I repaired a damaged friendship on Easter Sunday. What a great gift to receive. I love you Sissy.
Every day priests minutely
examine the Dharma
and endlessly chant
complicated sutras.
They should learn
how to read the love letters
sent by the wind and rain,
the snow and moon.
- Ikkyu (1394-1491)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sea Shepherd News
Sea Shepherd News
News Releases
03/12/2008
Sea Shepherd To Tackle The New Improved “Bash And Slash” Baby Killers Of Canada
From the icebergs off the coast of Antarctica to the ice floes off the coast of Eastern Canada - there is little rest for the Shepherds of the Sea.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin is scheduled to return from chasing and harassing the Japanese whaling fleet on March 15th after three and a half months of successful interventions against the Japanese whale poachers.
But there is no time for rest or sitting on our laurels. We have to get to the other side of the planet to board our ship the Farley Mowat in Bermuda. On March 24th we are scheduled to depart northward into the ice packs of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to once again act as shepherds to the greatest herd of sea lambs on Earth - the harp seal pups.
Canada, as if to slap the Europeans in the face for threatening to ban seal products, has set this year’s kill quota at 325,000 seals.
It’s hard to believe that this is the 21st Century, when a government of a wealthy nation like Canada continues to promote and encourage the largest and most sadistic marine wildlife massacre on the planet.
Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn set the high quota without any scientific justification and without any market justification. The Canadian taxpayers will continue to foot the bill to send uneducated sadistic killers onto the ice with spiked clubs to bash in the skulls of seal pups. It is nothing more than a glorified welfare scheme to give East coast fishermen enough work to justify their unemployment insurance payments.
In announcing the new quota Hearn said that the seal slaughter has been improved with new rules to make the hunt more “humane”.
The new rules call for the sealers to sever the arteries of seals under their flippers after they have been shot or clubbed.
It’s “bash and slash” now instead of just “bash” and that is considered to be an improvement.
To say that this makes the seal slaughter more humane is to say that a psychopath is a better person if he slashes the throat of his victim after bashing in his or her skull.
The new rules are being imposed in an attempt to convince the European Parliament to not ban seal products into Europe. Canada is spending a small fortune in sending delegations to Europe to plea for the right to continue to massacre seal pups.
As a Canadian I am hopeful that the European Parliament will act soon to ban all seal products. All of my life I have been sickened and disgusted by this annual ritual of death where grown men kick seal pups in the face, bash in their skulls, skin them alive and stain the ice floes red with the blood of hundreds of thousands of seal pups, turning the nursery floes of these gentle creatures into a living hell of spewing blood and gore amidst the pitiful screams of dying and injured young animals.
There is no other place on Earth where the arrogance of humankind can be seen in all of its primitive and ignorant glory than on the ice floes under assault by blood-stained men with hearts as hard and merciless as iron.
We have no choice but to challenge them and to do whatever we can to disrupt their vicious rape of the seal nurseries.
As always it will be difficult. The sealers are protected by the Seal Protection Regulations that make it a Federal offense to witness or document a seal pup being killed. In Canada if you see a sealer club a seal pup and you don’t have a permit to witness the slaughter you can be arrested, jailed and fined up to $100,000 or sent to jail for a year.
It’s hard to believe, but Canada is a nation where killing is a subsidized recreational activity and compassion is severely punished.
We need to demonstrate to the European Parliament just how brutal the Canadian seal hunt is by again going into the ice packs ourselves and placing our lives on the line in defense of the seals.
It is important that we make this issue as hot as possible before the Europeans vote by demonstrating that people of compassion are willing to risks their lives and freedom to abolish this atrocity.
So it’s out of the Southern deep freeze and into the Northern freezer, from saving whales to saving seals - the work of a shepherd of the sea is never done.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (USA) Tel: 360-370-5650 Fax: 360-370-5651
Copyright © 2008 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. All rights reserved.
News Releases
03/12/2008
Sea Shepherd To Tackle The New Improved “Bash And Slash” Baby Killers Of Canada
From the icebergs off the coast of Antarctica to the ice floes off the coast of Eastern Canada - there is little rest for the Shepherds of the Sea.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin is scheduled to return from chasing and harassing the Japanese whaling fleet on March 15th after three and a half months of successful interventions against the Japanese whale poachers.
