Liberty Matters News Service

September 3, 2003  

Action Alert
HR 7, The Charitable Giving Act of 2003

The House Ways and Means Committee will mark up HR 7, The Charitable Giving Act of 2003, as early as Thursday, September 4th. Washington insiders say HR 7 is in danger of being hijacked by powerful land trust organizations. The Nature Conservancy and others are lobbying to add amendments to HR 7 that would discount capital gains taxes by 50% if a landowner sells his property to wealthy land trusts or to government agencies. The landowner would not realize any tax savings if he sold to legitimate charitable organizations such as churches, private schools or other private individuals. Most likely, a land trust would expect to buy property for substantially less than market value, say 50%. Contact members of the Ways and Means Committee immediately and ask them to vote against any amendment that would give tax breaks, estimated as high as $948 million, to wealthy land trust organizations. Or call 1-800-648-3516 and ask your Representative to help stop the amendments.
House Ways and Means Committee

Eco-terrorists Strike Again

Eco-terrorists are being blamed for two explosions outside the Emeryville, CA headquarters of Chiron Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company that develops therapeutics and vaccines against infectious diseases and cancer. The explosions, set off in the early hours of August 29, did little damage but prompted company officials to delay work until police could investigate the scene. Nearby UC Berkley locked all animal facilities and swept the campus for bombs and the University of California, Davis, which experienced eco-terrorist attacks in the late 1990's immediately stepped up security measures. Meanwhile, the remnants of 10,000 fugitive mink released last week by animal rights fiends are running amok in the countryside near Sultan, Washington. The starving little beasts are reported to have killed at least 25 exotic birds and terrorized dozens of other animals in the vicinity. "Over half our livestock was shredded, murdered, eaten alive," said a devastated Jeff Weaver who discovered the grisly remains of his pets. In addition, the marauding rodents wounded a dog and ate a 50-pound sack of bird feed, leaving an estimated $2,000 in damages. The Fur Commission USA is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Blasts Worry Biomed Firms
Freed Minks Feeding on Farm Animals

Monument to Idiocy

"We are opposed to salvage logging," said Jake Kreilick, executive director of the National Forest Protection Alliance. Kreilick and other environmentalists have vowed to fight efforts to salvage timber in the wake of devastating forest fires that have plagued the western United States again this year. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey fired back, saying; "I suppose these folks will appeal and litigate projects enough so some of the work needed to be done will in fact be stopped. And those moonscapes will stand as a monument to that idiocy." Rey complained that the environmentalists are not content to just protest salvage operations but also are challenging the removal of hazard trees, those in danger of falling onto major highways or other populated areas. "We are getting to the point of virtual insanity over this stuff," he continued. The radical environmentalists are taking their show, "Healthy Forests Reality Tour," on the road to protest the Bush administration's Healthy Forests Initiative (HFI). Kreilick claims HFI funnels taxpayer dollars to the timber industry to subsidize logging in the national forests, but provides no money for rural communities to protect themselves from fire. J.P. Donovan, spokesman for Sen. Conrad Burns, (R-MT), refuted that claim saying the healthy forests bill is "authorizing language," not "appropriations." "The whole state is on fire; this fuel reduction work needs to be done all over the place."
No-Salvage Pledge

Brainwashing 101

The pace of eco-terrorist activities has picked up in recent weeks and experts who try to explain the phenomenon surmise that the perpetrators are middle-class to upper-middle-class youngsters who have fallen under the spell of radical environmentalists. Rodney Coronado, an ELF spokesman who just happened to be in the San Diego area at the time a fire destroyed a $50 million apartment complex, said attacks will be more frequent and costly in the coming months. "We refrained from actions following 9/11," he said. "Then our side realized, why refrain from these actions? It's ridiculous not to carry forward in light of the destruction of the environment and the exploitation of animals." The kids have plenty of coaching from liberal professors in the country's universities. Steve Best, a philosophy professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, and eco-terrorist sympathizer, defended the attackers by saying they are striking at symbols of the Earth's destruction. Brian Levin, criminal justice professor at Cal State San Bernardino views the activities with alarm. "Their rhetoric is disturbing and they are getting increasingly violent. They believe the public at large does not recognize the suffering of animals…It's a human society on steroids."
Group Vows To Strike Again