From Reason:

Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle “The Peacemaker,” and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it’s generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will “save lives.”

I hate to be the bearer of bad news (which, I’ve been told, may become my official title if I keep running this blog) but the tankification of this sheriff’s department isn’t an anomaly. It’s becoming par for the course as local cops clamor to join the “War on Terrorism” and the fight against “domestic terrorists,” “eco-terrorists,” and, judging by the size of this tank, terrorist Tyrannosaurus-Rexes.

In Tennessee, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI held a workshop (at the First Assembly of God Church, no less) on spotting terrorists. Folks were warned to watch out for people taking too many photos. And, of course, be on the lookout for “eco-terrorists.”

Allen said environmental groups and animal rights groups may harbor terrorists, but Jackson said the FBI will not infringe on those groups’ First Amendment right to free speech.

“We will never do anything to interfere with anyone’s First Amendment rights,” Jackson said. “But we do ask people to be on the lookout for that individual who comes into the group and talks a little bit radical.”

And in Arizona, Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik asked citizens to be on the lookout for domestic terrorists including environmentalists, animal rights activists, and abortion-rights advocates.

“Eco-friendly, abortion-rights and animal-rights activists are among the most active groups that have committed acts of terror in the name of their cause,” reads the December issue of “Community Connection,” a newsletter published by the department…

Dupnik’s newsletter warning excludes a few potential domestic terrorists. There’s no mention of racist skinheads, gay-bashing homophobes and anti-abortion activists who have been known to kill a doctor or two and burn down clinics.

If you’ve read this site before, you know that animal rights and environmental advocates have never killed anyone. Meanwhile, just weeks before this article was published, a white supremacist in Utah was sentenced to federal prison for five years for beating two Hispanic and Native American men. And arsonists had just torched an Albuquerque abortion clinic.

But those crimes, much like the Oklahoma City Bombing, aren’t listed as terrorism.

I think the biggest concern of all this, though, isn’t necessarily the hypocrisy of this “terrorism” rhetoric. It’s that the Bush administration, with the support of Democrats in Congress, created a massive “War on Terrorism” bureaucracy, and now, not surprisingly, local cops want to talk the talk so they can get their hands on federal resources. For some, that means trying to catch “eco-terrorists” and get a promotion. For others, it means buying tanks and playing dress up like South Carolina is Afghanistan.

Not to get all black-helicopter-crowd on you all, but I think this also needs to be put in the context of the recent “pre-emptive raids” at the RNC, and sweeping programs like Main Core. From Radar:

One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

Timothy McVeigh is responsible for the Oklahoma City Bombing, the deadliest act of terrorism in this country prior to 9/11, killing 168 people, but a Homeland Security official says he’s not a terrorist. Neither is Eric Rudolph, who killed two people and injured hundreds others in a bombing campaign against abortion and a “homosexual agenda.”

Pennsylvania’s Homeland Security Director James Powers said:

“Tim McVey [sic] is not a terrorist, just very angry with the U.S. government,” Powers said. “Whether a person is a terrorist or a criminal is irrelevant to me.”

You know whom he and the state police do consider terrorists? The Earth Liberation Front, Animal Liberation Front, and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, even though actions by those groups have been “relatively minor,” by their admission. Those groups have never injured anyone, let alone killed hundreds, but the Pennsylvania state police is offering free, yes free, “risk and vulnerability assessments” for corporations to help protect their profits from pesky activists. [Sounds kind of like that leaked State Department presentation, doesn't it?]

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated, “news of the weird” kind of incident. It’s systemic.

The Maryland State Police have admitted classifying 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists, including opponents of the war and the death penalty, and tracking them in state and federal “terrorism” databases. Cops infiltrated organizing meetings and rallies, and spied on political email lists, similar to the government infiltration of the RNC.

The groups targeted, including the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, aren’t suspected of harming anyone, aren’t suspected of bombing anyone, aren’t even suspected of vandalizing property.

Their crime? They’re “fringe people,” says Thomas E. Hutchins, the former state police superintendent who authorized the operation.

“I don’t believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government,” he said.

Get this, one activist was described in police databases as having a “primary crime” of “terrorism-anti-government” and a “secondary crime” of “terrorism-anti-war protesters.” This wasn’t an isolated abuse of power, this is a coordinated campaign of harassment and intimidation.

The gloves are really starting to come off, folks. Years ago, government officials were using these same tactics, but under the pretext of going after illegal, underground groups like the Earth Liberation Front. Now, they are openly, brazenly, harassing and infiltrating nonviolent activist groups with no connection–not even an ideological connection–to saboteurs. Why? This “War on Terrorism,” above all else, is an ideological war.

