I’m a wreck because my Seahawks are not favored to win today, and because I watched HBO’s NFL preview, saw some footage of the Carolina Panthers and said out loud, “OH SHIT!” (I’m gonna root for Denver over the Steelers cuz the Broncos are Steven D’s team, and Steven D is a real team player, a sharp man, and his family has all kinds of health issues today.) But, hell’s bells, the Seahawks is only about football, and I have far more serious issues to worry about.
I’m also a wreck because someone I know — but just barely, and it was years ago — was one of the “eco-terrorists” whose arrest Alberto Gonzales proudly trumpeted to the press, in an OBVIOUS attempt to show that domestic spying works. I’m not quite ready to rationally write about this yet, and I want to interview his sister and his wife first. He lives these days in Southern Oregon, and the local paper has done a great job covering his plight, and the angers of locals over his arrest. For all I know, he’s guilty, but the only thing I know is how bravely and selflessly he’s lived his life trying to save wildlife, to educate children about saving whales, endangered his own life to save whales from being harpooned, and living a eco-efficient, vegan lifestyle.
I’m very depressed about this. I’m almost afraid to say that I ever had communications with him and his wife. It’s incredible how this government can make one fearful. (Yes, I am ashamed of my fear, but I can’t help but feel it.) But I need to find the strength to do this. The last time I ever had any contact was by e-mail and phone, and that was because they paid me to help create their anti-whaling Web site. I never met either Jonathan or his wife in “real life.” One thing I particularly admired about Jonathan and Tami was that they attended the IWC (International Whaling Commission) hearings every year, at their own expense, wherever it was held: Tokyo, London, Australia, and on and on. They were there solely to fight for the whales, but were snubbed constantly by the official U.S. delegation.
The only non-MSM article I’ve found so far is an IndyMedia rant. (I find such haranques unhelpful, even if much of the report may be true.) My acquaintance’s name is Jonathan Paul, his wife’s name is Tamara Drake-Miller Paul (PHOTO ABOVE RIGHT — middle person), and Jonathan’s sister’s name is Alexandra Paul, most famous for starring in Bay Watch for five years but also an activist so dedicated that the ACLU named her Activist of the Year (2005).
I’ll write more … I promise … I need to sort this all out in my mind and get over my fear of getting involved (damn it all).
PHOTO RIGHT CAPTION: Tamara Drake waits outside the federal courthouse in Medford Thursday for a glimpse of her husband, Jonathan Paul, who was arraigned on federal charges of arson in the 1997 firebombing of a meatpacking plant in Redmond.
