Big Leather Couch

Not sure why this is today's subject, but something needs to be done about eco-terrorism and it must be done soon...

Do people have the right to commit crimes in the name of the environment or animals? Do the ends justify the means?

After losing their court case to block the expansion at the Vail Colorado Ski Resort, members of the ELF (an offshoot of Earth First!), decided that the legal system was not for them...the result - $12 million of damage due to an "environmentalist" perpetrated act of Arson & Terrorism. 5 buildings and 4 chair lifts were destroyed.

At dispute was the Lynx, and it's supposed habitat. These terrorists decided that they were the "protectors" and destroyed $12-million worth of property. Who will be impacted by this? Well all of us! How? Insurance premiums for resorts will go up. If this can happen at Vail, where can it happen next. The owners of the resort, Vail Associates, now have to spend all this money again to reconstruct the resort, which means increased costs at the resort (lift tickets, food, drinks and other items). As attendance drops, people in the service and support industries will loose their jobs, as the demand for their very existence continues to steadily drop. Unemployment and welfare rolls then increase, costing the taxpayer millions of additional dollars.

This from the E.L.F. :
"On behalf of the lynx, five buildings and four ski lifts at Vail were reduced to ashes on the night of Sunday, October 18th. Vail, Inc. is already the largest ski operation in North America and now wants to expand even further. The 12 miles of roads and 885 acres of clearcuts will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. This action is just a warning. We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas. For your safety and convenience, we strongly advise skiers to choose other destinations until Vail cancels its inexcusable plans for expansion."
— Earth Liberation Front (E.L.F.)

Gosh and golly gee...thanks so much for protecting the Lynx while forgetting about your fellow MAN!

Want more? Ya'll gonna get it anyway...
On Nov 30th 1997, the barns of the Bureau Of Land Management - Burns Adoption Center were burned to the ground, in an act of "environmentalism" that left 500 horses, and 40 burros without shelter. Also lost in the act of arson were the BLM's tack & gear - all at taxpayer expense.
This facility puts up for adoption wild horses and burros which they capture from the wild. Their web page states the following:
Federal protection and few natural predators have resulted in thriving wild horse and burro populations that increase each year. The BLM monitors rangelands and wild horse and burro herds to determine the number of animals, including licensed livestock and wildlife, the land can support. Each year, the BLM gathers the excess wild horses and burros from areas where vegetation and water become scarce if too many animals used the area. These excess animals are offered for adoption to qualified people through the BLM’s Adopt-a Horse or Burro Program. The BLM holds adoptions at temporary locations throughout the United States year round. In addition, the BLM offers the public several permanent adoption centers to visit and adopt a wild horse or burro.

Earlier in the year, the Cavel West horse-rendering plant, a popular target of animal rights activists, sustained a $1,000,000 fire. This information is from the Center For The Defense Of Free Enterprise web site:

According to the indictment, Joseph Dibee, Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, Sarah Kendall Harvey, Daniel Gerard McGowan, Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff, Josephine Sunshine Overaker, Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul, Rebecca Rubin, Suzanne Savoie, Darren Todd Thurston, and Kevin M. Tubbs conspired to commit numerous acts of domestic terrorism as part of a group they called “the Family,” an alleged group of the extremist movements ALF and ELF. The indictment follows a series of arrests on Dec. 7, 2005, in Oregon, Arizona, New York, and Virginia. Gerlach, Harvey, Meyerhoff, McGowan, Thurston, and Tubbs were arrested at that time for various charges, including the destruction of an energy facility. Paul was arrested on Jan. 17, 2006, on a criminal complaint charging him with one of the arsons mentioned in the indictment. Savoie was arrested on Jan. 19, 2006, on a criminal complaint. Dibee, Overaker and Rubin are believed to be outside of the United States.

The indictment alleges that the group committed arsons with improvised incendiary devices made from milk jugs, petroleum products and homemade timers in a series of attacks in the five states. The targets of these attacks included U.S. Forest Service ranger stations, Bureau of Land Management wild horse facilities, meat processing companies, lumber companies, a high-tension power line, and a ski facility in Colorado. The indictment alleges that the group claimed to be acting on behalf of ALF and ELF.

I find it interesting that they belong to this group "The Family." In 2004, there was an arson in Maryland which consumed much of an under construction sub-division. All news articles I can find seem to say that the people under indictment may have belonged to this same group. Those indicted in the arson were Aaron L Speed, 21; Patrick Walsh, 20; Michale Everhart, 20; and Roy McCann, 22. Another man, Michael Gilbert told investigtors that several of the men belonged to an organization called "The Family" and that Mr. Walsh had approached him in December of 2004 with a plan to"make the Family bigger and more famous" by "setting something on fire," according to an affidavit. This sub-division was the object of a lawsuit brought against the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers for allowing the homes to be built. Environmentalists assert that the houses will damage Araby Bog, a 6.5-acre wetlands area that is home to endangered insects and such rare plants as the halberd-leaved greenbrier and red milkweed. The bog filters rain and upwelling waters that feed into the nearby Mattawoman Creek and the Potomac.
Once again... go to court and lose? Start a fire...destroy property. THIS IS NOT THE AMERICAN WAY!

