Bill Mauldin: "Bill Mauldin
©Stars and Stripes"
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Mankind's System Failure
Mankind’s System Failure
The United States Coast Guard, Class Societies, and the maritime industry have a relationship, which is incestuous, criminal, and rife with cronyism. The grand collusion has been deteriorating the regulatory oversight necessary to ensure the viability of this industry, and the safety of its people.
The Coast Guard inspectors tasked with ensuring regulatory compliance within the industry are inexperienced and do not have the requisite knowledge to support inspections. They do not have an understanding of the systems they approve and how everything on board any type of maritime structure is interconnected. A ship, boat, drill rig, ferry, etc. all have specific functions they serve and all have complicated rules for construction. The US Coast Guard is overtaxed in its duties and cannot support the requirements of vessel/structure inspections; there is no debate on this matter. I have lived and worked in this industry my entire life.
Class Societies, American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd’s Register, Det Norsk Veritas, and other companies do not have qualified people reviewing designs, they do not have qualified people inspecting the construction of the vessels and structures, and they do not have qualified people supporting the life cycle maintenance of vessels and structures.
The same industry and regulatory problems that exist within the banking industry, coal industry, investment industry, or any sector for that matter, exist more so in the maritime industry. When oversight from a person or organization is required, that should bring integrity, character, and honor to a process to ensure standards are maintained and that regulations are obeyed, it does not occur.
There is in our constitution a separation of church and state for a reason. Neither should be perceived as, or allowed to, sanction or endorse the other. This very simple concept should be the new baseline of any regulatory agency. There cannot be cross pollination between regulatory agencies and corporations.
The mission of any government is to mitigate the darker aspects of human nature. We have laws against all manner of evil. That evil grows from hearts of mankind. Societies create religions, support systems, and organized governments because of the recognition, albeit subtly intrinsic, of this evil in us.
And evil is represented now most effectively in board rooms across the world. Credibility, respectability, and integrity are superseded by greed, selfishness, and hubris. These corporate entities believe that they and they alone can do the most good for the world. When the fact is, and the world is retching with proof, they do penultimate harm and irreversible damage to the soul of this world.
We have allowed them to befoul our land, sea, and air with chemicals that poison our world. They will argue that they do it to provide food, work, and material goods. When in fact it is to create untold wealth for a minor percentage of the world’s population and, when the bill comes due, it will not be them that pick up the tab.
As with everything nature teaches us balance is the answer. We’ve been so far out of balance for so long, that we are fast approaching the point of incline where friction will be overcome and we will plummet off the edge, into the abyss of darkness.
We don’t have time for politicians to come to their end of life understanding of their allowing this to happen and wishing they had done it different. You need to fast forward and understand it today.
The United States Coast Guard, Class Societies, and the maritime industry have a relationship, which is incestuous, criminal, and rife with cronyism. The grand collusion has been deteriorating the regulatory oversight necessary to ensure the viability of this industry, and the safety of its people.
The Coast Guard inspectors tasked with ensuring regulatory compliance within the industry are inexperienced and do not have the requisite knowledge to support inspections. They do not have an understanding of the systems they approve and how everything on board any type of maritime structure is interconnected. A ship, boat, drill rig, ferry, etc. all have specific functions they serve and all have complicated rules for construction. The US Coast Guard is overtaxed in its duties and cannot support the requirements of vessel/structure inspections; there is no debate on this matter. I have lived and worked in this industry my entire life.
Class Societies, American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd’s Register, Det Norsk Veritas, and other companies do not have qualified people reviewing designs, they do not have qualified people inspecting the construction of the vessels and structures, and they do not have qualified people supporting the life cycle maintenance of vessels and structures.
The same industry and regulatory problems that exist within the banking industry, coal industry, investment industry, or any sector for that matter, exist more so in the maritime industry. When oversight from a person or organization is required, that should bring integrity, character, and honor to a process to ensure standards are maintained and that regulations are obeyed, it does not occur.
There is in our constitution a separation of church and state for a reason. Neither should be perceived as, or allowed to, sanction or endorse the other. This very simple concept should be the new baseline of any regulatory agency. There cannot be cross pollination between regulatory agencies and corporations.
The mission of any government is to mitigate the darker aspects of human nature. We have laws against all manner of evil. That evil grows from hearts of mankind. Societies create religions, support systems, and organized governments because of the recognition, albeit subtly intrinsic, of this evil in us.
And evil is represented now most effectively in board rooms across the world. Credibility, respectability, and integrity are superseded by greed, selfishness, and hubris. These corporate entities believe that they and they alone can do the most good for the world. When the fact is, and the world is retching with proof, they do penultimate harm and irreversible damage to the soul of this world.
We have allowed them to befoul our land, sea, and air with chemicals that poison our world. They will argue that they do it to provide food, work, and material goods. When in fact it is to create untold wealth for a minor percentage of the world’s population and, when the bill comes due, it will not be them that pick up the tab.
As with everything nature teaches us balance is the answer. We’ve been so far out of balance for so long, that we are fast approaching the point of incline where friction will be overcome and we will plummet off the edge, into the abyss of darkness.
We don’t have time for politicians to come to their end of life understanding of their allowing this to happen and wishing they had done it different. You need to fast forward and understand it today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
