Free Republic

A federal grand jury in Davenport is investigating a nationally publicized, animal-rights-related break-in at a University of Iowa lab in 2004, according to a 20-year-old woman from Minneapolis who says she is a possible target of the inquiry. Carrie Feldman refused to testify when she was subpoenaed to testify at the federal courthouse on Oct. 15, she said. She will refuse again at a second ordered appearance on Nov. 17, she said. Ultimately, she could be held in contempt of court and taken into custody. At least four masked people released hundreds of animals and caused hundreds of thousands of...

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is the smartest and richest animal rights group around.  Unlike PETA, it doesn’t openly proselytize that old animal rights religion, e.g., sentience gives moral value, “a rat, is a pig, is a dog, is a boy,” the quote from Ingrid Newkirk and title of a certain author’s soon to be published book. This strategy has been very effective, allowing HSUS a level of mainstream respectability that other animal rights groups can’t match.But make no mistake, HSUS is about animal rights–eventually ending all animal husbandry and human hegemony over fauna–and its head, Wayne...

Troutville, Va. (AP) - An animal rights group wants to rent a prison building the state plans to close and turn it into the nation's first chicken empathy museum. A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals official sent a letter Monday to Gov. Tim Kaine asking to rent the Botetourt Correctional Center building in Troutville. Kaine spokeswoman Lynda Tran said the state doesn't lease to private entities except for cases grandfathered in when it purchases buildings.

Our proposed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein wants to ban hunting, animal agriculture and give animals the right to sue in court. His notion is that more can be accomplished by tweaking regulations like the Endangered Species Act to achieve his aims than straightforward attempts to give animals rights to sue in court and be represented by a lawyer as he has proposed. Senators Chambliss and Cornyn have put holds on his nomination, but they and our other representatives need to hear from us. The relevant part is 48 minutes into the video. You only need to listen to about two...

Within 12 months, the Japanese were killing more than 40,000 dolphins every year. Most were fed to children in school meals, with the rest being exported to China. Ironically, recent scientific research suggests that the Japanese authorities might be endangering the health of their own children through this practice. Dolphin meat is full of toxic mercury, cadmium, DDT and carcinogens such as dioxins and PCBs. Some cuts of dolphin meat have more than 5,000 times the safe level of mercury. Such levels can very quickly lead to severe nervous system problems and even insanity. The dolphin meat is so toxic...

Animal-rights activists plan to protest today against Camp Pendleton's use of live pigs in medical training for troops that they argue is antiquated and cruel but officials call life-saving. The demonstration comes on the heels of published reports that the base last week trained Marines at an avocado ranch in northeastern San Diego County owned by a retired Marine who is also an Escondido police officer. During the training, according to news accounts, 2- to 3-month-old pigs ranging from 140 to 200 pounds were sedated before instructors used scalpels to inflict wounds and then watched as Marines worked to keep...

Kids hoping to grab a Happy Meal from McDonald's might end up with PETA's Unhappy Meal instead. The animal rights organization lifted its moratorium on the McCruelty Campaign this year and since June has distributed Chicken McCruelty Unhappy Meals to McDonald's customers outside about a dozen restaurants around the country. "McDonald's markets its food to children by packaging it in brightly colored boxes with toys," Lindsay Rajt, a spokeswoman for PETA, tells Slashfood. "But most kids really love animals, and if they knew that McDonald's suppliers were breaking the wings and legs of gentle animals like chickens, I think that...

When General Electric Co. subsidiary GE Healthcare recently unveiled its plan to use human embryonic stem cells in its drug trials, the company proudly touted one of the plan's potential benefits: Using stem cells derived from the destruction of human embryos may make the experiments on rats unnecessary. "This could replace, to a large extent, animal trials," Konstantin Fiedler of GE Healthcare told a reporter, according to Reuters news agency. "Once you have human cells and you can get them in a standardized way, like you get right now your lab rats in a standardized way, you can actually do...

