Suddenly the FBI has refocused its domestic priorities - away from obscure religious fanatics and onto some real homegrown terrorists.

On Monday March 4th 2002 The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, a group that tracks criminal attacks against American businesses sent a complaint to the IRS that challenged People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA’s) tax exempt status.

The complaint alleges that PETA “induces and encourages the commission of unlawful acts.”

All this occurred after Peter Berman of the Center for Consumer Freedom appeared before Congress last month and produced a tax return from PETA, showing that on April 20th 2001, PETA donated $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF).

PETA also donated $70,200 to the defense of one, Rodney Coronado, an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) member convicted of fire bombing a lab on the grounds of Michigan State University.

This was not the first time that PETA has donated money to self-professed homegrown terrorists. They’ve also supported Josh Harper ($5,000) an ALF member with a string of violent arrests and David Wilson ($2,000) another ALF “activist.”

As if to make perfectly clear its agenda, the North American Earth Liberation Front features a burning building on its website. James Jarboe, domestic-terrorism chief for the FBI calls ELF “The largest and most active U.S.-based terrorist group in existence.”

This is good news and a far cry from the Clinton era FBI which failed to list either ALF or ELF among the top ten domestic terrorist groups, choosing to focus instead on various “religious fanatics,” like the Branch Davidians and a handful of looney abortion clinic bombers with rather mixed results.

Now, a revitalized FBI has focused on these two violent organizations and rightly so. For more than half a decade both ALF and ELF have been given a relative free pass from an ideologically skewed Justice Department, which now apparently has its priorities back in order.

Of course PETA’s President Ingrid Newkirk claims that PETA is, “A peaceful animal rights group, opposed to illegal activities.”

Still, Colorado Congressman Scott McInnis has posed a number of questions to Newkirk, including “Whose signature appeared on the return check that PETA gave ELF?” PETA is now faced with surrendering the name of one of the leaders of this domestic terrorist front, or risk losing its tax-exempt status, along with its reputation as a legitimate, mainstream organization.

Much of PETA’s mainstream support has waned since spokesman Bruce Friedrich crowed, “It would be great if all the fast-food outlets, slaughterhouses, these laboratories and the banks who fund them exploded tomorrow.”

Now that doesn’t sound all that peaceful, does it?

With a revitalized and redirected FBI on the trail of these real domestic terrorists, the days of ALF and ELF may be coming to an unmerciful end.

For most Americans, their demise couldn’t come a moment too soon.