In testimony before a Senate panel yesterday, top officials from the FBI and ATF bizarrely claimed that animal rights and environmentalist extremists are the nation’s most worrisome home-grown, terrorist threat, comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan. In response, Senate Environment Committee Chairman James Inhofe went even further:
“Just like al Qaeda or any other terrorist movement, ELF and ALF cannot accomplish their goals without money, membership and the media,” the Republican senator from Oklahoma said.
Inhofe said there was “a growing network of support for extremists like ELF and ALF,” and he singled out People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for giving money to members of both groups.
A US Senator is equating PETA with al Qaeda? Is he out of his fucking mind?
No… he’s a fascist, that’s what Sen. Inhofe is… and in his party’s calculated effort to stir up public support for a one-party state, he’s now equating environmentalism with terrorism. Let’s see now, Democrats are “enemies of faith,” and environmentalists are “just like al Qaeda”… what’s next? Will people who protest the Iraq War (or whatever war follows) be labeled “insurgents”? And will liberal bloggers like me be called “seditious” for writing about it? While I am still free to speak my mind, I have one thing to say to the Senator:
Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
al Qaeda isn’t HOME GROWN moron.
BTW- I assume you’re digesting Nicole Way’s deposition and will opine forthwith. However, in anticipation of your predictable Sims-wanking, the correct term is “fraud.”
Hello? Goldy?
I’m organizing a search party for your opinion!
Wrong thesis on Peta. They said Peta bad cuz of its financial support of alf/elf, same as financial support of Al Quaeda is bad. I’d agree, financial support of the IRA by Irish Americans, or Al Quaida by Saudis, or any number of terrorist groups by good meaning financial supporters is bad; they wither and die w/out the moolah
If PETA is giving money to ELF or ALF…they are just as bad. Goldy, why don’t you call your pals at PETA and ask them to denounce ELF or ALF and stop giving them money. End of subject.
Goldy, aren’t you libs big against the abortion center bombers? Why not equally against the guys who kill forest workers, etc.
what about the ELF crowd that burns down homes and then spray paints E L F on their actions? Do the Democrats support those actions?
Might I suggest that there is a mountain of evidence about the nefarious activities of domestic terrorist who are both orders of magnitude more dangerous than PETA, ALF, ELF, et al. and as fundamentalist, anti-modern, and downright evil as Al Qaeda? Read Orcinus for voluminous details.
You’ll find a link to Orcinus over there on Goldy’s link list.
chardonnay @ 6
I think it is fair to say that mainstream environmentalists, Democrats, and progressives reject ELF’s use of property damage to make their points.
In the same general sense, I assume that most right-wingers reject McVeigh’s use killing people and property damage to make his statement, as well.
Makes perfect fucking sense to me. Like the “war on drugs”, lets divert attention and resources away from REAL issues (like sealing our borders) and chase angry hippies. Cause everybody knows that theres nothing worse that hippies with a match and gasoline!
Oh, but hasn’t PETA, ALF and the ELF been around for decades doing this shit, and no one cared? How does vandlizing greedy snobs property, torching some underconstruction homes (that SHOUDLT have been premitted to be built in the first place) or infiltrating labs to confirm felony animal crulity a direct threat to national security?
Who has the hidden adjenda here? I dont think its PETA-ALF-ELF…
***what about the ELF crowd that burns down homes and then spray paints E L F on their actions? Do the Democrats support those actions?***
No we do not.
but you knew that.
so when you are not beating children to death trying to exorcise imaginary demons or trolling gay bars after midnight (seems all the cool republican’s doing it)
you might try thinking first before opening your liquored up mouth
Why do I even bother including links to my source material? Do you ever bother reading them?
Cynical @4,
righton @5,
Sheesh.
All…..
Peta activists, Alf @ ELF should be dealt with in the same fashion as any terrorist group.
hey marty, guess what? the ELF crowd is encourage by the lefts environ”mental” extreme views. CAO ring a bell?
prr @ 12 – Yep.. there is no difference between guys breaking into labs to set a bunch of mice free and people flying planes into buildings. Terrorists ALL I say!!!
So tell me, who’s died because of their actions? Anyone? When laws and rules are bent, broken or ignored for the expansion/continuation of corporate greed, and justice turns a blind eye, more power to THOSE who stand up for their convictions. If the law will not hold law breakers responsible, then vigilantism is what follows. Like the border issue. Whos really got more to loose here, Hippies or Corporate fat cats? We’re all aware that money talks and BS walks…but actions truly speak louder. If the CIA and FBI are soOOoo worried about ALF/ELF then maybe if the feds would look into whats driving the hippies crazy and do something about THAT, they’d find that their new “enemy” would be a great resource.