In some ways, though, I think folks should take some pride in that. Considering what is mainstream government policy now, I’d much rather be in the camp of “fringe people.” As Billy Bragg said, “If you’ve got a blacklist, I want to be on it.”

As McCain’s campaign is sinking, and it’s getting harder and harder to differentiate Sarah Palin from Tina Fey, his campaign team has pulled out a tactic straight from the “Green Scare” playbook. Palin has said Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists” because he has worked with the same organizations as Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground.

As background: In the 60s, Ayers was involved with bombings against government buildings in protest of the Vietnam War and U.S. imperialism. Now, he is highly regarded by the mayor of Chicago, and he has been named citizen of the year. Check out this video of Ayers speaking about his long-time work on education issues, and his crazy, terrorist ideas about teaching children to think for themselves. What a radical!

I’ll leave it to you all to post comments about whether Ayers and the Weather Underground are “terrorists,” but that’s really besides the point. McCain and Palin are saying Obama is guilty by association.

Sound familiar? Yeah, kind of like how the Center for Consumer Freedom said the Humane Society is “consorting with terrorists” for allowing another organization to simply set up a table at an animal welfare conference.

These tactics are fluid. They aren’t limited to animal rights activists, environmentalists, or communists. The T-word can be used against any enemy of the hour, and anyone who even associates with those recklessly labeled as “terrorists.” I guess by that skewed logic I’m a “terrorist” (I’ve even–egad!–had drinks and dinner with “terrorists.” And enjoyed it!) What about you?

And McCain, listen up. I’m calling you out. GreenIsTheNewRed.com has already exposed the Earth Liberation Front’s Retirement Cell, and it’s only a matter of time before you’re exposed for associating with them. Attacking Obama won’t protect you: you’re either with us or against us, gramps.

Check out this video of a 72-year-old man keying a Hummer in the student parking lot of Carroll High School in Southlake, TX. [I should note that yours truly graduated from this very same high school. Although when I was there, there were more dualies than blinged-out Hummers.] The video was caught by the Hummer’s motion-activated surveillance cameras. I’m not sure why a high school kid in suburban Texas has surveillance cameras on a Hummer. I’d wager that, outside of this incident, they had only filmed kids getting stoned in the parking lot before school, or captured looks of disgust and contempt as this brontosaurus lumbers through town. But I digress.

The culprit is James Andrew Jeppe, 72, who turned himself in after this video made the rounds on the internetz. He admitted carrying out a string of terrorist keyings.

This is serious, folks. The FBI has warned that “eco-terrorists” are the “number one domestic terrorism threat.” But this threat is clearly much greater than we had ever imagined. This video paints a new picture of the enemy, and it ain’t dreadlocks and camo shorts. It’s white hair, khakis, and orthopedic shoes. This might be the tip of the iceberg, revealing a little-known retirement cell of the Earth Liberation Front.

Some news stations have called this mere “vandalism.” And it looks like he might not even receive prison time! Come on, folks, we need to hit these people with outlandish prison sentences! Gramps might not last 23 years in prison like Jeff Luers, or even a half dozen like most of the Operation Backfire defendants. But that doesn’t matter. These Hummers don’t run!

As this Hummer dealership spokesman said, don’t let your guard down: “This guy, he’s an eco-terrorist.”

Law enforcement needs to crack down on these environmentalists and animal rights activists before things get out of hand. For instance, if the FBI doesn’t crack down on those Peta members wearing animal costumes at protests, they may go off the deep end like this woman who wore a cow costume, chased children and urinated in public. Something must be done!

On a related and more less serious note, it needs to be said that if this SUV had been spray painted “Earth Liberation Front,” or if someone keyed it and then sent out a communiqué about Hummers destroying the environment, I don’t think anyone would be calling it mere “vandalism.” And that, I think, exposes so much hypocrisy of this “War on Terrorism.” The word “terrorism” is only applied to cases when there’s a political motivation to do so.

Hauling this man into court as an “eco-terrorist” just wouldn’t be politically savvy. Hauling this crazy-ass woman into court as a terrorist, though, would be politically hilarious.

I certainly found this at the right time. I was in dire need of some inspiration like this. Funny how it always seems to come along right when you need it most. Here’s a link to the MP3 from Democracy Now (the excerpt below is near the end).

I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.

You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right.

You died when you refused to stand up for truth.

You died when you refused to stand up for justice.”

“I think that the ALF, the Animal Liberation Front, is probably, has in recent years, probably been
one of the most effective, if not the most effective, element of the animal rights movement.”

