A Perfect Waste Of A Damned Good Shark

I know that most of you, especially the ones who live in Southern California, may have already heard about the recent harvesting of an 11-foot shortfin mako shark that weighed 1,300 pounds from the ocean off Huntington Beach by a group of fishermen from Texas, but I wanted to use this occasion to once again get up on that proverbial soapbox that this wonderful invention called the Internet has given us. Thank you, Al Gore.

As some of you may know, I spent a period of time as an amateur marine biologist, taking courses, working at aquariums, and heading out on research vessels from time to time. Some of you may also recall the story I love to tell about the time I got to see a 17-foot great white shark that was caught by some fishermen off San Pedro while I was working at the Cabrillo Aquarium, where I helped care for a number of much smaller and less sinister sharks. To this day, I still donate money to some of our Southern California aquariums and oceanic causes I believe in.

That being said, quite honestly, when I read this story, it really bothered me. Let me explain. While you won’t catch me passing up on the wonderful meat products that nature has to offer us humans on very many occasions, it’s not like we’re running out of cows, chickens and pigs any time soon, but things like whales and sharks are a different story. While some populations are rebounding, others are still in decline and under threat of extinction, so killing them just for fun might not be a great idea. Wow, now I sound like the Greenpeace people.

Don’t get me wrong, I at times think about, perhaps even struggle with, the fact that my chicken sandwich, cheeseburger, and the bacon I put on them or eat as a side dish, used to be a living, breathing creature, but I handle it. It is much easier when you never have to go out and meet the animal that you’re eating or actually see it in any way, shape, or form that is close to being alive because of grocery stores and restaurants, and living the life of readily-available food here in the grand ol’ US of A, isn’t it?

But where I do start to draw my own personal line is when it comes to hunting, fishing and things of those sorts. Now, before you take away my Conservative card, again, let me explain. Mountain men up in Alaska hunting so they can eat? While I wish we’d figure out a way to get them some pre-packaged food so they didn’t have to kill their next meal, all right, I can live with that. Killing a wolverine because it’s hungry and trying to get at the food you’re storing for the winter? I have a harder time with that. It’s not the wolverine’s fault you have to live in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. Native people killing some whales every year for food and tradition? I kind of have a problem with that in this day and age, but OK, I can live with that. Killing a big bear, elk, whale, shark or other animal for the quote-un-quote fun, sport, or thrill of it? Yeah, I have a problem with that. Hunting just to hunt, killing just to kill? Yeah, that, I believe crosses the line, especially when it is an animal whose numbers in the wild are just not what they used to be.

Japan killing whales? Completely pointless, and a waste. People out in the woods or on the ocean just out killing? Completely pointless, and a waste. These people killing this shark while out here on vacation? Completely pointless, and a waste. Though these fishermen did donate the dead shark to since, I just do not believe there is much science could learn today about this shark they don't already know, or could have learned by capturing then releasing it.

It all boils down to one thing. Some people just enjoy killing things. Some people step on spiders. Some people pick them up with a napkin and put them outside. Some people will go their entire life without killing a bear, elk, whale or shark, and some will not. It is the nature of the human problem. Some people will go their entire life without killing another person, and some will not. There’s billions of humans. But each one of us is an individual, right? Spend some time with an animal, any animal, and tell me they are not an individual with their own traits and behaviors.

I’ll let you stew on that for a bit. Either way, this particular shark is now dead and on its way to be hacked up for science so that some humans on vacation could have a thrill and have a story to tell, and I personally think that is just sad, completely unnecessary, and a perfect waste of a damned good shark that quite frankly, the world and its inhabitants needed more alive and swimming in the ocean than dead on a lab table.

Leave Me Alone, Greenpeace...

On any given day, you may find me walking across the street from work at the Irvine Spectrum, just out for a stroll, then all of the sudden, there they are…the Greenpeace guys and gals…carefully positioned at a precise bottleneck in the walkway as to maximize their ability to bother passers-by.

“Do you like the ocean?” they ask. “Nope,” I say, shaking my head as I pass by. “You look like you care about the environment,” they say. “Nope,” I say, smiling, but walking fast. “You look like an activist,” another tries. “Yeah, but I am sure you don’t like the causes I support,” I retort, still briskly walking, and of course, always smiling.

