Author: R J Adams

There is nothing amusing about the killing of whales, although the BBC sending a reporter with the name Jonah Fisher to the Antarctic on the Greenpeace ship, “Esperanza”, has to raise a smile or two.

The Japanese are at it again. In contravention of a whaling moratorium, and with the apparent intention of killing fifty Humpback whales in addition to the one thousand it will slaughter of other species, to satisfy it’s “scientific research” and the palettes of rich Japanese who don’t give a damn about the consequences of what turns them on culinary-wise, the Japanese whaling fleet has once more set sail for the Antarctic and its annual slaughter of the most intelligent mammal on the planet.

Today, the Japanese government announced it had retracted its permission for the slaying of fifty Humpbacks. The world rejoiced. Japan had bowed to international pressure.

Call me an old cynic, but it’s my opinion the Japanese never intended to slaughter Humpbacks at all. The story was just put out to create a stir, allowing the Japanese to magnanimously withdraw and appear the good guys, while the slaughter of one thousand Minke and Fin whales continues with less international hoo-ha as a result.

There is no reason to kill whales other than to satiate the palettes of the Japanese. The moratorium of 1986 bans the killing of all whales, but allows licenses for “scientific culls”. It is this loophole that Japan utilizes for its yearly slaughter.

Thankfully, there are organizations like Greenpeace, and Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation group who have already made it to Antarctica on a ship named after the conservationist, Steve Irwin, to monitor and harry the Japanese fleet.

Japanese government officials accuse Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd of “….dangerous and irresponsible actions…..” but their own excuses for this unnecessary carnage are both illogical and dishonest.

Japan’s deputy whaling commissioner Joji Morishita, told the BBC:

“It is just like any fisheries – tuna, salmon, for example – the proper way to conduct the fisheries is to do the science to work out how best to manage the resources.”

Someone should point out to Mister Joji Morishita that the whale is not a fish, and consequently cannot be considered in similar context to other fisheries.

It would appear that when it comes down to basic intelligence, Mister Joji Morishita has more in common with salmon and tuna, than with the whales.

Filed under: A lie by any other name

THIS is how America allows mentally retarded youngsters to be treated.

What is truly disgraceful about this case is not that the adolescents were “punished” unnecessarily, medicine but that it is allowed to happen at all.

If some readers consider I may at times be unduly harsh on America, recipe this story is a prime example of the reason why.

I make no apology.

Read this Mother Jones article from earlier this year.

^{My thanks to Al at “Vineyard Views” for the link.}

Filed under: Just sickening

The phrase, “War on Christmas”, has reared its ugly head once more. Frankly, it’s boring, repetitive, and hardly in the spirit of goodwill to all men, which, whatever one’s religious bent, is a damned good spirit to hang onto, even if only for a few days during this particularly dark and dreary time of year.

The whole world knows how Americans love a good argument. Nothing is “middle-of-the-road” in this country. It’s a land of extreme views and opinions, all with just one common element – the ability to tear this nation asunder.

Christmas, it would seem, is no exception.

Throughout the land, the debate rages. Should it be called a Christmas tree, or a Holiday tree? Is it right to have a floodlit crib and manger above the entrance to local town council offices? Do children open Santa’s gifts on Christmas morning or Holiday morning?

The country where I was born and raised is a secular nation, yet no-one argues over the naming of holidays. Christmas is Christmas; Easter is Easter, and Pentecost is Whitsun.

You see, America, you don’t have deed and title to Christmas, it’s an international tradition celebrated throughout the world. It matters not if you are Christian, Pagan, or Atheist; Christmas is Christmas. It has been for donkey’s years, and it always will be. So stop arguing about it, and for Christ’s sake just enjoy it!

Neither is Christmas the sole preserve of Christians. Just because they stuck their deity’s name on the front of it doesn’t mean we can’t all celebrate. After all, in America, George Washington’s birthday is a celebrated federal holiday, but while he may have been a cool dude, he was definitely not a god. Most of us who wisely decline to behave in a weird and illogical manner towards Jesus of Nazareth, still consider he was a cool dude.

We’re all aware that the ‘Christ” bit relates to the Christian god, but the festival covers a multitude of other deities, including the Sun, and over the years they’ve all fallen under the general umbrella of Christmas, because the early Christians pinched the date from pagan sources somewhere around the 11th century.

But we pagans don’t object to that. We don’t rise up and insist it is renamed “Sol Invictus mass”, or, “Mithrasmass”, or, “Ishtarmass”. And if we don’t argue about it, America, why should you?

If you truly want to fight and bicker over the names of holidays, why not stick with one of your own, like Thanksgiving. No-one in the US of A rises up in indignation over that name, now do they? Personally, I think it’s a very silly name and hardly in keeping with a nation supposedly secular and tolerant of beliefs. After all, who is an Atheist supposed to give thanks to?

Perhaps it’s time Thanksgiving was renamed. Here’s a suggestion. How about, “Let’s-invite-a-whole-load-of-relatives-around-we-don’t-really-want-to-see -and-stuff-ourselves-so-full-of-food-we-fall-off-our-chairs Day”?

Or, if that’s too long to trip off the tongue, try: “ThanksForWhat? Day” as most Americans I’ve approached on the subject haven’t the faintest idea what they’re actually giving thanks for.

So get the message, America: hands off Christmas. It doesn’t belong to you. You didn’t invent it.

It actually existed long before you did, which means you have less right than the rest of the world to interfere with it.

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL.

Filed under: Christmas cheer