2 the clackamas print
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009
Opinion: Dolphins die in Denmark
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1
By Abigail Neet
News Editor
Not much press is being
given to the whales and dol
phins being killed in Northern
Europe. We are not directly
affected by what is happening
and most of us have probably
not even heard about it. I’m
sure not many people even
care. But you should.
In the Faroe Islands, a part
of Denmark, it is tradition to
slaughter whales and dolphins.
The animals are chased into
the bay by boats and then dealt
a bloody death.
According to PETA (People
for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals), this is the process
used to kill the animals. Metal
hooks are driven into the
stranded mammals’ blowholes
before their spines are cut. The
animals slowly bleed to death.
PETA’s Website allows you
to contact Prime Minister of
the Faroe Islands, the Faroe
Islands Tourist Board and the
Danish Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and let them know
you are aware of the atrocity
that is occurring and that you
disagree with it.
Whaling is illegal in
Denmark, but the Faroe Islands
have laws that are independent
of Denmark’s.
The process is called
Grindadrap and, according to
Wikipedia, began over 1,200
years ago. Whale hunting is
part of their tradition and is
still happening regardless of
the fact that chief medical offi
cers from the Faroe Islands
have recommended, due to
research on the Faroese, that
pilot whales are no longer to
be considered fit to eat because
they are toxic.
In Japan a similar crisis is
happening.
A film was made earlier this
year highlighting the events in
Japan. The documentary focus
es on a small coastal town,
Taiji, where 2,000 dolphins
are speared to death every year
for their meat. Dead dolphins
sell for about $600 according
to campaignwhale.org
According to Discovery,
com, America is an anti-whal-
ing nation, that stands opposed
to the resumption of commer
cial whaling but allows for
small-scale aboriginal whal
ing.
Whale Wars, a show on
Animal Planet, chronicles a
former Greenpeace member,
Paul Watson, and his team
who harass and attempt to stop
Japanese whaling boats
Even South Park is aware of
this injustice.
The synopsis for the Oct. 26
episode was “Stan and his fam
ily are spending his birthday at
the Denver Aquarium where
they will get to swim with the
dolphins. Things turn bloody
when the Japanese attack, kill
all the dolphins and ruin Stan’s
big day. There seems to be
no end to the senseless kill
ing. Stan takes on the cause
to save thé dolphins from the
Japanese.”
Why this is being allowed,
I wonder. These dolphins are
innocent and they never did
anything to deserve this unfair
death!
Eating dolphin meat is toxic
and not nutritionally benefi-
’ cial, and therefore people are
doing this for traditions sake
rather than for any economic
Illustration by Kayla Berge Clackamu
reason.
Tradition’s sake? It’s not a
good enough reason for killing
such innocent creatures.
If America is such a
hero and so eagerly “helps”
Afghanistan and Iraq, why
will we not reach out and help
other innocent creatures, like
when we turned our back on
the Rwanda’s genocides and
how we’re ignoring Darfur’s
plight.
Oh yeah, because they d
have our oh-so desired oil,
I’m sorry that they d
have any oil to give us. I b
they did we would be ther
rush to . help them out. If I
had something beneficia
us, we would find them wo
of attention.
Why must we have sei
reasons for helping others^
Oh yeah, because we
American.
OBAMA: Healthcare bill passes in House of Representative!
Continued from OBAMA, Page 1
According to the Los Angeles Times, Obama’s plan for Afghanistan
is to find a goal that is achievable. Obama’s military commander, Army
General Stanley A. McChrystal, admitted they needed a goal that was more
focused.
The plan is to secure Afghanistan’s densely populated cities,
focus the counterinsurgency on provinces where there’s a realis
tic prospect of reducing the Taliban to marginal status rather
than fully eliminating them, and accept that parts of the
country will remain beyond Kabul’s control.
Obama’s healthcare plan includes a bill that reins
in healthcare costs, expands coverage to millions of
uninsured people and stops insurers from denying
coverage for pre-existing conditions or dropping
coverage for the sick.
Obama’s healthcare “plan” is still in the works
and was approved by the House of Representatives
on Nov. 7. The plan will need to be approved by
the Senate next. If the Senate does approve it a
congressional conference committee will need to
merge both the proposals and form a consensus,
which would require approval from each chamber.
The next step would be Obama signing it into law.
The plan has many areas that are not specific or
have not been addressed, according to the Washington
Posts’ analysis of healthcare reform proposals.
His plan is to cover all Americans and will cost
$900 billion over a decade. The plan includes busi
nesses with 50 plus workers being required to offer
their workers coverage or pay a fee.
Obama also wants small businesses and those with
out affordable insurance through their employer to
be able to’have access to a new exchange that
would start in 2013. The exchange would
be limited to legal citizens.
Darris agrues that Obama has no
healthcare plan.
“What we should have learned by
now is Obama has no Healthcare plan,
but must rely on Congress to enact any so-called reform. And Congi
is so in the pocket of what I call the medical-pharmaceutical-complex
real healthcare reform (for example a single-payer system) will come
of Congress until we have real political reform within the Congress,” i
Darris on the subject.
Darris believes the rest of Obama’s time in office will show “how 11
American citizens know about how their government functions wl
more and more citizens begin to question his activities (or 1’
thereof), because of the misconception of what a presid
can accomplish. In short, more and more citizens are gofl
to become more and more dissatisfied because they do
know Obama can’t do what he promised he would do.|
LaRouche, a political action committee, was on c
pus Monday, Oct. 24, creating anti-Obama awarenl
LaRouche wants support from students and has fly^
comparing the Obama health plan to a Nazi health 3
and Obama to Hitler.
Obama’s healthcare plan includes a bill that rein!
healthcare costs, expands coverage to millions of
sured people and stops insurers from denying covej
for pre-existing conditions or dropping coverage fori
sick.
Clarification:
A
story
about
Obama’s
Nobel
Peace Prize in the
10/28/09 issue of
the Clackamas Print
mischaracterized
Dean Darris’s opin
ion of the Nobel
Peace Prize. Darris
said that he puts
*alue on the prize
but thought th
debate surround
ing Obama win
ning it was idiocy
Furthermore, Darri
said that his life i
devoted to peac
and he would neve
degrade the Nobe
Peace Prize. Th
Clackamas Prin
apologizes for thi
mischaracterization
Illustration by Jessica Foster Clackamas Print
Clackamas Print
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G oals : Ilze CZack«w«s PriHt aims I
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The opinions expressed do not
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tration, its faculty or The Print.
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