bodies fail at the task, which repeated pirate attacks seem to indicate, the U.S. government should do something,” she said in a statement last week.

For Mr. Paul, however, the goal is reducing what he describes as US overinvolvement abroad.

“Overall, I think it [Somali piracy] raises questions about our foreign policy and once again, I think foreign intervention leads to all kinds of problems,” he said.

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