Mark Byron has opened up a can o' worms with this post.
I'm rather late commenting on this post, and in fact, I'm not commenting on the post itself, but on some of the comments in the thread.
First off, I have stated on this blog that I never advocate the use of violence to sway public opinion. I also view the destruction of property as a crime which deserves serious consequences. Sure it's not as bad as killing people, but that doesn't mean it's ok. One's property is the result of one's life-work; destroying it is only a little bit less evil than killing the person who did the work. ELF defenders defend themselves by saying that they are doing for the good of the environment. My response is that you were never elected or selected to be judges of that for the rest of us. Use due process and stop your unlawful acts of arson.
One commenter said that such thoughts are never expressed by those from the Left. That's just flat-out wrong, and shows that someone isn't listening to the news, or just refuses to hear what one side is saying. Ever read Ted Rall's work? He recently wrote an open letter telling Iraqi resistance fighters to kill American soldiers. He also wrote an article for Mother Jones magazine several years ago saying that social progress is impossible without acts of violence. We've also seen very real violence done by anti-globalization protestors, anti-war protestors, animal-rights groups, and environmental groups. Even if these groups are not killing people, they are destroying the livelihood of other people, and these acts should be strongly condemned, just as strongly as we condemn those who bomb abortion clinics. Another piece of anecdotal evidence I have observed, to disprove the commenter who said people of the left never think such things: several years ago, I was at a dinner party with some of my erstwhile Unitarian friends, and one of them was talking about how to get Representative Chris Smith (my Representative) out of the House of Representatives. He suggested that if the voters of Rep. Smith's district, such as myself, wouldn't do it via voting him out, someone might have to (and at this point he held his hand up like a gun, and made a little gesture like suggesting someone could shoot him). Bad move. I remember that just like he said it out loud several years later. The Left doesn't have thoughts of violence? Get real.