Although it was a poor job of fakery, I bet it was enough for Bob Barker and his brain-dead ilk to open their wallets again and donate to continuing this madness.

        TXMarko said:

A good friend of mine said he saw an episode of Whale Wars where the high-profile Captain was shot in the chest, and then dramatically dug a bullet out of his bulletproof vest he was wearing.

No that was entirely faked. One of the security crew on the whaling ship threw two “flash bang” grenades at the sea shepherd ship. Watson said “Holy *** I think I was shot” or something like that and then pulled a bullet out of a bullet proof vest.

Totally fake and a bad fake at that. If you’re shot with soft body armor, you don’t “think” you were shot. It knocks the wind out of you and leaves one hell of a welt behind. There have been body armor and ballistics experts some who looked at the footage and claims and went on the record to say that it is absolutely undoubtedly not a bullet hit and probably not even a part of a flash-bang grenade either. It was probably put there by him.

It wouldn’t make sense anyway for them to just on one occasion fire a bullet at someone like that and just happen to hit him right in the vest, just off camera like that. It’s a very obvious ploy.

Wattson is a coward and a terrorist. He advocates killing loggers and fishermen and he’s never worked a day in his life. He’s wanted for attempted murder and scuttling vessels in various countries and he’s not man enough to stand up to the charges. He’s a pathetic, soft, coward and a sick little bastard who runs around playing pirate with other people’s money they were stupid enough to give him.

That being said, putting other peoples lives at serious risk on the high seas is no small matter. At some point, the whalers are going to figure out that their lost time, revenue, and repairs to vessels are worth shutting the political attention whores down.

A good friend of mine said he saw an episode of Whale Wars where the high-profile Captain was shot in the chest, and then dramatically dug a bullet out of his bulletproof vest he was wearing.

If this is true, the whalers are already to the point or righteous self-defense.

I’ll bet they learn from their experience and aim for his pumpkin next time.

        TXMarko said:

The Japanese Whalers need to scare up some RPG’s that seem to be everywhere else in the world, and start using them. Frequently.

Actually the whalers have been accompanied before by a Japanese Coast Guard boat or two, which are obviously well armed and could shoot back, but they never do. The Sea Shepherd ship even threw **** at the Japanese security/coast guard ship, and they didn’t fire back. They just tried to keep them away from the whaling ships (political probably)

I think there might be some legal issues with the crew of a merchant ship being armed and it losing its claim to being a merchant or whatever. I don’t know for sure, but it could have some ramifications. Plus, the crew is not trained for that, which is why they have a security boat and crew. Why the security forces don’t step in and use the kind of force they’re obviously being provoked to? I don’t know. Probably an order from higher up not to make an international incident (like they haven’t already!)

The Japanese Whalers need to scare up some RPG’s that seem to be everywhere else in the world, and start using them. Frequently.

Once the “Whale Whores” discover that the only video they are going to get is either them dying or wetting their pants in terror, all this nonsense will stop.

I would also like to send out a big F U to Bob Barker for bankrolling this idiocy, to the tune of 5 Million.
“The price is WRONG, Bitch!”

        Yeoz said:

Wouldn’t that be like throwing a Molotov ****tail into a Greenpeace rally or something? Perfect media attention for them? If the Japanese captains ordered or allowed their crew to use firearms to protect the vessels, how would the international media respond and portray the Japanese whalers? I’d be willing to bet they’d look even worse.

Aim for the camera guy! But seriously, I do think it would stop them or at least hold them back if one or two of them got killed each time they take on a whaling ship.

Surely it would cause them to yell and cry about human rights abuse and violence and so on. The Japanese would still be fully in their rights to do it. I mean look at that video! Defending oneself is a legitimate reason to shoot when a big steal ship is repeatedly ramming into you!

I suggest that a statement be made ahead of time. “This year, our security forces have standing orders to shoot to kill if any ship threatens the safety of one of ours,” and just leave it at that.

The international media already kisses their ass either way.

        Martin Audley said:

It was, however, partially blamed on a natural Bernoulli effect of the fast moving water between the ships which pulled the trailing ship into the side of the other.

On the other hand, any competent captain should now be aware of that effect, and for such a captain to ignore it would also be criminally negligent.

I’m not saying that’s what happened here – but someone does deserve to lose their mariner’s licence.

The crash was almost certainly deliberate. As many of you probably know, Sea Shepard make a TV show of their activism called Whale Wars, and in one episode the captain of the Steve Erwin vessel discusses the risk of the Bernoulli effect on camera, so he is most certainly aware of it.

I admit that I watch the TV show (my standards are, after all, pretty low when it comes to TV) but not because I’m a dedicated whale-hugger. There is some dark part inside of me that longs to see one of them die because of their blind stupidity.

The whaling topic is so controversial that I try to avoid discussing the show with anyone in real life, as most people have very solid opinions about whaling and/or the role the Japanese have in it, along with the actions of Sea Shepard.

Wouldn’t that be like throwing a Molotov ****tail into a Greenpeace rally or something? Perfect media attention for them? If the Japanese captains ordered or allowed their crew to use firearms to protect the vessels, how would the international media respond and portray the Japanese whalers? I’d be willing to bet they’d look even worse.