At the very least Ron Sims and the Pro CAO environmental wacko crowd are absolute thieves. No different than walking in to your garage and stealing your car, they have stolen over half of landowners land in rural King county without any compensation whatsoever and not even reductions in the property taxes we pay.
Ron Sims is a moron!
Goldy, you said, A US Senator is equating PETA with al Qaeda? Is he out of his fucking mind?
If YOU read your own link, you’ll see he compared Peta supportin enviro terrorists, with people financially supportin Al Queda. So perhaps he’s equating ELF with Al Quaeda but NOT comparing the funding folks w/ the terrorists.
Golly, all that cursing for naught.
ppr @ 12
Do tell me, where you would draw the line on whats a “terroist orginazation” and whos just being expressive? If it doesnt agree with your party line, should they all be shot? Maybe made into a food source for poor countries…for profit no less.
I know, maybe YOU could join Bolton as UN ambassator and use your bully-boy ways to force the non-conformists around. that should get those smelly hippies in line, huh?
How can they justify their compairison? Just by the sheer # of incidents? So the open borders are not nearly as concerning? ALF/ELF people would not intentionally kill another human being. It’s NO coincedence, it part of the MO (and the CIA know this).
Guilty of property damage, you bet. As deadly as Al-Qaeda, give me a fucking break! The Demo Senator has it right;
Sen. Frank Lautenberg said. After listing al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah, the Democrat from New Jersey wanted to know who else the law enforcement agencies considered terrorists: “Right to Life? Sierra Club?”Lautenberg declared himself “a tree hugger.”
And Sen. James Jeffords also issued a statement expressing doubt about the target of concern.”Congress can’t do much about individual extremists committing crimes in the name of ELF or ALF, but we can act to significantly enhance the safety of communities across the nation”…”ELF and ALF may threaten dozens of people each year, but an incident at a chemical, nuclear or wastewater facility would threaten tens of thousands.”
When Republicans start calling for gun control, Goldy, you’ll know the gig is really up. This “live grenade” with Bush charade may be a preliminary feeler in this direction to soften the public in that direction.
The notion of the right-wingers getting their long-sought dream of a one-party state is not without cheer. Think about what would be left in this nation after all the liberals, progressives, and intellectuals departed for places that prefer the 21st century to the 18th. All that would be left here would be the haters and condemners, the self-righteous screamers, the polluters and land-rapers, the bedroom police, the anti-civil libertarians, the anti-tax crowd, the science-denyers, and all the other nasties that compose the right-wing. Pretty soon, they’d have to start turning on each other (after they got done blaming Clinton for all their problems). Those who shaved would demand a ban on beards, those who believed grape juice should be served at communion would demand a ban on wine, those who insisted on prolonging the suffering of people in persistent vegetative states would execute those who might pull the plug. . . . Wouldn’t it be a joy to watch these people trying to live with each other without progressives around?
Bush’s approval rating is in the tank. People are pissed about congress too. I hope the republifuks keep it up. Say bye bye in 2006. Even the most stupid Americans are starting to get a clue.
Herbalizer and Lucy; alive at noon. Wow, rough day
Goldy,
“No… he’s a fascist, that’s what Sen. Inhofe is… and in his party’s calculated effort to stir up public support for a one-party state, he’s now equating environmentalism with terrorism.”
No, you are equating environmentalism with terrorism.
ELF are not environmentlaists they are terrorist to brun down facilities such as the UW forestry building. Wasn’t that what they did during krystalnacht in Germany?
Fascist indeed.
“Will people who protest the Iraq War (or whatever war follows) be labeled “insurgents”? ”
If you take action against your country like John Walker Lind, you’ll be called tray-tors (spelling to fool censor program).
BTW, it is funny how you are all worried about free speech while censoring people.
Nindid @ 14.
You might want to do some howmework on what ALF and ELF do before opening your mouth. It’s not about freeing mice, it’s about firebombing neighborhoods, you little bitch
PRR
DamnageD…
I draw the line, when actions of protest put others lives and property in harms way.
You want to protest, that’s great. You want to blow up a car dealership? Then don’t complain when you get sentenced to hard time.
Personally, I’d like to see the ELF and ALF people shot on site.
PRR @ 27 Personally, I’d like to see the ELF and ALF people shot on site.
Thoughtful statement, there. And liberals are the ones who advocate violence, say the Rethugs.
