Angry fishermen forced the seal hunt protest vessel, Farley Mowat, out of the harbour at St-Pierre-Miquelon - a French territory south of Newfoundland - where it was tied up for refuelling Friday morning. Has anyone calculated the carbon footprint of this tub? No matter, it would be far more useful as a fishing reef.
About 20 fishermen cut the mooring lines of the Mowat with axes and vowed not to let them in the harbour following comments about four dead sealers earlier in the week from Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which operates the Mowat. "And I piss on your birkenstocks from a great height."
"We don't accept those kinds of people in St-Pierre," fisherman Carl Beaupertuis told the CBC. "We cut the rope and let the boat go.... If they want to come back I tell you this time there's going to be some violence, cause we won't let him back in the harbour. No way." "It was that or use the accursed hippies for shark bait, and there are few sharks in these waters."
The confrontation was in protest at comments Mr. Watson made the day before when he said the deaths of four Magdalen Islands sealers were a tragedy, but the slaughter of young seals was a "greater tragedy."
"These men are sadistic baby killers," Mr. Watson said in a statement, who are "seeking sympathy because some of their own died.
"One of the sealers was quoted as saying that he felt absolutely helpless as he watched the boat sink with sealers onboard. I can't think of anything that defines helplessness and fear more than a seal pup on the ice that can't swim or escape as it is approached by some cigarette smoking ape with a club." Sensitive bastard, isn't he? Expect protests from simian-citizens groups any minute.
Yesterday, Mr. Watson stood by his words. "I said the sealers who died, it was a tragedy and the Canadian government's incompetence led to the deaths. Killing 325,000 seals is a far greater tragedy ... and I stand by that comment." On the other hand, a spread of torpedoes hitting this pirate scow might or might not be an accident, but it would certainly not be a tragedy. It looks formidible enough terrorizing 40 foot sealing boats but even French naval weapons would make short work of it.
Mr. Watson's ship is now anchored at the neighbouring island of Miquelon awaiting the resumption of the hunt next week. Naval commandoes in Brest checking airline connections......
Mr. Watson's comments were also attacked this week by Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. "By attacking and trivializing the memory of these men who tragically lost their lives, Mr. Watson has proven to the world that he is gutless, shameless, and has not one shred of human decency," said Mr. Hearn.
Yesterday, the minister appointed retired Rear Admiral Roger Girouard to lead a Canadian Coast Guard investigation of the events and circumstances leading to and following the capsizing of L'Acadien II on March 29. "With his vast experience and knowledge I am confident he will ensure that this investigation will determine what happened off the coast of Cape Breton Island, and will help to prevent such tragedies in the future," said Mr. Hearn.
The bodies of Bruno Bourque, Gilles Leblanc and Marc-André Déraspe were retrieved from the boat. The body of Carl Aucoin has not been found As the article indicates, St. Pierre and Miquelon is French territory, the only remnant of French Canada.
#1
After the seals, what next - Alaskan Crab? I'd like to see them navigate those waters during the 'season'. I could just hear Mike Rowe's narration describing the 'tragic' loss of the poor craft caught in the unforgiving Baring Sea.
[These trust fund babies need to re-watch the movie The Name of the Rose where the self righteous elite ignites the fury of the peasants and its consequence. Of course these are the same people who never ask of themselves 'why do they hate us' because being demi-gods they are above the rest of us and know better than the unwashed masses.]
Farley McGill Mowat OC, BA, D.Litt (born May 12, 1921 in Belleville, Ontario) is a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.
I thought they made the name up just to see how geeky they could make it. Always thought "Farley" was a made-up name like something out of Blazing Saddles......
OTTAWA -- The federal government has laid charges against the anti-sealing vessel Farley Mowat, which was involved in a confrontation with sealers near Cape Breton last weekend. Fisheries and Oceans announced Sunday an investigation into a high-seas confrontation between the Farley Mowat and sealers on Mar. 30 has ended in charges laid against the vessel's captain, Alexander Cornelissen, and first officer, Peter Hammarstedt.
"The seal hunt is a humane, sustainable, and legal activity, and our government is committed to protecting the safety and security of sealers," said Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn. "This guides our decisions on the ground and Canadians can rest assured that we will pursue the charges against these individuals vigorously."
