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From: Kinship Circle - kinshipcircle [at] brick.net
Date: Nov 13, 2006 11:16 PM
Subject: Done Deal? AETA Passes

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY - PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

11/13/06: Done Deal? AETA Passes

1. Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Passes House - View From The Hill

2. House Passes AETA With Little Discussion or Dissent: Notes from the House Floor “Debate”

3. National Lawyers Guild Opposes AETA

4. Humane Society Of The U.S. Statement Against AETA

As many of you are aware, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) passed today — despite your outpouring of faxes, emails and phone calls. It didn’t pass with hoopla or flare. It passed in roughly 15 minutes with only about 6 House Representatives on the floor.

Dennis Kuchinich (D Cleveland) was the lone Rep to speak out against AETA. James Sensenbrenner (R Wisconsin-5th) championed AETA with an extreme example that does not pertain to the vast majority of animal advocates… And by 6:30 p.m., with no debate, a handful of legislators passed AETA in a simple up-down vote.

Kinship Circle will keep you informed of any public action necessary to help overturn the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. For continuing updates, bookmark: Equal Justice Alliance - www.noaeta.org

TO ADD YOUR GROUP TO AETA OPPOSITION LIST, EMAIL:
info [at] equaljusticealliance.com

The Equal Justice Alliance is a national coalition of social advocacy organizations preserving free speech and equal treatment under the law. Kinship Circle is an active member of the Equal Justice Alliance.

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1. AETA Passes House - View From The Hill

SOURCE: Camille, govegan [at] optonline.net

November 13, 2006

Following are Alex Hershaft’s comments about his day on the hill:

Today, a dozen of us from Equal Justice Alliance, FARM, League of Humane Voters, and Compassion Over Killing spent five hours visiting Congressional offices and urging them to vote against AETA, which had been scheduled over the weekend for a sudden vote at 6:30 pm. We were carrying suporting statements from the National Lawyers Guild, the New York City Bar Association, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. At each office, we were told that the mail and calls were running overwhelmingly in our favor.

Around 3pm, one of the legislative aides said that the bill was just being debated on the House floor. He gave me a pass, and I rushed to the Capitol across the street. I was astonished to see only about six House members present. House Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner spoke in favor of AETA, quoting Jerry Vlasak’s and other’s past extreme statements. Dennis Kucinich joined in abhorring violence, but noted that the bill infringed on civil liberties of people conducting civil disobedience or undercover investigations. Sensenbrenner invoked lack of opposition from the ACLU. Then the chair called for a voice vote, and Kucinich cast the only no vote. It was all over in 15 minutes.

After the vote, I rode the elevator with Sensenbrenner and chief AETA sponsor Petri. I told them I was there to lobby against their bill. Sensenbrenner replied “don’t blame me; I was just managing the bill for this guy,” pointing to Petri, who smiled sheepishly. The whole thing was absolutely surreal.

We played the game by their rules, we generated an overwhelming outpouring of opposition to the bill on short notice, and they kicked us in the face through underhanded maneuvers. Then they wonder why people lose faith in the system and take the law into their own hands. Today, Congress brought shame on itself by turning animal activists into “terrorists.”

WAR will post a position statement on the passage of this heinous piece of legislation soon. Thanks to all of you who made phone calls. Sorry we wasted your time. It won’t happen again, trust me…..Camille

“Words mean nothing…..action is everything”

For more info contact Win Animal Rights at: centcom [at] war-online.org

Call: 646.267.9934 or visit the WAR website at: war-online.org

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2. House Passes Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act With Little Discussion or Dissent: Notes from the House Floor “Debate”

SOURCE: www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/2006/11/13/aeta-passes-house-recap/

November 13, 2006 by Will Potter

They did it. Corporations, industry groups and the politicians that represent them rushed through legislation labeling activists as “terrorists” on the first day back from Congressional recess. Just moments ago the House passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/aeta-analysis-109th) as part of the suspension calendar: in other words it was put on a list of non-controversial bills to pass with one swoop by voice vote.

