Following New Annual's Whale Song: Curious Legends on Newcastle beach last Saturday it's appropriate to remind people that Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace and founder of Sea Shepherd, currently languishes in a jail in Nuuk, Greenland.
He acrimoniously split from Sea Shepherd, allegedly because Sea Shepherd no longer wanted to engage in active non-violent actions on behalf of whales.
Japan has presented Denmark with an Interpol red notice, now more than 10 years old, which resulted in his arrest.
He next appears in court on October 8 to determine whether he should be extradited to Japan.
According to reports he can expect to spend up to 15 years in jail if convicted in Japan. This is someone who has spent his whole life saving marine life, compared to Japan that is intending to begin large scale whaling again in the Southern Ocean.
They have already begun whaling in Japan's territorial waters.
The number of whales migrating past Newcastle each year may not be so great in future if Japan gets its way.
Bryan Havenhand, Cooks Hill
Biased polls suspected
Michael Hinchey ("A poll is not a referendum", Letters, 30/9) replied to my letter ("No zest in renewables", Letters, 26/9) by saying "all polling uses the sampling method". But this was a voluntary poll meaning only those who were motivated to do so would respond to the poll questions.
This biases the response the pollster gets. But it gets worse. Renew Australia for All, a climate activist group wholly in favour of renewables, sponsored the poll. The sponsor dictates the nature, if not the letter, of the questions posed.
This probably biased the questions strongly in favour of renewables.
Peter Devey, Merewether
Bike rider crossed the line
Recently in Janet Street, Jesmond, as I approached the crosswalk at the high school an unhelmeted child of about 10 years old rode his bike across the road and turned around and made like he was crossing again as I started to proceed.
This dangerous cat-and-mouse thing went on for some time, so I alighted from my taxi to confront the child and he took off down the street. By this stage there were six cars behind me.
Is this the new dangerous garbage we have to put up with from our youth? If I was not watching him carefully there could have been a collision and I would have some difficulty in defending the charge, as he was on a crosswalk.
The law that requires a person to dismount to use a crosswalk seems not to be observed, as I cannot remember seeing a person dismount for at least six years. The law concerning wearing helmets seems also not to be observed. The police seem to be not bothered about it, possibly because the courts are not concerned enough to do anything significant if they come to trial.
Laws that are either not enforced or randomly enforced are the seeds that breed lawlessness and anarchy across the whole community. I do not want a "police state" but I do want a safe community.
Milton Caine, Birmingham Gardens
National edict needed for solar
Carl Stevenson ("Nuclear has Labor on back foot", Letters, 1/10) is correct that Labor must be on the back foot with all the evidence coming to the fore regarding nuclear energy.
But Stevenson has not raised questions such as: if the sun is not shining or the wind blowing, and the power goes out, how will residents of high-rise apartment blocks use their lifts?
There is no battery available to elevate a lift in a large high rise. If the power goes out, a high-rise resident who is out can't get in, or if they're in they can't get out, without using sometimes up to 30 to 50 floors of stairs.
It should be nationally legislated that solar be installed in any new dwelling development application. If nuclear were available in the mix of energy sources, there would be no need for batteries to back up our house solar.
Also, there would not be need to cover our beautiful countryside with many solar panels or wind turbines.
Of real concern and not communicated by Labor in their push for electric vehicle ownership is that most strata buildings do not allow or want EVs. This is because setting up the building to handle EVs is a huge impost to owners. Insurance, due to battery fire hazard, is very expensive and especially not liked by high rise dwellers who don't own an EV but have to contribute to the costs anyway.
Neil Allen, Newcastle East
SHORT TAKES
Permit verification frustration
My mother is 98 this Christmas. She is in care, being looked after by the wonderful staff at Cameron Park Care Community. She recently received a notice to renew her disability mobile parking card. I filled out the forms and had the doctor at the home fill out his part. Mum's heart is falling and is not so good on her feet. I took the completed form to Service NSW only to find out mum has to be there to verify herself. We have this card when we take her to various places; dentists, scans and occasionally lunch or coffee. I can't understand why, when I had all the documentation to verify myself and mum, it could not be processed. Unbelievable.
Stephen Lawson, Wallsend
Ponga claims unfair
Matt McAlary ("Ponga must take stock", Letters, 2/10), you are wrong with your claims regarding Kalyn Ponga. He was never given an invitation/selection into the green and gold team. As far as punishment goes for refusing a spot for the Kangaroos, he never refused anything because he was not offered anything. Stop making assumptions.
Graeme Bennett, Warners Bay
Life under Sharia
I have a suggestion to all these demonstrators who sympathise with Hamas and Hezbollah. Go over there and live under Sharia law. I'll bet they don't.
David Davies, Blackalls Park
Might throw in my trade
Unfortunately, I'll be working over the long weekend, so once again I miss out on protesting or gluing my bum to the road; spitting on police; attacking police horses; throwing urine. On reflection, I should have gone to university instead of doing a trade. Then I wouldn't be missing out on all the fun. I suppose I could throw a can of soup at my Wests Tigers jumper, that would give me satisfaction.
Steve Barnett, Fingal Bay
Deeper look at UK closures
The last few days of September have been very interesting for the UK. On the 30th, Tata closed the blast furnaces at its Port Talbot (Wales) works, making about 2000 people unemployed. But the works are still going to process steel. Where is the steel coming from? You guessed it: from Tata blast furnace plants in India. In addition, Tata is building a blast furnace plant in India, no doubt using low grade Indian coal (instead of our local good coal). So who is bearing the brunt of climate change?