Sealer Shane Briand said the Farley Mowat, operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, endangered the lives of his crew when it came close to them Mar. 30 about 60 kilometres off Cape Breton.
Speaking from Port aux Basques, N.L. on Thursday, Mr. Briand said the much larger Mowat chased down his 14-metre boat throughout the day, stopping only when a Canadian Coast Guard vessel arrived and put itself between them. "She started harassing us right away. She almost took the stabilizer off, she was that close. And we had a guy on the ice and she broke the ice up under his feet," he said.
Both men have been charged with approaching within one-half nautical mile of a seal hunt, a violation of the Marine Mammal Regulations. Captain Cornelissen faces an additional charge under the Fisheries Act of obstructing a fisheries officer or inspector.
Mr. Briand, who says he gave a statement to fisheries officers on Thursday, said they feared for their lives when the Mowat came within 30 metres, several times, of his boat, the Cathy Erlene. "The coast guard was keeping us safe . . . If they hadn't arrived, we would have had to get in our speed boats to escape," Mr. Briand said.
The coast guard and the Sea Shepherd Society have given differing accounts of the incident, with the crew of the conservation group's ship insisting the icebreaker Des Groseilliers intentionally rammed them twice.
Mr. Hearn denies that happened. He says the two vessels merely "grazed," but when the Mowat ignored warnings to stay away from sealers, it broke the law, he added. "They have endangered our sealers. We are aware of that. We have these facts documented," he told radio station VOCM in St. John's Wednesday.
On the society's Web site, Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said the crew of the Mowat have video proving they did nothing wrong.
Briand, of Dingwall, N.S., said his crew also took pictures, showing the 54-metre steel-hulled Mowat looming over them. He said fisheries officers now have the photos.
News of the charges came as hundreds of mourners packed a church in Cap Aux Meules, Que., in the Magdalen Islands, to say goodbye to three seal hunters killed in last weekend's maritime tragedy. The annual seal hunt got off to a tragic start when the 12-metre Magdalen Islands sealer L'Acadien II sank while under tow by a coast guard ship March 29. Only two men survived.
In his comments Wednesday, Mr. Hearn said if the Mowat won't obey orders to return to a Canadian port the only option will be to board the ship at sea, which he called an extremely dangerous operation.
On Friday the Mowat was docked at the French island of Miquelon, off Newfoundland's south coast, while waiting for the hunt to resume next week. The Farley Mowat was forced out of the harbour at Miquelon's neighbouring French island of St-Pierre Friday when angry fishermen cut its mooring lines with axes, Mr. Watson said. "They cut away at our mooring lines, threw a bicycle in the water, threw our gangplank in the water and attacked one of our cameramen," he said.
The confrontation was in protest of comments Mr. Watson made the day before when he said the Magdalen Islands sealers' deaths were a tragedy, but the slaughter of young seals is a "greater tragedy." "Our anger was stronger than anything else and we didn't wait for the authorities to react," St-Pierre fisherman Carl Beaupertuis told Radio-Canada, the French arm of CBC.
On Friday, Mr. Watson stood by his words. "I said the sealers who died, it was a tragedy and the Canadian government's incompetence led to the deaths." He added: "Killing 325,000 seals is a far greater tragedy . . . and I stand by that comment." These are the same pirates who have been harrassing Japanese whalers. This is really about class warfare, arrogant eco-dilletantes asserting their dominance over ordinary working folk. It appears that governments are finally getting the message, though we can count on media elitists to continue their unstinting support for their allies, collaborators and elitist soul-mates in the eco-wackie shadow government.
#1
Yummy, Whale steaks. The clowns go looking for confrontation, on the high seas that is piracy. They ought to have their vessel seized and be put under arrest with no bail.
#3
at the French island of Miquelon, off Newfoundland's south coast, while waiting for the hunt to resume next week.
The Farley Mowat was forced out of the harbour at Miquelon's neighbouring French island of St-Pierre Friday when angry fishermen cut its mooring lines with axes, Mr. Watson said
French? Whut???
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2008 17:30 Comments ||
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#4
France has two crappy little islands just off Newfoundland. They used to support the cod fishery, until it was shut down. Ironically, the shutdown destroyed the economy of the 5-6000 people there, and the seal cull will help fish stocks rebound. I'm surprised they let the eco-terrorists anchor there. I was kinda hoping for a Rainbow Warrior replay.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Children in a New Zealand school have been banned from bringing cakes to share on their birthdays, due to new government healthy eating guidelines. It's OK to bring a bomb-belt though.