Here’s a recap of some of my notes on the “debate” on the House floor. I apologize that this is not in a more polished form, but I wanted to get this out to you all right away:

Representative Bobby Scott, often called the go-to guy in the House on civil liberties and civil rights issues, came out swinging in support of the “eco-terrorism” bill. Not only did he not oppose the legislation, he lined up with the corporations, industry groups and conservative extremists in full support of it. Scott, a Democrat, said existing laws have been “reasonably effective” but “gaps and loopholes” prevent law enforcement from going after animal rights “extremists.” Scott failed to note, even in passing, that the existing law - the Animal Enterprise Protection Act - was used to successfully prosecute the SHAC 7 on “animal enterprise terrorism” charges for running a website. Scott dishonestly ignores this crucial bit of information, and said that activists are “taking advantage of the fact that” AEPA doesn’t cover “affiliates and associates” of animal enterprises: but that was, precisely, what the SHAC campaign was all about.

Disturbingly, Scott said in passing that civil disobedience would be covered in the bill– something other supporters of the bill have denied– but he tried to ease public fears by saying that the civil disobedience must cause disruption and loss of profits, and “it must be proven that such losses were specifically intended.” Bobby Scott, who frequently praises the achievements of the civil rights movement, stood on the House floor and advocated the inclusion of the tactics used by that movement in a “terrorism” bill. The only things that’s different between then and now, between the civil rights and animal rights movement, is the cause.

Representative Thomas Petri, a Republican from Wisconsin usually in stark contrast to Scott, said much of the same. He had the nerve to stand on the House floor and say, with a straight face, that “current federal law,” including the AEPA, has been “inadequate” in going after animal rights activists. Petri knows full well that ALL the crimes listed in this bill are already crimes, that the original bill has been used successfully, and that the animal and environmental movements have never claimed a single human life. Petri and the corporations that support him call the existing legislation “inadequate” because, in their mind, the true threat is not the underground wing of the movement, but the movement itself. That’s where this vague and overly broad legislation comes into place, wrapping up civil disobedience, undercover investigations and other non-violent activity as “terrorism.”

Only Representative Dennis Kucinich spoke up against this dangerous legislation. “This bill was written to have a chilling effect,” he said, “on a specific type of protest.” He also said that, “We have to be very careful of painting everyone with broad brush of terrorism.” And, in an interesting spin on the debate, Kucinich said lawmakers would be better off addressing animal issues and demonstrating their compassion.

He also raised what’s essentially a very conservative argument about the bill preempting existing law. A section of the bill says it shall not be construed

(3) to provide exclusive criminal penalties or civil remedies with respect to the conduct prohibited by this action, or to preempt State or local laws that may provide such penalties or remedies.

Kucinich noted that that’s precisely what the bill does. It provides exclusive penalties based on the beliefs of those who are accused.

Kucinich got in a little back and forth with James Sensenbrenner about the bill, with Sensenbrenner repeatedly citing a provision of the bill that “exempts” First Amendment activity. (Thank you to Senenbrenner and our patriotic members of Congress for reminding us that their is still a First Amendment. However, saying “this is Constitutional!” doesn’t make it so. If anything, it’s an admission that the bill has serious flaws.) At one point, Sensenbrenner read off a list of quotes from animal activists that he said exemplified the targets of the legislation. It was the same tired old list of quotes from the mid-90s and from a fairly recent Congressional hearing.

Kucinich promptly noted that the quotes were exactly that: “Constitutionally-protected speech.” It’s misleading, he said, to say the bill exempts First Amendment activity, then use First Amendment activity as an example of why the bill is needed.

But perhaps the most disturbing segment of this whole scare-mongering debacle was when Sensenbrenner ended his comments, and ended the floor debate, by talking about the American Civil Liberties Union. He said the ACLU is the guardian of the First Amendment. He said the ACLU has a proud history of being a constitutional watchdog. And he said he has a letter, from the ACLU, saying they would not oppose this legislation and had no substantial concerns, essentially giving the Green Scare a green light.

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3. National Lawyers Guild Opposes AETA

SOURCE

November 10, 2006

Dear Civil Liberties Supporter:

The elections are over, but January is still far away. Representatives who are no longer accountable to the people for their vote can still do plenty of damage.

