Nothing but crickets...

A group with an ideological bent believes it's OK to use violence to save innocent lives. They harass medical providers at their homes. They're willing to destroy property if it means fewer victims of an evil industry. And if a medical provider dies in a firebomb because he's unwilling to listen to their "reason," that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Are we talking abortion? We could be. There are certainly groups out there who believe that bombing a clinic or harassing an abortion provider are justified in order to save babies from being sucked out of their mother in pieces.

But in this case, we're talking about something else. We're talking about the Animal Liberation Front, which (after "years" of protests at their homes) vandalized the automobiles of a second Portland-area scientist who use animals in research. Dr. Miles Novy woke up Thursday morning to find his two cars were covered with graffiti and paint stripper, and the ALF claimed responsibility.

If abortion protesters spent "years" protesting outside the homes of abortion providers, and then vandalized the cars of abortion providers and suggested firebombs might be next, what do you think would be the local reaction? I'm willing to bet that the press and left-wing blogosphere would be all over the story, calling for unending jail time, fines the size of Mexico's GDP, and the complete disruption of those protestors' lives for daring to challenge the sacred cow of abortion, especially in such a violent and intrusive way.

So wouldn't you expect the same sort of response regarding the ALF actions? I checked the usual suspects. Blue Oregon? Nothing. Loaded Orygun? Nope. Karma? Alas? Nads? Hines? Zip. Heck, I even searched at Oregon Blogs and at Metroblogging Portland, and found nothing. A (by no means exhaustive) Google search turned up only glowing praise for ALF.

I don't suppose I'm surprised, but it's just funny how your political perspective skews your outrage over seemingly similar situations.

The most ironic line in that story came at the end, quoting Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a Los Angeles surgeon and animal-rights activist who acts as spokesman for the ALF:

Vlasak said Novy and his colleagues should quit torturing animals in prenatal research and spend the millions they receive in research dollars to provide affordable health care to pregnant women.

So ALF is pro-life? That would be the ultimate irony.