Free Republic

The Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling speedboat Ady Gill has sunk after it was sliced in two by a Japanese whaling vessel during a clash in the Southern Ocean on Wednesday. Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson told ABC News Breakfast the Ady Gill went down shortly before 3:30am AEDT while it was being towed to a French research base by the group's Bob Barker boat. "I think they were towing for about six or seven hours," he said. "Even the act of towing was taking more water on. The Japanese vessel had cut the vessel completely in half and made it unseaworthy."...

ANTI-whaling group Sea Shepherd have confirmed one of their protest ships was sunk by Japanese whalers. The Ady Gil, a lightweight 24m (79-foot) boat went under after being rammed off Antarctica by Shonam Maru, a ship detailed to provide security to the rest of the whaling fleet. All six crew members have been rescued.

SYDNEY — A space-age powerboat sent to harass Japanese whalers was rammed and sliced in two in its very first clash on Wednesday, activists said, dramatically escalating hostilities in icy Antarctic seas. The futuristic Ady Gil trimaran, which holds the round-the-world record and was enlisted by militant activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for this whaling season, received "catastrophic damage" and was sinking, they said. All six crew, who earlier hurled stink bombs at the whalers to disrupt their annual hunt, were rescued unharmed by Sea Shepherd's Bob Barker ship. Activists described the attack as unprovoked and said it...

Japanese whalers have sliced in half a high-tech anti-whaling boat in a dramatic escalation of the annual battle between the whaling fleet and environmental activists Activist on the Ady Gil aims a projectile launcher at a Japanese whaler The $1.5 million, 79 foot long 'stealth' boat Ady Gil sank after the attack in Southern Ocean but its six man cew was rescued uninjured, said Captain Paul Watson, founder of the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd. Captain Watson said the Ady Gil, a light weight vessel that resembles Batman's spacecraft more than a conventional boat, was idling in waters near Commonwealth...

THE PRINCIPLE OF CLIMATE CHANGE COMMUNICATION Why were the principles created? The game is communicating climate change; the rules will help us win it. These principles were created as part of the UK Climate Change Communications Strategy, an evidence-basedstrategy aiming to change public attitudes towards climate change in the UK. This is a ‘short version’ of a far longer document of evidence that can be found at www.defra.gov.uk. There is plenty of evidence relating to attitudes towards and behaviour on climate change, general environmental behaviour change and the whole issue of sustainable development communication. As we reviewed the research for...

Earth First! made headlines with its tree-spiking in the 1980s, but the guy who helped make the anti-logging tactic famous didn't invent it. Mike Roselle even titled one chapter of his new book "Why I Quit Spiking Trees." In it, the co-founder of Earth First!, the Rainforest Action Network and the Ruckus Society described how the practice brought old-growth timber cutting to national awareness, but became a public relations disaster for the protesters. "I think the Wobblies can take credit for it if they want, but it's been around as long as logging," Roselle said, referring to the Industrial Workers...

A group cited by U.S. officials as a domestic terrorism threat claimed responsibility Friday for knocking down two radio station towers in Snohomish County, Washington. Much of the tower system, owned by radio station KRKO, was "flattened like a pancake," the manager said. Much of the tower system, owned by radio station KRKO, was "flattened like a pancake," the manager said. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) issued a statement saying opponents of the towers argue that "AM radio waves cause adverse health effects including a higher rate of cancer, harm to wildlife, and that the signals have been interfering with...

It's enough to turn your stomach. Or, if you're a New Yorker who lived through the September 11th attacks, give you a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. A new ad purportedly for the World Wildlife Fund features dozens of airplanes converging on lower Manhattan -- featuring the Twin Towers -- with the line "The Tsunami Killed 100 Times More People Than 9/11." The ad was first brought to our attention by Gothamist, but was originally picked up by Adweek.com's AdFreak blog, which reports that the ad is from the Brazilian arm of the WWF. Sure, the 2004 tsunami was a...