Pupils at Oteha Valley primary school north of Auckland have been told they are allowed to celebrate their birthdays, but the cake must stay at home, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported. Thank goodness! How can one have peace in the world if a birthday cake was involved?
The Ministry of Education has been on a fat-busting crusade, introducing sweeping guidelines against tasty unhealthy food in New Zealand schools. What if it was a low-fat cake? Or hash brownies??
The Ministry of Education apparantly also is on a crusade against having fun ...
Oteha Valley has a large number of pupils born in September and October, and there can be up to four cakes a week in some classes, principal Megan Bowden told the Herald. Oh dear! CAKE- why does it hate us?
It had gotten to the point where parents thought they were required to provide a cake for their child's birthday. I doubt that this was enacted into law.
The school has advised parents in a newsletter to stop sending cakes to school from the next term. Leaving the cake at home so the little monsters can eat ALL of it without sharing.
A Ministry of Education spokesman told the Herald the government guidelines only applied to food sold on the premises, and schools did not need to monitor food brought in from outside.
#2
Schools in San Diego don't allow cakes, cupcakes or cookies on occasions like this because they're afraid the parents might have baked them in the same kitchen they use to cook meth.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/05/2008 15:51 Comments ||
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#5
now, Abu...that's not true and you know it.....it's a good urban legend though, but how many meth lab parents prepare goodies for their kids? Or even lunch?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2008 16:16 Comments ||
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#6
They should really consider changing the city's name to Cromwell.
#7
For years, textbook publishers who wanted to sell books in California couldn't print stories about kids having cake or other sweets because some state representative got a bill through against such pernicious material.
#8
Here in the South (at least, as far as 4 years ago), we'd not only allow cake at school, but the kids would eat it in front of other kids who couldn't have it.
For example, the Mormons don't believe in celebrating a birthday, so the poor 5 year-old would sit in the back while all the other kids would eat cake.
Posted by: BA ||
04/05/2008 18:00 Comments ||
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#9
I'm going to side with the school. The reason being kids giving cakes, sweets etc to other kids undermines parents efforts to give their kids reasonably healthy eating habits.
My daughter never had lollies (candies) or soft drinks when she was young and didn't know what they were until other parents started giving them to her at her kindergarten. Of course then she started demanding them when we went to grocery store. Whereas up until then the racks of candies, might as well have been toilet cleaners for all they meant to her.
I'm no health nazi, but I must admit it bothers me how often I see parents bribing their kids with sweets and junk to 'behave', Ie rewarding bad behaviour.
I differ from most, in that I think obesity, ADHD issues and similar are primarily behavioural issues, although with a significant and synergistic metabolic effect.
#10
sorry Phil - "I'm no health nazi" and "My daughter never had lollies (candies) or soft drinks when she was young and didn't know what they were until other parents started giving them to her at her kindergarten" sounds a bit contradictory. If you choose to do that with your child? I have absolutely no problem with - it's the enforcement upon the other children because your child might be embarrassed by what you enforce at home.
Suggestion?
Explain to your child why you enforced that upbringing/rule along with the logical/reasonable explanation? Your informed and morally strong child would repulse all attempts to seduce her with sweets and candies!
Or: it's all bullshit and these are kids. Let em live a kids' life before you nanny-staters enforce your grim straitjackets upon them? My opinion, your mileage may vary
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/05/2008 19:35 Comments ||
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Selfish dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study that claims to have found a genetic link to ruthlessness. The study might help to explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak from national dictators down to 'little Hitlers' found in workplaces the world over.
Researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a link between a gene called AVPR1a and ruthless behaviour in an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game'. The exercise allows players to behave selflessly, or like money-grabbing dictators such as former Zaire President Mobutu, who plundered the mineral wealth of his country to become one of the world's richest men while its citizens suffered in poverty.
The researchers don't know the mechanism by which the gene influences behaviour. It may mean that for some, the old adage that "it is better to give than to receive" simply isn't true, says team leader Richard Ebstein. The reward centres in those brains may derive less pleasure from altruistic acts, he suggests, perhaps causing them to behave more selfishly.
