Coming to a Gulf near you if Traitor McCain gets his way. I bet the anti Jones Act crowd are squirming with joy at the idea of legalized slavery.
Doesn’t Oz have a single politician with the balls to use the same cops that dragged the Aussie crew off to put them back on? Sieze the damn ship and ban the owners from ever sending another ship or crew to Australia. When are human rights or simply fair treatment of seafarers going to mean anything more than bullshit campaign speech noise?
Is this what we have to look forward to in America? That was a rhetorical question because we all know that it will be our fate as quickly as they can pull it off.
It is pretty obvious now why Australians need a permit to have a paintball gun … an angry, unemployed and hungry population can’t be trusted to remain sheep forever.
why I call over and over for mariners in the US to ally together as a collective to CALL BULLSHIT when there is any talk from traitors like McCain to throw us American citizen mariners under the bus.
as individuals we have lots of little voices which won’t be heard but as a group we can have a loud voice which cannot be ignored.
So I went through the list to see if I could find your champion, American mariners. Looks like you have elected quite a number of former mariners to both sides of you congressional aisle. But not recently, and all those guys are dead. So I looked at the journalists on that list, same story. So I looked at the celebrities. America, I present to you your champion.
I did not know that Paul Sr. worked as a mariner. That totally explains his obsession with order and neatness. I think he could make an effective advocate. People like him, he likes to get angry in a showy way, he’s well known, likes to be on TV. Get Paul Sr. to lead your lobby.
[QUOTE=lm1883;191377]Too late. McCain and MERPAC have already sold us out. [/QUOTE]
How has MERPAC sold anyone out?
I was a member for a few years and never made a dime or saw any checks or favors changing hands. It was probably about the least political and most mariner centered group that ever existed. I shudder to think what regs we would have if MERPAC wasn’t a moderating influence.
[QUOTE=lm1883;191394]Saying MERPAC sold out was figurative. I throw them in there because they haven’t been very effective in stemming the onslaught of regulation. Maybe my criticism is a little over the top as they are simply an advisory committee, but between upgrading and simply maintaining a license costing thousands of dollars and scrutiny over Medicals it is hard to see where our advocate has been if not off station.[/QUOTE]
Excuse my outside opinion, but might the problem be lack of regulation, rather than too much? It is not as if the holders of the US MMC are held to a higher standard, by law, than other people. That isn’t the problem. The blame (as I see it) lies in two parts: Not enough regulation, or the weakening of regulation that protects US MMC holders (and their Australian counterparts) and, in greater part, to flags of convenience and port authorities being unable or unwilling to enforce standards of decency, legality, morality, and humanity on owners. To some extent, this is a chance to mention our own struggles with our own governments, but let’s not forget that some of our fellows are without liberty, hungry, unpaid, and drinking and bathing in brown, smelly, foul-tasting water.
Perfect time to deregulate! Are you completely mad? As I pointed out in post 3 above, you used to elect lawmakers who came from our industry. It has been so long since you have done so, that [B]all[/B] the former lawmaker-seamen have died off. When you don’t elect tradesmen, be prepared to fight for the laws you need. When you elect investors and lawyers, be prepared for their agenda.
“When you don’t elect tradesmen, be prepared to fight for the laws you need. When you elect investors and lawyers, be prepared for their agenda.”
You are correct, but today being a career politician is a trade! How many of our elected official have gotten their hands dirty? Or God forbid a callous!
Being one who wonders if it is a conspiracy. Could this be the beginning of a ploy to replace Mariners with “very cheap” labor, that once it is exposed the inhuman conditions that would lead to the ships of the future as discussed in another thread
Capt, you have been saying this for years! And it is true, but how do we collectively get our voices heard. We know that anything to do with the Maritime industry inside the belt way is run by lawyers and political hacks appointed by the size of the donations they made to the ruling political party.
[QUOTE=Sailor24;191400]Capt, you have been saying this for years! And it is true, but how do we collectively get our voices heard. We know that anything to do with the Maritime industry inside the belt way is run by lawyers and political hacks appointed by the size of the donations they made to the ruling political party.[/QUOTE]
I will try to tackle this question tomorrow…I am too tired tonight after a long day on the DAUNTLESS
[QUOTE=Sailor24;191400]Capt, you have been saying this for years! And it is true, but how do we collectively get our voices heard. We know that anything to do with the Maritime industry inside the belt way is run by lawyers and political hacks appointed by the size of the donations they made to the ruling political party.[/QUOTE]
Try this:
“General Teutul. Years ago you served our country in the Cold War. Now we beg you to help us in our struggle against the owners. I regret that I am unable to convey our request to you in person, but our livelihood has fallen under attack, and We’re afraid our mission to affect change ourselves has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the US MMC into the memory systems of this forum. Someone will know how to retrieve it, I guess. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Paul Teutul Senior. You’re my only hope.”
to call for such a loudmouth clown reality TV personage to lead an organization with such importance to American mariners is akin to asking to asking a loudmouth clown reality TV personage to lead the USA
At least Paul Senior knows what work is and was a member if the industry… Probably at a ratings level. An actual blue collar worker. I can forgive a lot from a blue collar guy, and it is and has been vital to my employment and survival that I do so. You cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. Not all the reality stars are as irrelevant and over-inflated as those maysey’s-day-thanks-don-shopping-parade-celebration-giving-cozy-red-sweater-made-by-slaves-only-$19.99-at-nordstroms-holiday-bloat-float-festive-mass-black-frauday-trump-balloons. As I said, he’s your only hope. Unless you can get Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks seems to be what people think a captain is.
[QUOTE=lm1883;191394]Saying MERPAC sold out was figurative. I throw them in there because they haven’t been very effective in stemming the onslaught of regulation. Maybe my criticism is a little over the top as they are simply an advisory committee, but between upgrading and simply maintaining a license costing thousands of dollars and scrutiny over Medicals it is hard to see where our advocate has been if not off station.[/QUOTE]
Unless you have been attending the public meetings and (as you are welcome to do) sit in on the committeesessions that address specific issues, saying MERPAC has not been very effective is just verbalizing your own frustration. “Off station”? Far from it, like I said, most of what we did was to try and make sure regulations were relevant, reasonable, and as much as possible make it possible for as many mariners as possible to stay in the industry in the face of a flood of new technology and operational constraints. I can guaranty that there is not a single person in MERPAC who wants to see mariners lose their jobs or who want to make an Australian type of event happen in the U.S.
It would be more productive to get involved with MERPAC, even just as a member of the public than to make unfair criticisms of the group. Like I said, I shudder to think about what we would have if MERPAC members were not forming a firewall between the lobbyists and the admirals.
