Confronting Cruelty
Animal Rights Conference 2008
April 25 Thru 27, 2008
Salt Lake City Public Library
http://www.confrontingcruelty.com/index.php

Confronting Cruelty is a free public conference for anyone who cares
about animals. This conference is for sharing knowledge, public
education, networking, discussing strategies and tactics, and
energizing the community to fight against animal cruelty.

The conference is free and open to the public, however we ask that
anyone who has definitive plans to attend, please register on the Web
site. This will help us keep an approximate head count to better serve
our patrons. Videos, discussions, workshops, and nationally
recognized speakers will cover a wide range of animal protection
issues.

Some of these topics will include:
-Increasing penalties for cruelty to companion animals and passage of
Henry's Law
-Abuse of animals in laboratories and factory farms
-Harms of climate change and environmental catastrophes for people,
animals, and ecosystems
-Strategies to fight the pet overpopulation crisis
-The controversy surrounding "The Green Scare" and more militant forms
of animal activism



Speakers
Listed below are the individuals who will be speaking at this year's
conference.

Brian Barnard
Brian Barnard has been an invaluable legal resource for animal
advocates in Utah for a over a decade. He has brought multiple
successful lawsuits on behalf of animal advocates and animal
protection organizations against Davis County, Park City, South
Jordan, the state of Utah, and others. He continues to advise animal
activists on their legal rights and offer pro bono litigation services
whenever possible.

Jeremy Beckham
Jeremy Beckham has been an advocating for animal rights since he was
15 years old. He attracted national attention to the plight of the
live bears used as mascots at Baylor University when he attended
debate camp there in high school. In 2004, he spent three months
traveling to each of the eight National Primate Research Centers
around the country to hold week-long vigils outside the laboratory
entrances. Now at the University of Utah, he is involved with the
Primate Freedom Project, which has successfully fought legal battles
to gain access to documents relating to their expanding primate
research program.

Owen Carroll
For most of the past 21 turns of the seasons, Owen Carroll has been
living and hiking in the Wasatch Front and other areas of the Great
Basin, Rocky Mountains, and Colorado Plateau. This experience has not
only cemented his love for wild places but has also shaped his
perception and resolve to ensure the preservation and resurrection of
healthy ecoregions. He is currently an undergraduate Environmental
Studies major at the University of Utah working to build a foundation
of knowledge which he can apply towards generating momentum towards
the creation of sustainable and autonomous communities.

Gregory Castle
Gregory is one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society, and is
president of No More Homeless Pets in Utah. He initiated Utah's Week
for the Animals. The week, now in its fourteenth year, includes
educational and public awareness programs, special discount
spay/neuter services, pet adoption fairs, and public service awards.
Gregory grew up in England and is a graduate of Cambridge University
with a master's degree in philosophy and psychology. His background
includes extensive administrative and accounting work for non-profit
human services and church organizations.

Faith Ching
Faith Ching is the founder and executive director of Ching Farm Rescue
and Sanctuary, Utah's only farm animal rescue. She founded the
sanctuary to advocate for farm animals through rescue, education, and
adoption and placement services, realizing that the plight of farmed
species doesn’t receive the same attention as does the plight of
traditional companion animals like cats and dogs. Her advocate work
has been helping to change perceptions of farm animals in the Wasatch
Front, creating a deeper respect for the rich emotional lives of these
animals.

Nick Cooney
Nick Cooney is the director of Hugs for Puppies, a Philadelphia-based
animal rights organization that campaigns for farm, lab, and companion
animals. HFP combines hard-hitting corporate campaigns (with a current
focus on foie gras) with extensive vegan outreach, as well as humane
education and animal rescue, and has received extensive coverage in
local and national media for their work and victories for animals.

Daniel Dew
Bio Coming Soon.

Christine Garcia
Christine Garcia is the vegan founder and lead counsel of The Animal
Law Office. Aside from litigating for animal rights as well as
defending and suing on behalf of animal rights activists, she also
produces and directs the television show Ethics and Animals which airs
every other Tuesday in San Francisco. Currently, Christine is
legislating for new laws for animals as a Commissioner on the San
Francisco Animal Control and Welfare Commission.

