Pirates Attack Again Off Somali Coast

Pirates have captured another ship off the Somali coast which leads into the Suez Canal and the short trip to the Mediterranean Sea. Story here.

This now makes 11 ships now being held by the pirates. Here is the list:

CAPT. STEPHANOS: Seized Sept. 21. The freighter was flying the Bahamas flag. It was carrying a cargo of coal and has 17 Filipinos, one Chinese and a Ukrainian aboard.

FAINA: Seized Sept. 24. The ship was carrying 33 T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition destined for Kenya's Mombasa port. Pirates have demanded $20 million in ransom.

AFRICAN SANDERLING: Seized Oct. 15. The Panama-flagged, Japanese-operated, and Korea-owned bulk carrier has 21 Filipino crew aboard.

STOLT STRENGTH: Seized Nov. 10. The chemical tanker with 23 Filipino crew aboard was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. It was carrying 23,818 tonnes of oil products.

THE KARAGOL: Seized Nov. 12. The Turkish ship with 14 crew was hijacked off Yemen. It was transporting more than 4,000 tonnes of chemicals to the port of Bombay.

TIANYU 8: Seized Nov. 13/14. The Chinese fishing boat was reported seized off Kenya. The crew included 15 Chinese, one Taiwanese, one Japanese, three Filipinos and four Vietnamese.

CHEMSTAR VENUS: Seized Nov. 15. The combined chemical and oil tanker was travelling from Dumai, Indonesia to the Ukraine. It had 18 Filipino and five South Korean crew.

SIRIUS STAR: Seized Nov. 15. The Saudi supertanker, the biggest ship ever hijacked, held as much as 2 million barrels of oil. Captured off east Africa, it had 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

THE DELIGHT: Seized Nov. 18. The Hong Kong-flagged ship with 25 crew aboard is loaded with 36,000 tonnes of wheat bound for Iran. It was captured off the coast of Yemen.

ADINA: Seized last week. The Adina is a Yemeni-operated bulk carrier and carried seven crew, including three Somalis, two Yemenis and two Panamanians.

BISCAGLIA: Seized on Nov. 28. The Biscaglia is a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker with 30 crew on board, 25 Indians, three Britons and two Bangladeshis.

You Think You Know GM, Ford, and Chrysler? 6 Myths You May Be Relying On

One of our readers sent this to me. It is important to consider as our lawmakers are thinking about lending the big 3 money:

6 Myths About the Detroit 3

By Mark Phelan
The Detroit Free Press

The debate over aid to the Detroit-based automakers is awash with half-truths and misrepresentations that are endlessly repeated by everyone from members of Congress to journalists. Here are six myths about the companies and their vehicles, and the reality in each case.

Myth No. 1 - Nobody buys their vehicles

Reality

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC sold 8.5 million vehicles in the United States last year and millions more around the world. GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year and holds a U.S. lead over Toyota of about 560,000 so far this year. Globally, GM in 2007 remained the world's largest automaker, selling 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide -- about 3,000 more than Toyota.

Ford outsold Honda by about 850,000 and Nissan by more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States last year.

Chrysler sold more vehicles here than Nissan and Hyundai combined in 2007 and so far this year.

Myth No. 2 - They build unreliable junk.

Reality

The creaky, leaky vehicles of the 1980s and '90s are long gone. Consumer Reports recently found that "Ford's reliability is now on par with good Japanese automakers."

The independent J.D. Power Initial Quality Study scored Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Mercury, Pontiac and Lincoln brands' overall quality as high or higher than that of Acura, Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Scion, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Power rated the Chevrolet Malibu the highest-quality midsize sedan. Both the Malibu and Ford Fusion scored better than the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

Myth No. 3 - They build gas-guzzlers

Reality

All of the Detroit Three build midsize sedans the Environmental Protection Agency rates at 29-33 miles per gallon on the highway.

The most fuel-efficient Chevrolet Malibu gets 33 m.p.g. on the highway, 2 m.p.g. better than the best Honda Accord.