My biggest issue here is not necessarily Greenpeace, per se, but, much more the fact that people are at the Spectrum do to one thing…enjoy themselves. Whether it’s a walk, a movie, a meal, or just spending time with people they care about, bottom line, they are there to enjoy themselves. I believe the last thing they want to do is be bothered by money-hungry activists.

My secondary issue is that the root of their presence is to not get an actual heat-of-the-moment donation, but to get you to hand over your precious account information and make a recurring donation. From what I have heard, if you try to offer them $20, they won’t actually take it. No cash, please. What they want is your personal financial information so that you can make a recurring gift, each and every month.

Now, you won’t catch me out on a Sea Shepard boat, though you will catch me rooting for the whales if I am watching Whale Wars. You won’t catch me down at the beach picking up trash any longer, though I am annoyed when I see people littering while we’re down there. You also won’t ever catch me giving money to Greenpeace because every day when I am on my walk and I get to where they are stopping people, even if just for a few seconds, I am quite literally forced to avoid them.

I know there are probably things Greenpeace does that I might not necessarily agree with, and I am sure there are things they do that I would probably support, but I also believe that each of us has a right to donate as we see fit and not be pressured into donating money we do not want to, even by the most well-meaning organizations.

When I see Greenpeace folks at the Spectrum, trying to corral people that are just there to spend a few moments away from whatever stresses they may have in their lives, quite frankly, it bothers me. And once you have bothered me, the last thing you are going to get is my money.

Don't Forget To Watch The Oily Magic Show Tonight

I've been refraining from saying it, but I'm just going to go ahead with it already. Can you imagine how apeshit everyone would be going with The White House right now over this oil spill were The Great Satan George Junior still in office right now?

I am hoping that we finally see The Magician grow a pair over this oil spill when he speaks to us tonight. It kinda seems like he's been laying the foundation over the past few days to finally get in BP's face.

While I do understand how after blaming The Bush for eight years, it can be the go to response for Democrats that are appearing on The TV to talk about the oil spill, but really, you are going to need to do better than that. We need to take a long, hard look at oil drilling, its regulations, lack of regulations, and lack of adherance to regulations. Blaming The Great Satan George Junior for this isn't going to get us anywhere. We need to determine if our regulations did enough, if BP met them, and what we do if they did not. We need to quickly ensure all of our offshore drilling rigs have met regulations and get back on track.

Another thing I have noticed that some folks out there are starting to do is to compare the oil spill with Hurricane Katrina. Apples and oranges. Katrina was a swift-moving hurricane that killed people who could not, or just refused to, evacuate out of its path. Katrina's devastation was quick and deadly - killing a large number in a short period of time. It's economic and environmental impact will last for decades.

This oil spill, on the other hand, despite the fast-gushing oil we see at its source, moved relatively slowly over the water. There was well over a month of warning to react to ensure that this oil did not reach the coastline. The spill's devastation will be quick and deadly to a lot of wildlife, but to humans, it's devastation will take some time. Economic impacts will take months and health issues will take years to surface. The environmental impact may be around for well over one hundred years.

But, if we are going to make a comparison, here are some things to think about:

- Think reasonably about all of the other natural disasters that hit America (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes) and you will see that the response to those disasters before, during, and immediately after, all falls into the hands of local and state officials. The federal government doesn't usually get involved until the point at which the state's governor asks for federal assistance. Yet, with Katrina, the blame for a lack of planning, action, and response fell on the federal government, especially after the fact. Why was Katrina different than any other hurricane and who could have possibly known for sure what was going to happen before hand?

- This oil spill is different. This is a man-made disaster that occurred on federal "land" on an offshore oil rig that was OK'd by and regulated by the federal government. Do you see how this was the responsibility of the federal government from the very beginning? Have not, historically, the problems of the federal government fallen at the feet of whoever is President at the time?