President Obama has appointed at least two Constitution wreckers as “czars” in his administration. Although Bill O’Reilly said on his show last night that these czars do not have any real power and are of little concern, I am not so sure. They demonstrate the dangerous journey that this president is taking us on, as he seeks to radically change our country’s 200 + years’ guarantee to “we the people” of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The first of these czars is Cass R. Sunstein, who is heading the White House Office of Information and...

The holiday home of Novartis chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella has been badly damaged by fire, a week after his mother's grave was desecrated by animal rights militants. Although police do not know who or what caused the fire early on Monday morning in the Tyrol, there is speculation that it is the work of the same group that took the urn of Vasella's mother on July 27. Her gravestone was defiled with a message saying the Basel pharmaceutical company must sever its ties with Britain's Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest contract animal-testing company in Europe. The recent attacks...

President Obama's choice to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs had Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, so upset that he blocked it - a move that puts only a temporary hold on the appointment. Now the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, a hunter advocacy group, says American sportsmen need to step in to make sure the block stays in place. According to the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, Cass Sunstein supports animal rights. This is an important office that has the authority to block rules, including those that protect hunting and conservation. The pro-hunting organization says Sunstein has mentioned the possibility that...

BERN, Switzerland – Drug maker Novartis AG said Tuesday that animal rights activists have stolen the ashes of its CEO's mother and set fire to his Austrian hunting lodge. Swiss authorities, however, said they didn't know who was behind the attacks. In the latest incident, CEO Daniel Vasella's Tyrollean lodge in Bach, Austria, was badly burned early Monday morning. "It was arson with a professional fire accelerator," Novartis spokeswoman Isabel Guerra said in Basel.

Glenn Beck reports that an animal-rights fanatic is on track to become President Obama’s regulatory czar. That individual is the radical legal theorist Cass Sunstein who has argued that: your money doesn’t really belong to you because the government laid the foundations for your success; Internet censorship is a good idea; animals should be allowed to sue people; (Snip) and Americans’ support for property rights and freedom of contract is an “incoherent” form “of so-called individualism.”

A consumer-freedom group says President Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" is an "animal-rights zealot" who may make life difficult for hunters and meat-eaters. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) has placed a hold on the nomination of legal scholar Cass Sunstein to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management. Cornyn is worried that the Harvard professor may push an aggressive animal-rights agenda in the White House. Sunstein has argued in favor of outlawing sport hunting and meat-eating, and written that animals should be allowed to file lawsuits "with human beings as their representatives." David...

Why Should This Photo Be Illegal? By Darren Warner Imagine going to the video store to rent a copy of your favorite hunting show, only to find the shelves bare. When you ask the clerk where they are, he tells you that the films are now illegal and that you can’t buy or rent them anymore.  This may sound like something out of 1984, but in United States v. Robert J. Stevens, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this fall if photos like the one above, or video that shows hunters shooting at game, violate a 1999 federal law...

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is calling for tens of thousands of pythons believed to be in the Everglades to be hunted and killed, a proposal blasted by animal rights advocates. Nelson sent a letter on Tuesday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, asking for permission to have deputized agents and volunteers kill as many of the snakes as possible during an organized hunt. The senator's request comes after a 2-year-old central Florida girl was strangled by an unlicensed pet python in her home.

Animal welfare activists threaten nation’s agriculture Producers need to tell their story By Elizabeth Barrett July 10, 2009 Clouds loom over agriculture today. According to Roger Berry, the average American is three generations removed from the farm while animal rights groups don’t understand the importance of animal agricultural. “We’re in danger of losing animal agriculture,” said Berry, the field director for the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture. Berry spoke to Gothenburg Rotarians at their noon meeting Monday at the Parlor Restaurant. A-FAN is a non-political organization formed to help Nebraska farmers and ranchers protect and preserve the quality of...

Chambliss blocks regulatory pick over animal lawsuits By Alexander Bolton Posted: 06/28/09 07:57 PM [ET] Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) has blocked President Obama’s candidate for regulation czar, Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, because Sunstein has argued that animals should have the right to sue humans in court. Obama has picked Sunstein, his adviser and longtime friend, to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, an office that has power to review and assess all draft regulations proposed within the administration. But Chambliss worries that Sunstein’s innovative legal views may someday lead to a farmer having to defend himself in...