Last year, the Brookings Institute conducted a first-of-its-kind study of the per-capita carbon footprints of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas. Lexington's combination of coal-fired energy, sprawl and lack of attention to efficiency tagged it at No. 100 — the worst of them all.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/de032709.htm The United States Attorney's Office Western District of Michigan Press Release SENTENCING IN 2001 ECO-TERRORISM ATTEMPT AT MICHIGAN MARQUETTE, MI—Ian Jacob Wallace, 27, of East Setauket, New York, was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell to serve three years in Federal prison for his role in the November 5, 2001, attempted fire-bombing of U.S. Forest Service property located on the campus of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis announced today. Wallace, who committed the offense on behalf of the activist environmental group known...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 post at the Environmental Protection Agency is removing himself from consideration. Jon Cannon, a professor of environmental law at the University of Virginia, says he is withdrawing as the nominee for deputy EPA administrator because of scrutiny surrounding the America's Clean Water Foundation.

Angry survivors blame council 'green' policy Andrea Petrie, Arthurs Creek February 11, 2009 Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View ANGRY residents last night accused local authorities of contributing to the bushfire toll by failing to let residents chop down trees and clear up bushland that posed a fire risk. During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne's northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised the Nillumbik council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the council's help...

SYDNEY, (AP) -- Japanese whalers blasted water from a cannon at conservationists who hurled bottles of rancid butter and paint during a clash Monday in frigid Antarctic waters, officials said. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society also accused the whalers of throwing hunks of metal and golf balls at its members, lightly injuring two activists in the fracas. Japanese officials said only a water cannon was used. The group — which routinely harasses the Japanese whaling fleet during its annual hunt in the Antarctic Ocean — sent a helicopter and two inflatable boats toward a Japanese harpoon ship early Monday in...

Insects can spread disease and destroy crops with devastating speed. Do not underestimate their potential as weapons. Insects are one of the cheapest and most destructive weapons available to terrorists today, and one of the most widely ignored: they are easy to sneak across borders, reproduce quickly and can spread disease and destroy crops with devastating speed. A great strategic lesson of 9/11 has been overlooked. Terrorists need only a little ingenuity, not sophisticated weapons, to cause enormous damage... Insects are the box-cutters of biological warfare - cheap, simple and wickedly effective. Am I being an alarmist? I wish I...

January 23, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/fugitive012309.htm Possible Sighting of FBI Fugitive in British Columbia The FBI is working with Canadian authorities to confirm the possible sighting of one of its Domestic Terrorism fugitives. Last November, the Bureau announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of four eco-terrorists known as “The Family.” Rebecca Rubin, one of the four fugitives, was spotted by a tipster who may have seen her near her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. We received several tips about all of the fugitives as a result of the publicity. Some of...

Abstract: Partisan Environmental Groups: Beware of Wolves Dressed in Sheep’s Clothing. These wolves should be seen for what they really are: massive democratic political machines, disguised as environmental causes. These wolves disguised in sheep's clothing are deceiving the America people. When an individual gives their hard-earned money to one of these organizations, most expect it to be used for the environmental cause they support, not political campaigning. It seems that it is more important to these groups to turn their once laudable movement into a political machine misleading the American public regarding their purely politically partisan agenda under the guise...

Re: Many environmental groups are using their tax-exempt IRS registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations as fraudulent front operations for the Democrats-Soros Shadow Party~FlA. Environmental groups are simply Democrat political machines with millions of dollars in contributions and expenditures each year for the purpose of raising more money to pursue their agenda. ~ Sen. James Inhofe Mr./Madam President, I rise today to shed some light on a subject that is very important to me in my oversight duties as Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Earlier this year, the Environment and Public Works Committee held an oversight hearing where the...

