Accused Hummer Arsonist, Marine's Father Join Forces For Antiwar Protest

[smallprint]

Associate Press, no byline
September 26, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- A Pomona activist arrested and then released in connection with the Hummer arsons joined the father of a Marine killed in Iraq in urging participation in a Hollywood antiwar demonstration Sunday. "The Bush administration has made it clear that peaceful dissenters of the war will be targeted," Josh Connole said Friday outside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. Connole said he will protest the USA Patriot Act, the federal law passed to aid the war on terrorism. Opponents say it allows the government to violate civil rights, and Connole called it a throwback to the Joseph McCarthy era in the 1950s.

He contended he was arrested Sept. 12 and held four days before being released without charges "because of my demonstration against the war in Iraq, because of my environmental beliefs, and because I live in a co-op." Fernando Suarez, whose 20-year-old son Jesus died in Iraq, called for wide participation in the march and rally against the occupation in that country. "We don't need any more dead sons in this war," the Escondido resident said. "My son died because Bush lied."

more: http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2514961/detail.html

on edit: added dateline

[jiacinto]

1. I have no respect for people like that

Destroying private property is wrong.

[eileen_d]

3. He was arrested and released with no charges

Do you still have a problem with him?

[smallprint]

4. uhhh...

the point of the story is that he didn't do it. he says he's innocent and the police arrested him for his antiwar views.

[jiacinto]

6. I am not sympathetic to those who destroy other people's

property. I just don't understand why some people here support criminals.

[madmax]

8. I'm don't support criminals

and I don't support targeting people for crimes they haven't committed because of ones political views. The man was not charged.

[jiacinto]

9. That doesn't mean he's innocent

nt

[madmax]

12. oh, ok...

yeah I get it now. :eyes:

[mike_c]

14. yes it does, at least in the U.S....

He's innocent until PROVEN GUILTY, at least until AshKKKroft gets his way. This is still America, Carlos, albeit under attack-- he's innocent.

[Zhade]

28. Not to jiacinto, it doesn't.

Which is sad, because he seems relatively bright.

Torching some overpriced gas-guzzlers is a criminal act, but not NEARLY as wrong as arresting innocent people for a crime, without evidence of their complicity, based on their political views.

Remember, private property was also destroyed in the Boston Tea Party.

[rook1]

29. You are comparing

...the Boston Tea Party with the destruction of private property over air pollution issues?

Perhaps you should spend some time studying history...pre-revision history that is.

[Zhade]

31. Knew that term was going to come up sometime!

Taxation in the BTP case, economic, environmental, and social issues in the Hummer case.

SUVs - sorry if you drive one, I know people who do and can't afford to switch to a cleaner hybrid right now, and it's unfortunate they can't - are a disaster of a vehicle.

27-43% more poluution than regular cars, since they are classified as light trucks.

About half the vehicle fleet on the country's roads are now SUVs.

Oil = scarity = resource wars = lots and lots of death. A solar panel home doesn't require killing your neighbors to steal their energy, for example.

Hell, I'm all for oil being eliminated as soon as possible. Maybe then we'd stop sitting on our fat asses (as I am right now) posting about our need for alternative energy sources and actually develop and implement them.

[rocktivity]

17. He was questioned because he was a known environmental activist

I have no problem with that. But I wonder why he was held for four days--it doesn't take that long to check out an alibi. Sounds more to me like they hoping for either an "confession" or that he'd "rat" on somebody.


rocknation

[ozymandius]

22. What?! This is nonsense!

So we should just throw him in the brig? Shall we deny him his rights like Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla?

What the hell ever happened to the notion of "innocent until proven guilty"?

My-my. The court of individual public opinion sure works a lot faster than some kangaroo courts I've seen.

[teknomanzer]

34. What evidence do you have against this person?

I would bet that you don't have any. You know what that is called? It is called jumping to conclusions. Which is fine if you are Torquemada, but not a sign of a critical thinker.

Sometimes I wonder about you J.

