In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
Finally A Top Government Politician With Guts
gunpaq
Member Posts: 4,607 ✭✭
Finally A Top Government Politician With Guts!
Too bad it is a Canadian and not an American politician.
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean holds the number three position in the Harper government, equivalent to The Speaker Of The House.
Could you ever imagine Nancy Pelosi riding a skidoo across the artic, helping to skin a fresh killed seal and then taking part in a native custom of eating its heart raw? For that matter could you invision any of our top politicians stooping down to be one of the regular folks?
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean, although number three in the government, on this trip was not stooping down since she is first and foremost a regular citizen who is a servant of the people unlike our royalty in Washington, DC. My wife and I had the opportunity to meet her at a public event in Ontario and how refreshing to have a casual conversation with a top government official and without all the swarms of security we have in the US.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30945672/
Canada's governor general eats seal heart
Show of support for hunters comes ahead of a new European Union ban
Image: Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean
Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean eats the heart of a seal during a community feast in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada on Monday.
RANKIN INLET, Nunavut - Canada's governor general ate a slaughtered seal's raw heart in a show of support to the country's seal hunters, a display that a European Union spokeswoman on Tuesday called "too bizarre to acknowledge."
Governor General Michaelle Jean, the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, gutted the seal and swallowed a slice of the mammal's organ late Monday after an EU vote earlier this month to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.
Asked Tuesday whether her actions were a message to Europe, Jean replied, "Take from that what you will."
Story continues below #8595;advertisement | your ad here
Hundreds of Inuit at a community festival gathered Monday as Jean knelt above a pair of seal carcasses and used a traditional ulu blade to slice the meat off the skin. After cutting through the flesh, Jean turned to the woman beside her and asked: "Could I try the heart?"
'It's like sushi'
She swallowed a piece whole and deemed it tasty, saying: "It's like sushi. ... And it's very rich in protein."
Jean, whose post is largely ceremonial, defended the hunt as an eons-old traditional hunting practice that is not inhumane.
A spokeswoman for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas offered no official reaction.
"No comment; it's too bizarre to acknowledge," Barbara Helfferich said.
Animal rights groups believe Canada's annual seal hunt is cruel, poorly monitored and provides little economic benefit. Sealers and Canadian authorities say it is sustainable, humane and provides income for isolated communities.
Barbara Slee, an anti-seal hunt campaigner at the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Brussels said she was disgusted by Jean's actions.
"The fact that the governor-general in public is slashing and eating a seal, I don't think that really helps the cause, and I'm convinced that this will not change the mind of European citizens and politicians" because the deal is largely finished, Slee said.
EU governments are to sign the ban into law on June 25th after the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to impose the measure.
EU rule has some exemptions
The new EU rule offers narrow exemptions so Inuit communities from Canada, Greenland and elsewhere can continue traditional hunts, but bars them from large-scale trading of their pelts and other seal goods in Europe.
Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International Canada, said Jean's actions were misleading and offensive because of the exemptions.
"Inuit people are protected in the legislation. To suggest otherwise is deceptive on the part of the Canadian government," Aldworth said.
But, Newfoundland sealer Jack Troake chuckled after hearing of Jean's actions.
"That's great stuff," he said. "You've got some of these environmentalists that are going to jump on her, but I think she's strong enough. She can take that, I think."
Too bad it is a Canadian and not an American politician.
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean holds the number three position in the Harper government, equivalent to The Speaker Of The House.
Could you ever imagine Nancy Pelosi riding a skidoo across the artic, helping to skin a fresh killed seal and then taking part in a native custom of eating its heart raw? For that matter could you invision any of our top politicians stooping down to be one of the regular folks?
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean, although number three in the government, on this trip was not stooping down since she is first and foremost a regular citizen who is a servant of the people unlike our royalty in Washington, DC. My wife and I had the opportunity to meet her at a public event in Ontario and how refreshing to have a casual conversation with a top government official and without all the swarms of security we have in the US.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30945672/
Canada's governor general eats seal heart
Show of support for hunters comes ahead of a new European Union ban
Image: Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean
Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean eats the heart of a seal during a community feast in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada on Monday.
RANKIN INLET, Nunavut - Canada's governor general ate a slaughtered seal's raw heart in a show of support to the country's seal hunters, a display that a European Union spokeswoman on Tuesday called "too bizarre to acknowledge."
Governor General Michaelle Jean, the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, gutted the seal and swallowed a slice of the mammal's organ late Monday after an EU vote earlier this month to impose a ban on seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel.
Asked Tuesday whether her actions were a message to Europe, Jean replied, "Take from that what you will."
Story continues below #8595;advertisement | your ad here
Hundreds of Inuit at a community festival gathered Monday as Jean knelt above a pair of seal carcasses and used a traditional ulu blade to slice the meat off the skin. After cutting through the flesh, Jean turned to the woman beside her and asked: "Could I try the heart?"
'It's like sushi'
She swallowed a piece whole and deemed it tasty, saying: "It's like sushi. ... And it's very rich in protein."
Jean, whose post is largely ceremonial, defended the hunt as an eons-old traditional hunting practice that is not inhumane.
A spokeswoman for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas offered no official reaction.
"No comment; it's too bizarre to acknowledge," Barbara Helfferich said.
Animal rights groups believe Canada's annual seal hunt is cruel, poorly monitored and provides little economic benefit. Sealers and Canadian authorities say it is sustainable, humane and provides income for isolated communities.
Barbara Slee, an anti-seal hunt campaigner at the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Brussels said she was disgusted by Jean's actions.
"The fact that the governor-general in public is slashing and eating a seal, I don't think that really helps the cause, and I'm convinced that this will not change the mind of European citizens and politicians" because the deal is largely finished, Slee said.
EU governments are to sign the ban into law on June 25th after the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to impose the measure.
EU rule has some exemptions
The new EU rule offers narrow exemptions so Inuit communities from Canada, Greenland and elsewhere can continue traditional hunts, but bars them from large-scale trading of their pelts and other seal goods in Europe.
Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International Canada, said Jean's actions were misleading and offensive because of the exemptions.
"Inuit people are protected in the legislation. To suggest otherwise is deceptive on the part of the Canadian government," Aldworth said.
But, Newfoundland sealer Jack Troake chuckled after hearing of Jean's actions.
"That's great stuff," he said. "You've got some of these environmentalists that are going to jump on her, but I think she's strong enough. She can take that, I think."
Comments