Eco-Terrorism

You would think that a multi-billion-dollar War on Terrorism would not be limited to international terrorism, but would include some kind of action against eco-terrorists who attack chinchilla farms, throw dye on fur coats, burn down legitimate businesses and deliberately disrupt military training and testing.  I'm no lawyer, but at the very least, many of these cases appear to be organized crimes as defined in (18 U.S.C. § 1961), the RICO laws, and most of them probably constitute "interference with commerce by threats or violence" as defined in (18 U.S.C. § 1951).  So why aren't these people already in prison? Ironically, radical environmentalists, anti-war and animal rights activists destroy property and provoke violent confrontations in the name of non-violence.  Moreover, they are legally incorporated nonprofit organizations under U.S. tax law.*  However, many environmental activists don't even maintain the pretense of non-violence.  Some organizations, like the Animal Liberation Front, openly condone and endorse violent activities against legal businesses, and even offer detailed advice about what to do and how to get away with it. More information about misguided animal rights activists (mainly the non-violent ones) can be found here. Climate activists in Copenhagen protest coal use.  Hundreds of climate activists protested Saturday against the use of fossil fuels, but were blocked from entering a coal-firing plant they had hoped to shut down by chaining themselves to conveyor belts.  Police held back the 1,500 or so protesters from entering the coal- and oil-fueled Amagervaerket power station on Copenhagen's Amager Island, police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said. Spoiled green mob.  I've seen political mobs at work many times over the years.  They are bullies, anti-democrats and embody many of the aspects of historic fascism.  Rather than bowing to the often frustrating but ultimately civilized electoral process, they attempt to promote their views through dominating the majority and using physical violence.  As such they run directly contrary to Canadian freedoms and decency.  Such a political mob was what we saw Monday [10/26/2009] when more than 100 climate change zealots tried to storm the House of Commons in Ottawa because, they believed, their views and concerns were more important and more authentic than anybody else's. Civil unrest has a role in stopping climate change, says Gore.  Al Gore has sought to inject fresh momentum into the Copenhagen build-up, saying he is certain Barack Obama will attend and predicting a rise in civil disobedience against fossil-fuel polluters unless drastic action is taken over global warming.  Amid increasing incidents of climate protesters disrupting the operations of fossil-fuel industries and airports in Britain and elsewhere, Gore suggests the scale of the emergency means non-violent lawbreaking is justified. ELF Claims Responsibility For Radio Tower Sabotage.  An environmental extremist group has claimed responsibility for toppling two towers near Snohomish owned by a sports radio station.  The Earth Liberation Front group took responsibility for the act on its Web site Friday [9/4/2009].  The towers were brought down with a trackhoe. 2 radio towers in Washington state toppled.  Two radio station towers were toppled early Friday, and the station's manager said an ecoterrorist group's initials were left at the scene.  An e-mail to a newspaper said the Earth Liberation Front was responsible. WAEB radio tower toppled in Whitehall; FBI called in.  A 350-foot-tall WAEB radio tower crashed to the ground early Friday [9/4/2009] in Whitehall Township after its support cables were cut, township police said.  Five hours later, two radio towers near Everett, Wash., were knocked to the ground by a bulldozer in what officials feared was an act of eco-terrorism. Media bias alert! "Officials feared" it was an act of eco-terrorism?  As if they're not sure?  I think if the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the damage and left their calling card at the scene of the crime, we can say with some certainty that it was an act of eco-terrorism.  There is no reason for the newspaper writers to leave any doubt in the readers' minds. Supreme Court sets precedent over animal rights activist attack.  Sweden's Supreme Court has upheld a landmark ruling in which a 30-year-old animal rights activist was convicted for his involvement in storming the premises of four companies and harassing members of staff. FBI's newest 'Most Wanted' terrorist is American.  A fugitive animal rights activist believed to be hiding outside the United States has become the first domestic terror suspect named to the FBI's list of "Most Wanted" terrorists.  Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist from Berkeley, Calif., is wanted for the 2003 bombings of two corporate offices in California. 1st U.S. terror suspect on Most Wanted list.  An investigation that has "basically come to a dead end" led the FBI to add the first domestic-terror suspect to the bureau's list of Most Wanted Terrorists.  Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old animal rights activist, is under indictment for the 2003 bombings of two San Francisco Bay Area companies linked to an animal-testing laboratory. Appeals court overturns convictions in 2003 SUV vandalism.  A federal appeals court overturned a Caltech graduate student's convictions on two counts of arson for his role in the 2003 torching of several SUVs at San Gabriel Valley car dealers, attacks authorities blamed on a radical environmentalist group. Two California animal rights activist accused of stalking, threats against researchers.  Two animal rights activists were charged Monday with conspiracy, stalking and other crimes against researchers at University of California, Los Angeles and executives of a juice company.  Linda Faith Greene, 61, and Kevin Richard Olliff, 22, pleaded not guilty to the charges during their arraignment in Superior Court. More than 100 campaigners arrested over 'power station plot'.  Officers swooped on environmental protesters as they prepared a mass raid that could have disrupted supplies to tens of thousands of homes. ... Detectives later revealed they recovered specialist equipment that suggested the group represented a "serious threat" to the station's safety. The New Vigilantes and their Unaccountable Enablers.  [Scroll down]  How soon before we see this same kind of anarchic domestic terrorism on this side of the Atlantic?  It's already here.  Animal-rights terrorists have firebombed researchers' homes, Molotov cocktail-bombed their cars, and been convicted of inciting threats, harassment and vandalism against employees of a private company engaged in animal research.  Environmental terrorists have set private real estate developments on fire. The Truth About Terror.  On February 12, the U.S. Congress held a hearing on eco-terrorism — that ugly homegrown branch of the environmental and animal rights movements.  Called to testify was Craig Rosebraugh, former spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which took credit for 137 attacks in 2001 — many of them coming after September 11.  Asked about the terrorist operations of ELF, Rosebraugh pled the Fifth Amendment over 50 times.  While hiding behind the Constitution, he also attacked it, refusing to affirm that it represents the law of our nation. Who Will Defend Industry from Eco-Terrorism?  Few of us intellectually grasp, and then rise to defend, the irreplaceable values under attack by environmental terrorists.  Their targets are not, fundamentally, a particular ski resort, logging company, meatpacking center or medical research project, but what these represent: human technology, human progress, human life. Could ecoterrorists let slip the bugs of war?  The terrorists' letter arrived at the Mayor of Los Angeles's office on November 30, 1989.  A group calling itself "the Breeders" claimed to have released the Mediterranean fruit fly in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and threatened to expand their attack to the San Joaquin Valley, an important centre of Californian agriculture.  With perverse logic, they said that unless the Government stopped using pesticides they would assure a cataclysmic infestation that would lead to the quarantining of California produce, costing 132,000 jobs and $13.4 billion in lost trade. Four animal activists arrested for allegedly harassing UC researchers.  Four animal activists have been arrested for their alleged roles in attacking and harassing animal researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz over the last 18 months, the FBI announced Friday [2/20/2009].  The arrests are a breakthrough in the investigation of attacks against a number of University of California animal researchers that have long frustrated police and school officials. Animal Rights, Human Wrongs.  Animal rights extremism — which the FBI has labeled the biggest domestic terrorism threat — has encountered a number of serious reverses recently.  These reverses are a great victory for science, free inquiry and public health.  In particular, Americans could learn from a popular movement in the UK that is standing up to the threats and intimidation of the animal "liberation" movement and asserting the moral arguments for animal testing. Animal rights extremists target UCLA researcher in arson attack.  Animal rights activists destroyed one vehicle and badly damaged two others in a Palms-area arson attack last week, authorities said.  The incident occurred Nov. 20 and appears to be part of a botched attempt to target a UCLA animal researcher, authorities said.  Activists with the group Students and Workers for the Liberation of UCLA Primates claimed responsibility for the attack, stating on an animal rights website that the destroyed car belonged to Goran Lacan, a UCLA "vivisector." Wanted:  Daniel Andreas San Diego for Eco-Terror Bombings.  Daniel Andreas San Diego grew up in a safe and quiet suburb of San Francisco, the son of a city manager in California's affluent Marin County.  Now 30, he swore off drugs and drink as a young man — and even milk and meat — but the straight-edge San Diego was no straight shooter.  "He looks like a personable young man," says David Strange, the FBI agent who's been following San Diego's case for five years.  