Posted on 02/24/2006 9:40:02 PM PST by BenLurkin
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A radical environmental activist has been indicted by a federal grand jury for demonstrating how to build a firebomb in a speech just 15 hours after a fire that his group claimed responsibility for destroyed a large apartment complex being built nearby.
Rodney Adam Coronado, a 39-year-old member of the Earth Liberation Front, was indicted on a charge of giving instructions on how to build a destructive device, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. The indictment was unsealed on Wednesday.
The law under which he was charged has been used just four other times since it was enacted in 1997, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Shane Harrigan. The law makes it illegal to tell others how to build destructive devices with the intent of having them commit crimes.
"In the speech, Coronado mentioned the fire that had just occurred," Harrigan said. "We have to prove his intent was to have others go out and commit arson."
No one has been charged in the August 1, 2003, early morning fire that did about $50 million in damage to the complex being built in University Town Center, a high technology and business center near the University of California San Diego.
Authorities say the case is still under investigation.
The Earth Liberation Front took responsibility for the fire, leaving a banner at the site and sending an e-mail to a local newspaper.
Coronado has told reporters he showed people how to build a firebomb, which he used to destroy an animal testing facility in Michigan in 1992. He served four years in prison for that arson.
He is in federal custody in Tucson, Arizona, awaiting sentencing after being convicted of going into a public recreation area to disrupt efforts to trap and move mountain lions there.
Three people who attended Coronado's speech were jailed for refusing to testify before the grand jury about the content of the speech. All have been released.
That is one angle, but who doesn't know how to make at least a
Molotov cocktail or something simple like that.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I understand his video can be found here--
http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=oXnyDV244Zo
A Molotov or a self lighting one? Gasoline, sugar, pemanganate and....
Is it really that hard to start a fire? The brilliance is that the developer will rebuild the burned structure using twice as much natural resources as would otherwise have been needed. The fire will give off toxic greenhouse gases resulting in catostrophic global warming. Construction workers will commute twice as much to and from the job site burning ever more fossil fuels. Another classic example of the liberal mindset accomplishing the exact opposite of the intended result.
On The Net...
TKG.org - Group Profile: "EARTH LIBERATION FRONT"
http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=41
Related link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1584573/posts
"Feds arrest environment radical over S.D. speech"
San Diego Union Tribune ^ | February 23, 2006 | Onell R. Soto
Posted on 02/23/2006 9:29:35 PM PST by DogByte6RER
"Feds arrest environment radical over S.D. speech"
By Onell R. Soto UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 23, 2006
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "He said he was explaining how easy it is to make an incendiary device from something as common as a plastic juice bottle.
“We are simple people,” he said. “We are an organization using simple tools.”
Coronado said he speaks for both ELF and a related organization, the Animal Liberation Front.
“As a spokesperson, I consider it within my rights to explain not only their purpose but also their mode of operation,” he said."
It could come to that if they want to gin up some intent and prosecute. Stuff like this is all over the net, libraries, personal encyclopdeias etc.
The only way a law like this is workable is if they have a firebrand like in the article advocating the use of such a device as well.
I wonder if he gets convicted?
Don't we have a terrific criminal justice system? Going on 1 1/2 years and still no charges filed. I sense a lot of "foot dragging"...that's self-induced inertia...in the system.
Living in San Diego I know what he did and people like him.
Over 50 million dollars in damage to a complex going up
isn't a joke.
also torching suvs and other cars at car agencies is no joke.
Yeah, it's all over the web on how to make incendiary devices. Sounds like a weak case against him.
Stop spamming threads with that video link.
Don't spam threads.
I smell ozone...
On June 19, 1997, the Senate voted 94 to 0 to approve the Feinstein Amendment to S.936, the National Defense Authorization for 1998 Bill. The amendment prohibits the teaching of bombmaking for criminal purposes.
DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO EXPLOSIVES, DESTRUCTIVE DEVICES, AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
PROHIBITION. -- It shall be unlawful for any person --
(A) to teach or demonstrate the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or to distribute by any means information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction, with the intention that the teaching, demonstration, or information be used for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal criminal offense or a State or local criminal offense affecting interstate commerce; or
(B) to teach or demonstrate to any person the making or use of an explosive, a destructive device, or a weapon of mass destruction, or to distribute to any person, by any means, information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device, or weapon of mass destruction, knowing that such person intends to use the teaching, demonstration, or information for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal criminal offense or a State or local criminal offense affecting interstate commerce.".
http://cryptome.org/fein-sp419.htm
What's weird is that absolutely anyone with a bit of experience in practical chemistry can use very ordinary household chemicals, and/or chemicals commonly kept in a high school chemistry course, to make lots and lots of things go 'boom' or catch fire.
Naturally, only some tiny fraction of people who've taken any chemistry course actually do go out and do this, but, if you consider the matter, this sort of action is just the same as homicide, arson, or both. The only difference is the weapon used.
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