But there is no time for rest or sitting on our laurels. We have to get to the other side of the planet to board our ship the Farley Mowat in Bermuda. On March 24th we are scheduled to depart northward into the ice packs of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to once again act as shepherds to the greatest herd of sea lambs on Earth - the harp seal pups.
Canada, as if to slap the Europeans in the face for threatening to ban seal products, has set this year’s kill quota at 325,000 seals.
It’s hard to believe that this is the 21st Century, when a government of a wealthy nation like Canada continues to promote and encourage the largest and most sadistic marine wildlife massacre on the planet.
Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn set the high quota without any scientific justification and without any market justification. The Canadian taxpayers will continue to foot the bill to send uneducated sadistic killers onto the ice with spiked clubs to bash in the skulls of seal pups. It is nothing more than a glorified welfare scheme to give East coast fishermen enough work to justify their unemployment insurance payments.
In announcing the new quota Hearn said that the seal slaughter has been improved with new rules to make the hunt more “humane”.
The new rules call for the sealers to sever the arteries of seals under their flippers after they have been shot or clubbed.
It’s “bash and slash” now instead of just “bash” and that is considered to be an improvement.
To say that this makes the seal slaughter more humane is to say that a psychopath is a better person if he slashes the throat of his victim after bashing in his or her skull.
The new rules are being imposed in an attempt to convince the European Parliament to not ban seal products into Europe. Canada is spending a small fortune in sending delegations to Europe to plea for the right to continue to massacre seal pups.
As a Canadian I am hopeful that the European Parliament will act soon to ban all seal products. All of my life I have been sickened and disgusted by this annual ritual of death where grown men kick seal pups in the face, bash in their skulls, skin them alive and stain the ice floes red with the blood of hundreds of thousands of seal pups, turning the nursery floes of these gentle creatures into a living hell of spewing blood and gore amidst the pitiful screams of dying and injured young animals.
There is no other place on Earth where the arrogance of humankind can be seen in all of its primitive and ignorant glory than on the ice floes under assault by blood-stained men with hearts as hard and merciless as iron.
We have no choice but to challenge them and to do whatever we can to disrupt their vicious rape of the seal nurseries.
As always it will be difficult. The sealers are protected by the Seal Protection Regulations that make it a Federal offense to witness or document a seal pup being killed. In Canada if you see a sealer club a seal pup and you don’t have a permit to witness the slaughter you can be arrested, jailed and fined up to $100,000 or sent to jail for a year.
It’s hard to believe, but Canada is a nation where killing is a subsidized recreational activity and compassion is severely punished.
We need to demonstrate to the European Parliament just how brutal the Canadian seal hunt is by again going into the ice packs ourselves and placing our lives on the line in defense of the seals.
It is important that we make this issue as hot as possible before the Europeans vote by demonstrating that people of compassion are willing to risks their lives and freedom to abolish this atrocity.
So it’s out of the Southern deep freeze and into the Northern freezer, from saving whales to saving seals - the work of a shepherd of the sea is never done.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (USA) Tel: 360-370-5650 Fax: 360-370-5651
Copyright © 2008 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. All rights reserved.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Sea Shepherd Chases Japanese Fleet Out of Australian Waters
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin has successfully chased the Japanese whaling fleet out of the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory.
For the last 10 days the Japanese fleet was killing whales not far off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory. On the morning of February 23rd, Sea Shepherd intercepted the fleet about 80 miles north of the Shackleton Glacier.
Over the last 24 hours the fleet has fled north and they are now above the 200 miles territorial lines that defines the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone and the Australian Whale Sanctuary.
No whales have been killed during the last 30 hours.
"It is incredibly satisfying to be moving through these waters seeing Fin whales, Piked whales and Humpback whales spouting and breaching and knowing they are safe from the harpoons as long as we are here," said Canadian crewmember Shannon Mann, 35 from Calgary, Alberta.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin continues to pursue the Japanese fleet with the objective of doing so for the next three weeks.
For the last 10 days the Japanese fleet was killing whales not far off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory. On the morning of February 23rd, Sea Shepherd intercepted the fleet about 80 miles north of the Shackleton Glacier.