But San Diego's bespectacled face masks a violent hate that authorities say turned him into an eco-terrorist, a vicious vegan with an ax to grind. Hundreds of mink set loose from Utah farm.  Animal rights activists broke into a mink farm and released hundreds of the animals from their pens, police said.  Lindsey McMullin said "animal rights terrorists" hit his South Jordan farm, about 18 miles south of Salt Lake City, the morning of Aug. 19 [2008] and released about 600 mink.  Breeding records were also destroyed, he said. Update: 3 Utahns with animal-rights group claim they freed minks.  Three Utah members of the Animal Liberation Front claimed credit Monday for breaking into a Kaysville farm early Sunday, destroying property and releasing thousands of minks.  A statement posted on the ALF Web site states that the group entered the farm, released the minks and destroyed all breeding records.  It states that they destroyed an electrical fence, vandalized trucks and equipment and cut about 100 holes in the perimeter fence. FBI Investigating Terror Attacks on California Scientists.  Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz are victims of the latest in a surge of firebomb attacks against animal researchers.  One scientist was forced to flee his home with his children after a bomb was ignited on his porch. Scientists Targeted in California Firebombings.  Early Saturday morning [8/2/2008], a Molotov-cocktail-like device set fire to the home of a developmental neurobiologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).  His family escaped by climbing down a fire escape from a second-story window.  Around the same time, a similar device destroyed the car of another UCSC researcher. Two UC-Santa Cruz Researchers Victims of Firebombing.  The university is calling the most recent attacks "criminal acts of antiscience violence," and Santa Cruz police are calling the house fire an act of domestic terrorism and are treating it as an attempted homicide, according to the Chronicle. Pamphlets threatening UC-Santa Cruz researchers found at coffee shop.  The flyers, which police are investigating as threats of a possible attack following a string of incidents this winter, target scientists who use mice, fruit flies and other animals in their work. The Editor says... THAT is what all this is about?  Special rights and privileges for fruit flies and mice? Firebombs show new tactics of animal activists.  Two firebombs targeting UC Santa Cruz biologists appear to mark an escalation in violence by militant opponents to animal research, a transition from threats and harassment to acts of terrorism and attempted homicide, authorities said Monday [8/4/2008].  "There has definitely been an increase in the volume of harassment, and now we've seen an increase in the stakes of the violence that they're willing to spread in the name of this cause," Santa Cruz police Capt. Steve Clark said.  "This signals a new level of aggressiveness." The war on scientists in America:  Extremist animal rights groups have organized anonymously to intimidate and terrorize medical researchers until they abandon their studies out of fear for their children's safety and their own peace of mind.  They perfected the art of intimidation in the United Kingdom.  First, extremists vandalized research labs.  Then, they targeted companies that did business with researchers.  In 2004, activists finally went too far when they dug up the remains of the mother-in-law of a guinea-pig breeder. Santa Cruz firebombs look familiar.  The devices used in two firebombings targeting UC Santa Cruz biologists are similar to some used in the past by animal rights activists, investigators said Sunday [8/3/2008].  The bombs were so powerful they were like "Molotov cocktails on steroids," said Santa Cruz police Capt. Steve Clark. Animal Liberation Front renews its threat to Oxford.  Animal rights campaigners are threatening a new wave of attacks on Oxford University as its biomedical laboratory nears completion.  Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front have been waging a campaign of arson and vandalism since work on the controversial facility — which will house all of the university's animal testing labs — began in 2004. Eco-Freaks.  Eco-terrorism is simply another form of terrorism. We have long since gone past Earth First's simple spiking of trees, which itself resulted in severe injuries and should not be trivialized.  But now these groups are perpetrating acts of destruction with the some of the same characteristics — such as the use of cells and timing-device explosives — that we associate with terrorism aimed at foreign policy.  As the Christian Science Monitor has reported, "somewhere along the way, vandalizing log trucks and 'liberating' lab rats escalated into firebombs, plots to blow up electrical towers and dams, code names, and anonymous communiqués boasting of destroying millions of dollars in property." American terrorist:  The terrorists behind the American firebombs were not Islamic fanatics, but animal-rights jihadists bent on harming and intimidating scientists who conduct medical research on animals.  They also have targeted employees of businesses that might work with researchers, as well as harassed the spouses and young children of researchers.  Americans for Medical Progress President Jacquie Calnan warned that the latest incident "marks a disturbing escalation in the tactics of intimidation and harassment." Acts of Ecoterrorism:  A list of self-proclaimed Earth Liberation Front ecoterrorism acts. Yes, They're Terrorists.  Lawyers for the people who pled guilty and are now being sentenced for a crime spree that included the 1998 Vail Mountain arson naturally argue that their clients are not terrorists, no indeed. … Chelsea Gerlach's attorney argued that Gerlach's name didn't belong on a list of terrorists that included Timothy McVeigh, among others. Eco-Terrorism:  When Violence Becomes An Environmentalist Tactic.  Violence by environmental radicals has become depressingly common in the U.S. Radical eco-terrorists commit arson and corporate sabotage, and some groups have a decentralized structure that seems modeled after jihadists' diffuse networks of terrorist cells.  Regrettably, mainline environmentalist groups have not taken a lead in denouncing direct-action radicals who care little about human life. Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law.  The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday.  In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage. Briefly Noted:  A federal judge in Oregon has sentenced convicted eco-terrorist Kevin Tubbs to a prison term of 12 years and seven months for his role in setting fire to a police substation, a forest ranger station, a dealership selling sport utility vehicles, and a tree farm.  Tubbs is a member of The Family, a cell of the radical groups Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front.  "Fear and intimidation can play no part in changing the hearts and minds of people in a democracy," U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken said at sentencing. Violin teacher sentenced to six years in prison for UW arson.  Briana Waters, a California woman convicted in March of assisting in the 2001 arson that destroyed the University of Washington's Urban Horticulture Center, was sentenced this morning to six years in prison. … Federal prosecutors sought the 10-year sentence under a "terrorism enhancement" because they claimed the arson met the legal definition of a violent act "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion," according to a court filing. Global Warming Hypocrites.  I've come to the conclusion that many of these people are mentally ill.  They won't accept any rational opposition, scientific or otherwise, that refutes the global warming theory.  Drew Johnson reported that after his organization first revealed Al Gore's electric bill to the general public, his group received a number of death threats.  Their computers were hacked.  Phoned obscenities were common. Coal train ambushed near power station in climate change protest.  Climate change campaigners halted a coal train yesterday [6/13/2008] outside Drax, Britain's biggest power station, and shovelled its contents on to the only line into the plant.  More than 20 tonnes of coal blocked the tracks as protesters strung ropes between the train and the girders of a river bridge as police watched from a distance. Gore's Rebellion.  Speaking last Wednesday [9/24/2008] on a celebrity panel in New York, the Nobel Prize Laureate proclaimed:  "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration."  He added, "clean coal does not exist."  Mr. Gore didn't explain how far he thinks his young acolytes should go in their rage against the coal-burning machines that provide about 50% of U.S. electricity.  Sit-ins?  Marches against power plants?  How about trashing power lines:  What could he mean by "civil disobedience"? The War on Animal Research.  This is an edited excerpt from The Animal Research War by P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in May 2008. Eco-terrorists top the FBI's threat list after wave of arson attacks.  It began 16 years ago with a meeting of disaffected environmentalists in Brighton.  Today the radical organisation they created — the Earth Liberation Front — is described as a decentralised al-Qaeda-style network and America's No 1 domestic terrorism threat. California Regents Sue Animal Activists.  It was late into the night when 25 people in ski masks descended on professor Dario Ringach's family home.  Pounding on the door, frightening his small children, they screamed into megaphones, "Animal killer!  We know where you live!  We will never give up!" The fight over what "green" means:  It was the People's Choice and Best in Show in the 2007 Street of Dreams, the Best in American Living for 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builders, and the first home in Snohomish County to earn a five-star rating as a Built Green home.  But with 4,750 square feet, a four-car garage and a location in a rural area where subdivisions aren't supposed to sprawl, was it really green?  The Urban Lodge was one of four mega homes burned in an act of arson this month near Maltby. Environmental Extremists Likely to Attack, Says NIE.  