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Monday, April 25, 2005

Osama Bin Vlasak

Well, well, well. In the latest move to work with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador to increase tourism and protect our shores the feds have come up with a scheme to really put our province on the map. The Canadian government is now allowing extremists and potential terrorists to visit our beautiful province. How open minded of them to allow us to play host to these exciting guests.

During the recent seal hunt off our coast, we had the privilege of the annual onslaught of animal rights activists, seal protestors and the like. This is nothing unusual for spring in the province, it’s been going on for years, we have grown somewhat accustomed to it, but this time it was different. This time we were exposed to threats of violence and to intimidation techniques not very different than those practiced in some of the more troubled areas of the world, such as the Middle East.

This time we were confronted with one Dr. Jerry Vlasak, thanks to the support of Paul Watson’s Sea Shephard Society, of which Dr. Vlasak is a board member. Thanks also to the fine folks in The Department of Immigration, a government agency that is designed to prevent this sort of character from entering the country in the first place. Not only did this man come into our waters to protest the hunt, he even confronted one of our sealers, a confrontation which has resulted in violence, and is now before the courts.

Of course the good Dr. claims he was only trying to have a rational conversation with this sealer. I wonder though, based on his history, if Dr. Vlasak even knows what a rational conversation is. At an animal rights conference in 2003, when talking about scientists who dissect animals for research, he said, “I don't think you'd have to kill, assassinate, too many vivisectors before you would see a marked decrease in the amount of vivisection going on”. According to news reports, when asked about this comment and whether or not he feels the same about sealers this man basically said there is no difference.

This man who the Immigration Department allowed into our country has been barred from entering the UK. In the US he is under investigation by the FBI as a possible extremist threat. Great security we have here folks. Add to this the fact that the great Paul Watson is backing this man to the hilt, even up to the point that another member of the Sea Shephard board is resigning over the issue. In my opinion this speaks to the organization itself being a threat to society. When a group harbors a potential terrorist threat, promotes him as a board member and backs him up in these kinds of statements, what else can they be considered?

I wonder how fast the department of Immigration would have acted if this man was wandering around Bay Street protesting banking institutions? What if he was protesting the oil industry or cattle ranching in Alberta? I’d be willing to bet that if he had made it into the country at all, he wouldn’t have been around long enough to nail a protest sign together or buy a pint of paint to write his venomous comments on it.

Once again, thanks for the support Ottawa. If mistakes were made in letting this character slip across our border that is one thing, but I wonder if you will let him or even his group back next year. If you decide that these yahoos can come back to our shores again who will you send over next? Perhaps you might like to invite Osama Bin Laden to stop by for a cup of tea since he’s not up to much at the moment. I wouldn’t wonder that the US is planning to have us show passports and bio Identification to get across the border into their country. You don’t know who could be roaming around in Canada these days.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the government was doing the job they are supposed to be doing then Mr Vlasak (I can't call someone with that mentality a doctor), could be doing us a favour. This might be an opportunity to keep these extremists out of the area next year and let the sealers do their job without being harrassed and tormented.

Get on the ball Ottawa!

Anonymous said...

Violent incidents between protestors and sealers, sealers names and home phone numbers being posted on protest sites, lies and slander of our sealers and our province. How long are we going to put up with this crap.

I think the government should:

1. Bar any potentially violent protest groups and idividuals from the province

2. Look at laying slander charges against these groups for the lies they spread

3. Investigate these groups with regard to the fund raising methods they use and how the money is spent

4. Use Occupational Health and Safety laws to keep them off the ice for presenting a risk to our sealers in their workplace.

Talk is cheap and doing nothing is even cheaper. Get off your A@@ Paul Martin and Danny Williams and do something about this mess.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree. These protesters are getting worse and for what reason other than to make money for themselves. Seals are not endangered folks. In fact the harp seal population is thriving and eating fish by the ton.

I just read the following in an article on Newsday.Com which quotes biologists who have been helping sick seals that show up in the Long Island area each year. The article is dated April 25, 2005. Here is what it says:

"Long Island started seeing an influx of harp seals a decade ago when they began to migrate south from their traditional stomping grounds off Newfoundland and Greenland. Now they are migrating even farther, showing up in the Rockaways, up the Hudson River into Westchester County, and as far south as Baltimore and Virginia, Durham said.

They now appear to outnumber the gray, harbor and hooded seals, which began to appear in large numbers around Long Island in the 1970s. Durham said the harp seals are coming south apparently because their numbers are growing so fast off Canada, where an estimated 5.3 million live, that they are looking for new sources of food."

Does this sound like an animal in danger of extinction?

Anonymous said...

To Jackie,

I just read the same article and you neglected to mention a couple of things that also help make your point.

1. The article says when discussing a particular seal they treated that they fed him 12 to 15 pounds of fish a day.

If you multiply this by 5.2 million seals then you are talking in excess of 65 million pounds of fish a day (thats at the conservative level of 12 pounds).

2. The article also says that a part of this organizations role is, and I quote, "...mission is to educate the public that, despite the big brown eyes and the "play dead" mechanism, these critters are predators and will attack. It's a stark contrast to the trained seals people see kiss their trainers in aquarium shows."

I just wish that message was getting out more clearly to the general public who are being fleeced by these protest groups.

Patriot said...

Some really insightfuly comments folks. Great stuff!! Thanks for the input and keep it coming.

Anonymous said...

It completely amazes me how stupid you people are.

Seals eat fish. Not very much fish, though, and even if they did, they couldn't because your greedy, lazy, science ignoring fisherman CAUGHT THEM ALL!!!

Second - SEALERS ATTACKED THE PROTESTERS!!!

Not the other way around.

ITS ON FILM YOU WORTHLESS ASSHOLES!!!

Third - he's right. You should be shot. All of you. On the spot.

Not for killing seals. And not for being stupid.

Just for being.