Jun 16 2010

Last Great American Whale

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

They say he didn’t have an enemy

His was a greatness to behold

He was the last surviving progeny

The last one on this side of the world

He measured a half mile from tip to tail

Silver and black with powerful fins

They say he could split a mountain in two

That’s how we got the grand canyon

Last great american whale

Lou Reed

Last Great American Whale

They are out there. Swimming through the waters of the Gulf. Leviathan.

King of the deep.

Some say they saw him at the great lakes

Some say they saw him off of florida

My mother said she saw him in chinatown

But you can’t always trust your mother

Off the carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day

The lighthouse glows ghostly there at night

The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor’s son

And he’d been on death row since 1958

The mayor’s kid was a rowdy pig

Spit on indians and lots worse

The old chief buried a hatchet in his head

Life compared to death for him seemed worse

The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing

And tried to conjure up a storm or rain

The harbor parted, the great whale sprang full up

And caused a hugh tidal wave

The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief

The tribe let out a roar

The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free

But sadly one thing more

Some local yokel member of the nra

Kept a bazooka in his living room

And thinking he had the chief in his sight

Blew the whale’s brains out with a lead harpoon

Last great american whale

The Sperm Whale population of the Gulf of Mexico has been estimated at approximately 500 animals. There survival has been tenuous up to now but they have managed to persevere. Now what chance do they have when every living thing in the chain of life is decimated? What will they feed on that has not been poisoned?

Well americans don’t care for much of anything

Land and water the least

And animal life is low on the totem pole

With human life not worth more than infected yeast

Americans don’t care too much for beauty

They’ll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream

They’ll watch dead rats wash up on the beach

And complain if they can’t swim

They say things are done for the majority here

Don’t believe half of what you see and none of what you hear

It’s like what my painter friend donald said to me

Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they’re done

Lou Reed

Last Great American Whale

Update:

The BBC has an interesting story on Sperm Whales. They may help oceans absorb CO2.

Sperm whale faeces may help oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the air, scientists say.

Australian researchers calculate that Southern Ocean sperm whales release about 50 tonnes of iron every year.

This stimulates the growth of tiny marine plants – phytoplankton – which absorb CO2 during photosynthesis.

The process results in the absorption of about 400,000 tonnes of carbon – more than twice as much as the whales release by breathing, the study says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci…

20 comments

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  1. flight log…

    “My God, What have we done?”

  2. only live in FL and Belize, and iirc there’s a slight genetic difference between the to populations.  

  3. ….we would be amazed.

  4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

  5. ….  link here

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…


    The whale was found Tuesday but its condition suggests it may have been dead for several days or more than a week.

    It’s the first dead whale that’s been found since an oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf in April, killing 11 workers. The whale wasn’t found in oiled water but the location of its death is unknown. NOAA marine mammal experts are working to determine the location from which the whale’s body may have drifted.

    somebody in Congress should subpoena the Feds to force them to show the picture of it.

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