Space Shuttle Watch
They say they're ready for a July launch. At least, the new NASA boss is optimistic about it.
Also reported is how there needs to be law changes in order for NASA to work with the Russian space agency more closely.

The request was made in a letter to Congress, Griffin told a congressional committee on Tuesday. The Iran Nonproliferation Act prohibits NASA from buying space-related services and goods from Russia as long as Moscow sells weapons and missile technology to Tehran.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will need to use Russian space services starting April 2006 but would not be able to pay for them under the act, Griffin told the House of Representatives' Science Committee.

NASA will need Russia's help to use the International Space Station, he said.
"For the next several years, as the space station development and its partnership go forward, the United States is in the position where we cannot effectively utilize the space station without our Russian partners," Griffin said.

So... I guess I'm back to business here writing space news observations.

Tempel 1 Spits the Dummy At Deep Impact
...or so it seemed as the comet spewed forth a burst of ice particles, days before Tempel 1 slammed a probe into it.

The outburst, which occurred June 22 and was announced today, was larger than
one photographed recently by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The latest eruption temporarily expanded the size and reflectivity of the cloud of dust and gas, called a coma, that surrounds the comet nucleus.

"This most recent outburst was six times larger than the one observed on June 14, but the ejected material dissipated almost entirely within about a half day," said University of Maryland astronomer Michael A'Hearn, who leads the Deep Impact mission. An animation of the June 22 eruption is available here.

Heh. Check the link to the animation while it's still there. Won't be there for long.

Cassini Probe Sees a Lake
Here's an update on the Cassini mission.

You might have thought Saturn's moon Titan was a somewhat dead issue after the Cassini spacecraft did not find convincing evidence for methane seas that scientists had predicted would exist.

But the smoggy moon is back in the news today as a new Cassini image reveals a dark feature that scientists speculate might be a lake. The feature is "remarkably
lake-like," according to a NASA statement that noted the appearance of smooth, shore-like boundaries unlike any seen previously on Titan.

"I'd say this is definitely the best candidate we've seen so far for a liquid hydrocarbon lake on Titan," said Alfred McEwen, imaging team member and a professor at the University of Arizona.

The feature is 145 miles long by 45 miles wide (230 by 70 kilometers), or about the size of Lake Ontario on the U.S. Canadian border. The possible lake is under the densest clouds on Titan. Scientists speculate methane rains might have fallen there recently. "It's possible that some of the storms in this region are strong enough to make methane rain that reaches the surface," Cassini imaging team member Tony DelGenio of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

"Given Titan's cold temperatures, it might take a long time for any liquid methane collecting on the surface to evaporate. So it might not be surprising for a methane-filled lake to persist for a long time."

It's also possible the feature was once a lake, but has since dried up, leaving behind dark deposits, said Elizabeth Turtle, Cassini imaging team associate at the University of Arizona. Or the region is simply a broad depression filled by dark, solid hydrocarbons falling from the atmosphere onto Titan's surface. In this case, the
smooth outline might be the result of a process unrelated to rainfall, such as a sinkhole or a volcanic caldera.

A previous image of Titan revealed what scientist believe to be a volcano. "It is already clear that whatever this lake-like feature turns out to be, it is only one of many puzzles that Titan will throw at us as we continue our reconnaissance of the surface over the next few years," said Carolyn Porco, imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Officials plan 39 more Titan flybys.

No ruins of alien civilizations though... Just joking. :)

Star-Gazing Of Far A Less Profound Kind
Somebody sent me this article. It's hysterical.

Holmes was busy during that first week in April. On April 7, she was photographed at the Fragrance Foundation's FiFi event. Four days later, Holmes was still in New York and was photographed at VH1's "Save the Music" concert. She still had not met Cruise.

Sometime that week, her friends say, she flew to Los Angeles for a meeting with Cruise about a role in "Mission: Impossible 3." The meeting took place after April 11. The next time anyone heard from Holmes was on April 27, when she appeared in public as Cruise's girlfriend and love of his life. Where was she during those 16 days?

Somewhere during that time, she decided to fire both her manager and agent, each of whom she had been with for years and who were devoted to her. The manager, John Carrabino, also handles Renée Zellweger and is beloved by his clients.

Holmes also acquired a new best friend, Jessica Feshbach, the daughter of Joe Feshbach, a controversial Palo Alto, Calif., bond trader. The Feshbach family, according to published documents, has donated millions to the Church of Scientology. Jessica's aunt even runs a Scientology center in Florida. According to Richard Behar's now famous 1991 story in Time magazine about Scientology, the Feshbachs were the subject of congressional hearings in 1989.

Behar wrote: "The heads of several companies claimed that Feshbach operatives have spread false information to government agencies and posed in various guises — such as a Securities and Exchange Commission official — in an effort to discredit the companies and drive the stocks down. "Michael Russell, who ran a chain of business journals, testified that a Feshbach employee called his bankers and interfered with his loans. Sometimes the Feshbachs send private detectives to dig up dirt on firms, which is then shared with business reporters, brokers and fund managers."

The risk-taking Feshbachs, known the world over for making their fortune "shorting" stocks, and the level-headed, conservative Holmeses would be a difficult mix at a dinner table. Katie's father, Martin Holmes, is the senior partner in a large and respected Toledo, Ohio, law firm. His son, Martin Jr., has recently joined the firm. He's a Harvard graduate. Katie's mom, Kathy, is frequently cited in Toledo for her charity work.

There is some fear among Holmes' close circle that her instant romance with Cruise is not as organic as portrayed. For one thing, Holmes was raised a strict Catholic. Also, gone from the picture are two close Holmes friends who used to be with her when she did publicity for a film. One of these is Meghann Birie, a childhood friend who has suddenly disappeared from Holmes' world. Another, a local TV producer here in New York, was too afraid to discuss the situation with me.

We know that Cruise auditioned several actresses for this role before settling on Holmes. This column reported a story about Jennifer Garner. There have been published stories about Kate Bosworth, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Alba being approached. A newer one involves Scarlett Johansson, who ran for her life when presented with a fait accompli dinner at the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood. And history has been rewritten since the April 27 unveiling.

Curiously, since the Cruise-Holmes situation popped up, we have heard over and over again that Cruise was the young actress' idol when she was growing up.
That's certainly interesting because all of the publicity that used to run on Holmes — still found all over the Internet — lists another Tom as her favorite actor.

Paranoid about Scientology yet? Katie says she 'digs' it espcially after having her brain washed.
Anyway, just for kicks, I typed in 'Tom Cruise is gay' and I get like 13 pages+ of the stuff.
And this particularly weird one from a former scientologist.

- Art Neuro

Big Mailbag Haul
Pleiades sent in a swag of stuff this weekend, some of which I'm just going to post up links to. There're a quite a few of them today.

1. Here's a quoted article on the Climate Change issue.

2. Here's a Rense cache of the Frog extinction issue. In case you've missed it, frogs and amphibians are in the middle of a grand die out in the last decade.

3. Here's another Rense cache, this time on Solar Flares. So, on Jan 20, a Proton storm from a solar flare got to earth in 30 minutes! A head scratcher there.

4. More on climate change, this one covering how it might have affected the Mayan civilisation. It's a long article, but worth the read.

5. This one is on digitalisation and media rights. Not to do with space or science or even spacefreak stuff, but it's very interesting.

6. A 9/11 Artcle of immense importance, if you think something smelled very fishy abou the WTC collapse.

More Lions In Winter
Yankee stalwart centerfielder Bernie Williams is visibly coming to the end of his career. This is the last year of his multi-year contract, but more to the point, his defense has collapsed in the last few years, and this year he has been consigned to being a DH/bench player. Central to the post-season success (probably much more than St. Derek) of the Yankees in the last decade, it seems appropriate that the Yankees' current decline coincides with Bernie's decline.

Williams is battling injuries to both shoulders. At 36, he is built to play four or five games a week, not every day. For 15 seasons, Williams has manned center for the Yankees, but his poor play recently, which included an error Friday, has magnified the club's need to acquire a center fielder. The Yankees could consider trading for Mark Kotsay of Oakland or Juan Pierre of Florida.

When asked if Tony Womack is an option in center today, Torre said, "Sure he is."
Womack, who has played in left field for 37 games this season, started taking balls in center field in batting practice on this homestand. Torre added that Matsui was "still a ways away" from moving from designated hitter to the outfield.

In the sixth inning, Williams attempted to field a ball hit by Chris Woodward to shallow left field. He lunged for the ball with one hand, but it fell for a double as he crashed to the grass.

In the seventh, Williams tried to backhand a base hit by Castro in left-center field. The ball skipped under his glove and rolled behind him. The play was ruled a double, but it could have been called a single and an error. "There's no room for mental mistakes here," Williams said. "Obviously, you got to prepare yourself mentally to play he game and be ready at any time for anything that happens."

When asked if he was trying too hard, Williams said, "No, I think I'm going out there and trying to play as hard as I can." Torre said: "It's hard, because I know how proud he is and how badly he wants to be there for everybody. He came here long
before I was here. The one thing about Bernie, numbers never change your opinion of him, because you start with the man."

At one point, the mild-mannered Williams vented his frustration by tossing a water cooler to the ground in the Yankees' dugout. But he said his confidence had not been rattled by his poor defensive play. "I want the ball hit to me, yeah, absolutely," he said. "That's the only way you can get out of it."

These days come, even for the grandest fo players.

