JAPANESE WHALERS UNDER ATTACK
Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship Farley Mowat, is leading the assault on Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean. Watson sees himself as something of a modern day privateer:
Such an attack on a tanker is totally inexcusable as it could have caused large loss of life as well as releasing a large quantity of fuel oil in a whale sanctuary. But, these Sea Shepherd clowns are operating with the full authority of the UN, right?
The Japanese are, and rightly so, outraged and are contemplating sending aircraft into the area. Greens Senator Bob Brown is, as expected, outraged that the Howard Government might assist the Japanese government in its totally irresponsible efforts to protect Japanese interests:
Watson said he ordered the supply ship [Oriental Bluebird] to leave the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary as it was waiting to rendezvous with the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru.Despite the Farley Mowat being equipped with a steel blade designed to rip open "enemy" vessels the Oriental Bluebird was pretty much undamaged.
"I informed the Oriental Bluebird that I was acting under the authority of the United Nations World Charter for Nature to uphold international conservation regulations prohibiting the slaughter of whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary.
"When they refused, we backed up the message by slamming our starboard hull against their starboard hull."
Such an attack on a tanker is totally inexcusable as it could have caused large loss of life as well as releasing a large quantity of fuel oil in a whale sanctuary. But, these Sea Shepherd clowns are operating with the full authority of the UN, right?
The Japanese are, and rightly so, outraged and are contemplating sending aircraft into the area. Greens Senator Bob Brown is, as expected, outraged that the Howard Government might assist the Japanese government in its totally irresponsible efforts to protect Japanese interests:
"It is bad enough that our government is sitting on its hands and leaving Greenpeace to defend Australia's interests in saving the whales. But to facilitate armed Japanese intervention by giving Tokyo the use of Australian airspace and airports like Hobart or Perth would bring the house down," Senator Brown said.Whales are more important than anything.
posted by Anonymous at 7:40 PM |
7 Comments:
Oh, those poor angels on the Japanese ships ... I do hope nothing nasty happens to them. The Japanese are such a sweet, kind people, as they proved with their gentle treatment of prisoners during the last war.
It would be an international tragedy if one of their floating abattoirs was damaged by those evil Sea Shepherd terrorists. And to think our leaders are wasting time fighting such two-bit operations as al-Qaeda, when there are the much more dangerous terrorists of Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd threatening the very foundations of Western civilisation!
"The Japanese are such a sweet, kind people, as they proved with their gentle treatment of prisoners during the last war."
Isn't there a word to describe the notion of judging an entire race based on the actions of a selected group? I think it starts with 'R'.
Hold on, it's coming to me....
James, you're not so much making a case for whaling as for vegetarianism. I confess I don't get out to farms much, but if what you say is true - "the average cow or pig or sheep (especially sheep - many sheep farmers are imfamously callous) leads a life of misery - cumulatively far worse than a minke" - then maybe we should start having a good long look at how we treat all animals. FWIW, I avoid intensively farmed eggs, chicken and pork.
Hishineness: you're quite right, I was being very non-PC! Thanks for pointing that out. We must be ever vigilant in the fight against un-politically correct language! [/sarcasm off]
Mathewk: the reverse of what you said is also true. Those of us who don't particularly care for multiculturalism are free to tell the Japs where to stick their harpoons.
And to all of you: ANIMAL WELFARE IS NOT JUST A LEFT WING/GREENIE ISSUE, OK?
For example: "The most recent addition to the literature of the animal movement has come from a surprising quarter ... In Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy Matthew Scully, a conservative Christian, past literary editor of National Review and now speechwriter to President George W. Bush, has written an eloquent polemic against human abuse of animals, culminating with a devastating description of factory farming."
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16276
I am prepared to support anything which is opposed by bigtime wankers like greenpeace. They should do us all a favour by going under 3 times & coming up twice.
Mine host, I will sign up to that too.
Fucken oath.
"Hishineness: you're quite right, I was being very non-PC! Thanks for pointing that out. We must be ever vigilant in the fight against un-politically correct language! [/sarcasm off]"
Is that your best response?
You've effectively branded an entire race of people based on the actions of a few war criminals. I merely chose to use one of the left's most frequently-abused arguments against you, and rightly so.
Irritating, isn't it?
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