- The Great Satan Geroge Junior called for a mandatory evacuation before Katrina hit, and while criticized, it is generally accepted that federal relief efforts were well underway four days after the hurricane hit with emergency funding signed and FEMA engaged. What is often overlooked is that both Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco refused to issue mandatory evacuations of the city despite being advised to do so by the federal government.

What is also overlooked is that in the case of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, standard emergency management protocol calls for local and state officials to be prepared to manage the situation for three days until a federal response can be made. That would mean that the planning to ensure proper warning, mandatory evacuations, and transportation for citizens would be responsibility of the officials in the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, not the federal government. Local officials don't really get any of the blame for what happened before, during and after Katrina, though, do they?

- I must say that within four days of the start of this oil spill, I did not see a massive response from the federal government, i.e. the current administration. It really seems like it took them a couple of weeks to even get up to speed on what was really going on and about 45 days before you could see them finally realizing what a big deal this was going to be.

- Bush went to New Orleans eight times in the first 46 days, and was condemned for not visiting enough. Obama took 49 days to visit the Gulf region three times.

The Great Satan George Junior will continue to be criticized for not getting out of his chair on the morning of 9/11 for eight minutes and not getting aid to New Orleans for four days, but I do believe in the long run, history will better remember this oil spill and will better remember that it took The Magician 45 days to realize that this was going to have an effect on his Presidency...oh, I mean, the American people.

It's Finally Time To Comment On The Magician & This Oil Spill...

I have done my best to give this thing time. I have done my best to not be reactionary. I have done my best to not be swayed by media sources. I have still reached the following conclusion, though:

I am not impressed with this administration's efforts to date. While you cannot accuse them of doing nothing, and I do see that significant efforts are being made, I feel that these efforts were not undertaken as quickly as they should have been and while in an "unprecedented" volume, the efforts I am seeing are still not enough. While your efforts on any task may be the most by volume that have ever been done in history, it does not automatically mean that you are doing enough by default.

The Magician says that they explored every alternative, have done all that they could have, and would have tried anything that they know would have worked. I argue that they could have authorized the building of sand barriers along the coastlines much sooner than they did, could have better ensured that more resources were fighting in the water and not waiting until the oil reached the shore. When you are in a crisis, it is wise in the best of circumstances to not undertake efforts that you know will have no effect on the situation, but at the same time, if there is a chance that something will have an effect, you try it. You don't just sit there and wait for a better alternative to be suggested.

I must admit, also, I am bothered by the fact that The Magician has not had a direct conversation with BP's CEO at this point. I don't think the American people are asking you to pick up the phone and shout at the guy, but they are asking you to take command of the situation in the manner that you claim to have done. How do you command a situation when you have not had a direct conversation with the person that is in charge of the most important part of your operations?

I think that we need to take a long look at the fact that while drilling at these "incredible" depths, there are not enough safeguards in place, obviously, to make sure that this does not happen. We should take a long hard look at our drilling policies as a whole. While I understand some people's argument that a lapse in regulation and governance is to blame, we also need to look at the market and supply and demand as it relates to our current environmental policies. We're still using gas, which requires oil. We don't want to see oil rigs off our coastlines, so we force the oil companies to drill further and further out at deeper and deeper depths, then get upset when they cannot repair wells that are too deep. Do you not think that BP would much rather be drilling oil that is under the beach than under a mile of ocean? Why aren't they? Because we've told them that they can't, yet at the same time, demand low gas prices.

While I do appreciate the fact that The Magician has visited the area, I do still make the argument that he has not done so enough. Regardless of the fact of what he can and cannot do personally while there, the American people want to see him down there fixing this thing. A three hour stay on four hours of flight time so that he can get back home for the holiday weekend does not impress me.

Again, whether or not he is effecting the situation, the people of the Gulf Region would have at least liked to have known he was in the area, working well into the night and early morning with local officials, not see him stroll on the beach for a few hours and then go home. How in the world does a politician like The Magician not understand that? Also, I still think The Magician flew to California more times for campaigning this election season than he flew to the Gulf Region since this spill started. That says a lot to me.

