| Friday, February 24, 2006 |
TRENTON -- A former child star who was the voice of Lucy in the "Peanuts" movies testified that federal prosecutors are targeting her animal rights group as part of a crackdown on freedom of speech. Pamelyn Ferdin, who also starred as Felix Unger's daughter Edna on "The Odd Couple" TV show, said her group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, is guilty of nothing more than publishing information on the Web. Prosecutors have charged the Philadelphia-based group and six of its members with animal enterprise terrorism, stalking and other offenses as part of its five-year campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences. The company, which has laboratories in Franklin Township, Somerset County, as well as in England, uses animals to test drugs and consumer products.
The government claims the group, which goes by the acronym SHAC, uses its Web site to incite violence against people and institutions it identifies as targets because of their affiliation with the animal testing lab. The defense rested Thursday after only one day of testimony. The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday. "For the government to say you can't say this and you can't say that is going down a very scary path of going toward fascism," testified Ferdin, who took over leadership of the group in 2004 after its former president, Kevin Kjonaas, and others were indicted. Ferdin is not charged in the case. "I believe that's what the government here is trying to do with this Web site and other Web sites," Ferdin said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McKenna repeatedly interrupted Ferdin as she tried to talk about the suffering of animals in testing labs. She said she could not answer with a "yes" or "no" when asked if it is OK to throw rocks through someone's window in furtherance of the group's aims. "If my mother was being tortured and strapped down and electrodes put in her anus?" she asked, drawing a parallel with what animal activists maintain is done to animals at testing labs or fur farms. Earlier in the day, one of the six defendants, Joshua Harper, testified that he opposes injuring any life form, including human beings. But he also said it is all right to throw rocks through someone's window as long as the person isn't home.
A cornerstone of the group's campaign against Huntingdon is posting intensely personal information about its employees and those of firms that do business with Huntingdon on the Web. Many of those targeted have had their homes vandalized, and received threats against them or their families. But Harper testified he uses an encryption program on his own computer. "I wanted to keep my own personal information private," said the 31-year-old Seattle resident. "I wanted to make sure I'm the only one that has access to it."
Harper testified that despite giving speeches at college campuses calling for "direct action" against targets, he does not support everything that has happened to them. He said he became upset during one demonstration outside the home of an employee of Chiron, a California pharmaceutical company that contracted with Huntingdon, when the target's husband and children drove up to the house, and protesters started screaming at the children. Harper also said he was distressed by the bombing of Chiron's Emeryville, Calif., plant on Aug. 28, 2003. The group is not accused of participating in the bombing.
here is a link about these creeps http://www.animalscam.com/peta_7things.cfm
I say give these animal "rights" activists a taste of their own medicine. But keep it legal. Eventually they will provide us with legal clearance to mow them down (which is what they all deserve for terrorism).
These terrorists should be treated as such. They should be questioned about links to foreign terrorists, in foreign nations.
Granted, their most vocal opponents are rationally inconsistent. (A group that was staunchly pro-life and opposed to the brutal treatment of animals would defy all praise.) But being "kooky" or "flakey" doesn't mean they're wrong.
There are respectable scientists who maintain that these experiments are needless. God made us stewards of our animal companions. That does not mean we can torture them to death.
I say we fill these eco-terrorists with poison. Lead poison that is. One round at a time.
(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.")
That's familiar- same tactics as the Newspaper in CT is using against gunowners.