I don’t advocate property destruction, btw, but it’s a whole order of magnitude different than flying airplanes into buildings with the intent to kill thousands. How dumb do you have to be to fail to understand this simple distinction?
I guess coming from someone who advocates shooting someone on sight, I shouldn’t be surprised (and just who is advocating violence here, again? Projection, anyone?)
***PRR @ 27 Personally, I’d like to see the ELF and ALF people shot on site.***
Been hanging around any Jewish daycare centers lately?
gosh….
I think we gots ta destroy the vironment so’s Jezus kin come back and stop us afore it too late, like with nukular nylation. Praiz ya Jezus! Stop us from bein stupit, but we’re really smart cuz we outsmarted Jezus into to comin back.
Mr X @28
I don’t advocate property destruction, btw, but it’s a whole order of magnitude different than flying airplanes into buildings with the intent to kill thousands. How dumb do you have to be to fail to understand this simple distinction?
Either action is illegal, marginal distinctions aside. If one deprives a person of property, there can be many ramifications including death if such deprivation occurs in an occupied property. The other tends to lead to war, which inevitably leads to death for many somebodys.
I am reminded that one person’s passionate pursuit of something is often viewed (correctly, IMO) as lunacy by another. When a person fails to ask “What is the worst that can happen due to my actions?” or worse, comes up with the wrong answer to that question, or even worse arrives at the proper answer and then claims moral superiority deems such an action is necessary for the good of the cause, what should be done to stop that individual from carrying out the planned action? Nothing?
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, as I watched first one tower then the other fall, I had thoughts that some WTO “Let’s-go-back-to-the-stone-age” protest group may have become unstable enough to pull it off. It was a fleeting thought, but there nonetheless. I hold similarly suspicious views of PETA and ELF as they stir passions with nary a thought to consequence. Neither side (R or L) is without such loons, as Sirkulat attests @30.
pbj @25,
And who the fuck is censoring you?
(Not that you don’t deserve censorship, but I don’t censor my comments.)
***It was a fleeting thought, but there nonetheless. I hold similarly suspicious views of PETA and ELF as they stir passions with nary a thought to consequence.***
Good Gawd…
And what pray?
Did you think when Alfred P. Murrah Building went up?
Or the Olympic bombing?
Or when Bush the older sent troops into Ruby Ridge?
What about all the threats to Judges recently on Rightwing radio
What do you think when people start acting out against these judges?
Goldy: “A US Senator is equating PETA with al Qaeda? Is he out of his fucking mind?
No… he’s a fascist, that’s what Sen. Inhofe is..”
Oh, so equating a US Senator with Hilter is okay? Cripes ALMIGHTY, Goldy, I get so mad when you complain to high heaven about R’s “equating” then DO THE SAME THING. If you don’t like it done, THEN DO NOT DO IT YOURSELF.
wow the fear level here is pretty intense. So much rancor about groups of which literally none of you know anything about. Pretty amazing posts, when you consider how many people seem to put property over people. No wonder we are living through such harsh times. Maybe those, who really deeply believe that their control over this or that, part of the planet or pieces of it made into something, is paramount to human lives, should move to Florida with its new gun use law.
“What you lookin at? You lookin at me? You staring at my car? You trying to get in my car?” blam blam blam blam blam blam– “Take that you bitch scum!”
“Yes officer i knew she was my neighbor’s kid, but she ran with a bad crowd and i just had to assume she was intending to steal my car. Yes, i understand, but i get it back next week right? Good, see you then.”
Marty @33
Which part of Neither side (R or L) is without such loons do you want me to explain? Since this blog has a slight LEFT perspective, I expounded on those groups that receive sympathetic support from the LEFT.
Goldy@32,
Yeah you are. I see posts go off into the hinterlands never to be seen again. That is ok, it is your blog. But then to hypocritically go off and complain that free speech of liberals if being squelched is hypocritical. I mean after all, Kirby Wilbur has let you on his show twice that I know of. If I properly spell Kom-you-nist or tay-tore the post gets banned. If I list the names of the dead sailors Clinton killed on the Cole, instant ban.
ppr @ 27
I agree with you on getting hard time for crimnal actions. You will get no argument from me on that. However, loosely organized criminal activity does not make a terrorist.
You however just painted yourself quite a hypocrite. You’d like to kill people who take phyiscal action against something they believe so strongly against, without actually injuring another person? Hmmm, sure makes you sound like a much more socially rounded person than those crazy hippies!