We need your help in locating these four fugitives. Click on their names or photographs to see their wanted posters. It has been 10 years since a group known as “The Family” torched a ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing $26 million in damage and drawing international attention to eco-terrorists—those who break the law in the name of the environment and animal rights. Since that time, we’ve joined our federal, local, and state law enforcement partners in establishing Operation Backfire to bring these criminals to justice. Our efforts have been successful, but four individuals under indictment remain at large. At...

<p>HOUGHTON -- Federal and state law enforcement officials remained on the Michigan Tech University campus late Monday after bombs found at two university buildings were disarmed. Radical environmentalists are considered possible suspects, a county official said.</p> <p>The bombs, described by university spokesmen as the "real thing," were discovered early Monday morning by campus public safety officers at the U.J. Noblet Forestry Building and the U.S. Forest Service Engineering Laboratory.</p>

While the remains of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and Washington, DC's Pentagon are "ground zero" for the horrible destruction wrought by foreign terrorists, the nation's forests, research labs, resorts and housing developments have long been "ground zero" for domestic environmentally-driven "ecoterrorists." There may be diabolical links between the two forces. There is a strong possibility that Animal Liberation Front (ALF) terrorists have come into possession of Anthrax as the result of having invaded laboratories that have been researching the disease. This certainly merits investigation as a source for the Anthrax attacks. The fact ...

Terrorism: The time comes in every fringe group's existence when it must decide to stay legitimate and obey the law or leap into violence and terrorism. The animal rights movement seems to have chosen the latter.Make no mistake: The terrorism committed by the animal rights movement and some extreme environmental groups is real. Like all terrorists, they use force, threats and destruction of property to intimidate people into submission. Having lost the debate in the marketplace of ideas, they choose instead to terrorize. As Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, told the AP, "If you had to...

Santa Cruz -- The devices used in two firebombings targeting UC Santa Cruz biologists are similar to some used in the past by animal rights activists, investigators said Sunday. The bombs were so powerful they were like "Molotov cocktails on steroids," said Santa Cruz police Capt. Steve Clark.One struck the home of assistant biology Professor David Feldheim on Saturday morning, forcing him to flee with his family. The other exploded just a few minutes earlier, gutting a car parked outside the campus home of a second researcher.Later, Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies went to the home of a third researcher...

A rookie cop - the son of a highly respected New York City detective - has been stripped of his badge and gun after being caught on video viciously attacking a bicyclist who was part of a Times Square demonstration. ' The startling YouTube video shows Officer Patrick Pogan, 22, apparently setting his sights on - and then tackling - a bicyclist as he pedaled along Seventh Avenue as part of last Friday's controversial Critical Mass ride. Christopher Long, 29, was among a throng of riders as he whizzed toward the corner of West 46th Street at 9:30 p.m. and...

A Ketchikan jury correctly convicted a Greenpeace ship's captain of criminal negligence for sailing in Alaska waters without the proper oil spill response plan, the state appeals court ruled Thursday. The opinion partly cancels a 2005 decision by a Ketchikan judge to overturn guilty verdicts against Greenpeace Inc. and Arctic Sunrise Capt. Arne Sorensen of misdemeanor charges. At the time of its anti-logging campaign, the ship was carrying more than 70,000 gallons of "petroleum products," according to district court documents. In Alaska, non-tank vessels larger than 400 gross tons must file an oil spill response plan application five days before...

Invoking the Red Scare of the 1950s, some environmentalists claim the federal government is committing something similar against the green movement of the 2000s. Of course, it could simply be vigorous enforcement of laws against violence and property damage. According to court documents, Briana Waters, convicted in the 2001 arson at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, is afraid that by remaining in prison she will lose her deep connection with her three year old daughter, Kalliope. She has justification to be worried about her sentencing on Friday, May 30. Throughout the grand jury process, the indictments,...

