killing 5 Gray Whales as symbolic of their 'cultural heritage'. Perhaps State and national lawmakers don't care, don't wish to be bothered, or think that this is another situation that Americans either, don't know about, don't care about, or won't bother to protest. It does seem that more and more frequently in our world today our 'laws' are no longer perceived as the important guiding principles of our Nation, but are instead considered to be merely left over icons or symbols of our Nation's and its peoples' once held ideals and values. If we think that this issue is unimportant, or that after all, we're only talking about 'one tribe' or only 5 Gray whales, I believe we need to analyze the situation more thoroughly and consider the overall impact of this 'scheduled kill'. According to 'Whales in Danger', an Australian enterprise focused on stopping the needless killing of these great marine mammals: "There is a Moratorium on whaling but since 1993 the slaughter of whales has steadily increased. Slowly at first, a few whales here, a few whales there. Not including Canada and other pirates there will be more than 1600 whales slaughtered this year. Now the Makah Tribe of Washington State is gearing up to slaughter California Gray whales, in the waters of Neah Bay. If the Makah succeed in their efforts to claim treaty rights to kill Gray whales - an action which is illegal for all other US citizens - coastal whaling will break out world