- Art Neuro

PANSPERMIA - More Freak Than Spacefreak?
We brought up Iapetus a few weeks back. Richard Hoagland and all, which I guess places me in the woo-woo camp for now. But his articles are so compelling, I guess they deserve a read even if you choose to prejudicially dismiss the verasity of its content before going in. It's fun specualtion, right in line with the sort of 'Hard'-Sci-Fi school of specualtion. Is it good science? Probably not, but do we confine ourselves to only reading good science? Indeed, do we not read such unscientific things as say, 'New Scientist' or 'Cosmopolitan' (I certainly don't)? So in that spirit, I present to you part 6 of Iapetus theory by Richard Hoagland; courtesy of Pleiades. It's a fun read.

In particular, I do want to draw your attention to this bit:

Thus was born the exoplanet term “hot Jupiter” -- to describe MOST of these now-discovered ~150 plus worlds currently known to exist around other suns … almost all of which seem to be circling their stars either extremely close-in … or, in wildly eccentric orbits.

Both properties are the “lethal” difference between the “normal” distances and behavior of the planets in our solar system, and 99% of the so-far discovered “extrasolar worlds.” Put another way, star systems containing planets orbiting around them in orderly configurations (and distances) similar to Mercury, Venus, Earth, etc. -- with additional gas giants located safely far from the inner planets and their parent star (like Jupiter, Saturn, etc.) – so far appear extremely rare … less than 1%.

The reasons for these major “exo-solar-system” anomalies (compared to the orbit spacing this solar system) are still totally unknown. What these (admittedly early) planetary statistics seem to be telling us is that Earth-like, habitable planets around other stars, orbiting within equally “friendly,” highly ordered solar systems (like this one) – thus, possessing environments capable of supporting the long-term evolution of “life among the stars” -- must be quite rare...

Well, so much for Carl Sagan's theorem. however, Hoagland goes on to argue this little nugget:

The fourth (and most striking) possibility for the existence of this profoundly bizarre, 900-mile, highly modified “base 60 world” – endlessly pursuing its precise “base 60” orbit around the most remarkable planet of this solar system – is that Iapetus was once part of an ancient, extraterrestrial program to convert this system of planets (among how many others in this Galaxy…?), from one of those myriad uninhabitable systems astronomers are finding--

Into a Special Place ….

Which could one day support the origin and evolution of Conscious Life around our Sun!

That Iapetus was, indeed— An ancient “seedship”... from the Stars.

There is no space here to provide the literally years of documentation we have painstakingly assembled in support of this (admittedly) extraordinary hypothesis. That will come later. Suffice to say that the incredible identity – between Iapetus “the moon,” and the tiny, mirror-image “replicas” found inexplicably in rock strata laid down billions of years ago on Earth – argues convincingly that there could be some kind of link between the two. The discovery of “spongy” and “charcoal-like” material inside many of these spheres, coupled with the extreme hardness of their shells, is completely consistent with the idea that these objects could have been originally intended as some kind of “protective carriers” -- for organic or biological materials!

If part of a systematic extraterrestrial program to “seed” life across the Milky Way, on previously lifeless worlds (like Earth!), such small devices could have been automatically produced elsewhere in this solar system (by the billions), to function similar to natural seed carriers known to biologists today -- a LOT of “seeds” disseminated … for every successful “implantation.”

The eerie resemblance to Iapetus could then have been far more than mere “coincidence” but, was perhaps specifically intended as 1) the means to identify different teams and seeding programs (ships?), operating on different planets and environments across the ancient solar system, or 2) to let the descendents of this “grand experiment” (when they arose … and eventually discovered even a few of the literally billions of surviving “seed” shells …) to someday successfully trace their origins--

All the way to Saturn!

Isotopic analysis -- of both Iapetus ... and these strange, terrestrial “spheres” -- could provide specific information essential to confirming or falsifying this entire “directed panspermia” hypothesis. As could biological analysis of what’s inside ….

So the 'Panspermia' theory of life in the galaxy lives on again. :) In fact, the rest iof the article goes way out to the edge of woo-woo-land, where woo-woo-vikings hunt for woo-woo-whales. Sorry, I had to slip that motif in this week. Anyway, it's a slow Sunday morning. I hope that made your morning, boys & girls.

- Art Neuro

Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham
Okay. So I've been a real bastard last week. Just to show you I'm not devoid of sentiment, I thought I'd post up this article. Heck, I'll quote it all:

Saturday, June 25, 2005By Ben Walker, The Associated Press
His major-league career lasted one game, a few fleeting moments in right field.
He stood out there on a summer afternoon so long ago, on a patch of grass since paved over in Brooklyn. Yet many folks are certain Moonlight Graham was a made-up character from a movie, not a real-life ballplayer for the New York Giants.

" 'Field of Dreams' was before my time," said Willie Mays, the greatest Giant of them all. "That was a real thing? How come nobody told me?"

Yet the tale is true, at least most of it. Because June 29, 1905 -- exactly 100 years ago Wednesday -- Archibald Wright Graham made his lone appearance in the majors. He never got to hit. Instead, he was left on deck. A late substitute in a lopsided, 11-1 win, he played only two innings. There's no proof he ever touched the ball.

"Graham went to right field for New York" was his only mention in the local Evening Telegram's play-by-play account. And, just that fast, the 28-year-old rookie described in the sporting press as being "quick as a flash of moonlight" was gone.
No wonder it took quite a while for his story to get around -- and for author W.P. Kinsella to make Graham such a part of the poetry and romance that celebrate the lore and lure of baseball. More than a decade after Graham died in 1965, the prize winning author was leafing through the Baseball Encyclopedia that his father-in-law had given him for Christmas a few days earlier. Among the listings for every player and their lifetime stats, Kinsella came across something that stopped him.

"I found this entry for Moonlight Graham. How could anyone come up with that nickname? He played one game but did not get to bat. I was intrigued, and I made a note that I intended to write something about him," he said.

A few years later, he did. His 1982 novel "Shoeless Joe" was adapted into the 1989 film "Field of Dreams," and Moonlight was reborn. Eventually, there was a band called Moonlight Graham, a couple of Web sites were dedicated to him and a scholarship fund established in his honor.

"I didn't anticipate this happening," Kinsella said in a telephone interview from his home in British Columbia. In the movie, Graham mystically flickers onto the scoreboard at Fenway Park. Seeking one at-bat in the bigs, he asks: "Is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make dreams come true?"

Veda Ponikvar knew Graham for almost a half-century in Chisholm, Minn. He arrived around 1912 after the town placed a newspaper ad for a school doctor, and Ponikvar said he never boasted about his baseball days. Or explained his enchanting nickname.

"I think it was because by the light of the moon, he practiced his game," she guessed. "But some people said it was because he moonlighted as a doctor." No matter, she said, Burt Lancaster's kindly portrayal was perfect.

"I remember probably in the third grade when he inoculated me for scarlet fever," she said. "I still have the mark on my arm. Growing up, I thought it was the most horrible thing. Later on, I thought, 'Oh, Doc Graham, you're pretty precious. You left your mark.'"

Now in her mid-80s, she'll be at the Metrodome Wednesday to throw out the first ball before Kansas City plays Minnesota on Moonlight Graham Day. All because of sheer luck. When Kinsella thumbed through the Baseball Encyclopedia, he could've easily turned to the pages for Twink Twining, Goat Cochran or Steamboat Struss. Of the more than 16,000 players in major-league history, they're also among the 900 plus guys in the Elias Sports Bureau registry who got into only one game.

"I had no backup," Kinsella said. "My approach to fiction writing is that when I need facts, I invent them. So I would have invented a background for Moonlight Graham, but I'm sure nothing as wonderful as the truth. "It was a gold mine."

OK, so what if he really didn't play on the last day of the 1922 season, as in the movie? Or that he batted left-handed, rather than righty in the film? Or that he got sent down after his one big-league game and spent three more years in the minors?Those blue hats he bought for his wife, Alecia? "Absolutely true," Ponikvar said. And the way he patted children to clear food stuck in their throats? "He did it to me," she said.

Oh, another fact: His younger brother, Frank Porter Graham, was a U.S. senator from North Carolina. In all, it's a story that fans everywhere embraced. Well, most everyone.

"I didn't see 'Field of Dreams.' I don't watch movies about what I do," San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds said.
On the other hand, Los Angeles Angels star Darin Erstad estimated he has watched it 20 to 30 times. "It's a special thing because it's a dream of a lot of kids out there, to have the opportunity to put on a big-league uniform for just that one time. And that part of the movie really summed that up," he said. "When you see guys who are career minor-leaguers who get an opportunity to come up -- and even if they're not up for a long time -- they can always say that all that hard work they put in was worth it."

It was for Bob Hegman and Gary Hargis. Hegman's one big-league game came in August 1985, when he replaced George Brett in the Kansas City infield for the ninth inning. "You wait so long, all your life for that moment. Just running on the field, it was surreal," said Hegman, now an advance scout for the Twins. The Royals went on to win the World Series that year, and they remembered him. Sort of, anyway. "Everybody asks, 'Did you get a ring? Did you get a ring?' " he said. "Heck, all I got was a $100 check. I wish I'd kept it and framed it, but I needed to eat."

Called up in September 1979, Hargis made his lone appearance as a pinch-runner for the Pirates on the next-to-last day of the season. "You keep thinking, 'Just let me get in one game so my name can get into the book,' " he said. "When you do, it's just like the movie. Your eyes light up, you never want the night to end. You just want to play ball, like you did when you were a kid."

At least Kevin Morgan got to bat. After "floating to the plate," he popped up in 1997 for the New York Mets. "I definitely thought there would be more opportunities," said Morgan, the Mets' director of minor-league operations, "but as it turned out, that was the only one."

Which is more than Mickey Harrington got in his one game with Philadelphia in 1963.
"I was expecting to at least get an at-bat," he said. "I was 6 feet 4, 205 pounds, and it was disappointing to be used as a pinch-runner. I figured someone else would pick me up and I'd get another chance, but I never did."