[Not a robought]

10. And I happen to enjoy eggs benedict on Sunday morning's

And like the above view, what is the significance of that to this story? Nothing, he wasn't charged.

[jiacinto]

11. he will be

nt

[bpilgrim]

13. of course he will

nt

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

15. Carlos, do you know...

Something the police and prosecutors don't know? If not, under what remains of our system of laws, he is innocent, I.E.: he has not been proven guilty.

Man, you KNOW better than this kind of stuff.

[jiacinto]

19. Maybe it's because I can't stand the self-righteouness

shown here to those who drive SUVs. And frankly I've seen people defend groups like the ELF.

[Voltaire99]

24. "The self-righteousness shown here to those who drive SUVs"

Oh, just so! Perish the thought of criticizing a vehicle that endangers other drivers and whose consumption leads to reliance upon and wars for foreign oil!

Love me - *sniff* - love my SUV. ;-)

[Zhade]

30. I'll say it, then.

I have no problem whatsoever if a bunch of highly-priced Beverly-Hills-crowd power toys that personally do enormous damage to the planet are destroyed. I don't encourage the act, but I also don't shed a single tear over it.

I wouldn't set them on fire myself, and of course it's in no way acceptable if anyone is physically hurt in the slightest, but understand that I'm not going to sympathize with a lucrative car dealership and its parent vehicle corporation(s) on this. SUV dealers are essentially drug dealers catering to our ever-increasing addiction to an ever-decreasing resource that some countries (like, oh, ours) go to war over.

[jiacinto]

41. I disagree with you completely

That dealer has a right to sell his product without it being defaced. That you would somehow sympathize and even remotely defend ecoterrorists is telling and offesnvie.

[pschoeb]

47. Sure if you want to support criminals

I guess the dealers have a right to support criminals, that people support such criminals is telling and offensive.

Hummers are a GM promotion, GM is a criminal corporation, General Motors was convicted for monopoly and violating antitrust laws by a federal court in 1949. In fact GM was convicted in its role to control supplies to the public transit business(it made busses). They were instrumental in replacing public transit systems like streetcars with busses(by buying transit companies with front companies after forming a cartel and replacing everything with busses), both to help sell busses, and more importantly sell cars, as streetcars in cities made cars unattractive because they forced cars to outside lanes, and made traffic stop when passengers disembarked. Busses were limited to the speed of car traffic, and because they made frequent stops, would be by definition slower than cars, whereas streetcars were usually faster than car traffic(and you didn't have to park).

In the 1960's GM was again brought into antitrust litigation, again for control of transit technology, after years of litigation they finally signed a consent decree.

Personally I don't like to support convicted criminals, especially ones who are interested in flouting California Clean Air regulations.

"In 1990, the state air resources board said it would require a certain percentage of each automaker's new vehicle sales to be vehicles with no tailpipe emissions, or ultra-low emission vehicles. The plan is still the subject of court challenges, and last month a federal court granted GM and DaimlerChrysler an injunction in a suit challenging it. But the air resources board interprets the ruling as speaking only to an amendment to the plan and expects automakers to comply starting next year.

Indeed, Preuss of GM said the company is prepared to meet the standard by using credits from hundreds of electric vehicles its sold in the 1990s in the state and from neighborhood electric vehicles, which are like beefed up golf carts, that it is donating to public institutions. "

http://www.naplesnews.com/02/07/perspective/d800783a.htm

Yep only a convicted criminal con man would try to pass off donated golf carts as compliance. They put pressure(including the litigation) on many to get the regulations changed so that donating golf carts could count as credits.

My guess is since the California Air Board is appointed by the Governor and serves "at the pleasure" of the Governor(they can be replaced at any time), that GM probably has huge interests in the Recall and getting Hummer Schwarzenegger elected. Swarzenegger has a close working relationship with GM and AM General(owned by another corporate criminal, Ira Rennert, one who is so bad other corporate criminals want him gone), I wonder how he will set up the board if he wins?

http://www.ecovote.org/Schwarzenegger,%20Polluter.3.pdf

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0722/044_print.html

Maybe some people enjoy corporate subversion of democracy, but I sure as hell don't.

