apparently

the assholes who made this decision NEVER SAW STAR TREK IV OR HEARD FAREWELL TO TARWATHIE







Supreme Court: National Security Trumps Whales, Environmental Law
By Brandon Keim
It's a loud, sad day off the coast of California: the Supreme Court today ruled in favor of the Navy and against environmentalists who argued that military sonar frequencies kill whales.

"The balance of equities and the public interest ... tip strongly in favor of the Navy," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the majority opinion. "The Navy’s need to conduct realistic training with active sonar to respond to the threat posed by enemy submarines plainly outweighs the interests advanced by the plaintiffs."

On the legal side of the whales is the Natural Resources Defense Council, who in 2005 filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica, California, contending that the Navy's use of mid-frequency sonar in whale-rich areas violates the Environmental Policy Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

"By the Navy's own estimates, even 300 miles from the source these [low frequency] sonic waves can retain an intensity of 140 decibels — a hundred times more intense than the level known to alter the behavior of large whales," reads the NRDC's marine sonar page. "Mid-frequency sonar is more widely used and has been associated with mortalities of whales."

The NRDC produced graphic evidence of whales beaching themselves in distress, their brains and ears bleeding, or suffering from "the bends" — an affliction known to deep-sea divers who surface too quickly. Sonar appeared to have disoriented the whales, which rely on sound to navigate, in much the way that unrelenting and blinding light might make life difficult for people............

more fbi hijinks

i prayed this was NOT real, but it sure appears to be. one doesn't know what to do, scream, cry or just break down laughing so hard you pee your pants
(by the way, if the fbi is reading this, i fixed my popi and myself some falafel for lunch last saturday. i can certainly swear to you i am NOT an iranian OR a terrorist. i can certainly swear to you i do NOT believe my father is a terrorist - he's 80 and doesn't know how to use an atm, a computer, the vcr or cable on demand. he drives about 2 miles an hour so even if he WAS a terrorist, which he ISN'T, you'd have NO PROBLEMS catching him. he doesn't fly AT ALL. he never has. he was in the navy but he only sailed on ships. to the best of my knowledge he never caused any problems in the navy. oh, he is of eye-talian descent too. of that i AM sure. oh, one of his shipmates in the navy was that GREAT AMERICAN actor lee van cleef. now if that ain't patriotic, i don't know what is!!!)

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here
By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor
Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.
The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.
The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.
A check of federal court records in California did not reveal any prosecutions developed from falafel trails. ........

(hat tip to boing boing for pointing me to the story)(suggested apparel for next falafel stand trip)

i very firmly believe

we ought to be VERY careful or what almost happened in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Scotty: Admiral, there be whales here.

Sounding Out Whales for Clues to Sonar's Effects

By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer
Twenty-two varieties of beaked whales roam the seas, diving as deep as a mile to feed on bottom-dwelling squid and small fish on the dark ocean floor. Shy and seldom seen by man, they are among the least understood large creatures on Earth.
But in recent years, these deepest-diving whales have sent out an unexpected distress signal, alerting researchers and marine mammal advocates, through their confused behavior and beachings, to an environmental hazard that until 10 years ago was not known to exist. The threat comes from very loud noises, especially from Navy sonar, that on at least several occasions have proved fatal to the whales. ..........