Archie Graham never got to bat in the majors, either. A pretty good hitter for three years in the minors, Giants manager John McGraw invited him to spring training in 1905, but Graham declined because he wanted to finish medical school. According to extensive work by Bill Moose for the Society for American Baseball Research, Graham finally joined the Giants May 23. Five weeks later, he made his debut at Brooklyn's Washington Park -- built before Ebbets Field, it's now a depot for the Con Edison power company. In a game against the Superbas -- the forerunners of the Dodgers -- Graham replaced George Browne in right field for the bottom of the eighth inning. Nothing was hit his way. Then, he was left on deck in the ninth when pitcher Claude Elliott flied out. In the bottom half, Graham may have gotten a play. Switch-hitter Charlie Malay singled -- presumably, he was batting lefty against the righty Elliott -- and perhaps he pulled it in Graham's direction. But there's simply no
record of where the ball went.

"It's possible that maybe he touched it," Moose said. "No telling for sure."

So there you have it; the story of 'Moonlight' Graham. And now I know where I went wrong in my life - I quit Med School to do what I liked. So much for the Field of Dreams. :)

- Art Neuro

Kangaroo Court
For the last week i've been harp(oon)ing ono about the whaling issue being inadequately addressed at the IWC but I've sort of exhausted this year's angles.
In the mean time Pleiades pointed me towards this page that is at the Department of Environment & Heritage website. Apparently there was an article in today's Financial Review talking about the inconsistency of the DEH allowing Kangaroos to be shot while arguing vociferously against whaling. The author of the article presumably wants Kangaroo culling to stop, however, it's the same logical fissure in the morals argument against Whaling, so I thought I'd bring it up:

Injured Kangaroos and pouch young
No matter how carefully the shooter aims, some kangaroos will not be killed outright. Wounded kangaroos must be dispatched as quickly and humanely as possible.

When killing a wounded animal a brain shot may be impractical. For example, the accurate placement of a shot in the brain may require capture and restraint of the animal; this would increase suffering and be inconsistent with the objective of sudden and painless death. In such circumstances a heart shot may be the most humane means of dispatch. In some special circumstances, where a wounded kangaroo is encountered, it may not be practicable to shoot the animal, as at a practical range the acceptable points of aim may be obscured, and at a close range the use of a high powered rifle may be unsafe. In these special circumstances a heavy blow to the skull to destroy the brain may be the most appropriate and humane means of dispatch.

Kangaroo shooters often shoot more than one kangaroo out of a group before driving to the carcases to retrieve them. This is acceptable provided that where an individual kangaroo is wounded no further kangaroos are shot until all reasonable efforts have been made to dispatch the wounded animal.

Shot females must be examined for pouch young and if one is present it must also be killed. Decapitation with a sharp instrument in very small hairless young or a properly executed heavy blow to destroy the brain in larger young are effective means of causing sudden and painless death.

Larger young can also be dispatched humanely by a shot to the brain, where this can be delivered accurately and in safety.

Conditions
- The shooter must be certain that each animal is shot dead before another is targeted.

- If a kangaroo is thought to be alive after being shot, every reasonable effort shall be made immediately to locate and kill it before any attempt is made to shoot another animal.

- When located, wounded animals must be killed by a method that will achieve a rapid and humane death, where practical by a shot to the brain.

- Under circumstances where a shot to the brain of an injured animal is impractical or unsafe, a shot to the heart is permissible (see Schedule 3).

- In circumstances where, for dispatch of a wounded kangaroo, a shot to either the brain or heart is impractical or unsafe, a very heavy blow to the rear of the skull to destroy the brain (see Schedule 2) is permissible. To ensure a humane kill, a suitably hard and heavy blunt instrument must be used (e.g., metal pipe, billet of wood etc., carried for this purpose).

- If a female has been killed, the pouch must be searched for young as soon as the shooter reaches the carcass. The pouch young of a killed female must also be killed immediately, by decapitation or a heavy blow to the skull to destroy the brain, or shooting.

Shooting for scientific purposes
Permits to shoot kangaroos for scientific purposes are sometimes requested. Because of the circumstances and locations in which such shooting may take place, and because of specific research requirements (e.g. to obtain anatomical items such as intact skulls for diagnostic examination and museum reference collections), it may be necessary to allow exemptions from the general conditions such as point of aim and shooting platform.

Such variations must never detract from the primary responsibility of the shooter to provide a sudden and painless death for the target animals.

Conditions
The provisions of this Code shall apply to the shooting of kangaroos for scientific purposes except were express provision to the contrary is included in the permit/licence under which the animals are shot.

The licensing authority should only issue such a permit/licence if it is satisfied that:

- the Animal Care and Ethics Committee (or equivalent) at the
relevant institution has examined and approved the proposal; and
-the method of shooting will result in sudden and painless deaths for the animals authorised
to be killed.

The waiving of any requirements of this code shall not relieve the shooter of the absolute requirement to provide a sudden and painless death for the target kangaroos.

Interesting reading.
Some thoughts that come into my mind:
What kind of science requires them to shoot Kangaroos...?
Where's the scientific evidence that they need to shoot the kangaroos?
What moral justification can there be in killing such beautiful, magnificent beasts?
Where's the moral outrage around the world with reagrds to this wholesale massacre of a species?
Heh.

IWC Stoush V
Day 5 of the annual shindig of abuse. The Humane Society Internationl is pushing for trade sanctions against Japan over whaling.

"In response to Japan's proposal to increase the number of whales killed under its alleged scientific whaling program, HSI will petition the US government to seek trade sanctions against Japan under the Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman's Protective Act," HSI director Michael Kennedy said in a statement.

He said that although scientists and member countries formally criticised Japan's proposal at the IWC meeting, they were powerless to prevent Japan from carrying out plans to increase the number of whales it kills annually to 935 minke, 50 humpback, and 50 fin whales.

"Japan showed up at the IWC meeting with harpoons at the ready, prepared to undo 30 years of whale conservation," Mr Kennedy said. "The Pelly Amendment allows the president of the US to impose trade sanctions against a country whose activities threaten the effectiveness of international endangered species protection programs."

Mr Kennedy said the HSI, which originated in the US, had worked for more than 30 years on IWC whaling policy.

Maybe I should send the HSI the link to the DEH Kangaroo hunting webpage too. Se if the President will hit Iraq War ally Australia with a trade sanction.

Then, there's the Hokkaido chain that is selling fastfood whale burgers.

The chain of restaurants, on the island of Hokkaido, said the burgers were selling well. A spokeswoman said the timing of the new dish, coinciding with the annual meeting of the IWC in South Korea, was accidental. But she said she hoped it would give more young people a chance to try whale, which was once commonplace on the menu, but has declined in popularity over the years.

All of Japan's whale meat comes from the 700 or so it is allowed to kill every year
for research purposes.

Well, I'm more inclined to try that than Korean dog stew.
There's also this page here that claims a victory for the anti-whalers containing my new Norwegian friend Rune Frovik saying:

Japan's proposal on coastal catches was a ``reasonable request,'' said Rune Frovik, an official with the High North Alliance, a non-governmental pro-whalingorganization based in Norway. ``What sustainable whaling means is harvesting nature's surplus,'' he said.

While of course Greenpeace is saying there are better ways to profit from whales, i.e. watching them.

Countries led by Australia and New Zealand and conservation groups including Greenpeace are promoting alternative ways of profiting from whales, such as through tourism and whale-watching.

Well yeah, but I doubt I want to go cow-watching or pig watching insetad of eating beef or pork, if you know what I mean.
Then there's this news:

JAPAN lost its third major vote at the International Whaling Commission yesterday when the group refused to grant limited hunting rights to Japanese coastal communities.

The loss came 24 hours after the IWC, pushed by Australia, condemned Tokyo's scientific whaling program, which anti-whaling states say is actually a commercial hunt in disguise.

It also failed earlier in the week to overturn a 20-year international moratorium on commercial whale hunting. In its failed proposal yesterday, Japan had sought to allow its coastal communities to catch 150 minke whales a year. It was rejected 29 votes to 26.

Some conservationists and anti-whaling nations say they supported whaling for
indigenous communities as a form of subsistence. But they saw the measure
brought by Japan -- the world's second-largest economy -- as a way to skirt rules to benefit coastal communities that are neither impoverished nor in need of whale meat to support a slim diet. "We don't campaign against legitimate subsistence whaling, but Japan is trying to create a new category -- cultural whaling," said Patrick Ramage, spokesman for the conservation group International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Um, yeah. Is this Patrick Ramage a complete and utter brain-dead moron? Or did he simply get his Pre-frontal lobotomy before he walked into the interview? Which part of food culture isn't 'cultural'? You know, "you eat wheat, I eat rice. You eat cow-burger, I eat whale-burger, Korean over there, he eat DOG STEW!." The pungent Eurocentric whiff of that hangs in the air like a truly sulfrous grilled-onion-fart.
To get an insight into the whys and wherefores of the Pacific Island Nations, we have
this more balanced piece covering some other nations apart from Japan and Norway.

But the issue runs deeper than aid. Many of Japan's supporters among the small island-developing nation group deeply resent what they claim is bullying and interference in their economic self-determination by wealthy countries.

"It's a privilege of being economically well-off, this failure to understand and accept the cultures of traditional peoples," says Antigua and Barbuda Agriculture and Resources Minister Joanne Massiah. "We forget that 50 million people are starving every day while we look at this issue so flippantly and that marine resources are a critical source of protein."

The so-called indigenous/aboriginal subsistence whalers go out with motorised boats (bought from Japan) and mechanised harpoon throwers (bought from normway), and export their catches to Japan in exhcange of a load of cash. But hey, if you're an Alaskan eskimo, it's assumed you are morally subhuman and therefore okay to catch whales. Ditto if you are from the Faroes or Chukotka, or St. Vincent or The Grenadines. So in the future, it's conceivable that the Japanese and Norwgeians simply bankroll these indigenous operations directly; and keep pushing those quotas up.

