I was never a Republican because

This quote is attributed to Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of New York and Democratic nominee for President, who ran against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876.  Tilden ran as a reformer after 8 years of the magnificently corrupt administration of General Ulysses S. Grant.  The quote is in Gore Vidal’s historical fiction novel 1876.  (Highly recommended if you enjoy carefully researched history narrated by a fictional character)

“I was never a Republican, Mr. Schuyler, because those gentlemen you mentioned, distinguished as they are, have only one real interest, and that is the making of special laws in order to protect their fortunes.  I know.  In my day I was employed by them as a working lawyer.  I also know that they have no compassion for the masses of people in this country who are without money and who are, many of them, thanks to General Grant and his friends, without food or houses.  I have always thought that only as a Democrat, reflecting Jefferson and Jackson – and our common friend Van Buren – could justice ever be done the people because, at this moment in history, ours is the only party, which is even faintly responsive to the forces of ideas.  That is why I mean to do my very best to fire the majority of the people with a desire for true reform.  I also have every intention of succeeding.  To fail now would be cruel and unthinkable.”

What really happened and who is to blame?

It is no secret that I love boats. Little boats, big boats, almost any kind of boat. So I’ve been spell bound by the story of the Costa Concordia. And of course anyone who has enjoyed a cruise on a luxury ship has to shudder to think that such a memorable and enjoyable experience could have turned into the nightmare we see repeated over and over again on the news and in the papers. But I could not help wondering, even as the media and the ship’s owners’ were quick to condemn the Capitan, how did this happen? Capitan Francesco Schettino is an experienced mariner and the ship was launched less than six years ago.

Villian or scape goat? Hard to tell at this point but the story is slowly unfolding. The media rushed to portray Capitan Schettino as a reckless grandstander showing off his magnificent ship to locals on the island of Giglio by sailing too close to its rocky shore. The Capitan early on stated that his ship struck uncharted rocks and that he did nothing wrong. Nothing I’ve read has even attempted to be a balanced look at this terrible accident. But there is clearly more to this story than reporters looking for their name on a byline are telling us. Even a story from Fox News trying to further inflame the story by reporting on a supposed mystery woman seen at the Capitan’s table earlier in the evening let slip a couple of facts that call into question the so far unchallenged charges. You can begin to understand why a judge ordered the Capitan released from jail (but keeping him under house arrest) while the investigation continues.

Here is the passage from the Fox report that starts to shift the story from the one sided outrage spewed by the news media and to provide some counter balance that hopefully will lead to the truth behind this tragedy.
The ship's operator, Crociere Costa SpA, has accused Schettino of causing the wreck by making the unapproved detour, and the captain has acknowledged carrying out what he called a "tourist navigation" that brought the ship closer to Giglio. Costa has said such a navigational "fly by" was done last Aug. 9-10, after being approved by the company and Giglio port authorities.

However, Lloyd's List Intelligence, a leading maritime publication, said Wednesday its tracking of the ship's August route showed it actually took the Concordia slightly closer to Giglio than the course that caused Friday's disaster.

"This is not a black-and-white case," Richard Meade, editor of Lloyd's List, said in a statement.

"Our data suggests that both routes took the vessel within 200 yards of the impact point and that the authorized route was actually closer to shore."

So, this is not a black and white case and the owners and the port authorities had approved a similar maneuver in August that placed the ship even closer to the shoreline than where it crashed into the submerged rocks.

Then there are the charges that the Capitan abandoned ship while passengers where still aboard. Again, quoting the Fox report, here is his response.

New audio of Schettino's communications with the coast guard during the crisis emerged Wednesday, with the captain claiming he ended up in a life raft after he tripped and fell into the water.

"I did not abandon a ship with 100 people on board, the ship suddenly listed and we were thrown into the water," Schettino said, according to a transcript published Wednesday in the Corriere della Sera paper.

I’ve read lots of references to the charges of abandoning the ship but little of the statements of some crew members claiming the outcome would have been much more dire if the Capitan had not maneuvered the ship closer to shore and to shallower water after impact.

There are many more charges to be answered. Why was the crew largely untrained in the basics of evacuation? Why was a lifeboat drill postponed until the following day so passengers had no idea where to report for assistance into the lifeboats? And why where the lifeboats so late in being deployed that some could not be launched due to the listing of the stricken ship?

While I’ll be anxiously waiting to find the answers to these questions and to better understand how in this day of advanced navigational and safety technology a major ship the size of a small city could end up crushed and laying on its side on a rocky island shoreline, I doubt that I’ll read it in the mainstream press unless I’m able to read between the lines and draw out facts dropped in reports like the Fox News piece. Their attempt was to titillate. The facts revealed were secondary to the story they were hawking.

You can read the entire Fox News report here:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/19/captain-in-cruise-ship-disaster-says-fell-out-ship-during-evacuation/