I’d rather definately hug a tree than a person of your ilk, thanks!
re:23 righton………and the horse you rode in on, you foul pile of fascist dung.
It seems so ‘natural’ that the wingnuts go crazy talking about PETA, ELF and ALF. They get themselves in a dither with anything concerning the protection of the environment or ‘animal rights’. They are so ‘quick on the draw’ to label any group that doesn’t agree to their ‘divine rights’ as terrorists. Funny, in my collection of thoughts on terrorists the first ones to come up are Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Hussein, Manuel Noriega, Shaw of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines, Fidel Castro to name a few. What do they all have in common? The great USA started all of them on their way to ‘stardom’ and when they got to big for Uncle Sam to control any longer, they became ‘public enemy number one’. When will the US learn that you do not ‘correct the world’ with corruption? In our eyes the above named are terrorists, in the eyes of many people around the world two of the biggest terrorists are GWB, Cheney and Rumsfield.
drivel @ 40 I imagine you stated “in the eyes of many people around the world two of the biggest terrorists are GWB, Cheney and Rumsfield”
because adding the three wingnuts intelligences together you ‘might’ come up with intelligence for 2. 2 neocon sheep anyway. LOL
As a liberal, I’m appalled by the violence of these groups. No one should try to defend or rationalize their behavior; they are criminals who belong in jail. On the other hand, the efforts by Republicans to equate the environmental movement to these extremists is a disgusting lie. This is the old McCarthy guilt-by-association smear that Republicans use so often and are so good at. Environmental science is a legitimate science that we ignore at our peril. Republicans’ cavalier approach to pollution, global warming, species protection, urban sprawl, land use, and other environmental issues is reckless and irresponsible.
PETA is not merely an animal welfare organization campaigning to stop mistreatment of animals, or the use of animals in research, etc. They take the position that animals have legal rights equal to those of humans, and we have no right to eat meat, destroy destructive wildlife, etc. Of especial concern is their undemocratic view that they have the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of us. Here is what PETA’s web site says about this: “The very nature of reform movements is to tell others what to do ….” (Source: http://www.peta.org/about/faq.asp) My response is that in a democracy a tiny minority like PETA do not have the right to tell the rest of us what to do. That smells like fascism to me.
Once again Rick Santorum has put his foot in his mouth, likening Democratic Senators to Hitler. Santorum is one of the GOP’s biggest embarassments. In saner times, he would have been impeached for his remarks inciting violence against (liberal) federal judges. And this guy has delusions that he’s presidential timber! Oh God yes, I hope the Republicans run someone like him in 2008. The latest polls show a majority of voters turning their backs on the GOP as early as next year’s midterm elections. What’s there to like about Republicans?
There’s a fresh news story today about how the Bush military tortured an innocent taxi driver to death in Afghanistan. They hung this guy by his wrists from the ceiling for four days, beat his legs until he couldn’t bend his names, and denied him water. When he asked for a doctor, they kept torturing him. By the time a doctor finally saw him, he was dead. This isn’t the America I grew up in, or love. This is Nazi Germany brought to American soil by right-wing fanatics calling themselves Republicans.
A growing number of average Americans are finding the behavior of this administration both repulsive and disturbing. And then you have people like Santorum running around with putty between their ears. A few months ago I was depressed, but with every passing day, I’m more optimistic that voters will have enough of this macabre black comedy called the “Bush administration” and the Republicans will get crushed in the next election. But the Democrats are going to have a lot of work to do, to straighten out the mess the Republicans have made of what used to be a proud country called America.
Patrick,
I agree with most of your post @43, but 44 contradicts itself:
Once again Rick Santorum has put his foot in his mouth, likening Democratic Senators to Hitler.
[…]This is Nazi Germany brought to American soil by right-wing fanatics calling themselves Republicans.
You rail against the use of the one, then use the same analogy in the other. Were you elected, you would be begging the electorate’s forgiveness like the Senator from Pennsylvania.
Good thinking at 43. Don’t lose track of reality and you’ll do fine…
Santorum is begging the voters to forgive? Well, if true, that’s a good sign — it would show the guy is at least capable of knowing he fucked up and coming back to reality.
Patrick,
‘Tis true:
Santorum apologizes. Goes on to say former KKK member Senator Byrd (D-WV) was fast and loose with the Nazi vocabulary as well…
Tell all that to the guy who’s home got torched by ALF near my house. THey ARE a huge threat. Honestly, this is why liberals don’t get taken seriously when it comes to crime-fighing; inability to recognize evil when ya see it.