The most dangerous domestic terrorists in the United States may have nothing to do with Islam or Iraq but may be little-known extremists who regard violence against animals as akin to violence against people, according to FBI officials.  This week, a declassified portion of the latest National Intelligence Estimate for the United States warned that Americans can expect attacks from these groups within the next three years. Luxury Homes Burn in Apparent Eco-Attack.  Three seven-figure dream homes went up in flames early Monday [3/3/2008] in a Seattle suburb, apparently set by eco-terrorists who left a sign mocking the builders' claims that the 4,000-plus-square-foot houses were environmentally friendly. Fur dealers under attack.  Never before has Norway's fur industry been as under attack as it is now.  Some Oslo fur dealers have been the repeated targets of vandalism and threats, and even some established animal rights activists are calling the attackers "animal terrorists." They put the fur in furious. Arson Near Chicago Mayor's Home May Be Linked to Cougar's Killing.  Authorities are investigating whether an arson fire near Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's summer home in Michigan last month is linked to threats against the mayor from someone furious about the April 14 killing of a cougar that had roamed into downtown Chicago. Animal rights group turns its fire on celebrity meat-eaters.  Animal rights protesters have launched a series of angry campaigns against A-list carnivores.  They are shifting their focus from celebrities who wear fur to others who encourage the "exploitation" of animals by eating them.  In its latest campaign, Peta — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which became infamous for dousing fur-wearers in red paint — has launched an attack on the singer Jessica Simpson. Greenpeace activists board nuclear waste ship.  Three Greenpeace activists boarded the Atlantic Osprey carrier as it was making its way to Sellafield with a shipment of nuclear waste for reprocessing. Green group 'sinks whaling ship'.  Norwegian police say they are investigating a green group's claim that it deliberately sank a whaling ship last month.  Activists calling themselves Agenda 21 claimed responsibility for the sinking "to celebrate the end of commercial whaling in Iceland," according to a message posted on the US-hosted website….  The activist group said its actions were "a rational response to a world where tens of thousands of species disappear every year." The Editor says... Really?  Tens of thousands of species disappear every year?  Show me the list of species that "disappeared" last year.  One researcher has shown that the number of bird extinctions per decade is about one or two.  His page also has information on about 50 rediscovered species that were once thought to be extinct.  In the United States, according to the U.S. government, there are 69 species of endangered mammals, 75 species of endangered birds, 304 species of other animals, and 598 species of endangered plants.  [Source]  The notion that "tens of thousands" of species disappear every year is absurd, and the people who make such claims are evidently hoping that nobody will test their claims against the facts. Furrier's suit against animal rights groups thrown out.  The case of a Portland furrier who sued the city and animal rights activists was thrown out by a judge Tuesday.  Schumacher Furs filed the lawsuit against In Defense of Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for protests that eventually drove the store out of downtown Portland.  The suit charged them with a vulgar pattern of harassment that included public nudity, insults, obscene gestures and threats of physical harm.  The protests at the store began in late 2005. Schumachers ordered to pay $97,000 in protesters' legal fees.  A federal judge has ordered one of Portland's last furriers to pay nearly $97,000 in legal fees to the animal-rights protesters he has accused of destroying his family business. Protesters having a whale of a time.  Paul Watson is a walking thermometer.  Put him anywhere and you'll see how sick we are. … After all, this is the man who's already alienated even green groups by calling humans the "AIDS of the Earth", ramming whaling ships, demanding we slash the world's population by six billion, and boasting that he invented tree-spiking — which puts loggers in mortal danger if they chainsaw a sabotaged tree. UCLA:  Animal Research Leads to Threats.  A judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday [2/21/2008] against animal rights groups and activists accused of threatening UCLA employees and graduate students because they conduct research using animals.  The order by Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg forbids the activists from engaging in acts of harassment and threats of violence, and requires that they stay away from anybody who is known to be a university employee involved in animal research, UCLA's attorney John C. Hueston said. PETA infiltrates primate center.  For the second time in a decade, an animal-rights activist has slipped past employment screeners at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, taken a job as a monkey handler and accused the facility of routinely abusing animals. ALF ... Six degrees of separation.  Who at [the Animal Liberation Front] has not taken prescription drugs or taken their pet to the vet for treatment that ultimately led to some kind of drug treatment?  It is impossible for even the most stringent ALF anarchist to walk through life without using the benefits of animal testing. Ex-University of Chicago 'genius' turned ecoterrorist.  Two years after his 2002 graduation with honors as a double major in physics and math, [William] Cottrell was charged and convicted as one of the nation's first ecoterrorists of the post-Sept. 11 era.  He was found guilty of conspiracy and arson in the 2003 firebombings of Hummer and other sport-utility vehicle dealerships in the Los Angeles area to advocate a radical environmentalism.  Two conspirators remain at large. Fire set at UCLA scientist's house.  Authorities are investigating a fire caused by a device left Tuesday [2/5/2008] at a house owned by a UCLA professor who conducts animal research — the second time the house has been targeted in less than four months. 'Ecoterrorism' case stirs debate in US.  When law-enforcement agencies arrested 10 animal rights activists and environmental radicals 18 months ago, it was a major breakthrough in the fight against what officials call "ecoterrorism."  Among the crimes solved were a string of arsons and other attacks across five Western states totaling more than $40 million in damage. The Editor says... Just as in the case of hate crime prosecution, the thoughts, ideology and motivation of criminals should not be a consideration when it comes to handing out punishment.  Crime is crime regardless of what goes through a criminal's mind while laws are broken. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act:  On Monday, November 27, 2006, President Bush signed into law S. 3880, the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act," which expands criminal prohibitions against the use of force, violence, and threats involving animal enterprises and increases penalties for violations of these crimes. Why the FBI watches the Left:  In March 2003, I reported on a manifesto disseminated across the Internet by infamous eco-radical Craig Rosebraugh — former spokesman for the violent Earth Liberation Front — who called on fellow leftists to take "direct actions" against American military establishments, urban centers, corporations, government buildings and media outlets. Tree-sitter charged with threat to officer.  A leader of tree-sitters who oppose a proposed athletic training center next to UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium was charged Monday [2/26/2007] with two felony counts of threatening a police officer.  Zachary Runningwolf Brown, 44, was arrested Friday after he threatened to shoot a campus police officer, said UC Assistant Police Chief Mitch Celaya. With their heads in the trees.  Never before has so much been done for a cause so trivial.  The tree-sitters argue that in fighting to save some 100 trees, they are protecting "a healthy, functioning native oak ecosystem."  One problem:  The stadium property is not pristine wilderness.  Most of those trees owe their existence to UC landscaping.  "People call us crazy monkey hippies," one tree-squatter told The Chronicle's Carolyn Jones, "but this is the greatest thing I've ever done."  Except the tree squatters have achieved nothing. Senator Inhofe Applauds 65-count Ecoterror Indictment.  "FBI counter-terror experts have warned time and again that ecoterror is the most dangerous domestic terror threat our nation faces, and I applaud our Federal agents' ongoing efforts in cracking down on groups like ALF, ELF and SHAC in the name of protecting property and saving lives." Whaling acid attack terrorist act:  Japan.  Japan has expressed outrage after anti-whaling activists lobbed acid onto the decks of a whaling ship in the Southern Ocean and slightly injured two crew members, terming their activities "piratical, terrorist acts". Pom Bomb:  Fruit-Juice Diarrhea 'Terror Strike'.  Animal-rights terrorists say they've contaminated 487 bottles of trendy Pom pomegranate juice sold in stores all along the East Coast, including in outlets of at least two grocery chains that do business in New York City.  People who drink the juices will suffer "diarrhea, vomiting and headaches," the Animal Rights Militia promised in a communiqué. Activists' passion turns to violence.  Jennifer Kolar and Lacey Phillabaum seem unlikely criminals.  Well-educated young women passionate about environmental causes, they share a love of the outdoors and similar backgrounds.  Both grew up in Spokane and attended the same public high school. … But their activism morphed into something more dangerous — and now both are headed to prison. Airport protesters chained.  Environmental activists said on Thursday [8/16/2007] they had chained themselves to the gates of a small English airport to protest the impact of private air traffic on climate change. Conspirator in 1998 arson attack may get 10-year term.  [Chelsea] Gerlach is scheduled to be sentenced this month for her role in the fires as well as other incidents, including an arson at a meat plant and knocking down an electrical tower.  She pleaded guilty to the crimes in July.  Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 10 years in prison. Update: Radical Environmentalist Gets 9-Year Term.  By the time Chelsea D. Gerlach was 16, she was putting her passion for the environment into action.  She drove alone from Oregon to Idaho to protest a timber sale.  She spoke at a university conference here alongside professors.  Interviewed by her high school newspaper, The Axe, she said, "Our generation was born to save the earth."  Now Ms. Gerlach is 30, and although she may continue to be an environmentalist, a federal judge said Friday that she was a terrorist, too. ELF Arsonist Sentenced to 9 Years.  A judge sentenced a radical environmentalist Friday to nine years in prison for torching a police substation and a tree farm and for downing a power line, deeds the judge called acts of terrorism.  Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, 30, is the third of 10 members of The Family, a Eugene-based cell of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, to be sentenced. When Violence Becomes An Environmentalist Tactic:  Violence by environmental radicals has become depressingly common in the U.S.  Radical eco-terrorists commit arson and corporate sabotage, and some groups have a decentralized structure that seems modeled after jihadists' diffuse networks of terrorist cells.  Regrettably, mainline environmentalist groups have not taken a lead in denouncing direct-action radicals who care little about human life. Woman Pleads Guilty in University of Washington Ecoterrorism.  A woman pleaded guilty Wednesday [10/04/2006] to conspiracy and arson in the 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington's horticulture center, one of the Northwest's most notorious acts of ecoterrorism. … The fire on May 21, 2001, severely damaged the building, which was rebuilt at a cost of about $7 million.  The center had done work on fast-growing hybrid poplars in hopes of limiting the amount of natural forests that timber companies log. PETA & The ALF, Coming To A Theater Near You.  The radical animal rights group [PETA] is actively promoting a new film that glorifies the domestic-terrorist Animal Liberation Front (ALF).  Along with several leaders of the violent animal rights fringe — including ALF arsonist Rodney Coronado, maritime saboteur Paul Watson, and the murder-endorsing Jerry Vlasak — the movie includes an interview with PETA president Ingrid Newkirk.  In her close-up moment, Newkirk praises masked criminals for being "smart enough to know that they need to fight another day.  They don't want to be recognized by law enforcement." Animal activists escalate threats to brokerage's executives.  Animal rights activists are targeting executives of a Portland brokerage to coerce the firm into severing its distant ties to a global animal-testing company.  Activists held protests last December outside the houses of two of Wachovia Securities' top executives.  Then they posted photos of their homes on the Internet, along with their names, addresses and phone numbers. Activists Threaten World Food Supply.  When Kenyan biologist Florence Wambugu developed a virus-resistant sweet potato that promised to feed millions, the Earth Liberation Front destroyed her lab and her crops.  In another blow to scientific progress, eco-fanatics bombed a Minnesota plant genetics center to keep it from producing life-saving agricultural research.  When activists don't approve, poor people don't eat. Pennsylvania Toughens Eco-Terror Law.  The new law increases penalties for arson, criminal mischief, vandalism, crop destruction, burglary, criminal trespass, and theft intended to intimidate people who participate in lawful activities regarding animals, plants, or natural resources. Animal activist campaign backfires.  Extreme action by animal rights activists has backfired, according to a new poll that suggests British voters are now more supportive than before of medical tests on animals. People are fed up with protesters' thuggery.  Holding placards at peaceful demonstrations is acceptable.  Death threats, vandalism, posting names on the internet, even shouting abuse, are not. … I have hesitated in the past to use the word "terrorists" to describe such people but today's poll shows that only 15 percent of the public think that it is unfair to use that word. Animal rights group targeted UCLA professor.  The Animal Liberation Front tried to attack the Bel-Air home of a UCLA primate researcher with a "Molotov cocktail," but left it at the wrong house, an FBI official said. Ecoterrorism is real.  These criminal acts are wholly intended to intimidate and demoralize people to change their behavior and change public and political policy.  That is a classic definition of terrorism.  Attempts to soft-pedal the sabotage as somehow less ugly and threatening because it is aimed at property, not people, is insulting.  All of the fiery menace and destruction is focused directly at people who construct, sell or study things and ideas that offend and incense a radical minority. Animal rights arsonist is jailed.  An animal liberation campaigner was jailed indefinitely yesterday [12/7/2006] after he admitted carrying out an arson campaign against those he believed were linked to the animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences. Accused eco-terrorist to be deported to U.S..  Federal Justice Minister Vic Toews has ordered the extradition of Tre Arrow, who is being held in a jail in Victoria.  Mr. Arrow, who is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, is a well-known environmentalist from Oregon who fled to Canada after he was charged with conspiring to commit arson against two logging companies in the Portland area and causing $250,000 in damage in 2001. Judgment Day for Extremists.  Six of America's most committed animal-rights activists will soon find themselves entering cages instead of smashing them.  Along with their organization, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, they were convicted on federal terrorism charges in March.  Their campaign of fear and intimidation targeted employees, customers, and suppliers of a medical research laboratory that uses animals.  Yesterday [9/14/2006] in Trenton, three were sentenced to six years in jail.  The remaining three face sentencing this week and next. Greenie-Weenies Kill.  It's easy to become indignant — even enraged — with greenie weenies.  After all, "Eco-terrorists" have committed over 1,100 crimes with property damage at over $110 million in the past few years. Violinist mom charged with being US environmental terrorist.  A mother that gives violin lessons will face trial in the northwestern US state of Washington on charges she was an environmental terrorist, prosecutors said. Animal Rights Activists Convicted in NJ Federal Court.  Six animal rights activists were convicted in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey on March 3 [2006] of orchestrating a campaign of aggressive harassment and veiled death threats against persons associated with a pharmaceutical company.  While the jury rejected defense arguments that the activists' conduct violated no laws, the trial nevertheless reinvigorated support for the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, currently being debated in Congress. Jury convicts animal welfare activists.  An animal-rights group and six members were convicted Thursday [3/2/2006] of using their Web site to incite threats, harassment and vandalism against a company that tests drugs and household products on animals.  The group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, maintained its actions were protected under the First Amendment. Six Suspects Arrested for String of Eco-Terrorist Attacks.  From 1998 to 2001, terrorists in Oregon and Washington launched a series of very similar attacks on tree farms and botanical research centers.  In what officials have described as sophisticated fire-bombing techniques, the terrorists constructed fire bombs out of gasoline, road flares, batteries, and digital timers.  Some of the attacks occurred simultaneously at different locations, indicating collaboration. Are They Arsonists?  Dr. ALF Can't Decide.  Which is it?  Are these activists a bunch of committed restaurant, research lab, and SUV-dealership arsonists or just innocent bystanders?  [Dr. Jerry] Vlasak seems to want it both ways.  He told the Associated Press that raising animals for meat and fur "should be stopped by any means necessary.  If that means going onto their farms, releasing their animals and burning the place to the ground, that's morally justifiable." Indicted Eco-Terror Teacher Has A History Of Arson Instruction.  Animal-rights and environmental extremist Rodney Coronado … spent 57 months in prison during the 1990s for his role in an animal-rights arson that destroyed a research facility at Michigan State University.  Court records show that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) president Ingrid Newkirk "arranged … days before the MSU arson occurred" for Coronado to send her overnight packages containing stolen documents from inside the lab and a videotape of the arson fire being started. Arrested:  Yesterday [2/22/2006] in Tucson, federal agents arrested animal-rights militant Rodney Coronado on charges that during an August 2003 "revolution summer" event in San Diego, he taught a room full of activists how to make incendiary devices out of common household materials.  Coronado offered a similar firebomb-building demonstration earlier in 2003 during a "Conference on Organized Resistance" held at American University in Washington, DC. Rock Icon Endorses PETA, Violence.  Stop us if you think you've heard this one before, but another friend of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has gone on the record advocating violence in the name of animal rights. Six Arrested Years After Ecoterrorist Acts.  Two men were arrested this week in the 2001 burning of a building on a tree farm in Clatskanie, Ore.  