June 1, 1940
DOVER (Routers) The evacuation of British and French troops from the besieged French city of Dunkirk was halted today, over concerns that many of the private vessels that had been deployed for the task were unsafe for troop transport.
Government officials ordered all soldiers to hold their places on the harbour waterfront and beaches, and those in the water were told to hold up boarding as well, until the various fishing and pleasure vessels could be inspected by the Home Guard, to ensure that there were sufficient life vests, fire extinguishers and other safety devices on each one. Each boat will also have to be tested for leaks before it will be deemed safe for the passage across the Channel.
“We can’t risk our soldiers’ lives on these cheap boats,” explained one official. “The Germans are firing on our ships, and we’ve already lost six destroyers to submarines and aerial bombardments, three of them just today. If all those non-military boats don’t have the proper safety gear, they won’t stand a chance,” he shouted over the din of incoming mortar fire from German troops only two miles away.
Many of the troops agreed. One of them, standing chest deep in the surf, holding his weapon out of the water, said “The Home Guard always knows best, that’s what I always say.” Ducking down at the sound of a nearby artillery shell hitting the beach, he came back up for air. “We can’t be expected to risk our lives on those floating death traps. The colonel said that some of those fishing boats have exposed hooks on the deck. We could stab ourselves something nasty if they go through our boots. And look at that rickety dinghy there. We’d probably spend half the trip to old Blighty bailing it. And think of the splinter danger.”
In response to concerns that the troops might be in danger if they remained much longer, the notion was pooh poohed. “Jerry knows how dangerous those boats are. That’s probably why they’ve held up on the final assault. It will only be a couple more weeks until we can get a shipment of life preservers and fire extinguishers in from Southampton. Nothing comes before the safety of our troops.”
[Copyright 2010 by Rand Simberg]
I don’t get it. Is someone trying to kill you and the only way you can escape is by getting on a rocket not built by NASA?
Here is a backstory.
Oh, see Rand’s link now.
Brilliant analogy!
Well done, Mr. Simberg!
What analogy?
The French did this very thing when guy tried to arrange a boat lift at Calais to bring home Brits stranded by the Icelandic Dust Cloud of Doom earlier this year.
“Asked why the operation had been halted, Snow said: “They didn’t like the idea of all those RIBs turning up and taking Brits back. They said it was bad competition for the ferries.””
This is getting embarrassing. 🙁
forget that! The evacuation would be forbidden because the Environmental Impact statement had not been completed.
It is almost as if they want there to be an ecological disaster
I would have no doubt this story would be true if George W. Bush were President during WWII. Bush is the worst President in history, which has been confirmed by 100s of history professors. He would have made sure that the oil tankers were protected no matter the cost in lives, so that he and Dick Cheney could continue to make themselves and their buddies at Big Oil rich. Bush should be subject to his own Nuremberg trial to answer for his war crimes and his illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He should then be imprisoned at the Hague for life, where he belongs.
Wow. BDS cleanup in aisle 10.
Rand, ban it before it multiplies.
Maybe it is sarcasm??? If not, ridicule is in order.
“I would have no doubt this story would be true if George W. Bush were President during WWII. Bush is the worst President in history, which has been confirmed by 100s of history professors. He would have made sure that the oil tankers were protected no matter the cost in lives, so that he and Dick Cheney could continue to make themselves and their buddies at Big Oil rich. Bush should be subject to his own Nuremberg trial to answer for his war crimes and his illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He should then be imprisoned at the Hague for life, where he belongs.”
Sorry, my irony meter is broken. Is this a parody (if so, it’s masterfully done!) or for real?
I think the B. in “Vinny B.” stands for “Barbarino.” He wasn’t the smart Sweathog.
This is a brilliant analogy.
When I first read about this on the Drudge yesterday, I thought “WTF??!!”.
Then I realized, “Of course, its bureaucracy!”.
I don’t get it. Is someone trying to kill you and the only way you can escape is by getting on a rocket not built by NASA?
Heheh, this story could also serve as a brilliant parody of NASA’s attitude to commercial launchers. Rand, was this deliberate or was it contingent genius?
Any genius that I ever display can be safely assumed to be contingent.
Masterfully done. I laughed, I cried.
Remember the rescue of New Orleans during Katrina. All those private and coast guard and navy helicopters grounded until the pilots could get their aircraft inspected, and radios checked and a air traffic control system set up? During the worst president in history? (100s of historians say so. Mainly the ones ignorant of history.) Hell, not even the 2nd worst president of the last 34 years. However, Carter can rest easy, looks like he might get bumped to number 2 soon.
Carter was bumped to #2 three months into Obama. I didn’t think it was possible.
Carter was bumped to #2 three months before Obama was elected, as far as I’m concerned.
Calling Walter Peck…
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
D. Edgren
When will Supreme Chancellor Obama use the emergency powers Congress voted him to deal with this endless bureaucracy. It is time for him to cast aside our American Republic and reform it as a new American Empire.
Rand
You were referenced in an article today in the Washington Examiner by Michael Barone.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama_s-thuggery-is-useless-in-fighting-spill-96684389.html
We have long since ceased to be the “American” republic. That meant what it always meant, an Anglo-dominated state. That means a state to which my immigrant grandparents came. They were accepted into the labor force, but they were expected, and the next generation, the “first generation Americans”, DID strictly conform to the Protestant Anglo values. Regardless of their ethnicity/ancestral religiousity.
In other words, the correct system.
Now we are supposed to embrace “multiculturalism”, even if it means treason to traditional Anglo values. Well, that is the day when America stops “being America”.
Yes, you are right: we are no longer the American state, we have become the “American empire”, right within our own homeland.
My Anglo ancestors fought to define what America means, and it does not mean accepting the value systems of some 5th World peoples, like the ghetto Negroes in our big eastern cities exhibit.
Try reading some cross-cultural studies, such as what Geert Hofstede pioneered in.