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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (571680)	6/14/2010 10:22:04 PM
From: Broken_Clock	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576322

Whales are now the subject of a world ban on hunting them...all nations except Japan subscribe to it.....why the ban? Because the whales are almost extinct. +++ I'm thinking Obama is the one who has lost his veneer. ++++ As Gulf Dies, Obama Pushing to Lift Whaling Ban 07 June 2010 9:08 am by Taylor Marsh “…There will be oil out there for months to come. This will be well into the fall. This is a siege across the entire Gulf. – Com. Thad Allen Looking at Pres. Obama against BP’s marauding, incompetent corporate malfeasance, the decision for the Administration to lift the moratorium on whaling comes into full view. Just in case anyone thought Mr. Obama had any intention of learning lessons where corporations and ecosystems are concerned. This subject has been raging underneath the surface for a very long time. Now, with oil-drenched birds dying, and BP’s blowout continuing to spew oil into the Gulf, while an entire ecosystem is dying, Pres. Obama and his administration have evidently decided to give another high hard one to environmentalists and people who love the sea and want to protect it over business interests. This time it’s whales. The Obama administration is leading an effort within the International Whaling Commission to lift a 24-year international ban on commercial whaling for Japan, Norway and Iceland, the remaining three countries in the 88-member commission that still hunt whales. The administration argues that the new deal will save thousands of whales over the next decade by stopping the three countries from illegally exploiting loopholes in the moratorium. But environmentalists aren’t buying it. “That moratorium on commercial whaling was the greatest conservation victory of the 20th century. And in 2010 to be waving the white flag or bowing to the stubbornness of the last three countries engaged in the practice is a mind-numbingly dumb idea,” Patrick Ramage, the whaling director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told FoxNews.com. Anyone buying the Administrations malarkey at this point hasn’t been paying attention. The Economist ran an article back in April that said: Nobody can deny that the present arrangement is messy and hypocritical. That’s because the slaughter continues even under what is supposed to be a moratorium. Japan is exploiting loopholes invoking “scientific whaling,” which is truly a laughable premise for what’s going on and everyone knows it. Their representative having called whales the ““cockroaches of the sea.” Charming, I know. The Economist: …In February Australia (with quiet sympathy from New Zealand) threatened to take Japan to the International Court of Justice unless it stopped whaling off Antarctica. Against this nastiness, a “peace plan” was unveiled on April 22nd, Earth Day, by the IWC’s Chilean chairman, Crishán Maquieira, and his Antiguan deputy, Anthony Liverpool. It reflected months of closed-door talks among a dozen countries. The moratorium would be lifted for a decade, but whalers would agree to a sharp reduction in their catch, stricter enforcement measures and a ban on all cross-border commerce in whale products. [...] … Under the IWC proposal, Japan would halve the number of whales it kills off Antarctica, and face further cuts over the five years thereafter. A South Atlantic sanctuary, barred to all whaling, would be rigorously enforced. Countries that do not already hunt would not be allowed to start. IWC monitors would be placed aboard every vessel to document the kill and take DNA samples, so the meat can be traced. Japan would be allowed to hunt 120 minke whales in its coastal waters as a sop to local sentiment in four ports. Green activists and anti-whaling countries are calling the deal a victory for whaling nations, but pro-whalers certainly do not see things that way. Masayuki Komatsu—Japan’s former IWC negotiator, who is notoriously blunt and once called minke whales the “cockroaches of the sea”—believes the proposal may mark the beginning of the end for Japanese whaling. After ten years, the industry will be smaller and the Japanese will lose interest, he grouses. Perhaps that is the point. Suspend the moratorium, then babysit the whalers in hopes they’ll get tired and the industry will die? A lot can happen in 10 years of a moratorium suspension. Have we not learned we cannot trust international corporations when it comes to their profits versus the environment? Obama’s response in supporting the IWC proposal is as predictable as your average Republican. He’s a friend to business, oil companies and nuclear companies, but as to the environment and its habitat no one should be impressed. The man just won’t put skin in the game for anything. taylormarsh.com

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (571680)	6/14/2010 10:30:11 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576322

Your logic doesn't hold up. Yes Whales and Buffalo have had reason to be placed under protection as endangered species. Lots of animals and plants do. So you could label that an age which was (when there were plenty)... an age which is gone if you want. But that was not the context of the point you were responding too. Maybe you never got it, which would not surprise me. I said: The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones and the age of petroleum wont end because we run out of petroleum. However, while it is one of the best energy sources we've got to get our needs met, we will continue using it. The world population is focused on finding better ways to get our needs met and as/when we do, we will transition to the next era. It's not only worth it, it is all we've got to go on for now. You got a better plan, spill it dude. The stone age was marked by the society which could be defined and which was shaped by its ability to use stone age tools. Modern times are or will be known someday by the extensive impact petroleum has had on everything from plastic, roads, products and services to energy. A genuinely pervasive description of modern society which would not exist as it is without it. Whale oil had value but there have always been other sources and modern society would not suddenly fall away without it. Same with Buffalo except for the subgroup mentioned earlier. Neither could be used to define an age and level of global modern human society at any point in history. "Your veneer has been completely destroyed.... Sometimes your declarations are so overly dramatic as to be just comical. Was that what you intended.