Also the Hummer is eligable for a huge tax deduction, that's right a tax deduction.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/pisea/104601.asp

Patrick Schoeb

[nolabels]

48. This really is interesting how all these people are connected

I wonder why them Nazi wana be's always complain about this so called wellfare system that we supposidly have here in the USA. Where as it turns out they, along with their Corporate fascist collaborators seem to be getting the biggest share of funds from the public coffers

http://www.ctj.org/html/corpwelf.htm
(snip)
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the topic of "unnecessary business subsidies," or as it is often popularly styled, "corporate welfare."

Related CTJ Publications:
CTJ Testimony on the Alternative Minimum Tax
The Hidden Entitlements:
Tax Loopholes from A to Z

As is well known, the federal government provides financial assistance to businesses in a variety of ways and for a variety of stated purposes. The vast bulk of such assistance is provided through special tax abatements for businesses that engage in favored activities. As the Congressional Budget Office noted in 1995, "The federal government's efforts to promote business are heavily weighted toward tax preferences, with spending and credit programs accounting for a smaller share of federal efforts."(1)

In fiscal 2000, the total cost of business tax preferences, including those that benefit business investors or subsidize business products, is estimated to be $195 billion(2)--far, far larger than direct-spending business subsidies. One can easily calculate that personal and corporate tax rates are about 20 percent higher than they'd need to be if these tax preferences for business and investment did not exist. Or alternatively, the government could provide far more public services than it currently does at the same statutory tax rates that are now imposed. Citizens and companies that do not benefit from these tax preferences have a right to ask whether they are serving the public good.

We have organized our society to leave most decisions about what to buy and what to make to the free-market decisions of millions of consumers and businesses. Both economic theory and experience teach us that this is generally a wise choice. Of course, it takes a robust legal and political system to make these private decisions possible. Government must provide the legal system, the public infrastructure and the educational system. It must set the rules for commerce, deal with areas where markets do not work well, such as environmental protection and consumer protection, and smooth out the

Cost of Tax Breaks for Business & Investment in Fiscal 2000 (in billions)
Total $ 194.9
Capital gains (except homes) 73.9
Accelerated depreciation 36.9
Insurance cos. & products 29.9
Multinational preferences* 13.5
Tax-free bonds, private** 9.0
Business meals & entertainment 6.6
R&D tax breaks 4.0
Low-income housing credit 4.0
Oil, gas, other energy 3.2
Timber, agriculture, minerals 1.3
Financial institutions (non-insurance) 0.9
Installment sales 0.9
Special ESOP rules 0.8
Empowerment zones 0.8
Other business & investment 9.2
*Probably substantially understated
**Excludes the $16.5 billion cost of public-purpose bonds.

Source: Joint Committee on Taxation, Dec. 1998, except (a) figure for business meals & entertainment, estimated by Citizens for Tax Justice and (b) figure for capital gains, based on Treasury and CTJ estimates.
rough edges of capitalism to make sure that those who do not succeed are not left too far behind. It takes substantial public resources to build such a well-functioning economic and social framework, and it behooves the government not to waste its resources on usurping the role of markets where they do well on their own.

"Corporate welfare" is a prime example of where government can undermine its ability to do its own job while simultaneously interfering with the private sector's ability to do what it does best. Curbing such unwarranted interference should be high on the list of those who want a more efficient government and a strong private economy.
(snip)


This is just whats on paper and is a very conservative estimate

On edit: missing the link

[gristy]

16. Hmmm. Your second sentance would be a red herring?

And maybe not a very good one at that. I don't have you on ignore yet jiacinto, because your arguments are good practice for me.

I am not sympathetic to those who destroy other people's property. I just don't understand why some people here support criminals.

