Americans – Give To Your Local Shelters Instead !

The HSUS do not represent your local shelter !

How to spot a Propogandist.

It’s quite simple really. Propagandists believe they can change the meanings of words or phrases because they think their cause(s) authorizes them to do so.

For example the term “spam” is well defined by the online community, from the unsolicited commercial email that I’ve been protesting for over a decade to the off-topic repetitive posts that clutters and hinders forums and video comments.

Apparently some anti-sealing activists are hoping to confuse those who do not know the meaning of “spam” on Youtube ; Those who haven’t read the definitions included in the terms of service.

The term “spam” is not so vague as to include everything that a person might dislike. The content needs to be intentionally off-topic and/or commercial in nature to be considered “spam”, as defined by Youtube’s Community Guidelines and Terms Of Service.

The comment rating system was implemented in response to the confusion found in new users in regards to what is and isn’t spam. But it doesn’t appear to have stopped the anti-sealing troll(s) from abusing the spam reporting system and the comment rating system is easily abused by anyone with multiple puppet accounts on Youtube.

But of course propagandists don’t want people to read anything but their opinion, as you can see by the comments in this video :

By Whose Authority ?

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society supporters apparently believe that this group has somehow obtained law enforcement abilities in Australia. They believe that they are authorized to police the whaling activities of the Japanese in Australian waters.

By whose authority ?

Australia ? No. They bared Paul Watson and several members of his crew from entering Australia by suspending their visas in 2009 and the Australian Federal Police raided one of their ships in October 2009.

The International Whaling Commission ? No. They passed a resolution condemning Sea Shepherd’s actions in March 2008 and the SSCS were banned from IWC meetings in 1987 for their “unacceptable behavior”.

The UN ? No. The SSCS may claim the World Charter for Nature gives them some authority but section 21 C clearly states that they are limited to legal acts, which does not include illegal boarding and property damage.

In a desperate attempt they enlisted Australian citizens to perform citizen arrests but these abilities would also be limited, as mentioned by this Australian Federal Police FAQ on citizen arrests : FAQ

The most interesting part of this FAQ is as follows :

“A person shall not, in the course of arresting another person for an offence, use more force, or subject the other person to greater indignity, than is necessary and reasonable to make the arrest or to prevent the escape of the other person after the arrest.”

On February 21st, 2008 Paul Watson authorized the crew members of the Steve Irvin “to board if required, to disable equipment if necessary, to destroy harpoons if possible and to intercept, blockade and harass all illegal whaling and poaching activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary”.

As previously mentioned the SSCS have not obtained a warrant to board ships in Australia from the Australian government and it is illegal for anyone to board a vessel without permission.

Property damage and the threat of property damage are also illegal and could possibly constitute an unreasonable force or “greater indignity”, voiding their use of citizen arrests.

But then citizen arrests are also questionable when the alleged criminals are not caught in the act.

It’s one thing to stop someone after they allegedly performed an illegal act, quite another to speculate that they would perform such an act if it weren’t for an intervention.

Hearsay is not evidence.

Youth In The Media

Swine Flu – My concerns about Vaccination

You know what’s annoying. I pick up my Ottawa Citizen and on the front page they talk about vaccine shortages and several pages in there are full page inserts appealing to everyone to get vaccinated.

I wish they would make up their minds !

If only the vulnerable should get vaccinated, then why pay for adverts implying that we’re all vulnerable ? Couldn’t they have waited ?

Then there’s the fact that Canadians can only get the injected version of the vaccine because the nasal spray vaccine hasn’t been licensed yet in Canada.

I would have liked the choice to get the nasal spray, not because I’m afraid of needles but because I’d rather have the vaccine introduced precisely where the virus would likely enter my body, avoiding some of the possible side effects associated with the injected version :

• Press Release – Interim Clinical Trial / Nasal Vaccine
• Product Information Leeflet – Injected Vaccine

I will probably end up getting the injected version but I’ve decided to wait for the lines to empty out a bit.