Ulsan accounts for about 80 per cent of the whale meat eaten in South Korea and quite a lot of dolphin, too. And somehow the 150 tonnes of whale South Koreans consume in a year is more than can be supplied from accidental kills, which is the only legal source of domestic meat.

But that's an easy reconciliation compared with the task of facing more than 320 delegates from the 60 countries meeting under the beady gaze of pressure groups as various as Greenpeace International, the Whale Cuisine Preservation Association, the International Association for Religious Freedom and Women's Forum for Fish.

Japan and its island allies have remorselessly pushed for the IWC to revert to what it was and what, according to its charter, they say it should still be. The commission was established in 1946 to provide for the proper preservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.

The anti-whalers are fighting to keep the IWC as it evolved after the general moratorium and earlier bans on hunting at-risk species: a whale preservation and protection organisation. Or, more accurately, the whale protection group because, unlike dozens of organisations claiming to save whales, the IWC regulates member governments with the force of international treaty.

What Japan calls "the extreme anti-whaling countries" oppose killing whales for food or profit under any circumstances and in Australia's Campbell, they have a true believer as spokesman. In terms no other Howard government minister would use about their Japanese allies, Campbell describes Tokyo's scientific whaling program as "absurd, obscene, inhumane". He has adopted an albino humpback whale as the totem of his crusade and warns: "Migaloo could face the death sentence."

"This generation will be judged in part by the way we treat these amazing creatures," Campbell wrote in The Australian recently. "Australia will not only continue to fight to save this important species, we will lead this historic mission."
Sitting alongside him in Ulsan is Britain's Ben Bradshaw, whose food and farming portfolio encompasses much animal suffering. Bradshaw sets the Blair Government's baseline: "In the end we don't think there's a humane way to kill whales."

Joji Morishita, Japan Fisheries Agency's director of international negotiations, rolls his eyes at such rhetoric. "We thought we were joining a supper club and it turned out to be a stamp collecting club."

Nevertheless, the commission still presides over whale killing. This year, about 2300 animals will be killed by IWC members under four categories: scientific whaling, aboriginal subsistence hunting, accidents or bycatch, and commercial catching.

Heh. That quote from Johji Morishita is pretty funny.

Non-government organisations and governments such as Australia, New Zealand and Britain constantly assail the Japanese programs as scientifically fraudulent and
commercial whaling in disguise.

"Where is the science from 18 years of scientific whaling? It doesn't exist," asserts NZ's Environment Minister Chris Carter.

Morishita replies that Japan's Cetacean Research Institute has produced more than 200 pieces of peer-reviewed research. But the Cetacean Research Institute sells the by-products of its research to sate Japanese appetites; last year it sold 3900 tonnes and raised $78million to cover about 90 per cent of the cost of the program.

Again, the Japanese point out that scientific whaling is specifically allowed by article 8 of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, which also requires that research by-products should be sold.

Iceland also runs a small and scientifically dubious research program, which may take about 30 whales this year. However, the Icelandic whalers have more problems than the Japanese finding customers for their by-product. There are also permits for about 400 animals - minkes, bowheads, fins and greys - to be taken by traditional subsistence whaling communities in Alaska, Greenland and the Nordic countries. Four humpbacks a year are also allowed to the Bequians of St Vincent and Granada in the Caribbean. On the latest available figures for 2003, about 220 animals a year are dying after being accidentally caught in nets. These are whales that South Korean and Japanese fishermen are allowed to sell for meat, after an investigation. South
Korea and Japan accounted for 89 per cent of all such reported accidents in 2003.

Well, we know about the accidents, we know better now.
By the way. Military Sonar, anybody?

Whales and dolphins around the UK are being killed by military sonar systems, according to a BBC investigation. The programme Countryfile found there could be a link between the system used by ships to detect submarines and the growing number of beached whales.

Whales and dolphins use sonar to find their way around, and it's thought they are confused by sonar from the ships, causing them to beach themselves.

Wildlife groups are now calling for a full investigation into the problem. Scientists studying the stranded mammals found nitrogen bubbles in their bodies. The bubbles could cause decompression sickness, brought on by the animals coming up to the surface too quickly after their navigation system had been scrambled. With no way of knowing what's around them, it would be easy for the creatures to strand themselves on the shore.

Hmmm. Amazing what you can trawl up with google, isn't it?
And then there's Solar Flares Too.

Surges of solar activity may cause whales to run aground, possibly by disrupting their internal compass, German scientists suggest.University of Kiel researchers Dr Klaus Vaneslow and Dr Klaus Ricklefs publish their study in the latest issue of the Journal of Sea Research.The scientists looked at sightings of sperm whales beached in the North Sea between 1712 and 2003.They then compared this record with astronomers' observations of sunspots, an indicator of solar radiation. More whale strandings occurred when the Sun's activity was high, they found.

So that wraps up this year's IWC stoush.

- Art Neuro

Mean Mood
I know I'm still in it.
So apologies to people who are getting a little put off by my ferocious attack on the anti-whaling position; I find the kind of moralising that I hear everyday on the TV and radio, thoroughly nauseating. I really do. These people are feeling good moralising at my expense. So I says, I's fightin' back.
It might just be a phase of the moon thing. Or a mid-life crisis. Or just tiredness.
But I'm in a mean mood.

- Art Neuro

IWC Stoush IV
It keeps getting better - or worse, depending on how highly you rate humanity.
Apparently, the Nauru delegate turned up, promptly met with the Japanese, refused to take a meeting with Senator Campbell of Australia, then voted in favour of the whaling nations, and promptly left the floor. All of it in 25minutes! Canberra is now slamming Nauru according to the Australian.

AUSTRALIA has threatened Nauru with diplomatic action over its stand at the International Whaling Commission, and called for "fundamental reform" to prevent the votes of small nations being bought.Environment Minister Ian Campbell said Nauruan delegate Marcus Stephen's "contemptible" refusal to talk to him before a
vital vote yesterday was something "Australia would have to raise at the highest levels with Nauru".

The row with the destitute island nation that relies on Australian aid marred another successful day at the IWC for Mr Campbell and the anti-whaling group. An Australian motion condemning Japan's expanded "scientific" whaling program in the Antarctic won by 30 votes to 27.

It was the second major rebuff for the Japanese-led pro-whaling group, which came to Ulsan with hopes of gaining an IWC majority.

So suddenly Nauru is in the bad books with Canberra; while Canberra busily brings in more people from the detention centres it set up on Nauru.

The Rahmati family, originally from Afghanistan, was among a group of about 36 people still being held on Nauru under the federal government's Pacific solution of processing asylum seekers offshore.

Senator Brown said while it was good news the Rahmati family had been granted temporary protection visas, all other detainees on Nauru should also be brought to Australia.

"It's great but it should never ever have gotten to this," he told reporters.
"Four cruel years under the Howard government these people who now have been validated as asylum seekers to our country have spent on Nauru.

"The rest of the folk on Nauru should be brought with them. It's a standing blight on not just this government but our country that there are still people left on Nauru when they should be here in Australia and should have been here years ago."

Yadda yadda yadda. So maybe the IWC stoush is good for human liberation too as it makes Australia redress its own hypocritical stance. But it's still the same old moralising:

But Japan, whose research whaling is not covered by the moratorium on commercial hunting, insisted its program would go ahead next summer.

Nauru voted with Japan after Mr Stephen arrived at the commission yesterday morning, refused to talk to Australian officials and got together with the Japanese delegation.

"I'm deeply disappointed Nauru would travel right around the world, refuse to speak to me, literally turn up to spend 25 minutes on the floor, vote with Japan and then wander out again," Senator Campbell said. "It makes you wonder about how Nauru will become any sort of a sustainable nation if that's the way they behave in international forums. It really is very alarming for Australia."

Nauru was one of four developing nations that joined the IWC and the pro-whaling group last week, amid claims Japan promised them increased development aid.

But only Cameroon arrived before Monday, Nauru missed Tuesday's vote on Japan's plans to restart commercial whaling and last night there was still no sign of Togo and Gambia.

Senator Campbell said he would urgently discuss with John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer the need for fundamental reforms at the IWC. The offer of inducements to small island states and developing countries to join the commission and vote a certain way was bad for Pacific development, he said.

"The way the IWC operates now is a process that has a potentially dangerous impact on governance and institutional reform in the Pacific and other developing regions." Senator Campbell called for Japan to drop its program, which increases the number of minke whales to be killed each season from 440 to 935. After two seasons, Japanese whalers will also kill 50 humpbacks and 50 fin whales, which are endangered species.

But Japanese officials insisted the number of whales hunted was scientifically determined and would not be cut.

There you have it. Canberra's threatening economic sanctions on a country in need over whales. Nauru is a good nation when it takes money from Australia to house detention centres but it's corrupt and in need of better governance and institutional reform when it sides with pro-whalers.
Are we getting a little sick of this yet? Well, there's more.
A little surprisingly, the Carribean states are hot under the collar on being voted down on the secret ballot.

"This is a matter on which we in the Caribbean feel very strongly because of the problems we have faced due to our voting in support of the sustainable use of the world's marine resources," he said.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, in Antigua, Joanne Massiah, said that secret balloting would protect the interest of members.
"Several international bodies use the secret ballot and we believe the IWC should protect its members' interests by having it as well," she said, adding, " we are not giving up on this".

