Extreme measures of another kind

This from a policy alert email from the American Assn for the Advancement of Science:

Animal Rights Extremists Firebomb California Researchers’ Homes. In what University of California at Santa Cruz officials called "criminal acts of anti-science violence," the homes of two UCSC researchers were damaged by intentionally-set fires early Saturday morning. A flier, threatening violence against 13 university employees who work with animals (including fruit flies) and listing their home addresses, was found in a local coffee shop last week. Local police and federal authorities are investigating. Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, called the attacks a "necessary" act.

"Necessary," huh? Stupid fuckwads. I do not give a crap if people are offended by research using animals, generally; the arguments range from misinformed to proto-Nazi ("we should do the experiments on prisoners instead!" oh, what a great idea, let's emulate Megele's experiments at Auschwitz, shall we?). As long as they stay out of my face, fine. Fire bombing is not fine, dickheads. Human rights trump animal rights.

Back to analyzing my lab results. Which were done using animal-derived antibodies to decipher the structure of a gene.