But on Thursday [12/8/2005], after years of investigation, federal officials announced one of the biggest roundups yet of people involved in a string of ecoterrorist attacks in the Pacific Northwest dating to 1998. Grand jury indicts three for 'eco-terrorism'.  A federal grand jury indicted three alleged "eco-terrorists" on Wednesday [1/25/2006] on charges of plotting to blow up facilities like dams and cell phone towers.  "These three individuals planned to commit a number of dangerous and destructive acts in our region, all in the name of the Environmental Liberation Front," U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott told a news conference in the California state capital. FBI brands animal rights terrorists 'highest domestic terrorism' priority.  Testifying May 18 at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Animal Rights:  Activism vs. Criminality," John E. Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said "The Animal Liberation Front … is our highest domestic terrorism investigative priority."  In support of the FBI's stance, Lewis detailed animal rights activists' use of "improvised explosive devices" and "threats of more, larger bombings and even potential assassinations of researchers, corporate officers, and employees." Statement of John E. Lewis Before the Senate Judiciary Committee May 18, 2004:  Good morning Chairman Hatch, and members of the Committee, I am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you and discuss the threat posed by animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists in this country, as well as the measures being taken by the FBI and our law enforcement partners to address this threat, and some of the difficulties faced by law enforcement in addressing this crime problem. 11 People Indicted in Ecoterrorism Plot.  Eleven people were indicted in a series of arsons in five Western states that have been claimed by the radical groups Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, the Justice Department said Friday [1/20/2006].  The 65-count indictment said the suspects are responsible for 17 incidents in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, including sabotaging a high-tension power line, in a conspiracy that dates back to 1996. Eco-Terrorists Firebomb Washington Homes.  Eco-terrorists affiliated with the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) torched one suburban Seattle home and attempted to firebomb another in an April 13 night of terror, say federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigators.  Nobody was hurt in the attacks, although police narrowly escaped harm when a firebomb planted in one of the homes failed to ignite. The Rainforest Action Network:  Major corporations are in the crosshairs of the Rainforest Action Network.  This radical environmentalist group regularly resorts to illegal "direct action" tactics and even exploits school kids in order to intimidate and shake down its business adversaries.  So why does the IRS still grant RAN tax-exempt status? Equator Principles:  Bad for business and freedom.  Following the lead of Willie Sutton who said he robbed banks "because that's where the money is", the Rainforest Action Network, an anti-business activist organization, has systematically intimidated the largest U.S. banks to adopt RAN's vision of corporate social responsibility.  RAN wants to hold banks responsible for the social and environmental impacts of their loans in developing countries. Greenpeace intruders arrested.  Three Greenpeace activists were arrested Thursday and charged with mischief after they boarded an ore carrier hauling coal across Lake Erie to a power plant in Ontario.  Five activists initially boarded the Algomarine in a bid to delay the delivery of nearly 30,000 tonnes of coal to the Nanticoke power plant and draw attention to the issue of global warming, said Greenpeace spokeswoman Joslyn Higginson. Greenpeace accused of piracy.  Two Greenpeace vessels, the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise, have spent the past week engaged in a cat and mouse game with a fleet of six whaling ships. Japanese claim second attack.  A Japanese whaling group has accused the Sea Shepherd activist group of attacking a second ship in the Southern Ocean. Sea Shepherd running out of fuel.  Activists who have halted Japan's whaling in the Antarctic Ocean are were set to return to shore because they are running out of fuel.  The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's announcement came two days after the more mainstream environmental movement Greenpeace also said it was ending its pursuit of Japan's controversial annual whaling expedition. The Editor says... Running out of fuel?  How can that be?  Don't they use "renewable" wind and solar energy? Salmon sabotage feared.  The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has asked Norway's salmon industry to be vigilant to the threat of sabotage from militant environmentalists after several facilities have been damaged. Ecoterrorist Will Spend Seven Years in Federal Prison.  A federal judge ruled on April 18 [2005] that 24-year-old William Jensen Cottrell should serve more than seven years in federal prison and pay more than $3.5 million in restitution for an August 2003 firebombing spree that damaged or destroyed some 125 sport utility vehicles at dealerships and homes outside Los Angeles. PETA's ties to terrorism:  Should PETA be investigated for possible ties to terrorist groups like the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, two domestic terror groups responsible for a series of arsons, bombings, and other violent acts that have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage? Animal rights terrorists threaten our safety.  We must be willing to speak out against these acts of terror.  To date they've destroyed over 100 million dollars worth of property and their rhetoric and actions are becoming increasingly more violent. Animal extremism versus human rights:  Last month the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the Senate that animal rights extremists, along with eco-terrorists, pose one of the most serious and fastest-growing national terrorist threats.  Unlike such organizations as the Animal Liberation Front, PETA takes no credit for such actions as torching laboratories.  But it does support them both vocally and financially. Fur flies as Elle tries to escape contract.  Elle Macpherson is trying to get out of a $2.3 million contract to promote fur after receiving a threat from animal rights activists.  The 42-year-old model, who signed on as the new "face" of Blackglama mink in July, believes she will be terrorised by anti-fur extremists. Anti-fur group cream pies American Vogue's Wintour.  French anti-fur activists said they struck Anna Wintour, editor of the U.S. edition of Vogue, in the face with a cream pie on Saturday to protest against her support for the use of animal fur by the fashion industry. Bomb attack on Glaxo executive.  Animal rights activists have targeted an Oxford college and the chief executive of a pharmaceutical company in a fresh wave of attacks. Ecoterrorism redefined.  The kind of activities they did, by today's terror standards, seem pretty juvenile:  pouring sugar into vehicle fuel tanks, cutting up seismic cable, pulling up survey stakes. … The name of their group was Earth First! — exclamation theirs. The Terrorist Wore Green.  Law enforcement officials say the threat of attacks from ecoterrorists has become greater than from the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and right-wing militias.  John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, says his agency has seen an escalation in violent rhetoric and tactics with attacks growing in frequency and size.  Harassing phone calls and vandalism now coexist with improvised explosive devices and personal threats to employees. Animal rights activists face trial under terror law.  New Jersey is using an anti-terrorism law for the first time to try six animal rights activists charged with harassing and vandalizing a company that made use of animals to test its drugs.  Prosecutors say the activists used threats, intimidation and cyber attacks against employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences, … with the intention of driving it out of business. Green bigots international.  First they destroyed the gasoline station, so that you have to drive miles out of your way to get gas.  Then they destroyed a parking lot.  Now they want to destroy a dam and a reservoir that supplies more than 2 million people with water.  No, these are not al-Qaeda terrorists.  These are our own home-grown fanatics — and the places mentioned are all in Yosemite National Park. The animal-right extremists.  Animal-right fanatics have gained infamy by firebombing university laboratories, sending envelopes rigged with razorblades to researchers, and dousing fur coats with lighter fluid and igniting them — while still on the backs of their owners. Environmentalism:  Freedom's Foe for the '90s.  In April 1987 the Animal Liberation Front torched a university research building in Davis, California.  In October 1988 the same group tossed paint and acid on the homes and cars of people working for the San Diego Zoo.  Bombs have been planted at British fur stores and, this year, at up-scale department stores around San Francisco.  Women wearing furs have been attacked on the streets of New York City.  One woman there was recently convicted for attempting to murder the president of U.S. Surgical Corporation, which uses animals to teach doctors surgical procedures; this animal lover was captured with two pipe bombs filled with nails. The Terror of "Animal Rights".  Thanks to intimidation by animal rights terrorists, Cambridge University has dropped plans to build a laboratory that would have conducted cutting-edge brain research on primates.  According to The Times of London, animal-rights groups "had threatened to target the centre with violent protests … and Cambridge decided that it could not afford the costs or danger to staff that this would involve."  The university had good reason to be afraid.  At a nearby animal-testing company, Huntingdon Life Sciences, "protestors" have for several years attempted to shut down the company by threatening employees and associates, damaging their homes, firebombing their cars, even beating them severely. Why animal activists forced widow, 67, to give up her fight.  