[madmax]

5. He was released without charges.

[eileen_d]

2. Now *that's* coalition building!

Cheers to both of them :toast:

[patdem]

7. Ah, the unintended consequences....this man gets FREE publicity

to advertise the upcomming anti-war demonstration! :evilgrin:

[nolabels]

39. Confiscated much of the man’s belongings

Along with several other people things that were living in the same housing, he and the others (friends, I presume) are being monitored and were before the arrest. The only thing that really bailed him out was massive public support from local communities. He would have been long gone if the Gestapo was in place, for they were a lot more immune from public outcry by about this time. I really do believe the people that arrested him showed much lower moral code than him from listening to an Interview on a local radio station.

Police often pick up some of the same reasoning tactics as the people they are arresting just for the mere fact they are around them so much and the arresting officers noticing effectiveness of people actions they arresting. I would never assume that all people that are arrested are bad. It’s just the egregious ones are more noticeable and get stuck in the heads of arresting officers and thus the osmosis of behavior takes place

People that believe when somebody is arrested they are automatically guilty need help, but I am not sure any kind of reasoning will ever work with such people

They arrest a peaceful peacenik on a violence charge, and interrogate him with intimidations, vocal assaults and uncivil methods, yet, stabs at the subliminal message are only tempting

[7th_Sephiroth]

18. Destroying private property :bad

Arresting a person cause of his affiliatios : also bad

If he did it let him enjoy his prision stay, if he diddent and the police only picked him up for his anti war views, than set him free, as was the case.

[NashVegas]

26. Private Property

I don't hold up with trashing Hummers when there are people inside them, but one should recognize this as the act of resistance it is.

366 US and other coalition dead.

3,000-6,000 Iraqis dead. Hard to say for sure, just ask Helen Thomas.

Taking the lower figure, that's 3,366 dead people.

Hummer gets 10 mpg and 11,000 have been sold. So, that's about .3 human lives for every Hummer on the road. Maybe we should rate them not in mpg, but mpd: miles per death.

[Imajika]

27. Act of resistance?

"I don't hold up with trashing Hummers when there are people inside them, but one should recognize this as the act of resistance it is."

This could be one of the most ridiculous statements I've seen here lately. Act of resistance? What the hell are you talking about?

A Hummer is a LEGAL vehicle. There are no laws against owning one, nor is there against owning other SUV's. Who the hell made you judge and jury? As long as it is legal for people to buy them, it is ILLEGAL for others to vandalize them no matter what they think.

Your statement mirrors exactly the line of thinking anti-abortion activists use to justify the destruction of medical offices where abortion services are LEGALLY offered. I've heard the argument too many times before, "Well, we don't support hurting people, but it is an act of resistance to destroy the offices that are killing people". It is total garbage, but sadly, you are saying virtually the same thing.

There is no justification for attacking abortion clinics and there is no justification vandalizing SUV's of any kind. Both are LEGAL and are protected by law. Start making exceptions and you'll open a pandora's box which leads to nothing but chaos and anarchy where the strong survive and violence rules supreme.

Let me tell you something. I live here in Northern Virginia, and we have had some of these anti-SUV nuts vandalize vehicles in Richmond and in Georgetown. Anyone touches my vehicle, which is gas guzzling SUV used to drive up to the mountains in the winter, I will kick the crap out of them.

I have no sympathy for vandals. I have no sympathy for ELF or any other "environmental" group that vandalizes peoples property or otherwise breaks the law.

Imajika

[NashVegas]

33. A Hummer is a Blow Job

A Hummer is a LEGAL vehicle. There are no laws against owning one, nor is there against owning other SUV's.

A Hummer is an item which has no practical purpose as a non-military vehicle other than; to siphon money from those who don't think having 50k to blow is enough in itself, but need to make a statement saying so; to increase the demand for the limited supply of fossil fuel.

In no way can this item - which has no practical value on regular roads, yet adds its goliath weight to the road's capacity/infrustructure, requiring more money allocated to road repair.

In no way can this be compared to abortion protesters who try to interfere with what is at least sometimes a necessary medical procedure.