Caribbean states have been waging a relentless, but so far, unsuccessful battle to get the IWC to use secret balloting as one way of protecting themselves from threats from non-governmental organizations and rich countries which object to their support for sustainable use of marine resources and their backing of Japan's scientific research whaling programme. The regional states also support Japan, Russia, China, Norway and several African and Central American states in a campaign to get the IWC to approve a limited and strictly management scheme of commercial whaling that would target only those species of whales that are in abundance.

But after being threatened with a tourism boycott because of their pro-sustainable whaling stance, the Caribbean states have been trying to get the IWC to introduce secret balloting. When the issue came up on Monday, Australia and New Zealand led the fight against the Caribbean's proposal, winning by a 30-27 margin.

"It is one of our major efforts to have the conference exert the right to secrecy because we in the Caribbean recognize that the larger countries and NGOs are using open voting to create a problem for us," said Liburd.

"We feel that if we were able to have the votes taken by secret ballot we would have been able to make sure that the right to vote on the floor can be exercised without the threats and the reprisals. The NGOs and some of the larger countries are using the way we vote to create problems for us in St Kitts-Nevis and in the Caribbean generally," he said.

"We feel we have a right to vote according to our conscience and to do so in secret and that's why we are pushing for it. We will not stop because of this year's loss."

But representatives of Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Britain argue that secret balloting was unnecessary because most IWC members knew how the various countries voted. Massiah, an attorney, complained that objections to secret balloting were based "on a twisted notion of transparency" in the voting process.

"The advocates for open voting are suggesting that any movement to secret balloting would mean that persons in our home countries wouldn't know how we voted on specific issues before the IWC," she said. "But the fact of the matter is that certainly within the Caribbean region, certainly in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) people already know how their representatives are voting," she added.

In other words, stop trying to paint us into a corner and let us exercise our opinion without being called names. You start to get the picture that the IWC's whaling moratorium is seen as a kind of rich man's luxury in that part of the world. So the bullying and name-calling of Nauru is not isolated and not something that is not going to go un-noticed.

By the way, I also found this little snippet:

日本政府は、南極海での０５年度の調査捕鯨の規模を大幅に拡大する方針を決め、韓国南東部、蔚山市で２０日開幕した国際捕鯨委員会（ＩＷＣ）の年次総会に計画を提出した。ミンククジラの捕獲上限を年４４０頭から９３５頭に倍増し、大型鯨のナガスクジラやザトウクジラの捕獲も始める。大型鯨の捕獲は２９年ぶり。ただ米国などの反捕鯨国は調査捕鯨自体に強く反対しており、総会での反発は必至だ。

日本は次期捕鯨調査計画に、今年度からミンククジラの捕獲を倍増させるとともに、ナガスクジラとザトウクジラを年間５０頭ずつ捕獲することを盛り込んだ。ただし、最初の２年間はナガスクジラの捕獲を年間１０頭に限定し、ホエールウオッチングで人気の高いザトウクジラは捕獲しない予定。計画は６年後に見直す。
　日本は商業捕鯨が一時停止された後の８７年から南極海でミンククジラの調査捕鯨を始めた。９４年からは日本周辺の北西太平洋でもミンククジラの捕獲を開始し、００年にニタリクジラとマッコウクジラ、０２年にイワシクジラを追加したが、今回は拡大しない方針。一方、大型鯨の捕獲についてはＩＷＣの規制により、ナガスクジラは７６年、ザトウクジラは６５年を最後に行っていなかった。
　日本が計画通りに調査捕鯨の規模を拡大すれば、ＩＷＣに加盟しながら商業捕鯨を継続しているノルウェーの捕獲頭数を大きく上回る。
　総会は２０日から５日間の日程で開かれる。商業捕鯨再開の前提となる改訂管理制度（ＲＭＳ）や日本の沿岸小型捕鯨の再開、南太平洋と南大西洋の禁漁区（サンクチュアリ）の設定などが議論される。

日本が計画通りに調査捕鯨の規模を拡大すれば、ＩＷＣに加盟しながら商業捕鯨を継続しているノルウェーの捕獲頭数を大きく上回る。

For the record, Japan's proposals pecifically is as follows:
1) hunt twice as many Minke whales, raising tally to 935.
2) For the next 2 years they will only hunt 10 fin whales this year, but have prepared a capcity to hunt 50.
3) Will not hunt humpback whales for the next 2 years because they are popular with whale-watching industry, but will hunt 50 from the third year and will review the numbers in six years' time.
4) The total of Japan's whaling will be more than Norway's commercial whaling quota.

So now the reports are that Japan might quit the IWC and join Canada and Iceland in the cold.

Japanese IWC delegate Jojo Morishita said his country had not ruled out withdrawing from the whaling body. “The option of leaving the IWC has always been on the table,” Mr Morishita said. However, that would first require formal approval from the Japanese parliament.

It's funny that both sides feel the IWC doesn't work. Once side because it can't get a total ban and the other because they can't neogtiate for a quota at all. The ALP in Australia are looking to go another route by taking the Japan to the International Court of Justice.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer today poured cold water on the idea that Australia might take Japan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its whaling in Australian-claimed waters.

The ICJ route is one advocated by Labor and the conservation group, the Humane Society International. But Mr Downer said such action could take a decade to resolve and, in any case, could be counter-productive.

"Some members and commentators have argued that we should abandon all of this process, that it doesn't amount to much, and we should instead just go to the ICJ," he told parliament.

"The government's always said that we don't rule in or rule out any options. "But we'd need to consider any measure like that very carefully. "That is the sort of measure that needs to be thought through. Bringing legal action in the ICJ is a
process that, by the way, could take a decade or more. You wouldn't get very
quick results there."

Mr Downer said even if such a move were successful, after a decade or so in the ICJ, it would be open to Japan to circumvent the impact of the court's decision by simply withdrawing from the IWC.

"It is better that Japan remains in the IWC where its whaling activities can be supervised and regulated," he said.

"We wouldn't want to over-react in dealing with this issue in such a way that might be to the benefit of a decent headline one day but entirely counter-productive the next."

Both Mr Downer and Mr Howard praised the work of Environment Minister Ian Campbell in advocating Australia's anti-whaling position. But Mr Howard played a straight bat to a suggestion by opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese that the PM harpoon Mr Entsch from his position as tourism parliamentary secretary after he suggested yesterday he disagreed with the government's total opposition to sustainable whaling.

"Our policy on this is well-known," Mr Howard said. "What is more, it has been powerfully articulated by Senator Ian Campbell who's done a wonderful job and I endorse everything that he has said on this subject without reservation."

Heh. A pat on the back from Johnny. But you know, there are no guarantees of a win there because it would mean Australia would have present more than just moral outrage - as in evidence and numbers will get scrutinised and that would lead to a negotiation; not somethinig what Australia *wants*.
So it seems inevitable that the IWC will continue until it collapses in the near future, but how?

Japan's Fisheries Agency predicts a "historical reversal" at next year's IWC
meeting, when it says the pro-whaling bloc will have the majority of votes.
Iceland is the only other country conducting research whaling, while Norway is
the only nation engaged in overt commercial whaling, which it resumed in 1993.

The Japanese are confident they will get a growing support base through 'branch-stacking' the IWC, that will turn into a majority at some point. Until then it's going to be yearly exchange of barbs and insults. But one imagines that the day the majority flips, the anglophone nations will storm out of the IWC and call it bankrupt. That'll be the day.

- Art Neuro

IWC Stoush III
So on the third day the IWC is voting down Tokyo's proposal/declaration that it wants to double its quota for the next year.
New Zealand is busy strutting its stuff on the stage as the leading Anti-whaling nation.

"The vote was never going to be won by Japan but if they won a simple majority they would have had a big diplomatic victory and it would have justified their decision to double the number of whales they intend to take under their so-called scientific programme," he said. Now the conservation-minded block would push forward with a different conservation-minded scheme. "The Japanese will attempt to block that, of course, and that is why there is all this posturing about leaving," he said.

The Solomon Islands it turns out pledged to vote with the anti-whalers and then flipped over to the whaling side. Kiribati voted with the anti-whalers, but Tonga didn't vote because it's actually NOT an IWC member. What were they even doing there? Gets funnier by the day.
China and Korea abstained because well, they have gripes with Japan about other issues. (Laugh out loud there too). But more on the Koreans in a moment.

John Howard called upon Japan to abandon whaling altogether because of the weight of opinon in his country. Right. So John, are you going to refelct on the weight of evidnce presented by the other camp? What about all the people who lent the weight of their opinion for you not to send people to detention centres, Johnny? Or to not send them to Nauru? What about that?

The Guardian in the UK is taking a moral stance. It's easy to take moral stances when you don't have anything personal at stake, isn't it?

There is a danger that the force of Japan's rejection makes matters uncertain. Its delegation is now sounding its traditional threats to defy the commission and openly resume commercial whaling, as Norway has. Japan argues that whale meat is a delicacy that is part of its culture, and as such it should be allowed to exercise its rights in the same manner as indigenous peoples do under IWC regulations. The trouble is that Japan's appetite for whales would surely outstrip sustainable culling.

Really? Where's the evidence to that effect? It's not that it's a 'charade', it's an attempt to accomodate the West by having some excuse for what it feels is its right. So why doesn't the West understand legitimacy having invented it? Or is legitimacy only applicable to when it's their cause? You know, like chossing to ignore evidence and charge into Iraq for a regime-change'? Hell-o-o-o-o.

Meanwhile, the Greens in Australia are saying some wild things:

Campaign coordinator Danny Kennedy says Greenpeace has been pointing out the loophole that allows Japan to kill whales for scientific purposes for a decade.

"It's a loophole we've been pointing out for a decade now, so we ... feel like it's good to hear the minister say this, but it's a little bit too little, too late," he told the Nine network.