From the STOP ECO-VIOLENCE web page:
August 22, 2003
ECO-TERROR GROUP BLAMED FOR $2.5 MILLION ARSON, VANDALISM ATTACK ON CALIFORNIA CAR DEALERSHIPS The shadowy followers of the Earth Liberation Front are to blame for an arson and vandalism spree against car dealerships in southern California that caused approximately $2.5 million in damages. Hardest hit was the Clippinger Chevrolet that sells SUVs and Hummers in a suburb outside of Los Angeles. In the predawn hours of August 22, 2003, fire destroyed the dealership’s warehouse and about 20 vehicles stored inside. Another 20 vehicles outside were also badly damaged. The ominous initials “ELF” and slogans reading “I (heart) pollution” and “American Wastefulness” were found at the crime scene. Three other California SUV dealerships and four privately owned vehicles were also vandalized by the ELF that night.
Please tell me how this works...you burn SUV's and Hummer's and everyone stops buying them? No...but when you do this, you cost the dealership hundreds of thousands of dollars and forces them to lay off employees or even close up all together.

Another posting from the same site:
August 1, 2003
EARTH LIBERATION FRONT SUSPECTED IN $20 MILLION SAN DIEGO APARTMENT COMPLEX BLAZE
A massive three-alarm fire on August 1, 2003 that completely destroyed a five-story unfinished apartment complex in a densely-populated residential area just minutes away from downtown San Diego, California appears to be the malicious work of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Flames shot up 200-plus feet into the air as more than 100 firefighters fought the blaze. It was reported that “grapefruit- sized fireblls” shot out onto adjacent buildings. Local police evacuated about 500 residents from the Renaissance Villa Apartments located next door. A 100-foot construction crane valued at $7 million collapsed in the burning development site, but luckily fell away from the occupied apartments. A 500-gallon fuel tank also exploded. Initial damage estimates of the inferno that leveled the 400,000 square foot, 206 unit apartment complex total $20 million. An enormous 12-foot banner reading, “If you build it, we will burn it! The ELFs are mad” was found at the crime scene.
An e-mail sent to the San Diego Union Tribune by the ELF press office stated that, “This [the 12-foot banner] is a legitimate claim of responsibility by the Earth Liberation Front.
So, you can endanger humans as long as you save the trees or animals... I think I am getting it now...

Think I am making it up? This is from the ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT web site::
Fire is a tool. Nothing does the amount of damage that fire can. Arson works. Make sure that all buildings or vehicles are free of creatures before lighting one single match. Arson should only be used when it can be guaranteed that the fire will not spread to the sheds the animals are in. -- (In the ALF publication "The Final Nail", under section entitled "Smashing the Furriers").
Go ahead, go back and read it one more time...I will wait...Did you see it? They instruct to make sure there are no "creatures" in the buildings or vehicles. And arson should not be used if you can not guarentee that it wil not spread to the sheds the animals are in. Did I miss the part where they speak of concern for human casualities? I DID NOT...NOWHERE DOES IT SHOW CONCERN FOR HUMANS!

This is all being done while our elected officials are tearing apart every environmental law written in the last 20 years...clearcutting, air quality...water quality...all being endangered by the current President and his croonies. How can I complain about the environment and then ridicule those who are "fighting for it"? Simple, they are nothing more then common thugs, going around and mugging the rest of us for their "purpose." Not caring about human life at all...in the Northwest where they are trying to stop forests from being cut down, they "spike" trees. What is that? The hammer iron spikes into trees so when the cutters come along and hit the spikes their saws are destroyed . Great, except people are also injured badly by this practice.

How do you stop this destruction of our national forests? Through the courts and also, more importantly, by voting for those who have swone to protect the environment. Say what you will, but President William Jefferson Clinton did more to protect the environment in his 8-years then had been done in the previous 20, and it is all being undo over the last 6 years..

There is so much more to this rant...so much more, but I will stop for today. We will continue on next week...

I hope I get comments on this rant...i would love to see the diversity out there and , if you would like to point me in a direction to back up your feelings on this issue, please do, and i will make sure the view is written about.

Old Indian Proverb... We do not own the land, we are only the cretakers for the generations to come...

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.

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