One Nation under DOG

Arsonist Rod Coronado returs to prison

2010-09-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

Environmental and Animal Rights Activist Returned to Prison for Facebooking

Published by Sparki, August 27th, 2010

“When friends are outlawed, only outlaws will have friends.”
–Mike Roselle

Long time environmental and animal rights activist Rod Coronado is being sent back to prison for four months for “friending” Earth First!, RAN and Ruckus Society co-founder and anti-mountaintop removal organizer Mike Roselle on Facebook and for accessing an unauthorized compter. See Coronado’s lawyer’s statement here.
Coronado known for “Operation Bite Back,” a series of animal liberation actions and arson in the 1990’s for which he served a stint in federal prison, has been an outspoken opponent to cruelty to animals and environmental destruction since the 1980’s. After serving that prison term, he continued to advocate direct action and spoke often on animal rights and environmental issues. In 2003, the federal government targeted him for a mountain lion hunt sabotage and speaking publicly about tactics he used in the 1990’s.
And they went after him HARD. The way that Christian Bale went after Johnny Depp last summer in “Public Enemies.” He served 8 months for the hunt sabotage and struck a bargain after a jury returned deadlocked on the public speaking charges and a mistrial was declared. Part of the plea agreement was a year in prison and federal probation. They’ve gagged him. He’s on monitored computers, he can’t associate with radical environmentalists and he can’t speak out on animal and environmental issues.
In August 2006, Mr. Coronado wrote a Statement from Prison renouncing property damage as a tactic and advocating social change through other means. He wrote, in part: “What our world needs now is a whole lot more love and a lot less violence. Nothing in this world will change overnight. But if we live peace and teach our children well, they might still inherit a world better than ours.”
Probation Officer Rhonda Wallock stated in her report: “In monitoring Mr. Coronado’s Facebook account, this officer found Michael Roselle to be a ‘friend’ of Mr. Coronado. According to FBI intelligence and a criminal history investigation of Michael Roselle, he is a well-known environmental activist who has a history of condoning direct action and violence as a means of protest or demonstration.”

FBI arrest of Animal Liberation Front arson suspect

2010-07-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

http://negotiationisover.com/2010/05/07/damages-from-sheepskin-factory-arson-at-500000/

"A 34-year-old man with the word "VEGAN" tattooed prominently on his neck faces federal charges that he torched the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale last spring as part of an animal-rights campaign.
The man, now known as Walter Edmund Bond, appeared in federal court Friday in shorts and a faded T-shirt, sitting quietly in handcuffs as he read through documents accusing him of a lone count of using fire or explosives to damage property involved in interstate commerce.
"My reaction was relief, for a moment, that he has been arrested, and I hope that he is punished and punished in such a way so that they set an example for others not to do it," said Louis Livaditis, whose business suffered $500,000 in damage after it was set ablaze early on the morning of April 30.

Livaditis was able to reopen his business, which manufactures items such as seat covers and blankets, in a nearby building. A message posted on a website linked to the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility, contending it "was done in defense and retaliation for all the innocent animals that have died cruelly at the hands of human oppressors."
The message's author was identified as "ALF Lone Wolf."
The Animal Liberation Front is a shadowy organization that has claimed responsibility for firebombings and other acts of destruction at laboratories, farms and factories.
Past arson conviction
Bond, then known as Walter Edmund Zuehlke, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of arson for a house blaze in Mason City, Iowa, in 1997. According to Iowa Department of Corrections records, he served a little more than three years of the sentence before being released on parole in May 2001.
Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said it was not clear why Bond changed his name.
Bond remains under investigation in two Utah blazes — a June 5 fire at a leather factory and a July 3 arson at a restaurant that served foie gras — liver from a goose or duck that has been force-fed to fatten it up.
According to a federal arrest affidavit, a security camera captured images of a shadowy figure wearing a dark-hooded, long-sleeved shirt and carrying a backpack outside the Sheepskin Factory about 3:15 a.m. April 30 — just minutes before a massive fire broke out at the building.
The key break in the case, according to court documents, came July 1 when an unidentified informant called a federal agent with a tip that Bond set the Glendale fire.
The day before, Bond had called the informant from a phone at a library in Salt Lake City, according to the affidavit. It was the first contact between the two in a dozen years, and in catching up, Bond was asked what he had been up to, according to the affidavit.
Bond directed the informant to a website detailing the Glendale and leather factory blazes.
On Thursday, the informant met with Bond at an East Colfax Avenue hotel, according to the affidavit, and federal agents listened in as he claimed to use the nickname "Lone Wolf," described the Sheepskin Factory as a "box of matches," and vowed to torch the business again "in a couple of years."
Later in the day, federal agents arrested Bond at a Northglenn home.
"When he got his face tattooed, I just really thought he was a weirdo," said Billie Jo Riley of Northglenn, who said Bond had dropped by her house just before he was arrested.
Bond had been a friend of her husband's, but she shied away from him, she said.
Hearing on Wednesday
Two days before his arrest, he'd stopped by as she and her husband were grilling hamburgers. He ate two — "beef patties," she insisted — then borrowed a bicycle and left.
Bond appeared in federal court Friday afternoon, tattoos covering one side of his face and large swaths of his arms and legs.
He answered "yes" and "no" to a series of questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Watanabe, who scheduled his next hearing for Wednesday.
A group that sympathizes with the Animal Liberation Front said it was too early to know whether Bond is the "Lone Wolf."
"If it is, then obviously we support him," said Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office.
Kevin Vaughan: 303-954-5019 or kvaughan@denverpost.com

http://www.wopular.com/sheepskin-factory-arson-attributed-utah-man

Read the criminal complaint against Walter Bond. (PDF, 10 pages)

"According to an affidavit Bond allegedly wrote on an animal rights website that he burned down the factory "in defense and retaliation for all the innocent animals that have died cruelly at the hands of human oppressors."

He also threatened to "torch" the newly reopened Sheepskin factory."
http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-sheepskin-factory-fire-arrest-txt,0,3699279.story

FBI Makes Arrest in A.L.F. "Lone Wolf" Arsons

 
Internet posted: 23 Jul 2010 11:46 AM PDT

Informant used in arrest of Walter Bond for "A.L.F. Lone Wolf" arsons 

News is emerging, but the FBI has arrested a man in connection with the A.L.F. arson at Sheepskin Factory in Denver, Colorado. Walter Bond, 34, was arrested by federal agents Thursday.

The FBI alleges Bond admitted to an informant to setting two additional fires - one at Tandy Leather Factory, the other at Tiburon (foie gras restaurant), both in Utah. In anonymous communiques, "A.L.F. Lone Wolf" took credit.

The criminal complaint outlines the case against Walter Bond, and alleges the following:

*On July 1st, investigators received a call from a confidential informant wishing to provide information on the Sheepskin Factory and Tandy Leather Factory arsons. The informant stated Bond had told him/her in a telephone call from the Salt Lake City library to refer to Voice of the Voiceless and scroll down to an article on the Sheepskin Factory arson to learn what he'd "been up to lately".

*On July 22nd, the confidential informant arranged a monitored conversation with Walter Bond in a Ramada Inn in Denver, Colorado. Investigators allege Bond was heard admitting to three arsons: Sheepskin Factory, Leather Factory, and Tiburon. Bond was arrested subsequent to the conversation.

The arrest follows three months of A.L.F. activity in which three businesses (in UT and CO) were targeted by arson. "A.L.F. Lone Wolf" took credit for all three arsons in two communiques. Coverage of the arsons can be read by searching for:

Sheepskin Factory arson story

Tandy Leather Factory arson story

Tiburon restaurant arson story

To date, Bond is charged only with the Sheepskin Factory arson. The crime carries a mandatory minimum of 5 years in federal prison. Additional charges for the two Utah arsons are possible.

The suspect also served prison time in 1997 for an arson at a meth lab in Iowa. Bond received notoriety when the vegan straight edge band Earth Crisis wrote a song about Bond and the arson titled "To Ashes" for their 2009 album "To The Death".

The criminal complaint makes note of the term "Go Vegan" used in one of the Long Wolf communiques, and Bond's "Vegan" neck tattoo (see below).

The timeline of events leading to Walter Bond's arrest, as outlined in the criminal complaint, are as follows:

April 30th, 2010

Fire destroys Sheepskin Factory store in Denver, Colorado. The uninsured building is destroyed, causing $500,000 damages.

Investigators review security camera footage showing an individual wearing a hooded sweatshirt and backpack near the building around the time of the fire.

June 5th, 2010

The Tandy Leather Factory in Salt Lake City, Utah is broken into and a fire is set causing extensive damage.

July 1st, 2010

The FBI receives a call from a confidential informant, stating Walter Bond had admitted to him/her he was responsible for two fires: the Sheepskin Factory arson, and a second fire at Tandy Leather Factory in Salt Lake City, Utah. The informant stated he/she believed Bond contacted him/her from a payphone at the Salt Lake City Library. When asked what he had been up to lately, Bond reportedly told the informant to visit www.voiceofthevoice less.org, and that that's what he'd "been up to".

July 3rd, 2010

Tiburon, a restaurant serving foie gras in Sandy, Utah, is set on fire. Damages estimated at $10,000.

July 22nd, 2010

The informant arranges a meeting with Walter Bond at a Ramada Inn in Denver, Colorado. The meeting is recorded and monitored by the ATF. Agents state they hear Bond admit to setting the fires at Sheepskin Factory, Leather Factory, and Tiburon. Bond reportedly stated it angered him the business made a profit from animals. Agents also report he stated he intended to burn Sheepskin Factory down again "in a couple of years".

Subsequent to the monitored conversation, agents arrest Walter Bond. On his person they allegedly find a copy of "Declaration of War - Killing People to Save Animals and the Environment" .

Bond remains held in a Denver jail.

Know thy enemy... the vegan fascist/animal rights 2010 conference

2010-07-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

Animal Rights 2010

National Conference

July 15-19

Washington DC

http://www.arconference.org/index.htm

Welcome to Animal Rights 2010, the world's largest and oldest animal rights gathering. The Conference will take place on July 15-19th at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel, an outstanding conference venue, near our nation's capital.

SPEAKERS

The Animal Rights National Conference assembles 90 speakers from 60 groups and a half dozen countries representing different experiences and paths to animal liberation.

Kathy Andrew s - Coalition to Annul Hunter Harassment

Nick Atwood - Animal Rights Foundation of Florida

Kari Bagnall - Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary

Gene Baur - Farm Sanctuary

Josephine Bellaccomo - author, "Move the Message..."

Heidi Boghosian - National Lawyers Guild

Hope Bohanec - In Defense of Animals

Jenny Brown - Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary

Michael Budkie - Stop Animal Exploitation Now!

Jon Camp - Vegan Outreach

Stuart Chaifetz - SHARK

Leigh-Chantelle - Viva La Vegan ( Australia )

Robert Cheeke - Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Rick Corbett - animal rights activist

Charlotte Cressey - Orange County People for Animals

Saurabh Dalal - International Vegetarian Union

Karen Davis - United Poultry Concerns

Sean Day - animal rights attorney

Tom Devine - Government Accountability Project

George Eisman - Coalition for Cancer Prevention

Stephenie Elli - animal rights musician

Don Elroy - Stop Animal Exploitation Now!

Stephanie Ernst - animal rights blogger

Carrie Freeman - Georgia State University

Darius Fullmer - SHAC7

Elliot Gang - animal rights activist

Christine Garcia - Animal Law Office

Steven Gellman - animal rights musician

Caryn Ginsberg - Priority Ventures Group

Margoth Gonzalez Woge - Anima Naturalis ( Mexico )

George Guimaraes - VEDDAS ( Brazil )

Jan Haagensen - Coalition to Annul Hunter Harassment

Scotlund Haisley - In Defense of Animals

Camille Hank ins - Win Animal Rights

Denis Hennelly & Casey Suchan - "Bold Native"

Alex Hershaft - Farm Animal Rights Movement

Julieanna Hever - plant-based dietitian

Leanne Hilgart - vegan fashion designer

Lorri Houston - Animal Acres

Pattrice Jones - Eastern Shore Sanctuary

Melanie Joy - author, "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs..."

Roberta Kalechofsky - Jews for Animal Rights

Stephen Kaufman - Christian Vegetarian Association

Shannon Keith - Animal Rescue, Media and Education

Marti Kheel - author, "Nature Ethics"

Dennis Kucinich - U.S. Congress

Mindy Kursban - animal rights advocate

Lisa Levinson - Artists For Animals

Dara Lovitz - author, "Muzzling a Movement"

Robert Lucius - Kairos Coalition

Terri MacKenzie - Coalition to Annul Hunter Harassment

Anthony Marr - HOPE-CARE Foundation ( Canada )

George Matejka - Ursuline College

Shirley McGreal - Int'l Primate Protection League

Keith McHenry - Food Not Bombs!

Erica Meier - Compassion Over Killing

Jason Miller - Bite Club of Kansas City

Dawn Moncrief - FARM, Well-Fed World

Bryan Monell - undercover investigator

Anne Muller - Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting

Peter Muller - League of Humane Voters

Simone Netherlands - Respect For Horses

lauren Ornelas - Food Empowerment Project

Siobhan O'Sullivan - University of Melbourne ( Australia )

Melody Paris - Second Opinion Radio

Mark Pearson - Animal Liberation ( Australia )

James Ploeser - Public Citizen

Will Potter - Green Is the New Red

Lisa Qualls - animal rights activist

Anand Ramanathan - In Defense of Animals

Dallas Rising - Animal Rights Coalition

Becky Robinson - Alley Cat Allies

Nathan Runkle - Mercy for Animals

Rae Sikora - Plant Peace Daily

Lee Slonimsky - animal rights investor

Doll Stanley - In Defense of Animals

Holly Sternberg - Compassion For Animals

Veda Stram - All Creatures

Matthew Strugar - Center for Constitutional Rights

Erika Sullivan - vegan veterinarian

Tamira Thayne - Dogs Deserve Better

Brian Vincent - Big Wildlife ( Canada )

Michael Weber - Farm Animal Rights Movement

Zoe Weil - Institute for Humane Education

Eileen Weintraub - Help Animals India

Adam Weissman - Wetlands Preserve

Odette Wilkens - Equal Justice Alliance

Peter Young - Voice of the Voiceless

Michael Zhao - Asia Society Center (China )

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

AR2010 opens on Thursday, July 15, at 4pm with the Welcome Reception, followed by the Opening Plenary. It culminates on Sunday evening, July

18th, with the Closing Reception. Several groups are planning Post-Conference Activities, including intensive seminars, lobbying, and a demonstration, on Monday, July 19th.

The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday daily schedule begins with a Group Workout at 7:30am or a swim in the pool. Then choose between issue-specific Workshops, Videos, Rap Sessions, and Campaign Reports that run between 9am - 12noon and 1:30 - 5:30pm. The evening Plenary

Sessions bring everyone together for keynote presentations from 7:15 - 9:30pm, leaving ample time to visit Exhibits, as well as, socialize and network during meals and Networking Receptions.

The first plenary, on Thursday, includes welcome by sponsors and introduction to the conference structure, as well as the history of our movement and reports on major recent successes. The Friday plenary addresses major issues facing our movement. On Saturday, the plenary follows the celebratory dinner, and features Hall of Fame, activist, and celebrity awards. The Sunday plenary features leaders of other social justice movements and a keynote presentation.

The daytime workshops are configured along three concurrent tracks. : Issues, Organizing, Remedies. The Issues track covers various types of

animal abuses and the underlying issues (best for newcomers). The Organizing track guides improvements in personal and organizational effectiveness. The Remedies track addresses campaign strategies and outreach to various constituencies. Each hour, you choose the session

that best fits your needs and interests.

Rap Sessions and Campaign Reports engage participants in debates about controversial issues and current campaigns. Videos documenting animal

abuses are shown concurrently and may include a guest speaker.

Exhibits of movement merchandise, educational materials, compassionate shopping and delicious vegan treats from 9am - 6pm, Friday - Sunday.