The captain and first officer of the anti-sealing ship the Farley Mowat were due to appear in court in Sydney, N.S., on Sunday, a day after their arrest off the west coast of Newfoundland. They have been charged with interfering with the seal hunt after a confrontation with a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker two weeks ago. Their vessel was boarded and seized Saturday in the Gulf of St. Lawrence by RCMP officers, working with officials from the federal Fisheries Department and the coast guard... Paul Watson of the international group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which owns the vessel, said its...

For nearly seven years, the nation has turned its terror focus on Al Qaeda and the hunt for Usama bin Laden. But there is a domestic terror threat that federal officials still consider priority No. 1 — eco-terrorism. The torching of luxury homes in the swank Seattle suburb of Woodinville earlier this month served as a reminder that the decades-long war with militant environmentalists on American soil has not ended. "It remains what we would probably consider the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat, because they have successfully continued to conduct different types of attacks in and around the country," said...

The question is, Can we ask Obama his thoughts and ideas about ELF and ALF and their relevance today? Or are his statements of 2003 not valid in this election either? We are not to ask him about his religion(s), but it's okay for Romney and Hucklebee to be grilled. We cannot call him by his real name Barrack Hussein Obama. We cannot or should not look into his “cousins” who may or may not be of radical Muslim persuasion. And on and on it goes. Does Barrack Hussein Obama think its a terrorist act to set fire or do...

WOODINVILLE, Wash. — Explosive devices were found inside luxury houses set ablaze Monday morning outside of Seattle, and police suspected that a well-known eco-terrorism group ignited the fires. The multi-million-dollar development known as "Street of Dreams" in Woodinville, Wash., burst into flames in the early morning hours, and Snohomish County crews fought to contain the blaze. The Earth Liberation Front, known for violent acts in the name of environmentalism, left a sign at the scene and was suspected to have set fire to the swanky, newly built neighborhood. The Federal Bureau of Investigation released a statement saying that the FBI,...

Opening paragraph from the New York Times article on the eco-terrorists who burned three new homes north of Seattle today [emphasis added]: For people who are anti-sprawl activists — or have baser motives — a new-built house sitting empty in a previously rural area evidently makes a ripe target for an attack by fire. Consider also the article's headline "House Fires With a Message in the Northwest." Yes, think of it as a bonus. Not just a housefire . . . a housefire with a message!

WOODINVILLE -- Explosive devices were found inside multimillion-dollar show homes that burned in a suburb north of Seattle Monday, fire officials said. Authorities also found a spray-painted sign purportedly left by a radical environmental group at the scene. The spray-painted sign, a white sheet that had the initials of the Earth Liberation Front in scraggly red letters, mocked claims that the homes were environmentally friendly, according to video images of the sign aired by KING-TV. "Built Green? Nope black!" the sign said.

Monday, February 11, 2008 SEATTLE -- Briana Waters says she isn't sure where she was early on May 21, 2001, but there's one place she wasn't: crouching in the bushes near a research center at the University of Washington, serving as a lookout for her fellow Earth Liberation Front activists as they set firebombs that illuminated the night sky and caused millions of dollars in damage. Prosecutors say that's exactly where she was, and they are intent on proving it during a trial that begins today at U.S. District Court in Tacoma. Of more than a dozen environmental and animal-rights...

The home of a primate researcher was firebombed on Tuesday, marking the second attack at the same residence in the past four months, authorities said. An incendiary device charred the front door of the home of Edythe London, who is a professor of psychiatry and molecular and medical pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles. No one was at home when the attack occurred, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but animal rights activists are suspected of carrying out previous efforts at the homes of UCLA scientists who use animals in their research....

A tax called 'No Child Left Inside' has been backed by New Mexico's Sierra Club, an environmental and outdoor preservation group. The proposed one-percent sales tax on video games and televisions is aimed at funding outdoor classroom initiatives and encouraging New Mexico's increasingly obese and diabetic youth to get off the couch and explore the great outdoors.