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to a spokesman for "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" (PETA), which recently decried President Obama's swatting of a fly during an interview, the organization urges "compassion even for the smallest and least of animals," but has no position on the killing of unborn human beings.A spokesman for the organization told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) in an interview that it is "loathsome" and "grotesquely hypocritical" that pro-lifers oppose abortion, but are unconcerned about the mistreatment of chickens and other animals used in the food industry. Asked about PETA's criticism of President Barack Obama's killing...

Tuesday June 23, 2009 PETA Opposes Killing Flies, but Has No “Specific Position" on Killing of Unborn Humans: Spokesman Calls pro-lifers "loathsome" and "hypocritical" for not condemning mistreatment of chickens By Matthew Cullinan HoffmanWASHINGTON, June 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to a spokesman for "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" (PETA), which recently decried President Obama’s swatting of a fly during an interview, the organization urges "compassion even for the smallest and least of animals," but has no position on the killing of unborn human beings.A spokesman for the organization told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) in an interview that it...

PETA: Murder boys but not flies! Posted: June 20, 2009 By Humberto Fontova "Human beings often don't think before they act," laments PETA while explaining their reaction to President Obama's unthinking fly "execution." "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals." Close on the heels of their consciousness-raising campaign for fly compassion, PETA has launched a vegetarian campaign using Che Guevara's 24 year-old granddaughter, Lydia, dolled up in commie beret and topless, though strategically covered by twin bandoliers of carrots. "Join the Vegetarian Revolution!" reads the campaign's slogan, which will debut in Argentina (no...

The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House. PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside. "We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals." During an interview for CNBC at the...

LONDON (AFP) — Beatles legend and famous vegetarian Paul McCartney was joined by John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono Monday to launch an appeal for "meat-free Mondays." McCartney said going vegetarian, even for just one day a week, was good for the environment because of research suggesting it cuts greenhouse gas emissions from the world's livestock population. "I thought this was a great idea. To just reduce your meat intake maybe by one day a week and this would seriously benefit the planet," he told reporters, alongside Ono and a bevy of other stars including Kelly Osbourne and Moby. Lennon's widow...

It was 4 o'clock in the morning when David Jentsch, a neuroscience professor at UCLA, awoke to a loud bang and the sound of his car alarm. He hurried to his bedroom window and saw the orange glow of his new Volvo luxury sedan burning in his yard. He suspected immediately that it was the work of animal rights activists. "Enough of my colleagues had been attacked that I had a feeling they were responsible," Jentsch said about the March 7 torching of his car. "Two days later the Animal Liberation Brigade took credit for it. The irony of the...

An American vegan who has made it his life’s mission to shut down a British animal-testing company has become the first domestic terrorist to be listed on the FBI’s most-wanted list of terror suspects. The name of Daniel Andreas San Diego, who is accused of carrying out the 2003 bombings of two US companies affiliated with Huntingdon Life Sciences, of Cambridgeshire, is listed alongside the likes of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Adam Yahiye Gadahn. San Diego, who is shown on the FBI’s most-wanted poster with short brown hair and glasses, is said to have several unusual tattoos that...

Solar Power Plant Construction Halted Due to Endangered Squirrel Discovery of the endangered red-cheeked squirrel has stopped construction of the world's largest solar power plant in southern California. (Dry Desert, California) The unexpected discovery of a nest of red-cheeked squirrels amidst the huge, partially constructed MegaPyre Solar Power plant has halted construction, casting doubt on the viability of what has been considered to be the environmentalist's crown jewel of renewable power facilities. The 20 gigawatt plant was expected to provide electricity to much of southern California, and was only 6 months away from completion when the nest of squirrels, which...

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — PETA is taking on what it describes as a new affront to animals: NASCAR fans doing the chicken dance. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked Guinness World Records Inc. on Monday to ignore an attempt to set a world record for the largest group chicken dance at the Talladega Superspeedway, site of the Aaron's 499 race on Sunday. The reason? KFC is the sponsor of the record attempt, and the animal rights group says the fast-food company is cruel to chickens. A KFC spokesman defended the company's treatment of animals and said it hoped...

