Arrrgh Matey! Ron Paul wants to replace the military with pirates!

[Yael]

Just how insane IS this man anyway?

He just put a bill up to enact letters of marque to send civilians after Bin Laden.

I do note that this is more than our "fearless leader" is doing, but damn.

Full text here: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h3216ih.txt.pdf

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Well, That *Would* Stop Global Warming

From http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/

[WildEyedLiberal]

5. That graph is awesome. n/t

[Yael]

8. What a riot!

:rofl:

[Hippo_Tron]

13. LMAO that's awesome

[eleny]

2. Be they Blackwater civilians, matey? Arrrrrr!

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Arr! Uh, Err? What's a letter of marque? Your link resides in Davey Jones' locker. n/t

[Yael]

6. It is a PDF, not an html web page

Are you having trouble accessing it?

[Solon]

14. letter of marque is a decree by a government to allow a privateer to raid...

another nation's merchant's ships. When England, France, and Spain were duking it out, this was the primary way to wage a "cold war". An English privateer was everybody else's pirates, of course, if that privateer ended up raiding an English ship, well let's just say they ended up getting a stretched neck for it.

Ron Paul wants a similar thing to happen in regards to Osama, basically allow folks to be issued a letter of marque to sanction his assassination or capture.

[NoPasaran]

15. A letter of marque

Is a commission issued to a civilian authorizing him to attack enemy shipping in time of war. Captured ships and their cargoes would be sent to a port where a Prize Court would examine the facts and determine whether or not the capture was in fact "good prize". The letter of marque protected its holder from being hung as a pirate.

In the reality-based world, I think the last letters of marque were issued by the Confederacy during the Civil War.

[krispos42]

4. Apparantly, it's legal

We're not a signatory to the convention that bans them, and it's in the Constitution that Congress can do that.

Of course, I kinda figured that the $25 million reward would have had bounty hunters after him already...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque

[Hieronymus]

7. Not surprising for a Libertarian .. he'd allow private ownership of beaches

and national parks. How about logging and tract housing in Yellowstone?

[peacebird]

9. not much of a stretch after the mercs * has put in place, eh?

[jody]

10. It's similar to bounty hunters so will Dog receive a letter of marque for Bin Laden? n/t

[Yael]

11. I'm actually surprised Dog hasn't bought a plane ticket yet

Now THAT would be a show to watch...

[AX10]

12. ....

:eyes:

He's the sanest of all the Republicans running. This just shows how bad the rest of them are.

[TheWatcher]

16. He also wants to do away with Roe VS. Wade.

Not my "choice" for a candidate.

[LeftishBrit]

17. I hope the voters make him walk the plank!