"Yes, the IWC could do with reform, but we need to do other things outside in the real world of economic interests, which is what is driving this business." Australia issues fishing licences to the same vessels that slaughter whales, Mr Kennedy said.
"Why are we licensing our fishing grounds to the very same vessels engaged in whaling ... when we say we're opposed to whaling. Why don't we just cut them out of that deal?" he said.

"They're not really talking where it matters."

Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown agrees. "We're going to have to entertain much stronger measures than the diplomatic ones in Ulsan," he told ABC radio. "We're going to have to look at for example, whether our ports should be open to the fishing fleets coming from Japan at the same time as they're pursuing increased whaling kills, including the whales off our coast."

Wow. Now that could cause a major diplomatic spat. In other words, the Greens are willing to sever economic ties at all costs to stop Japan from whaling; irrespective of jobs and economic realities otherwise and notwithstanding. Screw the jobs in Adelaide at the Mitsubishi factory for a start... Hello, do I hear a madman in the pulpit of whale sanctuary-hood?

Meanwhile, there's this page over at Japan Today.
At the bottom you can read somebody offering the opinion that:
- 1) South Korea wants to resume whaling too.
- 2) It kills about 100 whales per year in its waters 'accidentally'.
- 3) 'Accidents' are allowed under the IWC, so the Koreans have assembled processing boats ready to have more 'accidental whale deaths' per year.
But for now, we know for sure the Koreans have announced that they won't build a whale-meat processing plant.

Now I can't authenticate this claim, but if so it points to a deeper problem,

At the To Suk Chung restaurant, which specialises in dog meat stew, there is little sympathy for the calls of conservationists to curb, or ban, the whale meat trade being made at the International Whaling Conference, a short taxi ride away from her bustling eatery.

"Whale meat and dog meat taste really good. They are a part of our culture," Pak said. "I remember something my grandfather told me. He said there are 99 different tastes for whales. Whale is great."

Some animal welfare activists condemn South Korea for its tradition of raising dogs for the stewpot. But those Koreans who eat dog defend the dish as part of their heritage and say the animals are bred to be eaten. Critics -- including many Koreans who do not eat the meat and dislike the tradition -- say some dogs are unlawfully beaten to death rather than humanely killed.

Dog stew is a popular summertime meal, mostly among Korean men, who say it provides them with vigour and energy to beat the heat. Patrons and staff at the To
Suk Chung have a message for those who think the practice is unseemly. "They
should come on in and give it a try. It's wonderful," Pak said. Another patron, who is involved in the whale meat trade, said he did not understand the opposition to whaling.

"This is hurting us economically," said Lee To-gun. Conservation groups such as Greenpeace say South Korean boats have been catching an increasing number of whales and declaring the catches as accidental. Greenpeace says it is no accident, but an attempt by some crews to cash in on the lucrative trade in whale meat. Ulsan, once a whaling port, still has a few restaurants that serve whale. Many of the patrons wiping sweat from their brows as they munched on steamy dog stew said if a dish was tasty, eat it, and if the source of the meat was growing scarce, then protect it.

"If scientists can show that a species of whale is going to go extinct in a few
years, then there is no way anyone should hunt it," said Kim Chong-kang, a retired oil company worker.

Dog stew in South Korea comes in many varieties. The dpeciality at To Suk Chung is a stew in which the dog meat is served with leeks and aromatic herbs. The meat, which is dark and a little fatty, is then dipped in spicy Korean soyabean paste, ginger and more aromatic herbs. A pot of stew sells for 13,000 won ($US13) a person.

"Maybe part of the reason there is opposition to dog stew is that Western people may not have a palate that is used to this type of dish," said Bae Jong-do, a businessman.

No. It's because they respect the dog, but they don't respect sheep, cattle poultry and pig. Or maybe not. I've never had dog stew, and can't say I'm champing at the bit to try it out. Anyway...
The problem then, is much like the drug trade. There's a demand; making it illegal ain't going to make it go away. regulating it is the nly way to bring it under control. If you illegalise drugs, then you create a blackmarket for it. Turns out, the 850 scientific kills are merely the tip of the iceberg of all sorts of whale-hunting biz around the globe. So people have come back and said they want to do it legitimately and the only thing the anti-whaling nation can do is call them murderers. That helps a lot.

Canada for one, is NOT an IWC member, and hunts bowhead whales under the 'aboriginal' clause. So you can see this quote in their papers that you don't see in Australia, NZ or the UK:

"Whales are a part of our marine resources, just like fish," said Joji Morishita, a member of the Japanese delegation to the IWC meeting. "We don't see the logic of eating cows and pigs and not whales, (but) we don't impose our values on others."

Mr. Morishita said he understood the sensitivity of the issue, and added that Japan would not target endangered species, only going after species in abundance, like minke. He stressed Japan was not suggesting a return to the "bad old days of whaling," like in the 1950s and 1960s.

"We're talking about a well-monitored, well-regulated hunt under a strict quota," he said.

The Canadian perspective is this:

"We don't permit whaling here in Canada and we are not a member of IWC, so we are not going to have a position," said Chantal Lamadeleine, a spokeswoman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Canada, though, can't totally wash its hands of the whales' plight. The Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick is home to several species of marine mammals, including the North Atlantic right whale -- one of the most endangered whales in the world. Hunting of the species ceased in 1937, but greater threats today are entanglements in fishing gear and ship strikes. Nearly three-quarters of the 300 remaining right whales show scarring or other signs of injury from fishing gear.

Mr. Ramage said he wasn't sure whether whales would be better off if Canada was more involved in the international governing body.

"It would depend which Canada would show up; the one that was a global leader promoting environmental responsibility and respected for it, or the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which inexplicably continues to take a very irresponsible approach to marine mammals," he said, citing the commercial seal hunt.

Ah. The clubbing-cute-little-fur-seal-cub-issue. Yeah. They went through hell for that one in the 1980s, so you can see why they're going to sit this one out. Laughable really.
But let's keep in mind it's not just Japan that's putting its hand up to do some whaling here.

AUSTRALIA'S own environmental record and opposition to the Kyoto protocol left it in no position to object to an expansion of the whale kill, a pro-whaling group said today.

High North Alliance secretary Rune Frovik said the Australian stance was ridiculous and there was no way the current commercial whaling ban could be lifted. Mr Frovik said limited whaling would, however, continue and there was no way Australia could stop it.

"The fact is that whaling takes place and whaling will continue and whaling will also increase," he told ABC radio.

"It is not an option, not even for Australia to stop whaling. The only option left for Australia is to limit whaling. The way to go forward for Australia is to engage in serious negotiations with the whaling nations to find a compromise. "It is an easy issue for the Australian Government. The Australian Government is not very environmentally friendly. Your country's refusal to sign the climate change agreement, the Kyoto agreement - your Government is not thinking about the environment."

The High North Alliance website says it is an umbrella organisation rallying the interest groups representing whalers, sealers and fishermen from Canada, The Faroes, Greenland, Iceland and Norway. Environment Minister Ian Campbell yesterday returned from a whirlwind lobbying visit to the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tonga to seek support to block Japan's controversial plan to double its scientific whale kill and resume commercial whaling.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference starts in Korea on June 20. Mr Frovik said whaling made sense as it produced food and provided a living for people. "We don't see any difference between sustainable whaling and sustainable fisheries," he said.

So there you have that one. Thank you Mr. Frovik for stating what needed to be stated for the record. Makes me feel like I want to move to Norway one day. :)
The High North Alliance Website is here. You should really try out their questionaire. It's a classic, but I found my way to the end safely in one go.
Our delegate Senator Campbell struck back with this lame retort. It really is lame:

"We lead the world in many respects in this area and one would expect Norwegian whaling interests to seek to personalise this and to attack Australia," he told Sky News.

The High North Alliance labelled the Australian stance as ridiculous. But Senator Campbell said the group was simply pushing its own agenda.

"Most people in the world think that whaling is something that belongs in a previous generation and should be stopped," he said.

"Those who whale and who make a dollar out of destroying whales - blowing them up with grenades - clearly would be expected to defend their financial interests."

I'm, sorry I didn't know that the Government of Australia went with what 'most people of the world thought'. Could have fooled me. Yeah, grenading whales would be unacceptable but bombing Iraq was totally humane. Sure.
See what I mean? It's not just that they've 'personalised' it; it's that they've hit us where it hurts; and it was all to be expected. Does Australia really want the whaling issue to be the issue on which its environmental cred rests? Is anybody feeling a little uncomfortable with the ramifications of that? Because that way lies the Green's proposal. Wasn't it better to have signed the Kyoto Protocol, even with all its faults if it was going to go into this stoush?

That wraps up Day 3 of the IWC Stoush; almost as good as today's Yankees' 8th inning. More fun tomorrow!

- Art Neuro

Bottom Of The 8th, 13 Runs
The Yankees win 20-11. Heh.
- Art Neuro

You Gotta Laugh
So there I was watching the scoring tick over this morning on the internet, on the Devil Rays at Yankees game feeling rat-shit.
It didn't look too good when the Devil rays knocked out Randy Johnson (how do the lowly rays keep doing this?) for 7 earned runs in 3 innings. It looked like a blow-out loss as the score stood at 8-2. The Rays then tacked on another 2 runs on the top of the 4th, making it a 10-2 ball game. Yankees fought back adding 4 then 1 in the 5th and 6th innings but the Devil Rays then tacked on yet another run making it 11-7 going into the 8th inning. By this time, I was thinking, "come on guys, 4 measley runs against the Devil rays. You're the YANKEES, do something!"

