Saturday, July 2, 2011

Sea Shepherd's ex-member Peter Bethune in Atlanta: the rhetoric



Mr. Pete Bethune of Sea Shepherd fame was recently in the United States of America, Atlanta, Georgia.




Pete was the gentlemen who sold or gave his trimaran “Earthrace” to Sea Shepherd to join that group’s efforts to disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet. Once part of She Shepherd’s fleet of garbage scows, the trimaran was repainted black and renamed “Ady Gil,” after the person who donated one-million dollars to Sea Shepherd.




On January 6, 2010, during the 2009-2010 whaling season during Sea Shepherd’s operation “Waltzing Matilda” in the Southern Ocean, the Ady Gil collided with the Japanese whaling vessel the Shonan Maru 2. The collision tore off the front of the Ady Gil causing Sea Shepherd to abandon the vessel in the now polluted waters of the Southern Ocean.




Subsequently on February 15, 2010 Mr. Bethune illegally boarded the Shonan Maru 2 attempting to conduct a citizen’s arrest of the ship’s captain. Resulting in Pete being detained by the ship’s crew and enjoying a picturesque ocean voyage to Tokyo, Japan, all at the expense of Japanese tax payers.




July, 2010 Pete was sentenced to two years in prison, however received a five-year suspension and deported to New Zealand. Part of the deal was Pete would not engage in any anti-whaling activities directed at Japan. However upon his released he sought back into Sea Shepherd and was welcomed. Background: while this was happening Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant of Captain Kangaroo / Admiral Beauregard Watson. Then Captain Kangaroo / Admiral Beauregard Watson discovered while Pete was in Japanese custody he was singing like a canary detailing Admiral Beauregard Watson’s activities against the Japanese causing the issuance of the warrant.




Pete and the Admiral got into a feud resulting in Pete’s expulsion from the girly-man group. Pete went on to form his own group, “Earthrace Conservation Organization.”




In June Pete was in the United States of America, Atlanta, Georgia. He attended a rally at the Georgia Aquarium to protest “the Atlanta 11.” Eleven dolphins at the aquarium he and a handful of like-minded felt the dolphins should not be housed there.




Before the event Pete was greeted on the street by two members of Admiral Tony’s Texas Fleet (Texas Daddy, PropagandaBuster Tony), named Bruce and Don. During their exchange Pete was very civil this is out of character for Sea Shepherd types.




During the discussion Pete mentions that the Japanese are whaling in New Zealand waters. However according to Maritime New Zealand, those waters are international and belong to no nation. This was stated on page 15 of their report addressing the collision between the Ady Gil and the Shonan Maru 2.




Here is the link to the PDF report. See page 12, item 15:





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