Posted on 01/09/2012 5:18:50 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Monterey biologist accused of feeding whale
SAN FRANCISCO ---- A marine biologist who runs popular whale-watching tours on California's Monterey Bay has been indicted for violating federal laws that protect marine mammals.
Nancy Black, a marine scientist whose work has been featured on PBS, National Geographic and Animal Planet, was charged Wednesday with four violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Her attorneys countered the charges by arguing that her interactions with the creatures were legal scientific research.
She was accused of feeding killer whales in 2005 during a research trip, and misleading investigators by editing video footage of her encounters with other whales during a whale-watching trip, and then lying about it. All of the alleged incidents occurred within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, one of 13 ocean sanctuaries established in 1992.
Prosecutors say the charges were filed after an investigation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Department of Justice. Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the DOJ, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for NOAA.
In addition to her scientific work, Black owns Monterey Bay Whale Watch and operates two commercial whale-watching vessels. Black has also worked with federal agencies on the study of whales, including the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, which is part of NOAA.
If she is found guilty of editing the video and then lying about it, Black could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a half million dollars in fines. Each of the feeding charges carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
According to the indictment, Black was asked to provide video taken from her whale-watching boat during an October 2005 trip that investigators believe included an illegal encounter with a humpback whale.
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
Wow ... up to twenty years in federal prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the crime of ... being nice to a whale?!? WTF?!?
The marine biologist is probably a tree hugging, global warming bandwagon liberal. But, federal prison time for this so called offense is just an abuse of government power.
I am blubbergasted!
The “progressive” commie libs don’t want their whales turning into a bunch of welfare queens always looking for free handouts.
I would think that Nancy is most upset about the apparent goatee and the hairy legs in the first pic.
Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time...don’t do it
More “laws we want you to violate,” courtesy of the federal government, ala “Atlas Shrugged.”
Ping
Wow ... up to twenty years in federal prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the crime of ... being nice to a whale?!? WTF?!?
The marine biologist is probably a tree hugging, global warming bandwagon liberal. But, federal prison time for this so called offense is just an abuse of government power.
To: DogByte6RERSo, what are you on the Group W bench for?
Being nice to a whale. And disturbing the peace...
2 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:22:04 2012 by null and void (Day 1083 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])Nancy Black steers the Sea Wolf II while Tony Lorenz watches for whales. The four-count indictment accuses Black of twice feeding killer whales in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary once in 2004 and again in 2005. (Chad Ziemendorf / San Francisco Chronicle)
To: null and voidWhen liberals are dragged off, they will be screaming “But I was on your side! I’m with you guys! Why are you punishing me? I support all your stuff!”
They always think they will be immune until the system they create eats them. It is why liberals love tyrants.
4 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:25:27 2012 by rlmorel ("A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." Winston Churchill)To: DogByte6RERShe deserves far more to get socked for the lying to investigative officials, than for actually feeding the whales, so long as she didn’t give the whales anything harmful. When giving a snack to a whale is deemed tantamount to a felony, we know the law has gone wilder than the whales are.
5 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:26:51 2012 by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))To: DogByte6RERWonder what the penalty would be for pulling a golf ball out of the blow hole.
To: null and voidAnd they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things,
To: DogByte6RERI just can’t keep up with this sh!t.
First it’s “Save the Whales” and now it’s “Starve the Whales”.
8 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:28:57 2012 by 2111USMC (Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.)To: bigdaddy45Oh ... was that the Seinfeld episode? I remember George pulling out a golf ball to impress a date.
To: DogByte6RER
To: DogByte6RERThe offense occurred in 2005. 6+ years ago. No statute of limitations for feeding whales, for goodness sakes?
The absurdity of the tree hugger regime is obvious for all to see.
11 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:33:22 2012 by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)To: null and voidYou can get anything you want...Great terrible song.
I hear it every Thanksgiving on the local NPR station.
/johnny
To: DogByte6RERMaybe she fed them McDonalds. String her up! s/
To: DogByte6RERStupid federales!!!! Oh wait, there’s 10 million illegals in California, and they go after a whale feeder.
14 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:39:53 2012 by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)To: DogByte6RERPure insanity, bureaucracy run amok, brought to you from the land of nuts and flakes.
15 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:44:10 2012 by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)To: rlmorelThey always think they will be immune until the system they create eats them. It is why liberals love tyrants.Pretty close.
They love it when their pet tyrants create systems to eat those other guys.
They are always astonished when they themselves inevitably are one of those other guys.
Hmmm, still not quite right. *grumble* *grumble* *grumble* *grumble* *grumble* *grumble*
16 posted on Mon Jan 9 17:46:40 2012 by null and void (Day 1083 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])Americas Government Is Preying On Her People
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To: DogByte6RERIf she smeared her face with shoe polish and smuggled 3,000 machine-guns to Mexi drug-dealers, she’d have NO legal charges whatsoever.
In fact the papers would be DESPERATE to avoid reporting about it.
Can we apply this "felony editing" charge to climate scientists who alter their data and "edit" their modeling results? If it's 20 years per infraction some of them are going to be in stir through the next ice age.
Can we apply this “felony editing” charge to the DOJ for
the “inaccurate” letter they sent the F&F investigation?
I would agree that the penalty for feeding the whales is not only *way* over the top (up to a year and a 100k fine for each count) but downright dumb. The biggest charge against her, however, seems to be tampering with evidence (i.e. the alleged edited videotape) and lying to investigators. That’s pretty serious business, no matter if it is in regards to feeding whales or a murder investigation. If Ms. Black did indeed do both those things she is accused of, then I don’t have much sympathy for her, to be honest.
Obama Birth Certificate Faked In Adobe Illustrator - Official Proof 1 ( Layers )
So you can get more than twice as much time in prison for feeing Twinkies to whales as Dan White got for eating Twinkies and then shooting two Democratic politicians dead?
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