ViceZilla’s Views

Yahoo has a one-billion-dollar stake in Alibaba.com. Alibaba is the New York Stock Exchange of shark fins on the Internet, moving thousands and thousands of tons of shark fins worldwide.

In a recent news report from KABC-TV in Los Angeles, it was discovered that the search engine giant Yahoo! has an investment in the online shopping company Alibaba.com.

Of course Alibaba.com is a Chinese company, based in eastern China. It’s claim to fame is the world’s largest online business to business marketplace for global and domestic China trade. One of the products it brokers is shark fins. A quick search of their website lists 21 companies who sell shark fins, lots of shark fins. Some companies boast the ability to supply 300kg (660 pounds) per month of shark fins!

Yahoo’s response to the news report was, “We know the sale of shark products is both legal in Asia and a centuries-old tradition. This issue is largely a cultural-practices one”.

That’s all well and fine Mr. Yahoo, but the sale of shark fins is also illegal throughout the majority of the world. This also is a “cultural-practices” one.

China has long been known for their censorship of companies and people who do not tow the political line in their country, so why should their companies be allowed to infect the world with their “cultural-practice” point of views that happen to be illegal and immoral?

One day the people of China will come to the realization of the damage their greed and ignorance has done to this world’s shark populations because of their “soup”. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later.

The news report is an excellent one. The accompanying video is also very well done, and should be required viewing by all those who still do not understand what “shark-finning” is all about.

Read the article here, as well as viewthe video.

PS: Have you seen Sharkwater yet?

Tags: Stop the Finning! by vicezilla
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The Senate Judiciary Committee today subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program. Also named in subpoenas signed by committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., were the Justice Department and the National Security Council. The four parties have until July 18 to comply, according to a statement by Leahy’s office.

At this point, Subpoenas are a waste of paper!

A good ol’ fashioned smack-down Impeachment Procedure is what we need! If we’ve learned one thing about the Bush Administration, is Subpoenas are totally useless with them, because they don’t uphold the laws of this country one bit. If there is a law that gets in their way, they either ignore it, or with the help of their little Attorney General troll, they change it!

As long as Cheney continues to call the shots, and Gonzales continues to be willing to shred the Constitution of this country to shreds, Subpoenas will continue to be useless against this administration to right any wrongdoings!

No, what we need is something stronger than a Subpoena. Somebody somewhere has to take one for the team and give Cheney sexual favors! This, it seems is the only way to get an elected official Impeached! Cheney has done a whole lot more wrong than Bubba did to this country 1000 times over, but yet he still remains in office. So I’m thinking it’s time to fight fire with fire!

The task at hand is an ugly one, definitely not for the faint of heart or squeamish. But the person that makes this sacrifice will have the enduring love, respect, and gratitude of an entire nation. To borrow a phrase from one of this country’s past Presidents, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”

Tags: Bush Administration by vicezilla
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In a turn of events that is making George W. look like the Court Jester of his own Court, and Alberto Gonzales wishing he had some Cojones, Dick “I’m in charge” Cheney seems to have emerged as the real person in charge of the Administration.

It all started with the office of the Vice President refusing to file annual reports with the federal National Archives and Records Administration, even though Bush issued an executive order in 2003 requiring all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight. Cheney has claimed his office is not part of the “Executive” Branch. Three days after this story started making waves, President Bush’s Office has come out in Dick’s defense and claims that Cheney’s office is exempt from the requirements because the President intended him to be. Not only that, but the “>Office of the President is also exempt!

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in an interview Friday, “We don’t dispute that the ISOO (The Information Security Oversight Office) has a different opinion. But let’s be very clear: This executive order was issued by the president, and he knows what his intentions were,” Fratto said. “He is in compliance with his executive order.”

WTF? It seems the only people who know what Bush’s intentions are or were, is Bush and Cheney! What better way of avoiding accountability than by saying, “Oh, I didn’t mean it that way.” Let’s see if I get this right. The “Executive” signs an executive order requiring all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight, but yet the “Executive” now claims that he never intended the law to apply to the top two “Executive” Offices of the government! So if that’s the case, then I guess the voting public never intended to vote into power an unaccountable and corrupt government?

Oops, I forgot, the unaccountable and corrupt government never really was voted into power by the voting public in the first place! So while all of this feces flinging is going on, where is the Attorney General in all of this mess? Surely the AG would rule on this matter as it is a matter of law, right?

J. William Leonard, the chief of the Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office, which enforces the order, complained in January to Gonzales about Cheney’s refusal to comply with the executive order. In a “>letter, Leonard wrote that Cheney’s position was inconsistent with the “plain text reading” of the executive order and asked the attorney general for an official ruling. But Gonzales never responded.

The reason Gonzalez never responded was because he is off to see the wizard in hopes that he might get his life long wish of attaining a spine so that one day he will be able to walk upright, and faithfully execute the duties of the office of the Attorney General of the United States of America! So I ask the Question, who is the real President of the United States? George? No. Dick? No. It’s really Chuck Barris from the Gong Show! Yes, that’s right.

The Gong Show’s claim to fame was showcasing really, really useless talent, just like the Bush Administration is.

Tags: Bush Administration by vicezilla
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There has always been something about Dick Cheney that made me nervous. Was it his smarmy, shit eating grin? Or maybe it was because he always looked like a sleepy lizard looking for a warm rock to lay on that made me question his motives. Either way, there is something about him that reeks “evil” whenever you look at him.

That “evil” was once again used to put him and his office of the Vice President above the law. Cheney is refusing to co-operate with the Information Security Oversight Office, a unit of the National Archives by not complying with routine requests for data on his staff’s classification of internal documents.

All executive branches of the government routinely comply with the oversight requirements, including the National Security Council.

The National Archives is an executive branch department headed by a presidential appointee, and it is assigned to collect the data on classified documents under a presidential executive order. Its Information Security Oversight Office is the archives division that oversees classification and declassification. The executive order states that it applies to any “entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.”

You can’t tell me that the office of the Vice President of the United States does not have in it’s possession any classified information!

So the bottom line is, at least in Cheney’s mind is that he and his office are above the law. But in our minds, as we know it to be true is Cheney and his office are hiding the skeletons of the Bush Administration’s evil doings.

Its a shame to see “the government of the people, by the people, for the people” slip silently into a coma because of the “holier than thou” pedestal the Bush Administration has perched themselves on.

Read More Here

Trust Me?

Tags: Bush Administration by vicezilla
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Beth from mylifestartsatfortytwo has tagged me with a Thinking Blogger Award!

Needless to say, I”m very honored that she would pass this award on to me.

I’ve been called many things in my life, but I don’t remember being called a “thinker”. The award is one thing, but having it come from Beth is the part that really means something. Thank you!

Now it is bestowed upon me to pass this award onto 5 bloggers who have Blogs that “make me think”. That’s a tough one, because almost all blogs that I read make me think in one form or another, and because of that they’ve probably already been nominated for this award previously. But here goes, in no particular order.

Carol from My View of “It”
Punditman
Ron from Revolt Today
Soul from uncomfortably numb

The last nomination I will reserve for the next blog I come across that I feel deserves it “on a spur of the moment” decision.

Thanks to all, and happy ‘thinking’.

Tags: Musings by vicezilla
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