Thursday, July 15

Registration (4pm-10pm)

Welcome Reception (4-5:30pm) - W

Conference Slideshow

Dinner (6-7pm)

Opening Plenary (7:20-9:30pm) - Moncrief - B

Opening Ceremony

Welcome Remarks - Blalock, Haisley, Hershaft, McGreal

Introductions & Program Preview - Hershaft, Moncrief

Musical Interlude I - Gellman

A Historical Perspective - Hershaft

State of Our Movement (progress and prospects in five key areas of animal abuse) - Kursban, McGreal, Meier, Rising

Networking Reception I (9:30-11pm) - F

Screening of "The Animals Film" (historic documentary about all forms of animal abuse) - V

Friday, July 16

Group Workout & Yoga I (7:30-8:15am) - Cheeke, Cressey - W

Snack (8-8:45am)

Registration (8am-8pm)

Morning Plenary I (9-10:10am) - Corbett - B

Special address - Kucinich

Announcements & Previews

Nature of Social Change (social struggle, stages of social change, recognizing victory) – Hershaft Exhibits (10:15am-6pm)

Workshops (Issues, Organizing, Tactics, Raps)

10:30am

Newcomer Orientation I (animal exploitation, animal rights, activism, our movement, AR2010) - Kursban, Meier, Moncrief, Stram, Weber - A

Individual Activism (leafleting, letter writing, calling, T-shirts/stickers, workplace outreach) - Camp, Marr, Sikora - B

Winning Hearts and Minds (changing behavior by impacting feelings and beliefs) - Ginsberg, Hershaft - C

How Much Is Enough? (do we follow reason, feelings, or fear? when do we quit?) - Young – R 11:30am

Animal Abuse for Amusement (videos and Q&A about circuses, zoos, rodeos, animal racing and fighting) - Monell, Weissman - V

Choosing a Career (law, journalism, academia, vet medicine, or on-the-job training) - Hershaft, Kursban, Matejka, Potter, Sullivan - B

Marketing Our Message (effective techniques for marketing our message) - Freeman, Ginsberg, Sikora - C

Is Vegan Enough? (cat food, gelcaps, 'cruelty-free' cosmetics, is being vegan sufficient?) - Weber – R

I couldn’t help but laugh at the schedule! Will there be steak for lunch?

Lunch (12:30-1:30pm)

Regional Lunches (North-East, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest , all arewelcome - bring lunch) - Brown, Meier, Atwood, Runkle - A, B, C, W

Gender Relations In Our Movement (rap session about gender relations - all are welcome - bring lunch.) - Kheel, Rising, Weissman - R

Workshops (Issues, Organizing, Tactics, Raps)

2pm

Animal Abuse for Food/Fashion (videos and Q&A about animal abuse in factory & fur farms, slaughterhouses) - Blalock, Brown, Monell - V

Making of An Activist (techniques for becoming and supporting activists) - Hershaft - B

Understanding the Mentality of Meat (a guide to penetrating the meat-eating mindset) - Joy - C

How to Deal with Despair? (coping with enormity of our mission & extent of animal suffering) - Rising –R 3pm

Animal Abuse for Science (videos and Q&A about animal abuse in education, testing, research) - Budkie, Kalechofsky, Monell - V

Developing Leadership (techniques for developing leadership skills, managing time, resolving conflicts) - Hershaft - B

Challenging Language & Labels (power of words, winning rhetoric, owner/guardian, false industry claims) - Baur, Bohanec, Weber - C

When Is Killing OK? (attacking animals? unwanted dogs & cats? Unwanted human fetuses?) -Matejka –R 4pm

Abuse of Animal Companions (videos and Q&A about abuse of dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, birds) - Monell, Robinson - V

Nurturing Activism (dealing with workload, worry, anxiety, grief, and hostility to prevent burnout) - Rising, Sikora - B

Enacting Protective Laws (selecting issues, forging coalitions, dealing with legislators/committees) - Baur, Wilkens - C

How Broad Our Ethics? (can we ever justify cheating, stealing, subordinating other social justice goals?) - Slonimsky – R 5pm

Abuse of Wildlife on Land & Water (videos and Q&A about extermination of free animals on land and water) - Marr, Vincent - V

Nourishing Activism (health/fitness benefits and concerns of a vegan diet for humans and animals) - Eisman, Guimaraes, Hever - B

Enforcing Protective Laws (enforcing animal protective laws through authorities, media, agitation) - Atwood, Garcia, Stanley - C

Is Human Population An Animal Issue? (should we oppose human population growth?) - Dalal - R

Dinner (6-7pm)

Evening Plenary I (7:20-9:30pm) - Wilkens, Huston - B

Activist Repression (government repression of animal and other social justice activism) - Lovitz, McHenry, Potter

Musical Interlude II - Elli

Paths to Animal Liberation (discussion of controversial strategic issues facing our movement) - Baur, Davis, Hank ins, Weber

Networking Reception II (9:30-11pm) - F

Screening of "Bold Native" (new feature film about direct action for animals; Q&A with directors) - Hennelly, Suchan - B

Saturday, July 17

Group Workout & Yoga II (7:30-8:15am) - Cheeke, Cressey - W

Snack (8-8:45am)

Registration (8am-2pm)

Morning Plenary II (9-10:10am) - Brown- B

Announcements & Previews

Compassion Into Action (accounts of inspiring individual accomplishments for the animals) - Hilgart, Lucius, Marr Exhibits (10:15am-6pm)

Visual Presentations (10:15am-6pm) (see special schedule) - Blalock, Bohanec, Davis, Hank ins, Meier, Moss , Netherlands , Runkle, Thayne, Weissman - V

Workshops (Issues,Organizing,Tactics,Reports)

10:30am Newcomer Orientation II (how successful activists became involved and what they learned) - Budkie, Camp, Corbett, Ornelas, Stram - A

Writing Our Message (letters, articles, fact sheets, brochures, newsletters, advertising copy) - Davis, Hershaft - B

Conducting Investigations/Research (effective techniques, equipment, sources, data handling/protection) - Budkie, Gang, Monell, Runkle - C

Diet Campaign Reports (reports on campaigns to reduce consumption of animal products) - Camp, Hilgart, McHenry, Meier, Weber - R

11:30am

Abuse of Urban Wildlife (abuse /killing of rodents, feral cats, deer, geese, other urban wildlife) - Marr, Robinson - A

Speaking Our Message (purpose, setting, audience, preparation, delivery, visuals) - Hershaft, Wilkens - B

Running Effective Campaigns (objectives, tactics, resources, action plan, negotiating, review, media) - Budkie, Hank ins, Ornelas - C

Agriculture Campaign Reports (reports on campaigns to reduce abuse of farmed animals) - Davis, Friedrich, Moncrief, Runkle, Weber - R

Lunch (12:30-1:30pm)

Lunch With the Authors (12:45-1:50) (meeting recent authors – feel free to bring your lunch) - Budkie, Joy, Kalechofsky, Kheel, Lovitz - R

Workshops (Issues,Organizing,Tactics,Reports)

2pm

Abuse of Exotic Animals (breeding, procuring, trading, and keeping birds, primates, and big cats) - Atwood, Elroy, McGreal - A

Printing Our Message (choosing layout programs, fonts, colors,graphics, paper; dealing with printers) - Runkle - B

Staging Effective Events (producing creative, newsworthy, effective events) - Hershaft, Houston, Leigh-Chantelle, McHenry - C

Vivisection Campaign Reports (reports on campaigns to reduce animal abuse in laboratories & schools) - Budkie, Hank ins, Sullivan, Vincent - R

3pm

Animal Abuse Abroad (abuse and killing of animals abroad) – Gonzales Woge, Pearson, Sullivan, Weintraub - A

Advertising Our Message (newspapers, public transport, billboards, radio/TV, internet) - Meier, Runkle - B

Applying Direct Action (getting attention and changing behavior through direct economic & social action) - Fullmer, Hank ins, Young - C

Amusement Campaign Reports (reports on campaigns to reduce animal abuse in zoos, rodeos, circuses, racing) - Chaifetz, Elroy, Monell,

Qualls, Weissman - R

4pm

The Tragedy of Trade (animal abuses in world trade and animal imports) - McGreal, Moncrief, Weissman - A

Producing/Airing Videos (producing & airing of TV documentaries & PSAs) - Chaifetz, Meier, Suchan - B

Legal Guidelines In the Streets (permits, arrests, documenting, cultivating law enforcement) - Garcia, Hank ins, Light - C

Companion Campaign Reports (reports on campaigns to reduce population and abuse of animal companions) - Hank ins, Robinson, Thayne - R

5pm

Global Issues Affecting Animals (impacts on animals of protective laws, fur trade, world hunger, global warming) - Marr, Moncrief, O'Sullivan, Zhao Promoting on the Internet (websites, e-newsletters, blogging, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube) - Ernst, Ginsberg, Stram - F

Legal Guidelines In the Courts (misconduct lawsuits, grand juries, trials, prison life) - Day, Strugar, Young - W

Wildlife/Fur Campaign Reports (reports on campaigns to stop extermination of animals on land and water) - Blalock, Marr, McGreal,

Netherlands , Weissman - R

Banquet (6:30pm) - Foyer

Gourmet Vegan Meal

Conference Slideshow

Musical Interlude III - Leigh-Chantelle

Evening Plenary II (7:30-9:30pm) - Hershaft - B

Conference Report - Hershaft

Awards: Youth and Grassroots Activist - Haisley, Runkle

Benefit Auction - Brown, Hershaft, Weber

Awards: Hall of Fame - Ginsberg, Hershaft, Runkle

Networking Reception III (9:00-11pm) - F

Screening of "Skin Trade" (documentary about animal abuse for fur; Q&A with director) - Blalock - B

Sunday, July 18

Group Workout & Yoga III (7:30-8:15am) - Cheeke, Cressey - W

Snack (8-8:45am)

Registration (8am-12pm)

Morning Plenary III (9-10:10am) - Runkle - B

Announcements & Previews

New Challenges for Animal Liberation (dealing with new challenges confronting our movement) - Friedrich, Robinson, Weissman

Exhibits and Videos (10:15am-6pm)

Workshops (Issues, Organizing, Tactics, Raps)

10:30am

Animal Sentience (how animals learn, think, feel, and communicate) - Davis, Gang, Sikora - A

Running a Local Group (recruiting/engaging volunteers, running meetings, assigning tasks) - Dalal, Miller, Rising - B

Engaging Our Community (utilizing community issues, gaining allies, seizing opportunities) - Levinson, Paris, Stanley - C

What About Your Shoes? (responding to common street challenges) - Day - R

11:30am

Animal Protection Laws ( U.S. and international animal protection laws and proposals) - Kursban, O'Sullivan, Weissman - A

Running a Sanctuary (land, zoning, animal acceptance and care, recruiting and engaging volunteers) - Bagnall, Brown, Stanley - B

Engaging Young People (humane ed, AR courses, AR groups, vegan cafeteria, rock concerts, leafleting) - Corbett, Matejka, Sikora, Weil - C

How to Deal with Friends? (dealing with social occasions, mates, relatives, friends; assertive vs. defensive) - Rising - R

Lunch (12:30-1:30pm)

Humane Education Training (12:45-1:50) (bring your lunch) - Weil - R

Lobby Training (12:45-1:50) (preparation for Monday lobbying – bring your lunch) - Wilkens - A

Workshops (Issues, Organizing, Tactics, Raps)

2pm

Commonality of Oppression (commonalities in the oppression of animals, children, women, minorities) - Kaufman, Kheel, Ornelas - A

Fund Raising (direct mail, planned giving, other sources, accounting systems, cutting costs) - Haisley, Houston, Slonimsky - B

Engaging Media (news releases, letters to editor, talk shows, cultivating, creating drama) - Freeman, Hershaft, Potter - C

Which Path to Animal Liberation? (should AR activists advocate welfare reforms as a path to abolition?) - Davis - R

3pm

Status of Activist Repression (status of AETA and state AETA-like laws; local enforcement) - Lovitz, Potter, Wilkens - A

Negotiating Favorable Outcomes (negotiating techniques and processes to achieve desirable outcomes) - Hank ins, Hershaft - B

Engaging Religion (engaging Christian, Jewish, Moslem, and minor religious denominations) - Grisham, Kalechofsky, Kaufman, Levinson - C

How Assertive Our Tactics? (which tactics work? which should be off-limits? what if it was your dog?) - Fullmer - R

4pm

Hunter Harassment Hoax (status of state hunter harassment laws and eyewitness accounts) - Andrew s, Haagensen, MacKenzie - A

Forging Coalitions (types of coalitions, identifying prospects, feeding and care, case studies) - Hershaft, Weissman - B

Engaging Business (befriending manufacturers and retailers, staging boycotts, stockholder initiatives) - Hank ins, Meier, Ornelas - C

What Rights? Which Animals? (should similarity to us matter? our dog or Somali child? is it about us?) - Baur - R

5pm

Status of Oppressed Activists (status and support for indicted/imprisoned activists in U.S. , England , Austria ) - Fullmer, Potter, Strugar - A

Movement Networking (magazines, listservs, conferences, speaking tours) - Marr, Moncrief - B

Engaging Abroad (advocating animal rights and defending animals abroad) - Hershaft, Lucius, Zhao - C

How Can We All Get Together? (what are the opportunities and obstacles? how to start? how to proceed?) - Kaufman - R

Dinner (6-7pm)

Evening Plenary III (7:20-9:30pm) - Dalal – B

Voices of Other Movements (leaders of health, environment, hunger, justice, peace movements) - Devine, McHenry, Ploeser

Musical Interlude IV

Effective Strategies for Liberation (effective strategies for liberating animals from various forms of exploitation) - Budkie, Haisley, Hershaft

Closing Ceremony

Closing Reception (9:30-11pm) - F

Screening of "The Cove" (Oscar-winning documentary about killing of dolphins in Taiji , Japan ) - B

Monday, July 19

Snack (8-8:45am)

Training Sessions (9-11:50am)

9am - Moving Your Message - I - Bellaccomo - R

9am - Vegan Nutrition Q&A - Eisman, Guimaraes, Hever - V

10am - Moving Your Message - II - Bellaccomo - R

10am - Research Training - Budkie - V

11am - Negotiating training - Hershaft - R

11am - Media Training - Budkie - V

Lunch (12:00-12:45pm)

Demo Training (12:30-1pm) - R

HLS demos (1-4pm)

Motorcade & Lobbying (1-4pm) - Marr, Wilkens

HSUS - Killing is our business, and business is good!

2010-05-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

For the bargain price of $19.95, The H$U$ will help you become a better killer too!

	The Humane Society of the United States Euthanasia Training Manual

by Rebecca H. Rhoades, D.V.M. What is the most humane method of euthanasia? How should a wild or feral animal be euthanized? How should a pre-euthanasia anesthetic be used to facilitate euthanasia? How do animal shelter personnel deal with euthanasia-related stress?
This step by step guide from The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, describes to all of those responsible for euthanasia the procedures, policies, and techniques necessary to perform this important task.
Rebecca H. Rhoades, D.V.M., is a consultant to The Humane Society of the United States and executive director of the Kauai (Hawaii) Humane Society.
Now available from Humane Society Press
192 pages
53 black and white photographs

Publish Post

wire spiral binding, with translucent plastic cover
$19.95
ISBN 0-9658942-6-6
The Humane Society of the United States Euthanasia Training Manual is used by our agency for the purpose of training certified animal euthanasia technicians. It is written in a very basic format that anyone can use and comprehend. We will continue to supply it to our applicants and encourage them to keep it for future reference.

Cathy Kirkpatrick
Executive Director
Oklahoma Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners
Our animal care supervisor finds The Humane Society of the United States Euthanasia Training Manual valuable for the structure it provides in her training program and as an ongoing reference for any employee post-training.
Belinda Lewis
Director
Fort Wayne (Indiana) Animal Care and Control
The Pegasus Foundation has distributed The Humane Society of the United States Euthanasia Training Manual to over a dozen animal welfare groups, humane societies, and shelters throughout the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The quality, format, and content of this manual make it an extremely useful tool, especially for these isolated islands that are hungry for resources.
Peter Bender
Executive Director
The Pegasus Foundation

ASPCA "cop" paid $200k+ in buy out

2010-05-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/04/22/2010-04-22_animal_cop_in_dog_house_fired_by_aspca__hit_with_suit.html

Annemarie Lucas, ASCPA cop and TV star of 'Animal Precinct,' forced off job, eyed in suit

BY Lisa L. Colangelo and John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Thursday, April 22nd 2010, 11:43 AM

Brolin for News

Former ASPCA cop and star of the show "Animal Precinct" Annemarie Lucas.

