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Published Ferry News, London, UK  2/26/2006

The controversy being generated by the media and amplified by the politicians and other talking heads in addition to creating a panic where there is little or no reason is also casting a shadow on two of our oldest and I assert are the most effective “first lines of defense”. Not only that; but I will also state that they approach private industry when it comes to efficiency in dealing with the mountainous task of dealing with risks of containerized cargo at the ports and assuring that the tariffs and the laws of the other agencies of government are followed.

International logistics is an extremely complex industry and the maritime portion of that industry has been in place and continuously refined by business and national administrations for thousands of years. Before biblical times vessel captains met at one port or other and asked what the “Custom” or tariff for bringing trade goods to such and such a port. I suspect they also would ask what hazards exist and how best to deal with them. That would include natural ones such as reefs as well as pirates or rogue governmental administrations.

The first conferences dealing with terrorism were most likely conducted by vessel captains; today they and the vessel operating companies are still dealing with the same issues except that the terrorists are more sophisticated now. I suspect that a large reason there have been few terrorist activities involving commercial shipping is because of their efforts pushed by the commercial needs over these thousands of years.

With this in mind, it is clear that for a vessel carrier to place a ship and her cargo in the hands of anything less than a reliable stevedoring company, to dock the vessel, unload the cargo and safeguard it until it is in the hands of the customer would be suicide and every means available legal or shadowy would be employed to determine the risks.

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Published in the “Lone Star Liberty” the monthly magazinge of the Texas Libertarian Party”.3/1/2006
Grant Rostig’s announcement that he would provide a choice to what seem to be socialists offered by the Democrat Republican Party or the Republican Democrat Party, gave me an inkling that there might be hope for a real representative of the “folks” to reach Congress. I only wish I lived in that District so I could vote for him! Fortunately there are lots of Libertarians here in the “Valley” but unfortunately they just don’t know it yet.
The news story published in The Brownsville Herald, supplied even more to be optimistic about. Firstly, the story about a Libertarian Candidate occupied twenty column inches on a premium day, which seems like a good start even in a Libertarian friendly paper.
Secondly, Mr. Rostig will attract those disenfranchised by both the Democrats and Republicans, in particular many Texas Democrats who are quite conservative and not happy with Congressman Dogget’s “hard left” stance on gun control, his votes to increase taxes by supporting the retention of the marriage tax, being against a permanent child tax credit, as well as being against the tax cuts of 2001.
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