The most fuel-efficient Ford Focus has the same highway fuel economy ratings as the most efficient Toyota Corolla.

The most fuel-efficient Chevrolet Cobalt has the same city fuel economy and better highway fuel economy than the most efficient non-hybrid Honda Civic. A recent study by Edmunds.com found that the Chevrolet Aveo subcompact is the least expensive car to buy and operate.

Myth No. 4 - They already got a $25-billion bailout.

Reality

None of that money has been lent out and may not be for more than a year. In addition, it can, by law, be used only to invest in future vehicles and technology, so it has no effect on the shortage of operating cash the companies face because of the economic slowdown that's killing them now.

Myth No. 5 - GM, Ford and Chrysler are idiots for investing in pickups and SUVs.

Reality

The domestic companies' lineup has been truck-heavy, but Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have all spent billions of dollars on pickups and SUVs because trucks are a large and historically profitable part of the auto industry. The most fuel-efficient full-size pickups from GM, Ford and Chrysler all have higher EPA fuel economy ratings than Toyota and Nissan's full-size pickups.

Myth No. 6 - They don't build hybrids.

Reality

The Detroit Three got into the hybrid business late, but Ford and GM each now offers more hybrid models than Honda or Nissan, with several more due to hit the road in early 2009.

Pirates Strike Again and Again Despite a UN Mandate Navy Nearby

Pirates have seized a 1000 ft long super tanker carrying grain off the coast of Somali. This is despite numerous ships from various navies nearby who were there patrolling for pirates under a UN mandate.

How did the pirates get past the UN naval ships? Uh...they figured out were the UN mandate ended, and attacked the ship outside the area where they were allowed to patrol.

This is the 7th ship in 12 days seized.

Story here.

Democrat Leaders Want to Stop 401k's and Make You Take Social Security

Some democratic leaders are talking about killing your 401k and replacing it with a social security plan which would give you a 3% yearly return.

That's right, a 3% yearly return.

The reason they want to do this is to get their hands on millions of dollars that they can use for government spending. They will take away the tax break for your retirement fund (remember they said they were going to end the tax breaks for the wealthy - bet you never considered yourself "wealthy") and require you to put it into a social security type trust fund.

What does this mean to you?

Well under the plan, a person who makes $100,000 a year and invests the maximum of $5,000 at 35 will have $245,000 to retire on after 30 years.

Yet if that same amount of money is invested at the average rate of return received on the stock market, 10%, that same person would have $905,000 to retire on.

$905,000 v. $245,000 Which do you want? You are the wealthy ones that Obama wanted to get.

Story here.

North Korea Fakes Photo to Prove Kim Jong Il is Alive and Well

As reported here, here and here in this blog, there has been reason to believe that North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il is either dead or very ill. North Korea has released a photo of "Dear Leader" with the military but a close look at the photo seems to indicate that Kim's picture has been digitally added because his shadow is at a different angle from the officers standing next to him.

Read story and view pics here.

Author Michael Crichton Has 'Died Unexpectedly'

Michael Crichton, a Harvrd educated MD turned author, has died of cancer.

He was the author of many bestsellers, including Jurassic Park, but the best book he ever wrote was called State of Fear, which was a heavily documented fiction about environmental terrorism. In the book, he makes a great case that global warming is not caused by man, but that the entire global warming "the end of the world is coming" scenario is a way for government to control man.

The rest of the story is here.

Obama Elected President

Congratulations to Barack Obama, our first African American president.

For all those that live outside these borders, please understand that the greatness of the American dream is that we - Americans - all Americans - fight our elections hard, then stand together.

May God bless our country and lead us forward.

12 - 15 ft Tsunami Like Waves Hit Boothbay Harbor Maine

Near low tide, the bay water level suddenly increased 12 - 15 feet, then decreased three times. The rush of the water damaged many piers and pilings. Scientists don't know what caused it. Something similar happened in 1992.

Read the story here.