Ebstein and his colleagues decided to look at AVPR1a because it is known to produce receptors in the brain that detect vasopressin, a hormone involved in altruism and 'prosocial' behaviour. Studies of prairie voles have previously shown that this hormone is important for binding together these rodents' tight-knit social groups.
Ebstein's team wondered whether differences in how this receptor is expressed in the human brain may make different people more or less likely to behave generously.
To find out, they tested DNA samples from more than 200 student volunteers, before asking the students to play the dictator game (volunteers were not told the name of the game, lest it influence their behaviour). Students were divided into two groups: 'dictators' and 'receivers' (called 'A' and 'B' to the participants). Each dictator was told that they would receive 50 shekels (worth about US$14), but were free to share as much or as little of this with a receiver, whom they would never have to meet. The receiver's fortunes thus depended entirely on the dictator's generosity.
About 18% of all dictators kept all of the money, Ebstein and his colleagues report in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior 1. About one-third split the money down the middle, and a generous 6% gave the whole lot away.
There was no connection between the participants' gender and their behaviour, the team reports. But there was a link to the length of the AVPR1a gene: people were more likely to behave selfishly the shorter their version of this gene.
It isn't clear how the length of AVPR1a affects vasopressin receptors: it is thought that rather than controlling the number of receptors, it may control where in the brain the receptors are distributed. Ebstein suggests the vasopressin receptors in the brains of people with short AVPR1a may be distributed in such a way to make them less likely to feel rewarded by the act of giving.
Though the mechanism is unclear, Ebstein says, he is fairly sure that selfish, greedy dictatorship has a genetic component. It would be easier to confirm this if history's infamous dictators conveniently had living identical twins, he says, so we could see if they were just as ruthless as each other.
Researchers should nevertheless be careful about using the relatively blunt tool of the Dictator Game to draw conclusions about human generosity, says Nicholas Bardsley at the University of Southampton, UK, who studies such games.
His research suggests that players who routinely give money away as Dictators are also perfectly happy to steal money off other players in games that involve taking rather than giving. This suggests that the apparently more altruistic players in Ebstein's game may in fact be motivated by a desire simply to engage fully with the game, perhaps just because they feel that that is what's expected of them.
If that is true, then apparently ruthless dictators may be motivated not by out-and-out greed but by a simple lack of social skills, which leaves them unable to sense what's expected of them.
That certainly fits with the image of a naïve yet arrogant dictator with no sense of the inappropriateness of his actions and attitudes. Such figures have cropped up with surprising regularity throughout history, all the way from the emperors of Rome, through to Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein or Robert Mugabe, now tenaciously clinging to power in the face of uncertain electoral results.
#1
"If that is true, then apparently ruthless dictators may be motivated not by out-and-out greed but by a simple lack of social skills, which leaves them unable to sense what's expected of them."
Riiiiiight.
That so explains Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, Amin, ....
Research some common sense, you idiots.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2008 9:10 Comments ||
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#2
Calling it "ruthlessness" is a poor choice of words.
A psychopath is incapable of sympathy or empathy because of a neurological condition. A sociopath has been trained to disregard sympathy or empathy. But both of these are long-term conditions of mind, one involuntary and one voluntary. And it should be noted that neither causes negative or destructive behavior on its own. Psychopaths and sociopaths can lead normal lives without harming others.
However, ruthlessness is a temporary state of mind which is a *purposeful* and focused disregard of sympathy and empathy. For example, a surgeon "ruthlessly" cuts into a human body to remove a potentially deadly tumor. They are not being "anti-social" in doing so, but "asocial", performing a damaging and harmful act for a very good reason.
#3
#1 Riiiiiight. my thoughts exactly. So I guess we should not call them ruthless dictators or sociopaths or outright evil - too damaging to their self-esteem. Let's call them "those lacking in social skills and thus are forced to toruture, rape, mass murder and plunder societies to compensate for the juvenile mistreatment they suffered at the hands of school-yard bullies."
