This is what a U.N. embargo would be good for.

Don’t fall for talk on Whale terrorism or Orca-fascism.

Read Farley Mowat’s; “A Whale for the Killing”.  If you have an ounce of empathy for the animal nations we share this planet with, then you would be outraged by the Japanese intentions in their whale hunting.  They are using the phony pretense of “scientific study”, to justify this senseless slaughter.  And now they will include Humpbacks???!!!  The very whales we go interact with (in Kayaks and SCUBA gear) and in their gentile manner allow us such close contact with no harm to our person?
The Japanese also slaughter thousands of Dolphins every year.  Their view of life is very different from ours (they are not all Buddhists).
I’ll be damned if I’ll buy another Japanese product until and unless they stop this abomination.
These people only understand money…so…don’t give them any…period!!!!

#114434 by DarthMiffy on 11/19 at 3:33 am: “When the “rest of the world” (read: Western world) tells Japan to stop whaling, there are overtones of the old colonial,Imperial, and post-war, MacArthur days…”

Yes, for sure, Darth. If the USA and countries like Australia were still whaling today, it is they and not Japan who would be refusing to stop. They have already proven that with Kyoto and global warming, uhh…...!!!

Western press rarely mentions the underlying cultural aspects that fuel the ongoing desire for whale hunting by Japanese. When the “rest of the world” (read: Western world) tells Japan to stop whaling, there are overtones of the old colonial,Imperial, and post-war, MacArthur days when Japan was told by the “superior West” what to do. This has left a huge aftertaste of resentment. Who is the West to tell Japan what to do? This understandable but unfortunate cultural residue is partly why the whales continue to suffer.

The “scientific research” is of course spurious in the extreme. It’s basically a metaphorical middle finger finger ascendant to the Western powers. Unless this is addressed, the whales will continue to die.

Some of the up roar is the albino humpback whale that the Australians keep check on. I didn’t see any mention if it in this article but read about it last week.

We deny the native Eskimos in Alaska to hunt whale the traditional way those people have for generations, all of which is used.

In past when whale hunting was done, the Japanese, once a whale was caught, drag it onto the ship and have it processed into 1 pound blocks of “food” for the freezers on the ship in 1 whole minute. That is sixty seconds from life to totally processed. Unreal. That information was from the Discovery channel when whale hunting was still legal.

#114301 by JimBob on 11/18 at 8:52 am: “The Japanese are wonderful people, but they need to change their dietary habits—they are plundering the oceans more than any other nation….”

Wrong, JimBob. Whaling falls in the same category as farm subsidies. That is, in Japan it is a sop to propping up fishing fleet owners and workers just the same as their rice-farming subsidies.  But most Japanese are closer to vegetarian (eating tofu + miso) than most European (Caucasian) Americans will ever be.

#114301 by JimBob: “We, too, need to make a change: our insatiable taste for red meat is harming the environment in myriad ways…... it might be a good idea for us all to consider veering our diets in that direction….”

Oh, agreed! I find that I am eating less and less meat and especially red meat these days anyway. That is simply getting away from the old dietary habits of my parents’ generation. Also, cooking different ways (West Asian [M.Eastern], East Asian, etc etc) is helpful, too.

The Japanese are wonderful people, but they need to change their dietary habits—they are plundering the oceans more than any other nation.  We, too, need to make a change: our insatiable taste for red meat is harming the environment in myriad ways.  I am not personally a vegetarian, but it might be a good idea for us all to consider veering our diets in that direction.

These marine mammals such as various species of whales, dolphins and other creatures should be respected.

Researchers have found that these creatures have their own unique and highly-developed intelligence, communications and social relationships.

More on this in the article ...

“Navy dolphins may be deployed: Did secret ESP research involve them?”

American Chronicle
February 14, 2007

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=20708