[Imajika]

36. Just plain silly

YOU don't like Humvee's. YOU don't think they have any practical value. You do not get to decide what is legal and what is not. You do not get to decide what private property is okay to destoy.

If you don't like Humvee's then you should petition your representatives to make them illegal. In the meantime Hummers are a legal vehicle that society does not see fit to ban - whether you like it or not.

"In no way can this be compared to abortion protesters who try to interfere with what is at least sometimes a necessary medical procedure."

Yes, it is exactly the same. First, abortion is SOMETIMES medically required to save a life, but it also LEGAL as a means to end unwanted pregnancy having nothing whatever to do with necessity. The US has decided to make it safe and LEGAL for women to get an abortion. Millions of Americans disagree with this, some vehemently, that does NOT give them the right to vandalize medical offices that perform abortions because they don't like the law. These anti-abortion forces think abortion is equivalent to murder. This is what they believe with all their heart and soul. So because they oppose abortion, do they have the right to blow up a clinic as a form of "resistance" to what they believe is murder? Ofcourse not.

Your dead wrong here, and your defense of vandals as some form of "resistance" is idiotic and dangerous.

Imajika

[NashVegas]

37. Exactly the Same?

"In no way can this be compared to abortion protesters who try to interfere with what is at least sometimes a necessary medical procedure."

Yes, it is exactly the same.

In what ways are Humvee's necessary, in comparison to, say, any other SUV which gets anywhere from 50-100% more mpg?

In what way does vandalizing a Hummer dealership interfere with someone's physical well-being?

Hummer is nothing more than a commercial enterprise designed to snare suckers in need of compensation and drain natural resources at a stupendous rate, with the added bonus of straining infrustructure, as do most of the larger, Explavigator-type SUVs.

Your dead wrong here, and your defense of vandals as some form of "resistance" is idiotic and dangerous.

Yeah, that's what they said in Boston circa 1773. I'm glad no one listened.

[Imajika]

38. Your still wrong....

....and your still not making any sense. Nor are you able to refute the main point I have made over and over.

The Humvee is a LEGAL vehicle. There is no law against selling or owning them. Society has not deemed it necessarily or wise to ban Humvee's.

YOU do not have the right to make that decision for yourself in a society based on law. You have a right to protest Humvees, you have a right to petition your representatives to ban the sale of them, you have the right to write editiorials about how bad you think Humvee's are - but you DO NOT have the right to damage someone's legally owned private property whether the vehicle is owned by the dealership or a private citizen.

"In what ways are Humvee's necessary, in comparison to, say, any other SUV which gets anywhere from 50-100% more mpg?"

In what way does this make a bit of difference? I eat a big ole' steak on the weekends which is far more than is necessary. Some animal rights group surely won't like that. I own a much bigger lawnmower than I need. I am sure some enviromentalist won't like that. I own a huge big screen TV which is much bigger than I really need, somebody somewhere probably would have some objection to that.

YOU do not get to decide what is necessary in comparison to anything.

Society decides through passing laws and regulations what is legal and what is not. From there it is up to private citizens to buy whatever the hell they want.

Damaging someone's legally held private property - whether it is held by a big corporation or a working class citizen, is not something any of us should condone because we think it is "resistance". It is not "resistance", it is criminal behavior.

Your arguments here are going nowhere. Your just whining about Humvee's and failing to understand that no individual or organization has a right to "resist" them by vandalizing and destroying private property. I don't care how much you don't like Humvees. Unless and until they are made illegal, you have no business supporting anyone who damages someone's vehicle.

Imajika

[NashVegas]

45. My, Aren't You a Good Little Consumer

I'm sure you make our corporate-controlled government quite happy.

There is no decision to be made about unnecessary or necessary, it simply is or isn't.

you have no business supporting anyone who damages someone's vehicle.

Excuse me? I'll support whom and what I like, Mr. Ashcroft.

