Just in the past few months, a lumberyard has been burned to the ground and Brigham Young University sites where animal testing is done have been vandalized twice. The ultimate irony in the BYU incidents is that the second occurrence did a better job damaging the school's recycling facilities adjacent to the area where testing is done than to the actual testing site. So, do these ALFians chalk that one up as a win or loss for the environment? Maybe they, like the militaryminded, figure it to be an instance of necessary collateral damage. Around the sites where the crimes occurred, graffiti was found indicating one or both groups as responsible and emails sent to news organizations through intermediary sources claimed in a self-congratulatory manner that ELF and ALF were responsible.

Now let me say that I don't support these groups at all. I think these people are damned fools. This is not to say I'm unconcerned about the environment or animals (for the record, I happily eat meat, but I don't hunt because I have a strong disinclination toward killing things). I consider myself something of an environmentalist, though I try to take a more moderate, populist approach. And I have nothing against voicing one's opinions, no matter how much they may make me look for a toilet or garbage can to vomit in when I hear them. But these people are going about it totally wrong, allowing themselves to be associated with groups or individuals who fly airplanes into buildings, take school children hostage and bomb stem cell research labs.

There have been comments by law enforcement agencies and some in the media that these groups are on equal ideological footing as al Qaeda. While this comparison may seem to be extreme, we have to look at the basic thoughts and actions of these groups to really see how scarily correct the assessment is. Al Qaeda justifies its horrific attacks, which have consumed thousands of civilian lives around the world, as a holy war, in the name of a jihad.

Radical environmentalists claim they are trying to liberate and enlighten us all through instances of property damage, on the basis that all living organisms have the right to peacefully coexist. But there is a problem with that. Most of the state, country and possibly the world love pristine forests and animals in nature, but also desire lumber, meat, leather, fur and a variety of other products which come from nature. Most people consider it a necessary evil to test on animals for medical research, or even for the sole purpose of having mascara that is less goopy. Blame western religions or gluttony or hyper-consumerism, but that's just the way the world is.

By participating in terrorist acts, these environmental groups allow themselves to be filed alongside extremists of all nationalities and causes.

So here's my ultimate message to these groups, and anyone who feels wronged: go out and protest, hand out leaflets, hold informative seminars, write letters to the editor. Our country provides plenty of peaceful opportunities to push one's dissenting beliefs on others. However, when one resorts to violent acts, whether against people or property, they are only digging a deep, dark hole for their cause. I'm glad minority opinions abound, they make for an interesting society.

But the eco-terrorism of late has emitted a rotten stench to the public about what these groups are really about. We're just lucky that the reckless behavior endorsed, planned and carried out by them hasn't caused any injury to human life-yet.