An ASPCA cop whose model looks made her the public face of the organization has been forced off the job, the Daily News has learned.
Annemarie Lucas helped bring in big bucks with fund-raising drives and had a starring role on the TV show "Animal Precinct."
The ASPCA would not say why she left, but she's a defendant in a suit that claims her humane law enforcement unit performed illegal searches and seizures.
"She projects a warm and fuzzy personality on television ... but she uses the badge and gun as a sword, not a shield to protect animals," said lawyer George Dazzo, who represents pet owners whose animals were seized.
Sources said Lucas had clashed repeatedly with the chief legal counsel of the enforcement unit, Stacy Wolf.
Lucas, who earned more than $200,000 in salary and benefits in 2008, was paid more than a year's salary as part of a buyout agreement, sources told The News.
Meanwhile, Patrick O'Keefe, a top official at the ASPCA's Henry Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in Manhattan, also abruptly resigned.
The ASPCA declined to say why, but a spokeswoman denied it was related to a Daily News report that probers were looking into the death of a Rottweiler allegedly kicked and choked by a vet at the hospital.
Dazzo also represents the Rottweiler owner, who is suing the ASPCA.
Lucas and O'Keefe could not be reached for comment.

FREE SPEECH DEFEATS VEGAN FASCISTS!

2010-04-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Robert Stevens, the author of Dogs of Velvet and Steel. Vindicated at last. Just like Boudreaux and Patrick...Right wins over non profit might and for all their millions, the vegan fascist brigade could not slip this fraud past our nation's most brilliant legal minds. VOID FOR VAGUENESS - PERIOD!!! Three cheers for the 1st Amendment!

"The First Amendment protects against the government,"Justice John Roberts said. "We would not uphold an unconstitutional statute merely because the government promised to use it responsibly."

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/20/court-ruling-is-about-free-speech-not-animal-cruelty/

Court Ruling Is About Free Speech, Not Animal Cruelty

Posted by Ilya Shapiro

As expected from the oral argument in U.S. v. Stevens last fall – when Justice Alito was alone in expressing some support for the government’s position – the Court on Tuesday upheld the First Amendment by declining to add a category of unprotected speech. This was not, after all, a case about the “human sacrifice channel” or Michael Vick’s greatest dog fights. Indeed, cruelty to animals should be and is punished everywhere in the country. Instead, at issue here was a broadly drawn “depiction of animal cruelty” statute that could have ensnared Spanish tourism brochures or hunting instructional videos. More fundamentally, the Court rightly rejected the government’s proposed weighing of the “value” of speech against its “social cost.” That’s simply not the way Americans view the First Amendment.
The case is also notable because a solid majority of the Court rejected the “speech balancing test” defended by Solicitor General Elena Kagan, often mentioned as being on the short list of candidates to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion, joined by all of the panel’s liberal justices, went so far as to call that argument by Kagan “startling and dangerous.” That is the kind of legal reproach that tends to be revisited at confirmation hearings.
Ilya Shapiro • April 20, 2010 @ 12:25 pm
Filed under: Law and Civil Liberties
Tags: animal cruelty, elena kagan, First Amendment, Justice Alito, justice john paul stevens, speech, Stevens

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/lowgraphicsarticle/8637/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/20/dog.fight.videos/index.html

http://www.ohmidog.com/2010/04/22/20825/

http://www.nativehuntblog.com/robert-j-stevens-portrait-of-a-good-friend-and-a-martyr/

DO NOT BUY USPS ADOPT A SHELTER PET STAMPS!

2010-04-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2010/pr10_026.htm

http://www.wolo.com/article.php?id=3049&page=news_

This will NOT benefit shelter pets like you may think!

The Federal Government is endorsing Halo Pet food through it's new "Adopt a Shelter Pet Stamp", but who does Halo Pet Food endorse? The very organizations working to end pet ownership altogether!

http://humanewatch.org/index.php/site/post/fox_in_the_henhouse/
(read first comment...)

http://blog.halopets.com/tag/humane-society/

http://blog.halopets.com/tag/best-friends-animal-society/

Once again, if you really want to help shelter pets, go to a real shelter!

HSUS' CAGE FREE CRUELTY'

2010-04-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100407/OPINION01/4070331/1036/Opi

Guest column: 'Cage-free' eggs not all they are cracked up to be
DEAN KLECKNER, FORMER HEAD OF THE AMERICAN FARM BUREAU, CHAIRS TRUTH ABOUT TRADE & TECHNOLOGY IN DES MOINES. CONTACT: DKLECKNER@ TRUTHABOUTTRADE. ORG • APRIL 7, 2010
Spring is here, but most people don't feel the season in their bones until the birds return and the trees bud. The clearest sign may be the arrival of Easter and its rituals. For many, it's all about the eggs. Eggs are universal symbols of rebirth and renewal.

The Humane Society of the United States , however, would like to turn eggs into emblems of cruelty and death.

The crusade against conventional eggs has made surprising advances in recent years. A growing number of restaurants now pledge to use only certain kinds of eggs. On March 22, Subway restaurants announced that they will begin phasing in the use of cage-free eggs as part of their new animal welfare policy. That announcement coincides with the national launch of their breakfast menu.
The issue is starting to show up on election ballots as well: Seven states have passed restrictions on egg production.

The assumption is that "cage-free" chickens are somehow superior to "caged" chickens - not from the standpoint of taste or nutrition, but ethics. It's more humane, goes the thinking, to let cooped-up chickens mill around freely.

The truth is more complicated. Arizona Republic columnist Linda Valdez visited an egg farm that uses cages. She confessed to thinking that she would see chickens treated "like cogs in an industrial machine." She discovered something different. She described a clean, efficient operation that produces good eggs at a reasonable price.
Then she visited a "cage-free" farm. "Layers of chicken excrement build up on the floor," she reported. This is what the eggs lay in until someone picks them up.

For consumers of eggs, it's a discomforting thought.

As it turns out, however, this "cage-free" environment is no poultry paradise for the chickens, either. When chickens are crowded together, rather than separated into cages, they peck each other incessantly. It's animal instinct - an avian attempt to establish a social hierarchy - a behavior we describe as a "pecking order."
The result isn't pretty. "The cage-free block has twice the mortality rate," wrote Valdez . "Broken bones are common among the cage-free birds. If the block gets spooked, they pile up on one another, crushing those at the bottom."

Maybe "cage-free" is best understood as a euphemism. Perhaps what we have here isn't a debate between "caged" and "cage-free" chickens, but between "protected" and "unprotected" chickens.

If you thought the Humane Society was a do-gooder group that looked after the welfare of cats and dogs, then you're thinking of an organization that existed a generation ago. Today, activists and ideologues run the show. They support a radical vision of animal rights that is far outside the mainstream.
We shouldn't play games with eggs. In Iowa , egg production is serious business. We are No. 1 in the nation with 60 million laying hens, producing 14 billion eggs a year. That's enough for two eggs for everyone on the globe.

Eggs are an important source of affordable nutrition, especially protein.

During a time of deep recession in the United States , as families struggle to put food on the table, we should make sure that egg production is not only humane, but also sustainable - in both an environmental and an economic sense.
It turns out that large-scale operations are far more sensible than other systems.

A tractor that hauls a refrigerated trailer and travels more than 1,000 miles is a much more fuel-efficient method of egg transportation than a small vehicle that drives between a local farm and consumers. This may sound counter-intuitive, but it's also true, as researchers from Washington State University , Elanco Animal Health, and Cornell University show in a recent paper titled "Demystifying the Environmental Sustainability of Food Production." The big rigs consume far less gas per egg, even though they travel much longer distances.
The moral to the story is simple: Don't count your cage-free chickens before they've hatched.

Bikers show vegans the "secret handshake"

2010-03-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.best-news-site-ever.com/index.php?p=1_115

Three Reported Missing After Animal Rights Activists Take "War on Leather" to Motorcycle Gang Rally.

California Professors Compare 4% Pay Cut to Holocaust Three Reported Missing After Animal Rights American Fascism BNSE Remembers 20 Years of Eroding Civil Rights Americans: Serfs Ruled by Oligarchs

Three Reported Missing After Animal Rights Activists Take "War on Leather" to Motorcycle Gang Rally.

Johnstown, PA (BNSE): Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers "duct taped inside several fast food restaurant dumpsters," according to police officials.

"Something just went wrong," said a still visibly shaken organizer of the protest. "Something just went horribly, horribly, wrong."

The organizer said a group of concerned animal rights activist groups, "growing tired of throwing fake blood and shouting profanities at older women wearing leather or fur coats," decided to protest the annual motorcycle club event "in a hope to show them our outrage at their wanton use of leather in their clothing and motor bike seats." "In fact," said the organizer. "Motorcycle gangs are one of the biggest abusers of wearing leather, and we decided it was high time that we let them know that we disagree with them using it... Ergo, they should stop."

According to witnesses, protesters arrived at the event in a vintage 1960's era Volkswagen van and began to pelt the gang members with balloons filled with red colored water, simulating blood, and shouting "you're murderers" to passers by. This, evidently, is when the brouhaha began.

"They peed on me!!!" charged one activist. "They grabbed me, said I looked like I was French, started calling me 'La Trene', and duct taped me to a tree so they could pee on me all day!"

"I... I was trying to show my outrage at a man with a heavy leather jacket. And, he... he didn't even care. I called him a murderer, and all he said was, 'You can't prove that.' Next thing I know is he forced me to ride on the back of his motorcycle all day, and not left me off, because his girl friend was out of town and I was almost a woman."

Still others claimed they were forced to eat hamburgers and hot dogs under duress. Those who resisted were allegedly held down while several bikers "farted on their heads."

Police officials declined comments on any leads or arrests due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, however, organizers for the motorcycle club rally expressed "surprise" at the allegations.

"That's preposterous," said on high ranking member of the biker organizing committee. "We were having a party, and these people showed up and were very rude to us. They threw things at us, called us names, and tried to ruin the entire event. So, what did we do? We invited them to the party! What could be more friendly than that? You know, just because we are all members of motorcycle clubs does not mean we do not care about inclusiveness. Personally, I think it shows a lack of character for them to be saying such nasty things about us after we bent over backwards to make them feel welcome."

When confronted with the allegations of force feeding the activists meat, using them as ad hoc latrines, leaving them incapacitated in fast food restaurant dumpsters, and 'farting on their heads,' the organizer declined to comment in detail. "That's just our secret handshake," assured the organizer.

A PARODY OF ERRORS...

2007-10-04T14:12:00.000-07:00

(Disclaimer, this is part real news and part creative writing, much like most mainstream media reports about Vick, dog fighting, pit bulls, etc. It is not to be taken seriously. Everybody knows that Vick was railroaded, PeTA fronts for terrorists, and the Bible says God likes His animals sacrificed! After all, not even Michael Vick could smoke enought pot to hold the hand that goes with this face...)

Michael Vick recently accepted an invitation from PETA and attended an eight-hour course on animal cruelty at the group's Virginia headquarters, according to the animal-rights group......At least, that is what it was supposed to be."When we met, i was prepared to dislike him since he is everything against which I stand...but something about him, an essential kindness, and the scent of his aftershave lotion, cut right through my defenses..." Said Ingrid, blushing faintly and smoothing her hair.Says Vick, "The last thing I needed now was some animal rights woman PREACHING to me, like I am not already up to my neck in preaching. And she is nothing to look at, but the moment our eyes met, I could see there was SOMETHING about her which spoke directly into a corner of my soul, before which I had no idea even existed!' He added, "it was like a visitation from the Holy Ghost, roomie!"PETA assistant director Dan Shannon said when Vick completed the course, he was given material to take home and study. Shannon said Vick returned to the offices on a later day to take a test on the things he'd learned, which he passed. Though PETA officials are still pressing for jail time for Vick, Shannon did say everyone was impressed with the seriousness with which Vick approached his classes.They were also impressed to see the couple holding hands and exchanging intimate glances."He seemed nervous at first," Shannon said, "but he seemed really interested."Says Vick, "Yeah, that pretty much sums up the way it was between me and Ingrid when we first met..."Vick's attorneys were not immediately available to comment on PETA's account of Vick's attending the class. The NFL also did not immediately return a call for comment.However, unnamed sources have reported a request by the NFL players for Ingrid's phone number, to which Vick merely shrugs, and says, if they get it, it will not be from him.And that he will be opening a serious can of WHUPASS if it is leaked.Vick, the disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback, faces up to five years in prison and awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in a federal dogfighting case. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10. He recently was ordered confined to his Virginia home after testing positive for marijuana -- a violation of the conditions of his release while awaiting sentencing. The urine sample was submitted Sept. 13, according to federal court records."What can I say? If I were wealthy, I would be drinking single malt scotch. All I had was some left over doobies and a case of the nerves like you would not believe, I mean, would you take a PILL to feel better? I did not have any pills."Vick also has been indicted on state charges of beating or killing or causing dogs to fight other dogs and engaging in or promoting dogfighting. Each felony is punishable by up to five years in prison. His arraignment on those charges is set for Oct. 3.Says Vick, "I would like to see the stud muffin who could face down THIS without a doobie or SOMETHING!" Vick's attorneys were quit to squelch this, and said it was a misunderstanding and his client spoke out in haste.Vick's representatives were first approached by PETA president Ingrid Newkirk. After an initial exploratory meeting involving Vick, Newkirk and Shannon, the quarterback agreed to attend a class, which he did on Sept. 18, PETA said."It was the happiest moment in my life, it almost made all this other stuff with the law, seem worth it, because when you are united with your other self, the soul which completes you, NOTHING is to high a price to pay!" said Vick, visibly moved and barely able to contain tears.According to PETA, Vick's day was specifically planned for him, and it focused on animal protection and empathy. First, he was given an overview of animal protection, then a session that laid out the scientific evidence for animals' ability to feel happiness, sadness and pain.Vick agrees with this statement, and reveals his perfect white teeth in a grin."I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole, if you get my drift!" he says, laughing on camera for the first time since the beginning of the ordeal.In the initial meeting, PETA said Vick had mentioned wanting to speak to school children, so he was shown the program they normally do at schools. He saw police training tapes that describe links between violence toward animals and violence toward humans. An entire session was based on Christian teachings about the treatment of animals."And if I have strayed from my Christian roots, I will return to them, for HE forgives all who repent in sincerity" said Vick, whose normal bling was reduced to a large but tasteful crucifix."He seemed to get the most out of that," Shannon said. "He was blown away by how much the Bible had to say about animals."When asked for comment, Vick doubled over with laughter, and was ushered out of the room by his attorneys and others, with Ingrid clutching his arm.

Intelligent life in cyberspace, but Nancy is still a "disGrace" to CNN

2007-08-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

I found these yummy T shirt at one of the following links - Pass the A1...

Buy one for yourself at:

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/anti-peta/-/pv_design_prod/p_477854.100451861/pNo_100451861/id_16995261/fpt_/opt_/c_666/pg_1

Intelligent commentary on the Michael Vick versus animal rights hysteria is bubbling up to the websurface.

HSUS & Wayne Pacelle -Vick's Dogs Must Die

And my other favorite picks:

America's Wildly Overblown Vick Hysteria

Who is sicker, Vick or PETA?

It's a dog and pony show

In defense of Michael Vick, Part 2

Atlanta NAACP: Let Vick return to Falcons after jail sentence

Why do we focus on Vick?

The scam behind the HSUS “reward”

Local Humane Society Worries Donations Sent Elsewhere

Michael Vick Best Thing to Happen to PETA in Years

And I saved the best for last:

Defending Vick: An Argument For Legalizing Dog Fights

Geraldo Rivera and Nancy Grace as shining examples of why a law degree does not necessarily qualify you for a career in television journalism (or anything else, for that matter...):

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290133,00.html

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57192

The latest "Vick-tim" of the AR cash cow

2007-07-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Convicted criminal, Animal Liberation Front terrorist, and H$U$ mouthpeice John "J.P." Goodwin and his boss Wayne Pacelle are wasting no time in exploiting the media circus surrounding the wild allegations levied against Atlanta Falcon's quarterback Michael Vick in a federal indictment filed on July 18th.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/falcons/stories/2007/07/20/0721activists.html

The ASPCA, those promoters of ending ownership rights are engaged in meetings with the NFL.