[nolabels]

46. By that reasoning anybody that brings a chainsaw into any of the.......

National Forests are also a criminal, considering who was installed to appoint people issuing the permits, but that’s a whole another story. Some people don't seem to want to understand the way laws are selectively enforced by what ever regime is power.

A larger question for people that want to uphold the US court system of being a just arbitrator is the erosion of jurist prudence. This fundamental tenant is just about gone even though much of our court system is based on it. This very basic Ideal has been whittled away, undermined and pretty much been taken away from common people. Until a much larger population come to understand and make and hold the courts accountable their actions things will continue.

The first American Revolution was given great impudence with a similar system that is in place now. Arbitrary law enforcement with a court system where money and political favor rings as the tone of the day might lead one to consider or believe that the USA's justice system is not looking after everybody’s best interests.

A reference point I like use for myself is when I consider this guy that can walk the streets of Miami with impunity and possibly political support. This is a man that walks free after he targeted and seems to have had killed 73 innocent civilians.


http://www.nlg.org/cuba/newsOct2001.htm
News issued by: NLG Cuba Subcommittee

606 W, Wisconsin Ave. Suite 1706, Milwaukee, WI 53203
[phone] ext. 12 [e-mail]
______________________________________________________

25 years after CIA-trained agents bombed Cuban airliner, Miami protests
terrorists at large

I. As we continue to mourn the many victims of Sept. 11th in the US, we
should reflect that Saturday, October 6th is the 25th anniversary of the
terrorist bombing of the Cuban airliner after take off from Barbados. All
73 lives on board were lost -- among them the Cuban fencing team, returning
from a tournament abroad -- when a bomb exploded on board. A number of
Cuban-American groups and others will hold a demonstration in Miami on
Saturday afternoon, to protest the fact that the alleged mastermind of the
operation, Orlando Bosch, continues to operate in freedom in Miami.

Bosch had been jailed on these charges in Venezuela, but was not convicted
after a series of military trials, and left prison after the prosecution
failed to keep the case alive there, reportedly as a result of the
intervention of the US ambassador, Otto Reich, now a nominee to become Asst.
Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. Bosch then entered FL.
illegally in 1988. He was detained based on his violation of U.S. parole,
after he had been released from serving four years of a 10 year prison
sentence (from 1968-72, for staging a bazooka attack on a Polish freighter
docked in Miami and for sending death threats to the heads of state of three
Western European nations, all because they traded with Cuba). His was
remanded to INS custody, while the US refused Cuba's extradition requests.
Some 30 other countries had refused to accept him based on his long record
of terrorist acts. He filed an application for asylum in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Justice Dept., the Cuban airline bombing was "under
the direction of Bosch. ... We could not shelter Dr. Bosch and maintain our
credibility in this respect." In January 1989 the acting attorney general
wrote: "For 30 years Bosch has been resolute and unwavering in his advocacy
of terrorist violence. . . . He has repeatedly expressed and demonstrated a
willingness to cause indiscriminate injury and death.'" Former Attorney
General Dick Thornburgh described Bosch as an "unreformed terrorist." The
U.S. district court found that organizations under his leadership had been
responsible for "numerous terrorist operations," including planting bombs at
embassies and blowing up an airline office, and the CIA documents also
linked him to air attacks on Cuba in the 1960's.

Nonetheless, against the recommendations of the district director of the INS
and the Department of Justice, and after a federal court upheld his
deportation, he was freed without deportation in July 1990, due to the
intervention of former Pres. Bush in response to pressure from Florida's
rising political star Jeb Bush, the Cuban American National Foundation
(CANF) & others in the Cuban American exile community.

Orlando Bosch now walks the streets of Miami a free man. While being held in
Venezuela on the airline bombing charge in 1983, the Miami City Commission
declared an "Orlando Bosch Day" in his honor.