Halfway down a remote country lane in Staffordshire, May Hudson leads an unremarkable life in a rented cottage, passing the time with word puzzles, television and walking her terrier dog.  Yet for the last five years Mrs. Hudson, a 67-year-old widow, has attracted the attention of an international animal rights campaign.  [She is the cleaning lady at a guinea pig farm.] Liberal terror:  The nation obviously has been focused very heavily on terrorism for the last three years.  Unfortunately, the overwhelming attention paid to foreign terrorist threats has tended to make people complacent about homegrown, domestic terrorism.  Those living in the Washington, DC area got a wake-up call on this last week, when an apparent group of environmental terrorists torched a housing development under construction in nearby Charles County, MD. The Mounting Threat of Homegrown Terrorism:  We have seen the results of ignoring early signs of terrorist threats; why are we now disregarding the growing danger of eco-terrorism? Are Animal Rights Militants Like Mandela?  Jerry Vlasak is hardly the only animal rights crusader happy to pervert historic struggles.  PETA's "humane lecturer" Gary Yourofsky (a convicted Animal Liberation Front felon) insists that he's just like Gandhi and Jesus — and, in the same breath, condones violence and even arson. Blunkett told to treat animal rights extremists as terrorists.  One of Britain's leading research scientists yesterday [7/29/2004] urged David Blunkett to treat extremist animal rights protesters "like the terrorists they are". Lobster Liberation Front declares war on fishermen.  Police are investigating a claim by an animal rights extremist group that it was responsible for releasing a fisherman's lobsters, seriously damaging his boathouse and splashing red paint around his home.  The statement by an organization calling itself the Lobster Liberation Front included a warning that "the war against the lobster industry has begun". Animal Rights Leaders Predict Violence and Death.  The cast of characters at the recently concluded "Animal Rights 2004" convention including a tenured university professor, a self-described ocean-going pirate, and a husband-and-wife team seemingly dedicated to "animal liberation" by any means necessary. Ecoterrorist Hate Crimes on the Increase.  The Earth Liberation Front is taking responsibility for arson fires at three construction sites in an area in San Diego that had been used for agricultural purposes.  This is the fifth arson attack against construction sites for which ELF has claimed responsibility in 2003.  ELF claims to have caused $100 million in damages to private property since 1997. Environmental Groups Use Violent Tactics to Advance Their Agenda.  Radical groups like the Rainforest Action Network and the Ruckus Society are tax-exempt nonprofits that hold fundraisers and accept foundation grants.  They also destroy property, disobey police orders, justify violence — and get away with it. Did "Animal Rightists" Inject Rat Poison Into Swedish Meat?  Zealots have apparently struck another blow at the civility of modern society, this time in broadly-tolerant Sweden.  Swedish police are dealing with two cases in which "animal rights" activists may have injected rat poison into meat in supermarkets. Atkins lawsuit pushed by meat hating animal rights radicals.  The Center for Consumer Freedom has outlined the connections between PCRM and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), a subset of the terrorist Animal Liberation Front.  SHAC members have bombed cars and office buildings, threatened the lives of innocent Americans, and beaten at least one medical researcher while his family watched in horror. Animal Rights Terrorism Arrests Tied To "Mainstream" Animal Charities.  A five-count federal indictment accuses SHAC's leaders of terrorizing and stalking people because of their connections to disease research involving animals. Ecoterrorism is a Real Threat to Homeland Security.  We should bear in mind that the Islamic terrorism of Osama bin Laden isn't the only threat to life and property posed by extremist groups.  For years, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) have been carrying out acts of violence all across the United States.  The FBI believes that the two organizations have committed over 600 acts of terrorism over the past seven years. The Green Al-Qaeda:  You would think that at least some increased effort would be made in rooting out the evil terrorist cells that inhabit our own country.  These domestic terrorists have been hiding behind "Green" camouflage relatively undisturbed and unnoticed.  Since their acts of terrorism are done in the name of a tree, instead of in the name of Allah, many do not consider them terrorists.  This of course is false, because these eco-terrorists are just as deranged and determined to cause damage as the Islamic extremists are. Eco-Terrorists Stepping up Attacks Across America.  Environmental terrorists, already designated by the FBI as the nation's No. 1 domestic terrorism threat, ran rampant across America during summer and fall 2003. Eco-terrorists and the Truly Endangered Species:  An underground environmental group called Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claimed responsibility for recently incinerating four ski lifts and three buildings worth $12 million at Vail, Colorado.  Vail's plans to expand its ski area apparently clashed with environmentalists' plans to re-populate the "endangered" lynx in Colorado.  ELF destroyed this property "on behalf of the lynx" and warned skiers to ski elsewhere this winter. Should Nonprofit Tax-Exempt Corporations Promote Crime?  It is time for the IRS to reconsider whether corporations which promote crime or repeatedly break the law deserve tax-exempt status. If it decides that they do not, they should be subject to fines or revocation of their status. Animal Rights & Ecoterrorism: The Price We Pay.  Chronologies of Animal Rights and Environmental Terrorism [PDF file] Environmentalism, Eco-Terrorism and Endangered Species:  While mainstream environmental groups may try to distance themselves from the Earth Liberation Front and its "eco-terrorist" methods, the truth is that ELF did directly what mainstream environmentalists have been doing indirectly for years via the U.S. government's Endangered Species Act (ESA). In US, a rise of violent environmental tactics:  A war on terrorism is escalating in the United States, but it's one that has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.  This form of violence — which the FBI says is the most serious type of domestic terrorism in the country today — involves radical environmentalists and animal-rights activists, some of whom now vow that they "will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice…." Homegrown Terrorism:  Militant Environmentalism.  We have seen the results of ignoring early signs of terrorist threats; why are we now disregarding the growing danger of eco-terrorism? Environmentalism:  It's not about the pretty little animals.  Environmentalists are now taking their "case" to the streets.  They are burning down buildings on Long Island because they feel suburban sprawl has gone too far. Environmentalism and Eco-Terrorism:  While few environmentalists openly endorse terrorism, most share this anti-industry sentiment.  And they have been busy zealously blocking (via "peaceful" demonstrations and political activism) industrial activities such as forestry, mining, electric power generation and petroleum production — activities beneficial to humans — in the name of "saving the environment." Terrorists with Tofu breath:  The national press, which has put a happy green face on the environmental movement for three decades, has largely ignored a recent rising tide of violence being waged by eco-nuts across the country — and around the world. American eco-terrorists declare war.  As war unfolds, Iraqi sleeper cells and al Qaeda operatives aren't the only threats we face on the domestic front.  Homegrown environmental radicals cast their own fatwah on America.  And they're not just talking about lighting tea candles while they sing Bob Dylan tunes in their Birkenstocks. FBI fears trouble from "extremist animal rights group":  The FBI alerted local law enforcement agencies Wednesday of potential violence over the Thanksgiving weekend from what it termed an "extremist animal rights group," said to be planning events in New York and New Jersey. Suspicious fire at mink farm has FBI looking at eco-terrorism:  Eco-terrorism cannot be ruled out as the cause of a fire at a Pennsylvania mink farm, because a radical environmental group has claimed responsibility for two other area fires this year, according to the FBI. 43 Indictments in Connection with International Animal Rights Extremist Group:  Twelve people allegedly linked to an international animal rights extremist group have been indicted on numerous charges, including attempted extortion, in connection with the alleged stalking, harassment and threats made to a Boston business executive and his family over five months. Acts of Ecoterrorism:  Reports of acts of ecoterrorism by and quotes from environmental organizations that have caused millions of dollars worth of damage and disrupted the lives of ordinary citizens. From Push to Shove:  Radical environmental and animal-rights groups have always drawn the line at targeting humans.  Not anymore. "Environmental Terrorism":  Western Governors, Bush Decry Fire Fiasco.  Fox News Channel reported that the area around Show Low, Ariz., once had many lumber mills, all shuttered now, the jobs they provided all gone, thanks to lawsuits by "environmentalists."  Show Low resident Marc Ridenour, forced to leave his home because of the fires, is furious at the groups of leftists that describe themselves as "environmental." Animal-rights fanatics:  Doctor Dolittle gone bad.  Seattle downtowners experienced a wave of fear last Wednesday [7/10/2002] as military-style smoke grenades were set off on the upper levels of two skyscrapers.  Could this be the latest al-Qaida plot hatched someplace far overseas?  Hardly.  