PeTA is picketing outside the meetings.

Even moderate and respectable welfare groups like the National Animal Interest Alliance and AKC breed clubs such as the Doberman Pinscher Club of America are issuing press releases supporting the throw the book at Vick movement.

Shockingly, no one is asking about the status, welfare or eventual disposition of the 58 innocent dogs seized from the property! SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!!! I guess that the press photos circulating after the seizure which showed them to be in overall good condition must have lulled all the "welfare" advocates into complacency.

The only mention of the dogs was in a possibly fraudulent fundraising plea from H$U$, which has subsequently been taken down. In it, H$U$ claimed to be personally caring for Vicks dogs but we know the H$U$ doesn't really do that sort of thing. The updated solicitation has a tiny disclaimer they hope nobody will read which now says your donation may be used for other HSUS programs and may not be used to help the dog fight victims...

The biggest problem here is that Michael Vick and his associates WERE NOT INDICTED FOR DOGFIGHTING!!! Yes folks, that's right...they were actually indicted on CONSPIRACY.

Ok, this is important so let me repeat; THEY WERE NOT INDICTED FOR DOGFIGHTING!!! If they had had any evidence that Vick was personally engaged in dogfighting it would have been a state felony, but he was not charged at the local level. This is basically a high profile test case for the new federal law. And President Bush just loves to sign conspiracy laws that push the envelope.

Aside from the fact that the feds could endict a grilled cheese sandwich if they so chose, and that the feds were responsible for such fiascos as Waco, Ruby Ridge etc. , let's take an honest look at the 18 page indictment.

The indictment can be split into two sections: allegations made by 4 "cooperating witness" receiving possible immunity from prosecution on drug charges, and evidence. "CW"s allegations include in every instance: places unknown, persons unknown, dates unknown, etc. Apparently they did know names of some dogs though...

This alleged evidence is as follows:
Bought property
named a kennel
put kennel name on shirts and headbands
purchased dogs
owned dogs (some with scars that may or may not have occurred while in the custody of Bad News Kennels)
built a fence
owned a shed
sunk axels with chains to properly secure the dogs
had on site caretaker
had exercise equipment and a breaking stick (used to STOP dogs from fighting)

The indictment also alleges that at an unknown time during 21 days (?) prior to the seizure, 8 dogs were "executed" on the property but makes no mention whatsoever about recovering any bodies from the property. Also, "wetting down" the dog (as alleged) is NOT how animals are electrocuted (ask a furrier) and would pose substantial risk to any idiot stupid enough to try it. And why, in 2007 would anyone resort to such varied, gruesome and outrageous means (as alleged) when the same indictment alleges that a pistol was used on previous occasions as far back as 2002 ?(and NOT by Mike Vick, I should add)

Also, dogfighting activities DID NOT go back to 2001 as has been stated by sources too numerous to mention, the feds just chose the purchase date of the property as an alleged starting point.

This indictment raises more questions than it answers for any thinking person. If Vick is convicted on "conspiracy", based on this "evidence" alone, than every legitimate breeder of American Pit Bull Terriers will likely be raided by HSUS/ASPCA in the months and years to follow. The ARs are just salivating at the thought. PeTa is probably loading extra srynges of euthanol at this very moment. After all, they all supported the Federal law in question because actual state felony laws were not imprisoning enough bona fide dogfighters to warrant their constant and unrelenting pleas for more donations.

Whether or not Vick had knowledge of, or involvement in what his relative was engaged in (drugs) or allegedly engaged in after the drug raid (dog fighting) is for a jury to decide. Unfortunately, because of the spin by H$U$ and their cohorts, and the regurgitation of inaccuracies surrounding the case, it is unlikely that he will get a fair trail. Now I certainly do not condone the allegations made against Mr. Vick by the fed's "cooperating witness" quartet, and if found guilty by a jury of his peers (if they can find any living under a rock somewhere that do not read or watch the news...) beyond a reasonable doubt,then he should be suspended, have his endorsements cancelled, and serve his sentence. Until such time, I prefer to focus on maligning CONVICTED criminals like H$U$ frontman John Goodwin and his ALF buddies.

If there is any dogfighting conspiracy here, my money is on H$U$. A while back they realized that the once dying sport of dogfighting could be a huge cash cow so H$U$ virtually revived it singlehandedly! Using carefully crafted rhetoric, and propaganda videos such as "Off the Chain", the H$U$ has all but written a thugs guide to American Pit Bull Terrier abuse, and marketed it as hip and financially rewarding to urban youth. Now they can point their dirty little fingers at the criminals they helped to create, and ask the public for donations to stop the abuse! Even those few surviving "old time" dogfighters that gave up what was once a "gentleman's sport" (attended by veterinarians and even well known public figures) when it was outlawed by the Animal Welfare Act are appalled at the treatment of todays canines. And the AR experts just keep telling the press how to do it and exactly what they should print.

The truth is anything you can get enough people to believe. "Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her father fourty whacks..." (except that she didn't, and was acquitted!) so with the right spin and a lot of money to promote it, an urban legend is easily made.

See propaganda in action:
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2007/07/vick-indictment.html

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/vick_nfl_071907.html

http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/animal_fighting_the_final_round/recent_activities/dogfighting_effects.html

http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/animal_fighting_the_final_round/dogfighting_fact_sheet/off_the_chain_reveals_betrayal_of_mans_best_friend_2.html

Constitution for sale... if "The Price is Right"!

2007-07-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Pet owners living in what is not so jokingly being called the Republic of Kalifornistan (and elsewhere) are fighting for their rights under both the State Constution and the "Supreme Law of the Land", the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. With a little help from "Price is Right" celebrity host Bob Barker, animal rights extremists are hoping to eradicate pets in Calfornia and other states.

Television viewers have, for the most part, remained oblivious to Barkers extremist views, and his funding of Animal Rights Law - with MILLION$ of DOLLAR$ in ENDOWMENT$ for the law schools of Harvard, Duke, UCLA, Stanford, Columbia and others..."The idea, he said, is to train a generation of lawyers, judges and legislators in animal rights and the widespread problems of cruelty and neglect."
(see link on Animal Liberation Front Website)
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=ush2-mail&ei=UTF-8&p=Enlisting+Law+Schools+in+Campaign+for+Animals

See also Harvard Law School "HLS Hosts National Animal Advocacy Competitions"
http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/storage/paper609/news/2007/03/01/News/Hls-Hosts.National.Animal.Advocacy.Competitions-2751818.shtml
"NAAC was partially funded by the Bob Barker Fund for the Study of Animal Rights at Harvard Law School. The Bob Barker Fund will also be supporting the upcoming Future of Animal Law conference, which will be held at Harvard Law School March 30 through April 1."

Barker, a "strict vegetarian" resigned from hosting the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants in 1987, because the organizers refused to boycot fur.
"And Barker has influenced the show's prizes over the years, said longtime producer Roger Dobkowitz. "Because he's a vegetarian, we respect his wishes and we don't advertise meat products on the show," he said. At Barker's request, they also stopped giving away fur coats."
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/06/ap3795594.html

Perhaps viewers were lulled by his benign sign off "help control pet overpopulation - have your pet spayed or neutered"? Imagine waking up to reality on June 8th, and find out that the "beloved game show host" forgot to mention the part about making it MANDATORY!!!

If California politicians had kept their promises, statewide mandatory speuter under AB1634 (nicknamed "The Pet Extinction Act") would have been dead in the State Assembly but Barker's last minute appeal to legislators had them flip flopping like a pet goldfish on the rug...
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_6145097

Not surprising, Barkers name was also listed with PeTA and other radical animals rights groups as a supporter of the bill that set the stage for this current debaucle, SB861 - which was signed into law not so long ago by Kalifornistan Dictator...oops, Governator Arnold Schwartenegger (who's step daughter lobbys him on AR issues...)

According to The National Animal Interest Alliance, "Appeasing Animal Rights Activists Won't Save Pets or Taxpayer Dollars " in Kalifornistan, or anywhere else!
http://www.naiaonline.org/library/Appeasing_Animal_Rights_Activists.htm

For the "family tree of domestic terrorism" in CA that support laws to criminalize pet owners, see: http://www.gamefowlnews.com/archives/2006/10142006.htm
"Taimie Bryant Professor at UCLA. This is where your tax dollars go to fund the teaching of Domestic Terrorism in our State Funded Colleges like UCLA School of Law. Bryant authored the Hayden Bill which absolutely takes away every Constitutional Right that you had to own Animals in California. The Hayden Bill is responsible for killing more animals than ever before. It gives private corporations the right to seize their competitor's property (animals) and drag the owners through court on fabricated cruelty charges. They get away with this because it also adds an incentive of a million dollars if the raid victim ends up on three years probation and under psychiatric counseling for 3 years. This is a money maker for the private non profits as well as the city and county animal controls. Write to the California Governor and the UCLA Board of Regents and register your complaints, long, loud and clear. Bryant advises ALF members how to skirt the law and commit Domestic Terrorism. "She is also developing projects that combine social science with law with funds from a generous endowment by Bob Barker to UCLA Law School for the purpose of animal rights law teaching and scholarship."

According to:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070706-9999-1n6spay.html
"Barker is scheduled to be in Sacramento on Monday to help drum up enough support to persuade a wary Senate Local Government Committee to keep the bill alive when it is taken up on Wednesday. "

People for Euthanising Thousands of Animals just can't pat him on the back enough for helping...
http://blog.peta.org/archives/2007/06/bob_barker_reti.php

Aparently Bob Barker and the speuter nazis can't read because The CA Constitution clearly states in its Declaration of Rights that:
"ARTICLE 1 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS"SECTION 1. All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy."
FYI folks, a license is a revokeable permission to engage in an activity that would otherwise be illegal. Requiring an "intact permit" would make owning animals as property, in their natural state, illegal, in direct conflict with the guaranteed rights of California citizens. It's a shame that the people must continually remind their elected officials of this FACT.Those of us that ARE literate couldn't help but notice other key RIGHTS guaranteed by the CA Constitution...further reading reveals:
"(4) Nothing in this subdivision supersedes or modifies any provision of this Constitution, including the guarantees that a person may not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denied equal protection of the laws, as providedin Section 7."
And:
"SEC. 13. The right of the people to be secure in their persons,houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable seizures and searches may not be violated; and a warrant may not issue except on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons and things to be seized." That might even making the seizing body liable for the veterinary expense. Hope there's no complications! Imagine all those judges having to write warrants for fluffy's uterus, and Fido's testicles...because:
"SEC. 19. Private property may be taken or damaged for public use only when just compensation, ascertained by a jury unless waived, has first been paid to, or into court for, the owner. The Legislature may provide for possession by the condemnor following commencement of eminent domain proceedings upon deposit in court and prompt release to the owner of money determined by the court to be the probable amount of just compensation." I know I won't waive my right to a jury trial. The court system will collapse under this burden.
Even better:
"SEC. 20. Noncitizens have the same property rights as citizens." So illegal aliens could sue too!

My Constitutional rights are not for sale at any price, Bob...You can take your political endorsements, foundations, charitable donations, and your tired old worn out rhetoric and stuff them in the same orifice you have crammed your head up in to.
To quote the movie Happy Gilmore in which Barker made a guest appearance,
THE PRICE IS WRONG BITCH!!!

Arson-Around with Auntie ALF

2007-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Animal Liberation Front (ALF) recipy for domestic terrorism - or

"Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah(mite), someone's in the kitchen I Know..."

May 24th, 2007

Thomas Barnes, a former deputy district attorney in El Paso County, Colorado promised Denver District Judge William Robbins that his son, suspected eco terrorist Grant Barnes would be a good boy and appear in court in exchange for a drastic reduction in bail. Authorities accuse the 24 year old Barnes of attempting to set off firebombs under seven sport utility vehicles over four days in March, causing extensive fire damage to two of them. Despite objections by Prosecutor Ryan Younggren, Judge Robbins agreed to reduce bail from $200,000 to $100,000 because no one had been injured in the fire bombings (how fortunate!). According to the Rocky Mountain News:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5553671,00.html

And the Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5951693source=rss

police found a box of seven more devices in the back of Barnes car which are replicas of bombs portrayed on the web site of terrorist organization Earth Liberation Front, with explosive ingredients and directions titled "Arson-Around with Auntie ALF"

According to the search warrant affidavit, when he was pulled over, Barnes was "extremely nervous and sweating profusely," and investigators are now searching Barnes’ computer for information that would show "he acted in collaboration with members of an arson/terrorist organization. " In the latest affidavit, Denver Fire investigator Leif Skulborstad said that ELF and ALF are interrelated organizations and "both ... use arson and incendiary devices as a terrorist tactic." The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is assisting in the investigation.

Barnes arraignment has been postponed until July to give his lawyer Phil Cherner time to assess whether to file an insanity plea. (Quelle surprise!)

H$U$, "Inhumane Wayne"

2007-05-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

Steven Best with HSUS president Wayne Pacelle (Best is the co-editor of Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals, which sings the sings the praises of “direct action” violence and the Animal Liberation Front)

http://www.cala-online.org/TOFF/Terrorists_or_Freedom_Fighters2.htm

Oooh, oooh! The Animal Liberation Front calls him a saint! (ALF - Those fun folks who like to blow things up...)
http://animalliberationfront.com/Saints/ARHallOfFame/WaynePacelle.htm

Want to make the connection between Wayne Pacelle And domestic terrorism a little more clear? Just put "Wayne Pacelle and Steven Best" into you search engine and see what happens...
http://www.gamefowlnews.com/archives/2004/Sun%2011%20Apr%202004.htm

When asked if he envisioned a future without pets: "If I had my personal view, perhaps that might take hold. In fact, I don't want to see another dog or cat born." Wayne Pacelle quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 266.

"I don't have a hands-on fondness for animals...To this day I don't feel bonded to any non-human animal. I like them and I pet them and I'm kind to them, but there's no special bond between me and other animals." quoted in Bloodties: Nature, Culture and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote, 1993, p. 251.

OK folks, just in case some of you still think that Wayne and his cohorts at the Humane Society of the United States are a warm fuzzy bunch of animal lovers and that it's just a coincidence that the leaders are vegan fascists, then take a cue from our own leaders. Wayne was outed by virtually everyone at this weeks US Agriculture sub committe hearing. All that smoke and mirrors from their new public relation firm (the same one that represents ethnic media icons including Judge Joe Brown...) is becoming transparent. Caught in a web of his own lies, Pacelle was spanked hard and sent to bed without his tofu.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3338
and:
http://www.brownfieldnetwork.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=6D26E601-C1DC-952B-61CFD7B9F7357C7F
" Pacelle suggested his group could simply go around the House Ag Committee to advance its agenda if necessary"

Since this continuing credibily issue might make it difficult for H$U$, PeTA, Best Friends and their brothers in arms to pass extremist backed legislation at the federal level, the radicals have published a new "how to manual" for eroding our freedoms at the lower levers of government. This H$U$ funded book reaffirms the loveless, meatless, petless apcalyptic goals outlined in the updated H$U$ official policy statement (approved October22, 2005). Clearly stated in this manuals introduction:

"Imagine winning local ordinances that: require shelters that provide true comfort for animals of all domesticated species when kept outdoors and regulate the time and conditions in which they may be outdoors; restrict or ban dog tethering or penning; restrict or ban breeding, while providing public funds for spaying and neutering; require truly humane animal control policies and sheltering, including policies that focus strongly on cats’ needs; ban pet stores from selling animals, the use of animals in circuses, rodeos, dog and horse racing, and the hunting and trapping of wildlife; ban the sale and production of veal and foie gras and other atrocities of factory farming; and restrict laboratory testing on animals, moving toward its elimination. Imagine achieving these changes in your locality. In nearly all parts of the United States, town, city, and county lawmakers can legislate directly on all these issues (it’s true!) In other communities (in states that restrict local governments from banning recreational killing, for example), lawmakers can achieve the same results through highly restrictive regulations and other ordinances. Lawmakers will do all this, if you embrace and act on the lessons this MANUAL provides. "
http://www.nifaa.org/manual.html
http://www.nifaa.org/Introduction.pdf

Wow! If we end commercial farming, AND hunting, you can kiss your burger goodbye. Regulate "the time and conditions" when "all domestic species" can be outdoors? Ban pet stores from selling goldfish? Eliminating all biomedical research with animals even though it has resulted in vaccines, treatment, and cures for diseases that cause grievous human suffering.