Yep, the clip is real. It was dug up and included in a campaign video produced by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA called “Strike Back.” Barker famously ended every episode of the Price is Right with “Remember, have your pets spayed and neutered.” He has also donated millions of dollars to presitigious law schools, to establish animal rights law programs. Here is a New York Times piece on Barker’s law school donations.

The FBI labels the Animal Liberation Front the “number one domestic terrorism threat.” But if any FBI agents are thinking of harassing Barker or raiding his home, like they’ve been doing to other animal rights activists, they’d do well to remember the fight scene from Happy Gilmore.

To paraphrase George W. Bush: In this War on Terrorism, you’re either with Bob Barker, or against Bob Barker.

Animal rights terrorism drill at UC Berkeley.

A terrorism scenario in the nation’s largest homeland security drill involved animal rights activists holding hostages, at gun point.

Seriously.

From The Daily Californian, “Urban Shield Tests Police Ability”:

The atmosphere is surprisingly relaxed, despite the fact that terrorists protesting animal research have taken a hostage in a UC Berkeley building and are threatening to shoot anyone who approaches the scene.

Suddenly, four gunshots are heard inside the building and the officers quickly ascend a four-story fire escape to confront the terrorists.

All this is standard procedure for the San Leandro Police Department tactical team, which was participating in Urban Shield, the nation’s largest homeland security drill.

It’s an interesting choice for a terrorism drill, considering animal rights activists have never taken hostages, and never harmed anyone in this country (not quite the “real world scenario” described on the project’s website, Urban Shield). You might think the government would choose right wing groups for such drills, because they’ve actually murdered people and admittedly created weapons of mass destruction (but they’re not even on DHS lists of national security threats).

Instead, organizers chose to set up this elaborate, illogical scenario of animal rights activists holding hostages. It ain’t an accident, folks. This was a choice, a carefully crafted and vetted decision by this multi-government-agency program.

Terrorism scenarios like this send a clear message that animal rights activists are to be feared. It instills that fear in law enforcement. And it instills that fear in the general public. It helps legitimize the sweeping government attacks on the animal rights and environmental movements, known as the Green Scare, by mainstreaming unreasonable fears.

Most people who see this news clip, or saw this scenario taking place, don’t know enough to differentiate between fact and scare-mongering government fiction. And that’s the point. This way, if folks hear about more grand juries or FBI raids or infiltrating vegan potlucks, they may brush aside their logical concerns and not worry about the civil liberties of those evil, hostage-taking activists.

Why do all that? Well, there’s a lot at stake. The University of California system has been the target of heated animal rights campaigning, including the FBI recklessly attributing the recent bombings in Santa Cruz to animal activists. And the UC system was the chief lobbyist behind the recent “eco-terrorism” legislation. Also, cops in Berkeley recently raided a radical bookstore and community space called the Long Haul Infoshop.

In this political climate, here’s what I think would be a better “training” drill: Militarized police forces, pressured by vested political and corporate interests, attempting to silence political activists, and activists preparing to stand by each other, call attorneys, organize press conferences, know their rights and, most importantly, keep fighting.

• You can easily post these photos to your blogs and websites through Flickr.
• You can submit your own images to the group: benefit fliers, photos of Green Scare defendants, protest photos, scare-mongering ads, and of course photos of you at work in your “domestic terrorist” aprons. Post them to the group, and we’ll run some here on GreenIsTheNewRed.
• You might find some articles you haven’t seen. The photo descriptions are full of links to content that, by the nature of the blog, gets burried as time goes on.

To start things off, here’s an image I just uploaded. It’s from Burnout, the graphic novel by Rebecca Donner and Inaki Miranda (which I noted here a while back). It’s a love story about two teenagers who become “eco-terrorists.” I was skeptical, to say the least, of anything that uses the buzzword of “eco-terrorism,” even if it’s just as an idea for a plot. I think the more folks use the word to describe everything from comic books to Law & Order episodes, the more people accept that non-violent activists really are “terrorists.” So I was pleasantly surprised that the book is not only beautiful, but it felt critical of the “terrorist” rhetoric, and cleverly gives some historical background of radical activism that puts the mainstream media to shame.

What do you think? (About the Flickr accounts, and also about Burnout?)

Much of Pacelle’s blog post is standard rhetoric condemning illegal activity. But what truly surprised me is that Pacelle acknowledges that nobody even knows if animal rights activists were involved in the attack.

So, if the perpetrators of the Santa Cruz attacks turn out to be agents hostile to animal protection, it would not surprise me, because this is a tactic that malicious forces have used in the past to discredit many good causes. I’d feel especially good if our reward money helped to catch an infiltrator and exposed this person to the harsh glare of public opinion.