What would happen to planet earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear forever? Would ecosystems thrive? What remnants of our industrialized world would survive? What would crumble fastest? From the ruins of ancient civilizations to present day cities devastated by natural disasters, history gives us clues to these questions and many more in the visually stunning and thought-provoking new special

Background: Christopher Lee McCuin age 25 has been arrested and is currently in the Smith county jail for the murder of his girlfriend. His mother called 911 after he had taken her to see the girlfriend's corpse in his back yard. He is suspected of eating parts of her. Obviously, he is mentally ill. This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.tylerpaper.com Article published Jan 11, 2008 PETA's 'Eat Right' Letter In Cannibal Case No Joke By KENNETH DEANStaff Writer Sheriff's officials were astounded by a letter requesting the man accused of murdering his girlfriend and possibly...

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this week in Oslo, Norway. Al Gore shared the prize with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which represents more than 2,500 scientists from 130 countries. The solemn ceremony took place as the U.S. is blocking meaningful progress at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, and the Republicans in the Senate have derailed the energy bill passed by the House of Representatives, which would have accelerated the adoption of renewable energy sources at the expense of big oil and coal. Gore set the stage: "So, today, we dumped another 70 million...

Eco-Warriors To Take 'Direct Action' Updated: 20:22, Saturday August 18, 2007 Climate campaigners are warning of a "day of direct action" against Heathrow airport on Sunday. Protesters 'too busy' for peace talks Protesters 'too busy' for peace talks Protesters, buoyed by an influx of new arrivals, promised 24 hours of disruption, starting from midday. It comes as travellers heading for the Caribbean are already facing delays due to the gathering pace of Hurricane Dean. And it follows an unsuccessful call on Saturday from a group of airline pilots for "peace talks" aimed at averting disorder. The pilots said debating the...

Environmentalists, with the help of politicians and other government officials, have an agenda that has cost thousands of American lives. In the wake of Hurricane Betsy, which struck New Orleans in 1965, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed building flood gates on Lake Pontchartrain, like those in the Netherlands that protect cities from North Sea storms. In 1977, the gates were about to be built, but the Environmental Defense Fund and Save Our Wetlands sought a court injunction to block the project. According to John Berlau's recent book, "Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health," U.S. Attorney Gerald Gallinghouse...

11:14 AM, Wednesday, August 1, 2007 A federal judge on Wednesday reimposed a sentence of four years and three months on Jonathon Christopher Mark Paul, the last of 10 defendants indicted in Eugene for arson in environmental causes. Paul’s lawyer had challenged the sentence after a hearing June 5. Paul, a widely known environmental activists from Southern Oregon, again renounced arson as an activist tactic in a statement in court on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Anne Aiken rebuffed four legal challenges to the sentence and required Paul to read the book “Three Cups of Tea” and to write a book...

Posted: 3:44 PM, Monday, June 4, 2007 Saying she is unsure of the sincerity of his remorse, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken on Monday sentenced Daniel Gerard McGowan to seven years in federal prison for his role in a string of arsons by underground radical environmentalists. McGowan, 33, cited his work in community and social justice groups since leaving the underground in 2001. However, prosecutors played tapes, secretly recorded by an informant, in which McGowan seems to revel in past illegal deeds by extremists. The final of 10 defendants in the Operation Backfire case is scheduled for sentencing Tuesday. Read...

Friday, June 1, 2007 Saying she found no remorse in either defendant, U.S. District Court Ann Aiken on Friday sentenced Joyanna Zacher and Nathan Block to seven years, eight months in federal prison for their role in a string of arsons. Zacher and Block are among four defendants who made plea deals with federal prosecutors but declined to name names of co-conspirators in the Operation Backfire investigations. Aiken said the defendants wanted to be martyrs and be hailed as heroes in the cause and yet receive some consideration in their sentencing deals. However, Aiken declined to further lower the sentence...

