Occupy Oakland Gone Bad

In the past six months the Occupy Wall Street protest has intrigued people around the globe and encourage them to stand up against corporate. While corporate greed has been a problem it was not directed at the correct people. In addition to this a weak economy provides for difficult times and inhibits the job market from being having a more positive outlook. Recently Oakland protesters threw objects at police including, but not limited to rocks, lit flares, bottles, and pipes. The Associated Press and CNN report on this:

Oakland police used tear gas and flash grenades Saturday to break up hundreds of Occupy protesters after some demonstrators started throwing rocks and flares at officers and tearing down fencing. (AP)

Occupy activists tossed pipes, bottles, burning flares and other objects Saturday at Oakland police, who responded by using tear gas and smoke grenades and arresting 19 demonstrators, police said. (CNN Wire Staff)

What hasn't been recognized is that Occupy Oakland is then providing significant dangers to both the police but also to the citizens around them who aren't protesting. After announcing their plan to seize a vacant building they sent a letter to the city hall stating:

If police prevent the seizure, the protesters warned Wednesday, they will take further actions. Possibilities include future blockades of Oakland International Airport, the Port of Oakland or City Hall, according to a letter to the city from Occupy Oakland. (Bulwa, Demian; San Francisco Chronicle)

Whatever change they are looking for it will not happen if you blockade the international airport, the city hall, or any other location. There are people in those locations who have jobs in which their paychecks put food on the table for their children, allow for them to get an education, and help improve safety for the United States. There are many other things that are being disrupted by protesting these issues. The police are there to protect the people and make sure our rights are protected. If they have things thrown at them, they aren't supposed to just stand there and take it. So what do the locals think:

You're making the damn revolution playing tag with OPD every Saturday night, vandalizing businesses, encouraging arson and you want the city to call of the cops so you can do that unencumbered?! But I didn't laugh cause I was just too pissed off." (Community Voice)

There are numerous consequences for these actions including danger to the surrounding locations due to the arson (people's homes, small businesses, etc.) and at a cost to the business itself creating a risk of lost jobs due to unexpected costs. Instead of protesting, go to the capitol, petition with your representatives, create a bill, do something that might actually directly cause change/ 

19 Occupy activists arrested in Oakland after clashing with police
Oakland Police Use Tear Gas on Occupy ProtestersOccupy Oakland and Me: Breakin' Up is hard to do (Community voices)
Occupy Oakland Says it Will Seize Vacant Building

Japanese Whaling: Is it legal?

In the past whales were a valuable commdity providing fuel for lamps from their fat deposits and a rich source of for some of those who got the giant mammal of the sea. The sperm whale, in particular, was hunted by northern coast line cities for the sperm oil that it produced which burned longer that other types of oil. It also provided a variety of uses for other products such as crayons, cosmetics, candles, lubricants, leather waterproofing and etc. The issue as of recently as that some species of whale, such as the sperm whale, have been placed on the endangered species list due to the over hunting of these particular animals.

In the pacific and more frigid areas it has been put into effect an international moratorium on the hunting of whales. The enforcement of such a law becomes difficult and the market for whale products has not diminished. Many have been able to get around this law with specific reasons for hunting

An international moratorium on whaling has been in place since 1986, but Japan exploits a loophole allowing whaling for scientific purposes to justify its annual hunt.

The number that they hunt and the season in which they hunt for these whales does not demonstrate a goal of scientific research. If it were research the numbers hunted would be greatly reduced and there would be extensive measures taken to not kill the whales in the process. In addition to this, according to Japan times there was a specific amount of money allocated to rebuilding the earthquake that devastated many cities throughout Japan along with the disaster with the nuclear power plant. An editorial stated that:

This year, the Japanese government allowed ¥2.28 billion from funds allocated for recovery from the earthquake and tsunami to be spent on the whaling expedition in hopes of helping the Tohoku economy, where some of the ships are based. That may not be much out of the ¥12 trillion allocated for recovery, but this whaling subsidy provides little benefit to coastal communities and stymies efforts to reconstruct genuinely sustainable industries. That money could have been used for many other purposes.

While this is an editorial and not an official article nor anything which contains research on these claims it does give a surprising and slightly disturbing perspective into this conflict. Conservationalists and the hunters need a way to communicate the dangers of overhunting whales and the impact it would have on the ecosystems in those areas. Finding a sustainable method of hunting whales would not remove this industry and thus take out a profitable market but would quite possibly reduce the number of black market trades of the catch of whale hunts.

Articles:

Anti-Whaling Activists Clash with Japanese Harpoon Ship

Wars Over Whaling

A Market Proposal for Saving Whales