Over the last 24 hours the fleet has fled north and they are now above the 200 miles territorial lines that defines the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone and the Australian Whale Sanctuary.
No whales have been killed during the last 30 hours.
"It is incredibly satisfying to be moving through these waters seeing Fin whales, Piked whales and Humpback whales spouting and breaching and knowing they are safe from the harpoons as long as we are here," said Canadian crewmember Shannon Mann, 35 from Calgary, Alberta.
The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin continues to pursue the Japanese fleet with the objective of doing so for the next three weeks.
Sea Shepherd Announces Seal Defense Campaign 2008!
Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice
Captain Paul Watson and some of his crew will not rest after defending whales when they return to Australia after three and a half months of chasing and harassing Japanese whaling ships, and will instead continue on to defend baby seals.
Within days of returning to Australia in late March, they will be flying halfway around the world to Bermuda where Sea Shepherd's other ship the Farley Mowat is docked. From there they will head North into the ice packs off Eastern Canada to defend baby harp seals from the ruthless clubs of Canadian sealers.
"There is no rest on planetary duty," said Captain Paul Watson from onboard the Steve Irwin off the coast of Antarctica. "Half our year is spent amongst icebergs and on ice floes. Our job is to hunt the hunters to defend their victims and that takes us from the bottom of the world to the top and many places in between."
Captain Watson has been fighting the Canadian seal slaughter all his life. It was shut down in 1984 and resurrected in 1994.
"All our victories are usually temporary," he said. "Unfortunately our defeats are usually permanent."
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is confident that years of risk and effort will soon pay off. The European nations are banning seal products and seal products have been banned in the United States since 1972. Sea Shepherd has been slowly lobbying to remove the markets at the same time as we have been mounting dramatic confrontations on the ice to physically save the seals from the cruel clubs of the sealers.
Patience and persistence is paying off. The seal hunt survives only because of subsidies doled out to the sealing industry by the government of Canada. It has become a glorified welfare scheme where in return for killing seals for a few weeks the sealers can qualify for unemployment insurance for the rest of the year.
"They say it's part of their culture," said Captain Watson who himself grew up in an Eastern fishing village in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. "It's a culture based on the cruel clubbing of baby seals for a few weeks each year and drinking Canadian Club and beer the rest of the year. It's a culture that any Maritimer with half a brain abandoned generations ago."
In addition to the hazards of thick ice and nasty weather, the Sea Shepherd crew face the threat of violence from the sealers and the threat of arrest under the Canadian "Seal Protection regulations" that make it a criminal offense to "witness or document the killing of a seal without the permission of the government of Canada."
"As a kid I remember these baby killers bragging how they would slice open the beating heart of the first baby seal they kill each spring," said Captain Watson. "They drank the hot blood and smeared it cross upon their foreheads and dabbed blood on their cheeks. They called it the "Rites of Spring." I called them barbarians then, and I call them barbarians still, and as a Canadian and a Maritimer, I have been ashamed of this bloody evil tradition all my life and I've dedicated my life to shutting this monstrous obscenity down forever, and I believe that soon we will see that day when the killing is ended."
In 2005 twelve Sea Shepherd crew were arrested after being attacked and assaulted by sealers on the ice. Despite being struck by sealing clubs, punched and kicked, not one sealer was arrested for assault. The attack was video-taped and the sealers identified yet the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated there was "insufficient evidence" to charge the sealers. The Sea Shepherd crew were jailed and fined for approaching within a half a nautical mile of a seal being killed.
Captain Paul Watson and some of his crew will not rest after defending whales when they return to Australia after three and a half months of chasing and harassing Japanese whaling ships, and will instead continue on to defend baby seals.
Within days of returning to Australia in late March, they will be flying halfway around the world to Bermuda where Sea Shepherd's other ship the Farley Mowat is docked. From there they will head North into the ice packs off Eastern Canada to defend baby harp seals from the ruthless clubs of Canadian sealers.
"There is no rest on planetary duty," said Captain Paul Watson from onboard the Steve Irwin off the coast of Antarctica. "Half our year is spent amongst icebergs and on ice floes. Our job is to hunt the hunters to defend their victims and that takes us from the bottom of the world to the top and many places in between."