Earlier this year, animal industry groups, corporations and the politicians that represent their interests introduced the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) in Congress. They claim that this legislation is needed to protect the animal industry from violent animal and eco-extremists. But this bill is unnecessary, and in fact, it jeopardizes the constitutional rights of all activists.

The National Lawyers Guild urges Congress to oppose this bill. If enacted into law, the AETA could label any activity causing an “animal enterprise” to suffer a profit loss as a terrorist act. For example, members of the public concerned about the growing number of homeless dogs in their community picket a local pet store selling unaltered puppies. Under this bill, the pet store owner could claim lost profits due to the picketing. The picketers could face possible federal prosecution as terrorists!

AETA has been passed by the Senate, and is now up for consideration in the House. Act today to ensure that this repressive bill does not become law. If you haven’t yet, or even if you have, use the following link to write your Representative today, and send a clear message: vote NO on the AETA.

Heidi Boghosian

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4. Humane Society Of The U.S. Statement Against AETA

SOURCE: forwarded by Veda Stram, veda [at] wavecable.com

HSUS / Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

* The HSUS has been on record in opposition to the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act since its inception. Our first letter opposing the bill was sent to members of Congress on January 11, 2006, shortly after the Senate and House bills were officially introduced in late 2005. The HSUS has worked publicly and behind the scenes against the legislation. In fact, the legislation would have been approved by the House Judiciary Committee in the week before the election recess but for our efforts, when the chairman feared that we had been organizing amendments to the legislation. He pulled it off the calendar, even though it was his intention to get it passed in the House and Senate before the election and send it to the President as part of the Republicans’ series of “national security” measures.

* When the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an oversight hearing on the subject of “Eco-terrorism” on October 26, 2005, a self-proclaimed animal rights activist told the committee he believes that killing people to save animals is justified. The very next day, S. 1926 was introduced. This individual’s extreme comments outraged members of Congress (and also outraged The HSUS) and had the effect of inspiring a strong reaction in favor of this poorly drafted legislation from even the most liberal and pro-animal lawmakers. It was this needless and provocative action that gave life to this legislation and has propelled it to the point of near passage in the Congress.

* The HSUS has frequently and emphatically spoken out against the use of violence, harassment, vandalism, and other illegal tactics (except for peaceful civil disobedience) in the name of animal protection, and we agree that there should be meaningful penalties for people who engage in such conduct. However, we believe that the AETA in its current form reaches beyond such tactics and is both vague and overbroad in its potential application. We have communicated to key members of Congress our concerns that it could have a chilling effect on legitimate forms of protest, such as whistleblowing and investigations. In addition, we believe AETA is so poorly worded that it could even be interpreted to protect unlawful animal enterprises, such as dogfighting and cockfighting operations.

* We tried to work for several months with the staff of the House Judiciary Committee and sponsors of the legislation in an attempt to correct the many problems with the AETA. While they accepted just a handful of our suggestions, they rejected most of them, and the legislation still suffers from serious defects. The House Judiciary Committee now appears determined to ramrod the bill through the Congress with no opportunity to correct the bill’s remaining problems through a mark-up or any formal committee action., even though Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner often asserts his determination to follow “regular order” and conduct “mark-ups” for all legislation before his committee.

* Sensenbrenner has blocked every animal protection bill before his committee this year, including the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act that would crack down on illegal dogfighting and cockfighting. He has not even held a hearing on a bill that would stop the killing of exotic animals via remote control over the Internet. The animal fighting legislation has been cosponsored by three-quarters of the entire House (324 cosponsors), while AETA has just a fraction of that support. The fact that AETA is being rushed through without a serious look at its flaws is even more outrageous to us based on the committee’s failure to consider popular, mainstream, animal welfare bills.

* When the committee’s intentions became clear, we alerted congressional offices to our chief concerns with the AETA bill and communicated information on this bill and our position to constituents through our web site. We will send further alerts and communications when the timing is optimal, given that Congress is now out of session and lawmakers are focused on their election campaigns. As the Senate has already passed the bill by unanimous consent – over The HSUS’s objections – the current focus should be on the House, particularly on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, who has emerged as a leading anti-animal welfare obstructionist. He is the driving force behind AETA and he is thwarting the advance of any animal welfare legislation over which he has jurisdiction.

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