Transcription of 1 hour interview with Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd

But first, some light reading recommendations ….

Captain Paul Watson’s top 5 books if stranded on an iceberg.

1. Darwin’s Origin of Species
2. anything by E.O. Wilson (originator of the modern understanding of biodiversity)
3. anything by Farley Mowat – especially Sea of Slaughter
4. anything by Richard Dawkins
5. The Poems of Leonard Cohen

“One of the things that Leonard Cohen wrote in one of his poems, that I think sums up our condition, is ‘we are locked into our suffering, and the pleasures are our seal.’ We are so busy entertaining ourselves that we’re destroying ourselves.”

Iran all night

this pic from AP is a liiiittle freaky…….
In America, media like the Washington Post (think Daily Telegraph for rich people) is confidently writing about Iran’s nuclear weapons, which is a bit like talking about John Howard’s charisma – both spurious and misdirected. All Middle East analysis not born of comfortable disregard points out that President Ahmadinejad is not the real power in Iran. He’s more than a Minchin, but less than a Packer – figuratively speaking.

The real power is Ayatollah Khameini, who has declared a fatwa on nuclear weapons – a religious edict, a death sentence. What? You heard about the one against Salman Rushdie but nobody has mentioned this one? Well, would you believe that religious fundamentalists could be a nuclear threat if they’re fundamentally opposed to nuclear weapons?

Dear John…

In the latest initiative of its 18-month campaign to bring David Hicks home, political lobby and policy advocacy group GetUp! will be sending Bennelong residents postcards. More precisely, Postcards From Guantanamo.

Voters in the Prime Minister’s electorate will receive information packs in the mail.

“They’ll have an introduction and explanation from GetUp!, but then,” explained spokesperson, Lilian McCombs, “it will have a personal note from another Australian urging them to join Voices For Justice and help take action. It’s a bit like ‘pen pals’, but using 21^st century technology.” At the time of writing, GetUp has 169,000 potential pen pals nationally to introduce to the PM’s electorate.