Captain Watson has been fighting the Canadian seal slaughter all his life. It was shut down in 1984 and resurrected in 1994.
"All our victories are usually temporary," he said. "Unfortunately our defeats are usually permanent."
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is confident that years of risk and effort will soon pay off. The European nations are banning seal products and seal products have been banned in the United States since 1972. Sea Shepherd has been slowly lobbying to remove the markets at the same time as we have been mounting dramatic confrontations on the ice to physically save the seals from the cruel clubs of the sealers.
Patience and persistence is paying off. The seal hunt survives only because of subsidies doled out to the sealing industry by the government of Canada. It has become a glorified welfare scheme where in return for killing seals for a few weeks the sealers can qualify for unemployment insurance for the rest of the year.
"They say it's part of their culture," said Captain Watson who himself grew up in an Eastern fishing village in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. "It's a culture based on the cruel clubbing of baby seals for a few weeks each year and drinking Canadian Club and beer the rest of the year. It's a culture that any Maritimer with half a brain abandoned generations ago."
In addition to the hazards of thick ice and nasty weather, the Sea Shepherd crew face the threat of violence from the sealers and the threat of arrest under the Canadian "Seal Protection regulations" that make it a criminal offense to "witness or document the killing of a seal without the permission of the government of Canada."
"As a kid I remember these baby killers bragging how they would slice open the beating heart of the first baby seal they kill each spring," said Captain Watson. "They drank the hot blood and smeared it cross upon their foreheads and dabbed blood on their cheeks. They called it the "Rites of Spring." I called them barbarians then, and I call them barbarians still, and as a Canadian and a Maritimer, I have been ashamed of this bloody evil tradition all my life and I've dedicated my life to shutting this monstrous obscenity down forever, and I believe that soon we will see that day when the killing is ended."
In 2005 twelve Sea Shepherd crew were arrested after being attacked and assaulted by sealers on the ice. Despite being struck by sealing clubs, punched and kicked, not one sealer was arrested for assault. The attack was video-taped and the sealers identified yet the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated there was "insufficient evidence" to charge the sealers. The Sea Shepherd crew were jailed and fined for approaching within a half a nautical mile of a seal being killed.
Daily Zen
As long as you are subject
To a life bound by force of habit,
You are not free from the
Burden of the body.
- Kuei-Shan (771-854)
To a life bound by force of habit,
You are not free from the
Burden of the body.
- Kuei-Shan (771-854)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Man
"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife- birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes, and dingoes- by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative- and fatal- health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kill so easily and so violently, and yet once a year sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."
~C. David Coats, author of Old MacDonald's Factory Farm
~C. David Coats, author of Old MacDonald's Factory Farm
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The Rocky Whaling Fleet Horror Show
The Rocky Whaling Fleet Horror Show
Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
First they took a step to the West then a jump to the North then a leap to the East and now a hop to the West.
The Japanese whaling fleet is all over the charts down here in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
The good news is that they have not killed a single whale for at least 16 days and it does not look like whaling will resume for the next few days as they continue to run, burning up fuel without profit.
The Japanese whalers are reporting that they are "terrified" of the Sea Shepherd "vegan eco-terrorist pirates"
It's amazing what a few well placed stink bombs can do. The big brave whale killing samurai cetacean serial killers run like little Japanese school girls at the approach of the black hulled Steve Irwin.
This year the Japanese whalers are finding that the vast Southern Ocean is not as vast as they have been used to. Whale defenders have become as seasoned in these remote waters as the whale killers and with the Greenpeace ship Esperanza's teeth sunk firmly into the hind quarters of the Nishiin Maru and Sea Shepherd's ship Steve Irwin constantly biting the heels of the catcher boats, the dogs of protest are screaming havoc and the pursuit has transformed the normally efficient Japanese whale killing machines into a chaotic bunch of keystone whalers scampering over the swells and stumbling around icebergs in a scattered and senseless panic.