It appears to be the work of an extreme fringe of the animal-rights movement right here in the U.S. Environmental Extremism and Eco-Terrorism: The Costs Imposed on Americans. Elusive radicals escalate attacks in nature's name:  While targets burn, FBI searches for way to strike back Episodes of "eco-terrorism" have risen considerably in recent times, especially in the Pacific Northwest, with at least 45 unsolved crimes against property in Washington and Oregon alone.  Meanwhile, groups like the Earth Liberation Front seem to exist only in cyberspace. Eco-Terror Expert Calls For Inquiry of Green Anarchists:  An expert on eco-terrorism is calling on the FBI to investigate an organization that is touting a nationwide tour to "destroy civilization" and raise money for convicted eco-terrorists, but a spokesman for the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Program said the agency is taking a hands-off approach for the time being. Environmentalists See Threat in Mandatory Gun Laws:  The city of Escalante, Utah, is thinking about making gun ownership mandatory, something that environmentalists see as a thinly veiled threat.  City leaders are expected to vote on a proposed ordinance that would require all heads of households in Escalante to own a gun.  The town of Virgin, Utah, passed a similar law earlier this year.  Supporters say such laws are intended to make a clear statement about Americans' individual right to bear arms. FBI Warns of Ecoterrorists:  The FBI recently issued a warning about the environmentalist terrorist group Earth Liberation Front, which has admitted carrying out costly arson attacks across the country. Environmentalists vs. Military Preparedness: The latest: Navy, environmentalists settle sonar lawsuit.  The Navy has settled a lawsuit filed by environmentalists challenging its use of sonar in hundreds of submarine-hunting exercises around the world.  The Navy said Saturday the deal reached with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups requires it to continue to research how sonar affects whales and other marine mammals. Supremes Save Sonar.  In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court decided Tuesday that the Navy can use sonar in its exercises off the California coast — despite objections from environmental groups, who say that sonar is harmful to whales and other animals.  Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that national security was a more pressing concern than the well-being of marine mammals. The Greens Get Harpooned.  The case concerned Naval training exercises off the coast of Southern California that have been conducted for some four decades.  The Natural Resources Defense Council and other green litigants sued to stop the use of midfrequency active sonar, which they say hurts or confuses whales, dolphins and the like.  The Navy had already adopted dozens of measures to minimize any impact on the life aquatic, and no one could point to a single documented instance of sonar-related injury to any marine mammal.  But the NRDC claimed the paperwork wasn't in order under certain federal statutes. Supreme Court Rules for Navy in Sonar Case.  Courts must be wary of second-guessing the military's considered judgments, the Supreme Court said Wednesday [11/12/2008] in lifting judicial restrictions on submarine training exercises off the coast of Southern California that may harm marine mammals.  In balancing military preparedness against environmental concerns, the majority came down solidly on the side of national security. Free (From) Willy.  The Supreme Court rules that an endangered country trumps an endangered species.  The U.S. Navy can now defend the U.S. against an enemy attack that would really ruin the environment. Batting Ninth.  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has made a cottage industry of serving up wacky decisions for the Supreme Court to reverse.  And yesterday [6/23/2008], the High Court agreed to swing at two more hanging curves next year.  The first concerns whether judges or admirals should command our Navy.  As we wrote last week, a federal judge in California has been trying, with the assistance of the Ninth Circuit, to order our sailors to stand down from training exercises that are vital to Naval readiness. Update: Navy approves plan for sonar training off Hawaii.  The Navy has adopted a new plan for training in Hawaii waters that it says will allow it to accelerate some exercises and hold them more frequently while continuing to limit the effects of its sonar on marine mammals.  The Navy created the training plan after completing environmental studies to ensure the plan complies with federal law. Pentagon:  Navy Can Keep Using Sonar.  The Defense Department gave the Navy permission Tuesday [1/23/2007] to keep training with sonar for another two years, a move denounced by activists who say the sound waves can harm dolphins and other marine mammals. Navy rejects California sonar limits.  The Navy says it won't comply with sonar training restrictions that aim to protect marine mammals off the California coast, arguing that the commission that imposed the rules does not have the jurisdiction to do so. White House Exempts Navy From Sonar Ban.  The Bush administration jumped into a long-running legal fray in California on Tuesday [1/15/2008], exempting the Navy from a law that environmental groups have used to prevent the use of a type of powerful sonar that is believed to harm whales. US navy sonar takes precedence over whales:  Bush.  President George W. Bush has exempted the US Navy from an environmental law protecting whales and dolphins from sonar devices used in military exercises off the coast of California, the White House said Wednesday [1/16/2008].  Animal welfare groups maintain mid-frequency sonar can disorient marine mammals with sometimes lethal results, while the White House argues the naval exercises are crucial to national security. Judge restricts Navy's use of sonar.  For the second time in less than a week, a federal court has found that a Navy anti-submarine training program threatens to subject whales and other sea creatures to harmful blasts of sonar and ordered protective measures in several sensitive zones, including one near Monterey Bay. Judges hold no rank in military chain of command.  Federal courts in San Francisco and in Los Angeles just ordered the U.S. Navy to limit its use of sonar, the underwater technology essential for tracking enemy submarines and detecting the ocean floor.  These rulings tie the Navy's hands and are the latest outrage committed by judicial supremacists. … The court rulings allow environmentalism to trump what the Navy needs to do to protect U.S. national interest. The Military Faces Foes on a Second Front:  The Shock Troops of Environmental Extremism.  Will some soldiers and Marines die in the Persian Gulf so that some gnatcatchers and other federally protected birds and animals in the United States may live?  Rigid application of the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws — spurred on by lobbying and lawsuits from "green" groups that are stronger on zealotry than common sense — is undermining military readiness. Nelson:  Oil rigs would interfere with military training in Gulf.  U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says the Bush administration is "hell-bent" on offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, with some gas rigs as close as 25 miles from Florida's shoreline.  But he says the military may prevent it.  Nelson told reporters in Tallahassee that the Pentagon needs restricted air space south of Eglin and Tyndall Air Force Bases, to test new types of jets and even secret weapons.  He said the Navy also does some weapons testing in the area, and can't have oil rigs in the way. Attention all ruthless Communist dictators:  If Senator Nelson is right — and he isn't — all you have to do is put up some offshore oil drilling platforms around your country and the U.S. military will be powerless against you. Under Siege:  The Left's Assault on America's Military.  Last year, Congressman Bob Filner wrote President Bush demanding the U.S. Navy unconditionally withdraw from training facilities in Puerto Rico for "environmental reasons."  Why would a United States Representative want to undermine the effectiveness of our military? Judge Tells Navy to Reduce Sonar Impact.  A federal judge ordered the Navy on Thursday [1/3/2008] to adopt measures that would lessen the impact of sonar on whales and other marine life during exercises near Southern California.  The preliminary injunction issued Thursday requires the Navy to create a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast and have trained lookouts watch for marine mammals before and during exercises. Navy, Environmentalists Face Off on Whales.  This week, environmentalists won a temporary restraining order to stop the Navy from using a high-intensity sonar during this year's Rim of the Pacific 2006 exercise, which had scheduled sonar use to start Thursday [7/6/2006]. Study fails to link naval sonar with whale strandings.  A year-long study has failed to explain why 36 whales stranded themselves along the North Carolina coast in January 2005.  At the time the mass stranding attracted much media attention because of possible links to military sonar. The Battle of Environmentalists versus the US Military:  As America's military deploys troops, armor, planes and ordinance to bases in the Middle East surrounding Iraq, they will do so after years of fending off another kind of attack, one by the massed forces of environmental organizations that have done everything in their power to reduce and restrict the ability of our military to train its soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen. Environmental Regulations Impede Pentagon Readiness:  With the United States in the second year of its war on terrorism, the nation's ability to prepare troops for the deadly business of combat is being undermined by environmental restrictions being applied to military bases around the country. Greens Continue to Hamper Military Training.  Military training across the nation has been hamstrung by environmental regulations and lawsuits.  For example, training for amphibious landing is severely controlled at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina because of beach restrictions during turtle-nesting season. Greens have undermined US military for years:  As America begins to mobilize to win the war against terrorism, the quality and capability of our Armed Forces is going to become an important priority.  