Repeat after me:
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS DONATE TO ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS!
Any questions?

H$U$: "We have no ethical obligation..."

2007-05-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

H$U$ story and fact links:
Humane Society of the United States?

What’s so Humane about this?

"We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. One generation and out. We have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals. They are the creations of human selective breeding." Wayne Pacelle, quoted in Animal People, May, 1993.

http://www.animalrights.net/archives/related_topics/organizations/pro_ar/hsus.html

http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136 “J.P. Goodwin doesn’t represent HSUS’s only intersection with the animal rights movement’s violent underbelly. Miyun Park, a Washington, DC anti-meat activist hired by HSUS in 2005, was acknowledged in 1999 as a financial benefactor of No Compromise magazine, a publication that supports the ALF and promotes arson and other violent tactics. And in the investigation leading to the 2005 animal-enterprise terrorism trial of six SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) activists, Park was among those named in at least six federal wiretap warrants.

And Ariana Huemer, an HSUS government-affairs employee, may figure in the case of fugitive animal-rights bomber Daniel Andreas San Diego. An FBI evidence recovery log from the search of San Diego’s car describes a check Huemer wrote to him. San Diego, currently on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list, is presumed responsible for 10-pound shrapnel bombs detonated in 2003 at two California biomedical research companies. One of these bombs was accompanied by a “secondary” device, timed to detonate after paramedics and firefighters arrived on the scene. “
Humane Society of the United States senior vice president Heidi Prescott also serves as an advisory board member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a group that practices high-seas piracy in “defense” of whales, fish, and other sea creatures. http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/347

The Taking Action for Animals conference will include dozens of leading figures from the animal movement and speakers from other social justice movements sharing their knowledge and experience to help you take your activism to the next level. http://www.takingactionforanimals.org/speakers.php In a line up filled with criminals and radicals, confirmed HSUS speakers include: Wayne Pacelle, Andi Bernat, Katie Conlee, Carter Dillard, Jennifer Fearing, John Goodwin, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. John Hadidian, Johnathan Loworn, Michael Markarian, Miyun Park, Nancy Perry, Peter Petersan, Alyson Powers, Heidi Prescott, Dr. Bob Roop, Stephanie Shain,

Breed Bans Hit Court Opposition; Anti-tethering Laws Gain Favor
“Breed-specific legislation, long opposed by the American Kennel Club, the American SPCA, and the Humane Society of the U.S., is no longer actively opposed by HSUS, and has won support around the U.S. and Canada.” Animal People magazine April 2006 (The watchdog publication for the extreme animal rights movement.)

John “J.P.” Goodwin (The mouthpiece of HSUS’s 20 million dollar anti pit bull and anti hunting “animal fighting” campaign), By 1998, at just 25 years old, Goodwin was describing himself as a "former member of ALF". His busy schedule was filled with interviews, arrests, ALF p.r., addressing kids at conferences, protests, a presence in several countries and, in the summer of 1999, the filing of a lawsuit against his pet project - CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade) under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by a Philadelphia furrier tired of incessant protests and attacks on his property and staff. http://www.furcommission.com/news/newsF03i.htm

John Paul “J.P.” Goodwin represents another disturbing tie between HSUS and the violent animal rights underground. In 1997, when Goodwin was the national director of the Coalition To Abolish the Fur Trade, he wrote in No Compromise that he and his group “support these [ALF] actions 100%. We will never, ever, ever work with anyone who helps the FBI stop the ALF ... this is one of the best things to happen in a long time.” [7] In March 1997, following the $1 million ALF arson of a fur farmers’ feed co-op in Utah, Goodwin told reporters: “We’re ecstatic.”
and ". “We have no problem with inanimate objects being destroyed so animate objects can survive."
David Martosko testimony to Congress on domestic terrorism

"Also alarming are the relationships these domestic terrorist groups have with tax-exempt organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Humane Society of the United States, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine."
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm?release=106

“However, animal rights activists at state and national levels are attempting to force regulation of breeders through legislatures and the initiative process. They are backed by organizations such as the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, Doris Day Animal League, Humane Society of the US, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and others that denigrate purebred dogs as genetic nightmares and vilify breeders as vain and greedy animal exploiters.” Dog and cat breeds are in peril in Europe 1999 http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/dogand.htm

Hijacking of the humane movement, “They usually get their ducks in a row, contacting politicians and persuading them that the votes lie with a "compassionate" stance against the killing of healthy animals; planting articles and letters to the editor in local papers decrying the euthanasia of dogs and cats in the local shelter; collecting donations for a print-media advertising campaign; blaming "profit-making" breeders for a "surplus" population of pets; and even euthanizing a dog or two for the television cameras to drive their point across.” http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/hijack.htm

“Numerous former PeTA employees have worked at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), including Richard Swain, vice president of investigations; Jonathan Balcombe, Cristobel Block, and Virginia Bollinger, investigations section; Howard Edelstein, computer programmer; Leslie Gerstenfeld and Kimberly Roberts, international affairs section; and Leslie Ison and Rachel Lamb, “companion animals” section. PeTA “Humane Education Lecturer” Gary Yourofsky, a convicted Animal Liberation Front felon, spoke at HSUS’s 2002 CompassionFest for children. HSUS and PeTA joined eight other animal groups to demand that the U.S. Department of Agriculture restore to its website documents concerning the use of animals in research. HSUS and PeTA are both active members of the International Council on Animal Protection, which seeks to limit research on animals. And in 2003, HSUS Vice President Martin Stephens was asked to recommend three people to serve on an EPA “pollution prevention and toxics” panel. Two out of his three choices were PeTA employees. HSUS and PeTA are co-sponsors of the 2005 “Taking Action For Animals” conference in Washington, DC.”
http://www.activistcash.com/organization_connections.cfm/oid/21

HSUS "fact sheet" distorts animal control issues and answers http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/disectps.htm

Animal Rightists: Coming to a Town Near You, “While ALF and ELF blow up buildings, their PeTA counterparts are busy screaming for attention. HSUS then comes in to consult under the guise of legitimacy. Their websites and promotional materials are phenomenally well-crafted. Their resources are unlimited. In fact, it is likely that your municipality is already using their materials to guide policy and craft new ordinances.” http://magic-city-news.com/article_6472.shtml

HSUS/Fund for Animals Merger Apparently A Done Deal http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2004/000468.html

“They (HSUS) are secretly funneling lobbying money into the state -blatantly circumventing our laws.” http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2003/000367.html

It is interesting that HSUS feels comfortable with the sort of extreme animal rights sentiment espoused by Ark Trust. This is consistent, though, with HSUS' ongoing habit of sending one message to the public and another message to the animal rights community. http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2002/000298.html

HSUS Honors Ex-Klansman
http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2002/000155.html

Former Employee Makes Allegations Against Human Society of the United States http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2001/000085.html

Do Animal Rights Activists Care More About Animals Than Human Beings? http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2002/000036.html

Animal rightists are pushing their agenda in small increments under the guise of animal welfare and with mistruths, but the public is not aware of the slippery path ahead. Just as happens in many of the other areas we touch, we have accomplished a lot for a little. As an example, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a $17 million budget with a staff of 200. The Humane Society of the United States has a $70 million budget, 300 staff members, and no animal shelters to support. Other animal rights organizations have a combined income of over $14.5 million. How about the AVMA? As you know, our $24 million budget is divided into many areas. Currently we devote around $200,000 and one FTE (full time employee) to animal welfare activities! Truly, a mouse that roars. - Bonnie V. Beaver, BS, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVB, AVMA President-elect (Address to the AVMA House of Delegates, July 23, 2004) http://www.upc-online.org/avma/81004speech.htm

http://www.geocities.com/greyluvrsleague/hsus.htm

People for the ethical Treatment of animals?

2007-02-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

PeTA story and fact links: People for the ethical Treatment of animals?
Who are they kidding?

"I'd go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself...I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes dozens every day." Ingrid Newkirk

http://media.putfile.com/petaBS Penn & Teller Bullshit, A MUST SEE!
http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/21
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/05/7/tsg.petastaffersface7.05.htm
“You may believe that animals should be killed, that black people should be enslaved, or that women should be beaten, but you don’t have the right to put those beliefs into practice.”
http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=129
http://www.helpinganimals.com/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=39
Still, Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the policy might prevent people from acquiring more dogs than they can care for. "China may be barking up the right tree," she said. "It's sad that it comes to this, but for the dog's sake, restricting people to one dog stops impulse acquisition, encourages better care and will reduce the numbers who are suffering on the streets."http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/weird_news/15959915.htm
http://www.robesonian.com/articles/2004/03/22/news/editorials/editorials01.txt Daphna Nachminovitch, director of animal issues and abuse for PeTA, toured the new county pound in February and seemed satisfied that it was a tremendous improvement over the previous facility in how the animals were housed and treated. But in the letter to the Health Department, Nachminovitch made several recommendations for continued improvements, the details of which can be found in staff writer Tim Wilkins' Page 1A story today. We won't dismiss all of Nachminovitch's recommendations. The one we like the most is a ban on adoptions of animals - particularly pit bulls – that are obviously on their way to a dog fight.
Controlling an animal as deadly as a weapon
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/08/EDGDLD4G1S1.DTL Ingrid Newkirk Wednesday, June 8, 2005 ”Most people have no idea that at many animal shelters across the country, any pit bull that comes through the front door doesn't go out the back door alive. From California to New York, many shelters have enacted policies requiring the automatic destruction of the huge and ever-growing number of "pits" they encounter. This news shocks and outrages the compassionate dog-lover. Here's another shocker: People for the ethical Treatment of Animals, the very organization that is trying to get you to denounce the killing of chickens for the table, foxes for fur or frogs for dissection, supports the shelters' pit-bull policy, albeit with reluctance. We further encourage a ban on breeding pit bulls. “
http://www.peta.org/Living/commentary_listing.aspx?id=70 ”We must prohibit the breeding of fighting dogs, for their own protection as well as ours, and spay or neuter existing dogs. And given the appalling number of homeless dogs destroyed every day in shelters across the country, there should be a moratorium on all dog breeding. There are many wonderful dogs, mixed and purebred, large and small, in need of good homes who have never curled a lip at anybody. They die, while breeders of fighting dogs continue to breed tragedy.”
PeTA letter to Alabama judge requesting euthanasia of pit bulls in order to end dog fighting. http://home.comcast.net/~dawn.c/peta.html
http://www.ingridnewkirk.com/
“Ingrid served as a deputy sheriff; as a Maryland state law enforcement officer with the highest success rate in convicting animal abusers; director of cruelty investigations for the second oldest humane society in the U.S.; and Chief of Animal Disease Control for the Commission on Public Health in the District of Columbia.
During her work as a humane officer, Ingrid discovered the enormous amount of animal abuse taking place behind closed doors in laboratories, on factory farms, etc. She met *Alex Pacheco when he volunteered at the shelter she worked at, and he gave her a copy of *Peter Singer’s book Animal Liberation. It inspired her to found PeTA in 1980 with the goals of investigating, publicizing and ending animal cruelty. “
*Alex Pacheco (now head of an animal rights fundraising company) is another activist who started his career with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, in the late 1970s. He now serves on one of its advisory boards. Pacheco is co-founder and former chairman of People for the ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization whose leaders openly advocate terrorist violence. “Arson, property destruction, burglary, and theft are ‘acceptable crimes’ when used for the animal cause,” he once said. Pacheco is rumored to be a “commander” of ALF and has been subpoenaed in connection to Animal Liberation Front activities. http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/347
* "The potential violence of the orangutan's come-on may have been disturbing, but the fact that it was an orangutan making the advances was not. That may be because [Birute] Galdikas understands very well that we are animals, indeed more specifically, we are great apes. This does not make sex across the species barrier normal, or natural, whatever those much-misused words may mean, but it does imply that it ceases to be an offence to our status and dignity as human beings." – Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation) http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2005/000149.html
Ingrid Newkirk on bestiality: If a girl gets sexual pleasure from riding a horse, does the horse suffer? If not, who cares? If you French kiss your dog and he or she thinks it's great, is it wrong? We believe all exploitation and abuse is wrong. If it isn't exploitation and abuse, it may not be wrong. http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2001/000102.html
Ingrid Newkirk – taking on the critics
We have an abolitionist approach, but I always say that while our heads are in the clouds and we fight for total liberation, our feet are firmly planted on the ground. For example, I don't think people should ride horses (which has been too radical for even an animal rights feminist publication to print in the U.S., believe it or not), but if I see someone beating a horse I'm going to try and stop them even if I can't take their horse away from them. I must say, the press doesn't share this idea that we are namby pamby: They know that if there's a rat or cockroach involved, PeTA is the group here that will stick up for that poor blighted animal publicly (we are currently defending sharks due to the hysteria over the recent attacks!) and we will always stick up for the A.L.F., so they call us and we do.
http://www.animal-lib.org.au/more_interviews/ingrid/
In Coronado's official "sentencing memorandum," U.S. Attorney Michael Dettmer wrote that PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk arranged ahead of time to have Coronado send her a pair of FedEx packages from Michigan -- one on the day before he burned the lab down, and the other shortly afterward. "Significantly," wrote Dettmer, "Newkirk had arranged to have the package[s] delivered to her days before the MSU arson occurred." http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/coronadosentencingmemorandum.pdf
And:
On documents that PETA files with the IRS, the group listed less than $8,000 in gifts to humane societies and SPCAs during 2001. In that same year, they gave $5,000 to Animal Liberation Front's militant Josh Harper and $1,500 to the Earth Liberation Front. http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2339
Ingrid’s will, and yes folks, she’s dead serious!
http://www.peta-online.org/feat/newkirk/will.html
“PeTA was formed as a cover for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and PeTA and ALF were one and the same.” FBI documents – read 10 highlighted pages. http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_fbi1.cfm
“1987, Toronto’s Sunday Star wrote: (Cleveland) “Armory readily acknowledges his and PeTA’s support for illegal ‘direct action’ campaigns to protect animals. ‘We both support and serve as spokespersons for the Animal Liberation Front,’ Armory says candidly.” http://www.activistcash.com/biography.cfm/bid/3383
Surprise – Someone at PeTA is lying about that ELF donation http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/2002/000115.html
In her afterword to Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals, Ingrid Newkirk writes, “If a concentration camp or laboratory is burned, that is violence, but if it is left standing is that not more and worse violence?…Isn’t the chicken house today’s concentration camp?…Will we condemn its destruction or condemn its existence? Which is the more violent wish?” http://www.satyamag.com/apr04/best.html
Steven Best co-editor of Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? With ALF arsonist Rodney Coronado, ALF burgler and PeTA on-scool lecturer Gary Yourofsky, and with Terrorists co-author, PeTA president Ingrid Newkirk
"I openly hope that it [hoof-and-mouth disease] comes here. It will bring economic harm only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence. It would be good for animals, good for human health and good for the environment.” Ingrid Newkirk, ABC News interview April 2, 2001
“no form of breeding can be considered responsible” http://www.helpinganimals.com/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=133
And the sources referenced therein: Chuck Haga, “Every Dog Has Its Day,” Minneapolis Star Tribune Sep. 1999 can be accessed at: http://www.highbeam.com/doc.aspx?DOCID=1G1:62460223&ctrlInfo=Round20%3AMode20d%3ADocG%3AResult&ao= “Action to wipe out pit bull dogs,” Evening Standard (London)
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_20000110/ai_n9535526
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' Bruce Friedrich posted a bizarre appeal on behalf of convicted arsonist and animal rights activist Frank Allen. http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/1998/000066.html
“It seems that PeTA was involved in the multi-million-dollar arson at Michigan State University” http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm?headline=1832
PETA’s spokesperson bails out a suspected arsonist she claims she didn’t even know and yet IDA’s (In Defense of Animals) Roy and Kleiman insist Americans for Medical Progress and others unfairly portray the animal rights movement as full of extremists! http://www.animalrights.net/archives/year/1999/000044.html
Peta’s $45,200 “grant” to Rodney Coronado – actual tax return
http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_rodney1.cfm
PeTA’s funding of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_pcrm1.cfm
PCRM and SHAC alliance
http://www.animalscam.com/references/pcrm_shac1.cfm
PeTA gives $ to convicted criminal
http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_joshharper1.cfm
PeTA gives to ELF
http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_elf1.cfm
PeTA gives to ALF spokesman
http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_davidwilson1.cfm
PeTA fact sheet endorsement of ALF
http://www.animalscam.com/references/peta_alf1.cfm
Steven Best and Bruce Friedrich, PeTA vegetarian campaign director and violence advocate
PeTA leader Bruce Friedrich's twisted dream that "it would be great" if restaurants, laboratories and banks "exploded tomorrow." http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm?headline=2616
PeTA sacrifices ideology for big bucks http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm?headline=1029
PeTA has killed over 14,000 animals since 1998. http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3090
“The six murdered hunters were not only victims, but also perpetrators…”
http://www.517169.com/
PeTA, the organization which claims to have about 350,000 members, instead, has only three members! According to PeTA’s certificate of incorporation in Delaware, these members are Alex, Ingrid, and Sue… http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/Peta_didn
http://www.animalrights.net/archives/related_topics/organizations/pro_ar/peta.html
(Just in case you couldn’t get enough…)
PeTA celebrity PROSTITUTES:
Pamela Anderson, Ewan McGregor, Martin Sheen, Ellen Degeneres, Chrissie Hynde, Howard Jones, Indigo Girls, Michael Stipe, Belinda Carlisle, Good Charlotte, Fallout Boy, My Chemical Romance, Eisley, The B-52s, Lamb of God, La Tigre, The Polyphonic Spree,k.d. lang, Morrisey, Sir Paul McCartney and both of his wives, Simon Cowell, Charlize Theron, Christy Turlington, Kim Basinger, Martha Stewart. Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor, Alec Baldwin, Alicia Silverstone, designer Stella McCartney, Bea Arthur, Juliette Lewis, Amy Sedaris, David Gallagher, Jorja Fox, Sage Francis, Jay Hernandez, Persia White, Andy Dick, Constance Marie, Elvira,