Luke Glowacki
Luke Glowacki is a doctoral student whose research focuses on
evolutionary explanations of human behavior. His recent work has been
concerned with how foraging and subsistence populations may increase
our understanding of how early humans solved adaptive problems. He has
also done research in human rights theory, environmental ethics, and
cognitive science and believes all his research interests have some
bearing on understanding the relationship and obligations humans may
have to nonhumans. When he's not reading, he can usually be found in
the desert of southern Utah.

Kelly Green
Kelly has been involved in animal rights for over 18 years and helped
form the group Salt Lake Animal Activism Movement (SLAAM). She has
played in and toured with several internationally-recognized vegan
bands, having the opportunity to introduce many to the vegan
lifestyle. She currently helps manage a vegan-friendly boutique for
companion animals and is the co-owner of Salt Lake's first all-vegan
bakery--which will soon be opening its first retail location. Kelly
recently gave birth to her first child and is raising him as a vegan.

Hatfield
Colleen Hatfield is the regional director of SHowing Animals Respect
and Kindness (SHARK) and has spearheaded successful rodeo and foie
gras campaigns here in Utah. She is often known as Salt Lake's
resident vegan realtor, and has performed countless acts of activism
on behalf of animals. In 2002, she followed the Olympic Torch around
the country with a video truck showing footage from rodeos in protest
of the Salt Lake City sponsorship of rodeos. Currently, she works on
public outreach campaigns regarding foie gras and speaks at local high
schools on the benefits of a vegan diet.

Steve Hindi
As a "sportsman," Steve has hunted many species of animals both on
land and in the sea. He killed for thirty years until the
life-shattering day in 1989 when, en route to a shark hunting trip in
the Atlantic Ocean, he attended the infamous Hegins Labor Day pigeon
shoot in Pennsylvania. In the 19 years that have followed, Steve's
accomplishments for animals have been tremendous and inspiring. He has
formed the animal protection organization SHowing Animals Respect and
Kindness (SHARK) in 1993 which has truly shaken up the rodeo industry
with its hidden camera investigations. SHARK is probably also most
famous for the "Tiger Truck" - an enormous truck fitted with 100 inch
TV screens. Rolling through towns and cities across the country, it
shows people the realities of animal abuse in slaughterhouses, rodeos,
circuses, foie gras farms, and laboratories.

Rob Hutton
Rob Hutton has been involved with many organizations and worked in a
variety of capacities in the name of animal rights. He campaigned
against Huntington Life Sciences and their associates with local
activists in Washington, DC. With organizations such as Compassion
Over Killing and PETA, he focused a great deal of his efforts on
outreach and promoting animal rights. In 2005, Rob had the opportunity
to directly help suffering animals in post-Katrina New Orleans. In
2006, Rob cared for monkeys after their neglect at Texas-based
Primarily Primates. Most notably he has also documented and exposed
the cruelty and neglect of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey
circus as an investigator following the circus across the country.

Rhonda Kamper
Rhonda Kamper began lobbying for animals after her husband tortured
their dog Henry in May 2006. At the time of the torture, such acts
were punishable only at a misdemeanor level. She quickly became a
co-founder of Help Us Help Them. With Henry at the helm, Help Us Help
Them began the fight over "Henry's Law" - a bill to stiffen the animal
cruelty statutes in the State of Utah and the battle over what would
become known as "Henry's Law". Recently Utah became the 44th State to
have a first offense felony provision on the books. Unfortunately, it
is a compromise bill that does nothing more than just that. Rhonda
Kamper and Help Us Help Them now begin to garner and identify the
constituency support to toughen this ridiculously weak law.

