4 charged in 1999 arson

Are these the same nutjobs writing into the SNs everyday about how circuses are bad?
This makes them a little less credible.

Exactly the same people. They are probably not responding to this because they are too busy preparing a legal defense for their “freedom fighters.” I think I am going to eat a big steak tonight in their honor.

And I am surprised there are not MORE charged. There is federal statutory authority to charge these people with “Animal Enterprise Terrorism.” I did a research report on this law, which has existed for years, back when I was in law school. The law is 18 USC 43 and it has existed since 1992 and was updated with bi-partisan legislation in late 2006. Surprisingly, very few people have ever been prosecuted under the act.

This is good news.

I think its a bit ironic Jason Van Dyke is asking for stiffer charges for the indicted. His claim to legitimacy as a man of the law is smashed to pieces by the fact he was banned from MSU after MSU cops found a gun in his rooms along with a copy of the Turner Diaries (which glorifies race war and hanging of blacks from L.A. lamp posts).

I’ve noticed that there’s a tendency, when people speak critically about the use of “terrorism” legislation and rhetoric to chill dissent, to act as if this is something that rose from the ashes of 9/11. As if the political opportunism we’re seeing now can only be explained as some kind of outgrowth of that tragedy. That’s true, in some ways, in that 9/11 has been exploited by politicians and corporations to push their political agenda. But that political opportunism was taking place long before 2001.

Yesterdays news about the arrests for a 1999 arson at the University of Michigan is a good example of that. The FBI and law enforcement held a press conference yesterday trumpeting that “domestic terrorists” have been indicted. But that rhetoric, that PR tactic, was in use back in 2000, right after the arson.

CBS News ran a two-part series in early 2000 called “Green Terror.” The opening of the CBS piece called the MSU arson “sabotage,” then the tone shifts to labeling it “terrorism”:

A terrorist group claimed it set the fire specifically to stop the work of those who study genetically modified food.

“I lost basically my entire professional life,” says Ives. “I lost every paper I ever wrote that analyzed the benefits and risks of this technology.”

CBS went on to report:

Now, federal investigators say the violent, radical green movement has a new mission. “It seems to me as if anybody who’s engaged in genetic research is potentially a target” says Stephen Peifer. Peifer, a federal prosecutor in Oregon, is presenting evidence against the ELF to a federal grand jury. He believes that “Sooner or later there will be human injury, or perhaps loss of life if this continues.”

This was 8 years ago. And in that time, the Earth Liberation Front, even the most extreme and potentially dangerous acts of sabotage committed by that group, has not lived up to that expectation. Not one person has been harmed. I think that’s important to remember as we see the words “terrorism” and “violence” batted around in soundbites.

As an aside, this is the same Stephen Peifer who was the Assistant US Attorney in the “Operation Backfire case,” a string of ELF actions in the Northwest. During a “terrorism enhancement hearing” for those cases, you might remember, Peifer told the court, “This is not a political prosecution.” Really? It’s been 8 years. And in that time, terrorists have flown planes into buildings. Murdered innocent people. Sent anthrax in the mail. Created “dirty bomb” plots. Distributed video communiques vowing more attacks on innocent people. And still, the government has escalated sabotage in the name of the environment to the level of “number one domestic terrorism threat.”

Perhaps the researchers destroying the enviroment and torturing animals should be investigated and brought to justice in place of these individuals?

LOL

There were a number of “environmental” related arsons throughout the Traverse City region in 1999. I know this since my parents moved to a backwater town up there named Suttons Bay while this was going on.

Because we were new in town, the yokels accused me of being responsible. Everytime I visited, the local police would want to question me. I even had my own wanted poster up at the local station for awhile. I offered to buy it, but they weren’t amused.

I am still amazed by the ammount of stupid gossip that goes on in that town. I’ve hardly talked to anyone there yet so many rumors have been started.

stop trying to plug your blog douche, no one cares.

ELF, using loyalties and trust gained on the inside, you snuck in in the middle of the night to start a fire in a university building because professors were conducting research you thought you probably wouldn’t approve of.
You have put me in the disgusting position of wholeheartedly agreeing with the likes of Jason Van Dyke and Lou Anna K. Simon. Bravo.
But as to the four people who have been charged here, has anyone else noticed that it took the government nine years to bring charges? What kind of evidence do you think they really have here? Let’s all try and keep in mind that these four are and should be presumed innocent unless and until the government proves otherwise beyond any reasonable doubt. No doubt they wanted heads to roll for this and it’s entirely possible that they were getting desperate.
We shall see.