TRAILER TRASH JOURNALISM

2006-11-11T23:01:00.000-08:00

CNN's fall from Grace

When CNN legislative analyst Nancy Grace took viewers on a tour of murder victim Lacey Peterson's home, who would have thought she could sink any lower? And yet, time and time again, she does!

Grace is a former prosecutor, so on behalf of common sense - I must object!

The most accurate thing to spew fron Grace's mouth in this election day show was "this is total BS!" And New York University must be just giving away degrees in Constitutional law because Grace apparently thinks that free speech is reserved only for her. She loves the sound of her own voice so much she will hardly let her guests finish a sentence - let alone make a valid point. What a waste of a perfectly good college education! Perhaps it's Nancy's head that should be examined for rabies...Anyone want to chop it off?

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/07/ng.01.html

NANCY GRACE
Dad`s Pitbulls Kill 1-Year-Old
Aired November 7, 2006 - 20:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, a South Carolina community in shock after four pitbulls maul a 1-year-old baby to death, his own father facing murder one charges.And tonight, a firefighter mom disappears, seemingly vanishing into thin air, leaving behind three little children, including a 6-month old left home alone. Could she still be alive? Tonight, we follow the trial.First to South Carolina, pitbulls once again a deadly weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) told us the child was in the bed, sleeping. And he went outside for a very short period of time (INAUDIBLE) And when he returned in the house, the dogs dragged the child to the kitchen floor, and the child (INAUDIBLE) kitchen floor bleeding very badly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Pitbulls a deadly weapon? Once again, we hear about a little child mauled to death by a dangerous dog. Out to Court TV`s Jean Casarez. What happened?

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Well, Nancy, 25-year-old Michael Young (ph) was living with his mother, raising by himself his 22-month-old little boy. They just moved into their brand-new home, and he also brought long his four pitbulls that were living with his mother but always stayed outside. But they stayed inside Saturday night. He went out for about five minutes to talk with his landlord, who was also his boss. He came back in, his little boy was on the kitchen floor, mauled to death.

GRACE: Jane Velez-Mitchell, did you just see those particular -- those pitbulls right there fighting?

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Yes. Pitbulls fight, but...

GRACE: That was a yes/no. Can you imagine leaving a child, a 1-year- old child, with that?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Nancy, you are absolutely right. That was a mistake, but it was a mistake made by a human being. We can`t demonize pitbulls because this father, as much as I sympathize with his grief right now, made some crucial mistakes. He had moved into a new trailer, and yet he let those animals in with his son and left them alone for five minutes. Now, these were animals that were used to being tethered outside, chained outside, which is something that...

GRACE: Do you see that baby? Do you see the baby? The baby is dead. And you`re telling me it`s not the dogs` fault!

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I am telling you...

GRACE: OK!~

VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... it`s not the dogs` fault.

GRACE: Jean Casarez, have they gotten the doggie death penalty?

CASAREZ: Well, yes, they have, all four dogs. By the way, when investigators walked into the house, the dogs were wagging their tails. They were not attacking. They were very docile. But yes, all four dogs were euthanized, and they`ve been sent for rabies examinations.

GRACE: What do you mean, they`ve been sent? You mean their brains have been sent to be studied, to determine whether they have rabies.

CASAREZ: Yes. I didn`t want to get as graphic, but yes, their heads were cut off and their heads have been taken to be studied for rabies.

GRACE: Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told us that his child was in the bed, sleeping. He went outside for a very short period of time, five to ten minutes, to speak with his new landlord and bossman (ph), and when he returned in the house, the dogs had dragged the child to the kitchen floor, and the child was laying on the kitchen floor, bleeding very badly.I went there prepared to do battle with four vicious pitbulls, using bite sleeves and correction collars. We opened the door and called the dogs to us, and they came with wagging tails and jumping all over us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: There have been a series of cases involving not only pitbulls, presa canarios, various dogs trained to fight, with the reputation of being deadly, one case after the next after the next. What about it, Jane Velez- Mitchell? There have been many, many -- a string of cases likes this.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sure. There`s one in San Francisco, where a mother is accused of child endangerment because her 12-year-old son was mauled by two pitbulls and he had approximately 140 injuries. The common denominator here is that you don`t put children in close proximity to pitbulls. You don`t put a horse in an apartment, a one-bedroom apartment, and then blame it if it knocks something over. You don`t put a bull in a china shop, and you don`t put pitbulls and leave them alone with a child.In this last case, the one that happened Saturday night in South Carolina, this little boy is 25 to 30 pounds. That is the weight of the smallest of the four pitbulls.

GRACE: Well, you know what, Jane Velez-Mitchell? Long story short, there are multiple cases -- and I`m referring specifically to a San Francisco case. The victim was literally an all-American girl. Her name, Diane Whipple. She was a very slight young lady. She was on the American -- all-American lacrosse team. She was minding her own business, coming in from bringing the groceries, leaving her apartment, trying to get in or out the door regarding the groceries. These two dogs, huge presa canario dogs, attack, tear the woman apart, tear the pants off her body, chew her up. They were not being restrained.So what you`re telling me is that you can`t think of a single scenario, after I`ve told you about the Whipple case, where dogs attack?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: No, I think that we have to be very careful about making sure that these animals are kept in appropriate living situations. All I`m concerned about -- and a lot of animal advocates tonight are concerned about demonizing the entire breed because these animals are either trained to fight or not kept properly, not spayed and neutered. You know, when they`re not neutered, they`re much more aggressive. And in a lot of these cases, they have not. They`ve been mated and they`ve been bred to fight. They have not been cared for properly.

(CROSSTALK)

CASAREZ: ... that case could be differentiated, the Whipple case, from this case, from everything we know, because in the Whipple case, that dog was bred to fight. And many times, pitbulls are bred to fight. From everything we know about the South Carolina case, these dogs were docile. They were quiet. They were house pets. They were not bred to fight.

GRACE: Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These dogs were more dangerous than a loaded gun. And I call them like a time bomb because at least with a gun, you have to pull the trigger. But these dogs would go off on their own, over and over and over again, without warning, and that`s what made them so dangerous. And Diane Whipple didn`t get enough warning to get away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s screaming. She`s yelling. She`s hitting at the dog. She`s trying to get -- keep her whole body around Ms. Whipple to protect Ms. Whipple from the jaws of this berserk beast. The dog is pulling at her clothing, even underneath Marjorie, even though she`s under -- even though Ms. Whipple is underneath Marjorie, Ms. Whipple is being bitten on her sides, on her back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: These dogs have just killed a 1-year-old baby boy. Let`s go out to the lawyers, unchaining now Mickey Sherman and Anne Bremner, Mickey Sherman out of the New York jurisdiction, Anne Bremner from the Seattle jurisdiction. So Mickey Sherman, there`s no doubt in my mind that these dogs should have rightly been put down. And I don`t see a problem with the father facing a murder charge.

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, you can`t believe - - you`ll get such an argument from so many people about even killing the dogs. I mean...

GRACE: What about the baby?

(CROSSTALK)

SHERMAN: Did you...

GRACE: Forget the dog, what about the baby?

SHERMAN: Did you hear what Jane said? It`s not the dog`s fault. And let me tell you, her opinion is really echoed...

GRACE: Oh, right! Guns don`t...

SHERMAN: ... by so many people...

GRACE: ... kill, people do!

SHERMAN: Well, no, I`m telling you...

GRACE: Save your breath!

SHERMAN: People would rather see their children be marched off to reform school before their dog gets a criminal record. I`m telling you, people get crazy over dogs and animal rights. And what was Jane`s phrase, which is appropriate, demonization of the breed. People are really concerned about ill treatment of animals, even when they do horrible things.

GRACE: Ill treatment of animals?

SHERMAN: Yes. I`m telling you...

GRACE: Mickey, you know, this is -- I`ve got to say, outrageous -- a 1-year-old baby boy lying in the floor! Did you hear -- you know what? Let`s go out to Dr. Daniel Spitz, forensic pathologist. Dr. Spitz, can you please describe what happened to this little baby, what he lived through before he died. The last thing he saw was a mouthful of fang!

DR. DANIEL SPITZ, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, there`s no question that four dogs attacking this child would not be a pretty sight. There would be a tremendous amount of injury. The fangs of these dogs would rapidly penetrate the skin of this child. The major blood vessels are only a short distance underneath the skin, so those blood vessels are going to be penetrated and bleeding is going to be rapid. Certainly, it`s a painful and a traumatizing death.

GRACE: Let`s go back out to the lawyers, Mickey Sherman, Anne Bremner. Let`s talk about statutes. Are you guys familiar with statutes? They`re sprinkled across the country regarding breeds like pitbulls, Anne Bremner.

ANNE BREMNER, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Well, yes. But Nancy, the thing in a case like this -- in the Whipple case, it was thrown out. That verdict of guilty was thrown out by the judge after the fact. And in this case, you know, you`ve got a dog...

GRACE: I asked you about statutes.

BREMNER: Well, I mean, the bottom line, Nancy, is you`ve got to have some viciousness, some propensity shown, something in advance. It`s foreseeability, Trial 101, Nancy, that you`re not going to get negligent homicide or abuse of a child in a case like this unless there was some knowledge on the part of this particular parent.And you know, with dogs, I defended the Seattle police dogs in a case where they said use of police dogs is deadly force. Ten-week trial, the jurors said, You`re barking up the wrong tree.

GRACE: Mickey, I want to go back to what I asked Anne Bremner regarding statutes. The both of are you dancing all around it!

BREMNER: No, actually...

SHERMAN: No, it`s...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: There are statutes enacted because of dogs just like this!

SHERMAN: There`s broadly stated statutes, basically reckless endangerment. You do anything, any series of events that you set in motion...

GRACE: Right.

SHERMAN: ... that will cause the death or impairment of the morals (ph) or the health of a child. And that`s probably what they would go under here. But the better question, the bigger question, Nancy, is, Do you really need to prosecute this guy? He`s raising his child. His mother -- the mother has deserted the child. He`s raising a 22 -- year-old (SIC). Did he intentionally expect this to happen? Did he have any past...

BREMNER: Right.

SHERMAN: ... knowledge that his dogs were dangerous? He made a mistake, a stupid mistake. But do you think he`s going to learn any bigger lesson if we put him in jail, other than having lost his child in such a horrible way?

GRACE: Well, do you think any criminal will learn a lesson? It`s not all about rehabilitation, Mickey Sherman.

SHERMAN: It`s about deterrence. It`s about deterrence.

GRACE: And it`s about punishment!

SHERMAN: Anybody who is going to have to learn a lesson, have learned a lesson enough instead of having to be prosecuted when their child is dead -- there`s no useful purpose in that, none whatsoever.

GRACE: Out to Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop and former fed. Mike, there have been a number of cases very similar to this one.

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Nancy, I`ve seen the pitbulls both docile and I`ve seen them also in attack mode. And you know, again, it`s the environment they`re put into. One morning, we served a search warrant. We came around. We had animal control with us. There were two pitbulls in the back. We came around with the loops. We went ahead and looped a dog. As I was coming around the back and I was sweeping the backyard with the flashlight on my sub-gun (ph), there was a golden retriever lying dead in the backyard because it had been put in there to use as bait with these dogs.Now, these dogs were raised to fight. It was the owners that raised them this way. And you also see them walking around neighborhoods with big, thick chains around their necks to strengthen their necks for dog fighting.But again, these dogs were not raised to fight. But you know, did he need to have four pitbulls? Why have four pitbulls and one little boy? And he should not have left those children alone. Again -- but I have to agree on certain things. There are no bad dogs, there`s bad owners.

GRACE: OK, Mike, I wouldn`t have a problem leaving a 1-year-old baby boy possibly with four little kittens or with four little turtles or maybe with four little wiener dogs. But four pitbulls?

BROOKS: Nancy...

GRACE: Why would anybody even have four pitbulls in the house?

BROOKS: That`s -- that was exactly what my question I just posed a second ago. But I`ve also...

GRACE: I mean -- no, no!

BROOKS: But I`ve also...

GRACE: It`s about the dog...

BROOKS: ... seen poodles...

GRACE: ... Brooks! It`s about the dog, too!

BROOKS: It is.

GRACE: Kittens don`t attack you and rip your throat out!

BROOKS: But I have seen poodles attack kids in the face and the neck and do serious damage to them, too.

GRACE: OK, wa-wa-wa-wa- wa-wa-wa- wait! Do you have a big, long list of poodle murders? That is total BS! No, laugh all you want to~!

BROOKS: I`m not laughing.

GRACE: But you know, when it happens to somebody that you know or somebody in your neighborhood, when a dog like this breaks through a chainlink fence and attacks someone, when a dog like those two presa canarios leap away from their owner and literally bite a young girl to death, I don`t know -- you need to drink the coffee and wake up, Mike!

BROOKS: No, well, he does need to be charged. It needs to be looked at. There is a death investigation. He could be charged with neglect, with homicide by neglect. There should not -- he should not have left that little boy alone. You know, was he -- was the little boy playing with these dogs and it got a little rough? Because Nancy, the one thing about these dogs...

GRACE: Got a little rough?

BROOKS: Well, that -- we don`t...

GRACE: Whoa, whoa! Wa-wait! I want to see his face, Elizabeth!

BROOKS: Let me finish. Let me finish.

GRACE: I want to see Brooks`s face! They got a little rough.

BROOKS: No...

GRACE: They ate the baby! The baby is dead! They`ve had their heads chopped off, Mike.

BROOKS: What I`m saying is, Nancy, he was probably playing. They were -- the police said there`s one scenario, that possibly he was playing with the dogs. It got a little rough. You know, maybe he poked one of them in the eye. And these kind of dogs, these aren`t the kind of dogs you play like that with. And once it tastes blood...

GRACE: Oh, so you admit that...

BROOKS: Once they...

GRACE: ... apparently, genetically, these type of dogs can be easily angered and attack.