The FBI on Tuesday will for the first time add the name of a domestic-terrorism suspect to its list of Most Wanted Terrorists, a post-Sept. 11 creation that until now has included only suspected Islamist terrorists, a law enforcement official told The Washington Times. Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old animal rights activist, is wanted in connection with the 2003 bombings of two companies in the San Francisco Bay Area linked to an animal-testing laboratory. San Diego will take his place on a list that has included notorious international terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri and Adam Gadahn,...

(AP) — LOS ANGELES -- As soon as he heard his car alarm blare and saw the orange glow through his bedroom window, University of California, Los Angeles neuroscientist J. David Jentsch knew that his fears had come true. His 2006 Volvo, parked next to his house on the west side of Los Angeles, had been set ablaze and destroyed in an early morning attack March 7. Jentsch had become the latest victim in a series of violent incidents targeting University of California scientists who use animals in biomedical research.

This is the terrifying moment a woman was attacked by a polar bear after jumping into its zoo enclosure. The 32-year-old leapt over bars at Berlin Zoo during the bears' feeding time yesterday. Despite six zookeepers' efforts to distract the four predators kept in the enclosure, the woman was bitten several times on her arms and legs. The brave keepers eventually managed to push the bear away and pull the woman to safety. She was bitten by one of the four older polar bears in the enclosure and not by the famous Knut, who took Germany by storm as a...

"Zoo keepers who saved the life of a woman who jumped into a polar bear enclosure at Berlin Zoo revealed on Monday that they were moments away from shooting the animals. Rifles had already been issued to marksmen and Heiner Kloes, a zoo spokesman, said: This woman's behaviour not only put her life in danger but also that of the staff who had to rescue her. However, we do have guns and we would have been prepared to use them without hesitation if it was felt it was the only way to save the woman. The woman known only as...

Hypocritical Animal Rights Group’s 2008 Disclosures Bring Pet Death Toll To 21,339 WASHINGTON DC – Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) published documents online showing that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) killed 95 percent of the adoptable pets in its care during 2008. Despite years of public outrage over its euthanasia program, the animal rights group kills an average of 5.8 pets every day at its Norfolk, VA headquarters. According to public records from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, PETA killed 2,124 pets last year and placed only seven in adoptive homes....

If animals are people and fish are kittens, then the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are genocidal tyrants. Once in PETA’s death clutch, few animals escape. In Virginia, PETA takes the notion of killing with kindness literally: only seven animals found a home out of the 2,216 it cared for in 2008. Seven animals managed a reprieve; the rest were loved to death. Over 20,000 dogs and cats, the “flesh of innocents,” were killed by PETA since 1998. Meanwhile, they spent millions chiding people for eating meat and chicken and fish.....

Ingrid Newkirk is an animal rights activist, an author, and the president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). She is best known for the animal rights awareness campaigns she organizes on behalf of PETA, which she co founded in 1980. Ingrid, is however, totally crazy. Don't believe me, well read a portion of her last will and testament that she has posted on PETA's website: 2. While the final decision as to the use of my body remains with PETA, I make the following suggested directions: a. That the “meat” of my body, or a portion thereof,...

The founder of the world's largest animal rights organization wants to give Canada's parliamentarians an earful, in a bizarre online will. Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said that upon her death, she wants one of her ears "removed, mounted" and sent to Ottawa to help the government "in hearing, for the first time perhaps, the screams of the seals, bears, raccoons, foxes and minks bludgeoned, trapped and sometimes skinned alive for their pelts." Ms. Newkirk said she wants her body parts to be used to draw "attention to needless animal...

As someone who has dedicated a part of my life to the alleviation of animal suffering in various parts of the world, it is my wish that upon my death, my body be used to further that same goal. It is with this purpose in mind that I make the following directions and designations relating to the disposition of my final remains. I make these directions and designations after thorough consideration and pursuant to my firm belief in the purposes for which they are made. 1. Upon my death, it is my wish that my body be used in a...

