Duffy is a Gem I watched him regularly when I lived in Ottawa.

Watson is not my favorite person.


I broke a tooth tonight on a strawberry seed in some jam.. I can't sleep. I just took some aspirin and am sipping a couple of ounce of Jamesons to numb my mouth.

My tooth ache reminds me of the pain I feel every year at this time. When my friends and family are called names by people all over the world. When I call home, my father talks about his preparations for the hunt and about the latest affront from the protesters. Colorado is known for the Rockies, Maine for the lobster, Vermont for maple syrup. Since Brigitte Bardot in the 1970's my home is where famous air head hypocrites go to feel good about themselves by putting down people who are not in a position to respond on the same level.

PDQ makes a good point about the "Bambi Syndrome." I suffered from it myself. We watched "Wonderful World of Disney" every Sunday as a family. I'll never forget the look on my Grandfather's face when he proudly showed me the stuffed Whitecoat, he had had stuffed as a souvenir of the hunt and I told him how cruel that was. I was five or six. But even then. When he told me that at sixteen he had signed up to go to the front and hunt seals to help support a family and perhaps save something so that he could afford to get married some day. He was born in 1910. This would probably have been the spring of 1927. He risked his life on the floes. There were no facilities to bathe or wash clothing. He was covered in gore and rotting blood and seal fat for days. The smell of the men in the quarters of that cramped little ship was literally breathtaking. That was the day, I began to understand that our meat didn't magically appear in our supermarkets, that the shoes on my feet meant the death of an animal, that we are not above the savage nature of the natural world, that we were part of it. It was also when I started to comprehend the importance of family and heritage, and the how I needed to be grateful for my forefather's sacrifices.   

I've seen and heard these arguments every year since I was about 11 or 12. I've seen and heard them from every side.

I want to apologize to anyone who I have offended in this thread especially EJ, who I remember, from a getaway as a fine and pleasant man. By way of explanation, I will say that the emotions raised are painful to me, much worse than my sore tooth. every year I promise myself to discuss these issues calmly and rationally. Every year i lose my temper. Sorry all.