For the years of the Clinton-Gore administration, following the Gulf War, the destruction of our military was the priority.  Helping in that process were the faceless bureaucrats, many still in place, pledged to environmentalism at any cost. Judge Ahab and the Whales:  In its storied history the U.S. Navy has defeated German U-boats and the British and Japanese Imperial navies, but we are about to find out if it can be whipped by whales and activist judges.  Welcome to the new world of lawsuits as antiwar weapons.  Editor's Note:   The following items can appear under the heading of "Military Preparedness" only if we assume that the Space Shuttle has something to do with military activity and national defense.  As I have asserted elsewhere, that would be the only way to justify the Space Shuttle as a Constitutional expenditure. Cause of Two Shuttle Disasters:  Enviro Dogma.  Now that a dramatic new test has confirmed that a piece of thermal insulation flaking off of space shuttle Columbia's external tank during launch was the most likely cause of its destruction during re-entry, the typical second-guessing in the press has focused on NASA engineers. Challenger, Columbia … what next?  When NASA's environmental concerns resulted in the tragic deaths of the Columbia crew, it wasn't the first time a space shuttle crew was lost because of misguided regulations and fads. Earth Worshippers Cause Death in Space:  Environmental dogma has led to the sacrifice of fourteen Astronauts on the Space Shuttle. Troublesome Organizations: The following list was compiled from material found at Activist Cash, a new website dedicated to exposing the ways in which many anti-consumer non-profit groups are funded.  Judge the merits of the groups and their missions yourself and, once you have, you can form educated opinions and decisions regarding where their money comes from. (Activist Cash Listed as Freedom Page of the Week) PETA:  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been described as "by far the most successful radical organization in America."  The key word is radical.  PETA seeks "total animal liberation," according to its president and co-founder, Ingrid Newkirk.  That means no meat or dairy, of course; but it also means no aquariums, no circuses, no hunting or fishing, no fur or leather, and no medical research using animals.  PETA is even opposed to the use of seeing-eye dogs. The Truth about PETA:  The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of them.  The story of them killing animals isn't even unusual.  According to PETA's own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the animals entrusted to its care — a number that's rising, not falling.  Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA's home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care.  A shortage of funds?  Nope:  last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine   is an animal rights group.  Less than 5 percent of its members are actual physicians.  The group's goals are to stop medical research that requires the use of animals, and to remove meat and dairy foods from our diet by demonizing them as "unhealthy." Earth Liberation Front:  Environmentalist, anti-capitalist, eco-terrorist organization established in 1992 by radical members of the group "Earth First".  Advocates "economic sabotage and property destruction" designed to "halt the destruction of the environment".  Responsible since 1997 for more than $95 million in property damage.  ELF has been declared America's top domestic terrorism threat by the FBI. Organic Consumers Association:  OCA works alongside the Chefs Collaborative, Center for Food Safety, and Friends of the Earth on the "Keep Nature Natural" campaign, which is designed to disparage genetically improved foods.  This campaign gets its operating funds from several organic marketers, including Whole Foods and Eden. Center for Science in the Public Interest:  The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is the undisputed leader of the American food police.  In its 30 years of public disservice, CSPI's joyless eating club has promoted questionable reports on soft drinks, fat substitutes, irradiated meat, biotech foods, coffee ice cream (does it really need a caffeine warning label?), and just about everything else that tastes good. United Poultry Concerns:  United Poultry Concerns (UPC) is led by the enigmatic Karen Davis and routinely protests the eating of chicken, turkey, ducks, eggs, and other poultry products.  The group can be counted on to launch a letter-writing campaign every year around Thanksgiving, attempting to lay down a guilt trip on those of us who choose to eat turkey. The Ben & Jerry's Foundation  was established in 1985 from a donation of stock from Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., the ice cream company founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. … BJF recently endorsed a document called the Earth Charter, which blames capitalism for many of the world's environmental, social, and economic problems. Greenpeace  was originally the brainchild of the radical "Don't Make a Wave Committee," a group of American draft-dodgers who fled to Vancouver in 1969 and, supported by money from anti-war Quaker organizations, got into the business of forcibly blocking American nuclear tests.  Over the years the group has loudly made its feelings known on a variety of issues (nuclear testing, whaling, and global warming, for instance), and its Amsterdam-based activist moguls pull the strings on what is estimated to be a $360 million global empire. A Look at the Environmental Working Group.  The EWG playbook is simple: The group targets an issue and releases a report, or participates in a "study," in order to promote the most alarmist findings.  Carefully orchestrated media coverage of these reports effectively creates a public health scare, be it breast implants, alar, unsafe drinking water, farmed salmon, or the EWG's latest blitz around mothers' breast milk.  The findings of these reports are largely based on junk science. Natural Resources Defense Council:  The NRDC is the utility infielder of nanny groups.  Because its name implies a wide-ranging universe of issues, the group can be counted on to inject itself into just about any debate where there's an environmental argument to be made.  Washington PR firm Fenton Communications has made use of the NRDC in a variety of public campaigns, the most famous example of which was the 1989 "Alar-on-apples" food scare. The National Environmental Trust  is really a public relations firm, but it sounds so good! Gang Green:  CRC lists the ten worst environmental groups. Web site:  Undue Influence dot com:  Tracking the environmental movement's money, power, and harm.  "The environmental movement is not what you think it is.  It is not about the environment.  It is about power." More material of this kind can be found at Green Watch. See also Product Attack Groups Master Page. Scare tactics — a form of low-level terrorism Caught in the Act:  Most environmental organizations portray themselves as selfless watchdogs whose mission is to alert the public to alleged risks.  They are quick to make demands, sound false alarms, point fingers and place blame.  Do they really perform a public service or are they just a public nuisance?  Several independent organizations reviewed activist scare-mongering activities. Air pollution risk exaggerated.  Exaggerating the public's risk from air pollution is no better than ignoring real air quality problems.  If society misspends scarce resources based on inaccurate information, more people will suffer, not fewer. Starbucks protestors spread false fears about safe foods:  As they did with the Alar-in-apples scare, activists often attack products associated with children — like milk and ice cream — falsely linking these products with horrible ills such as cancer to evoke the greatest fear among parents and the consuming public.  The harm and cost to consumers and farmers alike can be significant. Environmental Group Accused of Hypocrisy in Fight for Tree-Free Paper:  A California man is out to expose what he calls the hypocrisy of a prominent environmental group.  John Campbell, a Los Angeles-based Republican fundraiser, says the Rainforest Action Network sent out letters asking for financial help to "compensate for the extra costs of using tree-free paper," but actually used regular wood-pulp paper to print the letters. Behind the Environmental Working Group:  The EWG's main claim to fame is its anti-chemical fear-mongering.  It scares pregnant women about the non-dangers of chlorinated water and says that even one bite of some fruit sprayed with pesticides could cause "dizziness, nausea and blurred vision."  The group has also declared war on nail polish, hairspray, playgrounds, portable classrooms and ABC News correspondent John Stossel. Other related articles: World Wide Fund For Nature vs. World Wrestling Entertainment:  A Switzerland-based environmental group (once called the World Wildlife Fund) is suing a successful U.S. sports entertainment company (once called the World Wrestling Federation) because they share the same logo letters. George Soros:  A Bridge to Radicalism.  In 2001, George Soros' Open Society Institute donated $103 million to causes in the U.S. Much funding went to liberal and radical leftwing groups addressing a ranging of issues from opposing the death penalty to undermining property rights. The Philanthropy of the Celebrity Left:  Kim Basinger advocates animal rights.  Martin Sheen advocates farm workers' rights.  Holly Hunter advocates abortion rights.  Mike Farrell advocates death row inmates' rights.  Celebrity causes have become a cause celebre.  America's celebrity culture has spawned a new sub-industry — the philanthropy brokerage. Greenpeace donation transfers accidentally multiplied by 100.  Approximately 10000 UK supporters of Greenpeace who make regular donations by direct debit have have accidentally had their bank accounts debited by a hundred times their usual amount, with its software adding two [zeros] to the latest batch of direct debit demands.

Document location http://akdart.com/enviro5.html Updated November 7, 2009. Page design by Andrew K. Dart  ©2009