BROOKS: Absolutely. And once they taste blood, that`s it.

GRACE: Well, there`s a fine how-do-you-do. Once they taste blood, that`s it.Joining us from Bamberg, South Carolina, Deputy Sheriff Norris Williams. He is with the Bamberg County sheriff`s office. Sir, thank you for being with us. Tell us about what you have observed in this case.

DEP. SHERIFF NORRIS WILLIAMS, BAMBERG COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, Nancy, this has been a very hard case for all of us here to deal with, especially dealing with the loss of a 1-year-old child. But it was not a typical pitbull case. We`ve dealt with several pitbull cases here very recently, where the typical pitbull owner is training their dogs to be vicious. This was not the case. We did not know that originally. Once we were told what happened, we just assumed that these dogs were your usual vicious pitbulls. When we approached these dogs, they were far from that. They were every bit of what I would consider a docile house dog.

GRACE: You know, I understand what you`re saying. And believe me, advertisers have clued into that for the last 25 years. If you see a wagging tail on a dog, then suddenly, your heart melts. I just can`t get the picture of this child there on the floor being mauled to death at 1 year old out of my mind.Let`s go out to the lines. Anna in North Carolina. Hi, Anna.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My question is -- I have a pitbull. I also have a 3-year-old and a 3 -- month-old. Never would I enter another dog into my home because I know what my pitbull would do. And never would I put my children in the same room alone with my pitbull. Why would he have four pitbulls, if they were just house dogs?

GRACE: Can I ask you a question? Because we always grew up having dogs, having more than one dog, cats, everything, but never a dog that was known to attack. I mean, how can a dog have a bad reputation? But guess what? Pitbulls and Rottweilers do have bad reputations. And Anna, were you ever -- I mean, it sounds like you`ve got your condition under control, but are you ever worried about having a pitbull and a baby?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my 3 -- month-old, he doesn`t go outside. My 3-year-old only goes out with supervision. My pitbull is not on no chain. She`s never been trained to fight. She`s never been around any other dog like that. I do have a neighbor who has two Rottweilers. When she is loose and roams the neighborhood, the Rottweilers do aggress her, and they would fight. They would cause blood. But my dog has never showed any signs of aggression. And I would never take that chance as a parent because my child does come before my dog.

GRACE: Back out to Deputy Sheriff Norris Williams. Sheriff Williams, again, thank you for being with us. I know you`re in a tough spot. Have you ever actually seen a case like this in your jurisdiction?

WILLIAMS: No, ma`am. This was a...

GRACE: So this is a first for you.

WILLIAMS: Yes, ma`am, this was a first for me, and by far one of the worst situations I`ve ever dealt with in seven years of law enforcement.

GRACE: Don`t you have a pitbull?

WILLIAMS: I do. I have a pitbull of my own, and I also have three small children 7, 6 and 4.

GRACE: Why do you have a pitbull?

WILLIAMS: I have a pitbull because we confiscated several pitbulls from a fighting arena, and I brought them home to my kennel because I`m a canine handler and I have several kennels at my home. And my daughter fell in love with this one in particular, so I kept it as a pet. However, it stays outside in an outside kennel.

GRACE: Cities banning pitbulls -- Denver, Toronto. The list goes on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby and dogs may have started out playing, then things got rough. Michael Young rushed his son to the emergency room, but the boy died. The baby`s father told investigators he wanted to leave the pitbulls outside but didn`t have enough time to build a post or fence before dark, so he brought the dogs in for the night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I went there prepared to do battle with four vicious pitbulls, using bite sleeves and correction collars. We opened the door and called the dogs to us, and they came with wagging tails and jumping all over us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A South Carolina community in shock tonight, a father possibly being charged with murder one after his four pitbulls mauled this little child, a 1-year-old baby, to death inside the house.Back out to Deputy Sheriff Norris Williams. Why were the dogs chained up anyway if they had never exhibited behavioral problems?

WILLIAMS: Well, the father told us that he was not a big fan of dogs in the house. He liked the breed of pitbulls, and where he lived previously, he just kept them outside. I don`t know the living conditions. I don`t know if they were tied down or if they were in a kennel, but they were outside dogs.

GRACE: Out to you Marcy Setter. She is here with Dakota Blue. She is the director of education and PR with the Pitbull Rescue Central. With her, Dakota. It`s a 4-year-old American pitbull terrier. Explain to me why pitbulls are often falsely identified, according to you, as attack dogs.

MARCY SETTER, PIT BULL RESCUE CENTRAL: Well, they`re often misidentified because pitbull is not a breed of dog. Pitbull is a term...

GRACE: Whoa, whoa! how big is that head he`s got?

SETTER: Yes, she`s got -- she`s a little -- she`s large. She`s about 67 pounds.

GRACE: Tell me about that jaw. Has she ever gotten anything in her mouth that she wouldn`t let go of?

SETTER: No, not at all.

GRACE: Like an arm?

SETTER: No, not at all. Don`t -- you can`t judge based on incidents like that.

GRACE: So what`s your take on what happened in this case?

SETTER: What`s my take? I read the articles, and I see they were outside dogs. There was mentioning of the dogs being chained. Four of them in a trailer with a child left alone is just not a safe thing.

GRACE: But if it were four kittens or four beagle dogs, we wouldn`t have that problem.

SETTER: Sure, you would. There are reported cases of Dachshunds and Pomeranians fatally killing people, as a matter of fact.

GRACE: Really? Because I couldn`t find...

SETTER: Absolutely.

GRACE: ... a single one on the Internet.

SETTER: Pomeranian, 2002 out of California. A Dachshund out of Kentucky. Absolutely.

GRACE: Let me tell you we`re armed with a computer here on the set.

SETTER: Go ahead. Absolutely look them up. Actually, you can go to my Web site...

GRACE: You`re on, Marcy!

SETTER: ... and see a lot of them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: A 1-year-old baby mauled to death by two killing -- four killing machines, pitbulls left alone with a 1-year-old baby boy. Tonight, a South Carolina community reeling.Let`s go straight back out to Dr. Daniel Spitz, forensic pathologist. The cause of death in this case, what is it?SPITZ: Well, it would be pretty simple. Basically, these puncture wounds that these dogs are going to inflict are going to result in a tremendous amount of blood loss, mainly from blood vessels of the neck, the carotid arteries, the jugular veins. So blood loss is going to be cause of this child`s death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three, strike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When a pit bull bites, they don`t let go. They`ll rip. The bites can be more serious. They`re very strong dogs. The dog will be more committed to remaining with the bite so that the bite continues instead of latching on or letting go. Sometimes (INAUDIBLE) possibly broken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: The U.K. banned pit bulls in 1991. We now know 21 percent of all attacks on humans are by pit bulls. Take a look at this. Now, I`ve got to tell Marcy, she`s absolutely correct. There was one attack in 2001 by a Pomeranian, one attack in 2002 by a dachshund. She`s absolutely right, both on 6-week-old infants. Back out to Jane Velez-Mitchell. Your opinion is that -- let me get this straight. Forget about the dead baby, it`s the four dogs that were mistreated?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely not. I want to save lives. And the way to save lives is not by banning pit bulls; it`s by banning the breeding of pit bulls. The people who are breeding the pit bulls to fighting machines, those are the ones who are the real culprits here, because they`re sending out all these thousands and thousands of animals. If we ban the breeding of pit bulls and then made sure that the remaining pit bulls were placed in appropriate homes where they were not in close proximity to children, that would be the solution. And that would be fair to the animal, and it would save a lot of lives. And I have to say one thing about this particular case. Those animals were chained up outside the trailer, according to the reports. Chaining an animal is a form of torture. There is a national movement to stop chaining of animals across the country, legislation that`s being pushed. The reason is it`s a form of torture. And then when you let the animal off the chain, there`s all this pent up energy that become aggressiveness. Now, these animals, these four pit bulls, were put into the trailer after being used to being trained. They`re put into a new trailer where they just moved in. They`re disoriented, and they`re let off their chains, and then they`re left alone with a 22-month-old child. That is sheer insanity.

GRACE: Well, to me it`s like leaving a child alone with a machine gun or an Uzi or near an open fire. Take a listen to this statistic. There have been 279 dog attack fatalities -- not just dog attacks, but dog attack fatalities -- in the U.S. in less than 20 years, in only 17 years, 279 dog attack fatalities. Dogs identified as pit bulls responsible for 60 of those attacks, over 20 percent, followed by Rottweilers, responsible for 29 attacks. To Dr. Leslie Austin, psychotherapist, explain.

LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Nancy, when you mix humans and dogs, the psychology is different. Too many people treat their dogs like their kids, and they`re not. You have to understand the behavior. I would never have a pit bull with a young child. In the appropriate circumstances, pit bulls can be great dogs, but you have to know the behavior and the psychology of your animal and treat them appropriately. If a dog commits a bad act, it is 100 percent human trainer error, 100 percent humans have messed up that dog and not understood the nature of the animal.

GRACE: Back to Jean Casarez, Court TV correspondent, Jean, again, the facts as they relate to this particular human attack.

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Well, I think that`s an important point, because the focus tonight has been brought on pit bulls, but investigators now are looking very narrowly in South Carolina at this particular case. What about these dogs? Did they ever exhibit this behavior before? Why were they chained up previously outside at the other home? What did the owner know about pit bulls? Because, to own a pit bull, you need to have some knowledge about what they are capable of. And if they do smell or sniff blood, that they are very aggressive at point. And what investigators are trying to determine, was this an accident or is this a crime?

GRACE: Let`s go out to the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Mickey Sherman and Anne Bremner. Let`s talk about this possible charge that the father is facing. A South Carolina community totally torn apart. Should this father face murder one charges? Out to you, Mickey Sherman. What are the possible charges?

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Some kind of reckless endangerment kind of charge. But, you know, the best, most effective witness is the sheriff who`s just been on, Sheriff Williams, who is on the scene and explained what his opinion of the dogs, that they were docile.

GRACE: That`s after the attack.

SHERMAN: Well, that`s the law enforcement person there.

GRACE: That`s after the attack.

SHERMAN: He`s also an expert on dogs. He`s got dogs himself.

GRACE: Oh, is your defense some other dude did it?

SHERMAN: No, he`s...

GRACE: Just because they were wagging their tails -- I mean, Ted Bundy smiled in the courtroom. What difference does that make?

SHERMAN: He has dogs himself. He knows the breed. And he saw these dogs after the attack. You know, dogs aren`t exactly going to put on some airs after they do something wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Well, are you saying the dog did not do the attack? I mean, how they acted afterwards has absolutely nothing to do with this.

SHERMAN: I think it has to do with their vicious temper.

GRACE: And even the law is in a lot of jurisdictions, behavior after the fact is inadmissible.

SHERMAN: Bottom line is, it`s a civil case. It`s a lawsuit.

GRACE: Oh, you don`t like that, do you? You don`t like it when I quote the law. You hate that. Ixnay on the aw-lay.

SHERMAN: That`s a cheap trick. That`s a cheap trick.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Right. What about it, Anne Bremner, possible charges?

ANNE BREMNER, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, it`s possible like a negligent homicide, but the fact is, look at the behavior before the fact. You know, there are no bad dogs. I mean, people make bad dogs.

GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

BREMNER: But, Nancy...

GRACE: The dogs ate a baby.

BREMNER: Here`s the thing, Nancy. It`s like, you know...

GRACE: There are no bad dogs. OK, thanks, Anne.

BREMNER: No, I`m not done yet, though...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: ... possible charges.

BREMNER: ... possible charges are probably negligent homicide, but it`s not here because...

GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow it down, high-profile lawyer.

BREMNER: OK, Nancy, I`ll slow it down.

GRACE: OK, you know what? I`ll tell you two the possible charges. All right, you`ve got a possible felony murder.

BREMNER: True.

GRACE: About whether a pit bulls are allowed under these circumstances and a death occurred. You`ve got a possible involuntary manslaughter, illegal act, keeping pit bulls in an illegal manner, also it`s around a child. In my mind, those are the two charges. So let me make it easy for you: Agree or disagree, Mickey Sherman?

SHERMAN: Disagree. What jury is going to find this guy guilty of murder? There`s so no intent in this case.

GRACE: I would go with an involuntary manslaughter.

SHERMAN: And that ain`t going to happen. The man made a mistake, and it was a mistake that was not so foreseeable, according to the expert on the scene.

GRACE: Not foreseeable?

SHERMAN: No.

GRACE: The number-one attack dog in this country is the pit bull. He`s got four locked in the kitchen, people.

SHERMAN: Twenty-seven deaths in the country?

GRACE: No, no, no, no, no, 279. Multiply that by 10, Mick.

SHERMAN: By 10? GRACE: Yes, you said 27. It`s nearly 280.

SHERMAN: The percentage is infinitely small. More people die from choking on pudding.

GRACE: Really?

SHERMAN: I checked the -- no, but it sounds like a pretty good statistic though.

GRACE: OK, I didn`t think so. Let`s go back out to Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop and former fed. Mike, the reality is that this dog was banned in 1991 in the U.K. There are multiple cities that have rules governing pit bulls. And I know all the dog lovers are angry right now. I`m a dog lover. But not dogs that attack children, Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE: I agree, Nancy. I mean, I`m a dog lover. I have dogs. You know, but there`s some dogs that -- you know, at my gym, I go to a gym in Decatur. And there`s this large poodle that runs around in there. And you never know.

GRACE: He`s back on poodles again?

BROOKS: Absolutely. Look, I have -- as a volunteer firemen, I`ve seen what poodles can do. You don`t know how many dog bite reports I`ve taken over the years.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: OK, you know what? I`m going to come back when you`re ready to get -- leave the poodles alone, and get back on point.

BROOKS: OK, you`re going to talk about Daschunds, Pomeranians, German shepherds?

GRACE: Listen...

BROOKS: Look, I`ve been bitten by police dogs before, Nancy. Let me guess...

GRACE: What do you mean by police dogs, German shepherd dogs?

BROOKS: Yes, German shepherds.

GRACE: You were bitten because?

BROOKS: Well, I happened to reach down and grab a tennis ball while we were doing a bomb sweep of the Davis Cup match, and the dog bit me.

GRACE: And the dog was trained? Was it a trained dog?

BROOKS: Yes, it was. And the owner had to come over and actually grab him by his collar and pull him off my arm.

GRACE: Trained to attack? Trained to attack?

BROOKS: It was actually dual. It was a bomb detection dog and an attack dog, which a lot of dog experts don`t believe that they should be cross-trained like that, either.

GRACE: Let`s go to the lines. Roy in Missouri. Hi, Roy.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

CALLER: Well, I have two questions. Where exactly -- I mean, how long did this gentleman own these dogs before this happened? And where was he during the 10 minutes the attack occurred?

GRACE: I know that he was outside for the 10 moments that the attack occurred. He was outside. I believe his boss had driven up and he left the baby inside. Jean Casarez, I know that he had had these dogs at a prior home with his mom and the mom told him, "When you go, the dogs go." Do you have any idea how long had he had them?

CASAREZ: Well, I think he had them for a while. Now, the dogs weren`t that old. There were four of them, two males, two females, 2 years old was the oldest one, 10 months was the youngest one, 65 pounds was the largest one, 35 to 40 were the other three.

GRACE: All I can say -- dog lovers get mad at me -- but the death penalty for these four pit bulls.

I'd like to see the death penalty for inflamatory hate mongers masquerading as journalists!
The Nancy Grace show on CNN can be found here, http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/nancy.grace/
And her feedback form is here,
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5c.html?24

THE PROCESS

2006-10-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, you uncover a real gem in cyberspace.

I felt like I had found the Hope Diamond when I ran across a blog, posted last year by a former member of the Process Church of the Final Judgement.

It's a timely discovery as THE REVOLUTION begins this weekend. Enjoy!