They did. They exploded for 13 runs in the bottom of the 8th to bail out Randy Johnson.
Here's the Play-by-Play of that Yankee inning:

- Yankees eighth.
- Nunez pitching.
- Cano singled to center.
- Jeter singled to right, Cano to third.
- Sierra pinch-hitting for Womack.
- Sierra grounded out, second baseman Cantu to first baseman Lee, Cano scored, Jeter to second.
- Sheffield singled to left, Jeter to third.
- A.Rodriguez singled to left, Jeter scored, Sheffield to second.
- Harper pitching.
- Matsui doubled to right, Sheffield scored, A.Rodriguez to third.
- Giambi was intentionally walked.
- Ru.Johnson pinch-running for Giambi.
- Williams tripled to center, A.Rodriguez scored, Matsui scored, Ru.Johnson scored.
- Posada homered to right on a full count, Williams scored.
- Cano flied out to center fielder Hollins.
- Jeter infield single to second.
- Sierra singled to right, Jeter to third.
- Sheffield homered to center on a full count, Jeter scored, Sierra scored.
- A.Rodriguez homered to right on a 1-1 count.
- Matsui homered to center on a 2-1 count.
- Ru.Johnson flied out to right fielder Huff.

Thus endeth the bottoom of the 8th that scored 13 runs. That's one LONG inning.
The game chatterers in BTF were dozing off with talk about J1F's sexual experiences with his slightly overwieght girlfriend 'Lindsey' when the 8th inning befell them. It's a fun read from post 201 down...

My fantasy baseball team just fattened up on this effort by Derek Jeter (5-for-6, 5runs, 1 RBI 1HR, 1 double) and Hideki Matsui (4-for5, 1 walk, 4runs, 2 RBI, 1HR, 1 double), so it's even more sweet for me. Jeter is now at .310, Matsui is back at .295. Bring on the rest of the Al East, fellas. A 20-11 win, boys and girls. Savour that one.

- Art Neuro

The Champion Towards The End of His Career
Just as a reference, I thought I'd post this one up too for comparison. He's the guy puckering his lips on the left.
- Art Neuro

Former Yokozuna Champion Takanohana After Retirement
This caught my eye as I was looking through Yahoo Japan today.
'Takanohana III' was a Yokozuna Champion who weighed in at 160kgs during his competing peak years. Today he is down to 90kgs, his hair is cut short and well, he looks real weird. He obviously had the barrel chest that developed to sustain the mass, but now that the mass is gone, it sort of sticks out funny. Here, he returns to the training room to coach his youngsters for the first time in about a year. It's a weird sight.
Anyway, thought I'd share it with you.

Takanohana and his older brother Former Yokozuna Champion 'Wakanohana II' pretty much defined the Sumo scene of the 1990s. In their retirement they have fallen out and now that their father has passed away their bickering has gone public. It's quite sad because once they were the most celebrated men in the sport. Sort of like Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras of sumo if they brothers.
- Art Neuro

Update On Last Week's Stupid Headlines
Spielberg has an opinion on the media and it's not terribly positive. He's a little upset that the media didn't treat Tom Cruise well after his often displays of affection for Katie Holmes the Oprah Winfrey show.

"I was a little upset. I was a little upset," Spielberg told the magazine, referring to the attention generated by Cruise's recent appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

"Not at Tom, but at the press for making such a big deal out of a kind of small thing. Tom lost his cool because he was deliriously happy, and now he was being punished for his public display of happiness," Spielberg said.

Like, yeah Steven. The media gives you a free pass every day and now you're complaining on behalf of Tom Cruise? Are you a scientologist or something now?
Just thought a free kick at a succcessful director was in order here because I'm in a real mean mood.

It Won't Work?
Turns out that if the shuttle had problems in orbit, the crew's in for a world of trouble.

NASA's elaborate plan for bringing a damaged space shuttle back to Earth poses additional risks, and even the official who oversaw its development says it's not certain to work in all cases. For some of the plan's provisions, "there's no guarantee one way or another, but I'm invoking them because it's the best option that I have," says LeRoy Cain, the flight director for the ascent and entry portions of the next shuttle mission. "I hope we never need it."

The plan is designed to safeguard a shuttle with a damaged heat shield during the fiery return trip from orbit. NASA could draw on the new plan as early as the mission of shuttle Discovery, now scheduled to launch in July.

One former shuttle commander praised NASA's advance work. "It's very wise to ... look at that," says Richard Searfoss, who is now a professional speaker. He says changes the plan makes in the shuttle's re-entry procedure are "doable."
Another former commander, James Wetherbee, now a safety consultant, agrees that those changes could work but says he fears they could damage other parts of the ship. "You never get something for nothing," he says.

Even a tiny scratch in the heat shield can allow superheated gases to melt the vehicle as it dives through the atmosphere. Columbia disintegrated in 2003 after hot gases poured through a hole in the heat shield on its wing.

Yeah, right. The rest of the article is even more hope-destroying than hope-inspiring.

IWC Stoush II
More on the fun & games:

The panel voted 29-23 against lifting the ban. There were five abstentions, including countries that have often voted with Japan on other issues at the commission.
The 66-member commission, which regulates global whaling, banned commercial hunts in 1986, handing environmentalists a major victory in protecting the species near extinction after centuries of whaling.

Japan and its allies knew they had virtually no chance of getting the three-fourths
majority needed to overturn the moratorium. But they had hoped to obtain a simple majority to back Japan's proposal for a nonbinding measure expressing support for limited commercial catches.

That would have demonstrated that opinion among commission members has turned in favor of sanctioning commercial whale hunts.

New Zealand Minister of Conservation Chris Carter, a delegate at the meeting, said his country was "absolutely delighted" with the vote. "This has been a very serious loss of face for Japan."

Norway holds the world's only commercial whaling season in defiance of the ban. Japan, Norway and other nations that advocate what they call "sustainable use" of whales are expected to kill more than 1,550 of the mammals this year. On Monday, Japan said it would more than double its annual research cull of minke whales to as many as 935 from 440 this year, extending a researching whaling program begun in 1987.

Critics call it commercial whaling in disguise. Japan says it must kill whales to
study them. It then sells the meat, which is allowed under commission rules. The United States criticized the decision to expand the research hunts, saying scientific advances make it unnecessary to kill whales to study them.

Japan defends whaling as a national tradition and a vital part of its food culture. It
claims whale stocks have sufficiently recovered since 1986 to allow the resumption of limited hunts.

Countries led by Australia and New Zealand reject that view. They advocate protecting whales and encouraging alternative ways of profiting from them, through tourism and whale-watching.

Japan's proposals on deleting the issue of whale sanctuaries from the meeting's agenda and introducing secret ballots were narrowly defeated Monday, but might have passed if several pro-whaling countries including the Pacific island nation of Nauru had arrived at the meeting on time.

The annual meeting went into a closed session for about 90 minutes Tuesday in what critics blasted as a delay tactic until more members who back the resumption of commercial whale hunts could arrive. Members voted 28-20, with nine abstentions, in favor of the closed-door session as proposed by St. Lucia, one of several Caribbean countries in the pro-whaling camp.

Some participants evidently were frustrated that debate was being stalled; Brazil walked out of the closed meeting and accused pro-whaling countries of making long speeches on procedural issues.

"We just refuse to be taken hostage of rhetoric for unclear purposes," Brazil's
representative Maria Teresa Mesquita Pessoa said.

So Nauru was tardy with its dues and fees and arrival; Brazil was gormless; I wonder what the other nations' excuses were. By the way, that reason given by Brazil wouldn't fly at any other meeting on the planet - it's typical of the IWC, year after year. Who invited them anyway? Especially if they were going to bloody well abstain because they couldn't wait for mighty Nauru (hah!) to turn up. Anyway, the ban wasn't lifted, so that's a win for the sentimental anti-whaling lobby.

"The whole process has been a charade where anti-whaling nations have stalled
implementation of an RMS (revised management scheme) for more than 10 years," said Minoru Morimoto, the head of Japan's delegation.

The IWC's pro-whaling lobby has a slim majority for the first time since a moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced in 1986 following the accession of three states -- Gambia, Togo and Nauru -- to the commission.

But the three were unable to vote because they had not yet paid their dues or their delegates had yet to arrive in Ulsan, a former whaling port. Environmentalists fear that pro-whaling nations such as Japan and Norway may try to roll back conservation measures if they can swing a majority at the commission and critics accused Tokyo of delaying tactics.

"The pro-whale slaughtering nations are using every tactical method they can to slow down any substantive vote until the new members arrive," said Ian Campbell, Australia's environment minister told Reuters. "It is becoming farcical."

Australia's hopes of proposing an early resolution criticizing Japan's announcement that it plans to double its annual scientific catch of minke whales from 440 to 850 were scrapped due to proceedings Australia saw as slow.

Japan's well-flagged plan to dramatically expand its research program also includes hunting 10 fin whales a year for the first two years, although it says it will not hunt humpbacks for another two years.

That's right.
Norway's going to hunt its quota and Iceland is going to do what Iceland's alway done, which is hunt for whales in its waters. Japan will double its 'Scientifick' experimental kills and the anglophone nations can go home with a moral victory they can wave to the home-side and complain that the Japanese are exploiting the loophole for another year.

Anti-whaling states say Japan exploits a loophole in the 19-year-old ban on commercial whaling to hunt the giant mammals in the guise of science, and that much of the whale meat ends up on store shelves and on the tables of gourmet restaurants.

"It is commercial whaling by any other name," said Leah Garces, campaigns director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, while Conall O'Connell, the head of Australia's delegation called it "an outrage."

This, from a country that happily locks boat people away in detention centres, pays other nations like Nauru to house such people on detention centres so that the home crowd don't get to have a close looks at them; but hey, hurt one whale and "IT'S AN OURAGE!"

- *ugh* -

Where do these people get off at? Where do they come from? Who makes them our mouthpiece delegates? It's vomit-inducing hypocrisy, Ostraya!
Told you I was in a mean mood.