The bottom line, Mr. Magician, is that we are not asking you to perform for the cable shows, we are asking you to perform for the American people, especially those that are being directly effected by this oil spill. Sometimes, when you need to get things done, you just don't take the time to figure out exactly whose butt to kick, you kick them all until people and resources get moving and start fixing the problem. Empowering local resources, moving federal resources, taking the time to be cool, calm and collected, you are doing, but commanding, you are not.

Why Cap-And-Tax Is A Horrible Idea

What is Cap-And-Trade, or Cap-And-Tax, as it is more properly called?

It is the Waxman-Markey bill, which has recently passed the house by a razor-thin margin, and would place a cap on the total carbon output that the United States can produce over the course of a year, with that total amount decreasing year over year. Oh, and by “the United States”, I mean every business in the country, and you, the Americans who work for those businesses. Imagine being given an amount of carbon that your business can emit over the course of a year, then having to buy excess carbon permits from people who are not using all of their carbon allotment if you go over, or even worse, having to pay large fines if you cannot scrounge up enough carbon offset permits. When you get down to brass tacks, there are three huge problems with this bill:

#1 - It will raise the price of everything, literally, first energy prices, then the food and other goods that we all purchase as virtually every manufacturer and producer scrambles to pay more and more for their carbon permits, then pass that cost on to the end consumer.

#2 – The cost of operating manufacturing equipment will be rising in the U.S. and falling in every nation that has not implemented a Cap-And-Tax policy. Large, multi-nationals will have even one more reason to ship jobs overseas. While this may, in turn, help in the area of rising prices, many more Americans who rely on manufacturing jobs will be out of work.

#3 - While we are screwing ourselves into higher prices to reduce our carbon emissions, this bill does nothing to address the carbon emissions of other nations in the world. China’s carbon emissions are skyrocketing and they will be doing nothing to stop them while we slow down our already reeling economy with this bad piece of legislation.

While support for this bill does cross some party lines, there is clearly only one party that is supporting this bill as stated in the Wall Street Journal: “Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them."

America Back On The Moon?

It almost seems trivial to be discussing space exploration at this point in American history, but I guess I must agree that we must keep on reaching for the America of tomorrow.

How else are we going to one day unite the world under the People’s Democratic Republic of the United States of the World? How many stars are on that flag?

I’m OK at looking towards space again as long as enough government is still working to keep us safe from terrorism before we are forced to divert those resources into figuring out how to defend ourselves from the subterranean Martians that we are going to piss off one day by landing on their planet.

First and foremost, despite the tragedies of 1986 and 2003, a push back to the moon, then on to Mars will most-likely result in the retiring of our space shuttles. As someone who grew up and aged with them, I will be sad to see the shuttles go, but we all know that they have outlived their mission.

The shuttles represent so much of the America that I grew up in...the America that finally defeated the Soviets and won the Cold War. As we bid farewell to our old work-horses, we will then need to decide if we launch our next round of moon missions direct from Earth or from the International Space Station. Will we see a new shuttle-like craft for transporting people and cargo to the space station? Will we see a new generation of Saturn 5-style rockets, or will we see both?

Either way, the best experts agree that for the sheer sake of technological advancements and the continually falling cost of that technology, man will be back on the moon within 15 years.

They say we will build a moon colony this time around and will have the technology for permanent residence on the moon. Yet another pristine, virtually untouched planet for us to litter with empty potato chip bags!

Once we have established our moon base, it will be time then to look to Mars, which these same experts say man will step foot on in about 25 to 30 years. I truly would love to see man on Mars before the end of my lifetime, but I must admit that I wonder how it will fit into our ever-changing lives here on Earth and which of man’s weaknesses and political and ethical quandaries will follow us up into the stars...who am I kidding? We all know that it will be all of them.

So, here is to empty Doritos bags littering the Martian countryside because, at least, as William Burrows pointed out in the WSJ, we will have spare humans on other worlds so that humans will survive when we finally destroy the Earth.

So, now that we have the pipe dream in place and can rest assured that we will not need to divvy up the surface of the moon with the evil Soviet empire this time around, how in the world are we going to pay for all of this? Well, that’s what they said before we went to the moon the first time and we managed to pay that bill off.

We’ll just have to sit back, keep paying our taxes, and see what happens.