Dead Whales Land in Canaries After Naval Exercises

[Gyre]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=585&e=4&u=/nm/20040723/sc_nm/environment_spain_whales_dc.

Further evidence that newer military sonar systems are "not dolphin (and other pinniped) safe"!

Gyre

[2Design]

1. where is peta when you need them...go after those military types

[TaleWgnDg]

8. great photo shot of . . .

Kerry at Fenway Park. And, this, from a fervent Boston Red Sox fan! Go BoSox, get those "damn Yankees!" LOL

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Go, Kerry, Go!

[tlcandie]

2. Not reading the article because it is too sad...

I can't believe that people can't understand that we are ALL connected and depend on each other!! :cry:

[Dover]

3. I thought the U.S. passed a law prohibiting the use of sonar related

to whale/dolphin deaths.

[shance]

4. I did too.

n/t

[Kool Kitty]

6. I thought so, too.

But didn't Wolfowitz and the rest of the Pentagoons ask to have some of the environmental safeguards suspended, because it made it "too hard" to train the troops properly? (I don't remember exactly when this came up, but I know that I was disgusted by it.) I'll bet this is the sort of safeguard that they were referring to, because heaven forbid they have to take care of anything but themselves. (I'm not alking about the soldiers, I'm referring to the Pentagoons.)

[schultzee]

5. Destructive vicious killing pigs. Poor beasts don't have a chance

They are killing every beautiful thing God put on earth.

[Gregorian]

13. This really is the tip of the iceberg

I constantly think of the animals that are impacted by military practices. And war. This is just one instance that made the news.
When we see casualty numbers, I never see those that pertain to animals besides humans. But cats, dogs, and all the other beings are killed as well. It's sick. It's sick. It's sick. I can think of no other word for it.
They kicked motorcycles out of an area where I lived, because of a turtle. Yet right down the road, there are a million acres that are roamed by the military. It's total hypocracy.

Edit- don't forget that automobiles kill more animals than we would care to think about. I think this all ultimately comes back to us citizens. How do WE want to live. I take responsibility. We asked for oil, and we are willing to fight for it. That's a collective we. I want to run out. I want to ride bikes. I want a slower, kinder society.

[schultzee]

7. What are we to do? Who can we write to ?

[TaleWgnDg]

9. this has been bouncing around for quite awhile . . .

that is, the damage sonar apparently causes to whales:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/09/MN177651.DTL&type=printable

As for the U.S. military being "stopped" from using low frequency sonar in our oceans, it seems a judge did do so; however, this GreenpeaceUSA webpage is very dated . . . apparently, this case was tossed the other way in favor of the military deploying that sonar once again. I didn't research the matter any further in the courts other than this tidbit offered on this GreenpeaceUSA webpage:

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/features/details?item_id=524872

Also, Canada is legally challenging the use of sonar in its ocean waters . . . again, I didn't research the status of it. The Brits are in the courts too. I wonder if this issue has hit the international conference on whale fishing . . . whose name doesn't come to mind at the moment (although it doesn't appear to be a "fishing" issue)!?

Overall, the sticking point is the proximate cause of death to these whales which is very difficult to prove. Once that hurdle is overcome then all else should fall into place. That is, unless our military can present something to override that argument, e.g., national defense, national security, or a cost-effect analysis favorable to the military.

As a parting remark: Can you imagine Al Gore sitting on his hands about these environmental issues as has Dumbya for these last 3 1/2 years? We've slipped into such a damn quagmire regarding environmental issues under this GWBush Administration! He's worse than his father EVER was, and that says quite a bit.

:dem:

[TaleWgnDg]

10. after looking further at the Greenpeace website and its pages . . .

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/features/details?item_id=526593&campaign_id=

Despite the contents of that above GreenpeaceUSA url being March 2003, it answers several of my questions in my prior post #9

1.) the Bush Administration has been opposed to the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to include wording about the "harassment" of whales,

2.) the name of that international whale "fishing" organization is the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and

3.) if GWBush is against inserting wording in a federal law about protecting whales from "harassment" then you can be damn sure that GWBush is also against turning around the IWC to protect whales in the same or similar manner.

I'd suggest getting more informed about all of this; then if anyone wants to get active, perhaps contacting your D.C. representative and your Senators together with an organization such as GreenpeaceUSA, would push the issue along.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

11. Not again!!!!

grrrrrrrrrrrr :grr:

[The Stranger]

12. It's a yahoo story, so rank it a 5.