Month: February 2004

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida Will Keep Them Together

The Orlando Sentinel ran a profile of animal rights activists Carla and Bryan Wilson — married 10 years now and using their activism to bond. (Awwwwww). The Wilsons are the Central Florida coordinators for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.

The puff piece quotes Bryan Wilson, 35, as saying,

A lot of people probably think it’s strange that Carla and I want to spend our free time doing these things. But it’s something that’s important to us that does keep us close together.

Gee, Bryan, it’s hard to understand what people would find strange about ARFF activities like their August 2001 protest at the funeral of Gunther Gebel-Williams. After all, if it’s good enough for the Phelps’, surely its good enough for the Wilsons. Doesn’t every couple associate with groups that protest at funerals?

Source:

Animal rights kindle their love. Grant J. Heston, Orlando Sentinel, January 11, 2004.

FBI Should Come Clean about Josh Connole

On September 12, 2003, Josh Connole was arrested in West Covina, California, and booked on investigation of felony arson and vandalism for his alleged involvement in a fire that destroyed $3.5 million worth of vehicles at a Hummer dealership. His bail was set at $825,000, but just four days later Connole was released.

At that time, police said they were releasing Connole on technical grounds — that they couldn’t present the evidence against Connole to prosecutors in the 48 hours required by California law. West Covina police promised they would file charges against him at a later date.

Well, it’s is now a much later date — more than four months have gone by — and so far police have yet to make their case against Connole. (Perhaps an overhead projector they need to use to present evidence to the prosecutor is still broken?)

On October 1, 2003, Connole filed a notice that he intended to sue West Covina police and the federal government. His lawyer filed a complaint with the Department of Justice.

Connole is also attempting to unseal affidavit the FBI used to arrest him. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey W. Johnson is currently considering that request, and the FBI had until January 27 to submit written justification for keeping the affidavit sealed.

Connole also wants property that the FBI and West Covina police seized four months ago returned to him. According to the Los Angeles Times, police still have a computer, several computer disks, a cell phone, a belt, and several pair of paints they confiscated when they searched Connole’s home in conjunction with his arrest.

So far the actions by police and the FBI in this case resemble Keystone Kops. It is unbelievable that they would arrests Connole in such a public spectacle and then just a few days later discover their case was so weak they had to release Connole with vague promise to prosecute him later (and now they’ve even dropped that pretension, merely telling journalists that they have not ruled out Connole as a suspect).

The judge should unseal the affidavit, police and the FBI should be forced to return Connole’s party, and the FBI might want to consider that when it behaves like this it undermines public support for aggressive pursuit of animal rights and environmental terrorists. Locking up innocent third parties isn’t’ exactly likely to strike fear into the hearts of ALF/ELF activists.

Source:

SUV Vandalism Figure Takes Case to the People. Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2004.

Judge wants to know why arrest documents sealed. Will Matthew, Pasadena Star-News, January 15, 2004.

Activist Going to Court for Answers. Jia-Rui Chong and Greg Krikorian, Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2003.

Three ELF Criminals Plead Guilty

In January U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty announced the guilty plea of Earth Liberation Front extremists Adam Blackwell, Aaron Linas and John Wade.

The three were students at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico County, Virginia, in 2002 when they decided to being a spree of destruction in the name of the Earth Liberation Front.

Blackwell and Linas used kerosene-soaked wicks to set fire to the fuel tanks of vehicles being used to construct a mall in Henrico. The three also vandalized 25 SUVs at an automobile dealership and targeted several other SUVs parked outside private homes. They also vandalized three fast-food restaurants by etching the glass.

McNuly told the Associated Press, “This behavior is dangerous to human life. It is putting people at risk through destruction of property.”

Under their plea agreement, the most severe sentence the three could receive would be five years in jail. They have also agreed to provide in excess of $200,000 in restitution for the damage they did.

Sentencing in the case is scheduled for April.

Correction: A reader notes that while John Wade plead guilty to a variety of criminal acts and is currently serving 37 months in prison, he in fact was not with Blackwell and Linas on the night they set fire to gasoline tanks as this article originally implied. AnimalRights.Net regrets the error.

Source:

Virginia eco-vandals enter agreements over vandalized SUVs. Associated Press, January 12, 2004.