The Japanese Prime Minister is crying woe in the Diet. New Zealand's Prime Minister is crying foul as the whalers scurried briefly towards the Ross Sea. The Prime Minister of Australia is somewhat rudderless in his directions on the issue but at least the government ship Oceanic Viking is taking pictures of ---- fleeing whalers. Hundreds of people turned out to protest a Japanese government ship docking in Bermuda, there have been protests in New York, in Budapest, in Rome and all over the planet. Toyota sales are down, Japanese Embassies are being besieged by petitions and protests, the Australian courts have slapped the Japanese on the wrists and barred them from killing whales off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory. And in London a 14 year old girl and her father were arrested by the Japanese for refusing to leave the Japanese Embassy and are facing 6 months in prison.
How far is this going to go before the Japanese government sees the writing on the wall and does the right thing? I don't know what Japan is paying out in public relations. I understand it is a great deal of money but they have to be asking themselves just what are they getting for their investment? Japan's international reputation is sinking fast in a sea of whale and dolphin blood.
Conservationists are succeeding in bringing this controversy into the international spotlight. It is no longer out of sight and out of mind. Killing endangered whales in a whale sanctuary is no different then walking onto the plains of the Serengeti and gunning down 50 rhinos or marching into Kruger National Park to blow away a thousand elephants. Why do we condemn poor Africans for killing Mountain Gorillas for bush meat yet allow the wealthy Japanese to slaughter the aquatic equivalent of bush meat without the same level of outrage and indignation?
We are succeeding in mobilizing that righteous indignation and moral outrage and we are seeing a growing passionate movement rising in defense of not just the whales but of all species that are being plundered from the oceans.
The whaling industry has no place in the 21st Century and certainly not in a sophisticated nation like Japan. Whaling is a primitive, cruel, economically senseless and barbaric practice. What is a major industrialized super power doing killing whales anyway? The only other people involved in this anachronistic bit of sadistic maritime madness are a few frustrated inbred Vikings in Northern Norway and the Danish Faeroe Islands. Even the Icelanders have seen fit to pack the harpoons away.
But pride being pride and nationalistic pride being the most perverse pride of all, Japan is planning on building an even bigger, better and more efficient factory ship that can process three times the number of whales than the Nishiin Maru. Blind, stubborn jingoistic nationalism is what is driving the Japanese government to defend an industry that represents an insignificant contribution to the Japanese economy at the cost of tarnishing the reputation of all otherwise decent Japanese citizens.
Meanwhile the spectacle down here at the bottom of the world is a tragic comedy set on a massive stage with a dozen ships zig-zagging across thousands of miles of ocean chasing each other in a bizarre battle of stinkocidal bombers, bush whacking inflatable boats, helicopter acrobatics, dueling headlines, and ridiculous charges of terrorism and piracy.
What is amazing is that no human has been killed in this dramatic frenzy of hysteria. No one has even been injured and despite all the pontificating about terrorism, no property has been damaged.
There is violence of course. The agonizing slow death of the whales is violence at it's most extreme as these highly intelligent, socially complex, endangered and sophisticated animals drown in their own blood and vomit after their internal organs have been shredded by explosive harpoons driven deep into their defenseless bodies by powerful harpoon cannons. The thousands of gallons of blood spewed into the ocean is testament to the intensity of real violence being carried out in these water - this so-called whale sanctuary!
The Japanese whalers will not get their quota this year and it will have cost them a great deal more money for their operations than any year before.
And they still have next year to deal with. If we can get the support, I intend to bring two ships back here for the 2008/2009 season with a longer range helicopter and a crew of committed and dedicated volunteers willing to take the required risks to keep these cowardly whale poachers on the run.
Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
First they took a step to the West then a jump to the North then a leap to the East and now a hop to the West.
The Japanese whaling fleet is all over the charts down here in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
The good news is that they have not killed a single whale for at least 16 days and it does not look like whaling will resume for the next few days as they continue to run, burning up fuel without profit.
The Japanese whalers are reporting that they are "terrified" of the Sea Shepherd "vegan eco-terrorist pirates"
It's amazing what a few well placed stink bombs can do. The big brave whale killing samurai cetacean serial killers run like little Japanese school girls at the approach of the black hulled Steve Irwin.