Tuesday, May 29, 2007 A radical environmentalist from Canada was sentenced Tuesday to 37 months in federal prison, along with a judge’s admonishment that he consider taking a class on America’s system of democracy. Darren Todd Thurston, 37, was the fourth of 10 Operation Backfire defendants to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Eugene — and the first to avoid being labeled a “terrorist” under federal terrorism law. He plead guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of arson in connection with damage done to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse Facility in Litchfield, Calif.,...

Lawyers for the people who pled guilty and are now being sentenced for a crime spree that included the 1998 Vail Mountain arson naturally argue that their clients are not terrorists, no indeed. "KEVIN TUBBS IS NOT A TERRORIST," Tubbs' lawyer wrote in melodramatic fashion in a court brief (the capital letters were his). The given reason: Tubbs' violence was motivated by a love for animals and an "overwhelming feeling of despair." Tubbs, a supporter of the Earth Liberation Front, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Eugene, Ore., to more than 12 years in prison. Chelsea Gerlach's attorney argued...

The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that included gay rights and anti-war organizations in a list of groups that could include terrorists. The Web site identified different types of terrorists, and included a list of groups it believed could spawn terrorists. The list also included environmentalists, animal rights advocates and abortion opponents. The director of the department, Jim Walker, said his agency received a number of calls and e-mails from people who said they felt the site unfairly targeted certain people just because of their beliefs. He said he plans to put...

MONTGOMERY, ALA. — The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a website it operated that included gay-rights and antiwar organizations in a list of groups that could include terrorists. The website identified different types of terrorists and included a list of groups it suggested could spawn terrorists. The list also included environmentalists, animal rights advocates and abortion opponents. Howard Bayliss, chairman of the gay-rights group Equality Alabama, said he didn't understand why gay-rights advocates would be on the list. "Our group has only had peaceful demonstrations. I'm deeply concerned we've been profiled in this discriminatory matter," Bayliss said....

Chelsea Gerlach, who joined the radical-environmental movement as a teenager, was sentenced today in Oregon to nine years in prison for her prominent role in torching a Vail ski lodge and five other so-called "eco-terror" attacks. Gerlach, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, destruction of an energy facility and 23 counts of arson after being identified by an informant as a major player in a six-year reign of attacks on government, business and research facilities. As a member of a small clandestine group that called itself "the Family," Gerlach and others helped cell leader Bill Rodgers in October of 1998 haul...

5/24/2007, 6:59 p.m. PT EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge Thursday sentenced Animal Liberation Front arsonist Kevin Tubbs to prison for more than 12 years, rejecting arguments that he was a minor player just trying to save animals and protect the earth. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken declared that four of the nine fires Tubbs was involved in — a forest ranger station, a police substation, a dealership selling SUVs and a tree farm — were acts of terrorism intended to influence the conduct of the government or retaliate for government acts. "Fear and intimidation can play no part...

Defense attorneys expressed outrage Tuesday when federal prosecutors compared 10 Earth Liberation Front arsonists who are awaiting sentencing to Ku Klux Klan arsonists. The six men and four women, branded eco-terrorists, have pleaded guilty to charges related to 20 fires set in five Western states from 1996 to 2001 that caused $40 million of damage. Targets included the Vail ski resort, wild horse corrals, National Forest ranger stations, meat packing plants, research laboratories, lumber company offices and a tree farm. The 10 are to be sentenced starting next week. Federal prosecutors asked Judge Ann Aiken that a so-called terrorism enhancement...

SEE THE YOUTUBE MOCKING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS Our moral outrage deficit By Dateline D.C. Sunday, April 8, 2007 WASHINGTON Political correctness now is censoring decisions on what was once known and feared across the world as America's moral outrage. Twenty years ago, environmental activists seeking to preserve our forests randomly booby-trapped trees that were to be felled for lumber. How to design and "plant" these and other lethal traps became a book that was publicized on radio and television. The activists, defending their world for their grandchildren and posterity, were lionized. And despite the maiming of sawmill workers, book sales...