Masson Says Veganism Is the Ideal . . . But Eggs Are Simply Too Yummy to Give Up

In a review of Jeffrey Masson’s latest book, Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals, reviewer Elizabeth Abbott notes a bit of a contradiction in Masson’s lament for farm animals: although Masson advocates for veganism but is unable to give up eggs. Abbott writes,

But Masson does not stop at describing farm animals. He offers solutions to halt or at least reduce the extent of what he sees as their victimization. Heading the list is veganism. We should not eat the flesh of any animal, Masson believes, or eat eggs or consume cows’ milk. We should acquire knowledge about and develop a political stance toward farmed animals. . . .

. . .

At the same time, Masson recognizes that even well-intentioned people can find it difficult to become vegan. Indeed, to the disappointment of animal-rights supporters, he admits that he himself has not reached his goal of pure veganism: “Eggs have been very hard for me to give up.”

Imagine — putting one’s own petty appetites above the pain and suffering of the animals. Masson might want to think about adopting a more rational approach to animals.

Source:

Meet your meat. Elizabeth Abbott, The Globe and Mail, January 10, 2004.

A Network That Doesn’t Censor Its Ads?

The most amusing thing about the whole MoveOn.Org SuperBowl ad controversy had to be this assertion from MoveOn.Org,

At 8:10PM and 8:35PM EST, switch over to CNN to watch ‘Child’s Pay’ on a channel which doesn’t censor its ads.

In fact, CNN has a long history of refusing politically-tinged advertisements,

Opponents of a proposed treaty on global warming have criticized CNN for dropping advertisements denouncing it.

. . .

The panel decided that because coverage of the global warming treaty was growing more intense, and the ads were becoming part of that coverage, the ads should not run on CNN.

Both CNN and CBS, of course, have the right to refuse whatever ad they want for any reason, but to my mind CNN’s policy is far worse than CBS’s.

CBS, to its credit, takes an even-handed approach — it simply doesn’t accept any ads on controversial issues,

This policy applies only to Network advertising, not to the local time of individual stations affiliated with the Network. As such, it is therefore also intended to promote and protect localism. Local stations we own, as well as CBS affiliates owned by others, are free to accept or reject such advocacy advertising for their own air based on how they believe such decisions serve the public interest in their communities.

Conflicts over the policy are also decades old. The Network has rejected hundreds of advocacy ads over the years ranging from Mobil Oil and W.R. Grace Company submissions to ads on all sides of issues from gun control to abortion to the North American Free Trade Agreement, to name just a few. We have found that people tend to agree with the policy when they disagree with the thrust of the ad, and vice versa.

Suggestions have also been made that we are violating our own policy by allowing the airing of messages that aim to curb drug abuse and smoking by minors. CBS is unaware of responsible groups that advocate drug abuse and smoking by minors, so it is hard to understand how these laudable efforts would constitute “controversial issues.”

CNN, on the other hand, has an inconsistent policy for accepting or rejecting ads on controversial issues — sometimes it will accept them, sometimes it won’t. Sometimes it won’t accept ads on major issues it covers, sometimes it will.

Source:

CBS Statement on Advocacy Advertising. Press Release, Wednesday January 28.

Join the One-Minute Boycott of CBS. Press Release, MoveOn.Org, 2004.

CNN criticized for dropping global-warming ad. CNN, October 3, 1997.

Super Stupid Trademark Case

According to this thread at NewsArama, Marvel and DC jointly own a trademark on the term “super-hero” and forced “Super Hero Happy Hour” publisher Geek Punk to change the name of its comic (they just dropped the “Super” so the title is just “Hero Happy Hour”).

According to creator Dan Taylor, “The decision to change the title was brought upon by the fact that we received a letter from the trademark counsel to ‘the two big comic book companies’ claiming that they are the joint owners of the trademark ‘SUPER HEROES’ and variations thereof.”

Hero Happy Hour officially premiered under its original title in January 2003 to favorable reviews by critics and garnered a loyal fan base that continues to grow with the release of each issue. “I want to assure our regular readers that the comic will continue to be published and will contain the same unique and humorous take on the genre we are all fans of,” says Dan Taylor. “If this means that we have to make a change in the title of our book in order for us, the guys struggling in the minor leagues, to be able play ball in the same park with the major leaguers, so be it.”

This isn’t the first odd comic-related trademark. Apparently in the 1980s Marvel trademarked the term “mutants” for the marketing of comic books in the 1980s.

Source:

Super Hero Happy Hour Changes Name. Newsarama.Com, January 30, 2004.