This year the Japanese whalers are finding that the vast Southern Ocean is not as vast as they have been used to. Whale defenders have become as seasoned in these remote waters as the whale killers and with the Greenpeace ship Esperanza's teeth sunk firmly into the hind quarters of the Nishiin Maru and Sea Shepherd's ship Steve Irwin constantly biting the heels of the catcher boats, the dogs of protest are screaming havoc and the pursuit has transformed the normally efficient Japanese whale killing machines into a chaotic bunch of keystone whalers scampering over the swells and stumbling around icebergs in a scattered and senseless panic.
The Japanese Prime Minister is crying woe in the Diet. New Zealand's Prime Minister is crying foul as the whalers scurried briefly towards the Ross Sea. The Prime Minister of Australia is somewhat rudderless in his directions on the issue but at least the government ship Oceanic Viking is taking pictures of ---- fleeing whalers. Hundreds of people turned out to protest a Japanese government ship docking in Bermuda, there have been protests in New York, in Budapest, in Rome and all over the planet. Toyota sales are down, Japanese Embassies are being besieged by petitions and protests, the Australian courts have slapped the Japanese on the wrists and barred them from killing whales off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory. And in London a 14 year old girl and her father were arrested by the Japanese for refusing to leave the Japanese Embassy and are facing 6 months in prison.
How far is this going to go before the Japanese government sees the writing on the wall and does the right thing? I don't know what Japan is paying out in public relations. I understand it is a great deal of money but they have to be asking themselves just what are they getting for their investment? Japan's international reputation is sinking fast in a sea of whale and dolphin blood.
Conservationists are succeeding in bringing this controversy into the international spotlight. It is no longer out of sight and out of mind. Killing endangered whales in a whale sanctuary is no different then walking onto the plains of the Serengeti and gunning down 50 rhinos or marching into Kruger National Park to blow away a thousand elephants. Why do we condemn poor Africans for killing Mountain Gorillas for bush meat yet allow the wealthy Japanese to slaughter the aquatic equivalent of bush meat without the same level of outrage and indignation?
We are succeeding in mobilizing that righteous indignation and moral outrage and we are seeing a growing passionate movement rising in defense of not just the whales but of all species that are being plundered from the oceans.
The whaling industry has no place in the 21st Century and certainly not in a sophisticated nation like Japan. Whaling is a primitive, cruel, economically senseless and barbaric practice. What is a major industrialized super power doing killing whales anyway? The only other people involved in this anachronistic bit of sadistic maritime madness are a few frustrated inbred Vikings in Northern Norway and the Danish Faeroe Islands. Even the Icelanders have seen fit to pack the harpoons away.
But pride being pride and nationalistic pride being the most perverse pride of all, Japan is planning on building an even bigger, better and more efficient factory ship that can process three times the number of whales than the Nishiin Maru. Blind, stubborn jingoistic nationalism is what is driving the Japanese government to defend an industry that represents an insignificant contribution to the Japanese economy at the cost of tarnishing the reputation of all otherwise decent Japanese citizens.
Meanwhile the spectacle down here at the bottom of the world is a tragic comedy set on a massive stage with a dozen ships zig-zagging across thousands of miles of ocean chasing each other in a bizarre battle of stinkocidal bombers, bush whacking inflatable boats, helicopter acrobatics, dueling headlines, and ridiculous charges of terrorism and piracy.
What is amazing is that no human has been killed in this dramatic frenzy of hysteria. No one has even been injured and despite all the pontificating about terrorism, no property has been damaged.
There is violence of course. The agonizing slow death of the whales is violence at it's most extreme as these highly intelligent, socially complex, endangered and sophisticated animals drown in their own blood and vomit after their internal organs have been shredded by explosive harpoons driven deep into their defenseless bodies by powerful harpoon cannons. The thousands of gallons of blood spewed into the ocean is testament to the intensity of real violence being carried out in these water - this so-called whale sanctuary!
The Japanese whalers will not get their quota this year and it will have cost them a great deal more money for their operations than any year before.
And they still have next year to deal with. If we can get the support, I intend to bring two ships back here for the 2008/2009 season with a longer range helicopter and a crew of committed and dedicated volunteers willing to take the required risks to keep these cowardly whale poachers on the run.
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