The Cuban government has frequently protested that Washington houses
terrorists such as Bosch, while the US government maintains Cuba on its list
of terrorist nations for reasons that are described as based on politics
rather than facts. (See Wayne Smith's analysis,
http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/waynescommentary & click on the "terrorist"
article, 07/23/01; and the official state dept. rationale
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/index.cfm?docid=2441 )
(snip)

[Zhade]

32. OFF-TOPIC: Sephiroth is sexy as hell.

Sorry, back to the topic! :)

[rocktivity]

20. A waste of four days and the county's money

Josh Connole Arrested in SUV Firebombings, Later Released
...Sources close to the investigation said that Connole could be seen on surveillance tape shot just before the fire at the Hummer dealership.
Interesting sentence--note that it avoids making a direct connection between the tape and the dealership. If it said, "Connole could be seen on a surveillance tape shot at (or near) the Hummer dealership just before the fire," I'd be less inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

the case against Connole could not be presented to prosecutors within the required 48-hour period. Therefore, Connole was freed...September 15...(S)heriff's Deputy David Cervantes said..."Once we put all the evidence together, we will file at a later day"...Connole remains a suspect.
Translation: The cops "thought" they saw him on an incrminating surveillance tape and used that as grounds for picking him up. But since they weren't able to break his alibi or get any "links" or "ties" to the Earth Liberation Front, out of him, they had to let him go.


rocknation

[nolabels]

42. The videotape was bull pucky

The guy on the tape was wearing NIKE shoes, Connole is hard core social justice type of guy and doesn't own and would never be seen dead wearing NIKE shoes.

On edit, one of them seven bad words on title

[rocktivity]

21. Flash! Man Claims Role in SUV Firebombings, Says Connole's Innocent

LA Times (via LA Indymedia) Thursday September 18, 2003 03:02 AM

A man claiming membership in the Earth Liberation Front has told The Times that he helped firebomb a San Gabriel Valley car dealership and vandalize three others last month and said the Pomona man arrested by the FBI last week had nothing to do with the crimes.

Communicating via three e-mails and in two telephone interviews over the last three days, the man provided details of the attack that authorities said were known only by investigators and those involved in the incidents.
This sounds more like the guy you all ought to be coming down on.

He refused to give his name, say where he lives or agree to be interviewed in person.
He REFUSED??? Aww, what a stick in the mud!


rocknation

[smallprint]

23. thank you, rocknation, for those posts

illustrating the complexities behind this story. i actually posted that last LATimes story about the secret confessor last week, and i could not BELIEVE how fast some people were to discount the confession. many people had already made up their minds that Connole was guilty and that was that. no amount of logic could bring them around. this is a very push-button issue... there's something about SUVs that brings that out i guess...

besides all that crap, i thought it was WONDERFUL that the Marine's father was joining forces and speaking out. this is the kind of alliance the antiwar movement needs to make!!

[Zhade]

35. Vindication for those of us who believe in innocent until proven guilty.

And yes, I am speaking to those here who assumed he was guilty. Let this serve as a reminder of why the "IUPG" policy is a good one! :)

[kayell]

25. Headline designed to get exactly the response it did here

Tie the antiwar demo into criminal activity. See the nasty kind of people antiwar activists are?!

A far less slanted headline would have been simply "Pomono Activist, Marine's Father Join Forces For Antiwar Protest"

[LastDemInIdaho]

40. This domestic arsonist deserves nothing but scorn

Connole has not idea what peace neans if he is out to vandalize those that choose a different ride than he.

Lock him up and lose the key.

[Piperay]

44. What ever happened to the American

belief that you are innocent UNTIL proven guilty?? How about waiting before branding someone as guilty when they haven't even been charged with a crime. :wtf: :argh:

To find this thinking on this side of the political spectrum is very unsettling. :-(

[nolabels]

43. If people really want to get the skinny from the horses mouth

They might want to check out this site, people that try and help out desert turtles don't strike me as ones that could be violent people or arsonist

http://www.regen.org/
Hear Josh's September 16th inteview on KPFK: mp3 (23 mb)

We ask that everyone who has documented our situation to send us copies of pictures, radio and tv interviews. They will be greatly appreciated.

Support our freedom before it's taken away.
(snip)