Reader and frequent commenter Josh Boyle just emailed me a followup to the Earth Liberation Front Hummer firebombing story so shocking that I’ve got to share it with you all :

about three weeks ago, when you posted about the elf bombings of humvees in west covina, i replied that as a pacifist i decried their actions, yet admired their spunk.

on friday, the fbi finally arrested a buddy of mine that they had been trailing in this case for weeks. his name is josh cannole. he lives in a co-op in pamona that strives for sustainability. they live off the grid on solar panels. they mulch. they grow their own organic foods and have free classes for the neighborhood on gardening and cooking and eating vegan. many of the young adults in the co-op are very involved in the continuing antiwar movement. in other words, they are easily sold to the public as eco-terrorists. i mean, josh installs solar panels for a living. this is not normal behavior.

well, he’s innocent. they let him go last night. we were there for a rally in his defense that joyously turned to a rally for his release.

i’m not most upset with the fbi continuing its string of fantastic fuck-ups (at least they didnt try to blow him up judy barri style), not to mention it’s patriot act hardened bravado in regards to searching and seizing, with
dozens of students not knowing when they will get possessions back. nor am i most upset at a complicit media including showing a rather scary mug shot and dutifully painting josh as a disenfranchised outsider a la tim mcviegh (you
should see the shit i taped off fox news this weekend). the sheep that lept to call for his execution shall always be sheep so i do not fault them either. i take mild pleasure in watching them feel unapologetic about their mistake.

no, i am most upset at earth liberation front. they posted a defiant note in his… i guess defense, although it further implicated him in my mind. the fact is the elf took violent and environmentally unconscious action that morning and the perps were more than happy to watch someone else take the fall. to say this is cowardly is to state the obvious. what is not so obvious is the ramifications of this foot in the door to the socal peace movement the elf has handed to the patriot act happy fbi.

the fbi has my email on file. i’m working on the kucinich campaign with some of those co-opers, you see. every peace movement mover and shaker was on one of those hard drives or another, i’m sure.

am i nervous? for myself and everyone who’s done anything against this administration in socal i am indeed nervous. if we hadn’t lept to his defense, josh would still be in and he’d bee railroaded right to a fed pen. it could be any one of us, they just need groups like the elf to give them the excuse.

i take it back, greg. i do not admire their spunk.

fuck you elf.

Damn. He wasn’t kidding about the ELF’s letter of “support” either. It starts out good :

On September 15th, Connole was released without charges due to a lack of evidence to make the case against him. It is obvious that the FBI seriously blundered in this case, rushing to make an arrest in the middle of the night based on no physical evidence at all.

During the lead-up to Josh’s release, no concrete evidence was put forward by the FBI to suggest that Josh Connole was in any way involved with the West Covina Hummer dealership action. The raid was apparently based on a likeness comparison from blurry security-video footage and nothing else. While there no physical evidence to suggest that Josh was at the site, there *is* plenty of evidence that Josh was assisting a friend moving into their house on the night the Hummer action took place, and wasn’t anywhere near West Covina.

But it ends of a very self-congratulatory note :

The arrest is part of a pattern of harassment the FBI has been visiting on activists in Southern California since mid-August in a desperate attempt to claim “success” in their hunt for ELF members. Since 1997, very few ELF activists have been arrested which has led to a growing frustration in the FBI as evidenced by the recent raids against activists in the San Diego area and now this arrest on what appears to be non-existent grounds.

The Earth Liberation Front Press Office would like to send a message of solidarity and support to those activists undergoing harassment by the FBI in Southern California and elsewhere. We encourage people who wish to support Earth Liberation prisoners contribute to the Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network which can be reached at [URL deleted]

These dicks are essentially agreeing that the FBI raided the home of an innocent man because they couldn’t find the real eco-terrorists. Does this make Josh Cannole the Saddam Hussein of the environmental movement?

Seriously though, as if the ELF wasn’t conceited enough, they turned their letter of “support” into a fundraising letter. Sorry, ELF. People who firebomb auto dealerships should go to jail. If they had any class at all, they’d link to the homepage of the Josh Connole Legal Defense Fund.

If you’d like to help out, I encourage you to write some letters to the editor, your congressional representatives, the ACLU, your favorite blogger, etc…