An iconic animal rights terrorist who allegedly robbed mink farmers of hundreds of thousands of dollars of live assets by freeing minks, and who faces trail on federal charges in Wisconsin after seven years on the lam, graduated from high school in the upscale Seattle suburb of Mercer Island. The Guardian reports that Peter Daniel Young:
....himself remains a mystery. He graduated from high school in 1995 in Mercer Island, Wash., a well-to-do Seattle suburb. Young, 19-year-old Justin Clayton Samuel and a Seattle woman, Allison Porter, were arrested in Mercer Island in 1997 for trespassing, authorities said. They carried bolt cutters, ALF (Animal Liberation Front) literature, a vial of animal tranquilizer and a book titled "Free the Animals.''According to a court papers, Young and Samuel set out that October in Porter's red Geo Metro to disrupt mink farms. Working off an ALF list of addresses code-named The Final Nail, they allegedly freed about 7,000 minks in Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
A Portland State University expert on eco-terorrism tells The Guardian he believes Young was probably hidden and given work by a succession of rich ALF backers while in hiding. Young was captured in March in San Jose by a beat cop after having pinched a CD from a coffee shop. He is charged with multiple counts of interfering with interstate commerce by threat or violence, which the feds call an "animal terrorism" charge. Recently, apparent eco-terrorists, as opposed to animal terrorists, struck in east suburban Seattle. Yesterday, the U.S. Senate, Environment and Public Works committee heard testimony from the FBI that animal rights and eco-terrorists are the "the nation's top domestic terrorism threat," as the AP put it, in this story.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 19, 2005 09:40 AM | Email ThisThis is obviously small potatoes.Yeah, tell that to the families who have lost their homes under construction to arson by eco-terrorists. Posted by: Editor on May 19, 2005 09:58 AM
Morons like Mink need to have the "liberal treatement" visited upon them to save the cockroaches
or whatever ALF considers are being oppressed by their homes.
This isn't an "either-or" proposition. We either are serious about dealing with miscreants, or we're not. I believe that domestic moonbats are more dangerous than foreign terrorists, because thay can blend in, strike at will, and manipulate the legal system. They will be the enablers if and when foreigners ever do pull anything off. They are running legal interference for them. They are, for practival intents and purposes, one and the same. And what to eco-terrorists have in common with islamonazis, you ask? Destruction of the U.S. That's all they need to cooperate.
Posted by: Dogbert on May 19, 2005 10:13 AMIn addition, tell the Wisconsin mink farmer his lost 350K in business capital is "small potatoes." Tell the San Diego developers of a residential complex worth $50 million, that was destroyed by eco-terrorist fire their concerns are "small potatoes." The day your SUV, or a friend's SUV, is spray painted weith "ELF" and "polluter," as continues to occur in CA, maybe this stuff will nmot be small potatoers. A society which dismisses such acts is a society which can also too easily dismiss 9/11, as so many here around Seattle essentially do.
Posted by: Matt R. on May 19, 2005 10:18 AMThis is in the same fashion that a policeman would not stop chasing a murderer because he sees someone snatch a purse.
Posted by: Fred on May 19, 2005 10:32 AMWhat else should we expect when campuses give tenure and support to professors that teach "victory to the Iraqi insurgents"?
Posted by: Shaun on May 19, 2005 10:33 AM
Could you point out just where and when - other than your posts - "the GOP-controlled congress" was planning to "cry" about it?
Terrorism is terrorism. I consider these people to be just as much of the enemy as the religious fanatics who fly jetliners into office towers. In fact, probably moreso, as they willfully and deliberately terrorize their fellow countrymen and women.
Posted by: jimg on May 19, 2005 10:48 AMhelp! someone has turned on my sarcasm keyboard, and I can't find the off button! :)
Posted by: Fred on May 19, 2005 11:18 AMThey didn't know that people were not inside many of these facilities and think of them not as victims, but animal murderers. The mentality is that the ends justify the means and if someone is killed in the process, then they removed an obstacle to their means.
The reason the FBI is involved is that they are crossing state lines to do their terrorism, so local law enforcement is usually helpless. If you say it's not important, thenthey are emboldened and turn to more aggressive ways to get their message across.
Appeasement is never the answer whether it' domestic or international terrorism.
Posted by: Ken on May 19, 2005 11:22 AMRednecks...absolutely
Ignorant...not so much
Exceedingly impatient with bleeding hearts lacking anything in the way of common sense...you betcha.
It would be nice to have the hunt on film. It would make a good PBS documentary.