Best Friends and The Process
by skepticaltheurgist on Mon 22 Aug 2005 09:49 AM EDT Permanent Link Cosmos
In March 2004, the Rocky Mountain News outed the people running Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, as The Process in its latest incarnation. The Cone of Silence had been raised, and the Best Friends management felt the need to 'fess up.
A few days later, they added a section to its website, mostly written by Michael Mountain and giving their own version of the past. This is still (as of August 2005) available at http://www.bestfriends.org/aboutus/oldhistory/intro.htm.
Reading it, I had a strange sense of deja vu, from around 1969. In that year, the Sunday Times in England picked up the story of how in the late 1940s L. Ron Hubbard, before starting Dianetics and Scientology, had been involved, magically and financially, with the rocket fuel scientist and noted Thelemite, Jack Parsons. The newspaper had learned how, after some ritual workings to create a magical Moonchild, Hubbard took off with Parsons' girlfriend, a boat they'd all invested in, and a bunch of cash. It was classic Fleet Street muckraking at its salacious best.
Scientology's response was a glorious farrago of a letter to the Sunday Times that began: "Hubbard broke up black magic in America..." Ron, it turned out (according to the Church of Scientology, and quoted in Russell Miller's Bare Faced Messiah) had been sent in by the U.S. government to smash up this dangerous ring of occultists with which Parsons was involved. Naturally, he succeeded magnificently. A stolen girlfriend? No, not at all. "Hubbard rescued a girl they were using."
In sum, the facts were all covered off. It was only the truth that was missing in action.
I recall Michael Mountain (Father Aaron as he was in the 1970s) as a charming man who was often irreverent, and fun to be around. The Best Friends account of the early days shows he still has the ability to charm, even if, as with the C of $ story about Hubbard, the truth and the facts have some distance between them.
It might be unfair to critique details almost 40 years after the events happened, but I feel otherwise. When someone publishes 8,000 words of well-spun baloney, a theurgically (and otherwise) skeptical person like myself can't resist teasing it a little.
The primary fiction is that The Process consisted of a bunch of 1960s counter-cultural seekers, consensually choosing a bohemian, back-to-nature lifestyle. No-one who left England for the Bahamas in 1966, then went on to the Yucatan and Xtul was arguing about it, but the cult-like nature of the group is carefully erased in Mountain's description. Does anyone recall the alliterative headlines in the British press about "The Mindbenders of Mayfair"? Only me, it seems. But then, back before I joined, I collected all this coverage religiously.
And while Robert De Grimston is airily dismissed as "the so-called 'Teacher' of The Process, who had written a number of books and was becoming well known in academic and theological circles," his wife Mary-Ann (see Mary-Ann's photo and Moon Unseen, from June 2005) remains "She Who Must Not Be Named". The Goddess of The Process, its core, is unmentioned in its own published history.
And so it goes on. What, us spread Robert's teachings all over Europe and North America? All of us wear the Cross and the Goat of Mendez on our chests or collars? Go out every day and sell those books by the "so-called Teacher"? Musta been some other guys, or some other so-called Teacher.
Even when I was in The Process (1970-72), the legend around Xtul, "The Place of Miracles" were being embroidered. An abandoned salt factory became a Mayan ruin, for example. Away from their civilised backgrounds, but living still in a soup of heightened consciousness, people had let their inner barriers drop and insights, synchronistic happenings and visions came in plenty. The primal presences or psychological realities called the Gods of The Process made themselves felt.
Beyond that blanket statement, or something like it, I doubt anyone today could give a fair account of the weeks and months spent at Xtul. The three ex-members whom I've interviewed all give varying stories.
Mountain's account adds a fresh spin. As the group came to Xtul, he says, they encountered an old man who "just smiled and said, 'Es para vosotros,' ('It is for you.') And he waved good-bye and continued on down the trail."
Neat - except, as anyone who's learned Spanish finds out, "vosotros" as a second-person plural form is today used nowhere in Latin America, only in Spain itself.
Later, the same man appeared, Mountain says, as The Process were all pulling out.
"'You are leaving,' he said. 'But one day there will be another place for you. It is a beach without an ocean. And the sand is all red. And there are animals. Muchos animales.' "For someone who had never seen red rock canyons and the pink sands that go with them, it was a fair enough description of Angel Canyon, the future home, 20 years later, of Best Friends Animal Society."
Not bad. I just can't find anyone who was at Xtul but left the group who remembers a thing about that 'prophecy'. Zip - or rather, nada.
Mountain's aim, it seems, and that of the other members who wrote this story, is to make it plain that everything before caring for animals was just prologue, or a youthful exuberance. There was, he notes, a Christian ministry phase of helping other people, as indeed there was - after a Christ-and-Satan phase of that, plus a neo-Jewish one, neither of which is mentioned. Animal welfare was the direction in which things were guided.
"The animals were beginning to take over! For many of us, they'd always really been our passion. And when a few of us got together one evening at the ranch to talk about what next and where next, we were all feeling that it was time to devote ourselves to that true passion."
I can't say this is wholly false. Brits (the remaining core group is mostly British) are famously dotty about dogs and animals generally, and She Who Must Not Be Named always had strong feelings about cruelty to animals. What decent human doesn't? But to claim animal welfare was the central concern in that first crazy decade spent as The Process? Or for The Foundation during much of the second? Back then, the End of the World and redemption therefrom overrode all other ideological messages, even if anti-vivisection was a cause we intermittently embraced.
As noted elsewhere on this blog, I had a remarkable experience out of it all, though the most austerely head-messing phase was over when I joined. I'm not the only ex-member with mixed but still fond memories of the community, the sense of inner calm and purpose, and the humour we brought to it all. It's impossible to tell today from the teachings available on-line, but The Process could be fun, and very funny. You needed to accept the premise of the joke - humanity's utter absurdity - but that done, a lot of things about life came to seem less tragic. Perhaps the absence of such candid detachment about the past is what saddens me here.
Best Friends, clearly, is a well-run operation, however much its location miles from any cities compromises its mission. It's an honest endeavour even if it does support the aging remnant of a failed cult. We all gotta live, and the BF operation pulls its own weight.
The roots of my own main beef date back to a visit four years ago, when I briefly reconnected with some of the people I'd known three decades before. What I found was that it was all just like Mountain's story would later turn out to be. The "P word" was not mentioned at all, and almost nobody would share any personal stories or opinions unless they involved saving or helping animals.
Had anyone learned anything spiritually? Well, everyone was much happier now than before. What did people feel it was all about, that wild Gnosticism, that fervent preaching about an End that never came? Well, it had been a long journey for everyone. What wisdom had they all learned? We need to be less cruel to animals. And so on.
I drove out of that beautiful Utah canyon frustrated at feeling stonewalled, with my conception of shallowness permanently redefined. I've not been back. Other ex-Processeans do visit and maintain friendships, but I couldn't be bothered to go again.
Do they, under their neo-Romulan cloaking device, yet have some kind of wisdom, the way we did, or felt we did, 30 years ago? They won't say in Angel Canyon. All who stayed surrendered their personal histories for a distorted collective one.
From Scientology, The Process borrowed the idea that all life consists of games, played as parts of larger collective games, and all ultimately part of a cosmic Game of the Gods. A personal game might be, I am always ill; or I will make $15-million in real-estate then find my kids hate me; or I will struggle for human rights. Regardless of the circumstances or activities involved, they're all about gaining knowledge; about experiencing all things that are possible to experience.
In visiting Kanab, after an hour, I could almost say "Yes, I remember you" in exactly the same, affect-less manner everyone I met used. I had three different people apologise to me spontaneously for what had been done to me in the past - all of them in a slightly beaten-dog tone, and using the same sequence of words. I'd gone in high anticipation, and without any grievance or hurt to air, but I came away with one.
It was all supposed to be about accepting our own reality in its fullness, and thus open to God. The modus operandi today has become a sweet, well-intended deception that seems to have lost what spiritual truth or honesty was once present. Best Friends is, any ex-member can see, not a rejection of the structure of The Process or The Foundation, but a continuation. The sadness I feel is that while the externals have changed, the core game is the same as it ever was: a bunch of people believing they are an Elect of some kind, grouped around an aging avatar, very aware of human motivations yet hopelesly blind about their own. Saving animals is the latest version of this, and a nice one, but at bottom, it's just another game.
The animals, I've heard it said, are a major comfort for the dozen or so remaining Processeans (most people at Kanab were never involved in the original group). Animals' natural dignity and unaffected joy are easily superior to the human animal's meaner nature. For someone who has spent 40 years tied to a cult, that must be reassuring. Personally, I'm grateful, regardless of whatever regrets and disappointments I've accumulated, that I can tell my own story, and don't have to follow a cultic party line nor distort my own memories to comply with one.
I wish the Kanabians were able to do that. Instead, they still feel compelled to diss their former associate, Robert, like Stalinists dumping on a Trostky, and to pretend that so many years of their earlier lives were a mere bohemian misadventure. It shows that, rather than seeing and accepting those years clearly, and truly moving on, they are endlessly perpetuating them.
Oh well. The dogs and cats, at least, clearly appreciate it. Give 'em that.

http://skepticaltheurgist.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/8/22/1159059.html

IS TEXAS GETTING KINKY?

2006-10-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Musician Kinky Friedman for governor of Texas?

"WHY THE HELL NOT"

No that's not a political endorsement, but a quote from his website. So is this:

"...the last independent governor of Texas was Sam Houston. The next will be Kinky Friedman."

God bless Texas! Good 'ole independent Texas. Kinky Friedman promises "Independence from politics-as-usual." Given his campaign commercials, I'd say he delivers.

I did take time to read his position on the issues at: http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/issues/
and I like what he's got to say, especially his Ten reasons to elect...But I have to say that what caught my eye was the TV commercial with the dog called "Cowboy Way". http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/multimedia/_video/CowboyWay/

I'm guess I'm starting to feel Kinky, 'cause the rhetoric is as refreshing as a cold beer on a hot Texas day in a dry county, but to be perfectly honest...you had me at "pit bull"!

THE REVOLUTION

2006-10-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Let’s do some basic math. Over 300,000,000 people in the United States + over 60 million dogs (including roughly eight million “pit bulls”) = only about 20 annual fatalities. And yet, we are going to be treated this week to a “Summit on Dangerous Dogs” sponsored by a “Kindness Revolution” backed with animal rights money and line up of presenters that includes a former presidential campaign manager, a breed ban promoting Dog Warden, a police officer/investigative reporter, an attorney, a lobbyist, and – if she’s not in jail - an alleged dog thief! I don’t see a single board certified dog behaviorist on the panel. Something in this equation just doesn’t add up.

For some strange reason, when I think of a revolution, I hear the marching of jack-booted Storm Troopers high stepping all over my civil rights. I don’t care how beautifully you wrap the package, there’s nothing kind about that.

The Best Friends Animal Society, a multi million dollar non profit with a scary past and a questionable future has apparently decided to enter the political arena.

“Who are these Christians anyway? Throw them to the lions!”

Those in the know are already sharpening their fangs.

Briefly summarized, Best Friends has published in their Sept./Oct. 2006 magazine that:

1) Because of breeding, some dogs “have a higher percentage of bad than do most breeds.
2) Dog “attacks are by no means all from pit bulls, but by dogs of many breeds who by now have been inbred with aggressive tendencies.
3) “Beloved pets” will “suddenly and inexplicably turn on their people”.
4) The root cause of dangerous dogs is that “certain people are deliberately breeding aggressive tendencies into dogs”.
5) “the rest of us…are victims”

Wow! I haven’t heard propaganda like that since the Holocaust!!!

Don’t worry…Best Friends has a “three-point plan”. It includes:

1) Acknowledging “that there are dangerous breeds, and that aggressive tendencies have now been bred into their genes”.
2) “legislation making it illegal to breed aggression into dogs”
3) Going “after the people who are breeding aggressive dogs, rather than simply the dogs themselves”.

“This summit seeks to build momentum for a national movement...to protect innocent dogs from people” and their modeling their solution on their own interpretation of excerpts from breeding restriction laws enacted by THE GERMAN ANIMAL WELFARE ACT of 1998, and THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF PET ANIMALS IN STRAUSSBORG GERMANY of 1987.

Zig heil!

THE REVOLUTION is upon us.

Congratulations to a real "Hero"

2006-10-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Voting is closed and yesterdays Animal Planet poll numbers indicate that Mona Rutger has won their "Hero of the Year" ward - by a landslide. Even better, she easily defeated the AR aligned (and maligned) anti-tether/anti-penn/pro-trespassing alleged dog thief!!!

"The winner will receive a $10,000 donation made to the animal welfare organization of the winner's choice and a 7-day/6-night trip for 2 to Hawaii!". Enjoy it Mona. You deserve it!

It seems the anti-tether minions are not taking the loss well. I hope they didn't have any plans to use that money for liberating more dogs from their legal owners. Too bad. So sad. I Guess Dog Owners Deserve Better, after all...

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/hero_of_the_year/nominees/mona.html

Meet Mona Rutger
Nominated by Dorothy Flounders.
Mona Rutger, together with her husband Bill, has owned and operated a volunteer wildlife rehabilitation and nature education center, Back to the Wild, for 15 years in Castalia, Ohio. The center rescues over 2,000 injured or abandoned wild animals each year, and is able to return over 60 percent of them back into the wild. A nonprofit with no funding, the center relies on contributions by individuals and organizations to cover the cost of caring for the constant influx of "wildings." Mona consistently puts in long hours, especially while tending to the many baby birds and animals that require constant care. She says, "It's very demanding, but it's my passion." Her other passion is teaching future generations the great need to preserve and protect our natural world. She presents educational programs to over 50,000 students and members of youth groups and adult organizations each year, traveling all around the state as well as conducting programs and tours at the center several times a week. Fifteen Eagle Scout projects have been completed at the center by local youth. Three of Mona's young assistants have been inspired to attend veterinary school because of their work at Back to the Wild. Two are practicing veterinarians and the third will graduate soon. At least one other young volunteer has stated that she also plans to become a veterinarian. Mona takes part in volunteer studies with veterinarians on such diseases as West Nile virus and avian flu, and they are using the data gathered in national and international research.

A gun-toting, red-meat-eating, dog-loving Democrat

2006-10-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

"It's a good time to be a gun-toting, red-meat-eating, dog-loving Democrat."
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003294510_spokanerep08m.html

Glad to hear it Brian! Because it seems to be a bad time to be an AR lovin', scandal plagued Republican. Just ask Rick Santorum. And will the Governator be feelin' the heat from the Kalifornia sunburn?

This is a non partisan, equal opportunity, idiot bashing forum. So I have to ask...where do the Libertarian and Independent candidates currently stand? Not with Bill Maher, I hope.

From Webster's Dictionary:
mod'erate: a. not going to extremes, not excessive. medium.
n. person of moderate views
v.t. and i. make or become less violent or excessive

So when did "moderate" become a political insult? It seems like a good thing to me.

What's the trip with Trippi?

2006-10-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Democratic spinmaster Joe Trippi has aligned himself with the vegan fascist prostitutes. How much tax exempt money is multi million dollar Best Friends Animal Society paying him for services rendered? Is he courting them to rally votes? Is he foolish enough to believe that Democratics only eat tofu and wear pleather? Does the "right" hand know what the "left" hand is doing?

I wonder if Trippi will benefit the animal rights agenda the way he helped Howard Dean. As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for ya" Joe?

And why does Trippi suddenly consider him an expert on "dangerous dogs"? Because he's speaking at the Best Friends "Dangerous Dogs Summit" in Lakewood CO later this month. He's going to provide "tools" for the dog Nazis to use grass roots action for the legislative agenda that targets our Constitutional rights.

How stupid do you think animal lovers are Joe? We love them enough to vote animal rights friendly politicians out of office, and cross party lines to do it.

How stupid do you think Democrats are? I'll bet they love their animals enough to keep them. Maybe we should ask all those Democrats running for office how they feel about becoming "guardians" instead of dog owners? Last time I checked, the Democrats I know all eat meat, wear leather and OWN animals!

Heads up Joe, we're smart enough to keep a watchfull eye on your every move...

2006-10-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome canine freedom fighters!

Welcome vegan fascist haters!

Welcome to One Nation Under Dog.

Got a hot lead that needs to be followed up on? This is the place to drop a line. I will put the verified tips in the right hands. I believe that public information should be made VERY public. All the dirt that's fit to dish.

No censoring. I promise. Everyone has the Constitutional right to make an ass of themselves. And the right to animals as property, the right to commerce with same, the right to due process, the freedom from warrantless search and seizure...

My agenda? The truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing but the ugly truth, so help me DOG!