Amy Meyer
In cowboy country Cody, Wyoming, Amy Meyer first became a vegan in
March of 2006 and has committed her life to animal activism since. In
less than two years, she has protested for animal rights in no fewer
than 13 states. In the summer of 2007, while touring the East coast
protesting affiliates of the notorious vivisection lab Huntingdon Life
Sciences, she was harassed and arrested by Naussau County Police and
charged with "Loitering" at a protest. The day after being released
from jail, she was protesting HLS again. Now at the University of Utah
majoring in Gender and Environment Studies, Amy is the president of
Student Organization for Animal Rights (SOAR). She works heavily on
researching and writing information on primate researchers around the
country and consistently attends animal rights events and
demonstrations.

Jerry Vlasak
Jerry Vlasak, MD is a board-certified surgeon specializing in trauma
and critical care. He is a former vivisector who has seen the agony of
animals in laboratories. He debates the scientific invalidity of
animal experimentation around the world, speaks out about the benefits
of a vegan diet and offers lectures on the right of all sentient
beings to live free of pain and suffering. His essays and interviews
have been published in numerous journals and magazines and he has been
interviewed on radio, TV and in print by journalists worldwide
regarding animal rights. He resides in Los Angeles.

Peter Young
Peter Young is a former political prisoner sentenced to a two year
prison term in 2005 for releasing and conspiracy to release thousands
of mink from fur farms across the Midwest in 1997. Recently released
after 7 years on the FBI's wanted list and a 24 month federal prison
sentence, this veteran activist is an emerging voice of strength
through sacrifice in the struggle for animal liberation. Now returned
to the world on this side of the fence, Peter Young brings with him an
arresting story; speaking on the subjects of political repression,
animal liberation, politicized prosecutions, the prison experience,
and more.

NOTE: The links to the seminar schedule and list of speakers has not
yet been posted. We do know however that Peter Young is a confirmed
attendee.

Animal Liberation Conference 2008
Evergreen State College
http://www.liberationconference.twistedinfo/

Welcome
Evergreen Animal Rights Network and Olympia Animal Rights are hosting
an animal liberation conference for the weekend of May 10th and 11th,
2008.

The aim of this conference is to provide an opportunity for activists
to network, build alliances, and discuss how to further the goals of
the movement. This conference is designed for people who have already
accepted the premise of animal rights and are ready to take the next
step. Although we don't presume to know what this next step should be,
we hope that this conference will produce constructive results.

The format of this conference will include:

round-table discussion
hands-on
workshops
lectures
film screenings
musical performances
Tickets will be $5-20, sliding scale. The conference will be held at
the following location:

The Evergreen State College.
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, Washington 98505

It will take place from 10am-6pm.

If you want to be involved, email liberationconference,twisted

I won't be able to make it. Can I just send them a lot of money?

NOTE: Though no suspects have been identified in this action, FedEx
is listed as a target of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruely (SHAC)
campaign.
http://www.shac.net/MISC/import/import.html
---------------------------------

KGTV-10 News (San Diego, CA)
Pipe Bomb Blasts Local FedEx
Second Bomb Found
April 25, 2008
http://www.10news.com:80/news/15990775/detail.html

SAN DIEGO -- A pipe bomb blast shattered the glass in the front door
of a Federal Express distribution facility in the Webster area Friday
and a second pipe bomb was discovered in the parking lot and was
safely defused, police said.

The blast occurred in the 1600 block of 47th Street and Federal
Boulevard at 1:47 a.m., according to San Diego police Sgt. Kerry Tom.

An employee inside the building initially thought some boxes had
fallen over, said Tom, adding that the employee was not hurt.

When firefighters arrived, they found a second pipe bomb in the
parking lot and safely defused it, the sergeant said.

"Two pipe bombs were left in front of the door. One detonated causing
damage, the other was thrown into the parking lot and we rendered that
one safe. We are assuming by what we saw that they were together, and
the explosion of the first one pushed the second one into the parking
lot," Metro Arson Strike Team Capt. Paul O'Brien said. "We have a lot
of evidence we are going to have to process and we have to interview
the people who work here."

The Metro Arson Strike Team was called to the scene to investigate the
bombing, Tom said. There were no immediate arrests.