Operation Infinite Patience

uesday, March 27, 2012

Operation Infinite Patience: March 27, 2012 The Killing Continues Here in Taiji. Each day we anticipate the return of the killing boats to the Taiji Butcher house. We monitor how many boats have gone out each morning and document what is brought into the Fisherman’s Union that afternoon. On March 18th, we have confirmation that at least three dolphins were loaded onto a forklift into the Taiji Fisherman’s Union. Today all twelve killing boats were out at sea. Some left as early as last night and before dawn. We arrived at the Taiji harbor around 12:30pm when we noticed a fishing boat unloading. This was not a vessel that we were familiar with during the dolphin drive season. Our cameras were rolling as two large Pantropical spotted dolphins were dragged by a rope from the deck of the fishing boat and onto the butcher house kill floor. To our shock and horror, we filmed as another unknown fishing vessel unloaded two more Spotted Dolphins. At this time, the fishermen noticed our cameras and brought out a blue tarp to wrap and hide the dolphins that were being dragged by their tails into the harbor entrance of the butcher house. Fortunately for our cameras, the tarp could not cover the murder. Their stomachs had already been slit open and it was obvious these dolphins had been harpooned at sea. After an hour had passed, all twelve killing boats that had been “fishing” returned to port with their banger poles attached and in place. None of the boats brought in any bonito or any catch of the day. Through our observations, we know that many boats are involved; not just “killing boats”. We also know that many of these unknown boats are not docked in Taiji harbor, but are from other ports. Cove Guardians continue to be a voice for these defenseless victims and will continue to be a strong presence here in Taiji for the 2012-2013 dolphin-killing season. For the Dolphins, Melissa Sehgal Cove Guardian Leader

Don't Bring Your Hoodie to Town

The Consequence of Chance

FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012

Don't Bring Your Hoodie to Town

Geraldo Rivera made an ass of himself on TV today.  This is, alas, not news, which would explain why it was on Fox. He misquoted Johnny Cash.  That wasn't even it, but I had to put that out there.  Sometimes the enormity of a thing is so vast and incomprehensible, you have to pick at something small to try to wrap your head around it.

I mean, yes, Rivera.  On what day is he not a fool? Fox "News," yep.  And yet...just when you think there is no possible way people can be more venal, more callous, more epically and outstandingly vile, they outdo themselves. It was an epiphany of sorts.  Rivera has had a long and storied career as a mystifyingly famous idiot. Today he reached an apotheosis, at least I devoutly hope that's what it was.  That he might have worse in him is too terrifying to contemplate.  It's enough to make a person believe in R'lyeh.

"I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trevon Martin's death as George Zimmerman was...I'll bet you money, if he didn't have that hoodie on, that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn't have responded in that violent way."

Yes, my friends and fellow citizens of Earth, he thinks that an adult man chasing a seventeen year old boy down the street after having been told by a 911 dispatcher not to do so and shooting said child is only partially that man's fault.   The wisdom of neighborhood watch carrying a gun in the first place, or the bizarre application of  "stand your ground" to include a public street and an unarmed opponent doesn't even enter into it.  The hoodie made him do it.

He went on to say that when people see a dark-skinned kid in a hoodie, they think that child is a menace and that we should all be aware of that.  You can't rehabilitate the hoodie, he says.

Oh, Lord.  You know what I think is a menace?  White guys with guns.

I mean, really.  Look at history.  The Chinese invented gunpowder and made fireworks.  Europeans invented gunpowder and made muskets, pistols, cannon, rifles, mortars, derringers, Thompson machine guns, howitzers, and 75 mm anti-aircraft guns.  For five hundred years and counting, the spectacle of some white people coming over the hill or sailing into the harbor or showing up on the doorstep in suits has made people the world over think, "Aw, shit.  Here they come. Are they armed?"

And nine times out of ten, when you hear on the news that someone has killed someone else in a completely bizarre whacknut vigilante way, with or without lengthy manifesto, it's a white guy.  With a gun and a lethal sense of entitlement.  I'll bet you money, if George Zimmerman hadn't gone out wearing a gun, he wouldn't have been able to react in that violent way.

So I'm urging all of you...don't let your white guys go out wearing guns.  Tell them people will look at them as a menace.  After five hundred years of history, you can't rehabilitate the white guy with gun look.  I'm just trying to save lives here.

A Simple Fact About The Trayvon Martin Murder That Must Be Shared

A Simple Fact About The Trayvon Martin Murder That Must Be Shared

As a former federal prosecutor and a former attorney general, I want to talk about the Trayvon Martin story because it disturbs me as a prosecutor, and it deeply disturbs me as a mother of a teenage son. Let me say a word first as a prosecutor.

You've heard of this story -- Cenk Uygur, Keith Olbermann and others in the news media have covered this -- Trayvon Martin was the 17-year-old Florida high school football player who was shot and killed last month. He was visiting with his father and family friend in a gated community. He was walking back to the home from a convenience store in the rain in the early evening three weeks ago, carrying skittles and a can of iced tea.

Trayvon's killer, George Zimmerman, was the volunteer "watchman" for the gated community. That night, as Zimmerman followed Trayvon, he called 911 because he thought the teenager in the hoodie was suspicious. Zimmerman is 28-years-old, a criminal justice major, who had called the Sanford police department 46 times since he took on the role as guardian for the community.

Zimmerman claims that in shooting Trayvon he acted in self-defense based upon a 2005 law called "Stand Your Ground."

Here's what the law says: 

A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity, and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

This law is part of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)'s cluster of pro-NRA bills that shot through legislatures in the past few years. Florida's law was the first and 17 states now have a version of this law, many with virtually identical language.