Poor little ruthless dictators misunderstood dorks. If they hadn't suffered at the hands of bullies, then they would have been okay. Perhaps that is the reason we need all of this money spent on the highly publicized Bully Crisis that is being promoted in the national media right. Preventing another Hitler or Stalin is exactly the reason we must change the laws that shelter schools from being sued and allow the lawyers access to the deep pockets of public money that make up the educational system for the good of society as a whole... but then, I digress)
#4
Agreed about surgeons. Physical therapists, too, although they're nicer about it. Not at all the same as hurting someone out of selfishness or sadism...perhaps. ;-)
My colleague Jeffrey Ressner was at Hillary's fundraiser last night at the Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles, and captured the audio of a really jarring scene: a woman dragged out in handcuffs, screaming that she was the only black supporter of Hillary there. (She wasn't.) Secret Service, Ressner e-mails, declined to comment.
A Clinton volunteer at the Wilshire writes that he witnessed what happened before the woman was arrested: "Not only did she attack another person at the event (she literally bit a woman, which drew blood and required bandages), she was screaming profanities and tried to urinate in the doorway to the theater! She was both verbally and physically confrontational to volunteers (I was one of them) and to the Secret Service, as well!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I thought Randi Rhodes was busy elsewhere....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/05/2008 9:52 Comments ||
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#2
Better quarantine the woman attacker and check her for rabies.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/05/2008 13:16 Comments ||
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Muslim leaders at an encampment in the Catskill Mountains called "Islamberg" have been granted a permit by the city of Binghamton, N.Y., to hold a parade Saturday in honor of Muhammad's birthday.
The holiday, called Milad-un-Nabi, will be celebrated by a group of families who live at the nearby property owned by Muslims of the Americas Inc.
The city has scheduled the parade for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the downtown area, including its main street. A report in the local Press & Sun-Bulletin said the celebration previously held on the group's own property this year is being expanded.
"We're trying to do an interfaith thing, we're reach out to the community to do a program based on unity," Maryam Rahim, a spokeswoman, told the newspaper. "We haven't been very well known. ...We want everyone to come out and celebrate, may ask questions."
City spokesman Andrew Block said the group secured the appropriate permits to hold the celebration, and the city will close down one lane of the downtown's main street for the parade.
Other events will be held in front of the old Broome County courthouse, officials said.
Rahim told the paper some Muslims claim the celebration is not important, but others classify it alongside Eid-ul-Fitr, the observance that concludes the month of Ramadan for Muslims.
The newspaper said Muslims of the Americas was formed in the 1980s when several families migrated from New York City to make a new start. There now is a mosque and a private school on the land.
However, others describe the location as a training facility for the Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra.
As WND reported, a covert visit to the encampment found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities. The visit was conducted by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an report.
The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said in the report compiled only two years ago they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.
"We see children small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."
The resident said his household gets "nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometimes they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by."
"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"
Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.
Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."
"Try to walk down the street where their community (Islamberg) is and you will be greeted by a man armed with a rifle. I have witnessed this on more than one occasion (even prior to 9/11) on Roods Creek Road when passing by slowly as I headed out to the Cannonsville reservoir," said a nearby resident who also asked for anonymity.
Fox News previously reported the compound has remained shrouded in mystery and fear, partly because it sits near the huge reservoir system that provides New York City with most of its drinking water.
The report said New York State police authorities confirmed they've had the group on file for years.
"They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops," said one neighbor.
Jamaat ul-Fuqra itself openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.
An investigation of the group by the Colorado Attorney General's office in the early 1980s found several of the communities operate covert paramilitary training compounds, including one in a mountainous area near Buena Vista, Colo.
Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.
U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for terrorist activities. The organization supports various terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked directly to Hamas and Hezbollah. Throughout the 1980s, JF was responsible for a number of terrorist acts across the U.S., including numerous fire-bombings.
Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources have determined Pearl was attempting to meet with Gilani in the days before he disappeared in Karachi. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra and Richard Reid, the infamous "shoe bomber" who attempted to ignite explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/05/2008 07:16 ||
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#1
Our local 4-H might have one or two parade floats left over that these folks might be able to use. They may, however, be in support of our local pork producers and themed accordingly.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/05/2008 7:59 Comments ||
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#2
They may want to leave their AK-47's in their camp for that event. Jumbaliah.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Angry fishermen forced the seal hunt protest vessel, Farley Mowat, out of the harbour at St-Pierre-Miquelon - a French territory south of Newfoundland - where it was tied up for refuelling Friday morning.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Children in a New Zealand school have been banned from bringing cakes to share on their birthdays, due to new government healthy eating guidelines.
Ben Smith, the Politico
