Japanese Whaling

not a lot of press is given to this in the u.s. although earlier this year, one santa monica restaurant, the hump, was fined and eventually decided to close its doors because it was caught selling whale meat. what's even more shocking is how it was stored: according to one news story, the chefs would simply go to some benz in the parking lot and retrieve it! yikes.

but watching the show, whale wars, has been been interesting. most of the time, the time, the show is just melodrama and it is clearly trying to discover ways to fill it's 45 mins of airtime (minus the 15 mins of commercials). normally, it is best to watch without the sound, because then one can forward through the melodramatic, filler, dialogue bits and the really important stuff is also closed captioned b/c of the noise.

but the japanese. so shameful. what is up with their wanting to hunt whale meat? not like they are inuits, living a sustainable life that relies on the single harpoon and a small, row-powered boat. there are times when the japanese are just soo intractable and entitled, and really shameful.

and this case of the former sea shepherd member whose boat was clearly rammed by the japanese boat, the shonan maru II (gross), is such an obvious aggressive, intentional act by the japanese whalers. yuck. shameless. they were clearly aiming for the ady gil, bearing towards starboard to hit them.

honestly. what's next? hopefully, the sea shepherd organization will continue to be successful in their attempt to discourage, if not completely curtail, the whaling done by japanese.

p.s., and that "research" pasted on the side of the whaling boats? gross.

An Open Letter to Republicans in Congress

Mass Email Republican Senators!

This was a great website for the emails of All Republican Senators on Unemployed Friends.

And if that's too much trouble, try just copying these:

alan_hanson@shelby.senate.gov, jonathan_graffeo@shelby.senate.gov,
anne_caldwell@shelby.senate.gov, laura_friedel@shelby.senate.gov,
senator@shelby.senate.gov, arne_fuglvog@murkowski.senate.gov,
amanda_makki@murkowski.senate.gov, kristen_daimler@murkowski.senate.gov,
isaac_edwards@murkowski.senate.gov, althea_stmartin@murkowski.senate.gov,
kristen_daimler-nothdurft@murkowski.senate.gov, chuck_kleeschulte@murkowski.senate.gov,
lisa@lisamurkowski.com, andrew_wilder@kyl.senate.gov, elizabeth_maier@kyl.senate.gov,
lucy_murfitt@kyl.senate.gov, tim_glazewski@kyl.senate.gov, craig_wismer@kyl.senate.gov,
jennifer_romans@kyl.senate.gov, ryan_patmintra@kyl.senate.gov,
ann_begeman@mccain.senate.gov, ellen_cahill@mccain.senate.gov,
lee_dunn@mccain.senate.gov, richard_fontaine@mccain.senate.gov,
nick_matiella@mccain.senate.gov, talal_mir@mccain.senate.gov,
mark_salter@mccain.senate.gov, elissa.scannell@mail.house.gov,
joe_donoghue@mccain.senate.gov, adam_noah@chambliss.senate.gov, Lindsay_mabry@chambliss.senate.gov, saxby_chambliss@chambliss.senate.gov, justin_clay@chambliss.senate.gov, Steven_meeks@chambliss.senate.gov,
glee_smith@isakson.senate.gov, joan_kirchner@isakson.senate.gov,
michael_quiello@isakson.senate.gov, tyler_thompson@isakson.senate.gov,
Tricia_Chastain@isakson.senate.gov, Catherine_Henson@isakson.senate.gov,
molly_manning@isakson.senate.gov, chris_carr@isakson.senate.gov,
susan_wheeler@crapo.senate.gov, marques_chavez@crapo.senate.gov,
Margaret_ballard@crapo.senate.gov, staci_stevenson@crapo.senate.gov,
Roy_Hansen@crapo.senate.gov, katie_downs@crapo.senate.gov,
gregg_richard@crapo.senate.gov, energy_prices@crapo.senate.gov,
craig_ferguson@crapo.senate.gov, Mark_Shonce@Risch.senate.gov, senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov, andy_fisher@lugar.senate.gov,
georgiana_reynal@lugar.senate.gov, aaron_whitesel@lugar.senate.gov,
mark_hayes@lugar.senate.gov, casework@grassley.senate.gov,
chuck_grassley@grassley.senate.gov, aaron_mckay@grassley.senate.gov,
beth_pellett_levine@grassley.senate.gov, Kathy_nuebel@grassley.senate.gov,
david_young@grassley.senate.gov, kolan_davis@grassley.senate.gov,
sherry_kuntz@grassley.senate.gov, Betty_Burger@Grassley.senate.gov,
mike_steenhoek@grassley.senate.gov, kurt_kovarik@grassley.senate.gov,
landon_fulmer@brownback.senate.gov, glen_chambers@brownback.senate.gov,
brian_robertson@brownback.senate.gov, john_rankin@brownback.senate.gov,
brian_hart@brownback.senate.gov, brownback@brownback.senate.gov,
melanie_benning@brownback.senate.gov, Galen_Roehl@Brownback.senate.gov,
pat_roberts@roberts.senate.gov, jackie_cottrell@roberts.senate.gov,
jennifer_cook@roberts.senate.gov, mike_seyfert@roberts.senate.gov,
sarah_little@roberts.senate.gov, molly_mueller@roberts.senate.gov,
Jennifer_swenson@roberts.senate.gov, Maggie_ward@Roberts.senate.gov,
Verna_Regier@roberts.senate.gov, jim_askins@bunning.senate.gov,
Holly_santry@bunning.senate.gov, sarah_timoney@bunning.senate.gov,
kim_dean@bunning.senate.gov, mike_reynard@bunning.senate.gov,
jim_bunning@bunning.senate.gov, Fred_Karem@mcconnell.senate.gov,
Adam_Howard@mcconnell.senate.gov, Hannah_Benton@mcconnell.senate.gov,
robert_steurer@mcconnell.senate.gov, julie_adams@mcconnell.senate.gov,
scott_raab@mcconnell.senate.gov, allison_thompson@mcconnell.senate.gov,
Reb_Brownell@mcconnell.senate.gov, leann_crosby@mcconnell.senate.gov,
Moon_Sulfab@mcconnell.senate.gov, kyle_ruckert@vitter.senate.gov, Kathryn_Fulton@vitter.senate.gov, crystal_ellerbe@vitter.senate.gov,
garret_graves@vitter.senate.gov, chris_stanley@vitter.senate.gov,
shawn_geddes@vitter.senate.gov, rachael_bohlander@vitter.senate.gov,
tonya_newman@vitter.senate.gov, suzanne_gillen@vitter.senate.gov,
Steve_Abbott@collins.senate.gov, Holly_Nesbit@collins.senate.gov,
John_Richter@snowe.senate.gov, Anna_Levin@snowe.senate.gov,
Brian_Klippenstein@bond.senate.gov, Annie_O'Toole@bond.senate.gov,
kit_bond@bond.senate.gov, kara_smith@bond.senate.gov, shana_marchio@bond.senate.gov,
mike_dubois@bond.senate.gov, kara_vlasaty@bond.senate.gov,
tom_schulte@bond.senate.gov, meagan_perry@bond.senate.gov, WriteJim@mail.house.gov,
AsktheLeader@mail.house.gov, senator@demint.senate.gov, Jim_Inhofe@inhofe.senate.gov,
Adam_Brake@LGraham.senate.gov, Alana_Hyman@enzi.senate.gov,
Andre_Harper@Voinovich.senate.gov, Angela_Mikolajewski@Voinovich.senate.gov,
Angela_Youngen@Voinovich.senate.gov, Beth_Hansen@Voinovich.senate.gov,
Beth_Martens@Voinovich.senate.gov, brendan_plack@thune.senate.gov,
Bret_Bernhardt@demint.senate.gov, bryn_stewart@barrasso.senate.gov,
Chris_Joyner@burr.senate.gov, Chris_Paulitz@Voinovich.senate.gov,
chris_tomassi@enzi.senate.gov, chris_walker@burr.senate.gov,
Colin_Allen@LGraham.senate.gov, Courtney_Shadegg@Coburn.senate.gov,
Mike_Schwartz@Coburn.senate.gov, Daffnei_Riedel@thune.senate.gov,
susan_sweat@wicker.senate.gov, Terri_Moore@johanns.senate.gov, jurani@ensign.senate.gov,
Kathleen_Amacio@johanns.senate.gov, mark_williams@vetaff.senate.gov,
Hardy_Lott@wicker.senate.gov, Jason_mulvihill@ensign.senate.gov,
john_lopez@ensign.senate.gov, johncornyn@gopsenators.com