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on May 19, 2005 11:41 AMI just wanted to ask why it's supposedly "news" that some eco-terrorist idiot is from Mercer Island??
I'm sure he's not the first, and won't be the last, and hell, there's probably a bunch there right now, or little eco-terrorists in training from their parents who only will shop at PCC, and don't eat anything that casts a shadow (while living in their 3200 sq. foot house).
If anyone could find statistics on where eco-terrorists are born, bred, and trained, I'm guessing over 80% would be from WA and OR.
Posted by: Scott on May 19, 2005 11:50 AMOne more thing: These two are from Mercer Island. So? Everyone is from somewhere. Some of the worst terrorists are from Israel, Alabama, Afghanistan, and Idaho. So? Small potatoes.
Posted by: Al Hedstrom on May 19, 2005 12:12 PMAll terrorists are good for the slaughter. The folks here don't make a distinction. You and your ilk do.
Posted by: Danny on May 19, 2005 12:19 PMIguana - no need to make it so easy for the wolves. The weenies would cut themselves on a twig and would be covered with their own blood soon enough!
Danny - that is the trouble, no matter how absurd a scenario you can come up with, there is always some lefty that would take it seriously - scary!
Posted by: Fred on May 19, 2005 12:37 PMWho are we talking about here? Tim McVeigh? Some pass he got, huh.
Abortion bombers maybe? Please point out which ones have gotten a pass.
Christian fundamentalists cutting off heads? Christian fundamentalists rioting in the streets (WTO)? Please, tell me aaaaaaall about those right-wing terror groups.
Terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. I don't care what their stripe is or their politics. Apparently, you do.
Posted by: jimg on May 19, 2005 12:49 PMI notice the big list that was supplied! I guess we are meant to go by sound bites, not facts. Good list!
Posted by: Fred on May 19, 2005 01:41 PMAnd they all vote Democrat!
Posted by: difranco on May 19, 2005 02:22 PMWHAT right-wing terrorist have gotten a pass here?
Can you back up your words or are you really just another commie/lib/soc/dem troll?
Posted by: Blueknight on May 19, 2005 02:31 PMEco terrorists and islamoterroists are the same danger, if ALF decides to use biological weapons to prove that humans are wrong how are then different from UBL and his mob doing so to prove that Christians are wrong?
Terrorism is the victimization of innocent people for a politcal purpose, the victimization of any innocent for any purpose however noble is immoral and must be condemed. These clowns if found guilty should get the same punishment as any of the middle east scum.
Posted by: dennis on May 19, 2005 02:47 PMPosted by: Al Hedstrom on May 19, 2005 06:30 PM
"Joan Lefkow, federal judge, was the target of an assassination attempt by troubled electrician Bart Ross who was outraged that she dismissed a malpractice suit he had filed. Lefkow was not at home when Ross entered her Chicago home to kill her, but her husband and elderly mother were. Ross shot and killed both in February. He committed suicide in March."
Really.
Posted by: Shaun on May 19, 2005 06:42 PMYou should see the liberal terrorists that are produced in Madison Park and especially in the gated community of Broadmoor! The parents are always gone - off to Europe to hob-nob with their Socialists buddies - leaving the kids at home with some *undocumented alien* nanny, an expensive attorney and some ultra liberal college professor to babysit! The kids, in their "I'm filthy rich and can afford to rebel" attitude, love to hang out in the deep dark areas of Capital Hill and BellTown (where they get their drugs). They feel a need to compete with their fellow *miserably rich* comrades in how best to protest and rebel!
I am not surprised!
Posted by: Deborah on May 19, 2005 10:22 PMWe are exceedingly impatient with degenerate liberal bleeding hearts that lack anything in the way of common sense...you betcha.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 20, 2005 08:22 AMi find it interesting that you people are sitting on some random website complaining about someone else--why don't you shut up, go outside and do something worthwhile, instead of never being of any use to society or yourselves.
who cares if his background is rich or from the north--like demographics matter in the outcome--you just want more reasons to write people off who have a different opinion than you. he did what he did because he believed it was right, not because he came from a wealthy background or because he was from seattle.
get over yourselves, seriously.
Posted by: kent on June 9, 2005 09:04 PM2 - many of these animal rights people are also conservative. Like Matthew Scully (used to be the speechwriter for Bush), who wrote Dominion, an animal rights book. Or Tom Regan, or Peter Singer...
we can't assume, simply because we don't like him, that he is liberal. i don't really care. the guy did what he did.
Posted by: faunablues on August 21, 2005 05:28 PM