Huh? So let’s get this straight: HSUS gave money to this Green Scare witch hunt and condemned “extremists,” without even knowing if animal activists were involved. But if they were involved, this donation would help oust infiltrators?

Fat chance. HSUS’ actions will never help reveal an infiltrator, in part because the FBI are the ones doing the infiltrating (remember Eric McDavid’s case?). And besides, the damage has been done. The FBI, corporations and even animal groups have blamed this on animal activists, and those parties won’t be coming out and saying, “Oops, we were wrong.” Why? Because, at best, they don’t care that they’re wrong, and, at worst, they know it and are recklessly smearing animal activists anyway.

Pacelle writes as if the actions of HSUS exist in a political vacuum, and completely ignores the larger political climate. It’s bad enough that some groups are remaining silent about all of this “eco-terrorism” rhetoric, but for the largest animal protection organization in the country to come out and support it… that’s another story entirely. It lets law enforcement know that their actions can proceed unchecked and unquestioned by the few groups in the country who are actually paying attention.

The government and corporations have responded to this endorsement accordingly:

• “Eco-terrorism” legislation. Surprise surprise, corporations used the bombings to rush through “eco-terrorism” legislation called the California Animal Enterprise Protection Act (here’s a critical look at the CA AEPA). And, disturbingly, here’s Pacelle applauding the legislation (in its original, even-more-absurd form, no less).
• Police raids. FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces have raided a college activist house and an anarchist bookstore. The bookstore, the Longhaul Infoshop, is also a community space, with public computers (14 were seized by the police).
• Frivolous arrest. One activist, Nathan Pope, who lives in the raided house, was arrested for felony perjury. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. What was Nathan Pope’s crime? Investigators said Knoerl [Pope] checked the ‘no’ box in response to the questions ‘have you applied for a driver’s license or identification card in California or another state/country using a different name within the past 10 years?’” The police acknowledge the arrest was “”unconnected with what we were searching for,” and had nothing to do with the crimes. They still have no suspects in the bombing cases.

It’s clear that HSUS needs to distance itself as much as possible from the firebombing because of the pending factory farming ballot initiative in November. It’s already going to be a dirty fight: the egg industry admits Proposition 2 would be a “major blow”. But guess what: the loyalty oaths and condemnations haven’t protected HSUS from “extremist” and “terrorist” smear campaigns.

The Center for Consumer Freedom is waging a media campaign to wrap up mainstream, national organizations with underground saboteurs. The CCF’s David Martosko writes: “If law-enforcement agencies are serious about attacking the growing problem of animal rights violence, they should start looking for clues inside some of the better known animal-protection charities.” It looks like they should also start investigating the Wu-Tang Clan.

[On a bittersweet note, as this Green Scare continues in California, the California Senate is finally trying to gut Red Scare legislation: under this bill, membership in the communist party would no longer be a fireable offense. Geez. It's 2008. Kudos to lawmakers for their speedy, principled stand against the Red Scare.]

Wayne Pacelle’s blog doesn’t allow public comments. But he posted a few messagesthat he received, and whaddayouknow, every single one is supportive of HSUS’ donation to the witch hunt.

So I’ll open it up to you all for a more honest discussion: Is HSUS justified in donating money to the “eco-terrorist” witch hunt and supporting legislation against so-called “animal rights extremists,” in hopes of passing this ballot initiative? If not, what should HSUS have done?

From the UK Indymedia:

Sometime during a busy day of policing the Camp For Climate Action, near Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent, an officer dropped a so-called ‘Pocket Legislation Guide on Policing Protest’. The document, issued by the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU), gives an overview of legislation the police can use to stifle all forms of legitimate protest. The document, which is supposedly not for public consumption, was subsequently posted on Indymedia UK by a camper attending the Climate Camp.

In some ways, NETCU is similar to the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in the United States, in that it works with local law enforcement on “domestic terrorism” issues. But NETCU also describes itself as providing “guidance to industry.” (Sounds kind of like that State Department presentation advising corporations about animal rights activists.)

My favorite parts of this handbook, I think, are the confusing sections on “Being threatening, abusive or insulting in a way likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress” and the hilarious flow chart about “Imposing conditions on spontaneous public processions.”

But on a serious note: What does this say about the state of free speech when cops need a 32 page handbook to decide if protest is “lawful”? And what kind of message does that send to activists, when their rights are so tenous?

I don’t know about cops in the UK, but does anyone really think cops here would read this, let alone understand it and follow it?