- Art Neuro

Key Psycho Update
So wouldn't you know, it's 7/10ths of the way through June and I'm just about broken the back of the dialogue mix. There're still a few days of working through splitting off the atmospheres and effects, but I've managed to crawl my way through the tedious process. It's my own damn film, I ought to be willing to be make these kinds of sacrifices, but Heaven's-to-Betsy, how many times can you watch the same film? - Turns out, quite a bit when you have to. The conclusion? Yeah, this is one warped film.

I'll hopefully wrap up the rest of the dialogue mix this week and move onto more pleasant pursuits like gathering and editing effects.

Mailbag Interest Of The Week
Pleiades has sent in a swag of interesting things to check out so I'm posting them up here.

The first on the list is Margo Kingston's web diary from the SMH. It covers an entry by one David Roffey regarding Global Warming. I found this amusing bit in it:

There have been some interesting interventions since then from all quarters of
the debate, including some from completely opposite sides to what might have
been expected. I noted in a comment last time that greenie George Monbiot had
come in with a flick at wind and wave energy hopes, 'An ugly face of ecology', arguing that: "...there is no sustainable way of meeting current projections for energy demand. The only strategy in any way compatible with environmentalism is one led by a vast reduction in total use."

Since then, another fascinating Guardian article - 'And what if the skeptics are wrong?' - from the outgoing leader of the Conservative Party in the UK, Michael Howard, coming in hard for the Precautionary Principle: "There are those who say the risks have been exaggerated. To such people I say this: if we go your way and you are wrong we will save money in the short term but incur an immense penalty in the long term; if we go my way and I am wrong we will incur costs in the short term but with the reward of greener, cleaner technologies for saving and generating energy. Such technologies would improve air quality, avoid acid rain and reduce our dependency on imported gas and oil."

So, the Tories attacking the Labour Government in the UK for not doing enough on climate change! How unlike the home life of our own dear Mr Howard.

Had to laugh at that one. It's taken a long time, but the effects of Global Warming are going to bite industry a lot harder than the energy industry thought. In other words, the colective denial by industry isn't going to hold because too many people's livelihoods are at stake. So of the notion that economics would do something was correct, then you can take this here as another sign 'economics' is working.

Runaway Robot
There used to be a runaway robot by the name of Dionysius who ran amok in our imagination many many years ago. Pleiades sent in this article which reminded me of that runaway bastard of a robot; I'll quote it whole because it's short:

Staff and patients at San Francisco’s UCSF Medical Center were left fearful and shaken last week, when a robotic nurse threw off its shackles and went on the rampage.

“Waldo”, a robot used to dispense pills and potions to medical stations at the top notch medical facility, refused to return to the pharmacy to pick up a fresh stash at the end of his rounds, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Instead, the crazed automaton – reportedly the size of a good-sized TV, which in California means it must be at least the size of the average British garden shed - careened past the drug depository before barging into a room in the hospital’s radiation oncology department where an examination was in progress.

The psychotic pill pusher reportedly refused to leave, sending both doctor and patient fleeing for their lives.

"This is the first time anything like this has happened," a hospital spokesman told the paper. "Our technology folks are going to have to take a look."

Yeah, if they can find him. The ‘bot’s clearly gone bad, and is probably even as we speak cruising the city’s Tenderloin district pushing purloined prescription pain killers, paying off dirty cops and menacing lost tourists.

Even more worryingly, the spokesman said nothing about shutting down Waldo’s two colleagues, dubbed Elvis and Lisa Marie. A terrible accident waiting to happen? We think so.

Sounds familiar? The secret Robot Rebellion is nigh!

Hollywood Targets Kids
Well, they always do, but this one is under the guise of 'education'.

Even some members of the film industry are sceptical about the latest publicity methods. Julian Fellowes, the writer of the film Gosford Park, said: "I think this is part and parcel of the policies that have betrayed a generation. The best way to learn literacy is to read a book."

The packs are produced by a charity, Film Education, which is funded by cinema distributors and exhibitors. The film directors Lord Attenborough, Terry Gilliam and Danny Boyle are among its patrons.

Christina Luby, an education officer with the charity, last night confirmed that some teachers were sceptical of the merits of the packs, but said that they were popular with most teachers and pupils.

"Children are gripped by the materials which are both entertaining and educational," she said. "Our materials are designed by teachers with teachers in mind."

Aah, the dilemma. At a certain point the kids have got to stop wanting to be amused and entertained and do the hard work of learning. If film producers were really interested in educational merits of their work, they really should release the rights to schools to pull their texts apart, play with them; well you don't see Lord Attenborough and Terry Gilliam jumping to let teachers do that so they may as well not even try to look like they care.
Pretty crappy really.

Livan Hernandez, Conqueror!
Last year I chronicled the amazing little run of heroic pitching provided by Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez as the Yankees struggled to the finish line of the regular season (and copped some flack from the spacefreak regulars who want more space, less 'ball). Well, this year his half-brother Livan is having an amazing season.

Despite the bad inning, Hernandez (10-2) outpitched Redman in a matchup of two of the NL’s top starters this season, coaxing the Pirates into four double-play grounders in the first six innings to win in Pittsburgh for the first time in his career. He had been 0-2 in Pittsburgh and was 2-3 with a 5.49 ERA against the Pirates.

Hernandez was lifted after throwing 107 pitches in seven innings, giving up four runs — two earned — and eight hits, including Jack Wilson’s two-run single in the seventh. Gary Majewski pitched the eighth and Chad Cordero finished up in the ninth for his 19th consecutive save and 22nd of the season.

Washington is 13-3 when Hernandez starts and he hasn’t lost in 12 starts since April 19.

Which is amazing as this is his first 5-win month of his career.
How do I know this? Oh yeah, I've got him on my fantasy team - AND I almost traded him away, LOL. Anyway, 9 wins on the trot is just lovely. Thank you Mr. Hernandez senior for issuing not only 1 but 2 great pitching scions. It doth profit me well. :)

Whaling, Oh Whaling
I get flack for this too, because well, whaling is unconscienable to a lot of people. But I do find a lot of amusement in the so-called debate; it's certainly more amusing than Monkey-trial debates about Evolution. Here's today's update on the fiasco that is the IWC.

Senator Campbell is in Ulsan, South Korea for a meeting of the IWC where Japan is leading a push to have a ban on commercial whaling lifted after 20 years.

The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, a major recipient of Australian aid, has joined the IWC at the eleventh hour and is rumoured to be putting its support behind Japan.

But the federal government, which opposes a resumption of commercial whaling, says the IWC may not be the right forum to decide these issues.

"If we have a majority vote for this, it will ultimately lead to any nation in the world wanting to get back into commercial whaling," Senator Campbell told ABC radio.

"I think the real question that's on the ballot today is, is the International Whaling Commission really the body that's capable of being the international forum that regulates this incredibly important conservation of a very important species?"

"That's the real ballot," he said. "The longer I've spent on the ground here in Ulsan ... the more I wonder whether the IWC is a body that's suitable for this task."Senator Campbell said at the very least, it needs fundamental reform.

He said the Japanese were out of step with world opinion and scientific opinion in their push to have whaling resumed. The vote could swing either way and rests with a handful of small nations, including Nauru. Senator Campbell said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had made a formal representation to the Pacific nation requesting its support, while Senator Campbell was waiting for its delegates to arrive in Ulsan to speak with them personally.

"The reality is that we have on the horizon ... three or four nations ... (who) are very likely to vote with Japan," he said. "I think very sadly for Australia, Nauru is potentially one of those nations."

Yay Nauru. So potentially, Nauru becomes the first nation to become the world's first nation to volunteer being a detention centre for another nation AND vote 'yes' to commercial whaling. Seems like Nauruans are emotionally tough people willing to do the dirty work for other people; or they're scoundrels; but they can't be both depending one whether they're doing the dirty work for you or against you.

See what I mean about how the IWC meets bringing out the animosity in ordinarily 'friendly nations'? Sort of the total opposite of the Olympic Games where normally hostile nations line up together to leap into the limelight together with smiles.
Whaling is a fellowship-breaker - It's the One Ring of conservationism.
"They're animals, they're not that precious, boys & girls! "

This bit will make Con-Weasel very happy giving him another punching bag; so much so he might wet his pants:

Australia has done too little, too late in its attempts to win more support at the IWC, Labor says.

Pro-whaling nations including Japan, Norway and Iceland will be seeking an end to the ban on commercial whaling at the current IWC meeting in Ulsan, South Korea.
Japan also wants to double the number of whales it is permitted to kill for research.

Labor said pro-whaling nations have been busy doing the same thing since 2002.
"The government's been asleep at the wheel, it's done too little, too late," Opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese told reporters.

"Japan stacked the branch at a time when Australia was doing nothing."

Well, the Australian Labor Party would know about such practices. :)
Or the entire Australian Government within and without, is not conceiving of International Whaling Commission as a 'whaling commission', but as the International 'Whaling Ban' Commission. My precious whales.
This is how excatly it hurts when you don't sign for Kyoto:

"The truth is that a last-minute scramble for votes to play catch-up is not good enough when Japan, Norway and Iceland have been very determined over a number of years."

He said Australia should take action in the International Court of Justice to show it was serious about stopping whaling.

Mr Albanese said other nations are also telling Australia not to lecture them about whaling when the Government refuses to sign on to the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse emissions. "Australia has an isolationist position on that, alone with the United States of the entire industrialised world, says we don't care that 141 countries have said that the Kyoto Protocol is the way to go, we're going to go it on our own," he said.

"And on that basis, it is not surprising that other countries are using that to say, well, Australia's going on its own there, don't take them seriously when it comes to international environment issues."

Right.

- Art Neuro