To Obama: Save the Whales!

Enough is enough on science claim.

I went through my usual morning routine today: sit-ups and stretches during the 6 a.m. edition of “SportsCenter” (great to see real Laker highlights for the first time in a month!); getting a cup of English Breakfast tea and putting the dishes away; confirming the course of the day with family members Lisette, Zack and Jake; and sitting down to the L.A .Times. 

Because it’s Wednesday, I go to Lopez’ column first to see who he’s calling out (today it’s Supervisor Ridley-Thomas use of discretionary funds) and then I move on to the Opinion section. It was great to see Joel Reynolds from NRDC blasting the Obama administration on its ludicrous position to save the whales by legalizing whale hunting.

I am a biologist and I seem to remember from the numerous ecology classes I took at UCLA that the best way to enhance the health of populations in the wild is to not kill them. The administration’s position that legalizing whaling will somehow expose illegal whaling conducted under the guise of scientific study or cultural preservation is flawed logic at best and catastrophic to cetaceans at worst. (Some activities should just be banned. Just look at how so-called cultural rights have been used to rationalize human rights abuses worldwide over the years.)