Has PETA gone too far? Word is that last week the animal rights activists showed up unannounced and uninvited at a Hempstead elementary school, chosen for its proximity to the Nassau Coliseum, where Ringling Bros. Circus sets up shop starting tomorrow. Their plan was to school the children in circus cruelty, handing out stickers and coloring books that declared, "Circuses are no fun for animals." While this may be true, many are criticizing the organization for their tactics, saying their method is inappropriate—a psychologist noted that the children "might go home and be very anxious" because they "are less mature...

A vehicle was firebombed outside the home of a university researcher on Saturday, prompting Chancellor Gene Block to issue a statement condemning the attackers. There were no reports of injuries, said Phil Hampton, a university spokesman. Animal rights activists claimed responsibility for the firebomb in a statement released through the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, which speaks on the behalf of the activists. They threatened in the statement to continue to harass the targeted researcher – whose name was not released because of the ongoing investigation - until he stops his research. Block responded to the threats on Monday....

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk went on Fox's Red Eye to pitch PETA's latest idea - human-flavored tofu. It seems they've come across a towel drenched with Clooney sweat. While most of us would see that as a perfectly good opportunity to wash or dispose of the towel, the PETA people have other ideas.

PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, is known for pushing the envelope on acceptability: Its proposed vegetarian ad for the Super Bowl this year was sexually suggestive, and it periodically stages nude models in various poses saying they'd rather wear nothing than fur. But a new feature of the organization's website takes its campaign to a new level: a will posted by founder Ingrid Newkirk that, among other things, calls for her flesh to be used for a barbecue and her feet for umbrella stands. Newkirk's posting on the site explains: As someone who has dedicated a part...

Apparently the Super Bowl ad didn't get enough attention.

One of the most iconic images of American life, that of circus elephants joined trunk-to-tail as they lumber along to delight “children of all ages,” as the old saying goes, is about to be debated in a courtroom. Are the beasts docile because they are highly intelligent and respond well to training, reinforced with the promise of apples, carrots, water and kindness at day’s end? Or do they obey because their spirits have been broken and they fear getting hit by their trainers? These are among the questions that will be asked when a lawsuit by a coalition of animal...

Some clever techies confused PETA supporters today by pulling a well-executed prank against their campaign to “re-brand” fish as sea kittens. For at least a couple hours today, the internet was abuzz with the fact that www.SeaKittens.com had an Omaha Steaks ad smack-dab at the top of the page....

WASHINGTON – The Humane Society of the United States is asking President Barack Obama and Congress to require everyone who raises dogs and cats to be regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, documents show. HSUS also is asking for the creation of an animal protection division within the U.S. Department of Justice that is “similar to the Civil Rights Division, to ensure strong enforcement of federal animal protection laws,” thus granting animals rights similar to humans. HSUS also calls for a new position of animal protection liaison in the White House. A fourth provision calls for a ban on...

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Making an Ass of the Law

Records obtained from the Virginia state government show an interesting statistic regarding animals in PETA's Virginia HQ shelter. The group, known for it's hot ads and hotter rhetoric against carnivires, killed more than 90% of its guests in 2007. When you pay attention to the news it becomes increasingly difficult to be surprised at any level of hypocrisy displayed by leftists. Wealthy socialists who are anxious to spread everyone else's wealth. Environmentalists who take private jets. Silver-spoon anarchists rioting at Starbucks. But this one might take the cake...

A US Airways Airbus A320 pilot guided his jetliner into the frigid Hudson River after a flock of birds knocked out both its engines just after takeoff Thursday. The plane, an Airbus A320 that had taken off minutes earlier from LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte, N.C., was submerged up to its windows in the river when rescuers arrived in Coast Guard vessels and ferries. Some passengers waited in water up to their knees, standing on the wing of the plane for help. PETA is picketing in front of US Airways' headquarters. PETA spokesperson said “I think it is sad that...

The next 8 years will be extremely rough for American hunters and livestock farmers. Cass Sunstein, Barack Obama’s pick for “regulatory czar,” : “[A]nimals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law … Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf.” “We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn’t a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It’s time now.”...