For those of you looking to Support Captain Watson and First Mate Hammarstedt of the show whale wars the following link is one way to show your support and have a voice in the visa matter at hand.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com...stop-illegal-whaling

No thanks...

FLUSA - I'm a U.S. citizen, so explain to me why this visa issue is any of my business. Why should I be telling Australia how to run its visa program? Or can the petition only be "signed" by Australian citizens? (I didn't go to the link since I refuse to go to any links posted by SSCS fanatics)

I wanted to click on the link, but have learned my lesson w/ the nefarious SSCS...

let us end the paranoia sage, it is not a " trap " . And I guess one really needs to spell things out here. Which I thought I did, I will try to spell it out completly this time.

If you want to support Captain Watson and First Mate Hammerstedt in regards to the visa issue, the provided link ( which can be signed by anyone since this link is for those outside of Australia which I did forget to mention )is a way to show that support.

If you do not want to show your support because you hate the SSCS and everything they stand for and you think P.W and P.H are insane, then don't go to the link and if you are a conspiracy theorist or are very paranoid about computer viruses then don't go to the link either.

So could you answer my question please. Why should a U.S. citizen be telling Australia how to run its visa program?

I didn't see where it was us telling Australia how to run their VISA program. Just a petition. Any idea how many people from other countries send petitions to the US in regards to issues going on in the U.S. ?

Hate to tell everyone this, but online petitions are as useful as toilet paper.

Why you say?

1. You can sign it multiple times, there is no way to check the legitimacy, which is main reason they are normally ignored and set aside. Signed by hand with an address is the better way to go.

2. If you can't vote they don't care. If you're not an Australian citizen they do not care.

Your petition is worded inaccurately.
Quote from source:"Despite having a visa granted every year and never having a criminal conviction," [ends]

Watson does NOT claim to have no CRIMINAL convictions; He is very careful to state that he has no FELONY convictions.
Quote,"I do not have a single felony conviction on my record from any nation in the world." [ends]
Both the tourist visa short stay ETA, and the business visa short stay ETA ask questions regarding criminal convictions. I do not know what type of specific visa the Australians are now requiring, as there are several business visa subtypes, but all application forms I have found ask about criminal convictions.


Another quote fromsource,,"...our government has seen fit to tie up the process in an attempt to thwart the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's attempts to save our whales after requests to do so by the Japanese government." [ends]

If Watson has been improperly entering under a tourist visa, which does not permit one to work, he is hardly being picked on by requiring him to enter Australia under the proper type of visa. You certainly can't claim that the SSCS campaign is a sightseeing voyage; this is what he does for living and he is paid for it.

Done

Atomic_Canadian hit the nail on the head.
Online petitions are useless.
They only serve one purpose and that is to make the petitioner and signers get a warm fuzzy feelingsthinking that they are actually doing something good.

Heck, y'all might as well send around a paper written in crayon saying "Do you support PW? if the answer is yes check this box."

quote:

Originally posted by pnw_farmboy:
Atomic_Canadian hit the nail on the head.
Online petitions are useless.
They only serve one purpose and that is to make the petitioner and signers get a warm fuzzy feelingsthinking that they are actually doing something good.

Heck, y'all might as well send around a paper written in crayon saying "Do you support PW? if the answer is yes check this box."

Online petitions are just a way to make useless people feel useful and good about doing literally nothing to support their cause. It's like saying "Here give these spammers your email so they can spam you after you give yourself a reason to feel pretentious."

It also allows them to say "DONE" as a sign of great accomplishment. wow

quote:

Originally posted by sinnical:
It also allows them to say "DONE" as a sign of great accomplishment. wow

Hey now, certain people can only accomplish so much with their pathetic lives. Let's just "give" this to those people. If we don't they might snap and, I don't know, throw a glass bottle of acid at us or something.

We can't be against what Paul Watson and Peter Hammerstadt stand for without being conspircay theorists,think that they are insane or paranoid about computer viruses?
I am against what they are doing because they show no concern for their crew members,show little to no aptitude for the duties of the titles that they claim for themselves and because their tactics are not only terroristic but dangerous to anyone within view of their vessel.
That's why I wouldn't sign this online petition.I don't sign them anyway for some of the reasons listed by others.The main one is I don't think online petitions are very effective.

quote:

Originally posted by FLUSA:

If you do not want to show your support because you hate the SSCS and everything they stand for and you think P.W and P.H are insane, then don't go to the link and if you are a conspiracy theorist or are very paranoid about computer viruses then don't go to the link either.